The Metaphorical Jesus

Call it faith! In order to assert that Jesus the son of Mary ever walked the Earth, one must take it on faith that the few references to Jesus extant in ancient writings, such as the Greek & Aramaic Scriptures, Josephus, etc., are unbiased & verifiably true. One may also finds bits & pieces of archeological evidence that a certain Man named Jesus, or Yeshua ( Joshua ) once existed, but other than that, one must simply take their word for it, since we weren't there. The Christian faith, or religion, is based wholly upon the facts, as evidenced in the Hebrew, Greek & Aramaic Scriptures, that, not only did the Man Jesus exist, but that He was God Incarnate, more than just a Man!

The Scriptures, as theologians have known for centuries, are full of metaphor! In the Greek & Aramaic Scriptures, for instance, the Gospel accounts, interestingly enough, of just Matthew & Mark ( chapters 8 & 5, respectively ), tell a story of a herd of swine that, after a demon enters them, run headlong off a cliff & drown in the sea. Modern critical studies show that this wasn't necessarily a herd of pigs that drowned, but was actually more of a metaphor for unfaithful Israel who were swallowed up by the Sea, which itself is a well-known & accepted metaphor for the Gentiles. A metaphor is not always related as non-literally; for instance, the story of Sampson & the Lion, as related in Judges 14, is told as a factual event, but it also relates a deeper spiritual truth, that Israel according to the flesh was becoming a dead carcass herself & must die that the sweetness of the Spirit might be revealed!

Mysticism should be noted as having been practiced well before the time of Christ! Christian Mysticism, in its many different forms, of course, is based on the Revelation of Jesus the Christ: the notion that the Creator God Himself bore the Body of a Man ( Hebrews 10:5 ( Psalm 40:6 ) in order that Man might better understand his relationship to the Creator is one that is not foreign. In his famous 4th-century work, 'On the Incarnation of the Word', Athanasius made this amazing, almost heretical statement; '“God Became Man that Man Might Become God”'. In today's theological landscape, this might better be rendered as 'God became man, that man might be revealed as ( One with ) God'. Of course, such a statement would very likely land you in as much or more hot water as the previous one, but, as the case may be.......

The very notion that a Man could be God is one that ultimately got Jesus  killed! Yes, it had been prophesied throughout the Hebrew Scriptures that One would come, like Moses, that would bear the sins of His people, but it never said, in so many words, anyway, that He would be God Himself ( Isaiah 7:14 should have been a clue ). When Jesus made the claim that He was equal with the Creator God, being the Son of God, the unbelieving Jews were so enraged that they handed Him over to the Roman authorities, claiming He was a political insurrectionist. Well, things kinda went downhill from there ( you probably know the old, old story ): Jesus ended up being crucified, according to Plan, of course & was revealed as exactly who He claimed to be, the Very Son of God!

Jesus was/is the Son of God ( according to some, Jesus still inhabits His biological Body ); if one believes the Scriptures, there can be no doubt about that! As the Son of God, the unbelieving, as well as believing, Jews noted that Jesus was claiming equality with the Creator God. This was not necessarily the case, although the apostle John himself wrote, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God' ( John 1:1 ). Jesus Himself never claimed to be the Creator God, though He DID claim to be the Son of God. Like most Christians today, though, the Jews of Jesus' day assumed that for a Man to make that assertion meant He claimed equality with the Creator God. But such was not the case with Jesus; He only said ( truly ) that He was the Son of God.

Metaphorically speaking, then, the historical ( Scriptural ) Jesus showed us that a Man could indeed be God! Jesus had the Holy Spirit, yes, like certain men of old ( Moses, Sampson, even Saul & then David): the prophets even had a direct connection with the Creator God. But some may insist that Jesus had more; 'He was the Second Person of the Trinity, or 'Godhead': eschatologically & Scripturally speaking, He WAS that, as far as that goes, but did He indeed ( have more )? Yes, as He said, recorded in John 8, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.', thus, in their eyes, anyway, affirming that He was indeed God in the flesh, for this was how the Creator God had introduced Himself to Moses ( Exodus 3:14 ). Jesus was 'God with us' ( Matthew 1:22 ( Isaiah 7:14 ), but He yet deferred to His Father; though He WAS the Creator God, or at least, One with Him from the Beginning, He acknowledged that He was not the Supreme Deity, but simply a Channel!

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

The above prayer, of course, is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, who understood that it is by unselfishly serving others, by manifesting the Christ, that we find our salvation! Not salvation, maybe, in a strictly Scriptural sense, for that was accomplished in the 1st century A.D., but in the sense of the prayer above, that it is by metaphorically laying down our lives, that we take them up ( Matthew 10:39 ). As instruments, or channels of the Creator God, we may pray along with the Man from Assisi that we might be channels of His blessing, that we might sow Love instead of Fear, Peace instead of War. But more than that, we need to purpose in our own hearts to BE that Channel, those Instruments!

The Jews of Jesus' Day were called to have faith in Jesus, just as their forefathers had exercised faith in Him whom they could not see ( Hebrews 11 ( Luke 2:25-33 ). Today, whether or not one takes it on faith that Jesus was a historical figure, we understand, as Christians especially, that the teachings He laid down in the Scriptures can be our salvation as well, but only if we practice them from a pure heart. 

Charles Haddon Shank

The Ways of Life & Death

We have a problem here in America! Place the blame wherever you want, but wherever you place it, you're most likely missing the heart of the issue. Many like to lay their robes at the feet of the current president, whoever he may be, or point fingers at the federal, state, or local governments, even their next-door neighbor. The issue, however, should be clear; even if you're not a Christian, with proof-texts like James 4:1, 'Where do wars and fights [ come ] from among you? Do [ they ]  not [ come ]from your [ desires for ] pleasure that war in your members?', when anyone points fingers at someone else or even somewhere else, they should know that at least three are pointing back at them!

That fateful day in 1973, the very anniversary of the day of this writing, in fact, the Supreme Court, in its finite wisdom, handed down the fateful decision in the case of Roe V. Wade that, although it may have not legalized abortion, per se, is responsible for the deaths of over 53 million babies, to date, according to LifeNews, almost 65,000 this year so far, according to Romans322.com. But this is not the Supreme Court's fault! It is not the president's fault! We can't even lay the blame at the feet of the federal, state, or local government. If one wants to get to the heart of the issue & it's still only another symptom, one simply has to look in the mirror, so to speak! Oh sure, there's plenty of corruption in the federal to local governments, including the president & the Supreme Court, but that's the point; they're people: if some people hadn't been trying to legally murder their offspring, whether because they wanted to hide their indiscretions, or because of extenuating circumstances ( God knows; they DO exist ), then there would have been no call for the Supreme Court to make such a fateful decision!

Unfortunately, being only a symptom ( of the disease ) abortion is not the only determining factor in the current judgement: America's propensity for war, foreign war in particular, has made her a stench in the nostrils of, not only an Almighty God & Loving Father, but in the sight of the many nations we are currently occupying, are at war with, or have made war on in the past! This is not to say that America ( the powers that be ) should not defend herself, or that she should not occupy herself in rooting out evil wherever it exists, or rather, happens, just that by going above & beyond, by using the machine of war for her own selfish gain, she has become a blight to many & a pariah to others!

There may seem to be some wisdom to the notion of the 'preemptive strike', especially in this day & age. 'If we don't hit them first, they will likely hit us', or something similar, is one of the arguments you might hear. Such an argument, though, is based in fear; we fear what might happen if we don't do this or that, but we seem to forget what will most likely transpire if we DO this or that! Like war, abortion has many more results & consequences than the intended. The perpetrator may simply intend to gloss over a certain event or memory, or reduce the population of evil, but it NEVER stops there! In war, for instance, the killing of so-called 'terrorists' may seem like the only just & merciful thing to do, but in many, if not most cases, the family of the one ( or ones ) killed ( murdered ) probably won't look at it that way!

In the case of abortion ( ask just about anyone who's aborted their own flesh & blood ), there's very likely, somewhere down the road, if not immediately, going to be a host of emotional issues, maybe even, depending largely on  the skill of the performing physician ( there ARE other factors ) physical problems. One might even link our current issues with Social Security ( bankruptcy ) with abortion, due to the fact that there are now more people taking out than there are putting in. This probably can't totally be blamed on abortion, though a large part of it must rest there, but across the board, it should be obvious that many of our problems here in America, not to mention the rest of the world, stem from these two issues, both of which involve death, not life!

To bring America back around, we need a wide-spread example of what Almighty God promised Israel of old, in II Chronicles 7:14: 'If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.'  Even if one is not a Christian, one should be able to see the wisdom in turning from their wicked ways ( abortion & war barely begin to cover it )! If for no other reason than to 'Stop the Madness!', One shouldn't have to do much pondering to understand the concept of 'you reap what you sow'!

Our 'land' ( US ) CAN be healed; we CAN get back to where we should be, as a light to the nations! However, the 'right' president, congressmen ( or women ), senators or judges will NOT do the trick ( though they may help ): it's going to take a full-scale assault on the minds & hearts of Americans to even get the ball rolling! To really make a change, quoting Michael Jackson, we must start with 'The Man in the Mirror'. BE the change you want to see in America & the ball will start rolling. The progress may seem slow at first, in fact, the ball may seem to roll back on your own head, but sooner or later, the effects of your actions will spread!

Charles Haddon Shank

Commmunion With the Divine

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Genesis 3:8

I AM a Christian, personally speaking: I very likely will always be so! As such, I still communicate with our Heavenly Father, I still commune with what is called Scripturally, 'the Body of Christ' ( a title, not a name-more correctly, 'the Body of the Christ' ). Maybe unfamiliar to most, though I daresay this term will become more popular in the near future, 'omnism' is basically the idea, or fact that no religion has a handle on Truth, but that all religions contain Truth ( my interpretation ). The Christian religion, for instance, being the basis for the culture most of us were brought up in, seems to give the clearest image of the Creator God, but by no means is it the only one: there are more ancient religious text than even the Hebrew Scriptures that are available to show those with an open mind & heart a different, but similar image, or picture!

The question 'What IS communion with God?' is one that bears other questions; 'what is communion?': 'what/who is God?' To answer the latter question first, a little clarity might be in order! If by 'God' is meant the Christian God, or the Creator God of Scripture, then this description, while not wrong, barely begins to cover the Truth. If by 'God' is meant the Source of all, Divine Energy, even the Universe, One not definable by any religion, though all religions have tried, then we begin to understand that, though all these different religions, culturally speaking, have noted varying aspects, as they perceive them, of this Source, or Divine Energy. An ancient parable from the Far East ( as I remember it ) describes it almost perfectly; four blind Indians came upon an elephant & each one had his description: one grabbed the tail, thus describing the elephant as short but sinuous, while another latched onto the elephant's ear, saying that an elephant must be wide but narrow ( thin ): yet another wrapped his arms around one of the elephant's legs, claiming that an elephant must be very stout, while the last one found the elephant's trunk, declaring, like the first, that an elephant was a sinuous creature, but that they were very long instead. None of these descriptions were wrong, necessarily, they all were just different perceptions, different aspects. Religion is simply man's finite attempt to define the Infinite!

Communion, then, becomes a bigger question than most Christians might admit to, or even acknowledge! Is communion simply the practice, as we have traditional perceived it, of observing the ancient ( 2,000 year old? ) ritual of the bread & wine, as representing what Scripture terms 'the Body of Christ' ( Luke 22:14-19, et al ), or is it something more? It could be well said that communion is simply the interaction of the corporate Body of Christ, Scripturally speaking. While this is true enough, could it, should it not be said that we only scratch the surface?

Simply put, according to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 'communion' is defined as 'an act or instance of sharing'. 'The Communion of the Body of Christ', then, according to Christian usage, is a sharing in the Life of Christ, or God. The bread & wine, true enough, signify the Body & Blood of Jesus, the New Covenant, but does this ritual alone define 'communion'? It should go without saying that it does not! 

Communion, most of us can agree, is much more than just the ancient ritual of the bread & wine, whether observed daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or bi-annually. Communion is something, whether we admit it or not, acknowledge it or not, that we all observe on a daily basis. This can mean anything from 'Communion with Nature' to 'Communion with God' ( ? ). Communion, in this sense, then, knows no bounds, especially the bounds of religion. In this respect, Communion is akin to the One Christians call 'God'!

The Source of all Life, then, we can all agree, cannot be defined by mere humanity! There is no book written, no script over produced that can either define or contain the great I AM. Like the iceberg, humanity has only ever scratched the surface, so to speak, when it comes to describing the One that Scripture calls 'the Almighty'. Like the Indian Parable above, all religions have sought to describe this Source & though all, in some semblance, have touched upon the Truth, none have a complete, or perfect definition, because the cultures from which these religions have been engendered have always varied when it comes to their experience of the Divine. 

Since the Christian God, though veritable enough, is only one aspect, our perception of the Divine Source of All Life, can we really & truly say that unless one acknowledges the Christian God as THE definition of Life, that one has no Life in them?! Scripturally speaking, this is exactly what we have taught & been taught for thousands of years! Indeed, covenantally speaking as well, this is what we have deduced from them. But as we have seen, 'God' cannot be defined by a book, much less the doctrines of men. Sure, one might say, 'the Holy Spirit, according to Scripture, told these men of old what to write'; true enough, there is much universal truth ( applicable to ALL humanity ) in Scripture, but even so, since they ( the Scriptures ) were written to an Ancient Near Eastern people, the original audience were the primary receptors of its promises. 

Having established, then, though not beyond all reasonable doubt, maybe, that the Christian God is not the one & only image of God, we press on to communion  with the Source of All Life, who has been described by humanity in a variety of different ways! Communion, as we have also established, is simply a sharing, a sharing of intimacy, spiritual or otherwise. So really, Communion with God cannot be defined by religion alone, be it Christianity or not. Communion, like its Creator, is so much more than any religion, as defined by humanity, or some 2,000 year old ritual involving bread & wine ( Body & Blood ), though, it could be argued, it IS just that, since we all, in our humanity, ARE made up of Body & Blood!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Essence of Love & Life

Even the most hardened criminal can love! Shocking, maybe, but it's true. It's hard to deny, admittedly, that there are some people out there who are seemingly beyond help, that even if you show them mercy, you will receive none in return; in fact, one might say that the only merciful thing to do is the world a favor & rid it of this evil, one person at a time. But, is anyone really beyond help or hope? Take a biblical example, for instance; the apostle Paul, on the road to Damascus. You may or may not believe the Story of Scripture, but if you do, you're probably familiar with the story recorded in Acts 9:1-30. the apostle, who was a Pharisee named Saul at the time, was on the road to Damascus where he planned to arrest, maybe even kill any who claimed to follow the teachings of Jesus the Christ. Luke records that, 'suddenly a light shone around him from heaven' & Saul almost immediately did a 180 ( complete turnaround )!

It is said that, in the beginning, 'the Lord God formed man [ of ] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being' ( Genesis 2:7 ): whether one reads this passage as speaking of the literal creation of the first human being on Planet Earth, or whether one acknowledges that a covenant creation is in view here, this should be seen as a Universal Truth, that the Creator God took of His own Spirit ( Essence ), thus animating the creature He had formed. A closer look at the Hebrew phraseology used here in the very first part of the Book of Beginnings will reveal that this Adam was not merely the first human on Planet Earth, but simply the Vehicle through whom the Creator God chose to reveal the Life of His Creation. As the Son of God, Adam & Eve were the proto-Christ, if you will, the beginning of the Revelation of the Christ, the Son of God!

'God is love' ( I John 4:8 ): this should be noted as one of the many universal truths of Scripture as well! Being that the Creator of all, as revealed, not only in the Hebrew Scriptures, but in other ancient texts from that part of the world, in particular, the Far East, is the very Essence of Love; are we really assuming too much when we say that we too, apart from our created humanity, being of the same Essence, are pure Love as well? We propose that it is not too much of a stretch to acknowledge that we are, ultimately of the same Essence as the Creator God & are thus, at heart, One with Him!

While many or most might immediately recoil at the statement just given, it is, when one clears their mind of those pesky religious cobwebs, that one cannot help but realize that it is true! We are human beings, yes, for so we were created, but we are so much more; Just as we saw earlier, in Genesis, the Creator God formed the man, then breathed into him the Spirit of Life. Now, admittedly, as we also testified to, the first parts of Genesis are not so much about the material creation, although they speak to that as well; they are primarily about a covenant creation, in particular, the priestly nation of Israel ( with which the current nation/state of Israel has NOTHING to do, Scripturally speaking! ).

Although Israel of old, which we read about in the Hebrew & Greek Scriptures, ultimately failed in their mission, as a majority anyway, to evangelize the world, or spread the good news of what some call the Marriage of Heaven & Earth, that good news has continued to spread, in one form or another, across the globe! It can be argued, though many have rejected the notion, even from Scripture, that Heaven, or the Creator God's realm & Earth, or the material realm, have been married, or put another way, have met & kissed. Humanity dwells, as places like II Kings 6:17 reveal, alongside this heavenly realm, or dimension & in reality, we dwell in both realms at once, though some have become deadened to this glorious fact!

That many, whether through religious indoctrination or whatever, have hardened their hearts & minds to the fact that we are dwelling in Realms of Glory does not change the fact! As Christians, we have been taught that unless one believes a certain way, that one has no hope of dwelling with the Creator God. In fact, many passages of Scripture have indicated this to orthodox Christians for centuries. As indicated earlier, however, the Hebrew Scriptures, as well as other ancient texts, reveal how the Creator God opened His Realm of Glory to humanity, not so that we could go there when our humanity perished, but so that we could, in Essence, dwell there now!

When we say that we are One with the Creator God & that we are of the same Essence, we do not assume that we are the Creator God, that we are the One who set the Universe ( multi-verse? ) in motion! We are simply of the same Essence & thus Creators ourselves, though on a much smaller scale. We are limited by our humanity & though this is often frustrating to us, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Many of our limitations are self-imposed, as well, for whatever reason. Much of the reason for our limitations is our own free will; we have the free-will to choose, humanly speaking, to do this or that, one thing or the other. Our choices then determine, to a great extent, whether we experience the joys of heaven or the terrors of hell on earth!

The Love that we are is not always the love that we show! When we choose not to just BE the Love that we are, but instead let our mind/ego work its spells on us, we often forget the example of Love that Jesus showed us in the Scriptures. While He did bring upon His covenant people their deservedly adverse judgement, according to their own Scriptures, He forgave them even for rejecting & crucifying Him as their Messiah. Jesus did not condemn those that sinned against Him, rather He forgave them & healed them!

Though the Hebrew Scriptures hold many universal truths, we must understand that they ARE the Hebrew Scriptures; they contain a revelation of the Creator God, but we must understand that they are not THE revelation of the Creator God! There are other, more ancient texts, from other cultures even, though maybe mainly in the East, that reveal the Divine as well. We must remember too, that we, in Essence, are a revelation of the Divine. We do not always show it to the best of our ability, through the choices that we make, but every time we show Love, however weakly, we give a glimpse of that Divinity!

Charles Haddon Shank

Myths, Lies & Half-Truths

In what may be termed one of the universal truths of Scripture, Jesus said, 'The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!' There has been a tendency, in times past & even in the present time, to view this amazing statement as speaking of this biology, as if what we place before our physical eyes dims our light, allowing the darkness to overtake, or overcome us. 'If we can just stay away temptation, maybe then our light will shine true!' There is some truth to this statement, but unfortunately, it is not the whole truth ( 'so help me God' )!

'As long as we abide in partial darkness, we will continue to be conquered.'

So long as there are those who refuse to shine the Light, there will be Darkness! Thomas Aquinas made the statement above at a time in history when, it may be argued, the darkness was more prevalent than in our day. Born into what some have called 'The Dark Age' of history, he seems to have understood that as long as we accept the darkness & allow it to exist alongside our Light, we will never truly overcome it, but rather, will be overcome by it. The notion that Jesus Himself, personally & biologically speaking, will someday ( in the future ) make His appearance to rescue us from the mess we have made of things is one aspect of this kind of thinking. Like the majority of Jews in Jesus' day, most Christians seem to have adopted a political Messiah, One who will lead us to true liberty, not realizing that true liberty is not political at all. True liberty is the spiritual understanding that we are, by our very nature, free & by nature, free to choose. However, when we choose to subjugate others in darkness, our liberty manifests as political rather than true!

Merely political liberty, such as many think to enjoy today, is a false liberty in which the elite enjoy a kind of freedom that denies freedom & liberty to others. Personal freedom, whether applied to a single or collective entity, unless it extends to the whole, is a false freedom, for it offers certain 'rights' to one group, while denying those same rights to another. The nature of those rights, like our own nature, is spiritual & granted by the Universal Laws of Nature & Nature's God! To deny those rights to some, while 'granting' them to others is to exercise political ( false ) liberty, one in which conquest will always be the name of the game. In order for us to enjoy true freedom, or liberty, the same rights must be extended to all, in accordance with Universal Law.

Universal Law is defined in part by statements such as quoted earlier, that universal truth of Scripture given by Jesus, who was Israel's Messiah. While not all abide in that Truth, those who do ( abide in Truth ) enjoy True Liberty, not the false liberty that comes from political coercion, the false liberty that extends only to those who embrace a certain political belief, or dogma. Therefore, politically speaking, we will always, as Thomas Aquinas prophesied, experience conquest: we will never be truly free, or experience True Liberty, until we all embrace the Light that we are, as well as following that Universal Law!

The notion that Jesus, as the Son of God, will one day return to restore Order is a political one! Most, if not all Christians will readily acknowledge that, spiritually speaking, the Creator of all is currently on the throne, while still looking for a physical manifestation of this glorious truth. It is true enough that any spiritual truth will find its manifestation in this physicality, but partial darkness hinders these from realizing that we ( collectively ) ARE that Manifestation! Humanity, as a whole, is the vehicle through which the Creator God has chosen to shine the Light of True Freedom. but we were also given the free will to choose for ourselves whether we would selfishly ( politically ) confine some to prison, while allowing others merely a shadow of true freedom, or whether we would so shine our Light that ALL might enjoy the True Freedom that comes only from Above!

In conclusion, then, we must understand that no contract, political or otherwise, will bring about True Freedom! The half-truths of politics, especially those practiced in this day & age, will never allow the Light to truly shine, because while some may enjoy a glimpse of the Light, a mere shadow, so to speak, others must remain in the darkness of ignorance. Because of this ignorance, willful or otherwise, the Darkness is made manifest, but when, through the Spirit, one realizes their true nature, then the Light becomes manifest & through the manifestation of that Light ( which IS ), the Darkness will become null & void; indeed, it will cease to exist!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Christ, the Light of the World

'As long as I am in the world; I am the light of the world.

John 9:5

From a purely Christian point of view, the Creator God sent His Holy Spirit to invest the virgin, Mary, with a Son, His Son, so that He might grow to become the Messiah, or Savior, not for Israel alone, but for the whole world ( John 3:16 ). On the other hand, though, there are those ( for lack of a better term, maybe, we'll call them 'Pagans' ) who choose, not necessarily to refute or refuse the principles of life laid out for us in Scripture, but to acknowledge the Divine Presence in other religions of the world, even in those places, or circumstances, where no particular religion is claimed, or followed. What are we, as Christians, to do with those who do not follow our religion; should we, as in times past ( still do today ) strive to 'evangelize' them, bringing them around to our way of thinking, as though Christianity is the only religion that has the Truth?

Jesus told His disciples they were the light of the world ( Matthew 5:14 ): this is a good example of one of the many universal statement in the Scriptures! Looking at both the historical & covenant context of such a bold statement, one may note that Jesus spoke these words to His followers in the first century, in opposition to the Jews of the day, who thought the nation of Israel, or the Jews, was the Light of the World. Others might go so far to state that Jesus' words apply only to those who follow the religion based on the Name most closely associated with Him, the name 'Christ'. But what if 'Christ' is NOT a name; what if it's a title, like, 'THE Pharaoh', THE Caesar?!

According to the Merriam-Webster ( online ) dictionary, the title simply means 'messiah'.it functions basically as the Greek version of the Hebrew term, though in actuality, it means so much more! The Greek 'Christos', in biblical usage, means 'anointed' & is closely related to the word 'chrism'. Semantically speaking then, it would be more correct to use the term, 'the Christ' in reference to Jesus, the Messiah of Israel. In the same Spirit then, so to speak; would it not be acceptable to refer to those who follow in the footsteps of Jesus by the same title? In actuality, we are! As Christians, we are 'little Christs'. Traditionally, this title was assigned to the followers of Jesus as a derogatory term, by His detractors. In this sense then, one might say that it's only those who follow Jesus that can truly bear this title with honor!

The truth of the matter is, only those who follow in the footsteps of Jesus can bear this Name, or Title with honor! What is it then to follow in the footsteps of Jesus? Is it only those who adhere to the religion named after His exalted Title that can be called 'the Christ', or 'little Christs'? It must be noted here, that we are 'little Christs', little Messiahs', if you will, for we are NOT the Creator God, we are simply of the same Essence, of the same Being. We all have one Father ( for lack of a better term? )! Being of One Essence ( though all do not realize, or acknowledge it ), we all have the potential to be 'little Christs', to awaken the 'Chrism', but sadly, some choose not to & these go their own way, selfishly acting according to only their own interests, while yet others look outside themselves for some future salvation!

To follow in the footsteps of Jesus, it might be argued, is to do what He did, which was to exercise judgement. His judgement came as a two-edged sword though; it fell, ultimately, on His covenant people, when in AD70, the Romans bore the sword in the destruction of Jerusalem & the Temple, for all intents & purposes, destroying the Jewish economy. Secondly, it served to separate the wheat from the chaff, biblically speaking, effectively revealing the Remnant, or those who had been Chosen, out of Israel of Old, to represent True Israel. This was the Purpose of His Parousia, in celebration of which we now observe what may be the most Holy of days, Christmas.

Christmas, however, is not just for Christians, although it might be noted here, that 'everybody is a 'Christian' on Christmas'! Pagans of all shapes & sizes celebrated the day, or season we call 'Christmas' long before we did! The Coming of the Light, AKA the Winter Solstice-the day when the light begins to linger longer, has been celebrated by Pagans from time immemorial! Constantine, if memory serves, simply renamed & restructured these old traditions when he Christianized the Roman Empire. 

As Christians, we believe that we ( alone ) have that True Light of the World, although some Christians, like the Jews & Muslims, are still waiting for that Light to be revealed from above! Almost every religion around the world, to whatever extent, believes theirs is the true religion, the True Light; are they wrong, while we're right? Or do WE have it all backwards & THEY'RE right, while WE are the ones who're wrong? Not saying that we ARE the ones who're wrong, but then again, we haven't got all our ducks in a row, either. It has been said there is truth in every religion; this is verifiable, not because all religions are ultimately the same ( they're not ), but because while some individual adherents to those religions choose to adhere to that religion, for religions sake, others choose to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, judging, as He did, by spreading Love rather than Hate, Freedom rather than Fear. They shine their Light in the midst of a dark & dreary world, because, though they may not realize or acknowledge it as such; they ARE the Light of the World!

Jesus, as the Messiah of Israel, was the Christ ( some would put the emphasis on 'THE', as in the only One )! However, as we are ( to be ) to the world as Jesus was to Israel ( He being our Great Example ), we, as Christians, should strive to shine our Light into every dark corner, as He did, bringing forth those treasures hidden ( struggling ) in the darkness, that they too, may realize their Purpose. It is not only as a Christian, religiously speaking, that one may be a follower of the Divine Principle that Jesus followed; Pagans too, though they may not acknowledge Him that we acknowledge as 'the Christian God, yet still follow that Divine Principle, shining their Light into dark places & bringing into the Light treasures previously hidden. We are not alone in this world & no man, or religion, is an Island!

In this Christmas season, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus as the Coming of the Light: Pagans celebrate the Winter Solstice as the coming of the light; either way, whether it's the Sun or the Son, it's simply a religious holyday, or holiday! From the original Purpose, we have come a long way ( or should that be, 'fallen a long way?' ) what with the commercialization ( business ) of the holyday. Some have  selfishly & greedily chosen 'the bottom line' as their messiah, while others have chosen to save themselves & the world be BEING the Light, by loving their neighbor as themselves, showing them that indeed, THEY are Light, if only they would choose to shine!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Bloody Bible

You shall not murder.

Exodus 20:13

Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones,

and kill every woman who has known a man intimately.

Numbers 31:17

'Why did Yahweh ( God ) command the children of Israel to kill the inhabitants of Canaan?' This question, in other words, maybe, was presented to me recently by a friend who, like many others, is having a difficult time reconciling a God of Love with One who seems, in the Hebrew Scriptures anyway, to be filled with a 'holy hatred', One who instructed His people to kill their enemies & even further, to murder complete strangers. Then we come to the Aramaic & Greek Scriptures, where we find Jesus telling His disciples to 'love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you' ( Matthew 5:44 ). Many people, Pagan & Christian alike, find these passages hard to read, wondering how a loving Creator could order His Creation to be destroyed!

You may have heard, by way of explanation, that when Jesus came along, He tamed His Father down so that unlike the petty, vindictive God He is often painted as in the so-called Old Testament, in the so-called New Testament, He is now a kinder, gentler God, One who, rather than killing His enemies, loves them to death! This almost seems reasonable, until one considers that Jesus & God, according to traditional orthodoxy anyway, are One & the Same. To suggest that the God of the Hebrews would or even could change is to fly in the face of orthodoxy! Scripture tells us in at least one place, in no uncertain terms ( Malachi 3:6 ), that He does not change. Plenty are the passages that intimate the same, though admittedly, there are a few that seem to indicate that He's had regrets & gone back on His word ( Genesis 6:5-8, Exodus 32:10-14 ).

Those who like to 'cherry-pick', on both sides of the fence, choose certain passages from the Scriptures & almost ignore the context, both historically & culturally speaking. For instance, the context of the passage above, from the book of Numbers, tell us that this was a drastic situation, a time of war. Further, we should understand from Moses' words in verses 15-17 that it was more for the sake of purity than anything else that they were commanded to kill even those they had captured, the women & children. From the Ancient Near Eastern perspective, one which survives almost intact to this day, we may understand too, that killing the male children, but keeping the female children alive might discourage any further retaliation from their enemies.

The Scriptures, both Old & New Testaments, DO portray a vengeful God, one who judges those who take a stand against Him & His people with everlasting fire, but again, we must understand this from both a cultural & historical context. From a cultural perspective, we can see that Yahweh ( God ), by His seemingly genocidal commands, simply meant to purify His people Israel by removing from before them any temptation. We see how this worked out for the Israelites, though, particularly since they failed to remove those stumbling blocks as they were instructed. Furthermore, as with the Law given through Moses, these commands merely served to show that the temptation was really in themselves!

There can be no doubt that the History of Israel which we read in the Scriptures is indeed a bloody one; however, did Yahweh, or the Creator God mean for His human Creation to kill their brothers & sisters? Yes, the Lord commanded His people, as Judges of the Earth, to carry out His vengeance on the nations around them, but as we have seen, it was more for the sake of separating out a holy people for Himself with which to purify those nations than to actually exterminate them. This is not to say that He never ordered a genocide, of sorts, but the God of Israel, contrary to popular opinion, was not the petty, vindictive God that some have made Him out to be.

'Proof-texting', or 'cherry-picking', involves the mistake of taking a verse totally out of context & hanging certain beliefs & doctrines on them. The doctrine of Hell is one such doctrine. When taken out of their context, passages like the Parable of the Rich Man & Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 & Revelation 20 put 'the fear of God' in many people, when it comes to 'hell-fire & damnation'!

In Exodus 4 ( 23 ), we read that Yahweh did indeed instruct Moses to tell the Pharaoh of Egypt, 'let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn'. The Lord ends up, as He promised, killing the firstborn, not only of the Pharaoh, but of all Egypt, those anyway, who refused to heed the word of Moses. In fact, before Moses even got to Egypt, Yahweh, it is recorded, tried to kill Moses' firstborn because he had not been consecrated in the way that Moses had been instructed!

'The Bloody Bible', it should be noted, is stained with not only human, but animal blood! This is a cultural phenomenon. Israel, at its conception, was rooted in a culture that operated largely on sacrifice; sacrifice to a pantheon of gods. Although human sacrifice was not uncommon in that culture, we can see that Israel was instructed to offer animal, not human sacrifice to Yahweh. Even in the History of Israel, we can see echoes of human sacrifice from the nations around them as Israel began to apostatize.

The Truths of the Bible are unavoidable! Many choose, right or wrong, to ignore the bloodier parts of it, but the truth is that these bloody parts are a part of our past. We were not born, most who read these words, in that part of the world, much less in that ancient culture, but even here in America, we have experienced bloodshed, almost, it would seem, on par with that of ancient Israel! Bloodshed seems to be an almost necessary part of life; for one to eat, it would seem, something must die, whether it be animal or plant. In the case of war, which I do not recommend, by the way, it would seem that one must kill or be killed. I will not judge in this matter, except to say that war is a veritable hell! In the case of self defense, much the same dilemma exists, 'kill or be killed'; which is the better choice? Would you rather lose your humanity, or become a murderer ( killer ) really, what's the difference? ) yourself, even if it's in defense of a loved one?

Then we come to the question that is at the heart of the History of Israel; 'what's it all about?' We tend to focus overmuch on the physical aspect of life, as indeed the earlier Scriptures seem to do, but when we, as Jesus did, focus on the heart of the issue, the spiritual aspect of life, we begin to see that, though the spiritual must affect the physical, much as the tiny & unseen rudder steers the much larger ship, we are spirit beings more than we are human beings! This puts things in a different light, as it should; for example, when Yahweh commanded His people Israel to drive out, even kill those Canaanites, was He actually instructing them to commit murder, or was He simply telling the Israelites it was time for the Canaanites to move on?

Charles Haddon Shank

A Covenant World

'God became Man that Man might become God.'

Athanasius

One problem that many have noted with preterism, beside the fact that it's just another 'ism', is that 'if it's all fulfilled, than what do we have to look forward to?'; 'if Jesus already came back, why are we still reading the Bible?': 'YOU MEAN, THIS IS IT?!' The 'problem' is exacerbated with a Covenant Eschatology ( NOT to be confused with 'preterism'! ), which leads naturally to Covenant Protology
( Covenant Creation ( CC ), or the fact that Genesis is not about the formation of Planet Earth, but rather the formation of the Land & Man in the Land; 'the Land', of course, referring to what we call 'the Promised Land', or even, 'the Holy Land'! It must be noted, though, that 'the Land' itself referred, not to the physical geographical features, but to a greater spiritual reality, ultimately, 'God with us'!

Throughout Scripture are scattered what may be called 'Universal Truths': while some may beg to differ on the existence of these 'nuggets', they are rather self-evident! Probably THE most famously memorizable verse in the Bible, John 3:16, reads, 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life'. Read in context, some would say, making note of the Greek word translated 'world', this promise was given to the 'world' of the 1st century, both Jew & Gentile. Given that Covenant Protology posits that the 'cosmos', or orderly arrangement, whose creation is recorded in the first chapters of Genesis, is simply the creation of covenant, rather than the material, or physical creation, then it would follow that the 'world' spoken of in John 3:16 is not ( necessarily ) the physical ( biological ) creation, but that same covenant creation. We are faced, then, with the question, 'What constitutes a covenant?'

A covenant, most would probably agree, is an agreement between two or more people, for mutual benefit. In short. a covenant, unlike a mere contract, connotes relationship, of whatever sort & to whatever extent. The Covenant that we see in the Scripture, being personified in Jesus the Christ, infinitely surpasses the legal definition of 'covenant', for one, because it IS personified & for another, because it was constituted by the Creator God Himself, Scripturally speaking of course. One way to put it is that Adam did not asked to be created, or formed; he did not even ask for a wife to be brought to him. Even so, Israel did not agree to be singled out from among the nations. However, both Israel & Adam were in relationship with the Creator God, known as YHWH to the Hebrews. As anyone may note for themselves, this relationship was pretty bumpy at times!

Throughout the Greek & Hebrew Scriptures, we come face-to-face with the notion that the Creator God is our Father & we are His Children, not ( necessarily ) because of physical generation, but through spiritual regeneration ( this is most clearly pronounced in the Greek Scriptures ). Like any good father, He 'chastens'  His children ( Hebrews 12:6 ( Deuteronomy 8:5 ). This is not to say that He holds any malice for them, or delights in their punishment, but because of the Covenant, He disciplines them in order to have a better relationship with them.

Although the Creation recorded in Scripture indeed entails that of a special Covenant, that special Covenant involved the Creator God dwelling with Man, as Man! As this special Covenant, through Israel, blessed all the nations ( Genesis 12-17 ), so we may note that many of these truths, such as John 3:16, are to be understood universally. Matthew 24, for instance, should be understood as a prophecy of the coming destruction of Jerusalem & the Temple, although, even in this fulfilled prophecy, one may note universal truths.

Covenant implies relationship! The relationship recorded in Scripture, between YHWH & His people Israel, was a special one, intended to ultimately bless the entire Creation, not just spiritually, or covenantally ( again, 'Scripturally speaking' ), but physically, or geographically as well. The relationship between a father & his children, as any father ( or mother ) can attest to, goes far beyond the limitations of any writ or agreement! Simply through generation, though rocky at best sometimes, the relationship, or covenant, if you will, still stands. Just as Adam & Israel did not choose to be singled out for special duty, neither did we choose, humanly speaking, to be born into a certain family.

It should be fairly clear by now that the Covenant with Israel was a special One, not simply because YHWH singled them out, but because He Himself personified the Covenant! That the Covenant extends to all Creation should be clear as well. The uniqueness of this Covenant does not require agreement because it is not based merely on one's willingness to enter into a relationship, but on the fact that all Creation are in a relationship with the Creator God.

The Universal Truths of Scripture, then, though not defined as covenantal ( by Scripture ), are yet covenantal in nature. Because the End Goal of the Covenant History of Israel was 'God with us', the Covenant was shown to include all Creation, not just those who chose to 'enter in'! 'The Land' promised to those who would enter in, including the Greater Spiritual Truth of  'the Christ in us', was indicative of the Creator dwelling with ( in ) the Creation! The History of Israel served its purpose, in that through a proper reading & understanding of it, we bear witness to the fact that the Creation is in fact One with its Creator, that Heaven is indeed One with Earth, 'it is what it is' & 'it's all good'!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Christ at the Crossroads

So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door.

And its desire [ is ] for you, but you should rule over it.”

Genesis 4:6 & 7

Life is full of choices, some easy, some hard; some harder than others, some easier than others, but in all cases, a choice must be made or we will end up doing nothing! Sometimes it seems there is no choice to be made, for good or evil, even for better or best, or the lesser of two evils, but, on a purely physical level, there is always a choice, whether we like it or not, like, even if we don't acknowledge or perceive it as such. When we do perceive & acknowledge the choice, then the real difficulty presents itself; for instance, in the case of one dying in order that hundreds, even thousands might live, especially if that one is innocent or even a loved one ( family or friend ), how do we make the choice? Do we let that one person in the world that we are most attached to slip away, or do we allow hundreds or thousands of people to die who are significant to others? However one looks at it, the choice is not an easy one!

'I get it!' From a purely spiritual perspective, in the mind of universal consciousness, there is no choice, only a BE-ingness, but we do live on a 'plane', in a dimension, if you will, where choices must be made. On a very mundane level, we make the choice everyday of whether to stay in bed or to get up & go to that job we love to hate, whether to wear blue socks or red, what to eat for breakfast; cereal or eggs? One may choose to live their life in this biology free from the choices of everyday life, choices like this or that, right or wrong, good or evil, but they have still made a choice! We may choose ( I heartily recommend this, BTW ) to say things like 'it is what it is' & 'let it be', but even in this case, passively or not, we have decided it's not worth worrying our pretty little heads about, or winding up with spiritual constipation.

As much as I've exalted ( in words, anyway ) the Christ Within, one would think I'd be making better choices! In my defense ( I'm not the only one, either ) it IS much easier to say, or write about it, than to put those words into practice! Life in this biology is about the hard choices; if you're not faced with hard choices everyday, you're probably doing something wrong! This is not to say that choosing the easy path is automatically wrong, though the easy way is not usually the best, but when are faced with the hard choices, it's a good sign that we are facing reality, because life is not easy, especially where people are involved!

People ( others ) make their own choices, like it or not, that we automatically perceive as right or wrong, good or evil. For instance, we are inclined to think ( many of us ) that abortion is murder & therefore wrong! It is easy to condemn the act, but when we dig into the reasoning behind the other person's decision, it becomes harder, say, in the case of the mother's life or her baby's, to choose one way or the other. Another may condemn the act of killing enemy combatants in a wartime situation, but when faced with the reality that the other person is going to kill us if we do not kill him or her first, what then? It's easy to say, one way or the other, in the comfort of our own home, but an unimaginably hard choice when faced with such a situation!

These choices, however, MUST be made & like it or not, people must make them! We may ( should ) choose not to live from the Person, or Ego, like Cain did in our Story, but that doesn't guarantee that the other will do the same. There ARE many out there & the number is growing, who, though undeniably living in the Person, refuse to live any longer FROM the Person! Who knows, maybe it will be our example of living from the Universal Consciousness rather than from the Ego that encourages the other to do the same!

'What IS this Universal Consciousness?' you might ask. Realizing the Universal Consciousness, in my way of thinking, is equivalent to realizing the Christ Within; it is the idea, the reality, in fact, that there IS no 'other'! Understanding that, though we are fated, for whatever reason, to living in the Person, in this biological existence, one might say, we need not murder or mutilate the 'other' ( Person ) in order to further our own existence. In other words, by not looking at People as the 'other', we see them as they are, One & the Same Spirit manifesting in different ways, not necessarily wrong or right, just different; it is our perception, whether because of our feelings on the matter, or because we read it in some book, that make it good or evil in our eyes!

The Christ is within every person! 'Is every person, then, the Christ?' God Forbid! By making such a controversial, even heretical statement, I simply mean that it is through our choices in this biological existence that we manifest our Spirit. When we choose to let the Person or Ego ( the Bible terms it 'Sin' ) rule over us, over our spirit, as Cain did, then we end up as Satan, as devils, doing the opposite of what we should. Manifesting the Christ Within, though, means ruling over, or conquering our Ego, not acting on its selfish & animal desires, but according to the knowledge that we are all children of our Heavenly Father & gods in our own right. The choice, my friend, is up to you; will you manifest the Christ, or will you be a Satan? Choose wisely!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Forest For the Trees; 'Away in a Manger'

Question; did Jesus' lowly birth occur in a stable, as we have assumed, or was it in a house, as Matthew's Gospel seems to imply?  Matthew, Mark & Luke are called 'The Synoptic Gospels' , but some of the details of Jesus' birth can be a bit confusing when read in context. Mark, for instance, says nothing of His nativity & Matthew has more to say about the circumstances surrounding the event than about the Event itself. Luke gives us the clearest picture of where this blessed event took place. Luke, however, doesn't even mention the wise men ( three kings? ) from the East, while Matthew seems to recount their adventures in some detail, placing them at a house in Bethlehem when they presented their gifts. Fairly commonly, it has been thought, because of Herod's killing spree & the specific ages he targeted ( Matthew 2:16 ), that Jesus would have been, or could have been, around two years old at this time. Trying to mesh the two Gospels at this juncture, again, proves somewhat confusing, though; according to Matthew, Jesus' parents are forced, along with their newborn baby ( ? ) to flee to Egypt, after the wise men visit Him in Bethlehem, while Luke totally ignores this seemingly important event & moves Jesus, with His mother & father, back to Nazareth, assumably before He reaches the age of 1. Confused yet?

One thing that's pretty plain is that Jesus was placed in a manger after He was born! He wasn't 'born in a manger', per se, because that would just be, well......uncomfortable ( poor Mary! ) & probably not very feasible. The Greek, according to Thayers, translates very well here, plainly rendering 'phatnē' as 'manger'. The reason Luke gives for Jesus being born in such lowly conditions is that there was 'no room for them in the inn', although Matthew doesn't seem to be concerned with this important fact! The fact, though it is understandable & seemingly happenstance, that there was no room found for them at an inn in a Jewish city should give us pause. Why would Luke take such pains to record this seemingly minor detail when no one else corroborates it? Then again, why does Matthew record the visit of the wise men, whereas Luke doesn't see fit to mention it? Both details are of significance, are they not?

The story I've heard is doubtless the one you may have heard, that Matthew's & Luke's accounts differ, particularly on this point, because Matthew was concerned more with the kingly nature of Jesus' nativity, while Luke was more concerned with showing His humanity. This does make some sense, although, as we saw, it can be a bit confusing when trying to nail it down, chronologically speaking.  That Jesus was born is of utmost importance! Both Matthew & Luke record the involvement of the Holy Spirit in this blessed event & both seem to uphold what we call 'the Virgin Birth' ( Isaiah 7:14 ). Matthew makes us aware in at least two different places that Mary & Joseph were not, ummm.......active as husband & wife till after Jesus was born ( wow; flashback to the Garden narrative-Genesis 2:5 ), while Luke has Mary acknowledging to the heavenly messenger that she does not 'know a man'. ( it's useful here to understand the idiomatic meaning of 'know' )

Plainly speaking, then, we can naturally ( safely ) assume that Joseph & Mary did not engage in sexual relations, according to Scripture, until after the birth of Jesus. Other tales may enter the picture here, like the writings of Josephus, but solely from Scripture, it is plain that Mary was a virgin when she & her husband married. The importance of the Virgin Birth is that though this Event, the 'virgin of Israel' ( Jeremiah 18:13, 31:4 ) was redeemed. It was not, as some have postulated, that Jesus' blood might be sinless, or some other ridiculous assertion!

'Why a manger, cousin?' Well, a manger was a trough of sorts, for feeding, you guessed it, animals! One doesn't necessarily have to believe in a covenant creation in the first part of Genesis to understand that animals in Scripture were often representative of human beings outside the 'land' of Israel, outside the Covenant, Scripturally speaking. Peter's vision, recorded in Acts 10, makes this clear. The fact that Jesus, as a newborn baby, the very Son of God, was placed in a trough ( crib ) where animals were accustomed to feeding, is significant of the Gentiles feeding upon the Word of God. Luke alone records the 'manger' ( I surmise ), because, as a Gentile, he understood that Jesus would be King, not of the Jews alone, but also of the Gentiles!

'Was Jesus born in a house or a shed? I was recently asked this question & while I naturally assumed for years, like most everyone else, that He was born in a stable, or shed of some sort, because they laid Him in a manger afterwards, we tend to forget the historical & cultural context of the Event. I know enough of that culture to know that a manger, along with animals, in the house, would not be a strange notion. We envision, especially in our day & age, as well as our Western culture, that this manger was most likely in a rough-hewn cave, built at least partially into the rocks, or possibly one of the three-side structures we are familiar with, but is this really important? Does it really make a difference if Matthew's version doesn't quite jive with Luke's, if Jesus was born in a house or a stable, if the wise men visited Him in Bethlehem or Nazareth, when He was 2, or when He was born? The important Message here is that He WAS born; that He spread the Gospel beyond the borders of national Israel & that He lives in us, as the Fulfillment of that Gospel!

Charles Haddon Shank

Heaven on Earth?

So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

Matthew 1:22 & 23

'God became man that man might become God.'

Athanasius

As the Messiah of Israel according to the Story of Scripture, Jesus came to 'save His people from their sins'. Today, depending on who you listen to, this translates to anything from 'going to heaven when you die' to, 'it's all about Israel'! In context, we can see that it IS all about Israel, but then the question becomes, 'who IS Israel?' If indeed 'Israel' is simply the People of God, of all ages, or aeons, then yes, it's all about Israel. If Israel is a certain people, however, from a certain ( specific ) region of the world, of a certain lineage, then we might be faced with other concerns & considerations. But I digress...............

Jesus told His disciples quite plainly, 'I go to prepare a place for you.^[b] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, [ there ] you may be also' ( John 14:2b & 3 ) The apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Church at Thessalonika ( I Thessalonians 4:16 & 17 ), wrote, 'For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive [ and ] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord'. These passages & others like them might seem to lend credence to the traditional ( orthodox ) notion of 'Heaven' being our Final Destination, the end goal, so to speak, but nowhere in Scripture does it specifically say this. In fact, reading these passages in context seems to point the other direction, telling us that, rather than 'going to heaven when we die', those who belonged to Israel would join Her Messiah in a 'Heaven on Earth', not after biological death, but here & now, as a result of that salvation!

The apostle Paul also wrote to the Church at Colosse ( Colossians 1:27c ), concerning 'Christ in you, the hope of glory'. In his letter to the Church at Ephesus ( Ephesians 3:17 ), he prayed 'that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith' ( John 14:23 ). From these words & others like them, we may deduce that the whole point in Jesus coming as 'God in the Flesh', was not so that we could go to some 'pie-in-the-sky' ( 'Heaven' ) when we die, but so that we could once again dwell with our Creator, as in the beginning ( Genesis 3:8 )!

In John 14:23, Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.' With these words, in particular, we see plainly that those believing in Him would not go to some special place when they died, but that He would come to them, living/dwelling with them where they were. It is here & now that we dwell in the Presence of God; in a different realm, one might say. The phrase 'God with us', which is the true meaning of the name 'Immanuel', seems to have lost some of its original impact! When Jesus walked this earth, some 2,000 years ago, He was, in Essence, in Reality, God in Flesh: He showed the unbelieving Pharisees that Man could indeed be God. The Pharisees ultimately killed Him, by way of Rome, for this blasphemy, as they called it. 'God with us', however, should tell us clearly, again, that rather than us joining Him in 'Heaven', He brought 'Heaven' to Earth, to dwell with us, in us & through us!

Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, was a Man who was revealed to be God Himself! Through the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary conceived the Son of Man who later proved, through His Crucifixion, Resurrection & Ascension, to be the very Son of God. The Creator God Himself deemed to enter the realm of His Creation to show the Way into Heaven itself, His very Presence. He dwells within us now, so that we may present 'Heaven' to those around us.  Heaven & Earth have been joined in us, we who follow the Christ, the Savior of all Israel. As we present the Christ to our neighbor, then, we represent the Dwelling of God, what we call 'Heaven'!

Charles Haddon Shank

Sitting in Samadhi

Be still, and know that I [ am ] God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!

Psalm 46:10

According to the Wikipedia article on the subject, 'Samādhi, also called samāpatti, in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools is the last stage or ultimate stage of meditation, when the person is out of physical consciousness. In samādhi the mind and soul are in equal balance. It is meditative absorption, attained by the practice of dhyāna. In samādhi the mind becomes still.' This definition sounds almost surprisingly similar to the Christian prayer. Not what we know as 'The Lord's Prayer', surely, but like deep, heartfelt prayer nonetheless ( more on this later ).

We, in the Christian tradition, have been instructed that Christianity is THE Way, that other paths may travel, for a time, somewhat parallel, but that ultimately, unless one accepts Jesus as Lord ( the Christ ), he or she has no real hope. Jesus DID say, according to Scripture ( John 14:6 ), 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me'. For the first half or so of my short life in this biology, I received these words as gospel. However, in the past few years, I have come to see that, though there are universal truths in Scripture, the volume is, first & foremost ( primarily ), a history of Israel. Not only is it written to a completely different culture, it was written in differing languages, to an ancient culture. That's a lot to swallow!

Here in the gloried West, we think we're pretty hot stuff, not unlike our western ( European ) forbears that thought the earth was at the center of it all! One must acknowledge here, though, that as far as their limited abilities allow, many scholars have deeply researched the idiosyncrasies of the original languages, the culture of the day ( audience relevance ), etc, though obviously, not without prejudice. Despite this fact, which should be comforting, we are yet faced with a multitude of Christian denominations, some of which are saying basically the same thing & an equal amount, if not more, of versions of these precious Scriptures. The Story in these pages has been handed down from generation to generation ( roughly 6,000 years of history, based on a literal reading of the text ) & while it is ENTIRELY possible, as we were taught from childhood, that 'the Holy Spirit preserved the Scriptures'; the question then becomes; 'which version? which text?' Well,. the obvious answer, according to some, is 'the KJV & the Textus Receptus!'

The problem with this theory, that 'the Holy Spirit preserved the Scriptures', is that 'they ALL say that!' They all say the same thing about their precious versions & while it is fairly clear that the same Story is recognizable throughout most of these, the interpretations vary fairly widely in some areas. It is self-evident that, though the Story of Scripture, the Story of Israel, has survived the ages, more or less intact, it has not emerged from the battle unscathed: with many & differing translations, to say nothing of interpretations, it should not be difficult to understand that the prejudice of man has tainted our understanding of its hallowed words.

As we have seen. the main difference between the majority of the texts, including the oldest manuscripts we have available, is semantical. One can read through most of the versions out there & though the words may be slightly different, or appear in a slightly different order, the main theme of redemption & reconciliation is found throughout. The Scriptures, as originally given, or written down, according to internal evidence, tell the Story of how the Creator of Heaven & Earth ( 'God', as Christians call Him ), or 'YHWH', made Himself known to a certain family/tribe in the Middle East, in order that they in turn might spread that knowledge to the nations around them. Through their supposed failure, the knowledge of the Living God, as opposed to the false deities these nations tended to worship, spread like wildfire & ended up turning the world ( a very limited perspective ) upside down.

At this point, most of my readers are probably thinking something like, 'I thought this post was supposed to be about Samadhi?' Well, it is; I said all that, to say this: 'you can all go Home now!' No; quite seriously, the only difference between deep prayer & deep meditation is that prayer is focused outwardly & meditation is focused inwardly. Samadhi, in Christian terminology, might be rendered as 'peaceful bliss', or something to that effect. Whether or not one goes into all the Eastern Mysticism normally associated with 'Samadhi', the general theme is not so different than what Jesus taught His followers; to love ones God, their neighbor as themselves ( 'how are we supposed to do that unless we see them as ourselves?' ) & to treat others as we want to be treated. For that matter, whatever your personal belief  ( religion ), these are universal truths, acknowledged worldwide as the way of lasting peace.

One may read stories of gurus/yogis, however they're named, who simply sit in a sort of perpetual Samadhi, not eating or drinking ( very little, if they do ) & while this may be very beneficial, both to them & to those around them, even far away, it is not necessary! To sit in Samadhi, one need not be actually sitting. To my limited understanding, Samadhi is more an inner peace than an outer silence, even lack of motion. Christians love to quote, 'the peace of God, which passes all understanding': much like Samadhi, I believe we can say, it is something we carry with us, another dimension, if you will, in which we reside, apart from the necessary evils that we must endure bodily. Does this not sound very similar, if not identical, to our Christian walk? Are we not to distance ourselves, in a manner of speaking, from the evils of this world, in order that we might enjoy the Peace of Heaven?

Any readers of this blog of late may realize that I have begun to focus more on the Chrism than the Christ, on the Story of Scripture as relating to the physiology of humanity than a historical narrative of the journey of a fairly obscure nomadic tribe, from rags to riches, as it were. The Christ Consciousness, I believe, resides in all human beings, though some have almost totally managed to obliterate it, or at least deface it beyond human recognition. The Christ Consciousness, or the Chrism, from which the word 'Christ' ( 'anointed' ) comes, is a part of the human physiology, again, to my limited understanding & can be 'awakened' through deep prayer/meditation. As Christians, we must realize that the Spirit of the Creator God, as His Kingdom ( 'Heaven'-Luke 17:21 ) is within us! So, when we pray, it should be more an inward meditation than a prayer to 'someone out there'. Or rather, maybe it should be to 'someone out there' in the sense that we often receive aid, physically speaking, from those who hear our prayers on this physical plane.

It is through deep prayer/meditation that we experience this Samadhi, or inner peace. Maybe this is why we are instructed to be constantly in an attitude of prayer ( I Thessalonians 5:17 )! Is it really necessary to go through all the steps of transcendental meditation in order to achieve Samadhi? Many would certainly tell you so, but more to the point, 'YES'! To truly be at peace in the midst of the evil that surrounds us, whether one believes in the Christian God or simply a Higher Power, call it the Christ Consciousness, or what you will. one must first still their mind, realizing there is a Oneness; that It simply IS, no matter the evil that we perceive.

One final note; what we call the Lord's Prayer, the prayer that Jesus instructed His disciples to pray, was a specific prayer for their specific time. I've covered this in previous posts, but the prayer He taught His disciples was relative to the ever-worsening situation they faced in the first century. Even in this prayer, though, we can see universal truth, for He taught them how to find peace in the midst of turmoil ( tribulation ). So whether one finds more comfort in laying their cares at the feet of the Christian God or in meditating within themselves, relying on their Higher Power, we find our rest in An Attitude of Samadhi!

Charles Haddon Shank

'No Possessions, Too?'

Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.

Acts 4:32

When John Lennon composed 'Imagine', early one morning in 1971, it's doubtful that he had this famous, almost communistic proof-text in mind, though it's possible. Many Christians immediately apply the brakes with the first line of Lennon's song, where he sings, 'Imagine there's no heaven.....', but if one dares to continue searching, they might see that John's lyrics are predicated on the notion that 'Heaven' is somewhere out there, up there in the sky, out in space, etc. John Lennon was not a Christian, by any stretch of the imagination ( most likely Buddhist, if he followed any religion ), but he seemed to be aware that the Greek word translated 'heaven', ouranos, simply means 'sky'.

Religion divides; that's all there is to it! As Christians, traditional, anyway & orthodox, we understand that division is not necessarily a bad thing, but is it really a good thing? We are used to viewing the world & humanity in two main categories; us & them, in traditional Christianese, those who are headed for heaven & those who are destined for hell. The Bible DOES say, 'Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you' ( II Corinthians 6:17 ( Isaiah 52:11, Ezekiel  20:34, 41 ), but when read in context, it should be noted that these were written in the days of that first [ age/covenant ], thus being directed at true Israel. As a matter of fact, the communistic-sounding statement at the beginning of this post should also be taken in context, with the understanding that the Christians who thus divested themselves of their property ( 'possessions' ) quite probably did so because they knew that it would soon be worthless, as the city was about to be destroyed.

Speaking of possessions, we now come closer to the heart of the matter! What is the biggest cause for fights, even wars? Quoting at some length here, from James 4:1-3, 'Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do [ they ] not [ come ] from your [ desires for ] pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend [ it ] on your pleasures'. Say what you want about John Lennon & his ideals, but at least he seemed to understand, maybe better than most, that it's not about possessions, what you have or don't have, materially speaking, anyway. We read elsewhere in Scripture ( Romans 14:17 ) that, 'the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit'; Again, it's not about possessions, materialistically speaking, it's a spiritual reality, basically how we treat our fellow human beings: as John put it, 'the brotherhood of man'!

Possessions, though, are not a bad thing; like riches of any kind, the problem is not in having them, but how we come by them & what we do with them once we get them. James mentioned that the Israelites were guilty of breaking the tenth commandment, which instructed them, 'You shall not covet.................................' ( Exodus 20:17 ). 'He/she has something I want & they won't give it to me, therefore I will take it from them!' The problem is not in the having ( of possessions/riches ); the problem is in doing whatever is necessary to get them, usually whether it's right or wrong. Lennon was not saying that it would be ideal not to have anything of one's own, but rather, that we should look at what we have been blessed with as not simply ours, but a blessing for the collective whole, for the good of humanity. Hence, the line 'Imagine all the people sharing all the world'.

We tend to view our possessions in the same way that Gollum viewed The Ring, in the epic, 'The Lord of the Rings'; 'My OWN, my prrrrrrrrecious!' Witness what he did to retrieve his 'prrrrrrecious': he would have done whatever he could to get it back, even if it meant murder. As it 'happened, he simply bit Frodo's finger off before he himself perished, along with the Ring. The point is, that looking at what we have been blessed with as 'our possessions', ours & ours alone is what has been the cause of many battles & wars, even if it's only within our own hearts. James also ask the question, 'If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what [ does it ] profit?"' ( James 2:15 & 16 ); when we fail to share our blessings with those in need, simply because they are ours ( 'I' worked for them! ) then we fail to live as Jesus taught.

So then, when read in the context of the current situation, at the time of Luke's writing ( Acts 4:32 ), we may correctly ascertain what was originally meant by those words. Not so much a plea for
Christian Communism, but rather a sharing of what they were blessed with, although it was probably made easier by the knowledge that these possessions would soon be worthless anyway. However, the point is; they did not look at these things as their own ( 'MY prrrrrrecious' ), but as a blessing to be shared with those in need! This being a universal truth; how much need is there in the world today? Our 'world', even? What should we do, then, with our possessions?

I'm not saying that we should not have anything of our own; I'm simply saying, as I believe Lennon was, that we should not cling to what we have been blessed with, but that we should share, without expectation, with those in need. 'The brotherhood of man' does not extend only to those who live & believe like we do! What we have been blessed with is not for us alone; it is to be shared with the world, regardless of whether we think they deserve it or not.


Agree with John Lennon's life or not, his ideals were lofty & true; what he imagined was a world at peace rather than a world at war, no heaven above, but rather, 'heaven' here below. He 'imagined' a world where the collective consciousness ruled the day, not one in which some were destined for 'heaven', while others were headed for 'hell'. As the unorthodox 'heretics' that we are, fulfilled believers know that it is not the traditional 'heaven' or 'hell' scenario, but rather that Heaven is here & now, that in sharing its blessings, we embrace 'the brotherhood of man'!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Butterfly Effect ( Chaos Theory ) & the Flight of the Bumblebee

It has been said that when a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, a tornado might touch down in central Texas a few weeks later. A bit extreme, maybe, that something so seemingly insignificant & fragile could cause something so destructive, but Cause & Effect is something that must be considered, down to the smallest detail, if we are to make sense of this thing we call life. The Science of the matter, to be honest, is quite beyond this blogger, but to be honest, that's really not the point of this post! The point is; how often do we really think about how our actions, no matter how seemingly innocent or insignificant, affect the conditions around us? Can we really do anything without consequences of some sort?

In the past, the question of how a bumblebee can remain aloft has proved to be enigmatic for Science, though recent discoveries have somewhat lessened the apprehension & expanded the comprehension. Though maybe more understandable now, it is no less amazing, as are many enigmas that have been revealed to humanity through heightened Science & Technology. 'The size & weight of the bumblebee', 'the apparent fragility of its wings', to say nothing of its aerodynamics, seem to be more than enough to cast a shadow of doubt, or wonder, really, on how such a creature can fly.

Thanks in part to astronomical advances in Science & Technology, humanity has learned many things about the Creation that were previously regarded as some of life's great mysteries, though sadly, many of these discovers have been chalked up to mere naturalistic evolution, apart from an Intelligent Designer. The fairly recent discovery of the Higgs Boson, the so-called 'God Particle', is an indication of this. Adaptation might be a better word for the changes that the animal creation in particular goes through & has gone through, though plants as well have been noted in this phenomena. Evolution though, of a sort anyway, is hard to deny, though a better way to say it is that this Intelligent Designer, call IT 'God', 'the Creator', 'Source', 'Energy', even 'the Universe', if you will, has programmed into the marvels of biology the ability, even the propensity to adapt to any given situation.

If Life is nothing more than a series of unfortunate events, just a haphazard scramble of ingredients, then what IS the point of it all?! Every man, woman & child has been given a free will, a choice of whether to adapt to any given situation, or to die. Animals have this ability as well, though in most animals, we don't recognize the innate intellect, or the conscious ability to make these choices; we tend to chalk it up to instinct, but there again, 'where did that instinct come from?' Through the wonders of Science & Technology, humanity has begun to recognize that we are not the only creatures in this biology that have been gifted with intellect, however limited.

Speaking of animals, how much do we consider the effects of our actions on them? For instance, when we feast on them, as in the case of cattle, chicken, turkey, even wild game, do you ever wonder if how we treated them in their relatively short life might have an effect on our consumption of them? The way that corporate growers raise the meat we eat has begin to give many people pause as to whether its even consumable. We might ask ourselves, 'Do animals feel pain?' Most don't think twice about how cattle, chicken, etc. are slaughtered, much less how they are raised, for human consumption. For human beings, we know that close quarters often don't make for healthy living, but how does that translate when it comes to the meat we eat? To compensate for the unhealthy & unsanitary living conditions that we force most of these animals to grow up in, they are pumped with antibiotics & who knows what else: it just makes sense that this artificial 'healthiness' then transfers to us, the consumer. It might be asked, too, if the pain that the animals suffer is not somehow transferred to us, both physically & psychologically. Are WE ultimately responsible for our own health?

Dolphins, along with chimpanzees ( arguably, one of our evolutionary ancestors ) & certain species of dogs, have long been known to possess an intelligence above & beyond other animals ( even some humans ), but does it really stop there? Are these the only animals with the ability to reason? Ask pretty much any pet-lover & they will tell you their animals are smarter than a lot of humans! On the other hand, there are those out there called 'pet-owners', those who simply 'own' their pets. For this reason we now have what are called 'rescue animals'; there are whole clinics, even official organizations specifically designed for the purpose of rescuing these pets from their owners. Thankfully, not ALL owners of pets treat these animals in such a way that they need rescuing!

Life is NOT simply a series of events, no matter how seemingly fortunate or unfortunate! Life is what we make it & though there are certain things that seem to just 'happen' to us, beyond our control, even in these events, we still exert some control. We may choose, for instance, how we will respond or react to the event, or we may even choose to so order our own lives as to limit the chance of such & such ever 'happening' to us. No matter the case, whether you believe there is a Supreme Being who ordered the Universe, it is clear that we, along with the animal, even plant creation, are sentient creatures, with the ability to choose, to judge for ourselves.

Not being a scientist, I will not even endeavor to take a glimpse into the whys & wherewithals of how a bumblebee can fly, or why they were not designed with better aerodynamics: I will, however simply, say that without an Intelligent Designer, the bumblebee would not be able to wing its flight, much less exist! Much the same could be said of really any part of the material creation, maybe the human biology most of all.

Any action, great or small, WILL have some sort of consequences! There is nothing we can do that won't have an effect on the environment around us. We cannot take one step, for instance, without something feeling the effects of our weight. We leave footprints wherever we go! When we sneeze ( which the average is about 200 mph ), there is a transference of whatever germ caused us to sneeze, if germ it be, to countless surfaces, as much as 10 feet away or more. A butterfly in Brazil doesn't sound so strange now, does it?

According to the Hebrew Scriptures, Yahweh Elohim brought order out of the chaos that was the creation, about 6,000 years ago, give or take a few millennia. Although there are things, like the two Category Five hurricanes the Virgin Islands experienced several months ago, that seem to just 'happen', we must understand that NOTHING ever just 'happens; there is ALWAYS a Cause & there is ALWAYS an Effect! Again, I'm not a scientist, so I won't even try to explain the intricacies of how hurricanes are formed, or why they seem to strike at random targets. Events like these seem to make Chaos Theory plausible, but when you think of the Order behind it all, that all these things work together for our benefit, one still wonders why Chaos seems to reign supreme. Like, if the
Universe was Created & is controlled by a Supreme Being, then why do 'bad' things happen to 'good' people?

It's all about choice! Whether our own personal choice, or the choices of others, our actions most often determine the course of events. We know that if we do this, that will most likely occur as a consequence & vice versa; if this, then that. To an extent, we ourselves control the outcome of any given event. Even when it comes to the actions of others, which we can't choose for them, our own actions often positively influence their actions so that what we feared may never transpire. If, despite our most fervent efforts, though, something untoward does happen, we are yet faced with how we will respond to the Call. Will we respond in kind, or will we act ( or not ) in such a way as to stop forward momentum?

Charles Haddon Shank