ON LOVE; PART MCCLIV
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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 ended the last essay with some ideas on the way of the many doctrinal churches which rely totally upon the words of the Apostle Paul and our position here IS likely exasperated by those things that I hear from them regarding their view of the words of the Master. As we said in the last post there ARE many who use a doctrinal workaround with such ideas that range from Jesus teaching Paul according to the doctrinal interpretation of the apostle’s words to the idea that Jesus’ words ARE for the Jews and Paul’s words of grace ARE for the Christian. Such ideas as these plus those that substitute doctrinal rites and rituals for men’s keeping His words ARE an affront to the Life of the Master whose name they use as a banner. They have substituted His death for the reality of His Life, His teaching and His example in the same way that the Jews in Jesus’ day substituted the rites and rituals, the traditions if you will, for the mercy and Love that should have been at the forefront of their religious thoughts.
The church fathers DID NOT see the relationship between Jesus’ words to the Jew’s religious leader as in any way applying to them as they set out to form a religious experience that may have started with Jesus’ words but was rather swiftly changed to reflect the more carnal attitudes of men. The apostles KNOW the Truth which IS stated throughout their writings and their manner of Life as we read in the Book of Acts and perhaps this Way seemed to those that followed to be too arduous; whatever the reason the church DID NOT adopt the Way that the disciples teach us but rather found ways to change their words into doctrinal ideas through their cunning use. We DO NOT imply here that this was an intentional act but rather that the will of the flesh overcame the will of the Spirit in the formulation of doctrines that men could accept and follow.
We have taken the idea of cunning from the definition applied by Thayer’s to the Greek word echidna which IS rendered as viper and more generically as snake and while the Christian doctrinal approach IS that this applies to the vileness of the Pharisee and his ilk, the reality IS that this applies to ALL men through the idea of offspring which IS the more accurate rendering of the Greek word gennema. This IS rendered by some as such and by others as generation in Jesus accusation saying “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34). Our point here IS that in the timelessness of His accusation, the doctrinal thinker has from the beginning seen himself as apart from such words and this without realizing the he IS acting and DOING the same. Whatsoever the Master places at the feet of the Jew’s religious leaders IS equally at the feet of the Christian religious leaders who have forsaken the Truth for the comfort of their doctrines.
While there IS NO True malice at play in this idea of cunning, the end result IS the same. It IS in the vanity, the illusion and the glamour of Life in this world, that the religious problem lies as these afflict both the religious and the secular, and this regardless of what it IS one may believe to be True. A large part of the Christian world sees these through the idea of being sinners but here they look ONLY at the outer manifestation of vanity as it IS reflected in the ‘unclean’ thoughts of men. Paul’s words saying that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) ARE NOT however so restrictive as to apply ONLY to what a man may consider as sin and we should understand here that the whole idea of sin IS misunderstood and misrepresented by the doctrines of men through this same affliction of vanity.
The Apostle James shows us the depth and the Truth of sin in rather clear terms and if we can see that sin includes omissions as well as commissions, we can then better understand just what Paul’s idea of the “glory of God” IS intended to convey. James tells us that “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty” (James 2:8:12).
James’ words should be NO less important than Paul’s ARE yet the doctrinal church relies so heavily upon Paul’s that they seem to ignore James’ clarity as they try to frame his words according to the way they interpret Paul’s words….James words require far less interpretation. This IS the cunning work of vanity, the work of the illusion and glamour that ARE inherent in the carnal minds of men whose view has ever been toward the self and the things of the self. Whether we see this as it IS, as vanity, or just believe that ALL men ARE sinners by nature DOES NOT matter; what matters IS that the church has lost, from the beginning, the idea that these things must be escaped. And what IS it that must be escaped but the vanity, the illusion and the glamour which ARE calculated into most every human thought and emotion.
In James’ words above we should be able to see and to understand that sin IS NOT ONLY what one DOES that IS against the Ten Commandments but that sin goes to virtually every thought, every attitude and every action that IS contrary to the Truth of those essential commandments which we should remember ARE stated for the man who existed 3500 years ago. For that man the ideas enshrined in the Ten Commandments were meant on two levels. The first IS the carnal level by which men ARE to conduct themselves in their dealings with other men and we should note here that much of this carnal instruction IS to DO with the thoughts and attitudes of men; these include the ideas of covetousness, idolatry and ‘taking’ the Lord’s name in vain. The second level IS found in the writings of the prophets and emphasized by the Master and it IS this level that was ever the deeper meaning.
Jesus shows us this in His Sermon on the Mount as He explains such things as killing and adultery in a way that shows us that to think toward such things in anger and in lust ARE tantamount to DOING them….thought IS ever the precursor to action. The deeper message of the Ten Commandments has been lost from the beginning, lost to the carnal interpretations of men. If we could but see that the whole list IS encapsulated for us into the two Great Commandments, we could then better understand that the intent of these words was to place the self and the interests of the self secondary and in this way escape from the carnal ideas that ARE real but which ARE also secondary to the thoughts and attitudes of a man.
It IS the thoughts and the attitudes that ARE founded in the vanity, in the illusion and the glamour, that ARE the plight of the carnal man and it IS these that ARE the fuel for their perpetuation generation after generation through the nurturing and the indoctrination to which everyman IS subjected. Paul tells us that from the beginning mankind “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” (Romans 8:20-21). Here we should see that this sense of vanity IS our “bondage of corruption” and that while the particulars of this bondage has changed, the reality of it has NOT; men ARE still in that: perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4 as Vincent tells us about the Greek word mataiotes which IS rendered as vanity here and by others in terms of being subjected to futility, frustration and even such ideas a “God’s curse“.
None of these ideas Truly approach the deeper ideas found in mataiotes which IS defined by Strong’s as inutility 9a which idea IS then defined by Webster’s 1828 Dictionary as: Uselessness; the quality of being unprofitable; unprofitableness 1. Strong’s tells us that the root word, mataios, means empty 1 and perhaps in the combination of these ideas we can see the apostle’s intent. To Truly understand that intent however one must try to see this idea from a spiritual perspective; to see this in reference to the True man, the Soul, being subjected to mataiotes IS to see that through one’s birth, nurturing, indoctrination and then experience the Soul IS Truly lost as the nurtured and indoctrinated consciousness IS separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4.
Allowed to continue this vanity, our choice to represent mataiotes, IS Truly a perishable and decaying condition and this because there IS NO search for the Truth as the nurtured and indoctrinated man believes that he already has that Truth. This IS the illusion and the glamour of Life in this world through which the Soul must function and find his escape, find his own freedom from the bondage that IS become his Life. But the Soul IS ever prompting and it IS in one’s ability to hear that prompting over the clamor of everyday living that one can prepare for his escape to the freedom of “the glorious liberty of the children of God“. Can we understand the point here? Can we see that the True man IS “made subject to vanity” and that this vanity IS his Life in this world? Can we see what it IS that must be overcome?
Further, can we see the idea of the viper in the man who IS yet in bondage to his own illusions and glamour, how that the whole sense of cunning IS tied to his attempts to ‘make sense’ out of his predicament, a sense that has ONLY the carnal mind and emotions as his working platform. It IS from this platform that he devises clever ways to circumvent what he sees as the difficulty and impossibility of keeping His words; in this he seeks out the path of least resistance which IS his secular or religious Life that IS founded in the doctrines of men. It IS against this that we should see James words that tell us to “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22) and here we should see that it IS this deception that allows one’s bondage to continue unabated.
And so men, religious men to be sure, find their comfort in believing that ALL ARE sinners according to their doctrines and that there IS naught that they can DO about this state of being save to accept the atonement and the salvation as the free gift that allows them to remain in their vanity while convincing themselves that they ARE freed from it. This IS the reality of “deceiving your own selves“, a deception that has overwhelmed the Christian world to such a degree that the very thought of keeping His words IS absent from doctrinal lexicon of most ALL denominations and sects. There ARE some however that take upon themselves the ‘duty’ of the carnal practice of a manner of Life that conforms to the carnal interpretation and expansion of biblical ideas under the governance of a church which at times has rather strict social rules.
We should understand here that the idea of deception plagues ALL including those who take on such ‘duty’ as the carnal ideas enshrined in their doctrines ARE again the interpreted ideas of men and NOT the reality of the Great Commandments. We say this NOT to disparage any but rather to highlight the idea of agape as the singular reality of keeping His words, a reality that one can come to by DOING, by being “doers of the word“, or by one’s expression of the Truth of agape. Both of these avenues lead to the same place and this because the heart of His words IS a sense of agape that DOES NOT see religious barriers and strict rules but rather that sense of KNOWING the deeper ideas of thought and attitude which ARE the precursors to ALL sin.
And this IS the most important point: in a manner of Life where one’s expressive Truth IS to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” there IS NO sense of self that can detract from one’s focus upon the things of God; there IS NO longer a bondage to the illusion and the glamour by which one was deceived. Here, if we can look at the second of the Great Commandments as the implementation of the first, we will then have found a great KEY to True spiritual understanding, an understanding that to “love thy neighbour as thyself” IS to Love “ the Lord thy God” as one IS instructed. Paul shows us this great Truth in His words on the equivalency of one’s expression of True agape and keeping His words and we should understand that these ideas ARE inseparable. Repeating the apostle’s words we read:
“Owe no man any thing, but agapao one another: for he that agapao 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 agape thy neighbour as thyself. Agape worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore agape 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).
While the Master DOES teach us on agape, He DOES NOT show us this sense of equivalency because the words that He offers us ARE the essence of agape; this we should see in His examples of the deeper meaning of the Ten Commandments. In reference to killing He shows us the peril of anger and in reference to adultery He shows us the peril of lustful thoughts. In both of these examples IS the thoughts and the attitudes of the emotional and carnal self that IS putting himself above others and above God as the man turns away from conscience and remains in his perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4. It IS ever this sense of self from which one must escape and while this seems to be against most ALL Christian doctrinal approaches, it IS at the same time and integral part of Jesus’ message which Paul also addresses in such ideas as “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2). Can we see the point here? A point that IS seemingly missed, misunderstood or misinterpreted by most ALL men.
What IS it to “present your bodies a living sacrifice” but change one’s manner of Life to be in accord with the Master’s words? It IS to forego one’s self-interest in favor of one’s expression of agape. This IS the True Transformation which comes as we renew the mind from within rather than to continue to feed it on thoughts of self and the things of the self. Throughout the Master’s words we find His instructions on Repentance and while most think that this IS just a sense of sorrow for some ‘sin’, the reality IS that this IS that change of one’s manner of Life, the change of one’s focus if you will, from the self and the things of the self to the things of God which ARE, in a word, agape. And throughout His apostles’ writings we find their amplifying and clarifying message, a message directed to those who have Repented. It IS these that they implore to continue in their quest for Truth, to go beyond Repentance and to continue into the realms of Transformation and Redemption which lead then to Transfiguration.
ALL of this must be worked out in the Life of a man and whatsoever progress IS made IS NOT forgotten. In the grand scheme of Life naught IS lost and as Souls, as the True spiritual being that IS everyman, Life continues with the ALL the added spiritual collateral that one can garner from a Life here in this world. This IS the importance of the True spiritual teachings and we should understand here that there IS a point of overcoming, a point of Transformation, from which one can Truly be His disciple, KNOW the Truth, and have the Presence of God and His Kingdom here in this Earth and then forevermore. This IS the reality of the trifecta which we repeat here again; the Master says:
- “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).
To “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” IS NOT ONLY about the body but about the personality; it IS to submit the frailties of the personality to the greater will of the Soul and, in Truth, this IS a struggle. It IS a struggle to leave behind ALL that one’s nurturing, indoctrination and experience has made one to be as that personality and we should understand here that this IS the reality of “the renewing of your mind“. While doctrines teach that this renewing IS an important part of the Christian journey, they DO NOT consider that it IS the Soul, the Christ Within by which the mind and the entirety of the personality IS renewed and changed. And they DO NOT consider either the Way that this can come about in the Life of everyman….they DO NOT understand the Truth of Repentance.
This idea of renewing and the reality of Repentance ARE intertwined in the Life of everyman who can hear the prompting of his own Soul. Vincent shows us the True meaning of the Greek word metanoeo as he tells us that Repentance IS: Such a virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose as begets a like virtuous change in the life and practice 4 and in this we should see the necessary totality of the change in one’s Life. In our trifecta the Master shows us the idea of Repentance in being one who can and will “continue in my word” and He shows us as well the KEY to the singular Christian claim of Loving Him and Loving God; He shows us that this IS NOT possible unless one “hath my commandments, and keepeth them“.
While it IS easy to claim to Love God, and perhaps this IS easy when one considers Love in carnal terms of emotional attachment, it IS, in Truth, that same struggle that one has with True Repentance….with Truly being able to “present your bodies a living sacrifice“. Even to His disciples, men who had already shown their zeal for discipleship according to His words saying “whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot* be my disciple” (Luke 14:33), He offers a caution at the end saying “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). Jesus’ words of ‘salvation‘ ALL require that the man DO, that men become “doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” but this message IS lost in the wranglings of men’s doctrinal approaches to the Lord.
In their doctrinal approaches to God men have forgotten the Master’s words; they have traded them if you will for the easier road that they themselves have interpreted out of the words of the Apostle Paul and have convinced themselves that this IS the road to ‘salvation‘. We should remember here that the Jews DID the same thing and it IS against this that the Master rails. These Jewish religious leaders ARE NO different than the Christian leaders over the last 2000 years; both have taken the Truth and have manipulated it to accommodate their own view of Life and we should understand here that few DO this maliciously. While NOT malicious however, these leaders have been cunning in their defining of the Truth in terms that ARE a far cry from those Truths.
Just as was True in Jesus’ day, today’s leaders can quote scripture in support of their doctrinal position but we should understand here that their quotations ARE themselves tainted by their own interpretations of out of context words and misapplied ideas. Today some will even go so far as to say that Paul’s words supersede those of the Master because they present the ‘new’ covenant and then, with this mindset, they go about to establish doctrines that ARE contrary to Jesus words, words that in this view represent the ‘old’ covenant in His presentation of Truth to the Jews. We should be able to see in these ideas the post-apostolic emergence of the full idea of antichrist, the emergence of teachers and teachings that ARE contrary to the words of the Christ….words of Love, peace and Truth.
We should also be able to see how that such ideas as ARE presented in the doctrines of men ARE the fulfillment of Paul’s words on “another gospel” and this we say because in a True reading of Paul’s words there IS ONLY his application of clarifying and amplifying those of the Master. Paul IS Truly concerned about this idea of “another gospel” as he says to the Galatians that “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7). Here we should see that in the absence of his teaching of Truth others have offered interpretations of that Truth that “would pervert the gospel of Christ” and this perversion IS the doctrines of men.
But the doctrinal thinker CAN NOT see this as he relegates the Master’s railing against the Jews as just that while presuming that His words have naught to DO with the fledgling Christian religion that, while based in the Truth of Christ, relies instead upon the doctrinal interpretations of the words of Paul. We should understand here that this change, based in the emergence of teachers and teachings that DO clearly fit into the words of the Master to the Jews saying “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7), IS one of religious convenience and an integral part of that vanity, that illusion and glamour, that besets most ALL of humanity. Convenience and expediency ARE the watchwords of such “commandments of men” but again we should understand that there IS little malice involved here as most ALL believe that their interpretations “doeth God service” (John 16:2).
There IS however ONLY one Truth and it IS the words of Jesus the Christ which ARE unfortunately ONLY selected and understood according to these “commandments of men” and the doctrinal approach that they provide. Christians will take and accept Jesus words saying “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” and those that tell them “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it” while believing that these words ARE meant for them in ways equal to His True disciples. They then ignore the words that follow saying “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:6, 14, 15) as well as His words that amplify this which ARE the third part of our trifecta. Can we see the point here? Can we connect the dots and understand ALL of these ideas work together and that one should NOT take refuge ONLY in selected doctrinal ideas.
Again we should see here that it IS whatsoever IS convenient and expedient that IS accepted from the Master’s words by the doctrinal thinker and then, for ALL else, it IS the out of context, misunderstood and misapplied words of his apostles which then supply the balance of their doctrinal ideas. We should try to see here also that from the beginning of the early church there ARE those who have taken authority over the religious lives of the people and that it IS these church fathers, and those that follow them in similar positions, that have fueled the doctrinal interpretations that have been put upon the Christian for nearly 2000 years. Not ALL however accept their wranglings and in this we should see how that so many thousands of denominations and sects have arisen; some based in politics with others based in disagreements over the presentation of Christ and interpretations of New Testament ideas.
And then there IS the secular world, a world of men that DO NOT see themselves in the doctrinal approach to God and who ofttimes CAN NOT even see God through doctrinal ideas as they ARE presented today. We could question here the idea that a Truer presentation of the Christ and His teachings would lead to a greater acceptance and understanding of His words but we should at the same time try to see that in the evolution of mind that affects ALL men generation after generation DOES, on its own, serve this purpose as the reality of Love and the Truth of Golden Rule ARE ever becoming a greater part of the secular thinking of humanity. What IS needed IS more men of authority speaking Truth as such speaking will result in the idea presented to us by Mark Twain saying: “In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing“**. While these remarks ARE negatively offered, we should see as well the more positive side.
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 |
Quote of the Day:
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 1 Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913 from https://1828.mshaffer.com/
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
- ** Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 3 (University of California Press, 2015)
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
