Monthly Archives: March 2017

ON LOVE; PART MCXXXI

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).

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WHAT THEN IS 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. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God

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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).

We ended the last essay with the Apostle James’ words on Love, on agape. Although James’ approach to agape seems different, it IS really NO different than what the Master teaches us, especially when we combine ALL of His sayings which, in their totality ARE the definition of agape. James gives us the synopsis which IS based solely in Jesus’ teaching and he further summarizes agape into these few words: “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. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:8-10).

Doctrines DO NOT see the authority in these words nor DO they seem to acknowledge James’ writings against their seeming disagreement with the words of the Apostle Paul. Both ARE right however IS ALL respects as each choose to speak from their own individual perspectives. Doctrines have ever chosen the ideas that they could best manipulate and in regard to the ideas of faith and works, they have alway chosen Paul’s more nebulous approach over the direct and blunt approach of James. In the idea of agape Paul shows us what it IS to live according to the Truth of the Master’s words, how that in this we “awake out of sleep” and “cast off the works of darkness” as we read in our selection below while James tells us clearly that if one DOES NOT that “ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors“.

Paul shows us to express agape in “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22) which IS contrary to the ways of the world while James shows us that we must have NO “respect to persons” and that to DO so makes one “guilty of all“. Both apostles ARE reflecting upon the Master’s words in their individual teaching and, to be sure, we have but a small part of the teaching of each. Both ARE amplifying and clarifying the words of the Master, words that ARE misunderstood and misapplied and ofttimes plainly ignored.

Doctrinal thinkers DO NOT put themselves into the words of the Master as they believe that they ARE somehow among the chosen; they DO NOT see themselves as everyman nor understand that everyman lives in the same vanity, the same “bondage of corruption” (Romans 8:2 , 21) from which ONLY the Truth can free him as we read in our trifecta. And it IS in the same discourse from which we take the first part of our trifecta that we find Jesus words to everyman; NOT ONLY to the Pharisee and NOT ONLY to the Truly evil among them….He speaks this to everyman; we read:

“Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not” (John 8:42-45).

In the first part of this saying we should see the Great Commandments and NOT ONLY the doctrinal ideas that ARE tied to these words; ALL men “proceeded forth and came from God” and in this we should see the reality that ALL men are each one’s neighbour and therefore should be Loved. Further, even in the doctrinal view of these words there IS a lacking that most universally afflicts the church which professes to Love Him yet fails to live in accord with another part of our trifecta which says clearly that “If a man love me, he will keep my words“.

And this IS the point of the second part of Jesus words here as He asks “Why do ye not understand my speech?” and then answers for them saying “because ye cannot hear my word“. Here, in the Greek word akouo, we should see the idea of perceive, understand and, yes, discern which ARE the privilege of the man who IS “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). It IS in the next part that those who follow most doctrines take comfort….in the idea that there IS an outside force that causes men to sin. The reality of the devil however IS simply the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, in which men live….this IS their “bondage of corruption” both individually and corporately.

This devil is the ways of men in this world, the way of sin which IS to focus upon these ways of men over the Truth and the Way of God. In the ways of men in this world there IS the lusts of this way as Jesus shows us saying “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” and these lusts, these desires, ARE men’s longing for the ever illusive comforts of that they perceive the world can bring. It IS Truth that such ways of the world ARE “a murderer from the beginning” as these ways kill the Truth and leave many dead in their wake. And there IS NO Truth in the things of the world which Jesus shows us and His audience earlier in His speech; repeating His words as our trifecta:

• “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“ (John 8:31-32).
• “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
• “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).

Here we see the source of Truth IS found in discipleship and discipleship IS found in keeping His words and if we can see Jesus words to the Jews in the parabolic idea that he IS introducing to them, the idea of the Father and the father as the one who IS served, we can then see past the doctrinal ideas and glimpse the Truth and the intent of His words. Jesus concludes with the reality of the great lie which IS the vanity, the illusion and the glamour of Life in this world; He tells us that this IS ALL that the world speaks and in this we should remember Vincent’s defining idea of mataiotes which IS rendered as vanity.

This word IS much misunderstood and while many see this as the ‘fall of man’, it IS better understood as Jesus paints this in His words above where He calls this diabolos. The rendering of diabolos IS most always the devil which deflects the True idea away from the minds of men while the rendering of mataiotes as vanity, frustration, futility and even “God’s curse” IS seen by doctrines as the punishment for the sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden; this also deflects the blame away from men and, again, both individually and corporately.

The effect of both IS the same and if we can see this as Vincent defines mataiotes we can perhaps see that the onus IS ever upon men to Repent; Vincent says that mataiotes IS: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends ⁴. This IS Life focused upon the things of this world. Mataiotes IS the state of the minds of men and this IS their illusion and their glamour and, if we can understand this, we can then see that the effect of this condition IS the mind that sees only mataiotes whose influence IS diabolos.

Returning to our original idea that this IS the plight of everyman we should try to see that the doctrinal thinker, despite his assertion that he IS freed from this, IS as much subjected to the vanity, to the illusion and the glamour and to the diabolos as IS those to whom they think that the Master IS speaking. Finally the Master cuts to the Truth of the matter which He states as “because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not“. In this we should see the ultimate reality; it IS the strength of His Truth that ‘compels’ men to look for other ways….for ways that protect the illusion and the glamour, and these ways ARE the doctrines of men.

We should add here that Vincent tells us that diabolos IS written in Greek; never with the article ⁴ yet it IS most always translated with the article and rendered as “the devil“. Our point here IS that in the doctrinal thinking of men diabolos has been given a personality and made akin to satanas which IS always rendered as Satan. When we can see past this idea of assigning a personality to these ideas, we can then begin to understand the reality of Life here in this world and stop seeing this Life through the eyes of one who is yet barbarous and superstitious as those for whom these doctrinal ideas were intended.

Doctrines however still teach these ideas of Satan, of the devil and of demons; most fail to see the allegorical ideas that ARE Truly behind these words. And with this we should add the equally superstitious ideas that ARE attached to the doctrinal views on heaven and hell. In the reality that ALL IS God, that there IS naught that can exist beyond the Being that IS God, ALL of the superstitious ideas of men Truly fail. And this brings us back to Love, to agape, which IS the idea that should try ALL such ideas of Satan, of the devil, of his demons and of hell. These ideas CAN NOT exist within the reality that IS God and in whom “we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

These ideas fail in the most basic Christian Truth which the Apostle John shows us as “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and here we should see this Love ONLY as agape. It IS in relation to agape that we see that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) and it IS this same relationship that James shows us saying that to express agape IS to “do well” and that “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin“. And this IS NOT only restricted to Christians as ALL men in this world ARE persons of equal stature in the eyes of God and it IS here that most ALL doctrinal views of the very nature of man fail.

This equality IS clearly NOT apparent in this world of men and if we DO see the reality of men as this physical form with its attendant mind and emotional nature, then the idea that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34) IS a lie. If however we can see that the True man IS the Spirt and that it IS he that manifests as the Soul which then takes form for a time in this world, the Truth of this equality holds and ALL else falls into the hands of men as they DO create their own worldly existence. In this the varied doctrinal views of men’s relationship with God also fail, relationships which ARE the product of the minds of men that fail to grasp the deeper Truths that DO come to the man whose expression IS agape.

And the grasp of the Truth can come to everyman regardless of his religious affiliations as the Truth that IS Love, that IS agape, IS universal and DOES NOT depend upon any worldly view. This Truth IS however confounded by the doctrines of men and it IS to ALL teachers of doctrines, regardless of religion, of time or of place, that the Master speaks when He says “woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13).

While this may seem a harsh assessment we should remember here that the “scribes and Pharisees” to whom the Master IS speaking DO believe that they ARE right; they believe that it IS Jesus who IS the heretic much as today’s priests and pastors believe that ANY who speak contrary to one’s own doctrine is a heretic. Jesus gives many examples of the way that men have put their doctrines and their traditions ahead of the Truth and we should see that there IS generally NO evil intent in DOING so, there IS ONLY the reality of that vanity, that illusion and glamour, in and by which men yet live.

It IS in this illusion and glamour that men still conform to Jesus’ words saying “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:8-9). As men failed in Jesus’ day, men still DO NOT see the Truth as they fail to see how that these words apply to ALL that ARE “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men“; and it IS in this illusion and glamour that they also fail to see themselves in the Master’s words. It IS this same illusion and glamour that Jesus reflects on as He tells His disciples that “the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service” (John 16:2).

And it IS in this same illusion and glamour that men have created the doctrinal ideas of Satan, of the devil, of his demons and of hell as well as the propensity to assign both personality and blame to these concepts of vanity. Such doctrinal ideas fail to see the reality of Love, of agape, and they fail to see the vanity which IS again: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends ⁴. And as doctrines assign personality and power to these concepts of vanity, they fail also to measure them against Paul’s words that begin our selection from his Epistle to the Romans which we read again:

“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of 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 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. Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Romans 13:1:14).

If it IS True that “there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God” then the very idea of such demonic entities must be a lie as these ARE contrary to the nature of God which IS Love. While the context of His words IS different, Jesus’ words stand nonetheless in regard to our point that there CAN NOT be the existence of such demonic forces within the reality of God; Jesus tells us “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand” (Matthew 12:25). As we ended a recent essay, we end this one saying:

It IS this affliction of vanity that IS overcome in the realization of Truth. We close today with a saying which we have used in past essays. The original intent of this IS very different and we have changed it slightly to show this as a reality of Life that points out for us as the True idea of Satan and his angels, and the rulers of the darkness and whatsoever can be understood in terms of devils and demons…..I HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS ME.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

Aspect of  God	Potency	Aspect of Man	In Relation to the Great Invocation	In relation to the Christ
GOD, The Father	Will or Power	Spirit or Life	Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN	Life
Son, The Christ	Love and Wisdom	Soul or Christ Within	Heart of God	Truth
Holy Spirit	Light or Activity	Life Within	Mind of God	Way

Note on the Quote of the Day

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts