Open Our Eyes and See

“And whem Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.  And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.  Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.  And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.”  Matthew 9:27-30 KJV

 

Recently I decided I needed to read through the New Testament on my own with fresh eyes starting with the Gospel of Matthew.  I had been part of Bible study led by our interim priest who is well versed in biblical history and the Jewish and Roman culture in which Jesus and his disciples lived.   Our priest led the study by examining the historical context of the verse as well as relating it to other parts of the Bible.  This included reflecting the deep symbolism and practices of the Jewish faith and how it related to the growing revelation to humans of God throughout the Bible.  I knew I could never absorb the lifetime learning and study of the Bible our priest possesses, and I appreciated his intellect and knowledge.  I realize that studying historical theological interpretations can enlighten and open my mind to other perspectives.  

 

But the reason I decided to read the Bible with fresh eyes was because my sense of the spiritual was lost in the intellectual study which emphasized correct cultural and historical interpretation as promulgated by theologians in the past. Symbolism is powerful because of the many layers of meaning and perspectives within it that comprise the greater whole and interpretations in the past do not always perceive other meanings revealed with time.

 

As I have written in other posts, we are both spirit and human, energy and matter.  And for me the question is from which perspective do we start in understanding our relationship to God?  Spirit or human?  Spirituality is the mystery of consciousness or intangible that cannot be grasped by understanding human biology and culture.  And as a modern society our knowledge of the nature of creation including physics and our humanity has changed dramatically. It is becoming apparent to me that looking at our relationship with God from a historical or literal perspective defined by words within the Bible and sanctioned theology or interpretations has its limits.

 

It is appropriate that the last book in the Bible is titled Revelation.   As I have said in past posts, revelation is not solely symbolizing a final judgment or reveal.  Revelation is an ongoing process throughout the Bible and because God is in all things within his creation, God also reveals himself in our ongoing exploration of science and knowledge around us and within us. But true understanding of our spiritual nature comes from intuitive knowing, which is our spiritual connection to God, that cannot be defined with knowledge.   But we can consider how science is shedding new light on Jesus’ ministry and the Bible’s message about God.  And our focus on sanctioned historical interpretation can prevent us from considering that Jesus was challenging the fundamental paradigms by which we think and our perception of reality which holds us back from knowing God.  

 

In the Garden of Eden, humans are separated from God because the eternal spiritual link to God is severed, and we focused on our human mortality (we saw we were naked and vulnerable).  This alienation from God cloaked our eternal nature and has influenced our human behavior ever since our separation from God or the whole.  Jesus ministry included a reconciliation of us to God and our eternal nature, but we haven’t absorbed that lesson.  We still believe in original sin and have not embraced the freedom of spirit.   And science tells us that our brain constructs much of our reality.  And Einstein told us “the reality we focus on is the reality we create.  This is not philosophy, it is physics.”  Deep within our collective psyche lie sets of beliefs about our reality and who we are that we need to change to see the world as it truly is – the Kingdom of God.  

 

Jesus told us as in John 18:36 “My Kingdom is not of this world.”  In the time of Jesus, no one knew about quantum mechanics or dimensions and how they may affect us.  We understand gravity and other macro physics because we can physically observe their effects. But the effect of a quantum universe which is unseen requires imagination.  But if we look at Jesus’s words, he is challenging us to question the world we perceive or see right now.  He is asking us to use our imagination and change our beliefs.   Why did Jesus and his disciples have the power to perform miracles?  Because their minds were not bound the physical limitations perceived by others.  This is emphasized in the Christian belief in the power of prayer.  “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.  Mark 11:24. 

 

Quantum mechanics teaches us that by merely observing or thinking about a particle, a particle’s trajectory changes without a related physical cause.  The power of prayer as well as the ability to anticipate an event before it happens, has been confirmed in well controlled psi experiments.  Dr. Dean Radin in his book Entangled Minds postulates our consciousness does not exist solely in our brains but is part of a quantum universe.  And transpersonal psychology which challenged the medical model of our consciousness being relegated to our brain, states that the consciousness or spirit is inherent in the universe.  Our brains are the lens by which we experience and interact with consciousness as biological beings.  When we die, our brain ceases to be that lens as a human, but our consciousness is still present.  These ideas and theories only increase our wonder at the unknown, unseen and the possible combined with the theory that our thoughts are energy, that with faith, can bring about change.  “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. “2 Corinthians 4:18. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Hebrews 11:1

 

Einstein said imagination is more powerful than knowledge.  In Matthew 18:3 KJV, Jesus says “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”  The Gospels are full of symbolism, parables and metaphors because Jesus was referring to a deeper meaning, not a literal meaning and those meanings change with time or perspective.  We know children are different from adults because of the power of their imagination and unquestioning belief of what they are told.  Traditional teaching is that we enter the Kingdom of Heaven after death, but the Kingdom of God is already here, and Jesus asks us to see it.  ^“Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.  Luke 17:21 KJV. The beauty of this passage is that Jesus is referring to both our ability to love God and each other with our spirit within, resulting in the power to transform the Earth and our reality with our thoughts and our love.   

 

As a human, I have a deep appreciation for the study of the Bible based on historical and Biblical tradition, but as a spirit I know that there is so much more.  It is not about choosing to be human or spirit, it is about being both.  I believe that mainstream churches like mine are losing relevancy with a younger generation who is more universal in thought. It is because the church is married to a historical and Biblical tradition that has lost its relevancy  because it has not expanded with our human knowledge.  Younger people reject dogma, morality and judgment as the face of religion. They are motivated by acceptance, service, and the love of others.   ^“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”  Galatians 5:22-23.  

 

Inclusion into the Kingdom of God is not whether you declare Jesus your Lord and Savior, have been baptized, and take communion.  But rather whether you perceive and live within the love of God and serve others as Jesus did and recognize that only God can truly see in our souls and judge us.    Rituals such as baptism, prayer and communion can renew our focus on God, but also become mechanical or empty when practiced as dogma.  We are all children of God and all of our Earth is sacred and worthy of veneration, not just the congregations and churches we worship in.   The Garden of Eden is our entire Earth home, but because we have separated our spirituality and eternal nature from our humanity, we are destroying the Earth and ourselves.    

 

As a church we need to look at our teachings and traditions with a fresh perspective.  There is wisdom and spirituality within our church which has aged, but perhaps we need to balance the intellectual with the spirit.    I personally believe that there is a spiritual awakening which can only be completed by God, but I am not waiting for Jesus to come back to judge the living and the dead.  My focus is the spirit within us and practicing a universal love and eternal link to God that is available to all of us.  Christianity in its present form did not exist when Jesus was human which  has evolved to become exclusionary and hierarchical instead of universal.  

 

God is love. God is the whole.  God is eternal.  

 

Perspectives

 “The right perspective makes the impossible possible.” Anonymous

"And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible." ... "For with God nothing shall be impossible." Luke 1:37, KJV. "And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God."

During my quiet time, early in the morning, I think about the breathtaking beauty of the Earth, and I am overcome with the sense of heaven within and around me.  In those moments, I imagine my neighborhood filled with tree lined streets, neighbors looking out for one another, laughing together, having block parties, gardening in their yards with a sense of time standing still.  I also imagine living in eternity on a farm in a beautiful valley filled with vineyards, crops, and old-fashioned gardens with children running through the lime and emerald green grass. A farmhouse lost in time with a fireplace, warm and inviting and  trees changing in the autumn into burnt and bright oranges with variations of reds.  The farm is filled with animals including cats and dogs running freely.  All my loved ones gathered in dinner laughing and talking while enjoying our favorite recipes.

Our only limits are those of imagination.  If we can conceive it, we can create it.  There is so much diversity within our imaginations reflecting the beauty of God or the whole.  It is not about the world I imagine, but what our collective imaginations and spirits can conceive with love.  As I think about the people in my life, I know there are many facets within them, but in moments of God I can see their whole spirit and humanity.  But in this reality in times of anger and despair, we limit each other and ourselves, by not dreaming and seeing the possible, not seeing the whole instead reducing each other to a single characterization or perspective.  The gift of spirituality is the ability to see the whole, a unification of perspectives in order to focus on the beauty within our humanity.  To see what is possible.

 The power of Jesus’ ministry is that he walked in spirit, knowing he was not bound by this reality and he could perform incredible miracles.  His core message is that the eternal Kingdom of God is within us and around us and that with God nothing shall be impossible.    God is love.  God is the whole.  God is eternal.

Believe.

John 3:15-17 KJV

 "That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

The Battle for the Soul of Our Nation

"He that dwellers in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God in him will I trust."  Proverbs 91 KJV

This morning I awoke from a long, deep sleep feeling relaxed and rested after a tumultuous week with several late nights.  It was a chilly morning with a temperature of 45 and I turned on my gas fireplace then sat in my robe and began to think about this last week.   I journaled my thankfulness for all the people I felt blessed to have in my life, as well as those who have been fighting so hard with love and determination for the soul of our country.  I decided to get dressed and drive to Sandy’s Back Porch to get Fall decorations, drop of my ballot in the county box, and pick up birdseed for my front feeder.  As I got ready to depart, I connected my iPhone into Apple play in my car and selected my Christmas playlist.  

My childhood is filled with memories of music, especially the music of my parents who were part of the Greatest Generation.  My Christmas playlist includes music from the Robert Shaw Orchestra, Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, and other greats from the 1950s, as well as contemporaries such as Michael Bublé.  As I began to drive, I turned up the volume and listened filled with joy.  Music from the 1950s has a special quality to it, a sense of peace, joy, optimism, and love.  It reminded me that after a horrendous time in our country with the Depression and World War II, there was a spiritual awakening and a thankfulness that better times were present.  

I am aware of the realities and history of the 1950s, including McCarthyism, nuclear weapons and the beginning of the civil rights fight that would lead to activism of the Supreme Court and passage of Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s.  But progress as humans has always been an ongoing spiritual fight, and my parents’ music reflected the goodness and triumph of love after a horrifying period in our world history.

When I got to Sandy’s Back Porch, with the help of the staff, I selected corn stalks with ribbons, three pumpkins (two orange and one white), with a beautiful deep orange chrysanthemum.  We somehow fit the long stalks into my car.  I set off to submit my ballot and pick up bird seed.  At the Wildlife shop, the owner and I talked about her gay sons and the need for all people to feel loved and accepted for who they are and whom they love.  After getting into my car and connecting the music, I turned onto Route 159 with a Trump parade passing by with waving American, Trump 2020, and Make America Great Again flags attached to their pickups while they honked their horns.  A surreal contrast to the beautiful Christmas music coming from my stereo speakers, and I was reminded again that we are in a battle for the soul of our nation.  

As I have written in past posts, our thoughts and feelings as well as our spoken words and our actions affect the greater consciousness in creation.   The essence of the battle is that those who seek to instill and spread hate and fear, target those who generate and move love forward in the Universe.  And their weapons include chaos, division, fear and hatred of “the other.”  But as I have written before, God and love will prevail in the end even as some sacrifice their human lives in the fight, because love is the most powerful force in creation.

It was not a coincidence that the New York Times published articles on Trump’s tax returns Sunday night. And that Trump self-destructed hideously in the debate Tuesday and the negligence and his callous attitude about the coronavirus effect on everyday Americans had hit home with the Republican Party.  We have not seen the final impact, but I admired the decision of the Biden campaign to pull negative campaign ads, although the Trump campaign did not.  Biden knows, as my parents learned in their generation, the fight is not over, but we cannot forget goodness and love and aspire to something greater for ourselves and others.  

In the middle of all this week was my 60th birthday and although I felt the presence of God and the love of others, it was an emotional week for me in several personal ways.  I was again reminded, that my introverted intuitive feeling approach to thinking and writing is not shared by others.  I again felt pressure  to conform to an extraverted sensing world or face rejection and punishment, as I have many times before for my thoughts.  My counselor Pat said to me in my thirties, “maybe you are the normal one and everyone else is not.  Maybe you can help others be more like you.”  For me, my life journey is not told by describing what I observe around me or what I do, but to incorporate my life experiences with my journey to know who I am as a spirit connected to a higher power.   And to explain how my growth has occurred within me, so I can help others.  The fact is I have the power to operate in a much higher consciousness and spirit as do others, but the enemy pulls us downward.  We are birds meant to fly between earth and heaven, but the fowler aims to kill and cage those who can fly the highest.  

But as Richard Bach, writer of Jonathan Livingston Seagull said so beautifully in 2006.

“We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!” 

“There

On a distant shore

By the wings of dreams

Through an open door

You may know him

If you may

Be”

The lyrics from Jonathan Livingston Seagull

 

 

For They Existed

 It has been a dry August and September here in the St. Louis area, the remnants of the hurricanes adding to the humidity but the rain passing to the south and east of us.  As I worked in my yard this evening, I could see the edges of the Hosta and patches in the lawn turning brown, along with the spent limelight hydrangea blossoms.  The yard looks tired and parched, a drastic change from this spring when the entire landscape was a lush emerald green.  We were blessed to have a wet summer up until August, but the last four weeks I have been watering bushes, plants and trees leaving my lawn to go dormant.  

As I worked in my yard, I thought about the stress in our country and the loss of Justice Ginsburg.  A friend had posted on Facebook Maya Angelou’s poem, “When Great Trees Fall” and I thought of the stanza “Great souls die and our reality, bound to them, takes leave of us.  Our souls dependent upon their nurture, now shrink, wizened.”  In a time when truth and integrity seem so lost, the falling of this tree or soul was especially hard, and we felt it collectively because of what the life of Justice Ginsburg represented.  Her life is about the power of an individual to perservere against great odds with integrity and in doing so, change the world.  But she also represented something else so dear exemplified in her and Justice Scalia’s friendship.  Their ability to argue the law in a court where the outcome is not predetermined, but based in the end on the merit of the argument.  Their friendship shows us, that diverse perspectives when respected and balanced, move our society forward.  It represents our ability to see celebrate our differences, to put ourselves in other people’s shoes, while staying tethered to a greater truth – our constitution and rule of law and the importance of rituals.  Something lost in the current battle over stacking the court in order to dictate the outcome before the arguments by the justices even begin.

As I watched the private service of Justice Ginsburg and listened to the Rabbi’s haunting voice singing a chant in Hebrew, I felt the ancient call to God and the need to be enfolded in ritual.  In a time when we are fighting over an underlying narrative for the country, we have become ungrounded from a shared reality and the importance of our rituals, norms and processes.  And this is even harder in a time when nothing is normal in our daily lives due to the coronavirus and constant climate disasters.   

But as I thought further, I realized that in this week as a nation we are seeing more clearly.  Our first priority must be our constitution and our norms which have become distorted. As Vice President Biden said Americans when told the truth, have always risen to the occasion. The birth of our nation was not easy, and neither was the Civil War, Great Depression, World War II, Watergate and other crises, but we are at a precipice of making a great change to more closely realize the dream of those who came before us.  People like us who were imperfect but saw a vision greater than themselves and worked together.  They lived in a time when their mistakes were not amplified millions of times or their words taken out of context in soundbites.  They took their time and chose their words carefully with purpose, reimaging a new narrative for our country building on the vision written in the Declaration of Independence.  

As a county we need a leader who will bring us together imaging our country based on our aspirations, reality and ideals.  We can honor and celebrate the genius and ideas of our founding fathers while recognizing the limitations of their society, and the fact they were imperfect like us.   And we can recognize the contributions of those Americans who have been minimized and subjugated for so long.  Much of what we believe as Americans is based on myth.  But myths and stories are important because they can bind us together in common purpose, but they must be true to those ideals that are good and honorable.  So often, these stories and visions were spoken in great speeches by our presidents and other leaders.  At other times through general impressions left on us in common culture.  But in this critical time, we must not allow lies, false narratives, and conspiracy theories distract us from what is good and true.  Let us follow the example of those like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and all those who came before, although flawed, knew what was good and true and aspired to be better.

“Our senses, restored, never


to be the same, whisper to us.


They existed. They existed.


We can be. Be and be


better. For they existed.”  Maya Angelou

     

   

   

Bible Translations Inspired by the Holy Spirit

 Recently, in reviewing a verse within the Bible I examined different translations.  Most of the Bibles composed in the twentieth century translated the verse along the same lines as the NIV Bible in Romans 13:1 “Let everyone be subject to the governing authority, for there is no authority except that which God has established.  The authorities that exist have been established by God.”  Verses 2-7 define those authorities as rulers who are “God’s servants for your good.”  So, this verse implies all rulers or those in authority are servants for our good and as Christians we need to obey them.   Of course, with known authoritarian leaders like Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini as well as other authoritarian leaders who have murdered millions, we cannot that believe they are “God’s servants for your good.”   For this passage to make sense in this translation, we have to consider other Bible verses such as Jeremiah 23:1-4, Proverbs 29:2, and Proverbs 29:12 which call out wicked rulers.  

But what I find interesting was one Bible translation of Romans 13:1-7 that read very differently – the Kings James Version first published in 1611.  “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.  For there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained by God.   Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.  For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:  For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For this cause pay ye tribute  also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.”

It wasn’t clear to me what the word “powers” was referring to in verse 1.  Although I am not a student of linguistics, I researched through an online dictionary the origin of words used in the NIV versus the King James Bible.  The word power is from the Latin word posse – to be able.  The word ruler is from the Latin regula meaning straight stick and the word minister in Latin means servant.  The word authorities in Latin means someone who creates or initiates something.  The original of the word soul is Germanic from the Middle Ages and the word everyone has no Latin root and was not widely used until the 20th Century.  

The NIV Bible is referring to the powers (the ability to act) wielded by authorities and cites in verse 7 one example as taxes.  In the King James Bible, it is to give ministers (from the word servant in Latin) their dues (from the word meaning owe in Latin) not necessarily meaning to owe taxes.  Therefore, the King James Version translation can emphasize several different meanings.

In thinking further, I asked, if there is no power but that ordained of God, what specific power is being attributed to God?  Is power referring to a person or an ability?  Since, all of creation is from God, we can conclude that everything within creation is ordained by God. And therefore, within his dominion including our power to exercise to free will and our ability to think and act.  This would include those who act from love and those who act to invoke fear.   And nothing within creation can be made without the substance formed by God.  Then is creation itself God’s higher powers?  But when I contemplate the meaning of higher powers, I wonder could it also mean powers such as God’s ability to love and grant grace, healing, favor, and redemption?   Not the specific power of Roman emperors and other governments in the 1st Century AD as indicated in the NIV translation?  Could the minister referred to in the Kings James Bible mean servants of God?  

In reviewing this Bible passage, I learned that some Bibles such as the NIV take a very specific interpretation consistent with a human perspective.  Other translations such as the King James Bible require the reader to think deeper within the spiritual.  And while I do not have the education to know why these translations are so different, I think those translations such as the King James Bible that ask us to consider both the spiritual and human perspectives are closer to an understanding of God as inspired by the Holy Spirit.  

Where There is No Vision the People will Perish

"Where there is no vision the people will perish."

 - Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

This week I was asked by my church to prepare a question to ask potential candidates for our new priest.  When I was called by the search team member, who is an amazing leader and servant in my church, I said how do we combine the intellectual, the heart and the universal in a time where many people no longer see Christianity and the church as relevant?  I based this question on the fact that the Episcopal Church in which I am a member, as well as other major denominations are declining in membership.  And some like our church home, may not survive once my generation and the generation before me is gone.

Six years ago, at a Catholic Women’s Retreat, I was told by another participant that I was a Christian voice for the 21st Century, and that I needed to write.  So, I began my blog Sacred Souls and slowly started to develop my voice.  Several weeks ago, I sent my last blog entry titled Walk in Spirit to my 83-year-old former mother-in-law with whom I often attend services at a Baptist church.  She texted me back, “you need to be a minister.”  My response back to her was that her pastor would not agree with her, as well as many other priests and pastors.  I am an “out of the box” thinker whose writings sometimes challenge mainstream biblical and theological interpretations. I do know that there are some Christians such as Fr. Richard Rohr and Sister Ilia Delio, who are  Franciscans would probably agree with many of my thoughts.  They hope to move the Catholic Church into a universal thinking of Christ as love within all of creation with less focus on sin.  My spiritual advisor, who is Catholic, has discussed with me whether it is possible to transform an institution as large as the Catholic Church which is immersed in historical theology and male dominated hierarchies.   My thoughts are no - it must come from smaller denominations with a spiritual awakening.  

The reason I believe that Christianity and mainstream churches in the United States are declining in membership, is because the focus is on an individual path for salvation as a human being, not focused on spirit and universality.   Many churches are vested in a hierarchy and doctrine developed over many centuries.  I was reminded in last week’s Bible Study on 2 Peter by our interim priest, to be Christian is to be baptized and believe in the resurrection, not to walk in the spirit of Christ.  Our interim priest made it clear not adhering to established church theology of Biblical interpretation is heresy. He said that Peter was addressing attacks from within Christianity and that we have two choices - eject dissenters or repudiate them in church.   I was reminded during that study that my thoughts on the universality of love and Christ, may be viewed as an internal attack from within the church.   I am very aware I could lose my church home and the love from others if I question the theological interpretation as explained by the priests and other religious authorities.  

Last week, my thoughts on some churches losing relevancy because of the focus on salvation not love was touched upon in a recent On My Mind podcast with Diane Rehm, in which she discussed racism in Christianity with Robert P. Jones.  He is the CEO and Founder of PRRI and a leading scholar on religion, culture and politics.  He holds a Ph.D. in religion from Emory University, a master’s in divinity and a B.S. in computing science and mathematics.  PRRI conducted a survey with over 6,000 participants to compare attitudes between white Christians and white non-Christians about white supremacy and racism.  He found that white Christians in all denominations, were more racist by a 20-30 point difference over white non Christians.   For example, white Christians were more likely to believe police killings of blacks are isolated incidents, not part of  widespread discrimination.  When asked why would white Christians be more racist?  Robert Jones responded he believed it to be that white Christianity focuses on individual salvation.    Many white Christians may do acts of charity such as feeding the hungry and homeless, but do they change the underlying system causing the hunger and homelessness in the same light as Reverend Martin Luther King did with poverty, voting rights and segregation?  

I am not discounting the importance of the Bible and the contributions of Christians to theology and rituals over thousands of years. This is the intellect of Christ.   I know in my spiritual journey as well as the testimonies of others, that Christians modeling the love of God saved me when I was in despair and helped me to realize the goodness and love of God.  This is the heart of Christ.  But to become relevant in a time when our awareness of the global is increasing due to modern transportation and communication we need look at our theology, rituals and the Bible through different eyes.  Sometimes the same Bible verses, prayers and rituals interpreted, emphasized and acted upon in a new light can change everything.  The spirit and the unseen hand of God is more powerful than our humanity.  Perhaps that is why a growing percentage of people in the United States say they are spiritual, but not religious.  And why mainstream churches emphasizing doctrine over  universal love, spirit and action are in decline.  

In my March 21, 2016 blog entry titled A True Work of Art Is but A Shadow of the Divine Perfection, I wrote this – 

"Where there is no vision the people will perish." - Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

“For years I had an unframed print in my office at Saint Louis University of the portion of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel painting of God reaching out to touch Adam's hand with Michelangelo’s quote, "A true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection."  Most interpreters would say that we could never perfectly replicate or reproduce what God creates.

I believe that this interpretation of Michelangelo's quote does not reveal the full genius of his insight.  True art comes from the soul and changes not only "what we see" but "how we see."  In the Bible it is the sight of the "unseen" that is divine, and a true work of art is but a shadow of the divine.  It is the unseen hand of God touching us.  Without this vision, the people shall perish.”

    

  

Walk by Spirit

"If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." Galatians 5:25

"For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."  Romans 8:14

This week I have been struggling with my intuitive and innate understanding of God with what is taught in various denominations especially when it comes to the Bible.  On one hand there are denominations such as Southern Evangelicals that believe that only the Bible reveals the truth about God and that everything in the Bible literally happened as written.  Other denominations such as the Catholic Church write that “All Sacred Scripture is but one book, and this one book is Christ, ‘because all divine Scripture is fulfilled in Christ.”  They continue to say, that Scripture is divinely inspired and is unique in world literature.  They acknowledge the Bible contains myths, stories, parables and historical facts inspired by God. The Bible is written this way because it allows for revelation, that is drawing multiple messages from the same text.  This also allows for prophecy and other deeper insights requiring imagination.  The deep spiritual insight represented in Genesis that we intuitively understand within the story is what is essential, not whether we believe literally that a man and woman named Adam and Eve once physically existed in a garden called Eden.  

Many Biblical scholars agree that most of the Old Testament was written around 500 B.C. although chronological dates are assigned to events in Bible from 4,246 B.C. (Adam – Wikipedia) in the Old Testament.   The events and writing of the New Testament are contained within the first century A.D.  We know that parts of the Bible were written in multiple languages contained in separate documents.  Not until 500 A.D. was there consensus between denominations on what books to include in the Bible.  There are now many translations and versions of the Bible even within a single language such as English.   

In my mind, we need to recognize that the Bible tells the story of the evolving relationship and understanding by humans of God, reflecting the perspective of different cultures compiled together over a period of time.  The beliefs and understanding of God by a human at the time of Leviticus would not be the same as in 21st Century America.  Also, we need to recognize that most of the Old Testament was actually written in 500 B.C. reflecting that culture with recounted stories told verbally over possibly hundreds if not thousands of years.  To me the Bible as a divinely inspired book, the understanding of God grows as God gradually reveals his nature and message culminating in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. And that process comes from within.  I have come to believe that the original separation from God is spiritual, changing the nature of our humanity because humans were no longer immersed and connected to the consciousness of God and the eternal.  Ultimately the life, death and resurrection of Jesus represents a reconciliation of humans to the consciousness of God within eternity.  The Bible is first about a spiritual journey to remember who we are as children of God.  And because some Christians do not see Jesus’s underlying message that we are spirit, they focus on human behaviors or the law as communicated in the Old Testament and portions of the New Testament.  This can be problematic in our spiritual growth as individuals and as a community.  

To illustrate this point, let us examine slavery in which there are over 100 verses in the Bible.  Leviticus 25:44-46 ESV 

“As for your male and female slaves whom you may have, you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you. You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property. You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.” 

Later in the New Testament, Ephesians 6:5-8 Paul states, “Slaves, be obedient to your human masters with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ,” Similar statements regarding obedient slaves can be found in Colossians 3:22-24, 1 Timothy 6:1-2, and Titus 2:9-10.  In the 21st Century most of us agree that slavery is immoral and not reflective of God, even though it is still practiced in some parts of the world.  But we know that white Christian slave owners in the United States often used the Bible to justify owning blacks.  But today, you will no longer find churches preaching pro-slavery sermons based on these verses.

In other cases, some churches preach homosexuality is a sin and cite Bible verses about marriage between a man and a woman as well as verses such as Leviticus 18:22 "Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin." (NLT) Although pastors know that slavery is condoned in the Bible but know it is wrong, will still preach against homosexuality.  They take this position although modern psychology states that although we do not clearly understand all the factors in sexual orientation, there is a biological element to it.   And as confirmed by the American Psychiatric Association in 1973 homosexuality is no longer considered a mental disorder.    

Another example of changes in practices are Bible passages that state women are unclean when the menstruate therefore requiring isolation so not to contaminate men. We no longer follow those practices because we recognize it is a natural biological process, not an unclean act. 

Romans 13:1 states, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”  When asked why a loving God would establish the governments of Hitler, Stalin, North Korea and other autocratic or fascist leaders - the standard response from some Christians is that God allows these governments for his own purposes.  That suggests that God is a puppeteer pulling the strings deciding what he will and will not allow and that humans have no free will.  If that is the case, since God is all powerful and humans have no free will, why not just wipe creation of sin instead of letting humans suffer?  Allowing humans to suffer for no purpose brings to mind a God that is cruel.  This runs counter to a loving God that grants free will to allow spiritual growth in his children and creation.  A loving God is analogous to parents giving freedom to children to make choices in order to grow knowing their children will sometimes choose unwisely. 

Which brings me back understanding the Bible as a Holy Book as primarily documenting a spiritual awakening, reconciliation and revelation.  Revelation does not solely mean a final dramatic reveal, but also an ongoing process.  God reveals himself every day in all creation including our growing understanding of our humanity, nature, physics, and the Universe. That allows us to spiritually grow in ways not possible in 100 A.D. and some Bible verses can be viewed differently in this light including those on slavery and homosexuality.

God is the loving movement which remains unseen except by faith.  When humans choose love, they choose God.  And since God and love is the most powerful force in creation, ultimately it prevails even when some humans in a fallen world separated from God, chose differently.  And the movement of God is universal in spirit, not limited to the window of time we perceive as humans.  To focus solely as a human on an individual journey for salvation, is to deny our universality in spirit and eternal connection to God.   Understanding that our journey as written in the Bible as a spiritual awakening in light of eternity, I believe is Jesus' ultimate message. 

And when we walk by spirit – love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23.