ON LOVE; PART MCLXII
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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).
We began and ended the last essay with the idea of striving and regardless of whether this striving IS to keep His words, to “love thy neighbour as thyself” or if IS, as Luke frames this, that we should “Strive to enter in at the strait gate” DOES NOT matter as these ARE ALL the same thing. Strive IS NOT a word that IS often used in the New Testament as many of the KEY ideas ARE NOT and if we can see these as KEYS to the mysteries we can likely understand the whole tenor of the New Testament. In the words of Jesus and of His apostles we have a general set of instructions in which there IS clarity; there IS much written about agape and how that this should be practiced and there IS much written about the simple idea of keeping His words.
These ideas, while clear, ARE NOT the emphasis of doctrines however as they seek to interpret the deeper ideas that ARE found in the more obscure language. From Jesus’ sayings there IS a great concentration upon the eschatological ideas and from the words of the apostles there IS a great concentration on the idea of faith which, although a nebulous one, drives much of the doctrinal church. Doctrines have taken these ideas of the end times and of faith and applied them to their several theories of the atoning quality of the Master’s death and resurrection and most seem rather satisfied that the ‘right’ amount of faith protects them from the end times and gives them entry into an equally nebulous idea of heaven.
Some also believe that the ‘right’ amount of faith IS the gift of God to any and ALL who will accept Him as their personal Lord and Saviour, and this mostly through doctrinal practices which are gleaned from out of context New Testament ideas. But what IS the ‘right’ amount of faith? This IS an unknown which IS used by many to be a deciding factor for why one DOES get what he ‘asks’ from God and why another DOES NOT get what IS the object of his prayers. And this equation IS also used by many to discern the course of one’s Life; many preachers and teachers encourage their listeners to DO as God instructs without ever explaining just how one can KNOW that whatsoever one IS hearing IS from God.
There IS of course a simple answer to this last question of how to KNOW but this answer IS NOT taught; the whole idea IS left as a very nebulous one with one’s discernment left as an individual issue that IS perhaps discussed with the preacher or the teacher for clarification. There ARE endless carnally oriented questions which ARE purportedly answered by our God who has NO interest whatsoever in anything that IS carnal and, rather than relying upon the Truth of the Soul, the Christ and God Within, most ALL rely upon whatsoever comes from their own minds and emotional response. With so much talk in Christian circles about this idea of ‘God told men to do such and such’ or ‘God told me this or that’ about a scripture or another thing, there IS still NO understanding of a most central idea of the New Testament which IS the reality of God Immanent.
We should remember that Jesus also tells us that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21) and while expositors have ever found problems in placing this idea into their doctrinal approach, it remains a clear evidence of the Truth of our Immanent God. Many have rendered this in terms of the proximity of the Kingdom in such carnal terms as the Kingdom IS in your midst, it IS among you, and even Vincent tells us that it IS as he shows us the views of others as well: Better, in the midst of. Meyer acutely remarks that “you refers to the Pharisees, in whose hearts nothing certainly found a place less than did the ethical kingdom of God.” Moreover, Jesus is not speaking of the inwardness of the kingdom, but of its presence. “The whole language of the kingdom of heaven being within men, rather than men being within the kingdom, is modern” (Trench, after Meyer)4.
This ALL goes to the great mystery that IS our God, this ALL goes to the great mystery of the Trinity. God IS within and God IS without which IS His Immanent and His Transcendent nature. The Apostle Paul tells us of God that “in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28) as a Universal Truth but this, like the words of the Master on the Kingdom, IS NOT accepted as stated by much of the doctrinal church. And this IS because, at least in part, they DO NOT see to include the Pharisee in His Kingdom nor do they see the Pharisee having the same Kingdom Within him; and they DO NOT see how that, from a religious perspective, the ‘heathen’ can be in the same exist in the same God as the Christian.
Paul’s point IS apparent in the world for any who can look past their own dogma; there IS and there can be but One God and this regardless of what any culture or religion may call Him. It IS this One God in which ALL things exist and NO thing can exist outside of our One God; Paul shows us this Truth saying that there IS “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:6) and here the apostle combines both His Transcendental and His Immanent natures. Much of the problem that exists yet today regarding acceptance of the idea of an Immanent God IS found in the way that God IS introduced in the Old Testament where the ONLY objective IS to show the Creator who stands apart from His creation.
As we have said previously, this IS the ONLY view of God that could be understood by the barbarous and superstitious people in those days; men from Noah to Moses and beyond DID NOT have the mental capacity to fully understand even this. Some DO of course see some measure of the Truth although much IS swallowed up in the doctrines of those days. And there IS NOT much difference in Jesus’ day; if we can see that while Jesus DOES bring us the new revelation of God Immanent, He DOES, at the same time, bring more men to a better understanding of God Transcendent. Perhaps this IS the way the revelation IS intended to be accepted by the masses: in a slow, plodding realization of some part of the Truth which grows generation after generation despite the doctrinal forces that work against such realization.
Perhaps the time of Jesus advent IS tied to this most natural and slow way of realization. Perhaps it was when the ideas brought by Moses and the prophets were finally seen by a less superstitious humanity, that the time was set for the next revelation of Truth. Of course we must see here some conscious decisions being made on behalf of the human family and who IS better suited for this than the most advanced Souls who, having freed themselves from “the bondage of corruption“, have taken upon themselves the responsibility to lift up with them as many as IS possible. These advanced Souls would have the ‘mind of God’ because of the reality of “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body“. We read Paul’s words to the Romans again saying:
“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because expectation that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:19-23).
Paul paints for us a rather clear picture of our Life here on this Earth and this regardless of how one views source of the vanity, “the bondage of corruption“, in which ALL men must perforce live until such time as they can be “made free“. We could say here that in the common doctrinal ideas of the story of Adam and Eve being tempted by the serpent and then being cursed by God and forced out of “garden of Eden” because they had eaten the fruit of the forbidden tree called “the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 3:23, 2:9) IS a story designed for the superstitious and barbarous man with those days’ level of understanding.
We could also say that the way of men who yet see this as their Truth ARE equally superstitious and blinded to the deeper realities of both the Genesis narrative and Paul’s words to the Romans. Perhaps it IS easier to believe literally the story given us by Moses where we read “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life” (Genesis 3:14) than it IS to see the deeper ideas of the same story which show us some level of purpose.
Little IS ever said of the latter part of this story where we read that the Lord says “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden” (Genesis 3:22-23). Perhaps we can see the doctrinal reason for downplaying this in John Gill’s commentary saying of this idea that “behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil“. We read Mr. Gill’s words saying:
which is generally understood as an irony or sarcasm at man’s deception by Satan, who promised man, and he expected to be as gods, knowing good and evil; behold the man, see how much like a god he looks, with his coat of skin upon his back, filled with shame and confusion for his folly, and dejected under a sense of what he had lost, and in a view of what he was sentenced to; yet must be understood not as rejoicing in man’s misery, and insulting over him in it, but in order the more to convince him of his folly…..8.
We should try to see that the trees ARE but symbols that aid the man in those days in understanding the direction that Adam and Eve chose. If we can see that it IS by their choice that they ARE plunging themselves, as Souls, into a Life here in this world where “good and evil” ARE ever the choices, perhaps we can get a glimpse at the purpose. Evil IS NOT evil as we understand it, evil IS NOT even bad per se; evil IS the focus of the man on the things of the self and of the world which IS contrary to good. The conflict of good and evil, the conflict of one’s focus upon the things of God or the things of men, IS essentially won by the carnal nature in which the Soul must live until such time as he can see enough of the Truth as a man in this world to begin his long journey back to being the Soul. This IS what Paul IS showing us in his words on vanity.
These ARE difficult ideas to convey to the man whose view of Life IS in his doctrines but for the enlightened man, the man on that journey here and now, these ideas can be rather simple. The Soul IS essentially plunged into this vanity, this “bondage of corruption” willingly….for as a Soul each KNOWS the deeper Truths. Each KNOWS the benefit of his excursion through Life here in this world which IS a part of the great mystery. We can glimpse a part of this mystery as we choose to strive to live according to His words. it IS in DOING this that revelation and realization come. What then IS the benefit? Simply put it IS the Redemption of the body through the Union of the Soul with the expression of that body.
And in this there IS a service to the animal form that IS the human body and to ALL other forms of Life beneath it; it IS the animal form that IS redeemed by the Love and the Power of the Soul that flows through it. How this works and what this means IS well beyond our ken but these ideas DO have a foundation in the overall reality of the Godhead in which we exist and which IS our spiritual nature….as part and parcel of God Transcendent and God Immanent. For us any answer IS superior to the doctrinal ideas of why we ARE here in this Earth.
A random internet search found CBN.org which, as a popular Christian media network, offers us these ideas on why we ARE here: We are here to tend the earth. We are also here for God’s pleasure, which ends up being pleasurable for us—if we know him personally….We are here on earth to honor God, to know God, and to share the benefits of this experience with others while on earth so we can ultimately spend eternity in a place called Heaven. This seems the rather common Christian view of Life but NONE of these Truly answer the question, why.
Another internet site shows us a citation from the Book of Revelation which IS the last book on the authorized bibles of the world. As IS True regarding many books in the bible, there ARE questions regarding its authorship but, this aside, the ideas presented therein MUST be viewed in the context in which they ARE offered. Doctrinal thinkers have ever tried to interpret the words of this book which, along with some of the Master’s words and those of Paul, especially to the Thessalonians, have become the doctrinal basis for much of the various eschatological ideas that prevail today.
The citation used by AllAboutWorldview.org, whose tag line IS ‘All About God’ IS “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (Revelation 4:11). Here again we have an unfortunate translation; here the Greek word thelema which IS most always rendered as will, IS rendered as pleasure and we can see the doctrinal effect in the ideas above from CBN as well as this from ‘All About God’: We are created for His pleasure. From the first page of Scripture to the last, that message is clear. We are created for His pleasure. Most ALL other translations render this in terms of will but it IS the King James verbiage that seems to have become Christian doctrine.
Our point here IS simply that the doctrinal ideas of why ARE NOT suitable answers today nor have they been since the onset of critical thinking by men. These ideas ARE rooted in the more emotional view of Life and of God, a view that IS the product of the superstitions that prevailed thousands of years ago and still cover so much of the doctrinal thinking of men. There IS a reason and a purpose for Life here in this Earth and this purpose DOES, most assuredly, concern the whole of the creation that IS the body of God if we can use that idea here. We ARE, as Souls, a part of the Great Whole that IS God and as such we participate in His Plan whatsoever that may be. Here and now we ARE in this form, this animal form, and we ARE “made subject to vanity” by the Will of God.
The deeper ideas DO remain a mystery and one which IS revealed bit by bit to the man who will strive to DO as the Master instructs us….the man who will strive to keep His words. Jesus tells us of the spiritual reality and of the value of His words saying “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). And it IS from these words of Jesus that we select our trifecta, our compilation of the Way into that “glorious liberty of the children of God” where we DO find that “the truth shall make you free“. Repeating our trifecta again we read:
- “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).
These ARE the words of the Master who shows us the Way to that freedom that Truth brings; shows us the Way to live apart from “the bondage of corruption” in the Kingdom of God; and shows us the Way to have the Truth of His Presence which IS our realization of His Presence as the Christ and the God Within. It IS by the measure of these things, a measure that comes in proportion to our striving, that we can escape “the corruption that is in the world through lust“. And it IS by this escape, purposefully done, that we can realize the “exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). And there IS but one substitute for keeping His words and the tenets of the law as they apply to men yet today….Love. We close today with our selection from Paul’s words to the Romans saying:
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Romans 13:8-11).
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.
We change our Quote of the Day today to the words from Solomon on Wisdom along with our thoughts on them from the original postings of them in In the Words of Jesus parts 46 and 556. These words ARE a testament to those things that we should be asking of the Lord and which are representative of the Holy Ghost. Wisdom, understanding and knowledge which will lead us to understanding the fear (reverence and respect and awe) of the Lord and the knowledge of God so that in this world we can understand righteousness and judgement and equity and be preserved by discretion and understanding. Thus are we in a position to treat everyone as we would want to be treated ourselves.
Since we are centered on the ideas of Wisdom today we offer the following from Proverbs as our Quote of the Day. Solomon, who is KNOWN for his Wisdom, which we read in the story of his Life was His gift from God, a gift that he receives because he does not want for the things of the world. But Solomon gains as well the things of the world in plenty and as his Life story proceeds we can see clearly that it is his Life in the world that is to his detriment. The wisdom however produces for us the writings of the Book of Proverbs and it is this that he is remembered for. His Life is interesting reading and is well documented in the Books of Kings and Chronicles.
….incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee (Proverbs 2:2-11).
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
