Who Are We…….Really?
Let me start by saying that I wrote this in 2015, and today, late July 2021, much has changed in our world, especially the past year and a half as our freedoms have been all but stripped from us due to a "pandemic". I have my thoughts and opinions on this and I am definitely in the minority, but this is not the forum for those. In reviewing this I have made some slight changes and alterations in light of where I am now, but the vast majority of it is still sound for today. I do believe the Bible is divinely inspired. I rarely take the Word of God as completely and fully literal, just read what Jesus said about why He taught everything in parables. I still listen to select Word Faith teachers in spite of its own shortcomings, but have found it to be the closest truth to the Word of God and Teachings of God through Christ.
Rob Vogt - July 30, 2021
Today
I want to discuss a subject that by all Christian’s standards will almost
certainly label me a Heretic. But I’m okay with that because the religious
leaders in Jesus’ day accused him of blasphemy for making the same assertion. It
is my hope that as you read and reason through the evidence presented here, through
various sources including the Bible, you’ll be left with no alternative but to
accept what I present as truth and if not by all means please respond in the
comments below. By no means do I claim to have it all figured out or that I ever
will have it all figured out in this lifetime. As I’ve stated before I simply
go where I feel the evidence takes me and where I feel the Spirit is leading me
and then try to present that evidence. I will not and cannot take at face value
what traditional Christian doctrine, science or any other source says or
doesn’t say about the our world and reality as we understand it. And I must reiterate at the outset that this is
in no way a condemnation of Christianity, Christian doctrine or individual
Christians, for if not for this religion and my decision to follow it and
investigate it over the past twelve years, I would not be where I am today in my
beliefs and faith. There is absolutely no doubt that I am not the same person
today and that is as a direct result of reading the Bible and trying to interpret and understand the teachings of
Jesus while also reading many Christians authors and listening to numerous
Christian teachers. The key has been separating the wheat from the chaff or
eating the meat and spitting out the bones as the sayings go.
Today I ask, Who Are We….Really?
And in that regard I want to talk about traditional Christian doctrine of God the Father, Jesus as the Son of
God, the Holy Spirit as God and our place and position in the creation and as a
child of God in that equation. What does the Bible say about the matter? What
is the latest science, especially at the quantum level, showing us about our
reality, our relationship to it and how we influence it? What did Jesus say
about the matter in the Gospels and what does the Apostle Paul have to say in
his Epistles?
But before we get started I
feel I need to momentarily digress here, so as to set the stage as we proceed. One of the greatest gifts, aside from the literal feeling of a massive weight
of guilt and shame being instantaneously lifted from my shoulders the very
moment I finally surrendered my will and asked God to save me, was the gift of
a Bible from a couple whose son’s Bible study we attended shortly after my conversion if you will. They said, “Read
this every day.” which I did every morning.
But I wasn’t content to just read the English translation which happened
to be an NIV translation. As I progressed I read many other English
translations, then purchased a Hebrew/Greek interlinear that had Strong’s
numbers attached to each word which you could then look up in a Concordance or
on the internet. They would show the original Hebrew or Greek word along with
the English understanding of the original word. It was through and as a result
of this individual intense, deep study that I first started to question what I
was being told and taught to believe and accept as truth from the Bible,
creation, the universe and my significance and role in all of it.
I point this out because I feel
that in order to fully grasp what scripture is saying, it is imperative at
times, to look to the original Hebrew or Greek words for a deeper more
meaningful understanding of what the writer is trying to get across to us as
the English language often does not do justice to the text.
So with that in mind I want to start with a
passage from an ancient text not discovered until 1945 called; The
Gospel According to Thomas,
(or the Gospel of Thomas), which is an early Christian non-canonical
sayings-gospel that many scholars believe provides insight into the oral
gospel traditions. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in
December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Thomas) It was my daughter
that first introduced me to this recently discovered Gnostic text when she gave
me a book called the Gospel of Thomas: The Gnostic Wisdom of Jesus by Jean-Yves
Leloup (Leloup, 2005).
When I opened it and started
reading the first few verses I was awestruck as I found the verses to be some
of, if not the most profound statements I had ever read in my 20+ year search
for meaning and understanding about our place and relationship to the universe.
When I combined this with what I’d been discovering through my study of the
Bible, Science, especially at the quantum level and numerous other sources I
was in awe. It comes from the first 5 verses of this Gospel with a portion of the
second verse being one of the most profound.
These are the words of the Secret.
They were revealed by the Living
Yeshua.
Didymus Judas Thomas wrote them
down.
(1) Yeshua said, "Whoever lives the
interpretation of these sayings will no longer taste death."
(2) Yeshua said, "Whoever searches must
continue to search until they find. When they find they will be disturbed; and
being disturbed, they will marvel and will reign over All.”
(3) Yeshua said, "If those who guide you say:
Look, the Kingdom is in the sky, the birds are closer than you. If they say:
Look, it is in the sea, then the fish already know it. The Kingdom is inside
you, and it is outside you. When you know yourself, then you will be known, and
you will know that you are the child of the Living Father; but if you do not
know yourself, you will live in vain and you will be vanity.”
(4) Yeshua said, "The aged person will not
hesitate to ask a seven day-old-infant about the Place of Life, and that person
will live. Many of the first will make themselves last, and they will become
One.”
(5) Yeshua said, "Recognize what is in front of
you, and what is hidden from you will be revealed. There is nothing hidden that
will not be revealed."
This interpretation comes from the above stated book, but, there are several
different interpretations just as there are in the Christian Bible with each
reading slightly differently. For
example in verse one depending on the translation it can read, “Whoever lives
the interpretation of these sayings, finds the correct interpretation of these
sayings, discovers the meaning/interpretation of these sayings/words, will not
taste death.
In verse two we are to search/seek and keep on
searching/seeking until we find, much as Jesus said to do in the Gospel of both
Matthew 7 and Luke 11 the result of which will initially leave us disturbed/troubled/dismayed
when we find, but that dismay will lead us to marvel and be astonished before
ultimately being able to rule/reign over the all/everything. If these words are
not from Jesus they are profound nonetheless considering the fact that there
was one man, according to the Bible, that came to earth more than 2,000 years
ago that displayed an incredible ability to transcend/rule and reign over all.
A man that was able to command sickness and disease to depart, raise the dead,
command the wind and the waves to be calm, feed thousands from a few fish and
loaves of bread, turn water into wine, walk on water, walk through walls and ultimately transcend
death as we know it. His name was Jesus and Christianity not only recognizes
him as the Son of God but as God incarnate in the flesh. And
the claim that I have heard throughout most of my Christian walk is that He was
able to do what He did because He was
God. But He was also man and as I read the scriptures it became clear to me that He
walked the earth not as God but as a
man. So all that He did, according to scripture, He did as a man, not as God. It can get a bit confusing. Was He God, was He
man or was He both at the same time? And what about us, where do we fit into
this whole picture? That’s what I hope to show as we move forward.
So let us look at a few examples from scripture to
prove my claim that Jesus was a man when He performed all His miracles on the
earth.
At the beginning of The Gospel of Matthew 9:2-8 a
paralytic is brought to Jesus by four friends and verse 2 says that, “When
Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son,
be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you."
Of course the religious leaders that were there
immediately said within themselves and I paraphrase, “Who does this man think
that He is that He can forgive sins. He blasphemes for no one can forgive sins but
God alone.” And Jesus knowing the evil thoughts within their hearts responds in
verse 5-6, “"For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven
you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man
has power on earth to forgive sins"; then He said to the paralytic,
"Arise, take up your bed, and go to your
house."
So here we see Jesus showing, not only the ability
to forgive sins as a man, but also
healing a paralytic as a man. Yes, I
hear someone saying, but it was because He was the Son of God and God in the flesh and that is why He could do what He
did. Well then let us read verse 8, “Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.”
Who had given such power to God, to the Son of God?
No it says who had given such power to men.
The Apostle Paul also deals with the matter of
whether Jesus did what He did as a man or as God in Philippians 2:5-8 and here
for the sake of brevity and looking at specific words I will use the Amplified and
New American Standard translation because I feel it gives the best description
of what we are trying to get across;
Php 5:6-8 Let
this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ
Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:] Who, although being essentially
one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes
which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be
eagerly grasped or retained, But stripped Himself [of all privileges and
rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human
being. - AMP
Have this
attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed
in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but
emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the
likeness of men. - NASB.
So clearly Paul is showing us here that although
Jesus was equal to or One with God that He emptied Himself of all of His Godhead
powers. Yet that said, although He emptied
himself and took on the nature of a servant, He still displayed all the
qualities and powers of God as a man
as far as reigning over the natural realm. How was this possible? The truth is
that Jesus walked the earth for 30 years and according to scripture never
performed one single miracle, until that is,
God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He
went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. - Acts 10:38 NASB
So although He
was a man and did all that He did as a
man that Bible says He was anointed
of God and it was not until He was baptized that John says he saw the Holy
Spirit as a dove descend upon him that Jesus then started to perform the
miracles and supersede the natural realm.
To be anointed according to the Greek word G5548 chriō
is to consecrate and furnish with the necessary power and gifts of the Holy
Spirit.
So are we any different? According to Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:21 and 1 John 2:20 we have been anointed with the same Holy Spirit and if we’re to truly believe what Jesus said in John 14:12,
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that
I do he will do also; and greater works
than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”
Not
only should we be doing and experiencing what Jesus did, but, even greater works than
that of Jesus according to this verse.
So if in fact as the Bible claims
we are equal to Jesus and frankly the Father for that matter as I will show,
why do we not experience this in our everyday life? I have experienced small bits
and pieces over the years, but never the fullness and never the greater works.
In some circles of Christianity we do see and hear stories of healing, people
being raised from the dead and various other needs being miraculously met. I do
know that my wife and I have been a part of and visited churches and have been to
conference’s where belief in healing, speaking in tongues, seeing financial
needs met, the laying on of hands and the raising of the dead etc. are believed
and in some cases witnessed but these churches are often heavily condemned and
criticized by many other segments within the church body.
The stand out point that I am
trying to get across to the reader from just these first two verses in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas is that according to the writer, when we come to discover and understand the interpretation, that is the correct interpretation of the sayings, parables, and message from Jesus we will initially marvel or be
troubled.
Why? Because I firmly believe that when you truly realize who you are
…..really are as a child of the living God, your unlimited potential, that fact
that you are the ultimate creator of your world, because you are one with
God, equal to God, God in you and you
in God you will find it disturbing or troubling.
Why? Because again, we have
been conditioned and programmed to believe that we are inferior, imperfect,
fallen sinners not worthy of God and that God is Holy, perfect, omniscient,
omnipotent, and omnipresent, and He is, and that we are separate from God. Many, I think I
can fairly say, probably have this vision in our mind of God the person, with
long white hair, a big white beard and a rod seated on a throne somewhere out there in
some place called heaven , while we’re stuck in this evil fallen hell hole
called earth. I know that that has been my experience in the past. It was this
very claim by Jesus that he was equal to
God, was one with God and in essence was God that had the religious leaders
of His day calling Him a blasphemer for daring to put Himself on the same level
as God. I think this is a key area where we have failed, in not recognizing
that we are no different from Jesus and He showed us and told us as much.
The Christian religion in a nutshell, goes something like this. God created man in His own image and likeness to be rulers or gods over this planet earth with God as our source. We messed it up, disobeyed God, became separated from God and lost as a result. Now God had to find a way to restore us to Himself. That is where Jesus comes in, as He fulfilled all the necessary rules/laws that we couldn't so that we could be restored back to God. How does this happen, well we say some non biblical religious prayer asking Jesus and God to forgive us of our sins and we get what is called Born Again. At that very moment we are told something supernatural happens, we are miraculously restored to God the Father and that Jesus Himself, God, Himself and God the Holy Spirit all come to live inside us. We become ONE with God, yet it has been my experience over the past twelve years in this religion that we don’t receive and we won’t accept this reality due to our conditioning as being inferior, lack of
understanding and lack of faith.
In Hosea 4:6 God said,
“my people are
destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
There can be no truer statement. Yet Jesus
said in both Matthew 7:7-8 and Luke 11:9-10
The writer states that if we ask it will be given, if we seek we will find and
if we knock it will be opened to us. I want to and will explore this further but
will come back to this as I want to cover the remaining three verses of our opening verses from the Gospel of Thomas.
So about our belief that God and His Kingdom are
somewhere out there in a place called heaven? If we move on to verse 3 we can
see a striking similarity in this passage to that found in Luke 17:21:
“nor
shall they say, Lo, here; or lo, there; for lo, the reign of God is within
you.'” - Young’s Literal Translation.
“nor will they say,
`Look, here it is!' or, `There it is!' For behold, the kingdom of God is in
your midst." - NASB
How many times have I read or seen in the media of
some pastor, evangelist, preacher or some cult leader prophetically claim the
return of Jesus, God’s Kingdom or the end times, would occur on such and such a
day only to see the day pass as any other day. In Luke 17:20 it says that
the Pharisee’s had been questioning Jesus about when the Kingdom would be
coming and Jesus’ response was that the kingdom was not coming with signs to be
observed but rather, the kingdom of God was within us and in our midst. Jesus also tells us in Matthew 24:38-37,
It is when,
as I stated above, that we come to grasp and understand this reality of who we
really our in relation to God that we will then know our true selves as sons
and daughters of the living Father. Until then He says we live in vain and will
be vanity. Other translations say, “you will live in poverty, and you will be
poverty.”
How would I define
vain or vanity? There are a couple of different ways I would define the words.
One description would be a person who has an excessively high opinion of
themselves, their appearance, abilities or worth, conceit or pride. But I would
also say with utmost certainly that if one could see beneath the surface of
that person and get inside their head and heart you would find their vanity is based in
the very opposite, that being fear, a lack of self-worth, not being happy with
oneself. Why? Because they don’t know who the really are, they are lost, they
feel that in order to be accepted or to fit in that they need to act, behave or
look a certain way. How do I know this? Because I am describing myself to a great extent, I still
remember the day when I’d finally had enough of playing the game of the world, always having to put on what I felt were different masks depending on which
person or crowd I was around.
I would define the vain as used in the verse above
as one having no success and not producing or getting the desired result, as
one having no real value, a life marked by futility or ineffectualness. In this
regard I think it is fair to say that not only is the world littered with
vanity and vain people as one look at the magazine rack of any supermarket
checkout or the staggering increase in Cosmetic surgery worldwide will leave
little doubt about that. Sadly though I think it would be fair to say that a
large portion of the Christian church lives in the same vanity. But why? Because,
as I pointed out above, the fact that we’ve been indoctrinated and conditioned
to believe that we are all imperfect humans, living in an imperfect world and
will probably remain so until we die go to heaven and receive our resurrected
glorified body. Jesus said in Matthew 5:48,
"Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." - NASB.
I remember the first time I read that and thought....HUH? How can I ever possibly be as perfect as God is perfect? That's impossible. Let’s be honest how many Christians would dare to consider that
they are on the same level and equal to Jesus or their heavenly Father. To say
such a thing would be a blasphemous and arrogant statement! Yet Jesus did just that. He
said, if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father -John 14:9 and, I and the Father are one - John 10:30.
I say
and do only what the Father tells me to say and do -John 5:19. He was in perfect union and
harmony with God and knew His place as a son of the Father and HE came to show
us the Father and who we are in relation to Him.
This, I believe though, is where we have failed miserably as
a society and why so many people and many more within the Christian church live
a life of poverty and never ever reach their full potential. And by poverty I
don’t mean for lack of money or material possessions, I mean spiritual poverty
as a state of feeling inferior, insufficient, having no self-esteem or
self-worth. Although many claim to be saved and born again, including myself,
most I humbly say are still dead and lost. They don't know who they really are. And that’s what religion does; it
keeps one bound, burdened, inferior, and lost.
Jesus addressed this very issue in
Matthew 23:1-5 when He said to the multitudes and to His
disciples,
“The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat [of authority]. So
observe and practice all they tell you; but do not do what they do, for they
preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy loads, hard to bear, and
place them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not lift a
finger to help bear them. They do all their works to be seen of men;” - AMP
Can anyone relate?
Now moving on to verse 4, I see a striking similarity
here as spoken by Jesus in Matthew 19:30,
The footnote [a] for this verse reads; Or, foremost, chief. That is, first in time; or first in status. The parable that follows illustrates this point. In answer to Peter’s question in v 27, Jesus says God will reward based on His own will, not what we think we deserve; and based on completion of the work assigned to us, not based on comparison to the work done by others or in proportion to our part of the total work performed. Compare the parable at 25:14. Thus from the human viewpoint, some seeming to have done the least will seem to be rewarded the most; some who appear to deserve more will receive the same as others who appear to deserve less.
"Thus the last ones will be first, and the first ones, last”
and in Matthew 20:16,
while in Matthew 22:14 He says,
"For many are called ones, but few are chosen ones” - Disciples Literal New Testament
It’s is interesting that in the Gospel of Thomas verse 4 we're told,
it’s
the first who make themselves become last that will become One.
How does one interpret this statement? Well if we
refer back to the passage above from Philippians 2 where it indicated Jesus
emptied Himself and we consider that it is when we empty ourselves of our false
self that is the ego. That part of us that tells us we are unique and separate
individuals, our own gods, in control of our own lives and decisions etc. The
me, myself and I, that incessant voice that’s constantly babbling inside of our
heads either puffing us up in pride or breaking us down and beating us up.
In Matthew 16:24 Jesus said to His disciples,
"If
anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight
of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow
Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if
need be, in dying, also]." - AMP
What I believe Jesus is trying to get across to
humanity here is that in order for us to attain that same level of union and harmony
as He experienced with the Father, that ability to become One, it is imperative
and absolutely essential that we crucify or deny ourselves. And by ourselves I think He is referring to that part of
us that wants to be in control, its own god, our prideful, arrogant self-centered
ego that is always, always seeking outside approval from the world. It is those
that are able to empty themselves of self,
that will ever experience the fullness of God as Jesus did. We see it in some
of the great saints, but I also believe that those that practice various forms
of meditation or any practice that shuts down the egoic mind will find that
union, the oneness with the divine. In fact I remember just recently asking myself and even posing the question on Facebook wondering what Jesus prayed those many nights He spent on the mountain or when it says He slipped away from the crowds to pray? I realize now that He was probably meditating in the sense of emptying
himself of self and becoming One with the Father.
Christianity would have me believe that those the meditate, which is really a form of quieting the egoic mind, emptying oneself of self, according to the teaching of Buddha or various other Eastern mystics and teachers is pagan religion and has no relation to the God of the Bible.
Yet Jesus uses an analogy of a wide and narrow gate that I think speaks appropriately to this in Matthew 7:13-14,
“Enter
through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that
leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."
I really need to reiterate here that I am not out to come against Christianity as I truly believe their hearts are sincere in what they believe, but that doesn't necessarily make it the truth. Jesus said when you know the truth, the truth will set you free, yet again , my own experience over the past twelve years and that of being in several different churches and around many Christians is that many are anything but free, many still live in fear and bondage. Why, if as they claim, they have the truth? Could it be that the message has been misinterpreted? I know that is an incredibly bold statement to make because if so it would suggest that since the time of Christ thousands and millions have had it wrong and that just isn't possible. I have done a little research on the early church fathers and we came to believe some of the Christian doctrines that we have taken as truth, but, that is a whole study and book in and of itself. Frankly all many know about the Bible is what we have been taught, read or heard from someone else and all they know is what they have been taught, heard or read and so on and so forth back to the time of Christ. So as audacious or arrogant as that sounds, is it possible?
(Let me add here that I wrote this in 2015, after leaving the church, jaded and frustrated. Today in 2021 I do believe that Jesus who is the Living Word of God is the way, the truth and the life.)
Luke records Jesus as saying,
"And someone said to Him, “Master, are the ones being saved few?” And the One said to them, 24 “Be striving to enter through the narrow door, because many, I say to you, will seek to enter, and will not be able." - Disciples Literal New Testament
Let's move on to the final verse 5, we can see that what is
said here is found in all three of the synoptic Gospels at Matthew 10:26, Mark 4:22, and Luke 8:17, where we read that there is nothing hidden that will not
be revealed or anything secret that will not come to light. But according to
Thomas it is not until we recognize what is right in front of us that that which
is hidden will be revealed to us.
As another translation reads, "Recognize what
is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will become plain to you. For
there is nothing hidden which will not become manifest."
I think Matthew sums it up nicely when he quotes the
Prophet Isaiah in chapter 13:14-15,
Looking at each of the footnotes we read [a], That is, The prophecy saying. [b], Or, thick, fat, insensitive. [c], That is, with difficulty. They are spiritually hard of hearing. [d], This expresses the purpose of the people. They willfully closed their eyes to God that they might not ever see what they did not want to see, and never have to change their ways and return to God.
This without a doubt is why most of us rarely if
ever experience God and fewer still attain to their full potential. I have no
doubt that humanity has the ability to reach the same level as Jesus, but for
lack of knowledge as Hosea said they perish. I still remember a church 12 step
group I partook in some years ago as a facilitator. Almost all in the group were lifetime Christians, born into a Christian household and raised in one of many different Christian denominations. One my greatest teachers, Charles Capps says, "Once you become indoctrinated you quit thinking" and the statement is so true. Many or almost all in the group
had been through this program multiple times and were still no
further ahead or any closer to the freedom and victory that Christ came to give us. They were still stuck in fear, ignorance, shame, guilt and bondage. I was known as the man of faith in the group having been immediately introduced to the Word Faith message of Kenneth Copeland and many others that are a part of that same teaching. The whole New Testament is based of the Law of Faith, for without faith Hebrews 11:6 says it's impossible to please God. At the time I had just discovered that I didn't have to live in that guilt and shame, that bondage that had kept me paralyzed for most of my adult life to that point. Like many who turn to drugs I used alcohol and marijuana to escape that shame and guilt of all the bad stuff I had done to people and myself. I suffered years of severe clinical depression with suicidal thoughts. But, I had just been told that I didn't have to carry that weight any longer because there was a man named Jesus Christ that had carried all that garbage for me, all my garbage, all my guilt, all my shame and that it had been nailed to a cross and with that knowledge for the first time in my adult life came an incredible sense of freedom. Others in the
group just didn't seem to or had no ability to grasp this and I remember bringing it before God because I just couldn't understand what part of the Gospel, being set free from they couldn't grasp. The fact that for some this was their third, forth, fifth time going through the same Christian based 12 step program and they were still in bondage to their baggage said a lot. What He eventually showed me was that they were spiritually deaf and dumb, that although having ears to hear they heard not and that having eyes to
see, they saw not. Why? They were bound by religious indoctrination and they couldn't think or reason for themselves. Almost every church I have ever been in and many of the sermons I used to listen to on a local Christian radio station teach nothing but sin consciousness. That we are, as believers, the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus is rarely ever heard or taught, yet, that is the truth of the new covenant. We think that such a statement is arrogant, prideful, and that to be humble we need to be beneath God, inferior to Him, continually recognize the we are still sinners even if we have been saved by God's grace. As Proverbs 23:7 says, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."
If you sit your whole life or years under teaching that continually proclaims that you are nothing but an old unworthy sinner saved by grace, that you'll never be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect because you are a fallen human even though Jesus has saved you and you are going to heaven and that to even consider that somehow you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus is blasphemous or even a sin how could you ever get free from under that. Like Capps says, once indoctrinated, you have no ability to think for yourselves. I think more than anything else some of these new age atheist, although I confess I have not read any of their work beyond some reviews or You Tube video's, such as Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens speak more against the religious dogma being taught than a belief in a creator.
Our life and the reality we experience and live is, and will never be, anything more than a exact reflection of what we believe about ourselves, the image we have of our creator and the world we live in. Our thoughts consist of our beliefs and those beliefs become our words and those words Jesus said are seeds that we are planting and when you plants seeds, whether good seeds or weed seeds you will always get a harvest, whether good or bad.
Our life and the reality we experience and live is, and will never be, anything more than a exact reflection of what we believe about ourselves, the image we have of our creator and the world we live in. Our thoughts consist of our beliefs and those beliefs become our words and those words Jesus said are seeds that we are planting and when you plants seeds, whether good seeds or weed seeds you will always get a harvest, whether good or bad.
All that said the ultimate point I guess that I am trying to get across is,
are we any different from Jesus the man? And if so, then what separates us or
makes us any different than He was as a human being when He walked the earth?
My own view is that it is our thoughts, emotions, beliefs and most importantly our
Ego, that false self-centered part of us that we think is the real us, when in fact,
it is an imposter that has deceived us into believing that it, the ego, is who we really
are. I think it is a perfect representation of the devil or Satan as described
in the Bible and that in itself is whole other article unto itself for another day.
Love in Christ, Rob.
There is so much more I want to add and I did not even
get into the science in this article. I guess I will have to settle for that
being a separate article. And there was one more Scripture that I wanted to
explore with respect to Jesus when the religious leaders accused Him of being
equal to God but that will form Part 2 of "Who Are We....Really?
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