ON LOVE; PART MLXV
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God
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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
Regardless of the view of Truth that IS presented as the Master’s words by the Apostles Matthew and Luke, views that show us Matthew’s straightforward ideas regarding the Kingdom of God and Luke’s version that shows the door that will NOT open, the end result IS the same. In both these versions of Jesus’ words we find the final idea that the man who DOES NOT “Strive to enter in at the strait gate” (Luke 13:24), the man who DOES NOT “bringeth forth good fruit” and the man who DOES NOT “doeth the will of my Father” or Truly strive to DO so, will hear the same response from the Master: “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:17, 21, 23). As we have been discussing over the last several posts, this IS Jesus’ answer to most ALL men; to the religious who pursue their several doctrines rather than the One Truth, to the irreligious who hold NO religious impulses or emotions and to the many millions who are some combination of these ideas.
When Life IS viewed as this single Earth experience and then heaven or hell there should be a sense of urgency to get one’s Life right or, as has been the way of men, to create doctrines that teach men that they ARE ‘saved’ despite the Master’s words to the contrary. For many there IS a reliance upon doctrines and there appears to be NO urgency for most ALL others as their lives are found in the vanity of men; it IS in this sense of illusion that so many men see ONLY this Life and disregard the afterlife, either because it IS a great unknown or because the teachings of doctrines ARE too fantastical. There ARE likely other reasons for men’s disregard and while many have drifted towards Eastern religions and their teachings on reincarnation and rebirth, most ALL of these ideas also fail as they too are based in doctrines rather than Truth.
There IS a great unknown which we call the afterlife and while we have our own ideas as we have occasionally presented, there IS NO solid evidence that we ARE right. We DO however hold to several ideas that DO bear repeating here and the most important of these IS the New Testament Truth that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). There ARE two opposing points to be considered here. First that “there is no respect of persons with God” which, when taken at face value, should show us the equality of men, that ALL ARE given the same inherent qualities and potential by God. Second IS that this IS apparently NOT True which IS evidenced by the difference that ARE so visible to ALL. It IS in the spiritual reality that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34) that we can find the Truth as we look away from the doctrinal teachings that have formed men’s thoughts for many centuries.
While there ARE likely many reasons why the early church taught the ideas of heaven and hell as the destination of men after the death of the body, the most likely IS that these teachings would instill fear and enhance the authority of the teacher. This was easy to work in the superstitious and barbarous times of olde but that so much of this teaching has endured IS rather mystifying. Many still believe in and teach about lakes of fire and other aspects of hell and here again we should see men’s tendency to take the purely allegorical and parabolic ideas as literal while ignoring so much that IS plainly stated like the ideas that we have been discussing over the last several posts and our trifecta.
The reality that “there is no respect of persons with God” CAN NOT be viewed from a human perspective where it IS apparent that this IS NOT True. Babies dying at or near birth and children with fatal diseases DO NOT show the same idea that there IS NO “respect of persons” when compared to the child prodigy whose math or musical skills ARE unexplainable. In this example the Truth that “God is no respecter of persons” IS a lie. Similarly the man who IS born in abject poverty when compared one born with the silver spoon DOES NOT show that “God is no respecter of persons“. We can also look at those who ARE born into primitive tribes as compared to those born into modern societies and those born into the religious family as compared to those born into an irreligious one. ALL of these differences and so many more DO NOT show that “there is no respect of persons with God” but rather show this very idea as a scriptural lie.
But it IS NOT and CAN NOT be a lie; it IS rather a great Truth that IS shown us by the Master as He tells us, as part of His words on Love, that we too should Love so: “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). In these words we should see how that ALL things that ARE the Providence of God ARE given equally to ALL men and we should try to see here that those things that we speak of above ARE NOT within that Providence but ARE outside of it and trapped in the vanity that IS Life in this world. While the aspect of Life that we can see as free will DOES enter into what we see in this world, it has naught to DO with the examples that we show above as these examples come before that free will can be exercised.
What then IS the answer? Simply that the reality of Life IS found in the Souls of men; that men ARE spiritual beings inhabiting animal bodies on this Earth. As Souls, as spiritual beings, ALL ARE equal save for their acquired several abilities to express the Truth of Life through their form. It IS the Souls of men that ARE “made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same” and it IS to enhance men’s ability to overcome this illusion and glamour that IS the very purpose of scripture; without scripture most ALL men would likely be forever lost. In reincarnation and rebirth we have a rather clear vision of the Soul’s journey through time and space and while we DO NOT KNOW the purpose we DO KNOW the end result which the Apostle Paul shows us as that men “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20, 21).
It IS this deliverance that IS the product of keeping His words; it IS this freedom that comes in the Truth that completes the journey for everyman. It IS this sense of being free that Paul himself waited for saying that he, and all who had by measure overcome with him, ARE “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). And the important part here IS the idea of measure which, while it IS NOT mentioned by the apostle, should be see in the way that they wait. Again, this waiting IS NO idle time but IS waiting as we see in the Apostle James’ words on the husbandman who “waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it” (James 5:7).
The husbandman DOES NOT sit idly but rather works his field to gain “the precious fruit of the earth“; and likewise Paul works to produce much fruit which IS measured in Jesus’s words on the man who will strive to keep His words….that he will “bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred” (Mark 4:20). In Paul we have a man who IS near the end of his journey, a man who IS awakened and who turns his focus away from his own doctrinal ideas and onto the realized Truths that come in the Presence of God in his Life, a Presence which steadily increases by measure. But to think that Paul, and the other apostles, ARE chosen out of the mass of men to follow the Lord also renders our words that “God is no respecter of persons” a lie.
However, if we can see Paul as a Soul, as the spiritual self that overcomes the nurturing and the indoctrination by way of his own past spiritual accomplishments in this world, we will have protected the idea that “there is no respect of persons with God“. We should try to see here that it IS Paul’s own built up spiritual collateral that had put him where and when he was and, without getting to deeply into his presence with the Master, we should try to see that the same IS True for ALL men. It IS one’s built up spiritual collateral or lack thereof that puts each man into the place where he IS and while there IS much mystery involved in this, it IS this that largely determines how that men come into this world. We should try to see here as well that with whatsoever spiritual collateral one may have, there IS still the need to overcome the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, in each successive journey as a man through this world.
This IS NOT the final word on reincarnation and rebirth; this IS but our own reasoned opinion of the way that Life works and while we would like to say that this IS based in the Truths that come in the Presence of God, we ARE NOT so forward. That there IS revelation and realization in our writing IS True but we DO NOT yet KNOW where this leaves off and where the ideas of the personality begin; it IS ever through the personality, the mind and the emotions of men, that the revelations and the realizations ARE filtered.
Returning to our topic, we should try to see how that doctrines obnubilate the Truth and that it IS doctrines that deny what we ARE saying here although there IS naught in the Master’s teachings against these ideas of rebirth and reincarnation. There ARE however several doors left open in Jesus’ words where such ideas ARE implied. The main point here IS found in striving and in measure and with our words from the Sermon on the Mount we should see how that there IS but one objective that men should strive toward, an objective that IS covered in our trifecta which we repeat here again:
- If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“ (John 8:31-32).
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
If men could but see and understand how that the Presence of God that IS promised here to the man who “hath my commandments, and keepeth them” furnishes his entry into “the kingdom of heaven” here and now and that this IS the Truth that frees men from “the bondage of corruption“, many more would perhaps choose to seek. It IS the Truth that provides the means of escape from “the corruption that is in the world“, the corruption that IS the world, and allows men to become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). It IS this same “divine nature” that becomes one’s own expression of the “the fruit of the Spirit“….”some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred“.
In any measure above zero there IS progress toward such expression of Truth which IS based in one’s realization of that Truth that comes by keeping His words; and it IS one’s measure of this expression that becomes his spiritual collateral for this Life, building upon whatsoever previous collateral he may have garnered. It IS within this spiritual collateral that men show their own ability as Souls to overcome the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, that IS Life here in this Earth and it IS in this dynamic that we find men of different abilities and men with different proclivities. It IS this dynamic that creates the differences among men and when we can see this clearly, we can then better understand the Truth that “there is no respect of persons with God“. ALL of this IS tied to those mysteries of Life and most especially to the mystery that IS “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
In the end ALL is a matter of one’s willful surrender of his own illusions and his own glamour to the greater Truth that IS God. This IS the accomplishment of the Apostles Peter and Paul and is IS this same dynamic that can be seen in our brief exposure to the martyred Saint Stephen. We should see here that Stephen KNEW the outcome of his encounter with the Jews and that in the fullness of his discipleship perhaps there was something that he could have done to prevent his own demise. We should see as well the working of “the fruit of the Spirit” in his Life; we should see how that he expresses ALL of this fruit, NOT the carnal ideas of this fruit, but the deeper spiritual ideas that we have been discussing in our essays.
We can see the agape in Stephen’s final words saying to those who stoned him “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge“. We should see the chara which IS rendered as joy as his outpouring of that which he received; his outpouring of his own revelations that come in KNOWING the Truth; his outpouring of grace as he tells the Jews that Truth saying “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God“. We should also see eirene which IS rendered as Peace as Stephens own resolve which we read as “And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:60, 56, 59).
We should see makrothumia which IS rendered as longsuffering as well; here we should understand this fruit as that understanding of the disciple, his understanding of the ways of men and their individual struggle with illusion and glamour. We should see this in his cogent dissertation on the ways of men that brought the Jew to that present time as more than a history lesson; we should see it as his acknowledgement of the failure of men to follow the Lord. We could similarly go on through the rest of the list of the “the fruit of the Spirit” and perhaps we will in another essay. Here however we will end with praotes which IS rendered as meekness, here we should try to see that with the Power of the disciple who can move the mountain, Stephen accepted his fate full KNOWING that this IS NOT the end. Repeating Paul’s words we read:
“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:17-24).
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
In Relation to the Great Invocation |
In relation to the Christ |
|
GOD, The Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN |
Life |
|
Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
Heart of God |
Truth |
|
Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within |
Mind of God |
Way |
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
We repeat here a Quote of the Day that we spent much time with over the course of our essays. In this affirmation we find the Truth of discipleship as we have been ever been expressing and here we can relate our themes of the last few days; “take no thought” for the things of the world and that we approach the Kingdom and discipleship in the nature of the little child, in humbleness, meekness, unashamed in any way and unassuming. The message that this imparts for us today IS that it IS the Soul that is at work in the world of men as it expresses to some degree the purpose, power and the will through Life in this world. These words are from a meditation offered to his students by our Tibetan brother and in which we find greater understanding of the message of the Master. This IS Truly the way of the disciple.
