What in the world have I done? How did I ever get to the point where I thought that I needed saving or a savior? Now, what next?

For most new Christian converts, thoughts such as these are surely commonplace. More often than not, we have been brought to a point where one or more circumstances overwhelm our minds, and we do not know where to turn. So we turn to God. It’s a lot like the line in a song I heard, “God works best when all else fails.” When everything in our world seems to be coming apart; when we have reached “the end of our rope”; when we can come up with no better alternative, we turn to God. And, for many ‘older’ Christians, their lives are a continual process of turning to God, then, trying to ‘live righteously’; only to have life and circumstances overtake them, and, again, turning to God. “Successful survivors pray, even when they don’t believe in a god” according to Laurence Gonzales in Deep Survival. (Ever hear an unsuccessful survivor speak?)

Everyone in the West has lived under the influence of God as presented in the Judeo-Christian or Islamic traditions, whether they believe in their teachings or don’t believe in God at all. So-called “reality minded” persons (atheists), and those believing in the reality presented through scientific empiricism, say there is no need for God. Yet, when properly viewed, their particular beliefs and themselves are their gods, whether or not they admit it. Those turning to Islam or Judaism are basically left to “work out their own salvation” while those embracing the Christian view feel that they have found the way to “be saved” through no efforts of their own, solely on the merits of Jesus, the Son of God.

I, for one, have come down this road, with one major difference which I‘ll share later. And, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this path to eternity. It’s just that so many of us get started down the road, and then we are faced with a whole bunch of choices, most of which we make without enough information for them to be really life-changing in the truest sense of the word. And, the circumstances bringing about our “conversion”, our “turning around” (repentance), our rebirth, have little to do with how far we go down this road. More often than not, the group with which we choose to associate will ultimately dictate our destiny.

That does not have to be the case. While the group may determine what we choose to believe regarding our Christian life, or give us the freedom to believe whatever we want, there is no excuse for not going beyond their doctrines, teachings, and traditions to become “sons of God” in a very real and vital sense. And I’m not talking about evangelizing, living right(eously), or being the most pious member of the group. I’m talking about being what God wants you to be; realizing just who you are in His view; living with eternity in sight all the time. If you don’t truly know what eternity is here in this life, you may have difficulty recognizing it afterwards. This applies to those seeking their place in creation through other belief systems; regardless of what their concept of “god” or “no god” may be,

Don’t get me wrong. Jesus saves, and He saves to the uttermost. What is said about Him is true, and what He says is assuredly true. It is just that, so often, we haven’t figured out what He meant by what He says. “What would Jesus do?” is an irrelevant question (since we have absolutely no idea); rather, we should be asking, “What did Jesus do? And, the relationships involving the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit; and, ultimately, each one of us; has been misunderstood and misrepresented; leaving us to cling to ideas, concepts, and things which are totally unnecessary: combined with the tapestries of church teaching, and the writings of literally thousands of so-called experts on “Christian living”, and the Bible; we are inundated with so much to “think about” that we forget that all we really have to do is die.

Just as the real emphasis of Jesus’ life is His death and resurrection; when we, individually, come to know, intimately, deep down inside, that our own death awaits us: then, we can, as Jesus did, choose to die NOW, and be resurrected into our own “eternal life”. This is the true “rebirth”, being born “of the spirit”; “nor of the will of man, but of God”.

BELIEVING - the beginning

“Ye believe in God, believe also in me.” - Jesus

Of course, Jesus was talking to the Jews, in particular, when He said this. Obviously the Jews do believe in God. And the entire western world, and much of the east, has come under the influence of the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…”

Even those who now say that “God is dead”, that God is unnecessary, that religion, in general, is of no practical use, still stand under His influence. From rejecting God as Creator, to the dissection of everything, scientific man still holds to the belief that all things that exist are made from something else. Not only that, he believes in a progression from energy, to inorganic matter, to organic matter; each of which has its own progression from the most simple, weak, and unintelligent to the most complex, powerful, and intelligent. He actually believes that he knows enough about everything to stick his finger into the pudding and stir, just so he may accomplish some goal; which is only another belief. From a lively, intelligent creation; scientific man has created a lifeless, unintelligent, mechanical process, the beginning of which he has yet to adequately explain; and the end of which he has absolutely no real idea: and a process must have a catalyst, and, it must end, if only to begin another process.

And what happened to intelligence along the way? For scientific man, it is simply the ability to separate, divide, name, label and categorize. But, what is the category which contains ALL CATEGORIES?

So, just what is Jesus telling us to believe?

Fundamental preachers tell us that we “must take a stand for something, or we’ll fall for anything.” Actually, they are saying, “we must believe something, or we’ll believe anything.” And, THAT is quite true. Humans have an innate ability to believe anything they choose to believe. That is the very nature of humans, and the word, believe, which comes from the word “lief”. To lief is to wish, to want, to have. Eve chose to believe she could handle “the knowledge of good and evil” and that she could “be like” God. Of course, to be like, is a far cry from to be in His likeness. She gave up the likeness (nature, knowledge, intelligence) of God so she could “be like God and know good and evil”, because that is what she wished to do, and wanted to have. We have chosen to be a slave to our desires (to our wishes, our wants, to have), instead of a glorious manifestation of the work of an intelligent Creator.

This is the first thing that Jesus is telling us to believe: to lief in God. That is to wish, to want, and to have the nature of God. Without THIS belief, we will continue to follow the follies of our imagination; continue to pursue infinity in the infinitesimal; continue to try to package eternity into our time box; and continue to hope for life after life after life in these bodies so we can conquer our fear of death. Without THIS belief, we will not even attempt to approach God.

The second thing Jesus is telling us to believe, is that He (as God) is “the way, the truth, and the life.” And, to believe that, as Man, He will manifest that ‘way’, that ‘truth’, that ‘life’. St. John said that “that life was made manifest unto us”, and that “that life is eternal life.”

Knowing that more discussion will follow, I will let the “cat out of the bag.” The “way” is to choose death NOW. The “truth” is that once you choose to die now, you and God become one: not one entity, but of a single likeness or nature: you DO NOT become God: God is eternally God, and man is eternally man. The “life” is and always has been eternal, simply because it has its source and sustenance in an eternal God.

“And this is the record, that God hath given us eternal life…” - St. John

FAITH - the ground of growth

FAITH, in the Christian view, generally means that we trust God. Of course, there is much ado that leads up to the point of faith, or trust, in God. Just as in every other area of our life, we must accept the basic evidence related to our field of study; in this case, the Bible. And, the Bible is the testimony of Jesus (by His own statement). Of course there is much more material presented, but we want to focus our attention on Jesus: we want to “behold”, to “gaze steadfastly”, to “look intently” upon Him, and at what He has to say.

Again, every single endeavor undertaken by humans is preceded by a learning period, in which information is gathered, or given to us; which we accept on faith. We have to have faith in the authority of the experts in whatever field of study we undertake, from ditch digger to astronaut. Those experts range from our parents, our family, our peers, our teachers to doctors with multiple degrees (supposedly proving they are the real experts). In spiritual endeavors, they may include preachers, pastors, gurus, and anyone else who may think they know the answers. Still, we select whom we will trust, in whom we will put our faith, and, ultimately, that choice will determine which path we will travel.

“Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” Without faith, we would not even approach God; so when we turn to God for help, it is quite obvious that we have faith in Him. Faith is a lot like being pregnant: either you are or you’re not; either you have faith or you don’t. If you don’t have faith, there is absolutely no way that you can display any similitude of it to anyone or anything. If you do have faith, your expression of that faith may range from a quiet prayer to a total, all-out plunge into the abyss of the untracked regions of spiritual pursuits. What in the world?

Consider this: At birth, you are cast out of the total protection of the womb, where you had been safe from all outside influences (other than those encountered or inflicted by your mother). From an encapsulated life-support system into the trackless expanse of the universe, you have been thrown willy-nilly. “Helpless as a babe in the woods,” you are immediately set upon by your parents and family who tell you that you are “you”. You are now something distinct from all that you can experience, according to them; and, of course, all our ancestors from time immemorial. Long before you are even able to formulate any concept about anything, you are told that “you” are separate from everything else; that “you” are “some one” living inside this body being confronted by everything outside, even the body “you” inhabit. Now, you find yourself totally at odds with the very universe that so graciously exists, just so you can exist. And, not only that, but you are at odds with God, the intelligent beginning of that universe; because, if we have intelligence at all, it is because all of creation exhibits the intelligence of its Creator.

Faith, for me, is an all-out plunge into the infinity and eternity of God; wholly, completely confident that He is quite capable, and, most willing to care for me. His infinity can no more be put into words, than I can see without light; but it includes every thing the superlatives we use to describe Him, are not: and, infinity has absolutely nothing to do with numbers (which is just another category of ‘things’). His eternity is without concept: TIME, it is NOT; there is no beginning nor an ending; and a circle (which we use to represent eternity) divides the inside from the outside; and eternity most assuredly includes both, inside and outside, and the circle.

Regardless of how you understand faith; it is “the milk, or the meat” of your relationship with your Creator, and the ground of your life in the physical universe in which you find yourself. Now you are ready to begin living.

“In Him was life.” - St. John

To begin living, we need to have at least a minimal understanding of what life is all about. First of all, we must see that we have (at this point in our discussion) two lives. These two lives are much like the front and back of a coin. Generally, we are pretty much involved with our physical life, which we’ll call the front side of the coin. It seems that with all that is ‘happening to us’, we simply must focus our attention and our energies on the countless ‘things’ which society, friends, foes, and family demand. And, we really must find time for ‘ourselves’. Is it any wonder that it is so difficult to find ‘time’ to pursue a spiritual life, which we’ll call the back side of our coin. But, before we get into these two ‘lives’, let’s take a closer look at just what is life.

Two classes of ‘things’ are considered endowed with life, even though physicists and chemists talk of a ‘life’, or a ‘half-life’ of various things, which we will see very shortly are non-existent. These two are plants and animals (of which we are one). Now, with all the hubbub of the scientific community, I have yet to find a suitable definition of life. We consider life to be that time between “the maternity ward and the crematory”, or, for the physicist and chemist, the time from the formation of, to the demise of, whatever they may be trying to describe (isotopes, black holes, stars, etc.). But, we just called life, time; which are totally unrelated. There is much more than that, and a tremendous amount less. Physical life is that process that unfolds before our eyes, then disappears, only to reappear again. This process was instituted when the universe, our galaxy, our solar system, and the earth became capable of supporting physical life. In other words, this life arises from God as our environment becomes capable of sustaining it.

A look at the creation account in Genesis will clarify this point. Interestingly enough is the fact that the potential for life was here immediately. When the earth was created, the Spirit of God “moved upon the waters.” Now, the Bible states specifically that it is “the Spirit which quickens” or gives life. So life is an attribute of God. However, it was not until the inorganic aspects of our environment were complete, that ANY physical life appears in the form of plants, which are a necessity for the physical life of animals. We simply cannot ingest inorganic chemicals and survive (even if the scientific community thinks so). Feeding plants a diet of inorganic chemicals has proven that they cannot survive without organic matter (unless you are satisfied with the form of a plant without taste or texture).

This thing called life exists in and of itself. Yes, scientists can tell us that, under the electron microscope, our bodies are really ‘made of’ inorganic chemical compounds, but that is only the physical body. Where is the spiritual body: of what is it comprised: where are its chemical compounds? They simply do not exist; yet life is readily apparent. The Bible states specifically, again, that the body (the physical life) “will return to the dust from which it came,” and (I like it capitalized) “the (S)pirit will return to God, who gave it.” You see, when God made man, He formed man “from the dust of the ground” (our physical body), breathed into his nostrils “the breath of life” (His Spirit of life), and “man became a living soul.”

Now, man is a living soul: it is not a possession, in the sense that we have one. A soul is what we are, this strange combination of dust (inorganic matter), and Spirit (life). And since the Spirit does not die, but “returns to God, who gave it,” eternal life is a certainty; because, once again, life is an attribute of God which exists in and of itself, because God exists in and of Himself.

It is the physical life that will change. It is quite evident that the body we now possess MUST EXIST IN THIS ENVIRONMENT, otherwise the rest of creation is senseless, purposeless, and stupid (sounds like a scientist talking, doesn’t it?). When this physical body ceases to have life, it becomes the inorganic compounds of which the scientist is so proud. Of course, it takes ‘time’ even for that to happen, since it is first consumed by a host of animal and plant life which eventually get all the good out of it (maybe they get all the life out of it), and then discard the remains as chemical compounds. I’m sure that all that is left of Abraham’s body is a host of chemical compounds which may or may not be part of another life. Since the inorganic compounds are here to support physical life, there is no reason to believe otherwise.

What will our next physical body be? Who knows? One thing is for sure, it will be able to survive outside this environment! “In my Father’s are many mansions,” Jesus said. Those “many mansions” may very well NOT BE houses, but other ENVIRONMENTS (probably heaven is one of them), since we will need a different body to exist there as a soul (Remember, man is a soul). I’m pretty sure its environment is going to be much different than here. From all accounts in the Bible, it is very evident that heaven will be totally different from anything we have experienced here.

DON’T LET YOUR FINITE MIND LIMIT AN INFINITE, ETERNAL GOD!!

Remember that “all things are possible with God.”

So, the answer to the (rather stupid) question “when does life begin” is: “It has never ceased to exist.” It is as eternal as God, and as infinitely varied as God is infinite. And, quite frankly, we do not have the right to terminate any physical life, EVEN IF IT THREATENS OUR VERY SURVIVAL. When we take it upon ourselves to do so, we are acting as if we are God, which we are not. Consuming physical life to sustain this physical life is completely in harmony with God (as illustrated above, when we discussed what happens to this body upon death); but, not the indiscriminate termination of life.

So, what about “the growth concept”? There is none. We don’t grow; we are. Whatever we are at this instant; we are. It is only when we fix our attention on this physical body and its surroundings that we ‘think’ that we can make ourselves better, or, that we are on our way somewhere. Someone once said, “Everything is on its way somewhere.” But, that doesn’t mean it’s going anywhere. The truth is: “every thing is on its way to becoming something else.”

This is the big secret of creation. The creation is God becoming manifest; is life becoming manifest. It is the expression of His intelligence, and there is no duality of purpose: that is, there is no other reason for creation to exist except to manifest the glory of its Creator. King Solomon wrote, “I have seen the work, which God has given to the sons of men with which to be occupied. He has made everything beautiful in His time: also, He has set eternity in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God does from the beginning to the end.” That eternity is that huge void which can only be completely filled when you know that God dwells within this physical body; you know that He is that “eternal life” of which the Bible speaks; and, you know that God shares His nature (Spirit / life) with you.

Do not be surprised how you may experience yourself after this body ceases to live! Expect anything and “accept everything”. It just may be the most wonderful experience of your eternal life!! Then, again, anything is possible, even a return trip. Con-sider what Jesus meant when He said, “But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not…” (Matt 17:12; Mark 9:13). Remember: “It is the (S)pirit which quickens”: and, most Bible scholars agree that John the Baptist had the same “(Spirit” as Elias. Where’s the problem? I’m not saying you must believe in reincarnation by any means (and, you can, if you want); just do not limit God: “all things are possible with God.”

DON’T LIMIT GOD!! And enjoy this life which He has given you, regardless of when, where, how, or why; because, He surely has a purpose in all He does!! And, if you do make a return trip; I’m sure that John the Baptist had no idea that he had existed before as Elias; so you won’t know about any other life you may have lived, anyway. Remember that ALL THINGS “shall be made new”, and that there will be “no remembrance of former things”.

Now, back to this physical life; the one about which the scientific community is so much concerned. Without any consideration of the necessity of a spiritual life; it is quite understandable that scientific man has decided that there is no need for God, nor dogmatic religion. The first reason for such a conclusion is that, as far as he can see, there is some apparent order to the physical creation for which scientific man seems to have an explanation. He believes that he has proven any number of hypotheses (which are ‘things’ of which he has ‘thought’; which are ‘words’ representing ‘ideas’, which are phantoms of his imagination) concerning the origins of life, simply by arranging facts (which are ‘things’ he has ‘named’ with ‘words’ which are…..) into what he considers to be an ‘orderly’ fashion whether or not it is the ‘correct’ order (which is a ‘thing’, which is….), whatever ‘it’ may turn out to be.

Rather than trying to piece back together something scientific man, and, yes, society in general, have cut up into innumerable, infinitesimally small pieces, why not believe that the whole thing exists just so all those pieces can exist. Searching for the origin, beginning, or purpose for creation is trying to “be like God,” to know the beginning and the end. The Christian, Jew, and Islamic have already been told these things; but, for most of them, that knowledge has not lead them into a relationship with either the creation or the Creator indicative of the ‘oneness’ of which Jesus speaks.

Again, humans have the innate ability to believe whatever they want to believe.

As William James states in The Varieties of Religious Experience, “It is the character of inner happiness in the thoughts which stamps them as good, or else their consistency with our other opinions and their serviceability for our needs, which make them pass for truth in our esteem.” (My underline). Since “inner happiness is a spiritual condition, scientific man is left with the ‘or else’, which is quite evident to the not-so-casual observer.

The other reason scientific man has decided there is no need for God or dogmatic religion is that he has removed ‘culture’ from the spiritual life, and put it into the physical life. Because he has associated the spiritual practices of his various ‘segments of society’ (which are……….), whether existent today or derived from theories based on artifacts (which are………..) with the ‘assumed conditions of the times’ (which are……..), his conclusions are exactly what we can expect them to be. He states that “religion is a result of culture”, when quite the opposite is much closer to the truth. It is man’s basic assumptions about his relationship with creation which determines what he will believe about what he cannot explain. And, when a group of people share the same basic assumptions, they form a community, which is the foundation of a ‘culture’. It is quite obviously not the other way around. It’s just that empirical scientists believe they have an explanation. Since his conclusions are consistent with their “other opinions and their serviceability for (their) needs”; the reason for the dismal lack of “inner happiness” is also quite obvious.

“Inner happiness” is about as hard to definitively describe as the “category of all categories”. Most assuredly, it is different for every single individual. If the front side of our coin is the sum total of our physical life, then “inner happiness” can be described as the sum total of our spiritual life, the back side of our coin. The reason there is such a ‘void’ in our spiritual life is simply that we ignore it altogether, or we fail to realize the goal set before us by our spiritual guide; who, for the Christian, is Jesus, the Christ. Followers of other spiritual guides have failed to reach their stated goals, or, their goals are not conducive to the realization of “inner happiness”. Generally speaking, man’s spiritual life is woefully incomplete, either in concept or in practice. Ask anyone who you think is spiritually advanced, and they will tell you that no matter how far they have gone, there are times of spiritual insecurity. So……………………

DOING - maturity as a son of God

“What must I do to be saved?” - Philippian jailor

The answer given by Paul was, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,…”

My question is, “Is believing an action? Is having faith an action? Is living an action?” Is it true that “there is nothing we can do to be saved?” If I tell you to think about it, you immediately go into various mental gyrations, squinting the eyes, making facial expressions, and your body goes through a host of chemical changes which cause physiological changes, which cause… Get the picture?

Consider this: our grammatical rules state that there are two basic groups of words; nouns and verbs. Nouns are our ‘names’ of ‘things’, and verbs are the actions performed by the nouns. And within the verbs, we have ‘transitive’ and ‘intransitive’ verbs which either indicate an ‘action’ or a ‘state of being’. We need to view all verbs as indicative of action. As shown above, even a ‘state of being’ involves innumerable actions of which we may or may not be aware. Basically, within all creation we have ‘things’ (which are…) and we have doing, which involves every ‘thing‘.

Now, we know just what ‘nouns’ are: they represent whatever we may choose to name (which are…….); and, since these words only represent something; they are a just like a picture, a symbol of an image in our mind of whatever…… While words only call forth the image; it is the image which has power to affect our relationships with whatever the image represents. And, our mental images are just that; a representation of any concept, idea, person, place, or thing; including God. They are not the real thing!! The real ‘things’ exist outside of our mind, in the physical creation. This is true whether or not those ‘things’ are visible to our light-enabled vision. Every single thing that can be ‘named’ exists in our physical life, whatever ‘it’ may be.  Even God!

The verbs are another story! About the complexity of relationships between nouns and verbs, (although he was talking about what could be seen and the supposed actions of those things) a famous physicist once said, “Something, we know not what, is doing, we know not what.” I am taking up the banner for the doing, because I have already figured out what the something is (which is………). Most certainly, there are some goings on; inside us, outside us, in our immediate vicinity, in our world, in our galaxy, in our universe. Get the picture? (Look out, that image is probably not the real thing either!!) “On the other hand, four fingers and a thumb…..Some said she wore a glove.” But, that is not always true either.

Ever single thing that can be named, and for which we have no name, is doing, we know not what.“DOING” IS ONE OF TWO GREAT PRINCIPLES OF CREATION.

Saint James said, “Be ye doers of the word….” I believe what he really meant was to “do what the Word did.” We cannot be doers of a word fixed in ‘black and white’. We only do what we see done. We can learn words and concepts (this is what our education system provides); but, to do, to make use of, those words and concepts is most difficult until we see it done. Then, we can imitate the actions, the doing, until it becomes a ‘part of us’; something we can do without even thinking about it (conscious effort): it becomes ‘natural’, or ‘of the nature of’ the doer, whether the first doer or the last doer.

You see, Man is the only creation which was told TO NOT DO SOMETHING. Every other thing in creation has a positive command, a function inherent in its being which it accomplishes without any thought about it (conscious effort) whatsoever. On the other hand, Man was told TO NOT “eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” The reason for not enjoying that fruit was that “we would become like God, knowing good and evil” (Emphasis added). But, it was not only “good and evil” with which God was concerned. Every “duality” which exists; black/white, up/down, sickness/health, poverty/wealth, front/back (the list goes on and on), enjoy the same status as “good and evil”, or “good/evil”. And, that applies to the coin with which we started this discussion. The “duality” does not really exist. Every one of them is a ‘thing’; a thing ‘named’, which is a thought, which is a word, which is an representation of an image in our mind. These are the fruits of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, i.e. dualities, or, the separation of things which were never intended to be separate.

The big question inside this quotation is, “from what did the jailor want to be saved?” Surely, he feared the wrath of the magistrates over him, even though the next morning, the magistrates released Paul and Silas. At the time of the question, the jailor had no reason to believe they would be released, and, therefore, feared for his life, had Paul and Silas escaped. So, the question put before the Christian is, “from what must I be saved?”

Remember that believe, comes from lief which means to wish, to want, to have: in this case, to wish to want to have the same nature as “His only begotten Son”, as that is the only way to “everlasting life”.

The Greek word translated as “world” is “kovsmo, or kosmos” from which we get “cosmos”, which is, generally, much more inclusive than simply “the world”. The word “kosmos” has a primary meaning of order, regular disposition and arrangement. The Greek word translated as “perish” is “apollumi” meaning to be wholly destroyed, not in the sense of extinction or ceasing to exist; rather in the sense of becoming something completely different from what was created. So, what God loved was the creation He had ordered, or arranged. Since mankind chose the “knowledge of good and evil” over the knowledge of God, he changed from the original creation into a totally different creation. (See Genesis 5: 1-3). Mankind had become ‘lost’ in his own world of “things”; he had violated the law, the “order” which God had established; he “missed the mark” (sinned) which is the purpose for which he was created. Jesus, the Christ came to show us the way back into that orderly arrangement, back into a “proper relationship with God”: because, that is the only way to truly know that we have be given “everlasting life”.

Now, “sin” has two distinct aspects as discussed in the Bible. The first is the “missing the mark”, in the sense of not living in harmony with our Creator, God. This is what happened in the Garden of Eden, and in every single life since. Each of us has chosen (actually, we are taught) the world as man describes it over a relationship with God. We include enough of God in our life to appease our conscience, to make us feel good, to impress others, to try to obtain His blessings; whatever works for our own goals in this life. “Missing the mark” in this sense is really to “miss the point (purpose) of existence altogether”; thereby “perishing” as far as God is concerned. Sin, in this aspect, is strictly related to our individual relationship with God.

The second aspect of “sin” is in the “transgression of the law”. Since man has decided he either doesn’t need God, or he will try to use God for his own purposes; a moral law is necessary to keep us from destroying ourselves and our earth. The moral law is the law handed down to Moses (in the Judeo-Christian tradition), and is mirrored in every other religious tradition. The possibility of mankind self-destructing is outlined in the flood narrative in Genesis. Of course, everyone knows that, individ-ually, we cannot fulfill the moral law. Outside of a proper relationship with God, it is impossible to fulfill, or “live up to” the ideal of the moral law, regardless of who presents it to us. The followers of all other religions are in the same condition as the “Christian” when it comes to the moral law; and when the moral law is the basis of his relationship with God, man utterly fails.These two aspects of sin are reflected in the Hebrew concept of God as a gracious, loving, compassionate Creator, and of God as the ruler of the universe. As Creator, God is viewed as willing to go to any lengths so His creation will be in accord with the order and disposition with which it was created: He arranges all events and circumstances to achieve His purpose, which is, as stated above, singular. As Ruler, God is viewed as Judge, Magistrate, General, and even Father; all that have authority and demand accountability: His law is unequivocal, never changing: justice is demanded in every circumstance: every transgression must be accounted for, and restitution made.

Jesus, the Christ, manifested a relationship with God in both these aspects. First, as Christ, Messiah, Savior, Redeemer, He manifested the power of God in each miracle performed, in each encounter with the religious sector, and in His resurrection. As the man, Jesus lived the law; He fulfilled the law (which made the law of none effect to Him); and, then, He died (rather, He chose to die) to show us how we could, likewise, make the law of none effect to us (so now there is no accountability, no restitution under the law, i.e. no condemnation); AND, He showed us (that in order to enter that right relationship with God), we must, likewise, die.

You see, Jesus did not die to forgive us our sins. He died to remit our sins. That is to take us to a sinless condition. That condition exists only when we die to this world, which man has made, and come to realize that “whether you live for God or die to God, you are God’s”. Now, you can be what God wants you to be.

BEING - eternity’s view

“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” - Jesus

Just as everything in creation is doing something, everything is also always in a state of being some thing. We can chop the doing up into minute actions; and as each action takes place, something is being another “thing” just as quickly. Of course, some things do things at a much slower rate than others. (Notice that I did not say, “at a much slower speed”, because speed is relative to something standing still; that old duality of movement and stillness.) A light wave can travel at 186,000 miles per second, containing both peaks and valleys; because without them, we could not see the light. The number of peaks and valleys is infinitesimal in that one second: yet, the light wave is traveling (doing), and being peaks and being valleys in the ‘same’ in-stant. An ocean wave travels much slower than the light wave; and it has peaks and valleys just the same. The earth has moun-tains which move so slowly that it will be untold centuries before the peaks and valleys change positions: but, they will just the same.

Spiritually, the valley is only the foot of the mountain, and, the mountaintop is only the head of the valley: one cannot exist without the other. Like all other peaks and valleys (dualities), they “mutually arise”, or come into being together. (Have you still not gotten the hint about your physical and spiritual lives?)Long before you were even conceived, physically, you were a purpose for the Creator, and, the creation. That purpose was established “in the beginning”.

“In the fullness of time”; when the Creator could best use you for His purposes “for the creation”; He set in motion the processes which would result in “you”. Your ancestors; further back than you can even determine; are part of that process. And, then, when it came to your father and mother, the doing became more directly aimed at “you”. The ‘egg’ (that half-zygote carrying half of your physical life) was present from the time of your mother’s puberty; quite obviously, just as much alive, then, as you are now. Your father’s body produced countless numbers of sperm (the other half-zygote carrying the other half of your physical life), from the time of his puberty (very much alive), until that time when one of them would merge with the egg; AND “THEY TWO WOULD BECOME ONE FLESH”, “YOU”. The very latest date for your physical life to begin was the latter date of either your father’s puberty or your mother’s puberty.

But, physical life(s) had been here from time immemorial. Your great, great, great, great grandfather, and grandmother lived and died (doing), here and gone (being): and, so with each succeeding generation; doing and being, doing and being, doing and being; until “you” started doing and being. At this instant, “you” are living (doing) here on earth (being); and some day “you” will die (doing), and become a life (being) in a totally different environment. Christians call it heaven; but, if “heaven” is all you can see of eternity; you haven’t looked far enough. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” The thief on the cross beside of Jesus got a glimpse of it!! And, we will, too; when we climb upon our cross, and die to this world.

Jesus chose to go to the cross to show us what we must do to have our sins ‘remitted”; so we could return to a sinless state, in God’s view; in eternity’s view. Then, you and I, individually; and, we, collectively; become “one with God” and Jesus, the Christ: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us” - Jesus.

It is an unchallenged feature of physical entities, that no TWO of them can occupy the SAME SPACE at the SAME TIME. It is very apparent that Jesus is not talking of physical union. Much the rather, He is talking of spiritual union with us: and, as we have already discussed; the Spirit is of the nature of God; just as the Christ (the “only begotten Son”) is of the nature of God. So, then, when we have been reborn; when we have died, and become sons of God: actually, when we have died; we realize, we understand, we know that we have always been sons of God. We just got “lost” (in this world of things): we missed the mark (forgot that God purposed our physical existence, and gave us His Spirit so we could have life); and, we couldn’t fulfill the moral law [“transgression of the (moral) law is (also) sin”]: all that was left was “death”, anyway.

So, why not choose to “die” (doing) “now” (being)?

When we get through this doing and this being; we can begin to work on the perfection in our quote at the beginning of this chapter.

“…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” - St. Paul

Even with the danger of ending the discussion for some astute readers; here is the whole thing wrapped up in three short sentences. The first one immediately precedes our quote above, and the last one immediately follows it:

First, the working out of our salvation must be with fear and trembling. When we have understood the implications of our belief in, our faith in, and our relationship with Jesus, the Christ; which is, of course, the same thing as our relationship with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, with God; then, and only then, do we have any inkling of the magnitude of our existence. There are two extremes which we must guard against; both of which will take us into realms of existence from which we may never recover; without direct intervention by God. /// The voice of experience is speaking: “You DO NOT want God’s direct intervention in your life; it will shake you to your soul’s foundation, because THAT is where He really works.” /// Let your life’s circum-stances; joys and sorrows, health and disease, fortune and tragedy, gains and losses; AND, the pointing hand of one who has seen, lead you into a knowledge of that relationship with God; and, then, He will give you the wisdom, the doing, so you can be His son.

The first extreme, which is evident in the lives of most people who have seriously considered their relationship with God, is that of resignation to the perceived fact that we can do absolutely nothing; either to earn our salvation, or to improve ourselves as Believers (Christians), and as unbelievers.

Number one: we must do something to obtain salvation; we must believe, we must have faith, and we must understand the information we accept as truth. (This does not mean the absolute truth, the only truth: there are other truths not related to this activity: and an absolute anything falls into that “category containing all categories”.) If the information you take in does not change you physiologically, you have done nothing with it, except take it in. Information is fact gathering; knowledge is re-action to information; and wisdom is doing it. The physiological changes are your doing. They bring on an emotional response; and, this is all accomplished without you doing anything in the accepted view of doing. This is accomplished without your conscious attention. In Biblical language; salvation is God’s work from beginning to end; He does it for us.

Number two: Self improvement: it is as impossible to accomplish, in and of ourselves, as picking ourselves off the ground with our shoe laces. What is accomplished is about the same thing: we show our butts, which is not the part of ourselves we normally choose to show others. And, this applies to the Christian and non-believers just the same. Christians, in large numbers, receive the workings (salvation) of God, and, then try to live out (fulfill) a moral law from which they have been freed. As was stated in the introduction, they are in a vicious cycle of turning to God…trying to be righteous by following some written standard…failing, and then,…turning to God…and, on and on it goes: and it will only stop when they choose to die, or when they give up the ghost (Spirit). Very few, truly understand that a proper relationship with God (as taught by Jesus) allows them to fulfill that moral code without any effort (conscious thinking) on their part. They simply do not understand that God is living out His life in all of us.

The unbelieving populace have no inkling of these things. They chase after methods and means by which they hope to improve themselves. What they really improve, if anything, is their physical health, and learn to cope with (which is, actually, to ignore) the psychological challenges (which is their term for spiritual development). Thinking that “religion” is too complicated, too time consuming, too demanding, and totally unnecessary; they will, nonetheless, spend hours upon hours practicing some exercises (both mental and physical) which they do not wholly understand to achieve some ever-illusive, ever-receding “state-of-being. How complicated has man made life!!

The second extreme applies to those Christians who have experienced the fullness of God, and to non-Christians who have succeeded in experiencing God (though called by any number of other names) in the same fullness. (Christians, you have no idea what I am talking about unless you fall into this particular category.) The danger, here, is in believing that you are God, or, whatever else you may call Him. This attitude is very easily accepted, if you ever have the experience we are discussing.

Christians and non-Christians call this a metaphysical experience, and those who experience it are called mystics. For the Christian, it conjures up images of some other-worldly existence, from which they shy away: even though, this “other-world-liness” is exactly what Jesus talks about when He says such things as: “the kingdom of heaven is within you”; “you are not of this world, even as I am not of this world”; “I pray that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us”.

When this “oneness” is truly experienced, the danger of believing that you are God is immediate. The experience must be tem-pered with our knowledge of the physical creation. We must understand that we are the physical manifestation of life (an attribute of God), but not God in His fullness. And, it is only an experience; which may, or may not, be repeated. Just as you can take any experience and try to delineate every single aspect of it, and write volumes about a ten-second experience; and still not have it properly outlined; just so, is it with this experience. Do not ask someone to, nor try to, describe it: it is simply beyond all description. You’ll either have it, or you won’t have it; you’ll know, or you won’t know. And, the choice is really up to you.

The goal realized is just this: KNOW that GOD is the BACKGROUND upon which your life’s tapestry is being painted. It is IN HIM that you have your very being; and your being is ALL YOU HAVE. Let Him DO WITH YOU what He desires. THEN, your everyday living will become a manifestation of HIS DOING through you; His life in you. God is the single source of all DOING in creation. (There is one exception which we’ll discuss later.)

“Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” - JESUS