The Pagan Path

Those who wonder are not lost; they are trying to awaken! 'The Sleeper must awaken!'

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

The Essence of Divinity

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will[e] believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, [ are ] in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
John 17:20-23 

What IS God made of? Jesus told the woman at the well in Samaria, 'God [ is ] Spirit' John 4:24, but then, you might well ask, 'what is a spirit ( or Spirit, as the case may be )?' Is a spirit what traditional pneumatology has taught us? Is the Creator of all things Himself an intangible? In a sense, one might say that our Heavenly Father is Pure ( the Purest ) Energy! Of Himself, He created all that we witness ( collectively speaking ); He is THE Source of Energy, the Sun itself, the brightest star in our Solar System, but by FAR not the brightest star in the universe, pales in comparison to Him! In fact, it is way beyond unfair ( to infinity ) to even dare to compare the two! God IS & that is more than enough!

As long as man ( kind ) has been in existence, we have reached out in a search for the Divine! Some have merely sought to live in Communion with the Divine, while others have sought after divinity themselves! Ezekiel's diatribe against the king of Tyre ( Ezekiel 28 ) is an example of this, while in Genesis 11:1-9, we read the account of the Tower of Babel, which tells the Story of a group of people who, for manifold reasons, determined to build a tall ( water-resistant ) tower that reached for the heavens!

Like any child who naturally reaches for his father, it is inherent for us to seek Communion with our Heavenly Father! Though most of us seek Communion in different ways, some quite unorthodox, it is Communion nonetheless, for no one can live without it! Just as in days of old, some are blessed, while others are cursed; those who seek after this Communion in a way that their Father has forbidden most often do not enjoy the Communion that they find, while those who follow His House Rules enjoy Blessed Communion with their Heavenly Father & His Holy Family!

He has made from one blood[c] every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, 
and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,  
so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, 
though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being.
Acts 17:26-28 

We are One with our Creator! No, not in the sense that we are all IN Christ, wherein we have reconciled ourselves to Him & become part of His ( spiritual ) family, but in the sense that without the most basic Communion, our biology will perish! Human beings are built for Communion; without the most basic of their needs being met, they cannot exist!

All human beings then, are in this sense, divine! Life is Sacred, both spiritually & physically speaking! In order to continue to exist, or live, human beings will naturally seek what is necessary to that existence!It is because of that innate desire to stay alive that we seek this Communion, however we can get it! Our Divine Nature seeks Communion with Divinity! Too often, for whatever reason, human beings do not find that Communion, so are forced to either settle for what poor substitute they can find, or continue a lifelong & fruitless search!

Some might question whether the 'Imago Dei', or Image of God, is stamped on the face of every human being. In the beginning, God said 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness'. A cursory reading, especially in our English Bibles, of the History of the Genesis of Creation would seem to clearly tell us that thus began the History of Mankind, but a closer look at the words in their original language tells a different story! The Story that we gather from the original language tells us of a Covenant Creation,one where God deemed to breathe His Spirit into a select few, for the Purpose of making Himself known to His entire Creation!


If it is true that all human beings bear the Image of God, as Genesis 9:6 seems to indicate, then man indeed has that Spark of Divinity that many people speak of, but if Genesis 1 & 2 record a Covenant Creation, wherein the Creator stamped His Image onto the Face of Man ( adam ), then we begin to see a quite different Story, one which invites the reader to 'Come' & partake in Covenant Blessings!

The Spirit of God, as the spirit of man, is the Essence of Divinity; it is what make Him what He is! We ourselves, are spiritual beings & although we have a biological body, it is not that body, but our spirit that defines us; it is who we are! The apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth, 'For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God'. This is a Universal Truth! Only those who have the Spirit of God truly bear His Image!

This Divine Essence, while existent to a lesser degree in all human beings, is found in its Fulness in the Body of Christ alone! Life is sacred & as human beings, in a variety of different ways, seek the Blessings of Communion with the Divine, we are all on a wondrous journey to discover that connection! Not all will find & enjoy the Blessings of that Connection, but all, in one sense or another, share it!

Charles Haddon Shank


1 comment:

bill said...

It start making more sense to me as I got to the end.....so what do you think is the make up of man......s ,s, &body or spirit and body which makes up a soul.......I know ce makes it more clear to me.....thanks again for a great teaching...