 Godspell
- Day By Day
I remember when I was a little kid, just before Christmas, the church I went to showed
a movie about Jesus at Gethsemane. It had a scene when the guards came to get Jesus, and
Peter cut off the ear of the guard, and Jesus reached up, placed the ear back on the
soldier, and he was healed.
I loved that scene. Talk about the perfect man. Even when he's being harmed, knowing
that ultimately he's being led to his death, he would perform a miracle to heal his enemy.
No wonder he was the example of the "perfect man".
I was reading that part of my Bible the other night, and became a little confused about
it because I couldn't find that in the Bible. Sure, the guard came to take Jesus. Peter
cut off his ear. But my Bible doesn't say anything about Jesus placing it back on and
healing him.
Now I'm wondering, did it happen, or does this particular Bible for a particular
Christian Church's ministers leave it out? Or did they move it to another scene?
And it's mainly important to me because if He did do that, it shouldn't have been left
out. If He didn't do that, then why did that movie say He did? Because, for me, as a
child, it was one of the things that stuck in my mind as one of the coolest things that
impressed me about Jesus.
I'm okay if it isn't true, though I'm a little annoyed that my church would show me
something like that that wasn't true. And I'm sure they'd say, oh, this is just a
dramatization, and you were a child, and I took it too seriously and so forth... but
they didn't make an announcement to not necessarily believe it was true before it started.
You might think I'm pointing the finger at the church, or the movie maker, what I'm
actually doing is pointing out the differences in beliefs, and/or the way mythology
creates false or graven images of God and Jesus. Gets us to believe things that aren't
true, but sound good, and even Christian and spiritual movie makers and so forth get
caught up in making things "bigger than life".
Telling fish stories is one thing, but it's quite another when others are looking to
you for the truth of the ways of Jesus and God.
And then, our lives and beliefs become based not upon the nuances that really exist and
must be understood regarding truth and equality.. instead we are unwittingly deceived by
our need to particpate in a society and world that constantly requires ever more
sensual stimulation in order to satisfy and attract our ever dwindling attention spans.
It's the thing being mentioned when the Bible speaks of these days and times, when
people would tweak the teats of women for pleasure... seeking pain for pleasure because
otherwise there isn't enough "sensation and stimulation" in intimacy to be
aroused anymore... and requiring Viagra and other "supplements" for sexual
pleasure, and we're being told that otherwise, our relationships will be ruined, and we
can not possibly be satisfied or adequate.
Creating more myths and false truths that we live by, some we know are even ridiculous
but we listen to them out of some fear to our safety, self-esteem or image. Like believing
in something, just in case, but doing things that actually exhibit that you believe in
something else, but don't think of it that way because we've been told to think of it as
choices and preferences, not acting out of principle and values instead of fashion and
peer or societal pressure.
It would be like the moderator of a presidential debate catching a candidate in a lie
about obeying the rules, and deciding to allow the lie of honorable conduct prevail for
the sake of civility and respect... for someone who doesn't respect the rule... and to
whom a little uncivil response would be appropriate given the supposed caliber of a man
who would claim the wherewithall to lead an honorable nation while displaying such
cavalier disregard.
So, was Jesus perfect or wasn't He?
I've been thinking about how to discuss this for years, not to withhold or evade being
pinned down on something, but because I was taught.. when I was 8 or 9... that saying such
things might be blasphemy. This Bible I have, in the notes for ministers, says in some
places, a discussion like this might be blasphemy. In other places, similar discussions
are expected of Christ on His return. Anymore, I read those notes and say, it's
interesting that this is what they think all this means and should be concluded.
So, I wanted to be sure that you understood what I was trying to discuss here.
Paul
McCartney - Wingspan (History CD 2) - 20 - Tug Of War _ Paul McCartney
In "For the Love of the World Book I", I wrote a chapter "The Perfection
of My Being" and then another chapter called "The Imperfection of my
Being". At the time I was being a bit defiant, and joking around a little more than I
likely should have about what is actually this very same discussion, but focused on me
more than Jesus or God as it was part of the processing I was going through to understand
what it was to be Christ and more.
I don't know if you've noticed, but there's an awful lot of destructive judgmentalism
going on around the world.
It doesn't create unity, cause peace or feed malnourished children. It doesn't pay
mortgages. It doesn't solve problems, it causes them.
It's like a cancer on civilization, everyone walking around, trying to survive as
people and individuals, always seeking to determine advantage, opportunity and dominance
over others as a means to control our living environment and circumstances.
It's a game of tug of war that no one wins, as it finally leads to exhaustion and
collapse. Of systems, families, nations, world orders and religions.
I say Jesus is a living example of so many things these days, even now, in
understanding His words and what He was speaking of. Including the example of
perfection. I'm concerned that what I'm going to say is going to upset a great nuber of
people. Maybe it will. But it's important to understand what perfection is, in God's eyes.
And Jesus Himself provides the best example for that now, at least in my mind.
Some might say I am diminishing the divinity of Jesus. To them I would say, consider
what it is to be a triunary being, and why you dont understand that you, and we all are.
That we are all human animals with a consciousness and a being, a human
being. Possessed by a primary spirit that interacts with our consciousness and
subconsciousness. Each of us with a "spark" of the spirit of God and the Holy
Ghost, and what defines divinity is purely by the creation, choice and will of God.
When Jesus was born, He was a virgin spirit to this world, a being created of God and
combined with the DNA of a woman. God protected and taught this spirit, being born Jesus,
the man, the body named Jesus, to survive and inquire and deal with the world as a citizen
until the time came that the moral imperaticve Jesus was compelled to act upon
presented itself, as God lead Him to the full knowledge of His spiritual being and
relationship to God, as well as purposes and tasks.
His divinity was what had Him know and express the partnership of God's influence and
His knowledge and sharing of God's ways that was the very self-declaration that led to His
crucification, people having been told to kill any man who claimed to be this man that the
corrupt leaders feared, because His teachings would lead to their downfall.
And His teachings that He was in God and God was in Him, and they were one as well as
separate.. it can get confusing, almost like circular logic, and these days, that would
land you in a mental institution as a schizophrenic. When in most ways, it's as simple as
knowing that if Jesus said it, God would have said it too because not only was Jesus just
like His father, but the spirit of His father was within him. Like Jesus had more than one
spirit in him. And there are many ways to approach that and apply it contextually that
would provide you with many valid interpretations.
In one way, God guiding you would be like asking a GPS system for directions, and just
trusting it and doing whatever it says.
In other ways, it's like TD Jakes talking of God preventing him from being harmed in a
fire, even when TD didn't know he was going to need protection. He just does it.
Some people might think that having God in you, or having to follow God's ways is like
being told what to do.
That's why God promised free will. That was His way of promising and making sure He
meant it that it wouldn't be that way.
And why he honors it today. It's also why He sends anointed leaders from time to time
to spread the truth to "undo" the damage done by corrupt and evil people.
One night, I saw a minister on TV say that God was powerless without people. I was
annoyed. It didn't sound like a minister who understood the ways of God, or have much
respect for Him to say something like that, to inform people that it's no big deal to
ignore God, because He's powerless unless we "follow His orders".
The Bible says, that's what the rebellious, evil people do.
Let me assure you. God could alter things in a moment. But then He wouldn't be showing
us the respect He said He had for us, and it wouldn't be honoring free will. You think God
is powerless, He's keeping His word and you're not.
God is not a tyrranist or a terrorist. He's a teacher if anything. An artist.
And He does work through people. He uses His knowledge of geological events of this
organic, selff-correcting thing we call earth, and human nature to provide knowledge,
guidance and wisdom to His truly faithful leaders, whose flocks benefit from their faith.
Just like free will, God respects the laws of nature. It's like a primary
directive from Star Trek, not to interfere, EXCEPT to provide guidance and information and
advice for those who listen to God in their own and collective ways.
What's that got to do with the perfection of Jesus?
Let me ask you this, for you to answer to yourself. What was Jesus here to do? Did He
accomplish it?
I really love movies.
Whenever I think about how to do something or cause something I think about what it
would look like and how the various people and aspects of something would interact
or fail under a given set of circumstances as well as the intended purpose.
One night I was bored, and I did a 3-D modeling of the Mars Space Rovers in my mind
after seeing a computer graphic of one of them from a single angle. I always wondered if
it looked like what I saw. It could have, just because of what it was and needed to be
under the circumstances it had to perform under.
Dialecticians, political analysts and pundits, as well as societal and political
planners look at the "political and social climates" and project what is needed
to win elections, accomplish tasks and cause certain rippling effects that appear to be
unintended consequences which are actually purposeful deceptions...
In their own ways, they provide prophecy of future events.
However, it's false prophecy, because it frequently if not always was speaking to
people of their hopes and promising things people want, telling them what they want to
hear in vague buzz words that could easily mean something else in an ulterior context,
like apostasy, and then when given power and faith, carrying out an ulterior agenda
contrary to the promises made, claiming victory for the people when laws with fancy names
and section titles cause you to believe something beneficial and substantive has been
accomplished when it rarely has.
Jackson
Browne - Naked Ride Home - 07 - About My Imagination
Anyway.. like I said, I really love movies, and many times when I read the Bible, I see
the stories in my mind as if they were memories of something I was watching, like I was
there with them.
I really enjoy watching scenes, like when God tells Sarah and Abraham they're going to
have a child, long after she was of child bearing years, and after her servant was a
surrogate to another son. That scene really cracks me up, every time.
I can just see Sarah, pretty much used to God doing things in mysterious, crazy ways by
then, sitting there laughing to herself, shaking her head, surrendering to it because
there's no point arguing with God, and this guy accuses her of laughing at God.
And she, sheepishly and with humility and reverence, says "I didn't laugh".
But she actually did. Just not for the same reasons most people would think.
I think the story of Adam and Eve getting kicked out of the Garden of Eden is kind of
funny, too, not because of how they got kicked out because - it's like watching your dad
get mad at your brother or sister, and they really get mad.
And they rant and rave and say things like "Don't you see what you've done"
and more and people think Dad's making up new rules when all he's doing is venting AND
getting you to think about the possible consequences of your actions.. and you're
watching.. and you know he's right and it isn't really funny, but you just can't help
giggling just a little.
I guess most people would say it would be quite a tantrum to watch.
For me, I'd say, it's no big deal. He's always like this when he realizes the possible
negative outcomes of something like this in promoting the domination of women by people
who are looking for an excuse to justify it. It's important to Him. So just watch, he'll
figure out a way to fix it in the end. (And I certainly wouldn't let Him see me giggling).
I wonder if anyone else sees the humor in that?
One of my favorite stories like this, is the one where comes and puts that special
ointment on Jesus' feet, and Jesus tells the disciples to let her do it, and that the poor
would always be with us.
I think of what that scene would look like in a movie or video on YouTube these days.
And what the press would do with it. One of those moments when someone important says
something, forgetting the mic or camera was still on.
When I think and write about the examples of Jesus, this story at this juncture takes
me in a hundred directions, of what this little bit of scripture can be applied to like a
trusted equation or paradigm.
What we're talking about, though, is, is Jesus perfect?
Upon what premises, truths and myths do we make that judgment, and how does that
project out into our conduct in the world, and what are the real effects of our actions,
not just the effects we accomplish that we believe give us what we desire?
What would a perfect Jesus be like, if one existed? Would anything He did be considered
perfect just because we believe He is the Son of God?
Here's how that scene I was talking about would be like in a movie today, if the
language was more like the way we talk today, getting a rare glimpse at someone
about whom we know very little about, at least personally.
And yet, we say, what a friend we have in Jesus.
Or like James Taylor sang, "Perfect strangers who call you by name.."
I wonder what that means to people when they sing it and say it?
So Jesus is there in this motel room, tired, having walked around, hanging out with
people talking to them, telling them about things that were going on, going to happen and
sometimes, when He knew He had an escape route, He'd tell them  the parts about us all being one,
and God being in Him and being in God.. and all the things people were told to kill Him
for saying.
And Mary, His dear friend and companion, brings in this really nice, expensive oil to
rub on his feet, because she knows he's tired and concerned and focused and human. He
really loves having His feet rubbed on a day like that day, and He kind of kicks back and
closes His eyes, anticipating that first feeling of relief as the oil is spread and her
hands begin soothing his tired muscles....
When one of the disciples pops up and says, Jesus, should we sell that expensive oil
and give the money to the poor? And Jesus, like a guy about to take a jacuzzi when the
phone rings, thinks to Himself, "Can't I have a moment to myself?" like any
normal human would.
And He says, instead, "Ya know, those people are going to be around forever, and I
think I deserve a little pampering from time to time. So, Mary, do the foot rub
thing." And He looks up and sees the camera, and thinks, this isn't going to play
well.
I can tell you first hand, that oil is very nice. Someone did the same thing for me
with that oil from Nepal. I understand.
And then I thought, this is interesting. Truly a rare insight into the human side of
Jesus. A little self-indulgence.
And I thought about how my study of the Bible at that time inlcuded looking for
inconsistencies both in Biblical text and the nature of Jesus and God as described in the
Bible. So, one of the questions I was seeking to answer through documentation and
research, one that I always assumed the answer to was yes, was, is Jesus perfect?
What do most people mean when they say Jesus was the perfect man?
If he's my friend, will I feel inferior when I'm around Him? Does He think I'm evil? I
wonder if I should ask Him if I'm going to hell or not? Can He tell me when I'm going to
get married? Can He see through my clothes?
Did it mean He was well rounded, balanced in His nature and ways, someone who always
did everything perfectly just as people would expect a "perfect person" to do?
And, yet, here was Jesus, thinking of himself when He could have performed an act of
charity, not giving thought to how people might judge Him as a deity, if they understood
His humanity, hanging out with friends, not thinking He had to be "on", and so
He did something that, even to me, at least in the context I was reading it, seemed
inconsistent with what I would have thought a "perfect man" would do.
And I was a little annoyed, before realizing it as a tired man releasing the tensions
of the day just like we do, when He said "the poor will always be with us"....
That's certainly not part of God's plan.
Is Jesus perfect?
If this is the example you might use to answer the question, this one story without the
context of everything else told about Jesus, the truths and the myths, you'd probably come
up with the wrong answer.
If you were to be judged as a human compared to the example of Jesus, who is just like
God, how do you think you would do?
This story made Jesus the perfect example of a complete human being, and what a
healthy, complete human being would be like, is like, normal, and provide you with some
depth and layers for understanding what God would consider to be a perfect person, a
spirit interacting with a human being or consciousness.
In addition, it was a perfect example of the need for the "commandments" of
the ways of God, rules or ways of living that lead to a great number of traditions
and mores incorporated into cultures, societies and religions that if observed,
would cause us to live healthier, more fulfilling lives.
Like relaxing. Working to live instead of living to work.
An example of this is how Jesus was enjoying a moment of pleasure in moderation. That's
God's way too. God never wanted people to suffer or do without for any reason. He just
didn't want people to take more than their share, or have their excesses negatively impact
other people.
It's the same as why God says everyone should have one day per week when they do
absolutely no labor. And fields should go fallow every 7 years. Everyone and everything
needs a rest sometimes.
God wants everyone to have a partner and companion in life. Jesus was lucky to have
Mary assisting in the work AND care for His human needs, as there are many ways to express
love, which she knew also empowered His compassion and stamina. She gave to Him freely and
without expectation, and He received gratefully and with many thanks that someone would
understand and be conscious that He had needs as well without having to cause them to be
met. At least once in a while.
The little things, you know.
How about, when Jesus said "the poor will be with us always", maybe we were
witnessing a rare display of His frustration.
The thing I'm concerned about in this next part, and this whole chapter, is that I'm
about to say some things that would have some conclude that I am saying Jesus is not
perfect. In a way I am. At the same time, I am saying He is exactly perfect as God would
have Him be. A human being, possessed by a divine spirit. Still a human being.
So are you.
There are areas of your knowledge where you have been deceived that cause you to
believe in things that are myth, and get you to do things you wouldn't other wise do.
Like a child on the playground, ridiculing another child like a group of other kids is
doing, knowing full well it's wrong and hurtful, but wanting to fit in wth the popular
crowd so you do it anyway, and just harden your heart so you don't feel guilty about it,
and it becomes easier and easier.
Is Jesus Perfect. I say yes? I'll explain more. If you would want to have a friend
who's "God", like one you don't have to be afraid of, in fact, one who likes to
hang out with people just like anyone else, the answer is yes. Remember God, and Jesus,
aren't all that impressed with being who they are. They just are those spirits.
What was His actual primary purpose? I really enjoy this part.
Aaron Brown, then of CNN, said one night, "Maybe the reason we like Jesus so much
is because we know so little about Him". He was referring to the idea that we knew
all these profound teachings and stories of Him, but didn't know much about Him as the
human being part of His existence.
And posing the inquiry, for me anyway, maybe if we knew more about Him personally, we
might not like Jesus as much.
Not like that was true, but worthy of looking into if only to be open to finding
indications of His personality and personal preferences beyond His ministry. What was the
man like?
This is not an inquiry to prove Jesus was imperfect or a hypocrite or a "do as I
say, not as I do" kind of person.
It's more like understanding that when you go to a friend's house for a few days,
you observe how they do things and try to respect their ways. It's also about
understanding that there is a difference, a true duality, in the existence of anyone. One
example of this is the way you act at home versus the way you act in a professional
environment at work.
It's not schizophrenic, it's behavior associated with profession, occupation and
circumstance.
It's a form of saying "What you do on your own time is your business".
In this story of Jesus and the oil and Mary, you had the man, Jesus, after work,
appreciating a break and some pampering he deserved a little of.
It's not that you have to give up everything for others, it's that if the being of your
consciousness is reflective of the spirit in your heart - the part of you that sometimes
says, I wish the world was this other way - you'll want to do what you can, not
necessarily what you're typically willing or accustomed to doing in the circumstances of
this world. The way it is. But what you can.
I asked a boss, one night, at what point I should go home at night, knowing there was a
pile of work to do. He was happy with my work, there was no issue like that. I just didn't
like things left unfinished.
He told me, put in a good days work, accomplish all you can, then go home, knowing you
did your best - as if there's nothing left to do today. Because the work day was over.
I often think if people would decide, right now, to begin conducting themselves and
causing a world the way they believe it SHOULD be, maybe the world would be more
like we all think it should be.
People speak of ages of legalistics, humanistics, all kinds of istics talked of in the
Bible, and some even say if you speak of these things or promote them in any way, as
opposed to purely speaking of God and Jesus, without relating stories and experiences,
then you must be the anti-Christ.
If that was true, if Jesus spoke of more than God and just of spiritual matters,
wouldn't he fit the description of the anti-Christ? Trust me, I'm not saying He is. But He
most certainly spoke of worldly matters. And all those "istics" are al part of
what makes us human, and what makes things work, when they're in balance.
He spoke of how we needed to reconcile our spiritual selves to our worldly selves,
basing the expression of ourselves on our interpretation of what it meant to be
"obeying Gods will and Commandments".
After Moses received and delivered the 10 Commandments, the laws he passed down
afterward included the death penalty. I thought, that's an error by Moses, in direct
conflict with the 10 Commandments.
But there Moses was, being told to punish sin, crime, observing the mores and ways of
the time while integrating the ways of God. At this moment, in this age, it's easy to look
back and say, look at the rippling effects of those laws of man and those decisions. And
yet, in that age, it was an accepted practice. Other means, like prison, would have
required a lot of resources. Was it a mistake, or was it the "best practice" of
that time, for whatever reason?
People brought a prostitute to Jesus, and the people said, Moses would have us
kill her, what would you have us do? He told them that he who was without sin could cast
the first stone. They all left.
Still Jeus said that we should stone gay men and prodigal sons. These days, less
sometimes than others, we persecute gay men and throw parties for prodigal sons. Who gave
that order?
Was the order to stone prodigal sons to prevent their worldly influences from harming
the purity of their tribes? Yes.
Was the judgment to stone gay men because of mores passed down even to Jesus by worldly
influences, and /or concerns at that time of dangers related to hygiene that caused myths
that generated bigotry, like lies we're told by parents or leaders to prevent us from
doing something dangerous or wrong, leading us to question the truth of what they tell us
after we find out the truth about their lie, leaving us to wonder who we should
trust and have faith in, other than our own experience.
At which time wisdom and heritage are as if they never happened and have no value. And
leaders are disregarded, and it's no wonder. At a certain point, it's even appropriate.
Isn't it interesting that every falling empire begins to persecute homosexual people
right before they fall, because they're an easy target.
Every unjust leadership requires an enemy to inspire the citizens to rally around their
bigoted and divisive causes in order to derive power from hate and fear.
Such aggression causes - by no accident as a rippling effect - intimidation of the just
in response to the brainwashed who exhibit extremism that only serves the interests of the
deceptive kind of people they actually would condemn, if they knew the truth, but have
been bamboozled by.
People who have hijacked them, their religions and sensibilities, hijacked their
knowledge of their right and ability to think beyond what the media and politicians tell
us are the boundaries of values and priorities as they wish them to be framed, designed
and discussed, and accepted as common belief.
People whose faith is waning, people who are faithful seeking answers, often to justify
their faith to themselves, not wanting to be wrong, and wanting to believe that the
possibility of a better world for a mortal world for our spirits to exist and play in
really is possible....
Those people, seeking the leader promised, to set the standard, speak the truth and
deliver a land where He promised true liberty and anarchy of the purest form..
Possible because of spirits freed from the need to survive the tyranny of evil, and a
world where people seek to empower out of love, to create and provide for one another,
knowing that they will be provided for as well because of, and in appreciation for, their
faith in God, and the promise to be and exist with the knowledge and practices of His
ways, God's ways.
Ways that work, and aren't as "restrictive" as you might believe.
One of the things I think I admire most about Jesus, and understand in ways I'll bet
others understand, was how He was so willing and certain to remind us that He wasn't here
to glorify Himself, but to glorify God Almighty. His Father. Our Father and Creator.
And as Jesus explained, here Jesus was, being place in the annals of time and history,
over time becoming aware of his full purpose and power and relationship to God and God's
relationship to Him, with the news of the world and the good news of God, that God wanted
us all to realize that we have available the same connection God and and to each other, as
well as the power and blessings of God.
These were things God wanted us all to know we had in us, but we had to learn a few
more things before we would be ready to handle the responsibility of such knowledge.
These days, someone would claim superiority - as in knowledge is power - for these
things.
And still, Jesus was clear that He wanted people to know that He was here on behalf of
God, and that even though Jesus would get the credit as the great master, prophet, as God
himself, Jesus knew that it was Almighty God the Creator who empowered his being and
success on earth.
Jesus knew that the most important thing to do was plant the seeds of the future age.
An age that could come sooner or later depending upon the choices people made regarding
the acknowledgement and partnership with the leadershipof the Christ and the Living God.
They rejected Jesus en masse, but some accepted and understood His ways, and built a
foundation - for the restoration of the garden, the Kingdom of God and Heaven.
They've been watering the seeds ever since, even though generations of dust and
overgrowth have covered them up from time to time. The time of Jesus until this time, for
example.
Jesus declared "I have overcome the world".
There's a great deal of beauty in that, an example of human will and strong spirit over
adversity.
Jimmie
Spheeris - Ports of the Heart- 101 - Child From Nowhere
When Jesus realized His spiritual identity and the spirits in Him and working in Him,
being a pure physical being with a pure spirit, placed in the world to experience and
understand it, subjected to the same temptations as are we all in our times and ages as we
grow, learn and become whoever and whatever we become... Jesus was no different in that
regard.
And in one way, He overcame the world as we all can, by coming to realize the
circumstances and suffering and enslavement of the reality we live in, a facade
perpetrated by leaders who have mastered controlling citizens for centuries, through
politics and religion, fear and deception...
And He overcame the world not only by refusing to participate in the hypocrisy and
perversion of the world, a world of people claiming to follow a God who would not sanction
what was going on, and neither would He because He knew God's ways and the nuances of
those ways, but by refusing to engage in those ways.
Jesus said "I am not of this world" because the heritage of his mortal body,
the dna that was passed down to him and through him that contain genetic information
connecting us to inherent knoweldge and certain aspects of consciousness and instinct...
it was pure, and he was able to keep it so and ultimately rise above the temptations that
might have proven Jesus, too, unworthy of God's trust.
Jesus ultimately overcame the temptations of the world. He knew what it was like to be
temped. He understood what it was like to be human. He understood what people didn't know
or understand, or needed to be reminded of in order to cause people to inquire for
themselves into what it would mean to be a good Christian, to understand the ways of God.
God trusted Jesus, knowing He knew God's ways and the difference between those ways and
the ways of this world, and since Jesus was just like God and vis a versa, God knew that
Jesus would do the right thing. Just as God knew Jesus would get most of the credit, which
was okay, because God just wants things to be okay, more than anything.
Jesus also knew that God isn't really big on blowing His own horn. He gets a lot of
pleasure knowing that things and people He loves are well and flourishing. That's why He
provided prophecies and gave us leaders to help guide us, sort of through a central point
of communication through a "Christ". And a good leader knows that it's best to
give credit where credit is due.
Jesus truly wanted to honor His father, and still does. If you ask me, a big part of
the story of Jesus is that of a boy who loves and defends the honor, intent, creation and
legacy of His father against the erosion of truth over time, and the deceptions of Satan
Himself. A boy who knows His Father gets blamed for everything, credit for little, but is
still expected to provide miracles and more to the very people who curse Him.
Jesus also knows and wants us to know that God really does love us and wants to be with
us, not just in spirit, but in physical form. He truly loves this planet and people. And
He wanted us to understand His ways so that we'd understand that He does have some rules,
and He makes you think about them so that you really understand things.
He wanted us all to be as close as we could be to knowing His ways so that He could be
with us again, known as the Living God again, knowing people would think He was tough,
tyrannical, judgmental, with a superior attitude.. all the kinds of things people
sometimes think about parents who are over-bearing or over-protective, and threatening to
kill sinners, on top of it all.
That's what myth, misinterpretation, and reading the history of time and humanity as if
the story was more important than the lessons and paradigms experienced and recorded for
us to learn from, will cause in our perceptions.
My mother used to tell me, when I was really little, that my father didn't really like
to talk to children until they were able to hold an intelligent conversation. I observed
my siblings interacting with him, trying to figure out what that meant and trying to
determine what I might talk to him about that he would find worthy of discussion.
With a little kid. Who really was a lot like Beaver Cleaver in some ways. They called
kids like me Perfect Adaptive Children back then.
The first time, I enjoyed catching him on a technicality about how the United States is
a Republic with a democratic system of electing leaders.
The truth was, I never actually felt like he was shy of interacting with me.. we
played.. he made me toys and more... nonetheless, he was famous for saying children should
be seen and not heard so I figured there must have been some truth in his desire to be
able to talk to kids in an intelligent way.
He seemed to be amused that I spoke up like that.
The second time, I was home sick from school, so he had me build an airplane out of
carboard boxes, and told me about the basics of avionics. And introduced me to Dixieland
Jazz. I think I was 7 or 8.
He was always willing, and seemed to me to take pleasure in teaching me, and his other
kids, what he knew. He always seemed fascinated with what kids did with their imaginations
and the resources and toys they had. And it was weird. You never really knew he was
around, but he would show up at just the right times, to give you something, ask you
something, or to give you a little job he needed done.
In the summer before the third grade, matchbox cars were really popular. I got one or
two out of a Cheerios box, but we couldn't afford to buy the ones at the store. They were
fun to play with, but not a high priority.
Still, my parents got me a bulldozer and a grader, Tonka toys that were made of metal,
and really pushed dirt around.
Our patio was a grove of Redwoods that had been hollowed out, and the dust on the
ground would get two or three inches deep, so I'd bring in the bulldozer, build some
roads, plan a little city for the 5 or 6 people he made for the wooden cars he made for
me, and put up street lights and created bus lines and more.
Just about the time I'd be sitting there, scratching my head wondering what to do next
because I could build more roads and level more building sites, but there weren't any more
people. Just about then I'd hear my Dad's power tools winding up, and the next thing you
know, I'd have more people, more houses to build, and the need for a bigger bus. And a
school. And a playground and park and churches... and I'd hear the power tools crank up
and before long, houses and more cars and trees and... before long, the whole patio
was practically involved, and it was hard for everyone to walk around it.
That's when my dad would have me get firewood or something, just before dark. The next
day, the city was mysteriously gone. Just gone. So I'd start again.
I don't think it was an accident that he got me building cities in the dirt like that
after we finally got a shower put in our bathroom. Prior to that it was one bath a week,
hopefully, you were the first to use the water in the tub.
In a way, I think my dad was glad when the Beatles came along and completely distracted
me with their music, because we were running out of scraps of wood, I had quite a pile of
them, and fall was coming on and we needed the kindling. :}
But, Dad provided. Cities, people, parks, cars. I didn't even have to ask.
God's the same way.
When you understand God's ways, and learn to live and apply the few small rules, His
ways are actually pretty easy. He likes you to be happy. And He enjoys providing.
Some people would want you to think of God like someone to be afraid of, in some ways,
just like they'd want you to think of hell as a place where God would torture people
because they believe that you will acquiesce to the fear of the unknown, or punishment for
things when you don't understand why they are wrong or harmful.
Others would have you believe that God is alot more like a typical human being than you
might think, and still others would call those people ones who disrespect the power and
might of God.
Jesus had a reputation for being a fun guy to hang out with, good conversation, insight
and reasoning - despite the fact that the knowledge and understanding He was imparting was
different than the ages past. Some people thought they understood what He was talking
about sometimes, and He'd enjoy causing them to see what they could not see before, the
layers and ripples of the cause and effect toward the evolution of the cosmic
consciousness.
That was His favorite part. Just like God.
And I loved it when Jesus told the Chaldeans that He respected their requirement of
affirment of His divinity by two witnesses, and he said He had them: himself and God :}
He also might have felt a little resigned by then that no one knew the ways of God, and
was why people found it so hard to accept Him as the Son of God, because Jesus wasn't like
the stories of what people thought God was like, those who actually knew Him weren't
around anymore, and so there was no one to authoritatively stand up for Jesus. How DO you
prove you're the son of God over the vain objections of authorities and elders?
Jesus was known to be a bit of a rebel since he was a child
Amy Jill-Levine of Vanderbilt University (which I affectionately refer to as Anderson
Cooper's mother's university) was on a CNN special back in 2003 called "The Mystery
of Jesus" that I enjoyed a great deal.
Bob
Dylan - Slow Train Coming - 08 - Man Gave Names To All The Animals
She talked about how little is actually known about Jesus from the time he was a young
man, early teens, and the time he emerged as "Christ".
In many ways, he was like other little boys, except for his intellectual and
"religious" interests and certain abilities greater than those who had similar
abilities. Back then, other people could do what would might be called
"miracles" and "supernatural" acts as well.
One of the first things Jesus did that was recorded as if he was doing something wrong
was when he'd be found on Sabbath, when he was supposed to be doing nothing, taking clay
from the bank of the stream, molding it into the shape of birds and then flinging them
into the air as they came to life and flew away.
Imagine that.
And then there's this other story that supposedly had him described for a while, as she
put it, as a holy terror, because there was an incident where he was playing with some
other boys, jumping off a roof, and Jesus became annoyed with another boy and pushed him,
and he was off-balance, and fell off the roof and died.
Word got around and people were talking as if he'd done it on purpose, and that Jesus
was an evil little boy. Jesus became so angry he went back and brought the boy back to
life.
It would be interesting to talk to Amy Jill-Levine.
Is Jesus perfect? I think so. He was just a kid.
Think about what I'm saying, in relation to the kind of guys Jesus and God would be,
and how they'd want to relate to you, person to person.
I just can't get over the kind of man who grew up in a brutal world, who had a special
purpose in life that he was living, whether he knew it or not, and came to a point where
he was revered by many as a great prophet and messiah.
Yet, in becoming the man he needed to be he came to fully understand that he was just
like his Father, God Almighty, in demeanor and spirit, judgment and generosity, and
that it was his father, God Almighty, who was truly to be honored for such a creation.
He wanted to be sure that no matter what happened, that people knew the honor and
respect and thanks his Father deserved for this wonderful creation, and all that He still
wants to provide.
Jesus knew he had all of the responsibility and none of the authority unless He was
accepted, with the knowledge that what he wanted to impart would take time to take hold.
And, that in time, it would lead to a showdown of world and spiritual orders of the
cosmos, that would lead to the possibility of the fulfillment of God's promises to us all,
beginning when we chose to do things in ways that were actually good for us, not
like orders or rules, but as knowledge and wisdom, tried and true.
Jesus wanted to prepare us for the time when God would join us here on earth, or
wherever heaven ended up being depending on our choices, but He loves the creation of
earth, and the people, and He knows that if we simply understood and obeyed the house
rules, He'd be able to have an intelligent, adult conversation with us so we'd be able to
create the world - completely - as we'd want a world to be. The finishing touches.
There are plenty of things about God and Jesus that are just like us, separate from
their divinity. God's like us, a little kid inside if you want to know the truth,
and he likes to play. He likes equals, which is why He made us in His image.
He believes in what He says. And He never tries to mislead you.
I can just see it. He's sitting there, thinking, what shall I make these children and
friends like? Guess I'll make 'em sort of like me. And then I'll let them like whatever
they want to like, and then maybe they'll like me.
He knows that the next age will be the age that makes it possible for us all to
co-exist, and flourish, and for Him to be able to be around without wondering if people
think He's going to strike them dead or something tyrannical like that such as when the
U.S. government does extraordinary rendition or declares someone an enemy combatant, now
called a detainee.
So Jesus talked about honoring His father. And telling of ways, new ways, more ways,
more complete, of what Jesus knew of God, ways that worked, ways the planet and the world
and people worked, and the ways they could work and resolve the conflicts so that this
world could be the playground it was intended to be. For people and for Him. For His
family.
Jesus, growing up in this world, His spirit having knowledge of God's ways through
genetics and spirit, connection and inherent ways of being understood what was
"moving the world", understood was needed to reconcile the inequalities and
injustices of the world of men with the ways and rules of God, knowing it would take
patience, and, if He was rejected, longer than originally hoped yet still planned for with
projections of probabilities and contingencies.
But Jesus knew what was needed to get the world from point A to point B, from the
brutality of the world of men to the world of the kingdoms of God and Heaven. God still
wants His own house :}
And here we are. And I'm saying I told you a couple of things that I'm sure a few
antagonists would love to say are examples of how Jesus wasn't perfect, when I say He was
because:
He was the perfect example to show us how to live our lives doing what mattered,
calling on the divine in us all to have the judgment in us to do the right things, because
of the truth inside of us about ourselves, what we feel called by God to do despite our
own tendencies and self-evaluations, enjoy the world as it is and what it has to offer in
moderation, that everyone needs close friends with like minds, that a leader must take
responsibility for the work that must be accomplished and the tasks that fail, all the
while knowing and managing the difference between the vision of the outcome with the
resources and time required to actually accomplish...
Never forgetting that politics or not, a solution must be reached that actually
addresses needs. Think God doesn't answer prayer? Try praying to the government. :} Of
course, that's another 2 subjects :}
And so He was also a perfect example of a human being, with human needs and desires and
motivations coupled with the willingness to serve God and His fellow citizens and
partners, who made the most of His existence in a hostile world, overcoming it
Himself and showing others how to do it as well, not taking credit himself, truly
knowing that without His Father's love and guidance, it could not happen, knowing that He
and God both know that people want a witness...
And so when the Chaldeans confronted Jesus and He told them He respected their
requirement for two witnesses, like so many times when truth tellers tell the truth but
are diminished for presenting what people do not wish to acknowledge or know, He told them
He had two witnesses, Himself and God Almighty. As if shrugging His shouldsers,
thinking, "might as well get this over with".
Jesus fled.
But who else would know? Who else would know the ways of God but the man in the flesh
who was foretold was just like His father, and therefore, would be the example of His
father's ways, though considered the master and Great Messiah Himself, which He is and
will be.
The once and future king of Camelot. The real one.
Not the facade and emulation of the wicked. The myth the media sold to hijack the
vision behind God's desire for this nation in this world. Not for 1000 points of light.
Not for a New World Order.
So Jesus was perfect, the example of all sorts of things that tell us about God's ways
and how easy God is to get along with... when a few simpel rules are obeyed, rules that
make the world better for everyone. Rules that, in a normal, perfect world, might simply
be called common decency and mutual consideration, and a healthy instinct to take care of
one's self, health, and "recreation".
He loves His father, and He did and He does want the world to know and to realize what
God had in mind, so people won't believe the kind of propaganda put out by people who lie
us into wars, who also lie us into believing God will kill us all in a drunken fit if we
don't all bow down and kiss his feet.
I'm not going to tell you what God would say if someone told Him to kiss their feet.
He's not about to ask you to do the same to Him for the same reasons.
We believe that we're "waiting" for Jesus to come and save us all, He and God
know it's more about preparing the world and God's "living quarters", when He
stops in for the visitation, at which time God will get a little rest he's been looking
forward to for a long time, and we'll get the rest of what He wants us to know and share.
The rest of God.
And Jesus, the spirit of Jesus, His son, will be sort of His "public affairs
liason".
One thing I'll say though. Jesus didn't need to read the Bible to know and live the
ways of God. He just did.
Jesus did think people would "recognize him" because they would have known of
the ways of God, and then came to realize that people had been so lead off track, mislead,
from the ways of God, being told the errant interpretations and deceptions were the ways
Was Jesus perfect? You bet. The perfect example of a man living, under all conditions,
true to His principles and values, regardless of what others said about Him and to Him,
knowing secrets and wanting to share them, of the universe and cosmos and God,
loving the ways of His father, understanding the ways of His Father and the will of God.
I again think of those who would believe that the God of the Old Testament is not the
same God as the one of the New Testament.
The Old Testament was of less civilized times, and there was a great deal of concern of
bad influences from external cultural sources, immigration and such. People of the tribes
marrying into other tribes and sullying the purity and sanctity of blood lines, traditions
and relgious beliefs.
Jim
Croce - I Got A Name
And God said, I have only resorted to war to defend my nations, good people of good
intent, but here's a New Testament, delivered by this child, this human being of
divine spirit named Jesus, who is exactly like me. And what He says, what you think of Him
as a man and a leader and the truth of His words, this is what I really want you to
know is what I have in mind and always intend.
Jesus would say, if you know my Father, then you know me. God would say, if you know
Jesus, if you know my son, then you know me. And if you know Jesus is my son, then you
know that I am the same God, and with Him, through Him, you will understand what I always
intended, and not just what was necessary to keep my children alive and flourishing.
He's actually saying the same thing again.
Jesus is God, God is Jesus, they are separate, they are the same.
Isn't it interesting. Pres. Lyndon Baines Johnson said, "The only thing they'll
know me for is the Viet Nam War". Like so many other things, the things we remember
most are the bad things.
Maybe sometimes the bad things are far worse than the good of the good things.
But the difference is and always ways, as my high school history teacher told us one
day, regarding one of the greatest myths and inconsistencies about governments, and the
Untied States in particular... This teacher was Col. Kasum, formerly of the Pentagon...
He said, "What makes the United States better, what gives us the moral high ground
in the world, is that we only use war to defend ourselves and democracy."
And I thought, I really respect this man, and I did, a somewhat austere,
authoritative man as you would expect of a highly disciplined military commander of high
rank and responsibility. And I thought, that IS the appropriate use of the military, and
the restraint to contain it to that use is truly admirable, and part of why I love the
justice and judgment of the government and Constitution of the United States. And why the
United States really is the best country to lead the world.
Somewhere along the line, what he said became one of the greatest inconsistenices
I was ever told about a myth of the United States Government, not the people: the
deceptions we live with as truth, that are unfortunately not accurate at all.
I agree the people of the United States are peaceful and peace-loving people. But
if you looked at the record of the government, anything but that is true. More than 200
foreign military excursions since our founding in 1776. Various sizes. Various reasons.
And many of the leaders of governments and the ogliarchy of America, as well as corporate
giants, became wealthy financing the same Nazis in World War II that our citizens died to
defeat. Some of the money was taken away from them long before their sons became
President.
If we did that today, we'd be arrested and convicted for funding terrorists, let alone
treason.
I once read that laws were made for rich people who don't obey them to control poor
people who do.
I speak unpopular truths like Jesus spoke unpopular truths and things that God wanted
people to know that no one wanted to hear or face at a time when planting that seed
of truth was the most important thing that could happen for truth to grow and flourish
like flowers in a meadow.
I always remember how easy and fun it was to collect dandelions in the fields of Maple
Creek to make wine.
Sometimes I think about how I don't think my father didn't like talking to children,
like my mom said, or that he wasn't interested in talking to them until they made sense. I
have a feeling it was more that he loved kids, and when he'd talk to them he'd marvel at
their purity and good intent, curiosity and imagination, the simplicity of their needs and
desires, the solutions to the problems encountered, each of them in actuality paradigms
for the "real world".
And he'd get all involved and they'd listen to him and he'd get really into telling
them all sorts of things, when suddenly he'd realize they were a little too young to
understand what he was talking about, given that in his world he was always thinking about
things that were simple to him and nearly impossible for many.... and rather than make the
child feel bad about themselves, or inferior, and make them think they had to live up to
dad's expectations and image, he'd decide to let the kids have as much freedom as possible
to come to the point of curiosity and self-esteem to talk to him about real things, things
he wanted to share with - what my mom said was - the son he always wanted. The eldest son.
The priest and namesake of the family, so to speak.
And then he'd slowly introduce me to things, in a way I didn't realize, until I was
able to do things myself that He knew I'd need to know and do, things he wanted me to
know, and principles to guide me no matter what when it mattered most. The kind you just
don't betray. For reasons so good and right you just wouldn't.
He'd kind of keep an eye on you and give you more input right when you needed it. Most
the time, you didn't even know if he was around, except for the sound of him using a tool
off in the distance somewhere. Wherever he was. Whatever he was doing.
We always had food, clothing, shelter and love. He always had a way to make things
work, sometimes seemingly making things out of nothing. But we always had what we needed,
and we trusted his decisions, and respected his intelligence.
I can't ever once remember thinking we were what some people would consider
impoverished the last few years of his life, but I guess we were. For whatever reason.
I didn't know he was Catholic, Jewish, of European Royalty and actually really
considered a genius. And considered an enemy by the Council on Foreign Relations, the
Rockefellers, Bush's, Kennedy's after John??? apparently many others. People who
have ulterior motives and long memories.
As Jesus said, "If you hate me, you must have hated my father." Jesus
couldn't understand why people would hate Him if they knew He was the Son of God, and so
much like His father. If they knew God and hated Him then they were certainly against and
enemies of God to carry over their hatred to His son.
And if they didn't know the ways of God and did what they did to Jesus out of fear of
retribution... like the verse in Proverbs says, "The righteous seek only good while
the wicked expect wrath"...
Only to find out, as they did with Jesus, that even the Romans could see that Jesus,
while He may have been speaking unpopular truths, was not necessarily speaking lies or
even breaking the law. And then what do you do to implement justice and retain power if
you're a politician?
Allow a circumstance to be set up where you absolve yourself of a situation created to
diminish someone and let them take the fall from grace in the public's eye, taking no
responsibility for the actions of others whom you sanctioned or standing up for someone
who might cause you embarrassment or unwanted, inconvenient publicity.
Plausible deniability. The ultimate in the origins of government outsourcing and
dialectically playing one side against another.
That's what the world did then, it's what the world does now, only with
more high tech equipment, skill at manipulating public opinion, as well as laws and
deception that make it even easier to say that someone or something ever did or didn't
exist whenever it's necessary or profitable.
We've come to the moment in history, in time, in God's plan, where the challenge of
causing, demanding, God's world of His ways, is a necessity and it's important to seize
lest the possiblity not be available without considerably more predicted danger and damage
occurring.
Something we can't do if we don't know His ways, and His ways were - and were in - the
message and being of Jesus.
I carry the same message for the same purposes, as well as the possibility of the
delivery of His promises at this time, in honor of the life of Jesus the Christ, the man,
the human being who physically suffered and surrendered His life in victory over the
world, with a divine spirit that could not be conquered, just like His Father, with
indefeatable patience while raising His children.
They say this little book is the result of an inquiry into what it would be
like to live the life and mind and spirit of Jesus, which would then also be the ways of
God.
Was Jesus perfect? I think He is. Without personal bias.
Because when you understand the ways of God, and what Jesus was doing and believed in,
and the real liberty he showed us we could have without worrying about overbearing
formality and "micromanaged lives", guilt and fear....
I believe in time that you'll realize a zillion different ways the life and teachings
of Jesus, of God, provide truly relevant examples of how to live life, have a lot of fun,
accomplish a great deal and still serve God and honor your parents and love it. Especially
when you fully realize that what he gave us were full explanations and examples of the
Golden Rule applied to so many things.
They could just use a little bit more relevant conversation, related to today, related
to new things that didn't exist before, related to how to change the world and your world,
and then they're easy to understand, life gets better, and you find out for the first time
what real freedom is.
Consider what it would be like if our leaders, if we, applied the thoughts and ideas
and inquiries in that little book, Thomas A'Kempis, to everything in our lives, and
everything in this world? What would the world be like?
Don't tell me, but the world is like this and the world is like that. Tell me that you
understand what God, and Jesus, have in mind.
And then tell me, honestly, is that what you'd like? Or would you really prefer things
to be the way they are? I'm not talking about your belief in the possibility, I am asking
you what you would prefer? No qualifications.
Some people believe that the purpose of Jesus, of the Christs, on behalf of God is all
about saving souls and religion and maybe instilling behaviors and such. I suppose those
things are true, some more than others, but God and Jesus, especially in these times, need
you to acknowledge the importance of things your leaders aren't really addressing,
although they make it seem like they do, because your souls won't like inhabitating
bodies that are being harmed every minute they live.
As they are now, whether you know it or not.
Which is the source of the necessity of you hearing what I've said, what Jesus
explained, what the prophecies warned us could happen and the requirement that we, the
citizens, and lovers of God's ways, honor His ways, and empower not only the consciousness
of our cosmos, but also the physicality of this cosmos and universe, so that we may once
again live in eternal life where eternal life is capable of existing the way it could be
and was intended and promised.
Someone should invent a game that has you identify all the ways the ways and paradigms
presented by Jesus that fit the circumstances and solutions that work today.
It's like looking at an abstract picture, being told there were 100 shapes hidden
inside the shapes of the objects in the picture. If only you knew the ways of God looked
like, so you'd know what to look for, because then you'd know what to do...
That's why he'd send Christ back to return it to His ways before He actually gets here
Himself. He knows Christ knows what He wants. And there's plenty of work to be done before
He gets here. Because when He does get here, He'd like to have some fun. And talk to us
about a few things.
Was and Is Jesus perfect?
I suppose it depends on what your definition of perfect is. I say that not to question
Jesus. I say that to cause you to question, re-evaluate and choose once more those things
you say you believe in and compare that to your actions that may or may not express those
beleifs.
And then, in seeing that, coming to an understanding of what of all that is important
to God and what is left to your choice along witht the circumstances of the consequences
or results of your free will...
That, given all I told you, should provide a very useful , paradoxical, reassuring and
burden relieving inquiry for those who are truly good and simply strayed a bit, not
perpetrating evil, as we all have strayed without truly promoting evil or intending
evil....
In saying that, we can begin again where Jesus left off, into the enxt age, the
deliverance of God's promises and world the way it should be. Beginning with, none of us
is perfect, we are all perfect, we just don't necessarily know it or act like it or
understand we have permission to be so anymore.
I give you permission, on behalf of God. It's okay. In this world, you may have
forgotten what it's like to have it.
Long ago, a friend in Los Angeles asked me to be part of a club she belonged to amongst
the Hollywood radio set. She said the club was of people out to prove that nice guys don't
always finish last.
I joined. Sounded like my kind of club. To do so, all I had to say was, okay.
Knowing some of the things I know, I think maybe God was the founder of that club. And
the Bible is part of the proof, in the long run, that he's always right.
Once I got over it and accepted that, everything got easier, even the torture.
Once you free your heart and free your mind, no one can really control you again.
No one would need to. Or want to.
In a perfect world.
And that's part of what Jesus was trying to tell us all too.
What do you think he was saying? What do you think He was doing? What do you think
matters most to God?
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