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The famous Transfiguration of Jesus is one of the most wellknown, and spectacular, accounts of "visionary," not mystical, events in history.
We must begin by the caveat that it might not have been a literal event, but a symbolic one.
For example, "Moses" and "Elijah" were very ancient members of the Jewish religion. They often appeared in the experiences of visionaries. As human beings, of course, they were dead, and had been so for centuries.
But, as parts of visions, they were "alive and well" in the visions of dozens of Jewish visionaries. (A "visionary" sees visions, and is not the same as a "mystic," who might never see a vision.)
But as archetypes (symbols of mind), they represented two facets of Jewish religion: legalism and the belief in the extraordinary (miraculous) powers of God. (Many miracles were ascribed, in the ancient tales, to Elijah.)
Moses, historically, had been recognized as the writer of the Pentateuch or Torah, the first five books of the Bible-- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Jews were the original "people of the Book." In other words, their original faith was not ennucleated around a principle such as Love or goodness, but used as its core the written Scriptures, which grew finally to include the thirty-nine small books of the Hebrew Scriptures, known to most Christians as the "Old Testament."
These archetypes arose, during the vision, from the collective (shared) Unconscious. This vision was of a very rare type, for it, at least, in the later tellings, was shared by Jesus and his disciples, unless the entire account is an allegory (symbolic tale).
During the vision, the entire place was flooded with light, a perfect and picturesque symbol of the actions of Love. For Love is Light; for "God is Light." (1 Jn. 1:5)
This could not have been Jesus' first realization of the Christ of Light within him, for he was already the Christ. The account was recorded as further evidence that he was the Christ, especially to convince the doubting. Such stories as this, whether apocryphal or not, are commonly told of deeply spiritual people. In a short time, they become legend. And later, many of them are mistaken for actual "history."
Just a brief note on the word "Christ." This word, among Christian gnostics (most early Christians) was a term of immense respect and great awe. The Greek word Khristos was not just a translation of the Hebrew masshiah ("messiah"). This is a very common mistake made even by ministers and some scholars.
But early Christians never claimed that Jesus was the Jewish "Messiah," and he was not. For the Messiah, said the legends and "prophecies," was to be a great and bloody general who would raise an army of thousands, slaughtering thousands of Romans and other "enemies" of Israel, and freeing the Jewish people from foreign domination.
The real and truest, most reliable experts on the "Messiah" are the Jews. They formulated the concept, and they have studied it quite profoundly for centuries. So, when you want to learn about a strictly Jewish teaching, it does not make sense to ask a Christian-- a person of another faith. And when you ask Jewish scholars whether Jesus was their Messiah, they will answer, to a person, "No."
So, Jesus was not the "Messiah," and never taught that he was. There is one verse in Mark where he appears to have claimed that he was, but the texts of the original Christian Scriptures passed through many hands, and were emended several times to say what the scribe wanted them to say.
So, they are a fairly unreliable document when it comes to technical details of "truth" (Reality). That is why the person of Love follows her Love-trained conscience rather than ancient texts.
So, the magnificent Transfiguration probably was, originally, an account of a solitary vision seen by Jesus on the Mount. Through decades of embellishment, and retelling, it grew into the dramatic, overblown, fantastic, spectacular tale that we now have in our Bibles.
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Showing posts with label Elijah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elijah. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Monday, October 29, 2007
Polybiography and "hell" in the Scriptures
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Paul set forth a cosmic principle at Galatians 6:7, when he said, "Whatsoever a man sows, that he must also reap." On earth, in agriculture, you cannot plant beans and get corn. You do not plant acorns and get apple-trees. There is a direct cause-and-effect sequence in nature. Like causes like, and this law cannot be violated.
Paul is suggesting that, in the moral or spiritual universe, there also exists this same cause-and-effect sequence. Goodness produces goodness, and evil, evil. But the problem is, this principle does not work onearth. On earth, the good often suffer, and the evil often enjoy great "blessings." So, since Paul was not talking about the earth and our lives here, he must have been discussing a larger, or cosmic, principle.
He was. For this simple statement is pregnant with profound meaning. For in this simple sentence, he summarized the entire Law of Karma, with all its millions of variations and other complexities.
It is not mere coincidence that he stated the law of karma. In his time, and it is still true today, most of the population of our world believed in "polybiography," or reincarnation. (Many times, people are turned off by this word, and so, we can also use the other word, "polybiography," to mean the exact same thing.)
Either what Paul said was true, or it was false. Paul was a wise, smart, even inspired, man of God. I believe that what he wrote was truth, even though it is not true in our visible, physical world. For it is a spiritual truth. There is no larger explanation of the sowing-reaping principle than the law of karma.
Besides, there is some evidence, as from the ancient Nag Hammadi Library, that almost all early Christians believed; they taught that Jesus taught polybiography.
Right before stating the karmic principle, Paul gave this warning, in the same verse: "Do not be misled." What factors must we beware of, that could "mislead" us? The entire material, visible world does not itself "prove" polybiography, as it is a spiritual, not a physical, principle. So, it is the entire material world against which we are being warned, lest it "mislead" us.
Paul follows this by a second warning: "God is not to be mocked." This means that many people would like to believe that they can "get away with" harmful behavior, and somehow "God will not notice." But this is "mocking" God. For nothing can ever escape God's notice. In other words,the rule of karma is perfect; it perfectly matches every deliberate word, action, and thought.
Where does forgiveness enter? Anything that is a true mistake, a genuine error, an imperfection, or an action which lacks understanding, does not create any karma. Karma is created by only those actions that are deliberate, voluntary, and willful. So, all true mistakes are forgiven, but all purposeful actions do create karma.
Polybiography was a very common belief in Jesus' day, among even the Jews. This is proved by John 1:21, where the people mistook Jesus for either "Elijah" or "the prophet." So, it was a common misunderstanding to see an especially blessed person as the possible reincarnation or rebirth of Elijah or another respected prophet.
But the Christian Scriptures, although denying that Jesus was Elijah, did say that Elijah had returned, in the body of John the Baptizer. In Luke 1:17, it was prophesied that he would have the "spirit and power of Elijah." So, John had the Soul of the ancient prophet. Jesus and his disciples fully believed this, and took it for granted. In Matthew 11:14, Jesus confirmed that John was in fact Elijah.
Jesus was a mystery to the public. When he asked his disciples what people were saying about him, they said, "Some people think that you are John the Baptizer, Jeremiah or Elijah or another of the [great, historical] prophets." (Mt. 16:14) So, the people all around them were believing in polybiography. This makes it even more likely that Jesus and the disciples also accepted it.
In the Jewish Bible, there is at least one crystal-clear reference to Polybiography. The character named "Job," the text says, was an "Asian." As an Asian, he was likely influenced by beliefs similar to polybiography, which by even his time were ancient already. It was Job who said the mysterious words, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there." This clear statement is found at Job 1:21.
The fact that Jesus and his disciples believed in polybiography is proved by the text of John 9:1, 2:"He saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, 'Master, who sinned, this man, or his parents, so that he was born blind?'" This proves that the man could have "sinned" before birth. It also proves that, in some cases, problems such as blindness can arise from previous activities, even before you are born. In this case, the man had not "sinned" at all, but was born blind in order to bring glory to God, Jesus explained. But the very fact that the disciples thought that perhaps the man had sinned before he was born is yet another clear statement of karma; for without karma, that question could have made no sense whatsoever.
Re hell: Let us not forget the matrix-principle underlying all enlightenment, and that is, "God is Love." (1 Jn. 4:8,16) If God is Love, then he, like Jesus, is a fountain of the richest forgiveness. This occurs, not because we are good, but because God is good; it all occurs because of grace.
A God of Love and forgiveness would never fry a person for ten billion billion years because she "messed up" a single tiny life on earth. It is a principle of all legal justice that the punishment should fit the crime-- or, in this case, the "sin." So, in order to be punished forever, a person would have to have sinned forever. And no one can ever sin forever.
An eternal hellfire is not taught anywhere in the Scriptures. You cannot, for example, "prove" the literal existence of hellfire by the use of a parable, such as the one at Luke 16:23. For a parable is, by its very nature and definition, symbolic: Situations symbolize or represent other situations.
For the same reason, you cannot use the Book of Revelation to prove anything literal, for the entire book is a book of symbols.
Notice how silly it would be to use literalism to understand Revelation 20:14, where it says that "hell [the lake of fire] was cast into the lake of fire." Does this mean that hell goes to hell,and that hell is tormented forever? This is what you must believe if you think that hell is a literal reference.
And the traditional "hell" is for only the bad people. Yet the text of the Christian Scriptures imply that Jesus also went there: Acts 2:27 says, "You will not leave my Soul in hell, or allow your loyal one to see corruption." And in 2:31, it says that "christ" was not "forsaken in hell." This kind of "forsaking" implies that he was already there.
Spiritually, "hell" is a mental state in which you believe that you are separated from Love, and "Christ" comes to this "hell" to rescue those who seem stuck there.
There are yet many more texts that have not been considered here, but these are the ones that truly stand out. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to write or call [the number here is (513-)737-LOVE (5683).]
*******
Paul set forth a cosmic principle at Galatians 6:7, when he said, "Whatsoever a man sows, that he must also reap." On earth, in agriculture, you cannot plant beans and get corn. You do not plant acorns and get apple-trees. There is a direct cause-and-effect sequence in nature. Like causes like, and this law cannot be violated.
Paul is suggesting that, in the moral or spiritual universe, there also exists this same cause-and-effect sequence. Goodness produces goodness, and evil, evil. But the problem is, this principle does not work onearth. On earth, the good often suffer, and the evil often enjoy great "blessings." So, since Paul was not talking about the earth and our lives here, he must have been discussing a larger, or cosmic, principle.
He was. For this simple statement is pregnant with profound meaning. For in this simple sentence, he summarized the entire Law of Karma, with all its millions of variations and other complexities.
It is not mere coincidence that he stated the law of karma. In his time, and it is still true today, most of the population of our world believed in "polybiography," or reincarnation. (Many times, people are turned off by this word, and so, we can also use the other word, "polybiography," to mean the exact same thing.)
Either what Paul said was true, or it was false. Paul was a wise, smart, even inspired, man of God. I believe that what he wrote was truth, even though it is not true in our visible, physical world. For it is a spiritual truth. There is no larger explanation of the sowing-reaping principle than the law of karma.
Besides, there is some evidence, as from the ancient Nag Hammadi Library, that almost all early Christians believed; they taught that Jesus taught polybiography.
Right before stating the karmic principle, Paul gave this warning, in the same verse: "Do not be misled." What factors must we beware of, that could "mislead" us? The entire material, visible world does not itself "prove" polybiography, as it is a spiritual, not a physical, principle. So, it is the entire material world against which we are being warned, lest it "mislead" us.
Paul follows this by a second warning: "God is not to be mocked." This means that many people would like to believe that they can "get away with" harmful behavior, and somehow "God will not notice." But this is "mocking" God. For nothing can ever escape God's notice. In other words,the rule of karma is perfect; it perfectly matches every deliberate word, action, and thought.
Where does forgiveness enter? Anything that is a true mistake, a genuine error, an imperfection, or an action which lacks understanding, does not create any karma. Karma is created by only those actions that are deliberate, voluntary, and willful. So, all true mistakes are forgiven, but all purposeful actions do create karma.
Polybiography was a very common belief in Jesus' day, among even the Jews. This is proved by John 1:21, where the people mistook Jesus for either "Elijah" or "the prophet." So, it was a common misunderstanding to see an especially blessed person as the possible reincarnation or rebirth of Elijah or another respected prophet.
But the Christian Scriptures, although denying that Jesus was Elijah, did say that Elijah had returned, in the body of John the Baptizer. In Luke 1:17, it was prophesied that he would have the "spirit and power of Elijah." So, John had the Soul of the ancient prophet. Jesus and his disciples fully believed this, and took it for granted. In Matthew 11:14, Jesus confirmed that John was in fact Elijah.
Jesus was a mystery to the public. When he asked his disciples what people were saying about him, they said, "Some people think that you are John the Baptizer, Jeremiah or Elijah or another of the [great, historical] prophets." (Mt. 16:14) So, the people all around them were believing in polybiography. This makes it even more likely that Jesus and the disciples also accepted it.
In the Jewish Bible, there is at least one crystal-clear reference to Polybiography. The character named "Job," the text says, was an "Asian." As an Asian, he was likely influenced by beliefs similar to polybiography, which by even his time were ancient already. It was Job who said the mysterious words, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there." This clear statement is found at Job 1:21.
The fact that Jesus and his disciples believed in polybiography is proved by the text of John 9:1, 2:"He saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, 'Master, who sinned, this man, or his parents, so that he was born blind?'" This proves that the man could have "sinned" before birth. It also proves that, in some cases, problems such as blindness can arise from previous activities, even before you are born. In this case, the man had not "sinned" at all, but was born blind in order to bring glory to God, Jesus explained. But the very fact that the disciples thought that perhaps the man had sinned before he was born is yet another clear statement of karma; for without karma, that question could have made no sense whatsoever.
Re hell: Let us not forget the matrix-principle underlying all enlightenment, and that is, "God is Love." (1 Jn. 4:8,16) If God is Love, then he, like Jesus, is a fountain of the richest forgiveness. This occurs, not because we are good, but because God is good; it all occurs because of grace.
A God of Love and forgiveness would never fry a person for ten billion billion years because she "messed up" a single tiny life on earth. It is a principle of all legal justice that the punishment should fit the crime-- or, in this case, the "sin." So, in order to be punished forever, a person would have to have sinned forever. And no one can ever sin forever.
An eternal hellfire is not taught anywhere in the Scriptures. You cannot, for example, "prove" the literal existence of hellfire by the use of a parable, such as the one at Luke 16:23. For a parable is, by its very nature and definition, symbolic: Situations symbolize or represent other situations.
For the same reason, you cannot use the Book of Revelation to prove anything literal, for the entire book is a book of symbols.
Notice how silly it would be to use literalism to understand Revelation 20:14, where it says that "hell [the lake of fire] was cast into the lake of fire." Does this mean that hell goes to hell,and that hell is tormented forever? This is what you must believe if you think that hell is a literal reference.
And the traditional "hell" is for only the bad people. Yet the text of the Christian Scriptures imply that Jesus also went there: Acts 2:27 says, "You will not leave my Soul in hell, or allow your loyal one to see corruption." And in 2:31, it says that "christ" was not "forsaken in hell." This kind of "forsaking" implies that he was already there.
Spiritually, "hell" is a mental state in which you believe that you are separated from Love, and "Christ" comes to this "hell" to rescue those who seem stuck there.
There are yet many more texts that have not been considered here, but these are the ones that truly stand out. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to write or call [the number here is (513-)737-LOVE (5683).]
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