Monthly Archives: February 2012

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part VIII

“For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you” (Matthew 10:20).

There is a common understanding in some Christian circles that when one is baptized in the Spirit or one is born again, this difference depending on the denomination, that Jesus comes to live inside of him. By this measure, if one is ‘saved’ then this ‘greater one’ that is inside him takes over so to speak, the Life of the man at least at critical moments. Aside from missing the point regarding what is called being ‘saved’ which is relegated the same as being accounted worthy, the point is also missed regarding the Christ Within being the manifest reality of each and every person. As we have frequently discussed, there is a place in the world for this teaching by the church as it does bring, and sometimes keeps, people in tune with things spiritual who would not really have the capacity nor the desire to understand the greater mysteries that we discuss here. This is not said to be in any way disparaging but it is said in the reality that not everyone is positioned in this particular incarnation to express the nature of the Soul. Reasons being beyond our comprehension, we relegate this to karma and we keep the knowledge that all of us, each and every one of us in our real state of being as the manifest Soul, are the same; there are no differences whatsoever between us all except our individualized and unique consciousness. The whole of our experiences here on Earth is destined to bring about a lifetime where the conscious personality can and does express the potency of the Soul and it is our hope that those who are coming close to the threshold can move closer and quicker through the conscious understanding gained from spiritual ideas such as that our posts provide. We should note here that the Soul and the personality are generally aware in some mysterious way of the Life situation and persons are drawn to those things that will help them to progress. This is to say that there is a call of the Soul to each person, calling him to take a step in the necessary direction whatsoever that may be. Those reading these posts and gaining from them are likely in a place in Life where they can benefit and understand and it is likely that a person who is not in a position to benefit would either not be attracted to these or would not continue.

We should add here that the esoteric knowledge that one may gain in these posts is secondary to the ideas of the Christ and His commandments and that this knowledge is not really necessary to move forward. This being said, the reading and understanding of this information can bring one to position of understanding the True intent of the Master’s words away from the centuries old doctrines and dogma of the churches and this is a primary purpose for our writing. There are many in the world today for whom the teachings of the doctrines and dogma of the churches is not fulfilling and, for some, it can actually drive them away from communion with the Christ and perhaps from acknowledgment of the call of the Christ Within. Some, knowing not where to turn, go to the occult or to other religious movements for answers that they do not believe are available in the words of the Master and His disciples and this is unfortunate as the teachings of the Christ are the teachings that are most meaningful for the world today.

If we were to do no other thing that to follow the commandments of the Master regarding Love, our lives would dramatically change and from our little perspective we would be able to change the world. When we can practice the active GoodWill that the Master teaches in all that we do and say we will have a definite impact, in outgoing circles, on ourselves, our families, our coworkers and friends, our neighborhoods and so on and on. If many do this one can only imagine the effect on the lives of all that we meet and touch. This is the FIRST step on the Path to the Kingdom of God and to becoming His disciple; this is the most important step. We never tire of publishing the words of the Master on Love and here we do so again:

There is a force for GOOD in the world today and it is called simply GoodWill; right understanding of this ideal is found in our right understanding of the word LOVE as it was intended by the Master and which we believe we have the essence of in our saying on LOVE

In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men.

We will take this apart with the ideas of the Master intermingled with our words. A right understanding of LOVE is not to be found in the normal accepted usage of the word nor does the normal accepted use of the word fall into line with the intent of the Master. The Master tells us:

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:37-39).

Of course, we should not ever forget the companion saying by the Master that gives much meaning to this idea of “love thy neighbour as thyself” and without which this idea has little meaning to many. The Master tells us:

“And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Luke 6:31).

This is said the same but with a little more force in Matthew’s Gospel saying that:

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).

What does it mean to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind“? or, as it is alternatively put in Mark’s gospel “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30)? Basically this is to say that we should Love the Lord with all that we are? We could dissect this saying but it may cause more confusion that is necessary. We should remember that this is the Master repeating a saying from the time of Moses, some 1500 years earlier, and from a different language and custom; a time when man was a much more emotional creature and the stirrings of the mind of man were not his emphasis. The original text that Jesus quotes says “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5) and this does not mention mind at all and, like the words that are translated Soul and Spirit from the Greek are at times confused, so it is with these words that are translated as heart and Soul in Hebrew. This however is not the subject for today and for our purposes the saying here by by Master should be seen then as now as to Love the Lord with all that we are.

Our understanding here should not be the normal understanding of Love, that emotional attachment that a man has for things large and small but it should be along the lines of the understanding that we publish above. Supreme Love of God is a state of being in awe and of paying to the Lord the highest degree of respect; Supreme Love of God can be said to be what is called in scripture the fear of God. The apostle John puts this into an everyday understanding for us saying “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20). In this we see that the Love of God is only in the heart and the mind when we Love our brother, our neighbor, and ALL men are our neighbor as the Apostle Paul tells us, speaking of God: “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth……That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being……For we are also his offspring” (Acts 17:26-28).

We should see here that in answering the first question regarding one’s Love of God we are answering our next question as well which is: how does one Love his neighbor and who is his neighbor? We see above from the writings of John that to Love God is to Love ones neighbor and from the writings of Paul that every man is a child of God and so a brother and a neighbor. This leaves us only to understand Love in this context and then to understand how does one Love oneself. Love, in this context of “love thy neighbour as thyself” is, again, not that emotional attraction that we have for things large and small nor that attraction between the sexes. Love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. Paul helps us here with this on Love: “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8; New King James Version (NKJV)). Love is, in a word, RESPECT. The Master teaches us that we should not only Love those who may Love us but we should Love ALL; He says: “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:44-48). This is Truly the way to the Kingdom of God.

For an understanding of RESPECT which is away from the dictionary interpretations, we need only to look toward the words of the New Testament. We see from the Apostle Peter’s vision that He comes to understand that “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34) which in this contexts says simply that God does not hold any one person above another or any group or any nation. Paul has the same testimony saying that: “For there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) and again saying “neither is there respect of persons with him” (Ephesians 6:9). We should not leave out this understanding from Peter: “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear” (1 Peter 1:17) nor this from the Apostle James who personalizes it for us saying that: “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (James 2:1-9). Can you see how James has tied these thoughts together for us: the Love of one’s neighbor and RESPECT.

This idea of RESPECT from the New Testament is telling us that we should, as does our Father God, treat everyone the same; His sun shines and His rain falls on ALL. The dictionary gives us a more active understanding of RESPECT though we have to go to the older versions to get a real feel for the word that has not been tainted by modern custom. The list of definitions of RESPECT is lengthy and so we will only address this in parts; first the synonyms according to Websters 1913 edition are:  To regard; esteem; honor; revere; venerate as a verb and Deference; attention; regard; consideration; estimation as a noun. The definitions of note are: To take notice of; to regard with special attention; to regard as worthy of special consideration; hence, to care for; to heed. To consider worthy of esteem; to regard with honor¹. Can we imagine offering ALL of this to ALL mankind? A look at the more modern definitions will show that respect is most only to those that earn or deserve and this is not the intent of the Christ as we can see from above. It is interesting to note that the Greek words that are translated as RESPECT in our context are used in the gospels only as regards to the idea of looking at. There are some other uses of the term respect which are rather arbitrarily translated that way as the English word has many different meanings and connotations. The point here is that the Master never uses the words rightly translated as RESPECT in regard to the attitude of God toward man nor of the attitude of man toward God or man toward man and His ideas on this RESPECT are intertwined with His use of Love for ALL and Love for God and we can see both within the definitions and the synonyms noted above. As men and women of GoodWill we should be able to see the reality of the Master’s sayings on Love and it is hard to understand why His sayings on Love are so diluted by the world and even by those who purportitself to be His Church.

We have not gotten into the ideas on neighbor here today but we should say that this word is sorely misunderstood by the masses even though the intended ideas are clearly shown by the Master in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (In the Words of Jesus part 84, 89, 94). Interpretations of this phrase as giving to the needy are well and good but can any really think that this is what the Master intended for us to do? Other interpretations blend this saying with the sayings in the Gospel of John where it is assumed that the Master is speaking only of one’s fellow Christian brothers but can any really think that this is what the Master intended for us to do? Based on the WHOLE of the Master’s teaching we should have a grasp on this after more than 2000 years but this is evidently not the case for if it were the world would not be in the shape that it is in as regards our relationships with others. The Christian world seems at times anti everything with which it does not agree and the anti goes all the way to hatred. This is not to say that as a society we should do nothing to avert evil and to protect one’s country and its citizens, it is to say however that in our attitudes and treatment of others that we have RESPECT and in this there would be no room for the generalized hatreds and prejudices that still abound today.

The Master clarifies this all for us in what we have come to call the Golden Rule and in this saying we can find the proper refuge for our treatment of others. If we are dealing with an evil person, a pedophile for example, this rule still works as, in putting ourselves into the position of a pedophile, how should we want to be treated. We must however approach this with honesty. If dealing with a robber or with a killer the same is true; how would we want to be treated if we were in this position. This goes on to give us the same clarity in saying that if we were Muslim or if we were Black or Chinese, how would we want to be treated and in this scenario we should understand how our prejudices hurt both ourselves and others. In this saying is the key to the idea of Love of one’s neighbor as oneself for in this is the reality of Love of oneself; it is firmly entwined with the idea of how we want to be treated ourselves in any circumstance. In this we also find the measure of how to Love one’s neighbor and the RESPECT with which he should be treated.

This is GoodWill and this is Right Human Relations; THIS IS LOVE. This is the teaching of the Master and this is the KEY TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD and we should repeat here the saying by John that we cite above for in it is the reality which we need to understand and by which we must necessarily live: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”. This is no place and no subject upon which to parse words as we do know here what the Master says and what is referenced by brother here by John is no different; the lexicon tells us that the Greek word adelphos that is translated here as brother includes having the same national ancestor, belonging to the same people, or countryman; any fellow or man² and Strong’s tells us that it means brother, fellow countryman, neighbor³. It is so unfortunate that so many expositors of Christianity have declared this to mean only a fellow Christian and it is so hard to understand the motivation to do so when one considers the entirety of the gospel message.

While so many look for reasons in scripture to not have to express universal good will to men which is the last part of our defining words for Love, we should be looking for ways to make this a reality in our every day lives. There is no Greater Commandment than this from the Master and there is no greater ideal. We need to see and to understand that it is in our treatment of our fellow man that we express the reality of our treatment of Our God; both the God of Heaven and the God Within. We close here with this from the Master and, while the word Love is not included it is definitely implied when we understand the proper meaning of the word:

“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying , Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw wethee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty , and ye gave me no drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or a thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying , Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (Matthew 25:31-46).

In this text from Matthew it appears that the Master is speaking this, as well as the preceding parables, to the disciples alone and we must remember that these are all parables as they are all teachings by the Master. With this in mind let us look past the ideas of eternal punishment and eternal life and let us look past the individual deeds that have spawned Christian ministries around the world. Let us look at the True message for us in this saying and that is that our Love for God and what we do for God is measured by what we do for our fellow man and that these things itemized here are but examples of the intent of the Christ.

Note on the Quote of the Day