"God [ is ] Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” - John 4:24 ( NKJV )
To get to the crux of the matter, we must first understand the words above. According to the author, Jesus spoke these words to a woman of Samaria. But first, we must go even further back & take into account that this very important quotation has been presented to us in a multitude of versions, of which the one I chose, the NKJV, or New King James Version is only one among many. These versions offer the phrase with slight differences; for instance, the KJV or regular King James Version, says it this way, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." Note the very slight difference here. According to the former, "God [ is - not in original text ] Spirit", while the latter says that he is "a" Spirit. Minuscule, even unimportant difference, one might say, but IS it? The first seems almost to be equating "God" & "Spirit", while the second simply tells us that "God is A Spirit" ( one among many? ) A quick search on sites like Bible Gateway will show that the majority of modern versions have it either as "God is Spirit" ( mostly ) or "God is a Spirit". The New King James as well as the Authorized King James are at least honest when they fill in the blanks with [ is ] or some such. The point here is that, as with any ancient text, unless one has the original manuscript before them & full understanding of the original language, aside from blind faith, it is impossible to say how far political bias has skewed the translation! Not only must we take assorted biases into account, it is most important to remember that, not only are we reading very biased versions ( translations ) of an ancient text; we are endeavoring to read an ancient text while ignoring the cultural & historical context! This brings us full circle, one might note, to the "woman of Samaria", mentioned earlier. Why, do you think, would Jesus say this to such a woman? Well, first, one must understand the difference between a Jew & a Samaritan. The Jews normally HATED the Samaritans ( hence, the woman's surprise that Jesus would even TALK to her )! "Why did the Jews hate the Samaritans?" you ask; to understand THAT involves understanding the historical context, which is explained by further reading in the Books of the Kings of Israel. In the context of the passage quoted above, John 4:24, Jesus reminds her of this history & reveals that neither the Samaritans nor the Jews had it right!
If you are at all familiar with this blog, you know that I am a former Christian. I was raised to believe in this 'God', a Being that reigns over us, mere mortals, from a place up in the sky called 'Heaven'. I no longer believe this; "I KNOW IT!" Of course, I understand these words a BIT differently now! "God" is simpler our Higher Self, which yes, IS "Immortal, Invisible". Our Higher Self, the Divinity of which we ALL partake, reigns over our Lower Self, our mortal body, not from somewhere in the sky, but from a Higher Plane, a Higher Dimension, if you will. Of course, some might protest that, "If EVERYONE'S Lower Self is ruled by their Higher Self, then we're in no better condition than when we were caught up in Christianity!" In other words, if a murderer, rapist, whatever, is ruled by their Higher Self, than how is that Higher Self any different than a "God" that allows such things to happen?! The Difference is Responsibility! Realizing/accepting the fact that it is OUR own Self that is choosing to allow that kind of behavior makes all the difference in the world! No longer can we blame our wrong ( or right ) actions on some imaginary Being outside our own Self! Be it 'God' or 'Satan' ( the 'Devil' ), NO ONE outside of US can chose what we do! Of course, many people, even some of my readers, perhaps, would immediately protest with something like, "No; sometimes there really IS no Choice; sometimes, we MUST choose the lesser of two evils!" However, as gray as I may have become in other areas, here I remain Black & White; "There is ALWAYS a Choice!" Granted, this Choice may not seem like a Choice at all; for example, your daughter is drowning, but you are the captain of a ship that is about to capsize & if you abandon the helm to save your daughter, THEY might drown! Another example might be something like this; a man has a gun to your head and says, "give me all your money, or I'll blow your fucking brains out!" Or even, the same man with the same gun says, "Kill that person, or I'll kill you!" All Choices, however much we detest them: we die, or they die, we lose our hard-earned money or our life, our daughter dies, or we save an entire boatload ( "Ship"? ) of strangers. We cannot choose for others, however, so the likelihood may be that both of you will end up being killed, you may lose your wallet AND your life, or the boat may capsize anyway, despite your most valiant efforts, but the point is, in the former two scenarios in particular, just as you make YOUR Choice, so does the Other make HIS or HER Choice! We ALL bear the Responsibility for our OWN Choices, NOT the Choices of OTHERS!
"Who/What IS 'God' & why SHOULD we worship 'HIM'?!"
First of all, I realize that I'm doing a bit of what might be called back-treading' - I basically already told you my perception, MY Truth about Who & What 'God' is, but please, humor me for a minute! Secondly, "Why DO we refer to this 'God' as a 'HE' ( why not 'She'? )?!" To answer this question, we must again visit, not only the historical context, it is necessary to look at the political, or religious context as well. "Bias" might actually fit the bill better! I must admit to not being an ANE, or Ancient Near East scholar, but from what I have observed, the patriarchal practices of Ancient Israel were not really known, at least to any great extent, in Ancient Mesopotamia. Women were placed under the thumb of men, as far as I can tell, when Hebraism/Judaism became prevalent in the region. We see this in Islam as well, though it must be considered that Islam is an offshoot of Judaism, much as Mormonism is an offshoot of Christianity. So, this explains "Why" 'He' is a 'He', but why should WE worship 'Him'? Well, since Christianity is itself an offshoot of Judaism, it WOULD make sense that Christians would worship the god of the Jews. Speaking of "god", why, of all the religions of the world & all the gods/goddesses of said religions, do Christians simply call their god 'God'?" What happened to Jehovah/Yahweh, or even more correctly, 'Elohim'? ( By the way, "elohim" is plural ) It must be noted here, that there ARE certain denominations/sects under the umbrella of Christianity, that do refer to their god as "Jehovah/Yahweh". None that I know of, refer to the god of Christianity as "Elohim", although some might say that it should be understood as 'the Trinity'. The Bible says that the god of the Hebrew is the only TRUE god though, so I suppose this is why most Christians ( even some non-Christians ) simply call 'Him' 'God'. Whether this is TRUE or not is rather passe'; such is the nature of Perspective!
"Is 'He' Worthy of Worship?"
It has been said that the etymology of the word 'worship' includes the definition, "to ascribe worth". I suppose, if one is willing to follow 'His' every command, love 'Him' in the way 'He' commands & follow 'Him' as the only TRUE god; yes, 'he' could be perceived as "worthy of worship". But what if you want to live your OWN life, be your OWN person & not worship or follow the commands of some sky god who is willing to consign you to an eternity of flames & torment if you don't believe in 'Him', don't OBEY 'Him', don't LOVE 'Him'?! One example is; as a Christian, my favorite Bible verse ( "EVERY Christian has their favorite, right?" ) was Romans 8:28; "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to [ His ] purpose!". Now that I'm seeing clearly, two things immediately stand out; "Love Him" & "His purpose". ( Now, before I go any further in my little diatribe, I must admit to this STILL being my favorite, for it speaks of what I like to call Universal Truth. Basically, it may be rendered, "Do what is right & everything will turn out okay for you"! The rest of this verse, in my estimation, is ancient history & can stay there!
It is often pointed out by non-Christians ( as a reason for NOT ascribing Worth to this god ( of the Hebrews ), that, in the so-called 'Old Testament' in particular, Jehovah/Yahweh seems to be a somewhat PETTY god! "As above, so below", if one does not LOVE 'Him', OBEY 'Him', etc, etc, that one will not enjoy 'His' Divine Favor & will in fact end up burning in 'Hell' for Eternity, unless of course, that one changes his or her allegiance, PDQ ( Pretty Damn Quick )! It has been pointed out as well, that when Jesus came on the scene, he tamed his father down a bit ( making 'him' a bit LESS petty? ), but one only has to look at the passage quoted above to see that this is not really true! ( "Okay, so maybe a "BIT"! ) Anyway, as the case may be, obviously, it is a matter of perspective as to whether this 'God' is worthy of your worship! It is YOUR choice, YOUR RESPONSIBILITY! If you choose to believe in the god of the Hebrews as YOUR god, if you choose to follow this god, if you choose to obey this god; then I say, "More power to you!"
It should come as no surprise to my readers then, for I said as much earlier, that I do not believe in the 'God' of the Bible! In fact, one might well say that I do not believe in ANY god at all! Is there ONE Ultimate & Divine Source of Wisdom & Intelligence? Yes, though maybe not in the way we, as human beings are used to thinking! There is One Divine Source ( call IT 'God' if you must ), with many ( to Infinity ) facets! The Hebrew perception of this Divine Source, at least how it appears to us, several millenia later, is only one among a multitude of perceptive images of this Divine Source. In passing, some have accused this 'God' as being more of a 'Satan' character in the biblical Story, the Old Testament in particular; in other words, for instance, that when 'He' forbade 'Adam & Eve' from eating from the mythical Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil, a command which they disobeyed, 'he' removed them from the Garden so they could not also partake from the Tree of Life & "live forever". 'He' revealed himself as the TRUE 'Satan' or adversary, to 'His' people. By the way, one might note that 'He' as much as said, "Oh, SHIT; they've become gods, like us!", in Genesis 3:22. Islam, as an offshoot of Judaism, or Hebraism, doesn't see their god, Allah', as being much different than the Hebrew god. One major difference, THE major difference maybe, is that Allah is only ONE god, while the Christian God is One, but in THREE persons! ( Don't get me started!" ) "How did we get from the Hebrew god to the Christian god?" I'm not sure if the ancient Hebrews actually had any kind of version of a Trinity of gods in their pantheon, but apparently there are enough clues in the Hebrew Scriptures ( trust me, I've "been there, done that!" ) to readily infer a Trinity of 'persons' within the 'Godhead' ( ? ). But enough of THAT!
"Facets"?! No, the Hebrew god & the god of Islam are NOT facets of the Divinity! At least, not like you may be thinking. THOSE gods, in particular, though there ARE others, merely reflect the whims of the culture they were born from! No; the "Facets" I refer to are US! Each & every human being, no matter how much they try to hide it, has within them what is often referred to as a 'Spark of Divinity'. It is not that some have within them a greater or lesser 'Spark', simply that some have become used to listening to ( obeying ) their lower nature, or self, rather than their Higher Self: they have forgotten Who they are & thus have become little more than animals!
Some would probably accuse me, both semantically & theologically, of still hanging on to my upbringing & all I have to say to that is, "Maybe, but is that such a bad thing?!" My readers, be they staunch Christians or Doubting Thomas's, must make up their OWN minds! One does not have to agree with me, either semantically OR theologically in order to BE in accord with me. In THAT sense, if no other; we ARE One. The greatest import of that famous statement of course, being that we are all, in our Divinity, Facets of the Divine Source!
If one feels they MUST be religious & trust me, I understand the attraction, I don't care what religion you belong to, be it Christianity, Judaism, OR Islam ( not to mention all the other 'isms' out there ), if you treat me as you would like to be treated, I WILL treat you accordingly! Admittedly, such a strong statement IS a two-edged sword. I do not wish harm on anybody, but I cannot truthfully say that one can mistreat me & get away with it! Some people just NEED a good ass-kicking ( Namaste', motherfucker!" )!
Namaste' & Blessed Be!
Sage Charles
