IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 521

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON LOVE; PART CX

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α

GoodWill IS Love in Action

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α

“And God said , Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;  And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying , Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed” (Genesis 1:26-2:25).

• The other part of this is in the next chapter where God “formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul“. Here we have either a repetition and explanation of the creation of man in the image of God and both male and female or we have a secondary creation that brings the spiritual man into Life in the earth. Our understanding is the latter and this would become man’s existence in the Garden of Eden.

When considering this story of the Creation of ALL things by Our God we should be careful in our judgement of the literal aspects in more ways than merely the words as they are presented. As we have been discussing, the idea of the Seven Days of Creation is better understood as the Seven Time Periods or the Seven Epochs as the meanings of the Hebrew word yowm would allow. Strong’s gave us the idea of an indefinite period of time, an era with a certain characteristic, such as “the day of the Lord” and the prophetic ”on that day”³ while the lexicon gave us meanings like lifetime (pl.); time, period (general); year; temporal references, today, yesterday, tomorrow ². We should see in these defining terms that are found within scope of the Hebrew word that the translation into day is a matter of tradition and of doctrine and that a better solution was not sought because in the time and place where these traditions begin, there is consensus on the devotional and simplistic approach. This same would be True of our understanding of the creation of man, that the common approach is based upon tradition and doctrine and that the better solution had not been sought as it would rather strongly disagree with the accepted understanding. Today however there are many fewer who can accept this simplistic and doctrinal approach which results in many who either are looking for a better answer or who have stopped looking because there is no ready solution to their disbelief. Of course those who down the ages have been outspoken in their disbelief have been the ones who have been persecuted although this is not the way that this is generally viewed.

The common view maintains that the creation of man is a rather instantaneous event and that this happens on the Sixth Day of Creation and that the verse in Chapter Two that we are discussing is but a repetition of this singular event but there is no real evidence in the story itself that tells us that this is True. Similarly with the common approach to the whole idea of “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” both from the perspective of “in the image of God” and the idea that “male and female created he them“. For our reality, which we have been discussing over the last several essays, we see the creation of the spiritual man in the First Chapter and this IS NOT the creation of the Spirit of man as we recognize that this Spirit has always existed, but it is the manifestation of the Soul as the expression of the Spirit in the Kingdom of God. We understand also that apart from this physical body, this animal form that we use, there is no need for the idea of sexes and that the reference above is better seen as the Soul is BOTH male and female. We noted that the Master helps us with this in His talk with the Sadducees when He tells them this while referring to the liberated Soul: “But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God” (Luke 20:35-36) and regardless of our understanding of angels we should see from this that there is no realization of marriage and sexes in the Kingdom of God. To this we should add that there is no place in the entirety of scripture that we read about the idea of the sex of a Soul.

We extend also our rationale to the next point in the Creation of man that is the subject of our point and here we should see the reality that this does not have to be an instantaneous happening but rather it is the effect over time. How long it is from the first appearance of humanoid forms on the Earth to the time when the Soul, the True man, finds forms suitable for his use is likely best described by science and history and for our purposes it does not matter as we have no way to KNOW the relationships between the Souls that have dominion over the Earth and the forms of the Earth except to surmise that the intervention is from above until such time as the forms provided are suitable ‘temples’ for the Soul that IS the True man. Our given understanding in doctrine is that the first man, Adam, is created by God from the “dust of the ground” as an instant action which we KNOW is possible as we are told by the Master that “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). That the body of man is created from the dust of the Earth is a Truth but the idea of an instant action is disputed in our premise; first because this act is but an assumption and second because of our understanding that there are already evolving forms on the Earth. Our premise does not discount the idea of creation but rather follows the words of the scriptures saying that God “formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul“; the body IS formed from the “dust of the ground” and the Life of a Son of God us breathed into this body and the man, the Soul, becomes a “living soul” on the Earth. Again we should remember here that the simplicity of the story and the understanding that it gives are intended for those men in that day who could understand little else and that at the same time it is written so that we can discern a greater reality from the same words. By example let us try to understand the concept of God forming or God breathing into the nostrils of the form of man. While the state of the man in the days that this is written or spoken as the story of Creation may have meaning in his superstitions and his emotional reaction to the things of God, it should not be meant for us in the same Light. There is no actual forming of the body of man from the dust of the ground nor is there actual breathing but these ideas are presented to give them in that day and us today the reality that this is done by the hand of God; for them perhaps actually and for us as an understanding of the working out of the Plan of God in the world.

We posit that when the evolutionary development of animal body is sufficient to allow for its use by an incarnating Soul in these beginning times, that a Soul takes over the body and controls and directs it and this is likely a difficult thing as the body itself has a nature and a Life of its own which the Soul must overcome. It is likely in understanding this struggle that we can come to terms with the fall of man and the concept of original sin as as they is stated in doctrine. It is this doctrine that is tied to many misunderstood concepts of the Bible and, in our understanding, this doctrine IS a misunderstood concept in itself. If we can read between the lines here we may be able to see a different reality and one that is covered by the words of this part of Genesis albeit not according to our current understanding. Realizing that man has for thousands of years fabricated the missing pieces or, better said, has extrapolated their ideas on these things from the simple statements we can see that we are doing no worse and that we are using a better and more enlightened view in our construction of what has happened.

• The animal kingdom has been created, first from the water as the great whales (actual translation should be serpents or dragons, etc.) and the fowls of the air and if we read this literally as “every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly” (Genesis 1:21) we can see the ideas that science tells us of regarding the beginnings of Life for the forms of the Earth. 
• It is in the next day, the next epoch, that the land animals are ‘brought forth‘ from the Earth and again must see the wording of “the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind” (Genesis 1:24). In this idea of “the living creature” we should try to see the body that is to become the human and here again we can see the ideas that we get from science.
• In this same epoch we find the creation of man, the Soul which is “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27) and our rationale for this has been propounded in some detail in the last several posts. That this is spoken in the same verses regarding the Sixth Day creation of the animal kingdom brings us to the door of the common understanding that first the animal and then the man while losing sight of the fact that the body of the man is but another animal who can easily be included in the general term “the living creature” but one that is bestowed with individuality, conscience and self-consciousness…..one that is bestowed with the Soul. And again we remind that the inclusion of the idea of being created “in the image of God” precludes the idea that this creation could be the form that is the man in the Earth; this creation is the manifestation of the Soul. We should note one additional point here in this story of Creation and that is that there IS NO clear understanding of what it is that actually happens and when and it is only by the reading that we can try to discern the reality. In these first six days the Earth brings forth the grasses, the herbs and the fruit tree, it is in these first six days that the Earth brings forth creatures of the sea and it is in these first six days that the Earth brings forth the living creature, the cattle, the every living thing that creepeth. These are clearly things of the Earth and in these same first six days “God created man in his own image“. And here again our premise, the Earth brings forth the things of the Earth and God creates those things of heaven and we can but wonder what the True meaning of this word create is in this context; Strong’s tell us that this Hebrew word bara means to be created; can refer to creating from nothing as well as to reforming existing materials, as in “create in me a pure heart” (Psalm 51:10)³. Vine’s adds this to our understanding: Though a precisely correct technical term to suggest cosmic, material creation from nothing  bara is a rich theological vehicle for communicating the sovereign power of God, who originates and regulates all things to His glory ⁶. 
• The next day, the Seventh Day or epoch is one of cessation of all of this creative activity and in this there no question save the reality of the meaning of the word itself which is, as we said, generally translated as cease but understood here as rest thereby conforming to tradition and to doctrine. There is no way to tell how long any of these days or epochs actually are and the could very well all be different which idea we get from the definition of the word and to which we have applied the term epoch which word comes with this definition that is well suited to our needs: a particular period of time marked by distinctive features ⁷. Here in this Seventh Day we have the time for the further evolution of ALL things brought forth from the Earth yet here we do not yet have the True man in form; we have the evolving forms and we have the manifest Souls and we have previously premised that as part and parcel of God, these Souls are active in the evolutionary process as guiding Lights an idea that we cannot in any way explain but which in our reasoning must be as there is little likelihood that the Souls, as heavenly men, would have naught to do for these eons of time.
• It is after the Seven Days of Creation, the Seven Epochs, that we read on about the idea of the plant and the herb being made by God before being in the Earth and here we should clarify our understanding in saying that this reality that we see as the creation of the energy pattern of things, their spiritual essence, is not related to the time frames that we have been discussing in the Seven Days of Creation but it is only a reference to the way that these things worked out in the Mind of God and then in the physical manifestation of them. While we may have positioned that to say that on the Third Day when these were brought forth from the Earth that they were brought forth in this fashion as the energy pattern for them, we cannot say that this as a certainty. However, owing to the fact that this plant kingdom precedes in the text the Sun and the moon which give it Life, we can assume one of two things; first that they were not ‘in the Earth’ at that time or else that there is no hard rules to the timeline given. In either case we do not KNOW when they do appear but can assume that it is no later than the Sixth Day as it is here that they are pronounced as food for ALL and it is likely that they appear before or with the bringing forth of the animal kingdom on the land.
• The next point here is our current point which is that God   “formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul“. It is here that we began today and digressed into a recapitulation of the Seven Days so that we are clear on the basis of what we are about to say regarding the emergence of man in form and his progression from the arbitrary idea of taking over the Life of the suitable form to the reality of birth and death as we KNOW it today. We must remember as we proceed that the common understanding is rooted in doctrine and tradition and that the superstitions and limited KNOWLEDGE of the man in that day required the simplistic wording that we can better discern today.

We will pick up from here in the next post and continue through our final two points.

• Next we have the creation of the woman who was, according to the text, already created with the man during the creation in the image of God. Again this is either repetition and explanation or it yet another step in the bringing forth of the spiritual man into the Earth. There is another rather obscure saying in Genesis which may go well here: “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose” (Genesis 6:1-2).
• Last we have the trees; “the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil“.

Note on the Quote of the Day

This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment:

We repeat here again a saying that is from the Bhagavad Gita and which goes well with our topic over the last several days. Today we see the God Within us as the Christ Within and this is good in the Christian world and this is True based upon our understanding of the Christ as the manifestation of God. We should see that it matters not what we call this Inner Man as it is the same in ALL, it is the Soul.

Thou carriest within thee a sublime Friend whom thou knowest not. For God dwells in the inner part of every man, but few know how to find Him. The man who sacrifices his desires and his works to the Beings from whom the principles of everything stem, and by whom the Universe was formed, through this sacrifice attains perfection. For one who finds his happiness and joy within himself, and also his wisdom within himself is one with God. And, mark well, the soul which has found God is freed from rebirth and death, from old age and pain, and drinks the water of Immortality.—Bhagavad-Gita

It is difficult to tell just what verses of the Bhagavad Gita the above is from; whether it is a paraphrase or a combination. It is from the book “The Great Initiates” by Édouard Schuré which was originally published in French in 1889 and perhaps it is in the translation of the verses that they become hard to recognize. However, the sheer beauty of the presentation caught my attention and so I share it with you. The Path to the Kingdom is the same no matter what religion one professes.

• ² New Testament Hebrew Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ³Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
• ⁶Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 1996
• ⁷ Dictionary.com Unabridged based on Random House Dictionary – 2011
• ¹² Expositions of Holy Scripture–Project Gutenberg’s Expositions of Holy Scripture, by Alexander Maclaren–(1826-1910)