Did Jesus get His message mixed-up?

This would present theologians with a big problem. Inconsistency is imperfection. Imperfection cannot therefore be attributed to God. Furthermore, inconsistencies in God’s message would dangerously threaten the authority, sanctity and inerrancy of Holy Scripture.

Yet we have the Lord God making the following two statements:

I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. (Matthew 10:35,36)

If any man cometh unto Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own soul also, he cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:26)

So Jesus states in both passages that He wants domestic disharmony not peace, and warns people that without such family hatred they cannot become His followers.

What gives here? These statements are diametrically opposed to Jehovah’s Fourth Commandment of honoring father and mother (not to mention pooh-poohing spiritual love).

Thankfully, scientist/theologian Emanuel Swedenborg offers us a rational explanation by which we can escape such doctrinal schizophrenia and even strengthen our faith in God’s Word.

Swedenborg claimed that God’s Holy Word was a multi-leveled document. Its stories were more than a literal account of human history. They contained higher levels of meanings that conveyed purely spiritual content (as opposed to merely worldly or materialist content).

So even worldly terms like “father,” “brother,” ”sister,” “mother” and “household” contained richer messages about various qualities of the human spirit. Therefore, the word “father,” understood spiritually, would represent the main values and choices we make in life. These values impregnate the human heart and mind (mother), thus fathering and giving birth to our ideas about reality. One’s household is his or her worldview (or faith-system). “Sons” and “brothers” and “sisters” and “mothers” represent the various feelings (loves) and ideas (knowledge) and their resulting activities that occupy one’s spiritual household.

Knowing this we can now begin to make sense of the Lord’s apparent bad advice illustrated in the biblical verses quoted above. First, if one does not accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, then one’s inner household contains a “father” and “progeny” that is opposed to God’s teachings. A household operating under opposing principles to that of spiritual love (which unites) will be divided against itself. It is such a household, that the Lord has issues with, for everything in it represents a man or a woman’s true spiritual foe and enemy (our true spiritual enemy is a worldview that stands in the way of peace and eternal blessedness).

The passages which lead up to the verses quoted above make it more clear that Jesus is referring to individuals whose household is not based on God’s spiritual tenets (and therefore adopt a different family of qualities into their household—qualities unworthy of spiritual love). This difference in orientation is the reason for the seeming discrepancy between Jesus and Jehovah—a discrepancy that cannot be reconciled with a simple terrestrial understanding of the terms “father,” “mother,” “brother,” “sister” or “household” used in Scripture.

I have shown you just a glimpse of the deeper revelations that are contained within God’s revealed wisdom. The Lord God has promised to return and reveal His true glory. It is by means of the deeper teachings and levels of meaning contained within Scripture that the Lord God’s true glory will unveil itself. How else can a finite book like the Bible hold God’s Infinite Wisdom?

My upcoming book Proving God will not only discuss these deeper teachings, it will actually show that this scaffolding of the biblical architecture also provides the means by which religion can interface with modern science in a most rational and orderly way!

http://www.provinggod.com

Spiritual Complexity Theory

One of the newest branches of study is the science of complexity. Some call it a scientific revolution in the making. Complexity theory deals with study of how simple elements in nature spontaneously organize into complicated structures, ranging from galaxies and ecosystems to the human brain.

As physicist M. Mitchell Waldrop, author of the book Complexity puts it, nature has an “incessant compulsion for self organization.” It is as though the universe has a yearning for order. Order means rational and intelligent structure.

While complexity theory poses a challenge for a science that embraces a materialist philosophy that rules out purpose in nature, it offers very little knowledge about how the natural world can help us discern the glory of God.

Scientist/theologian Emanuel Swedenborg may well have provided the theological dynamics behind nature’s endeavor to grow structure spontaneously. He stated that “endeavor” was a spiritual force and not a force that could be ascribed to inert matter.

Even more profound, Swedenborg claimed that order, structure and complexity glorified God’s Divine Love and Divine Wisdom.

How?

If we contemplate organized structure, we will observe that all complexity consists of two opposing and ridiculously improbable functions supporting each other—differentiation and unity.

Complexity evolves into new orders of structure, as new things become both increasingly distinct and increasingly unified. Differentiation and unity exalt each other. Put another way, complexity involves subordination and coordination of successive (differentiated) process that gives birth to the dynamics of simultaneity (uniformity). All group structures (systems) consist of successive events creating wholes.

Swedenborg showed that this scheme displayed God’s divine nature and character because Truth distinguishes and Love unites. So nature’s endeavor towards self-organization is creation becoming a more perfect image of the Creator. Even the human mind follows this design because the human intellect both discerns information (thinks) and unifies what it values (loves) into real structure called a belief system or worldview.

This is where religion enters the picture of complexity theory. Swedenborg goes even further by stating that the purpose of religion is to allow for the human heart and mind to self-organize into non-physical bio-complexity capable of living in a spiritual realm (heaven). When we adopt Gods tenets of truth and love into our lives, we create spiritual bio-structure. This new structure serves as a spiritual body for the soul and survives the death of the physical body.

Swedenborg’s spiritual complexity theory takes the trajectory of evolution all the way to the spiritual world (sorry Darwin). God’s PURPOSE in creation is to create a heaven from the human race. Human evolution exalts God’s Love and Truth by creating angelic bio-structure.

This is just one of the challenging issues I address in my upcoming book Proving God in my humble attempt to unify science with theology.

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The Minister’s Thorny Dilemma

Once upon a time there was a church minister faced with a great dilemma. He had successfully built up the size of his congregation. Because of this growth the minister had the funds necessary to help those who were less fortunate in society. This goodness in turn brought in new members into the church.

He had preached that everyone was loved and important to God. He improved everyone’s self-image, esteem, confidence and self-worth. Everyone in his church had a strong sense of belonging and community.

But he had noticed over the years that when he wasn’t telling people how wonderful they were, or constantly helping to improve their external conditions in life, he would lose members.

So he began to wonder what real spiritual growth was actually taking place in his church. He knew that heaven and its eternal blessedness went much deeper than seeking social justice or making people feel good. Was church just a place for people to come together, observe ritual and hug? Or should it also be a center for spiritual challenge and evolution?

So he put his head down, closed his eyes and prayed.

Suddenly a beautiful angel appeared in the minister’s rectory, lighting it up like the mid-day sun! “I am here to help you out of your dilemma,” said the smiling angel.

The minister was only momentarily shocked, since he believed that God had responded to his prayer. “I know that my church helps people. I just do not know if I am offering them deeper spiritual help,” questioned the minister.

“What you are doing is correct. All love starts from the level of self-interest. Self must be cared for first. Similarly, the first step towards true spiritual growth is to help others regardless of their inner character or quality. The next step is to provide help for those who want to change the qualities of their hearts and minds,” answered the caring angel.

“Isn’t that why people attend church?” asked the minister.

“Maybe,” quipped the angel. “Many people see spirituality as simply feeling good. But few people take the time to contemplate their darker side. It is much easier to cover up one’s darker side with image-reinforcing get-togethers—like church.”

“If I concentrate on people’s darker side, I will scare everyone away and lose all my members,” responded the minister.

“Yes, you always have to be careful. There are people who will always require that their hands be held. Some will even hold your heart hostage until you meet their subjective demands. But some, having inner sincerity, will notice that their behavior in the world—even after hearing one of your sermons—is still less than angelic,” pointed out the wise messenger from heaven.

The angel became quiet and thought some more, then said, “Spiritual growth is not adding good behavior on top of one’s negative aspects. That would be like painting over rotting meat with gold paint. The purpose of religion is to allow God to give each of us a new heart and mind. This means total ‘destruction’ of our former self.”

“I would like my church to help God do that,” said the minister excitingly!

“It isn’t a pretty process. So start to write sermons that not only comfort, but also challenge your parishioners. Those who resonate with your challenge will make themselves known to you. These individuals will be glad to form special groups to discuss and take seriously their individual character faults and the real obstacles to genuine happiness and spiritual goodness.”

Hearing these words, a big smile grew across the minister’s face.

Then the angel paused and made a final statement. “The world fails to see that even those who have adequate clothing, food on their plates, a roof over their heads, an education and a good job, can still represent the poor, the sick, the crippled and the blind.”

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Have you been hacked?

I suspect many of you have. I was hacked not long ago but it was quickly caught and dealt with. Hackers can be mischievous (looking for a challenge) or downright evil. This is the price we pay for the huge benefits of living in the Informational Age of the Internet.

Far more sinister is the fact that the human race has been hacked even before computers were invented. According to scientist/theologian Emanuel Swedenborg, the human mind gets hacked by evil spirits in hell. Deep within the human brain and mind we all share a similar mental plane with the inhabitants of the Spiritual World (because, inwardly, we terrestrial humans are all spirits covered in a material body-suit).

This situation allows both evil entities and heavenly angels to have access to the information of our memories. Evil spirits hack in to find and excite the worst in us while angels serve to provide spiritual security software from heavenly principles of love.

Between the evil spirits and angels, God keeps us in equilibrium between good and bad choices—to protect our free will. Over time, our individual life choices and inclinations determine who gets greater access to our personal info.

Temptation is nothing more than a battle between spiritual hackers and opposing security strategies for our hearts and minds. Within this scheme, religion can be looked at as God’s operating system.

By using the analogy of hackers, we can explore how Emanuel Swedenborg provides us with deeper insights about the Lord’s Advent and its true mission.

By coming into the world and taking on a material brain and body, Jesus not only could interface with and teach terrestrial humans, he could be hacked by the hells.

Since God is Infinite, no finite power can ever hope to attack the Divine. Swedenborg informs us that at the time the Lord came into the world, hell’s growing influence was upsetting the cosmic equilibrium and human free will was threatened.

While the Lord was on earth a hidden battle was raging. Evil spirits could now attack and tempt God through his finite material brain and human hereditary traits (received from the mother). Every time Jesus overcame an influence from hell, He perfected His human nature until it became perfectly united with His Divine Nature on the Cross (glorification).

The Crucifixion was not salvation in itself. It was the means by which the Lord endured his final temptations of the human flesh from hell and forever gained the power to restore cosmic equilibrium and protect human free will. Without free will the human race cannot be saved from the spiritual hackers who are constantly trying to gain access to our memory and manipulate it. Heaven (or hell) is a choice.

How do you feel about this unique interpretation?

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Happy New Year and a Happy New Jerusalem!

New Year’s Eve, the passing of one year and the ushering in of another, is celebrated all over the world. In New York’s Times Square, called the crossroads of the world, all eyes will be focused on a brightly lit ball that will mark the exact time of this new beginning.

There is obvious symbolism in this event.

New beginnings mean new hopes. The numerous lights which comprise the New Year’s Ball at Times Square represent our anticipation of a brighter future as it defies the darkness of the night and helps to dispel our darker thoughts.

An even deeper symbolic message can be teased out of this yearly celebration. The fact that the New Year’s Ball makes a descent from high above our heads symbolizes that true hope for positive change and a new beginning comes from above—from God.

The many lights that comprise the New Year’s Ball represent the numerous teachings, tenets and truths that descend to us from heaven and offer enlightenment for us to begin our lives anew.  We instinctively grasp this by our inclination to make New Year’s resolutions at this time every year.

Deeper still, this celebration has a strong parallelism with the descent of the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, from heaven. Its light is spiritual and comes from God’s wisdom, and therefore, represents a new habitation for the human soul.

The crowds gathering at Times Square to watch the ball descend symbolize oneness—a unity of hearts and minds. For this to happen in a sustained and permanent way, all eyes must be open to, and focused on God’s heavenly message.

Happy New Year and Happy New YOU!

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Planting seeds in people’s heads

We have all either heard or used the expression of “planting an idea in someone’s head.” It is a wonderful metaphor that is rich in meaning.

Metaphors are a symbolic language used to explain the invisible world of human mental activity in terms of visible things found in the physical world. For instance, the expression stated above treats an “idea” as though it were a “seed.”

The symbolism is easy to follow and makes perfect sense. An idea can be planted into someone’s mind, take root, grow, blossom, and finally bear fruit. “Fruit” represents the goodness of an action produced from the original implanted idea. If other people benefit from this fruitfulness (good works) it will create new seeds in their minds as well.

A seed perfectly portrays how goodness is made fruitful and information is multiplied within the human heart and mind. Nature and human nature are equally prolific!

What I find miraculous in such metaphors is how Mother Nature lends herself so perfectly to helping humans express mental processes with terrestrial processes. The metaphors that can be made between the two distinct worlds are innumerable. To offer a few more simple examples, we can be described as having a “sunny” disposition, a “cloud” over our head, or as a “diamond in the rough.”

The second thing I find miraculous about this procedure is that humans instinctively grasp this transcendental relationship.

According to scientist/theologian, Emanuel Swedenborg, God created things to be that way. The natural world is a physical analog of all the things that can take place in the human mind and spirit.

Evidence for this Divine scheme is that Jesus used parables to communicate deeper messages during His ministry. The irony is that while metaphor is instinctive to humans, such language escapes our everyday habitual minds. This is why many of the fanciful Bible stories have led “reasoning” individuals to challenge the inerrancy and authority of God’s Holy Word.

Every story in Scripture, whether historical or prophetical, contains deeper messages about God’s relationship with each of us. In fact, the Second Coming commences as individuals open up to these deeper teachings and allow for greater understanding and intimacy with the Divine Creator.

The purpose of this blog is to help the Lord God plant new spiritual seeds.

http://www.provinggod.com

When armies attack nudists

It seems that God gives some people good advice for escaping an attack by an enemy army and other people bad advice. For instance, in Matthew 24:15-18, Scripture states:

When therefore ye shall see the abomination of desolation which was told of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, let him that readeth understand, then let them who are in Judea flee into the mountains; let him that is upon the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house; and let him that is in the field not return back to take his garment.

It makes perfect sense to warn people to run for the hills to find safety. But God’s advice for others to stay on their rooftops and even for nudists to keep their clothes off at the approach of an attacking army seems a bit risky.

Those who stay on their roofs can at least delay their inevitable capture. But God’s counsel for those running around in the field nude to simply keep their clothes off during an attack only adds a sense of awkwardness to a bad situation.

Since God is All Wise, this advice should not be questioned, even if you are a nudist (nor should anyone suddenly put their clothes back on and claim to be an atheist).

Jokes aside, what are we to learn from God’s revealed wisdom?

The lesson here is spiritual—not worldly. The biblical passage quoted above is meant to symbolize a higher spiritual meaning. The attack God is warning people against is an attack from evil and false influences—all the things that attack and destroy the human soul. This symbolic interpretation is what is meant by the words “let him that readeth understand.”

In any community, you will have people representing different levels of spiritual growth. God’s different advice represents lessons for various people on these different levels when they are coming under spiritual attack (temptations). Those on the highest level (Judea—who love the Lord God) must keep their mind elevated towards heavenly things (flee into the mountains). The symbolism here is simple but it gets more challenging.

Those below this level (who love the neighbor) must also keep their mind elevated (stay on the housetop) without going down and taking belongings out of the house. Things “down in the house” represent the “lower” things of our character, which will not help us against temptation.

The final level represents the average good person who respects God’s truth and therefore lives a moral and ethical life. This last group are described as wandering in the field naked because they are more “earthly” (field) yet living in relative innocence (nakedness). If they were to go back to their houses and put their garments back on, this would symbolize returning to former hurtful ideas that they had already stripped themselves of.

So God’s advice and strategy was focused on protecting people on these three distinct levels of spirituality from attacks on their souls. Aren’t you relieved that God would never ask you to do something silly?

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The similarities between the Christmas tree and the Tree of Life

For one thing, both trees have a definite reference to God. Although people may have an image of a fruit tree (like apple) rather than an evergreen tree when they think of the Tree of Life in the Genesis story, a Christmas tree actually contains more symbolic spiritual richness.

So let’s explore the symbolism.

An evergreen represents God’s eternal activity better than a deciduous “apple” tree. However, you may still be inclined to point out that a balsam fir or other evergreen tree bears no fruit, and therefore, offers humans no real sustenance. The whole point of God’s Tree of Life in the garden is that it contained what was “good to eat” and therefore could sustain a healthy life.

If we contemplate for a moment that Christmas time enlivens the human spirit during the dead of winter, then we can assume that it is our inner spirit that is being fed and nourished. A Christmas tree feeds our heart and soul more effectively than any apple tree could!

What many Bible interpreters fail to grasp is that the true purpose of the Tree of Life was to feed the human soul (which doesn’t eat apples). What else would grow and take the center position in God’s special garden than that which could sustain and nourish human goodness and spiritual love?

The fact that we usually place an angel or star (of Bethlehem) at the top of the Christmas tree symbolizes that everything below it is aligned to and supportive of spiritual qualities at the top (from heaven). The beautiful ornaments and lights of a Christmas tree symbolize the wonderful variation, complexity and beauty of God’s Truth and Love. This spiritual symbolism is further supported by the gifts, which are placed under the Christmas tree. Christmas is a time for giving and sharing. And although Christmas shopping can involve a kind of mindless consumerism, the symbolism of gift giving still offers a deeper message of spiritual love for those of us way down here on earth.

A Christmas tree warms the heart. Love and sharing is felt in the human heart and soul as the very essence of spiritual warmth. The Lord God came into the world to spread this spiritual message of love. God’s intent is that the Tree of Life as well as the Tree of Christmas should be internalized within human experience and come to symbolize the quality of one’s heart.

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I believe in Santa Claus!

Yes, I am all grown up. But the more I look into the spiritual symbolism represented by Santa Claus the more I believe He is fundamentally real!

Let us start with Santa’s characteristics. He has a long white beard. This symbolizes wisdom (an aged and experienced mind) expressed in outward acts of goodness from purity. All true wisdom is acting from love. Santa’s jolly laugh, rosy cheeks and ample girth (fat symbolizes goodness) are all further outward signs of the inner qualities of his big heart.

Santa’s outfit is red and white. Red symbolizes love and white symbolizes purity, which are spiritual features.

Santa lives at the North Pole. Scientifically speaking, the North Pole represents a singularity. You can’t go further north than the North Pole. A singularity represents a boundary where spacetime ends and physical laws break down. Hence, Santa lives in a realm beyond space and time (like heaven) so his actions are not constrained by the laws of physics. Thus, Santa can perform miraculous things—like deliver toys to every child in the world in a single night and from a single bag! So Santa not only portrays a kind of omniscience (wisdom), but omnipresence (can be in many places at one time) and omnipotence (his bag of gifts never runs out).

Santa’s love is spiritual because it is angelic and inclusive!

Santa’s mode of transportation is a big sleigh driven by reindeer that can fly above the earth. These magical creatures symbolize higher ideals that can soar above the lower and common values of the everyday world. A sleigh symbolizes doctrine or belief system—the mental vehicle that transports us in life.

If you count “eight” reindeer, then the symbol of Santa and his sled represents the approach of a new beginning (an eighth day corresponds to the beginning of a new week or cycle). If you add Rudolph and his shiny red nose to the pack, the symbolism goes further to represent a holistic (nine) perception (nose) of reality from the principle of love (red) and truth (shining light).

That Santa cares about children being “good” is the same message that God gives to the world. And Jesus while on earth urged everyone to be like little children (which symbolizes innocence). Even the tradition of children sitting on Santa’s knee symbolizes that in order to receive our proper gifts we must be willing to be in obedience (sitting) to living a life according to the higher ideals of goodness. A knee, which connects the higher part of a leg to the lower part, represents the connection between higher spiritual ideals to the lower worldly mind so that we can walk in righteousness.

That Santa slides down chimneys is also a symbol with great spiritual significance. The hearth represents the human heart. Therefore, Santa delivers his gifts if we let him into our hearts. We let him into our hearts by being good. Gifts symbolize an increase in the goodness of the heart because they represent sharing.

That is why Santa places the gifts under the Christmas tree. A Christmas tree is representative of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden that God planted for the human race, which symbolizes our heart’s harvest of the fruitfulness of God’s love and wisdom.

I believe in Santa Claus because I believe in God. The evolution of the Santa Claus character within the human psyche over the years was a process directed by God’s providence and the angels of heaven, whose job it is to lift our minds to wonderful and miraculous things.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

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The symbolism of the Christmas colors Red and Green

In the same way that Christmas contains a deeper spiritual message within the various external traditions of gift giving, festive meals, eggnog, roasting chestnuts and decorations, so do the colors “green” and “red.”

The color green represents the sprouting of new spiritual thoughts in our mind. Green is the color of the plant kingdom, which emerges from the dead of winter, as the light of the spring sun gets stronger. Similarly, new thoughts arise in our minds as we celebrate the Lord’s Advent of new “light” coming into the world.

Red symbolizes love. New spiritual thoughts need love’s warmth to continue to grow (just like plants also need the sun’s vernal heat). So the colors green and red symbolize the birth of new spiritual activity in our minds and hearts, as we worship the birth of the baby Jesus in the world.

Indeed, this miraculous birth gains deeper meaning if we allow the Lord to be born within our hearts and minds. This is what we do when we follow the Lord’s teachings. Christmas is a game-changer.

The Lord’s birth represents our rebirth.

That fact that we use “red” and “green” for the colors of Christmas is no accident. It is the result of angelic and heavenly influences that flow down into the instinctive operations of the human mind.

So have a very merry (and deeper) Christmas!

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