Divinity of Jesus
So is Jesus divine? Absolutely! ... and SO ARE WE.... in every way that he is divine. Jesus was simply more insightful and realized his divinity. He even tried to get his followers to understand .... "If you have the faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain be moved into the sea and it would..." And he also told us that .. "you will do the same works as I, AND EVEN GREATER WORKS...." But his disciples couldn't accept that, so Jesus threw his hands in the air and said: "well, come follow me." ... because he accepted his divinity and if they were too faithless to accept that, then he needed to show them how it is done.
Why is it so hard for us to understand that "God created us in his own image and likeness??" .. That means we ALL share in divinity ... that is not arrogant, ... it is simply the biblical message of Genesis and it is true.
Remember: Faith is not the absence of logic ... and there is logic and wisdom to this. You must remember that mythology has guided us in religious matters since the beginning of time ... because we are trying to explain the unexplainable. But it is time to start using our minds and stop being afraid of an angry god who will punish us if we dare to think for ourselves. How is it that we have advanced geometrically in the sciences and technology, yet "religiously" we remain in the stone age. It's time to grow up my friends, it's time to grow up.
Resurrection of Jesus
OK, so this is going to be the hardest to accept, but just listen for a minute. Did Jesus rise from the dead? OF COURSE HE DID.... But so will we!!! Was it a bodily resurrection? Of course not. What would that prove anyway? Actually (and here is my biggest "heresy" of all), believing in the BODILY resurrection of Jesus really shows a LACK of faith. It shows that we need proof in the PHYSICAL realm, but that is not what true faith means. Jesus passed on, (back) to the spiritual dimension because he had accomplished what he needed to do. We too will pass on to that next dimension when we have accomplished what WE need to do as well. Hopefully that will not be pre-mature, but who knows ... all of those so called "pre-mature deaths" might have run the course that was necessary. It is believed that even those who die in childhood or even infancy have chosen that particular incarnation because perhaps they needed to assist others ... perhaps their parents ... in THEIR OWN growth process.
Yesterday, Today, and Forever ... "God" is Unchanging
Physical beings don't shoot up into the sky today, and they never did! To believe that Mary rose up into heaven in bodily form (The Assumption) and is now living in a body in heaven is belittling Mary. Was she not worthy to return to spirit? Was she "punished" by remaining in the body. Spirit is well beyond this physical body in which we now find ourselves. We are only in the physical right now to learn lessons that our spirit can only learn here. We have chosen this life because we knew the lessons we needed to learn. (By the way, you can only learn lessons if you are not "pre-aware" of the lessons to be learned. That is why we can't remember our lives before this.... but we have in fact CHOSEN this life). Please remember that if we believe in eternity, then eternity goes in BOTH directions. If we believe that we will leave this earth and live forever, it means that we have existed before this life ... forever! Eternity is outside of history, and that is just a bit too mind-blowing for us to handle here .... but let me just say....just as we say of "God"...we always were, and we always will be.
And there are no voices coming out of clouds today ... there weren't then either. And no burning bushes are talking to us.... they weren't then either. (Of course we all know the symbolism of that allegory anyway: the "burning" within Moses to lead his people to freedom and the impossibility of "naming" and thereby "defining" our source).
So don't ask: "Why doesn't "God" show himself like he did back then? HE DOES! It is so much more beautiful and wonderful to believe that the divine is present in ALL LIFE and ALL EXPERIENCES.. than to be looking for some "supernatural" manifestation to prove god exists.
Following Jesus
So should we follow Jesus? Was he a good example for us? OF COURSE. He lived a life of love and courage .... but how could we follow someone who did something that we could never do? We can only follow someone who is just like us, only further ahead, so that he could pave the way for us. We couldn't follow someone who shot up like a rocket into the heavens (The Ascension).... please! I hope we are not still believing THAT one.
Remember: The authors of the gospel were trying to prove Jesus was "different" and "other-worldly" so they added some "interesting details" to the story. But I am trying to remind us that he is JUST LIKE US ... that is what will unite us and not divide us... that is what will make sense and help us to develop a real spirituality that is based on wisdom and love ... not on mythology and fear.
Lord and SAVIOR ?
So can we say that Jesus "saved" us? Well, if you mean that following his example turned us in a more positive direction, away from a life of negativity and selfishness ... well then you could indeed say that he "saved" us. BUT, if you mean that his dying was a "sacrifice for our sins" because his sadistic father wanted blood before he would "forgive" us .... well, that kind of "salvation" is once again a destructive and unhealthy fairy tale. And this "story" is based on very primitive religion, going back to the cave, when people believed that the angry gods needed to be appeased by offering up a sacrifice. ..... So our Christian theologians came up with the idea ... well, what better sacrifice to offer god but GOD himself?! See the little psych they are putting on us here?
Is the Bible inspired?
Of course ... and so are the writings of Shakespeare, Marx, Plato, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Confucius, this website .... and your own personal journal and letters. Inspiration is what comes from the divine and we all are a part of the divine ... in equal measure. Believe it! It is true!
My Intention in Sharing
So what is my purpose here? Am I just trying to upset people here? Not at all! It is my strong belief that all these myths and fairy tales serve to SEPARATE us from the divine (ourselves) more than they bring us closer. If we truly recognized our divinity and the divinity of all other living creatures, we would treat ourselves and others better. We ARE love, and when we truly accept that fact, our thoughts and actions will emanate from that loving source, rather than from a fearful and defensive ego.
It is amazing that our society has advanced by leaps and bounds in technology and in the sciences, yet spiritually we remain children ... accepting the myths we were taught and truly missing the beautiful and glorious life we have been given.
Let us challenge ourselves. We are on this earth to learn lessons important to our spirit, but if we keep escaping through mythological tradition, we will never grow ... and ultimately we will never experience the fullness of love which we all share.
