I actually recommend reading something else before reading this,
listed in the "Re-runs" section of this book, called  The
Essence of Christianity: God's Organizational Chart Red
Tail Chasing Hawks - Eagle Dances With The Wind - 01 - Morning Song
A while back, Bill Moyers had a guest on his program named Robert Wright, who I liked
very much. He had obviously given a great deal of time and thought to his best selling
book "The Evolution of God", which, according to descriptions on Bill Moyers'
Journal, reflected on a great number of subjects and inquiries I, and I'm sure a great
number of other people, have pondered from time to time.
I hope Robert Wright will forgive me for using him as an example in this chapter, but I
think what I have to say will provide him some insight, as well as answer questions and
probably make him laugh just a little if he reads this and thinks about it for a while.
And why it seems that God doesn't answer prayer or do things things we thought He would
because we don't recognize His ways when He does answer our prayers and does what
needs to be done.
One of my favorite subjects and areas of study is the consistency of God's ways. It's
like a child watching his father, thinking, he does things one way, I wonder why, and I
wonder what the difference is when he decides to do it in what appears to be a different
way.
In this same discussion, one can't help but include considerations of what it means
when we are told and believe that "God perfects Himself in us".
Add to that, he brings up discussions regarding faith, prophecy, how God changes and/or
our perceptions of God have changed over time.
One of the most fascinating things to study, observe and cause, the evolution of the
cosmic consciousness of humanity, as we enter a new age, just as the world entered a new
age long ago with the life and teachings of Jesus.
It's something that requires us, in the long run, to consider everything from
animalistics to humanistics, legalistics and more, all at a moment of abundance and ready
for harvest, like a natural resource available for the restoration, rebirth and
re-creation of a world and way of being that provides a world - a world order - that we
love instead of, as the Bible says, one that could not possibly be loved if people are of
God, and that being "of God" means more than being a Christian or of any other
moral faith or discipline unto itself could explain.
And, finally, the idea I've seen people discuss online that isn't true but is worthy of
consideration because of the questions it causes you to ask, and the answers
provided that prove the existence of God and your personal observations of "the
way the world really works": and that's the idea that the God of the Old Testament is
a different God than the New Testament.
When you get out a Bible with a concordance, and read the Bible from front to back,
reading the cross references and doing your best to understand the symbolism and analogies
and other nuances of the text, you begin to see a book that all at once provides
incredible insight not only on issues of spirituality, but the evolution of the cosmos,
the shaping of cultures and societies as well as the strengths and downfalls of nations
and empires that is sort of like seeing the personal notes of the Christs throughout
the ages, describing what worked and what went wrong, and the faith in God that provided
and should always be trusted. Like something left around for about 2000 years for
the next acknowledged Christ to consider in order to avoid the same mistakes in the next
advent, and to be able to apply judgment to issues, always in consideration, abeyance and
understanding of God's ways, which work, toward resolving the issues of citizens and their
quality of life without prejudice or caste.
And you get to read it too. All the wisdom and knowledge and examples that
need to be fully understood and assimilated in order to successfully lead fellow citizens
in God's ways, with full respect to real liberty and free will. In this case, though,
successfully does is not defined as meaning having won a political election or defeated a
foe.
In this case I mean "successfully" as meaning accomplishing goals to properly
and honestly serve and administer the needs of the people. It may not be as exciting, but
it's a great deal more productive, frugal and empathetic to the difficulties citizens in
every nation are facing right now as governments are "retooling" and
"reconfiguring" their governments and economic systems for the New World Order
without true regard for the welfare of the citizens, a sort of "life goes on, they'll
adapt" attitude.
The Bible says God is consistent in His ways. I believed it when I read it. But I
wanted to know for myself, and most particularly, I wanted to know if God really believed
in and started military wars, and in view of the answer to that, was the New Testament,
and the teachings of Jesus, consistent with the ways of God?
And then, what part of the actual words used in the Bible meant different things
depending on which nation or language they were originally written in as well as the
language and customs of the languages they were translated to, as well as noticing how
definitions of words changed over time, philology, in ways that changed the meanings of
some versions of Bibles that also altered our perceptions of God, Christianity and
prophecy to mean things that, with a bigger view and in context, would mean something
totally different than intended, or have multiple meanings depending on how the wisdom was
applied as a paradigm.
We humans, particularly these days, are always expecting instant results, a series of
events happening in fast succession like Cable News Channels report and comment on
politics, with a quickly changing set of facts and circumstances.
I remember at one point as a child hearing that Satan was in the world and that the
Second Coming was expected in this generation. This generation. But, that God does
everything in His own way and you never know how long God's measurement of time is.
The Bible says, hope is a good thing, so long as it is for something worthy of
your desire, with the knowledge that it may not materialize in your lifetime, like a
vision or a dream you are satisfied to do your part on until you leave this world, and
someone else takes your place in the endeavor.
The Bible says that as Christians and observers of other faiths, we are servants of
God. We serve God simply by being and living in the ways of God. The ways of God are not
laws or commandments or the dictates of a tyrant. They are the ways you might call a
better way to live.
Then the question might be, why is it better? By learning and understand the teachings
of Jesus, we are given a good example of what God's ways are in order to begin that
new age or era by someone basically saying, "Okay, this is the way God would like you
to think about things now", and Christ is the person God provides and works in and
through to answer your questions and represent you to leaders who were entrusted to, but
have consistently failed to, listen to the Christ they said they would follow when their
founders, leaders and nations made a covenant with God regarding their conduct and
co-existence, especially nations which have been declared empires and / or anointed.
Joan
Armatrading - Whatever's For Us - 06 - Visionary Mountains
Why don't we know the ways of God? When did we stop listening to the
Christs God provided, and how does that relate to the condition of the world today, and
why we would not believe there is a Christ, let alone God, at this point in history?
That's where I'm reminded of Robert Wright, and something my brother told me one day
when I was in my mid-thirties. He said "When you turn 40, you begin to contemplate
your mortality".
I thought that was an odd thing to say, not part of any other conversation, and maybe
one of the most profound things he ever said to me, as the years since have proven it true
for me and many people.
Sometimes it's just because we're growing old, watching our bodies change and weight of
our responsibilities in the present and toward the future.
In other ways, it's like reviewing your life, and deciding whether or not you're
satisfied with your life and accomplishments, or whether there's something you need to do
before you go, one more thing that would give you the feeling you did were always meant to
do. And if that was the case, what would it be, and what would inspire you to do it? What
is the belief and faith that makes you believe you can and should?
Staple
Singers - Respect Yourself
Robert Wright reminded me of myself, and I'd bet many other people, especially since my
ear caught him mentioning that he, like I, began our spiritual journeys grounded in the
Southern Baptist Church. I have no doubt he spent a great deal more time participating in
his church than I.
Contemplating your mortality, asking questions like "Is that all there is?",
and "Did I really do the right things, and if there really is a God above and
Heaven and life after death and hell... " He might be someone who actually, truly
believes in God and has had incredible faith in the promises of God over the years, only
to find himself in the same position as many of us, wondering how we'll fare when we are
judged, facing God, what will God really be like, and what did He actually expect of me
after all?
Thinking, I know I am a good person, but was I good enough, despite my knowledge that I
didn't really keep the commandments, despite knowing I hurt people along the way and
didn't make up for it... all the things we judge ourselves on, based on what we think
people or God would say and think of us.
And we wonder, was I just a stupid fool, like some people say, believing in something
that doesn't really exist except to convince people to be controlled, the opiate of the
masses? As the thoughts and memories that have provided the proof of our belief in God's
existence over time passes through our minds and puts our feet on the solid foundation of
faith and grace once again.
So we begin to rationalize and justify, to reconcile the knowledge we have of our faith
and religion, of God, and reconcile what we believe are His ways with what are our own
ways and the ways of the world, the ways we know things are done in this world and expect
that God's ways must be the same or at least He is tolerant of our own sins based on
something of a bell curve, in relation to what everyone else is like instead of
based on our own integrity to what we claim as our values and principles, as we are viewed
and measured independently as individuals.
Over time, despite the warnings and assurances in the Bible regarding our need to keep
faith and to know that endurance will be required, even if the final days and the
deliverance of a world "of God" occurs in their current physical host or not.
And our faith wanes. Because we have hopes. Even expectations. All unfulfilled because
we have expectations of God, even though our Bibles say not to have expectations of God,
because even though the ultimate plan is for us all, every spirit and being, to exist all
at once and forever, only God knows when the right time is for the change from era to era
to occur.
And of course, Christians believe and know that the next era is the era of the promised
land, fulfillment of covenants, enlightenment, guidance from source. The empire that is
not an empire but a choice of the citizens to live free, with liberty and a voice in
setting the responsibilities and priorities of its nations and governance. God's kingdoms,
the full establishment of the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of Heaven.
So God counts on us to have faith. As time goes on and we grow older, still believing
in God but somehow, in a way, having a slight resentment as well as a yearning for the
hope that seems beyond our time, capability and imaginations, an area of God's world that
eludes us as magical things happen all around us every day, seeming to be ordinary in a
world of hustle and bustle as we live our lives, day to day, earning our livings, raising
our families and investing in retirement plans, an area of God's world called God's
mysterious ways.
But we don't have His patience, His sense of eternity to know that his desire, the
desire of all people, that same yearning of people around the world is exactly what is
required for people to wake up and choose a world "of God", one that operates
based on "His ways", if only we understood what they were.
So we begin to rely on answers that don't so much rely on faith in the grace and the
mysterious ways of God, but explanations for existence and faith, the shaping of religious
beliefs and universal truths based purely on human endeavor, ingenuity and opinion, and we
begin to question God, instead of questioning ourselves, what we believe, how we express
that from our hearts and souls and into our lives, and being able to say truthfully that
we've sought the truth for ourselves as part of our lives, the truth about the world, and
the truth about our spirituality and of God's ways.
Not for the sake of knowledge.
But, for the sake of the spirit within you, part of your sub-conscience, seeking
to assist your being, the conscious part of the way you "operate" in the world,
to be the same "person".
It's difficult to do in a world where telling the truth about anything, including
yourself, can be dangerous.
And, why it requires a world of citizens who agree that they will no longer tolerate
that kind of world.
I believe we live in that world now.
We turn to even more humanistics, ways that we can imagine that the problems of the
world can be solved and how the mysteries of the universe can be solved, because we
believe that God isn't going to do it soon enough, so the only answer is to do it
ourselves, our ways, the ways our leaders have devised for us to make us feel we have been
heard when we have not.
And we forget the examples and teachings of Jesus that actually instruct us of what we
are witnessing, dealing with, and ways to deal with it. Economic slavery.
But we have been lulled into working inside the system of those who enslave us, a
system that merely ensnares us even further each time we seek to claim the rights that are
a facade to those who seek truth and question authority or require their benefit for the
very reasons they were provided as safeguards against the very kinds of people who usurp
them now. They are a facade to those without reasons to question their actual observance.
We have been forced to represent Jesus and the teachings of other prophets as nearly
purely spiritual and cultural leaders for many reasons including laws that purposely
manipulate spiritual leaders into remaining uninvolved in political and electoral
activities. Even that law is routinely overlooked when a particular religion is a patron
of a political party or organization.
This is the way it's been for ages, as mankind "evolved" from a more
primitive form of culture to the next stage to the next to this moment in time when God
said the next would come.
So we wonder and question, what will God be like? How has the God of the Old Testament,
the Old "Biblical" ways changed according to the New Testament, as it seems so
different with Jesus than it did before He was Christ, and the other Christs, like Abraham
and Moses, who talked directly to God?
And how could anyone know if God in the Old Testament was the same as in the New
Testament, if we don't know God's ways? That's how we end up believing that our opinions
of what God's ways are, what He is like, and the "rules to be established" in
the new age are the truth, instead of describing them as the speculation that they are.
For 2000+ years, we haven't listened to a Christ. Christ is supposed to explain and
teach God's way's. How could we possibly know God's ways if no one listens to or believes
the teacher because the teacher, like a good teacher, teaches students things they didn't
know, or corrects errors in perceptions that may have long existed.
Some would ask, why would God allow such evil in the world? God would ask, why have you
chosen so much evil?
Why do you elect liars who start wars for profiteering and tell you it's to save your
life? Why do you elect people who say they'll offer health care but really only guarantee
insurance companies profits. 1/3 of American families currently live on or below the
poverty line. It's getting worse. When the government says the economy is getting better,
it is... for the banks and multi-national financiers. While the citizens suffer.
You say you don't believe what the national news tells you, yet you rely on them as the
source for truth on national and global issues.
And the politicians and financiers use the media to tell you what it means, what they
want you to think it all means, so they can continue to deceive you for their own sakes.
Just as people throughout time have told you what to think and believe about God, and
His ways.
Robert, you touched on this, that our perceptions of God change over time. The question
is why, and it is partly the assimilation of knowledge that reveals new, previously untold
or unrecognized truths. Part of it is to cause the body of Christ to dwindle and fail, as
it appears to be doing in many places of the world. Partly because so many Christians have
been "psyched up" and revved up to believe in the imminent return of Jesus, and
it isn't happening the way they were taught to imagine, so they seek other truths to
replace their faith in God.
So to all of that, I say that God is God, Old Testament, New Testament, whenever,
wherever, and it's very clear to see, and I'll tell you how to see it in a moment.
The difference between the story and messages, lessons of the Old Testament and the New
Testament and even to this very day are the same.
Even the teachings of Jesus are the same as previous Christs. The methods and tools
available these days are different than way back when, but the paradigms are the same. The
outcomes are very much the same. The probability of human nature and response is very
predictable unless something intervenes in the events of the timeline in a transformative
and authoritative way, seen or unseen.
The difference came by understanding the truth of the evolution of the cosmic
consciousness of humanity, the slow progression of changes and alterations in the ways we
organize as cultures, societies, nations and individuals, slowly toward a more peaceful,
sharing and accepting world.
Cultures and nations were very different in some ways back then, growing as peoples
from the ages where survival was the primary motivation and occupation of people, to a
time, now, when hunting and gathering has been replaced by consumerism, and so the need to
work and earn money is required not for survival but for leisure and pleasure... in
actuality, for corporations to thrive selling things we don't really need.
Consider that when Jesus came along, it was as simple as this for God.
God looked down upon the world and knew it was heading to times that, like now, have so
much technology and power that He knew it would take some major changes, because He knew
how people are and what it would take to teach them His ways in ways that it would
make sense to them, and He didn't want to just be dictating orders, because that violates
free will.
So, He thought, I know how I want people to start looking at things in order to get to
the best ways, so I'm going to send Jesus to teach people, and I'll depend on those who
have been faithful in the past to know my ways, and recognize them in Jesus, and realize
that some things Jesus was saying would be different because He is the leader, not just in
the world, but in spirituality and being as well. More than anything, Jesus would bring
understanding to all sides.
When the Jews, not those of Judaism, rejected Christ as the leader - messiah - a great
deal of wisdom and knowledge of God's ways - what they are and how to understand them, as
well as how they're not as austere or demanding as it may seem - were lost. And even
though Jesus imparted a great deal to His apostles, it's like any conversation, everytime
it's repeated, it changes a little.
Every once in a while, you need to get the "straight scoop" from the source.
Because the ways of God were either forgotten or lost in the confusion and confluences
of the times, captivities and exiles, politics and apostasy and times when you just can't
imagine that God would allow such suffering, forgetting that Satan is the one who causes
that.
And because Jesus was rejected, and God understood that possibility, He knew that
people would end up suffering but at least they would, in time, see the differences for
themselves: God's ways and world versus the ways of the worldly, the opportunists and
liars. Which would you prefer? Are you sure? Do you know what God's ways are?
There's a way to know. It takes some work an time, but, isn't the truth worth it?
It takes looking at the world, not through the eyes of reporters who tell you what you
like to hear, but through understanding those who disagree with you. In that way, real
Democracy will be re-ignited within you. Because Democracy is about considering every
person's point of views and preferences. When you examine things from this perspective,
and challenge your opinions with perspective, the big picture world view, you being to see
the patterns of what's going on that easily explain the actual events occurring.
I watch TV news to find out what issues are in play, to be researched by myself, as if
the news is just to tell me "Hey, look at this". I rarely believe what I hear on
TV news as being the way they say it is.
But, it's important to realize what's going on in the world. If you educate yourself,
you'll find out why people say we're in the Biblical "end of days" as well as
the fact that we have been for nearly 500 years.
You also need to read the Bible. The first rule is, if you don't know what a word
means, look it up in the dictionary. And pay attention to the multiple definitions,
because often, you've been told God is going to violently destroy things, when His
preferred destruction would be, as the word destroy is defined, to "undo"
things, as in untangling a spider's web.
As in, having Christ negotiate and reconcile the problems of the world, not kill off
everyone who doesn't agree with him. Unfortunately, they might do that to each other.
As in, having a war of hearts and minds that includes no weapons, death or
destruction, but constructive conversation leading to understanding and partnership.
If you think of God as the father of 6 billion people, He's looking down, thinking the
kids have been in pre-school for a while and they're still fighting, lying, stealing,
killing and it's just like He thought it could get like, so it's time to send in someone
to "blow the whistle", stop the fighting and lay down the law. Again. Because we
either don't know it or don't understand it. It doesn't matter which, It simply has to
end.
In a family of 6 kids, my father made us always aware of a standing rule: if we're
driving along and we kids in the back were fighting and making a ruckus, the car would be
pulled over, and we wouldn't move an inch until we obeyed the rule that children should be
seen and not heard. At least for a little while. And we knew he'd do it too.
When reading the Bible, I require you to do this: forget everything you've ever been
told about God, about Christ, Satan, whatever you've been told. Read a Bible with a good
concordance, and follow the trails it leads you to. Read the notes that "tell
you" what things mean, and consider them, don't accept them as truth. You'll get a
completely different idea of what the Bible says and is for when you do this.
If you go to church, listen to your minister, write down and look up the verses and
chapters they reference and read to you in their sermons, and then decide for yourself
whether it means something different than what you're being taught. Just as I recommend
that when I say "the Bible says", I hope you'll ask your minister where the
Bible says that.
This isn't about catching apostasy or checking up on your minister. This is about truth
for the sake of truth.
At a certain point, if you do this, you'll need to make some conscious choices, such
as, does your particular church actually teach what you understand and believe, and/or is
it more of a social situation for you? And, are there other people who understand the
differences from the truth, half-truths and the deceptions? The answer is yes, but it's
harder to find them. And many of those people are just as opinionated, and equally misled
in even deeper aspects of the truth they've uncovered.
The evolution of God. It's interesting, when related to "God perfecting Himself in
us". What father would feel completely successful, perfect as a father if every one
of His children didn't do well?
Some would say that what's required for the Kingdom to be established is that we all
have one vision in our minds. Some might say that vision would be what Jesus looks like,
so we'll recognize Him.
Others would say it's a vision of a world that we all agree on as a world that would be
good to live in.
But in the meantime, while the world slowly wakes up to truth of every kind, we are
left to wonder whether to believe in God, to believe in Christ, to believe in Heaven, to
believe in everlasting life even though we don't understand what it really means and how
that manifests itself in the paradigms of this physical world. We are left to wonder what
it all means, wanting to believe, willing to believe, hoping to find a reason for it all.
But because our faith wanes, and we are then distracted by the internal conversation of
guilt for losing faith, we look to worldly ways to explain the ways of God, which can be
done in parable and example, but only if you are "of God". And only if you can
separate the knowledge of the ways of the world from the knowledge of the ways of God in a
way that allows both to exist simultaneously, independently and in concert.
Bob
Dylan - Slow Train Coming - 09 - When He Returns
It's quite a balancing act.
God knows how to do it in just the right ways with just the right person, Christs,
doing just the right thing to make the right point that ends up leaving a message more
important than any that people can't ignore even when they abhor it.
You think about the "mysterious ways of God". The matrix of God, too, where
everything happens and is factored into the big plan, even when unplanned things happen,
and one thing happens that ends up being the solution to something totally different
hundreds of years later.
My favorite example is that of the old Catholic rule of not eating meat on Fridays.
Now, I have no idea where that idea came from or why - it seems I asked a friend once when
I was 7 or 8 but I can't remember why they would do that.
Whatever the reason, I'm certain it had nothing to do with the fact that now, with
global warming and studies being done to determine what would be the most effective way to
quickly lessen the problems of greenhouse gases, it turns out the fastest most effective
thing we could do would be to stop eating meat one day a week.
God does things like that all the time, has been for a long time, just building and
setting things up for the day He could be here for "the rest of God", referring
both to leisure and the rest of His wisdom and knowledge. Don't ever forget, God loves
double entendre. Sometimes triple and quadruple. It'll trip you up if you get hung up
thinking only one of the apparent interpretations is true.
Faith has you trust that when you throw your Bible into the air and read whatever it
opens to without thinking about it, and having it be something relevant to you personally
or something you've been thinking about - in a profound way. Even more, to just know it
will happen.
Faith is knowing that God is building a better world before our eyes, understanding our
yearning to be part of it when it emerges, wanting us to know that whatever
accomplishments we believe we have succeeded or failed at is much less important than the
people we were being when we did whatever we did, and how willing we were to observe
ourselves objectively and retrospectively to seek ways of being even better.
Better as people who have held true to the spirit within us that informs us of the
ultimate truth to ourselves as to whether or not we are being who we would want to be
known as being. To each other. And to God.
When you're someone like Robert Wright, considering what you believe to be true, what's
accepted to be true, the information available on ancient and modern history, the
information on ancient and modern religion, and you see the inconsistencies and
extremes, you then begin to see the ways of God. To understand what would now be
considered to be the political and social issues presented by Jesus.
The emulations of His ways by those who have hijacked religions for centuries by doing
just enough to cause people to hope.
It's part of what I think of as Massive Reorganization of Thought. It's like getting
the information that fills in the blanks about millions of clues left by generations
of people that leads to everything suddenly looking like a completely different situation
and history of the world. It's like creating a new category of information in the database
of your mind that allows you to make greater sense of what you are perceiving, and to
separate the deceptions from the facts. The opinions from the facts.
God knew that once people knew the truth, the facts, they'd choose a better world lead
by people who intended to see to their needs, not their own.
And then, leading the life that Jesus taught of would be easy, because it's natural
when people are not forced to constantly consider their own survival.
That's the precipice we are currently on. For some, contemplating mortality, never
seeing the day they have vigilantly stood and lived for in their own ways. For some,
anticipating what they know is imminent and are impatient as we all become when we know
the end of a long journey is in sight.
God hasn't changed over time. What He has endeavored to provide us is the context
and wisdom required to get to the finish line, to move the world to a new way and a new
era, based on values and ways that are as old as the world itself, but done in a way that
works and is sustainable as only God knows how.
People have changed over time, just as people are tired of being pushed about by
leaders who will betray their responsibilities to constituents rather than lose their
seats of power. It's what was needed to happen.
God's just taking it to the next level, as He's done from time to time.
Only this time, He's doing what I like to call exercising the rule that "people
will perform based on your expectations of them based upon the respect you show
them".
He wants us all to become a little more adult right now.
To stop being the little kid with cookie crumbs on his face, telling Mom he didn't eat
any cookies.
And, maybe to lighten up a little, so we can all actually talk and exchanges thoughts
and feelings again without a fight or spin war breaking out.
He needs us to be Warriors, like Castenada's Warriors, putting one foot in front of the
other toward a goal, undeterred though weary when reaching the top of the mountain. You'd
be amazed at how little further we have to go.
It's really good to examine and observe your life, not to justify yourself, but to be
honest with yourself about the kind of person you say to yourself that you want to be,
whether you are that or not. Just by knowing what you'd choose you will move closer to
that being.
The same is true of government. The same is true of faith.
And you can tell God, "God, I want you to tell me something that proves to me that
you exist and that who I am is true to the person I want to be in your eyes".
Then keep your eyes open, maybe throw your Bible in the air like I do, and keep a sense
of humor. Because if you keep your eyes open and pay attention, God will prove it to you,
often in the most unusual ways. I think He does that sometimes when He's bored, but just
be forewarned.
Also keep in mind, God answers prayers in ways that "serve Him". That makes
it sound something like "so long as you ask God to do something for the church or
something it's cool, but otherwise, it's not"...
In truth, talking to God or asking for something of God,and having it serve Him, in
large part simply means doing things or whatever in ways that abide by the Golden Rule,
and would otherwise be considered doing something that would benefit the world. It serves
Him because it proves His ways of living from love, contributing for the sake of others
for the sake of us all, it proves it works, because it simply induces other people to do
good things.
I said evil is like a virus. So is goodness. So is justice. So is having discussions
toward real solutions that are more than talking points and arguments without redeeming
value.
Faith is knowing that the day when these things are real and true and tangible begins
the day we say it will be so, and if we are Christians, to hear the message God has for
us, to follow in order to live better lives, and to follow in order to provide better
lives for all.
This truly is a spiritual battle, one that will be won an one that is difficult. What
makes it easier to endure is the knowledge, the faith and belief, that our spirits are
eternal, and that our faithfulness will deliver us to His promises that we always hoped
were actually true because they are.
Further, that it begins with a majority of one person, yourself, being willing to
change without requirement of change, leading to a majority of one vision of a world where
there truly is Global Peace and Abundance For All without knowledge or requisites of its
occurrence, but with patience and faith in its deliverance and ways.
When I was a kid, when I knew I'd done something wrong, the hardest thing I had to do
was face my father, and it only made it worse if I lied or tried to hide something. He
said it would. I believed him, so I never tried. He was really serious when he stated his
little rules like that. He wasn't one for a lot of hard and fast rules. So when he
actually stated one, you knew you'd better listen. And except for the rule about not
sitting in his chair in the living room, it was always about rules that made sense and
made things go well, and not about personal preference.
Rules like, take your share, and leave some for somebody else. He knew all of us kids
were nibbling on the chocolate chips he kept by his bed that he ate while reading at
night, a few at a time each He did get upset one day when somebody emptied the bag.
He ordered us into a military lineup and ordered the guilty person to step forward, or
all of us would suffer the consequences. No one stepped forward, but we knew who did it.
The person who usually started all the trouble.
We didn't get dessert for a whole day. I was worried we'd never get to eat dessert
again. That was a big deal to us. To me, anyway. :}
Isn't it interesting that, in truth, all of us should have stepped forward? :}
And ultimately, Robert, that's what gets you to laugh at everything. Things like that,
paradoxes and ironies, evil people operating in the shadows against people pledged to act
honorably and in and with truth.
Just like the ironies and paradoxes of a world system that empowers the evil to
institute unjust laws against the just. Just like the law would have Jesus killed for
claiming who He was.
The Evolution of God - in my mind it's the evolution is of people being fully educated
in and having an understanding of God's ways that has been changing, and is ready for the
next step, the one God promised and is eager to see Himself.
God is consistent, just as providing Jesus as an example to us was His way of providing
"the rest of Himself" to those who had the faith and courage to listen to
Christ, as He did when He provided other Christs like Moses, Abraham and others, to speak
through and to teach us the ways of God in relation to the times they were in. He was
consistent in His way of providing us leadership.
Just as He knows the moment that will be best for what's next.
Our faith must be grounded in our knowledge and observations of how God is patient with
people and firm about what He expects, but zealous about liberty and free will.
In the long run, when He is done with His work, we'll all be glad He's like that.
People who truly understand and respect free will are a little more complex to understand,
but you can count on them to keep their promises to those who keep theirs.
One day, everyone will understand why that turns out to be such a good deal that's easy
to keep.
After all, God doesn't really expect that much. We do.
What do we expect of ourselves, and are we actually willing to do that?
From those questions come the answers to the truth of the evolution of God in the
world.
What does that mean to you?
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