Tag Archives: Spriitual Reality

ON LOVE; PART MCCCXLIX

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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).

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Our topic has been the Way to spiritual reality that lies in the ability of a man to Repent, to Transform and to Redeem, ALL leading to the final act that fully frees one from the “bondage of corruption“, Transfiguration. The first act, Repentance, IS the opening theme of the synoptic gospels; it IS found in the first words of the Master after His baptism by John and IS the steady theme of the Baptist’s preaching. While the Apostle John’s Gospel DOES spend time on the story of the Baptist in the prologue, the idea of Repentance IS not mentioned but it can easily be seen as John’s shows us how that the Baptist IS the world’s lead-in to Jesus’ message. We read this as “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe” (John 1:6-7). It IS in the reality of this believing that we find the state of Repentance but this IS NOT so True when believing IS considered in the diluted and nebulous way of the doctrines of men. True believing from the Greek word pisteuo IS a word that IS akin to pistis which IS rendered as faith and we should understand here that most of the defining ideas from bible dictionaries ARE NOT so nebulous as the common understanding that has developed in the church. Pisteuo IS the verb derivative of the noun pistis and while both have very same meanings, they ARE treated rather differently in the doctrinal ideas of men. In the noun we should see a certainty, a conviction ^9a if you will, in and of the object which in this case IS the Truth. This IS the idea we should see in John’s words saying “that all men through him might believe” or have faith and here the reference to Him is a reference to Him as the Light which IS for us this IS the Light of Truth. In the end then we ARE convicted of the Truth which IS to understand and to KNOW that this Truth IS in the Light. This conviction should however lead to one’s Truly seeking out the Truth which the Master brings, a Truth that IS the reality of Repentance as a decision to follow, to focus upon, a new Path. This idea we can see in Vincent’s defining ideas on Repentance as a: virtuous change in the life and practice ⁴. Looking then at the verb form of this idea, pisteuo, we should see the action of DOING so, of making that virtuous change in the life and practice. Taking this further, we should see that the defining idea for the whole idea of believing in and believing on the Master IS, according to Vincent, to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life ⁴. This IS John’s point then in saying “that all men through him might believe“: that men should keep His words. This IS the Way and it requires that one have that virtuous change in the life and practice which IS to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life. Repentance then IS the decision of a man to DO these things while his Transformation IS the action taken to make it so. So while the synoptic gospels address the idea of Repentance in a direct fashion, showing us that this IS the idea with which Jesus chooses to open His ‘ministry’, John shows us this same idea in a rather indirect fashion but his meaning should NOT be missed.

Repentance then IS the first step for everyman that seeks the Truth and this idea of Repentance IS not at ALL what the common understanding of the idea has devolved into as a narrow sense of sorrow or remorse; and to this most ALL bible dictionaries will attest. Vincent shows us of metanoeo, which IS always rendered as Repent, that: Sorrow is not, as is popularly conceived, the primary nor the prominent notion of the word ⁴. Despite ALL this the True idea of Repentance IS missed by most ALL Christians as they trade the Master’s Truth for doctrinal assurances of an equally nebulous idea of an ‘eternal Life in heaven’. As we often write, this assurance IS of the utmost importance to many whose indoctrination includes those anciently originated ideas of hell. While such may have been a necessary doctrinal fixture for the barbarous and superstitious man of 2000 years ago, the whole sense of religion, Christian religion to be sure, has NOT yet outgrown the need for this assurance and this mostly because a replacement theology has NOT been introduced into the mainstream. Most forms of the Nicene Creed from the fourth century speak of the idea of “the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come” while the Apostle’s Creed, from the third century speaks similarly with ‘believing‘ in “the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting“. Some churches also use the Act of Contrition which, again, IS from the early centuries of the church, and, while somewhat modified by some, expresses and even deeper sense of men’s insecurity and uncertainty; this prayer speaks of the reason for confession and remorse for one’s sins saying that the purpose IS “because I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of hell“. We should be able to see how that the idea of assurance through doctrine begins in the early church using theology that embraces their nebulous and varied ideas of resurrection into eternal Life as well as a basic fear of an eternal existence in the “lake of fire” (Revelation 19:20) which idea IS often used in the church to inflict fear into the masses. Through such ideas millions upon millions have attached themselves to the doctrinal churches and to such ideas and this despite the fact that there IS NO specific mention of such things in the bible save for some obscure and parabolic ideas that ARE interpreted differently by the various denominations and sects evolved from the One Christ’s teachings and those of His apostles. That the teachings of doctrine ARE ofttimes contrary to the teachings of the Master IS a basic theme of our blog and IS a world problem that becomes ever more pronounced when we speak on the True spiritual realities that come in Repentance, Transformation, Redemption and Transfiguration. These ideas, the Truth of them, ARE rarely spoken of in the church and the words ARE turned to theological ideas that bear little relationship to the intent of the teachings of the Master and His apostles. But the doctrinal church believes that they have it right and this IS much the same as the view of the Jews in Jesus’ day. The reality however IS that they have taken, both the Jew and the Christian, the convenient way and substituted it for the Truth that men must Repent and must Transform if they ARE to find any measure of the Truth and the promises that ARE offered from the beginning. The churches, yesterday and today, have turned their collective backs on the essential quid pro quo which we find in the oldest parts of the Jew’s religion and which ARE aptly summarized for us by Moses who says for the Lord “if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God” (Deuteronomy 28:1-2). The clarity here IS deafening yet in their vanity men have ever put themselves as the arbiters of the Truth as they clever devise ways to deflect the need for True Repentance, True change from a focus on the self and the self in this world and onto the things of God; this IS that virtuous change in the life and practice ⁴.

The church instead relies upon their theology of atonement and their ideas that ARE misinterpreted and misrepresented from the words of the Master and His apostles. This IS the churches preference from the beginning as it IS easier to convince oneself of ‘salvation‘ based in having to DO naught in regard to keeping His words. The Jews inserted their rote observance of the ceremonial law while ignoring the True intent of the most basic commandments which teach us Right Human Relations above ALL else. For them it was easier to sacrifice and to ‘repent‘ according to their own view of the idea than it was to DO what was necessary. And we should remember that most ALL of the teachings of the prophets were against their obsession with the rote laws that governed the ceremonial ideas added by Moses to control a superstitious and barbarous population. The Jew’s in Moses day needed dietary guidance, demands that they rest which idea IS more intended against the idea that they rest their servants and their service and draft animals, as well as guidance regarding the ‘plague’ of the day and other communal ideas. Perhaps most of ALL they needed the role of sacrifice to make themselves closer to God despite their failings at the law and we should note here that it IS their failure at what Jesus calls the first of the Great Commandments that defines the ‘evil’ and the ‘good’ kings of Israel and Judah in the historical religious records of the Jews. The prophets did NOT decry their failure to sacrifice, nor any failures at keeping the sabbath; the word of the Lord through the prophets was simply that they had forsaken their One God as they, as a nation, DID continually fall back into surrounding idolatry as Alexander Maclaren tells us in his dissertation of the first chapters of Genesis ¹². It IS this that the Master highlights as he repeats the words of the prophets with such sayings to the Jew’s leaders as “go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13). It IS this Truth of the law that the Jew’s ignored and this IS much the same as the way that the Christian world ignores the same precept that the things of God ARE first and foremost and then the relationship, in agape, with our fellowman. As the Jew’s chose the ancillary parts of the law over the Truth the Christian has chosen his doctrinal views over that same Truth that has NOT expired or become less important. We should see here that in the writings of the apostles while the second point IS the only one specifically mentioned, that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“, the first IS the essence of ALL else that they write.

It IS the second part that takes the lead in the Christian dispensation if we can call it that; this idea that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” IS a worldwide agenda that IS today motivated by the changing times and the New Age energies of Aquarius. This precept has entered into every religion and and IS an important aspect of secular Life as well and, in reality, it has a greater hold on the secular world than on the religious. The Christian church works continuously against world wide ideas that DO bring men together and cause them to see their neighbor as Jesus intended us to see them: as part of the One Humanity in this One World under the auspices of our One God. The Christian church, and many other religions as well, have and continue to have a sense of division against ALL that they DO NOT understand or agree with and we should note that while the church DOES outwardly oppose such ‘sins’ as homosexuality, abortion, same sex marriage, and their sense of fornication, etc; many DO, at the same, partake in them as they hide their Truth from the world. Much of the teaching of today’s Christianity IS divisive rather than uniting and reaches into ALL areas of society. This IS easily seen by the observer as who can, with an open heart and mind, see on what side of today’s social issues men and groups of men stand. Whether it be ideas regarding immigration, equal justice, homosexual rights, social welfare, race relations or any of the social and cultural issues of the day, the church today seems to stand more on the side of the oppressor rather than on the side of the oppressed. Too many seek to justify unjustifiable positions through the words of scripture and through an incoherent attitude that prefers leaders who will see things their way, against some of their ‘pet’ divisive ideas, rather than those leaders who will seek to unify the world in peace. ALL such attitudes ARE self-centered and contrary to the essence of True Christian ideas and far from the Truth of Repentance that IS the ‘cornerstone’ upon which the Life of a True Christian must stand. We must understand the importance of Repentance before we can move forward spiritually and we should understand as well that Transformation, “by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2) IS NOT possible without True Repentance. Here again we should note how that the text of our selection from Romans IS Paul’s way of showing us these ideas of Repentance and Transformation. The un-Repentant are “they that are after the flesh” while the Repentant ARE “they that are after the Spirit“; this IS that shift of focus that Repentance brings. The rest of Paul’s words in our selection then follow upon this idea as he contrasts the un-Repentant with those that ARE Repented. After these contrasting words we begin to see the fruits of Repentance which the Baptist frames for us saying to the un-Repentant “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” (Matthew 3:8); this fruit IS Transformation. It IS in this Transformation that men seek the Truth which Jesus tells us comes to the man who will “continue in my word” (John 8:31); and, if we can see the idea of keeping His words as the link between Repentance and Transformation, we can then better understand the process. Paul shows us this from a different but same perspective as he speaks of having “the Spirit of Christ” and then of having “the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you“. This combination IS that same that the Master shows us saying that “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” (John 14:23). Can we see the point here? Can we see that the fruit of Repentance IS this Presence of the Lord and the ability to KNOW the Truth and the freedom that this brings? And can we see how that this fruit IS the essence of our Transformation? It IS the Transformed man that can “mortify the deeds of the body” and live and we should understand here that ALL of this works by measure; a measure that IS proportionate to one’s strength of focus and ability to fend off the vanity into which ALL men ARE cast. Here then, without using the specific terms, this part of our selection speaks to our Repentance and Transformation. From here the apostle moves on to his ideas of adoption; repeating our selection we read:

“they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 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 . 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 8:5-23).

“In the idea of Repentance we should try to see the idea of Repenting and in the idea of Transformation we should try to see our Transforming; both ARE processes and NOT that automatic spiritual response that makes one a doctrinal Christian but leaves him outside of the Truth and the True Presence of the Lord. It IS this Presence that comes to those “that hath my commandments, and keepeth them” that IS the reality of the Christ Within making his will KNOWN to the mortal mind, a purely spiritual will to be sure. And it IS this Presence that moves forward the Transformation and allows us to be assured of our Repentance. We should remember here that “the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be“; and we should understand that this carnal mind IS the great adversary that IS covered under the New Testament idea of satanas. In this view we should see that it IS the individual responsibility of everyman to “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” and that this IS the work to which we commit ourselves in True Repentance. We should try to see here that the adversary, the satanas if you will, IS the reality of that vanity, that illusion and glamour, that keeps men grounded in this world while believing that what they have here IS their reality….it IS actually their “bondage of corruption“….a bondage that must be escaped as Peter shows us saying “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). What ARE these promises but to be “partakers of the divine nature” which IS the reward to the man based in the measure of his Transformation? Paul goes on to show us that we should be “led by the Spirit of God” which IS to be led by the guiding Light of the Christ Within and that it IS “as many as are” so “led by the Spirit of God” that “are the sons of God“. In this IS the point of adoption, it IS in being “led by the Spirit of God” and Truly following in His Way, that we can be counted among those that “have received the Spirit of adoption” which IS the same Presence of the Lord….the same unction and Christ Within, working through the mortal man. We should try to see that the “Spirit of adoption” IS NOT that fullness of our Oneness with the Lord, that fullness of our expression of His Will in this world. It IS however the impetus to continue toward “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” through which we can become as True disciples. Disciples that have forsaken ALL worldly attachments of heart as the Master instructs us saying “whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple“. This forsaking includes the foregoing ideas of “father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also” and the True meaning of being able to “bear his cross” (Luke 14:33, 26, 27). The Master IS very clear here as He shows us the True disciple and it IS such ideas that ARE incorporated into the first part of our trifecta as keeping His words; repeating our trifecta 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).

The apostles’ choice of forsaking ALL leads them to their individual spiritual reality and we should try to see that this reality IS the goal for us ALL. We should note as well that the dynamic of time DOES present a likely stark difference between what they accomplished as their share in those “greater works” (John 14:12) and what would be the Way today in a much more complex world. The deeper aspects of this reality ARE however the same: that the True disciple has the Power to move the world. This however IS a restricted role, self-restricted to be sure, and here we should see the requirement of “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body“. In this IS the singularity of focus that IS described in the first of the Great Commandments saying that “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“; it IS in this sense of KNOWING that we have the ability to those “greater works“, KNOWING that we can move the mountain or plant the “sycamine tree” (Luke 17:6) in the sea. This IS the ultimate reality of pistis and pisteuo; this IS the ultimate goal of every Soul. It IS by measure that we gain this KNOWING power through the facility provided by the Master….that “ye continue in my word“. Of course there ARE many in this world that CAN NOT see themselves in such a position and it IS toward this that we can apply Jesus’ words to His disciples as they ask: “His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry“. The Master replies that “All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it“. (Matthew 19:10, 11-12). The idea here IS that some ARE born into a ready position from the perspective of their Souls while others ARE shown the choice through their dissatisfaction with the world at large. Others still force the issue, perhaps according to the Master’s words saying “from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). We should of course see the idea of violence in a spiritual way; Vincent shows us this saying of the idea that: They seize upon the kingdom and make it their own ⁴. We should be careful also of the idea of eunuchs; it IS NOT here used ONLY in the sense of castration. If we take the dual meaning of the Greek eunouchos which IS transliterated into eunuch we can then see that in the first instance the spiritual comport IS that some ARE born with a ‘destiny’ to follow the Lord and to NOT marry into the world; in the second instance we can perhaps see the idea that others ARE so because of the very nature of their lives and the Catholic and Orthodox priesthood can be an example here. Finally we should try to see that there ARE those who ARE driven to seize upon the the Truth, it IS these that “take it by force” and this according to singular idea of striving to keep His words. We should remember that the whole idea IS regarding marriage which IS a carnal idea to be sure; we should remember also that is one’s spouse that IS among those things that must be forsaken for discipleship and which Peter shows us was the price paid by Jesus’ disciples of whom he says “Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee” (Matthew 19:27). Our point here IS that while the nature of the conversation between the Master and His disciple centers around the idea of marriage, this, like adultery and fornication, has a yet more spiritual component that IS related to one’s willingness to follow the Lord. For some it IS a destiny based in an ability to somewhat overcome the carnal ways in previous lives; for others it IS imposed upon oneself based in rites and rituals which, while perhaps NOT reaching to the Truth, IS a step in that direction for the Truly sincere. Finally there IS the Life of the man who comes to hear the prompting of his own Soul and chooses to follow the Path to Truth which that prompting reveals and we should understand here that each of the other classes of ‘eunuch‘ must also cross this same Path with the choice to enter upon it or NOT. Everyman, in every Life, must overcome the nurturing and the indoctrination that has exacerbated his own sense of vanity, his own “bondage of corruption“.

It IS when we can understand that what must be forsaken IS ONLY the product of one’s sense of vanity which becomes his illusions and his glamour, the whole of the Path takes on a clearer tone. This however CAN NOT be seen by the man whose understanding to the Great Commandments IS lacking and this CAN NOT be understood by the man whose sense of doctrine leads him to believe that he has accomplished such things as Paul shows us in our selection. One CAN NOT be Truly “led by the Spirit of God” if his focus IS NOT solely upon the things of God with such focus being in the range of ideas shown us of the apostles in the gospels. We should see in the gospel stories the idea of a process by which one Repents, IS Transformed and IS Redeemed, Truly adopted by his Union of Soul and expression. In Peter’s Life we see how that the adversary, his own carnal mind and emotions, ARE constantly pushing him back from the brink of his ‘glory’. We should see that it IS rather late in Peter’s time with the Master that his dialogue with Jesus becomes about his not so far off denial of the Christ. it IS in this that we should understand the idea from Jesus’ perspective as He says to the apostle “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:31-32). Even in Peter’s seemingly weak position here we should see how that Jesus shows us that he will be the source of strength for the others and this because he is farther along than the rest. To be sure ALL of the apostles ARE Repented and ALL ARE in the process of Transformation, the end of which IS “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body“. We should try to see here that while the Redemption IS the culmination of one’s Transformation, it too IS a process, a process of perfecting one’s expression of Truth and Love with a command over one’s physical presence and large influence on the whole of the physical environment. It IS this that we read about of Peter in the Book of Acts as he Truly came to be among the “partakers of the divine nature” which he shows us that we too can become after “having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust“. We should note here that there IS NO difference between Peter’s words on escaping “the corruption that is in the world through lust” and Paul’s idea of True living through our ability to “mortify the deeds of the body“. It IS this part of our reality as Souls and as men that much of the church refuses to see as they teach men that a man CAN NOT ‘save‘ himself. This refusal to take personal responsibility has become a cornerstone, if you will, of the doctrinal churches today and IS based in a misapplication and misinterpretation of Paul’s words on faith and works, a misinterpretation that IS grounded in a total misunderstanding of the reality that IS pistis and pisteuo….faith and believing. If we can see such refusal as an integral part of “the deeds of the body” and a strong component of “the corruption that is in the world through lust“, we can then perhaps glimpse the greater Truth that such ideas block in the lives of men. This blockage, this “bondage of corruption” must be escaped and this by an act of will, spiritual will that IS acted upon by the renewing mind. This IS a difficult task for everyman and this difficulty IS exacerbated in the Life of the doctrinal thinker whose indoctrination has shown him, to his satisfaction, that he IS ‘saved‘ by the precepts of his doctrines. We could say that the erroneous Christian ideas of ‘salvation‘ begin with the church fathers with help from the sixteenth century reformers who further muddied doctrinal thinking with a number of approaches to the idea of grace but this would NOT be fair. The church fathers were locked in a superstitious and barbarous time where emotions ruled the mind. The reformers were locked in and equally barbarous time that was NOT quite as emotionally driven as thinking was becoming the clearer way to undo the superstitions to which humanity was yet bound. We can excuse their doctrinal ideas because they DID NOT, as a civilization, KNOW any better as they made logic out of the illogical precepts of their own doctrinal thoughts. Modern man, man since the dawn of the industrial revolution and on the heels of the ‘age of enlightenment’, has been developing mind over emotions but with this development there has been little or NO change to the illogical precepts of Christian doctrine and this trend continues to this day. Few there ARE that will challenge the doctrinal churches as most merely turn away from that which makes little sense to the thinking man.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
• ⁹ Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
• ^9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
• ¹² Expositions of Holy Scripture–Project Gutenberg’s and Baker Book House’ Expositions of Holy Scripture, by Alexander Maclaren–(1826-1910)

Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.

Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher