tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6088536014362710192024-03-11T21:52:59.862-07:00What Jesus Really Said: The Meaning of Jesus' Teachings in JohnThe teachings of Jesus from the Gospel of John are reviewed for meaning and translation accuracy utilizing the earliest Greek texts.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comBlogger228125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-63218955492216085212018-06-12T16:00:00.008-07:002021-01-15T16:28:02.329-08:00Jesus' Teachings from John (Table of Contents)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h2>Jesus' complete statements (NIV) are linked from this list:</h2><a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/08/what-do-you-want-they-said-rabbi-where.html">John 1:37-39 - "What do you want?"</a> ...<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/08/you-are-simon-son-of-john-you-will-be.html">John 1:42 - "You are Simon son of John</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/08/here-is-true-israelite-in-whom-there-is.html">John 1:47-50 - "Here truly is an Israelite</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/09/dear-woman-why-do-you-involve-me-my.html">John 2:4-8 - "Dear woman, why do you involve me?</a>"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/09/get-these-out-of-here-how-dare-you-turn.html">John 2:16 - "How dare you turn my Father's</a> house into a market!"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/09/destroy-this-temple-and-i-will-raise-it.html">John 2:19 - "Destroy this temple</a> and I will raise it again in three days." <br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/09/i-tell-you-truth-no-one-can-see-kingdom.html">John 3:03 - "no one can see the kingdom of God</a> unless he is born again."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/09/i-tell-you-truth-no-one-can-enter.html">John 3:05-8 - "Flesh gives birth to flesh</a>, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/10/you-are-israels-teacher-and-do-you-not.html">John 3:10-15 - "You are Israel's teacher,</a> and do you not understand these things?"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/10/for-god-so-loved-world-that-he-gave-his.html">John 3:16-21 - "For God so loved the world</a> that he gave His one and only Son ..." <br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/10/will-you-give-me-drink-if-you-knew-gift.html">John 4:07-14 - "Will you give me a drink?</a>"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/11/go-call-your-husband-and-come-back-john.html">John 4:16 - "Go, call your husband and come back</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/11/you-are-right-when-you-say-you-have-no.html">John 4:17-18 - "You are right when you say</a> you have no husband ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/11/woman-believe-me-time-is-coming-when.html">John 4:21-24 - "God is spirit, and his worshipers</a> must worship in the Spirit and in truth."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/11/i-who-speak-to-you-am-he-john-426.html">John 4:26 - "I who speak to you am he</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/11/i-have-food-to-eat-that-you-know.html">John 4:32 - "I have food to eat</a> that you know nothing about ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/11/my-food-is-to-do-will-of-him-who-sent.html">John 4:34 - "My food is to do the will</a> of Him who sent me ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/11/do-you-not-say-four-months-more-and.html">John 4:35-38 - "Do you not say, </a> 'Four months more and then the harvest'?" <br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/12/unless-you-people-see-miraculous-signs.html">John 4:48-49 - "Unless you people see</a> miraculous signs ... "<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/12/do-you-want-to-get-well-john-56-get-up.html">John 5:06-14 - "Do you want to get well?</a>"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/12/my-father-is-always-at-his-work-to-this.html">John 5:17 - "My Father is always</a> at His work to this very day, and I, too, am working ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/12/i-tell-you-truth-son-can-do-nothing-by.html">John 5:19 - " ... the Son can do nothing by himself</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/12/for-father-loves-son-and-shows-him-all.html">John 5:20 - "For the Father loves the Son</a> and shows him all he does ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/12/for-father-loves-son-and-shows-him-all.html">John 5:21 - "God’s son gives life</a> to whom He is pleased to give it ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/12/moreover-father-judges-no-one-but-has.html">John 5:22-23 - "Moreover, the Father judges no one</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/12/i-tell-you-truth-whoever-hears-my-word.html">John 5:24 - "Whoever hears and believes in God</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/01/i-tell-you-truth-time-is-coming-and-has.html">John 5:25 - "Those who hear will live</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/01/for-as-father-has-life-in-himself-so-he.html">John 5:26 - "For as the Father has life</a> in Himself ..." <br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/01/and-he-has-given-him-authority-to-judge.html">John 5:27 - "And He has given him authority</a> to judge ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/01/do-not-be-amazed-at-this-for-time-is.html">John 5:28-29 - "all will hear His voice"</a><br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/01/by-myself-i-can-do-nothing-i-judge-only.html">John 5:30 - "By myself I can do nothing</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/01/if-i-testify-about-myself-my-testimony.html">John 5:31-32 - "If I testify about myself</a> my testimony is not true."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/02/you-have-sent-to-john-and-he-has.html">John 5:33-34 - "You have sent to John</a> and he has testified to the truth ...."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/02/i-have-testimony-weightier-than-that-of.html">John 5:35-36 - "John was a lamp</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/02/and-father-who-sent-me-has-himself.html">John 5:37-38 - “And the Father who sent me</a> has Himself testified concerning me."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/02/you-diligently-study-scriptures-because.html">John 5:39-40 - "You study the scriptures diligently</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/02/i-do-not-accept-praise-from-men-but-i.html">John 5:41-44 - "I know that you do not have the love of God</a> in your hearts."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/02/but-do-not-think-i-will-accuse-you.html">John 5:45-47 - "Your accuser is Moses</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/02/where-shall-we-buy-bread-for-these.html">John 6:5-12 - “Where shall we buy bread</a> for these people to eat? ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/03/it-is-i-dont-be-afraid-john-620.html">John 6:20 - “It is I; Don’t be afraid.”</a><br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/03/i-tell-you-truth-you-are-looking-for-me.html">John 6:26-27 - “Do not work for food that spoils,</a> but for food that endures to eternal life”<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/03/work-of-god-is-this-to-believe-in-one.html">John 6:29 - "The work of God is this:</a> to believe in the one He has sent ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/05/i-tell-you-truth-it-is-not-moses-who.html">John 6:32 - God gives bread from heaven</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/10/i-am-bread-of-life-he-who-comes-to-me.html">John 6:35-37 - "I am the bread of life</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/09/the-will-of-Him-who-sent-me.html">John 6:38-40 - "to do the will of Him</a> who sent me ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/05/stop-grumbling-among-yourselves-no-one.html">John 6:43-51 - "No one can come to me</a> unless" ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/05/i-tell-you-truth-unless-you-eat-flesh.html">John 6:53-59 - "but he who feeds on this bread</a> will live forever ..." <br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/05/does-this-offend-you-what-if-you-see.html">John 6:61-65 - "the flesh counts for nothing</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/05/you-do-not-want-to-leave-too-do-you.html">John 6:67-70 - "You do not want to</a> leave too, do you?" <br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/06/right-time-for-me-has-not-yet-come-for.html">John 7:6-8 - "My time is not yet here</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/06/my-teaching-is-not-my-own-it-comes-from.html">John 7:16 - "My teaching is not my own</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/09/sanctify-them-by-truth-your-word-is.html">John 7:17-19 - "Anyone who chooses to do</a> the will of God ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/06/i-did-one-miracle-and-you-are-all.html">John 7:21-24 - "I did one miracle</a> and you are all amazed ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/06/yes-you-know-me-and-you-know-where-i-am.html">John 7:28-29 - "I am not here on my own,</a> but He who sent me is true."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/08/i-am-with-you-for-only-short-time-and.html">John 7:33-34 - "I am with you only</a> for a short time ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/08/if-anyone-is-thirsty-let-him-come-to-me.html">John 7:37-38 - "Let anyone who is thirsty</a> come to me ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/08/if-any-one-of-you-is-without-sin-let.html">John 8:7 - "Let someone without sin throw</a> the first stone ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/04/woman-where-are-they-has-no-one.html">John 8:10-11 - "Woman, where are they?</a> Has no one condemned you?" <br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/05/i-am-light-of-world-whoever-follows-me.html">John 8:12 - "I am the light</a> of the world ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/05/even-if-i-testify-on-my-own-behalf-my.html">John 8:14-18 - "I stand with the Father,</a> Who sent me ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/05/you-do-not-know-me-or-my-father-if-you.html">John 8:19 - "If you knew me,</a> you would know my Father also ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/05/i-am-going-away-and-you-will-look-for.html">John 8:21 - "I am going away.</a> Where I go, you cannot come ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/05/you-are-from-below-i-am-from-above-you.html">John 8:23-24 - "You are from below;</a> I am from above ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/05/just-what-i-have-been-claiming-all.html">John 8:25-26 - "But He Who sent me is reliable,</a> and what I have heard from Him ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/05/when-you-have-lifted-up-son-of-man-then.html">John 8:28-29 - "I do nothing on my own</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/06/if-you-hold-to-my-teaching-you-are.html">John 8:31-32 - "If you hold onto my teaching</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/06/i-tell-you-truth-everyone-who-sins-is.html">John 8:34-38 - "I am telling you</a> what I have seen in the Father's presence ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/06/if-you-were-abrahams-children-then-you.html">John 8:39-41 - "If you were Abraham's children"</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/06/if-god-were-your-father-you-would-love.html">John 8:42-43 - "If God were your Father</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/06/you-belong-to-your-father-devil-and-you.html">John 8:44-47 - "You belong to your father</a> the devil ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/06/i-am-not-possessed-by-demon-but-i-honor.html">John 8:49-51 - "but I honor my Father ..."</a><br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/07/if-i-glorify-myself-my-glory-means.html">John 8:54-56 - "If I glorify myself,</a> my glory means nothing ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/07/i-tell-you-truth-before-abraham-was.html">John 8:58 - "Before Abraham was born"</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/07/neither-this-man-nor-his-parents-sinned.html">John 9:1-3 - "Neither this man</a> nor his parents sinned ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/07/as-long-as-it-is-day-we-must-do-work-of.html">John 9:04 - "we must do the works</a> of Him who sent me ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/07/while-i-am-in-world-i-am-light-of-world.html">John 9:5 - "I am the light</a> of the world ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/08/do-you-believe-in-son-of-man-john-935.html">John 9:35 - "Do you believe </a>in the son of man?"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/08/you-have-now-seen-him-in-fact-he-is-one.html">John 9:37 - "You have now seen him</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/08/for-judgment-i-have-come-into-this.html">John 9:39 - "For judgment I have</a> come into this world ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/08/if-you-were-blind-you-would-not-be.html">John 9:41 - "If you were blind</a> you would not be guilty ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/08/i-tell-you-truth-man-who-does-not-enter.html">John 10:1-5 - "The one who enters</a> by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/08/i-tell-you-truth-i-am-gate-for-sheep.html">John 10:7-10 - "I am the gate</a> for the sheep"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/09/i-am-good-shepherd-good-shepherd-lays.html">John 10:11-13 - "I am the good shepherd</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/09/i-am-good-shepherd-i-know-my-sheep-and.html">John 10:14-15 - "I know my sheep</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/09/i-have-other-sheep-that-are-not-of-this.html">John 10:16-18 - "I have other sheep</a> that are not of this sheep pen ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/09/i-did-tell-you-but-you-do-not-believe.html">John 10:25-29 - "The works I do</a> in my Father's name ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/09/i-and-father-are-one-john-1030.html">John 10:30 - "I and the Father are one</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/09/i-have-shown-you-many-great-miracles.html">John 10:32 - "For which of these</a> do you stone me?"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/10/is-it-not-written-in-your-law-i-have.html">John 10:34-36 - "Is it not written</a> in your Law ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/10/if-i-am-not-doing-my-fathers-works-do.html">John 10:37-38 - "Do not believe me unless</a> I do the works of my Father ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/10/this-sickness-will-not-end-in-death-no.html">John 11:4 - "it is for God's glory</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/10/are-there-not-twelve-hours-of-daylight.html">John 11:9-10 - "Anyone who walks</a> in the daytime ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/10/our-friend-lazarus-has-fallen-asleep.html">John 11:11-15 - "Lazaras has fallen asleep</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/11/your-brother-will-rise-again-john-1123.html">John 11:23 - "Your brother will rise again</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/11/i-am-resurrection-and-life-he-who.html">John 11:25-26 - "I am the resurrection</a> and the life ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/11/where-have-you-laid-him-take-away-stone.html">John 11:33-40 - "Where have you laid him?</a>"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/11/father-i-thank-you-that-you-have-heard.html">John 11:41-43 - "Father, I thank You</a> that You have heard me ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/11/leave-her-alone-it-was-intended-that.html">John 12:07-8 - "You will always have the poor</a> among you ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/12/hour-has-come-for-son-of-man-to-be.html">John 12:23-25 - "The man who loves his life</a> will lose it ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/12/whoever-serves-me-must-follow-me-and.html">John 12:26 - "My Father will honor</a> the one who serves me."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/12/now-my-heart-is-troubled-and-what-shall.html">John 12:27-28 - "Now my heart is troubled</a>, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/01/this-voice-was-for-your-benefit-not.html">John 12:30 - "This voice was for your benefit</a> not mine ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/01/now-is-time-for-judgment-on-this-world.html">John 12:31 - "Now is the time for judgment</a> on this world ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/01/but-i-when-i-am-lifted-up-from-earth.html">John 12:32 - "when I am lifted up</a> from the earth ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/01/you-are-going-to-have-light-just-little.html">John 12:35-36 - "Walk while you</a> have the light ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/02/when-man-believes-in-me-he-does-not.html">John 12:44 - "Whoever believes in me</a> does not believe in me only ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/02/when-he-looks-at-me-he-sees-one-who.html">John 12:45 -"The one who looks at me</a> is seeing the One who sent me." <br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/02/i-have-come-into-world-as-light-so-that.html">John 12:46 - "I have come into the world</a> as a light ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/02/as-for-person-who-hears-my-words-but.html">John 12:47 - "If anyone hears my words</a> but does not keep them ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/03/there-is-judge-for-one-who-rejects-me.html">John 12:48-49 - "There is a judge</a> for the one who rejects me ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/03/i-know-that-his-command-leads-to.html">John 12:50 - "So whatever I say</a> is just what the Father has told me to say."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/03/you-do-not-realize-now-what-i-am-doing.html">John 13:7 - "You do not realize</a> now what I am doing, but later ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/03/unless-i-wash-you-you-have-no-part-with.html">John 13:8 - "Unless I wash you</a> you have no part with me ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/03/person-who-has-had-bath-needs-only-to.html">John 13:10 - "A person who has</a> had a bath needs only to wash his feet ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/03/do-you-understand-what-i-have-done-for.html">John 13:12-15 - "Do you understand</a> what I have done for you?"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/04/i-tell-you-truth-no-servant-is-greater.html">John 13:16 - "Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater</a> than his master ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/04/now-that-you-know-these-things-you-will.html">John 13:17 - "Now that you know these things</a>, you will be blessed if you do them."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/04/i-am-not-referring-to-all-of-you-i-know.html">John 13:18 - "I know those</a> I have chosen"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/04/i-am-telling-you-now-before-it-happens.html">John 13:19-20 - "" ... whoever accepts me</a> accepts the One who sent me."</div><a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/04/i-tell-you-truth-one-of-you-is-going-to.html">John 13:21 - "one of you is going to betray me."</a><br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/05/it-is-one-to-whom-i-will-give-this.html">John 13:26 - " ...one of you</a> is going to betray me."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/07/what-you-are-about-to-do-do-quickly.html">John 13:27 - "What you are about to do,</a> do quickly."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/05/now-is-son-of-man-glorified-and-god-is.html">John 13:31-32 - "Now the son of man</a> is glorified and God is glorified in him ...."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/05/my-children-i-will-be-with-you-only.html">John 13:33 - "I will be with you </a>only a little longer ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/05/new-command-i-give-you-love-one-another.html">John 13:34-35 - "Love one another.</a> As I have loved you ..." <br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/05/where-i-am-going-you-cannot-follow-now.html">John 13:36 - "Where I am going,</a> you cannot follow now ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/06/will-you-really-lay-down-your-life-for.html">John 13:38 - "Will you really lay down</a> your life for me?"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/06/do-not-let-your-hearts-be-troubled.html">John 14:1 - "Do not let your hearts</a> be troubled ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/06/in-my-fathers-house-are-many-rooms-if.html">John 14:2-4 - "My Father's house</a> has many rooms ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/06/i-am-way-and-truth-and-life-no-one.html">John 14:6 - "I am the way</a> and the truth and the life ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/07/if-you-really-knew-me-you-would-know-my.html">John 14:7 - "If you really knew me,</a> you would know my Father ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/07/dont-you-know-me-philip-even-after-i.html">John 14:9-12 - "Don"t you know me, Philip</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/07/and-i-will-do-whatever-you-ask-in-my.html">John 14:13-14 - 'so that the Father</a> may be glorified ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/08/if-you-love-me-you-will-obey-what-i.html">John 14:15 - "If you love me, keep</a> my commands ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/08/and-i-will-ask-father-and-he-will-give.html">John 14:16-17 - "He will give you</a> another advocate ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/08/i-will-not-leave-you-as-orphans-i-will.html">John 14:18 - "I will not leave you</a> as orphans ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/08/before-long-world-will-not-see-me.html">John 14:19-21 - "Before long, the world</a> will not see me anymore ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/08/if-anyone-loves-me-he-will-obey-my.html">John 14:23 - "Anyone who loves me</a> will obey my teaching ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/06/anyone-who-does-not-love-me-will-not.html">John 14:24 - "These words you hear</a> are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/09/all-this-i-have-spoken-while-still-with.html">John 14:25-26 - "the Advocate, the Holy Spirit,</a> whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/09/peace-i-leave-with-you-my-peace-i-give.html">John 14:27 - "Peace I leave with you;</a> my peace I give you"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/09/you-heard-me-say-i-am-going-away-and-i.html">John 14:28-29 - "I love the Father </a> and do exactly what my Father has commanded me ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/09/i-will-not-speak-with-you-much-longer.html">John 14:30-31 - "the prince of this world</a> is coming"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/10/i-am-true-vine-and-my-father-is.html">John 15:1-2 - "I am the true vine,</a> and my Father is the gardener"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/10/you-are-already-clean-because-of-word-i.html">John 15:3 - "You are already clean</a> because of the word I have spoken to you ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/10/remain-in-me-and-i-will-remain-in-you.html">John 15:4-5 - "Remain in me, as I</a> also remain in you ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/10/if-anyone-does-not-remain-in-me-he-is.html">John 15:6-8 - "If you do not remain</a> in me ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/10/if-anyone-does-not-remain-in-me-he-is.html">John 15:9-10 - "As the Father has loved</a> me, so have I loved you ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/11/i-have-told-you-this-so-that-my-joy-may.html">John 15:11 - "I have told you this</a> so that my joy may be in you ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/11/my-command-is-this-love-each-other-as-i.html">John 15:12-13 - "My command is this:</a> Love each other as I have loved you ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/11/you-are-my-friends-if-you-do-what-i.html">John 15:14-15 - "You are my friends</a> if you do what I command ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/11/you-did-not-choose-me-but-i-chose-you.html">John 15:16 - 'so that you might go</a> and bear fruit ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/11/this-is-my-command-love-each-other-john.html">John 15:17 - "This is my command:</a> Love each other ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/12/if-world-hates-you-keep-in-mind-that-it.html">John 15:18-19 - "If the world hates you,</a> keep in mind that it hated me first ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/12/remember-words-i-spoke-to-you-no.html">John 15:20-21- "A servant is not greater</a> than his master ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/12/if-i-had-not-come-and-spoken-to-them.html">John 15:22 - "now they have no excuse</a> for their sin ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/01/he-who-hates-me-hates-my-father-as-well.html">John 15:23-24 - "Whoever hates me</a> hates my Father as well ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/01/but-this-is-to-fulfill-what-is-written.html">John 15:25 - "They hated me</a> without reason ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/01/when-counselor-comes-whom-i-will-send.html">John 15:26-27 - "When the Advocate comes,</a> whom I will send to you from the Father ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/01/all-this-i-have-told-you-so-that-you.html">John 16:1 - "All this I have told you,</a> so that you will not fall away ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/01/they-will-put-you-out-of-synagogue-in.html">John 16:2-3 - "They will do such things </a>because they have not known the Father or me."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/02/i-have-told-you-this-so-that-when-time.html">John 16:4-5 - "Now I am going to Him who sent me</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/02/because-i-have-said-these-things-you.html">John 16:6-7 - "Unless I go away,</a> the Advocate will not come to you ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/02/when-he-comes-he-will-convict-world-of.html">John 16:8-11 - "he will prove the world</a> to be in the wrong ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/02/i-have-much-more-to-say-to-you-more.html">John 16:12-13 - "when He, the Spirit of truth,</a> comes, He will guide you ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/03/he-will-glorify-me-because-it-is-from.html">John 16:14 - "it is from me that he</a> will receive what he will make known to you ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/03/all-that-belongs-to-father-is-mine-that.html">John 16:15 - "All that belongs</a> to the Father is mine ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/03/in-little-while-you-will-see-me-no-more.html">John 16:16 - "In a little while</a> you will see me no more ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/03/are-you-asking-one-another-what-i-meant.html">John 16:19-23 - "you will weep and mourn</a> while the world rejoices ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/03/until-now-you-have-not-asked-for.html">John 16:24 - "Ask and you will receive,</a> and your joy will be complete ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/04/though-i-have-been-speaking.html">John 16:25 - "Though I have been speaking figuratively,</a> a time is coming ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/04/in-that-day-you-will-ask-in-my-name-i.html">John 16:26-27 - "I am not saying that I will ask the Father</a> on your behalf ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/04/i-came-from-father-and-entered-world.html">John 16:28 - "now I am leaving the world</a> and going back to the Father ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/04/do-you-now-believe-john-1631.html">John 16:31 - "Do you now believe?"</a><br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/05/a-time-is-coming-and-in-fact-has-come.html">John 16:32 - "you will be scattered,</a> each to your own home ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/05/i-have-told-you-these-things-so-that-in.html">John 16:33 - "In this world you</a> will have trouble ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/05/father-hour-has-come-glorify-your-son.html">John 17:1 - "Father, the hour has come</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/05/for-you-granted-him-authority-over-all.html">John 17:2 - "that he might give</a> eternal life to all those You have given him ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/06/now-this-is-eternal-life-that-they-know.html">John 17:3 - "Now this is eternal life:</a> that they know you, the only true God ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/06/i-have-brought-you-glory-on-earth-by.html">John 17:4 - "I have brought You glory</a> on earth by finishing the work You gave me to do ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/06/and-now-father-glorify-me-in-your.html">John 17:5 - "glorify me in Your presence</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/06/i-have-revealed-you-to-those-whom-you.html">John 17:6 - "I have revealed You</a> to those whom you gave me out of the world ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/06/i-have-revealed-you-to-those-whom-you.html">John 17:7 - "everything You have given me</a> comes from You ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/07/for-i-gave-them-words-you-gave-me-and.html">John 17:8 - "I gave them the words</a> You gave me ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/07/i-pray-for-them-i-am-not-praying-for.html">John 17:9 - "I pray for them</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/07/all-i-have-is-yours-and-all-you-have-is.html">John 17:10 - "All I have is Yours</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/07/i-will-remain-in-world-no-longer-but.html">John 17:11 - "I will remain in the world</a> no longer ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/08/while-i-was-with-them-i-protected-them.html">John 17:12 - "While I was with them,</a> I protected them ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/08/i-am-coming-to-you-now-but-i-say-these.html">John 17:13 - "I am coming to You now</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/08/i-have-given-them-your-word-and-world.html">John 17:14 - "I have given them</a> Your word ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/08/my-prayer-is-not-that-you-take-them-out.html">John 17:15 - "My prayer is not that</a> You take them out of the world but that You protect them ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/08/they-are-not-of-world-even-as-i-am-not.html">John 17:16 - "They are not of the world,</a> even as I am not of it ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/09/sanctify-them-by-truth-your-word-is.html">John 17:17 - 'sanctify them by the truth;</a> Your word is truth ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/09/as-you-sent-me-into-world-i-have-sent.html">John 17:18 - "As You sent me</a> into the world, I have sent them into the world ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/09/for-them-i-sanctify-myself-that-they.html">John 17:19 - "For them I sanctify myself,</a> that they too may be truly sanctified ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/09/my-prayer-is-not-for-them-alone-i-pray.html">John 17:20-21 - "My prayer is not</a> for them alone ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/10/i-have-given-them-glory-that-you-gave.html">John 17:22-23 - "I have given them the glory</a> that you gave me ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/10/father-i-want-those-you-have-given-me.html">John 17:24 - "Father, I want those</a> you have given me to be with me ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/10/righteous-father-though-world-does-not.html">John 17:25 - "Righteous Father, though the world</a> does not know you, I know you ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/10/and-i-have-declared-to-them-your-name.html">John 17:26 - "I have made You known</a> to them ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/11/who-is-it-you-want-i-am-he-i-told-you.html">John 18:4-8 - "I told you that I am he.</a> If you are looking for me, then let these men go."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/11/put-your-sword-away-shall-i-not-drink.html">John 18:11 - "Put your sword away!</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/11/i-have-spoken-openly-to-world-i-always.html">John 18:20 - "I have spoken openly</a> to the world ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/11/why-question-me-ask-those-who-heard-me.html">John 18:21 - "Why question me?</a> Ask those who heard me ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/12/if-i-said-something-wrong-testify-as-to.html">John 18:23 - "If I said something</a> wrong, testify as to what is wrong ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/12/is-that-your-own-idea-or-did-others.html">John 18:34 - "Is that your own idea</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/12/my-kingdom-is-not-of-this-world-if-it.html">John 18:36 - "My kingdom is not</a> of this world ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/12/you-say-that-i-am-king-in-fact-reason-i.html">John 18:37 - "the reason I was born</a> and came into the world is to testify to the truth ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/12/you-would-have-no-power-over-me-if-it.html">John 19:11 - "You would have no power</a> over me if it were not given to you from above ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/01/woman-here-is-your-son-and-to-disciple.html">John 19:26-27 - "Woman, here is your son</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/01/i-am-thirsty-john-1928.html">John 19:28 - "I am thirsty.</a>"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/01/it-is-finished-john-1930.html">John 19:30 - "It is finished.</a>"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/01/woman-why-are-you-crying-who-is-it-you.html">John 20:15 - "Woman, why are you crying?</a>"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/02/do-not-hold-on-to-me-for-i-have-not-yet.html">John 20:17 - "Do not hold on to me</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/02/do-not-hold-on-to-me-for-i-have-not-yet.html">John 20:21 - As the Father has sent me,</a> I am sending you."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/02/receive-holy-spirit-john-2022.html">John 20:22 - "Receive the Holy Spirit</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/02/if-you-forgive-anyones-sins-their-sins.html">John 20:23 - "If you forgive anyone's sins</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/03/put-your-finger-here-see-my-hands-reach.html">John 20:27 - "Put your finger here</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/03/because-you-have-seen-me-have-you.html">John 20:29 - " ... blessed are those who have</a> not seen and yet have believed."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/03/friends-havent-you-any-fish-no-throw.html">John 21:05-6 - "Friends, haven"t you any fish?</a>"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/03/simon-son-of-john-do-you-love-me-more.html">John 21:15 - 'Simon son of John,</a> do you love me more ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/03/simon-son-of-john-do-you-love-me-take.html">John 21:16-17 - "Do you love me?</a>"<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/04/most-assuredly-i-say-to-you-when-you.html">John 21:18-19 - "when you were younger</a> ..."<br />
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/04/if-i-want-him-to-remain-alive-until-i.html">John 21:22 - "If I want him to remain</a> alive until I return ..."<br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-36316067946086526462014-11-08T10:23:00.003-08:002021-09-13T15:16:30.993-07:00"What do you want?" "Come, and you will see." (John 1:37-39)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><blockquote>The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means "Teacher"), "where are you staying?" "Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon. (John 1:35-39)</blockquote></i></div><h2>Why were they so interested in where Jesus was staying?</h2>Jesus is responding to two of John the Baptist’s disciples, who asked:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Rabbi, where are you staying?"</i> (John 1:38).</blockquote>After being asked this, Jesus wants to show these disciples of John where he is staying. He is being completely upfront. He has nothing to hide from them. So he invites them to come with him and see for themselves where he was staying.<br />
<br />
But why were these disciples of John so interested in Jesus all of a sudden? It is because John the Baptist - their spiritual teacher - told his two students:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>“Look, the Lamb of God!”</i> (John 1:36)</blockquote><h2>What does <i>'Lamb of God'</i> mean?</h2>This is a very practical statement. What is a <i>“lamb”</i> of someone else? A <i>lamb</i> is a subservient animal - one who defers to the herder. This is, in other words, an analogy.<i> 'Lamb of God'</i> is describing one who is humbly devoted to the Supreme Being.<br />
<br />
This is not how many people like to translate the word <i>lamb</i>. They like to think of lamb as an animal that gets slaughtered because they slaughter lambs and eat them. <div><br /></div><div>However, we know that John the Baptist did not eat lamb:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>His food was locusts and wild honey. (Matt. 3:4)</i></blockquote>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Was John the Baptist a vegetarian?</h2><i>"Locusts"</i> - from the Greek word ἀκρίς (akris) - does not refer to the insect, but rather, to the pods of the locust tree - which contain the carob bean. (They were called 'locusts' because the shape of the pods resembled the appearance of the locust insect - giving rise to the term, "locust tree.")<br />
<br />
We also know from descriptions of Jesus, that Jesus did not eat red meat. Thus we can understand that when Jesus' teacher, John the Baptist, referred to Jesus as the <i>"lamb of God"</i> he was not referring to Jesus being slaughtered. John was referring to Jesus as being someone who was <i>devoted</i> to the Supreme Being.<br />
<br />
Jesus also referred to himself this way later:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent me." </i>(John 6:38)</blockquote>In other words, a lamb of God would be someone who was completely subservient to God, and willing to sacrifice everything on behalf of God. So describing Jesus as the <i>"lamb of God"</i> meant to describe Jesus as the humble, loving servant of God, who had given his life to the Supreme Being.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">What does <i>'taking away the sin of the world'</i> mean?</h2>The day before, John also said:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”</i> (John 1:29)</blockquote>Was this referring to Jesus’ dying on the cross for our sins, as many among professional sectarian teachers have proclaimed?<br />
<br />
What is <i>"sin"?</i> According to scripture, sin is acting in a way that goes against the will of the Supreme Being. Consider what God's will is, as taught by Moses and Jesus:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>“ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”</i> (Matt. 22:37-40)</blockquote>Sinning is the opposite consciousness of loving the Supreme Being - sinning requires a self-centered consciousness. Sinning is to harm others, thus acting in a way that is not pleasing to the Supreme Being. Since what is pleasing to God is to love others, sinning is diametrically opposed to this - harming others.<br />
<br />
<h2>Do we have to love ourselves before we can love others?</h2>Some have twisted Jesus' instruction to <i>"Love your neighbor as yourself."</i> to mean we must love ourselves first before we can love others. <br />
<br />
This is preposterous because if we are loving ourselves, we cannot follow the initial instruction, to "<i>‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' "</i> If we are loving God with all our heart, that contradicts loving ourselves first.<br />
<br />
The very phrases, <i>"with all your heart"</i> and <i>"with all your soul"</i> and <i>"with all your mind"</i> necessarily negate loving oneself first. They quite certainly mean loving the Supreme Being first.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Did God make Jesus suffer for everyone's sins?</h2>The doctrine that many sectarian institutions embrace says this very thing: That Jesus died for everyone's sins.<br />
<br />
If we accept this, we must also accept that Jesus died not only for the sins of billions and billions of people who lived before him. But he was also dying for everyone who would sin after he was crucified. How does that work?<br />
<br />
The sins of people today were not even conceived 2,000 years ago. How could Jesus have died for those sins? How would he have paid for the sins of the future when he was murdered 2,000 years ago?<br />
<br />
This impractical doctrine also comes with another element, which many sectarian teachers also promulgate: That the Supreme Being sanctioned Jesus dying for everyone's sins.<br />
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Such a doctrine comes with two problems:<br />
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1) It would mean that God arranged to have Jesus murdered and tortured on the cross.<br />
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2) It would mean that no one past or future has any consequences for sins.<br />
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The second assumption would mean that we can do anything that we want and Jesus will suffer(ed) for it. It means there is no consequence for harming someone else - we can just do whatever we want because Jesus already suffered the consequences.<br />
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The first assumption would mean that the Supreme Being would arrange to have His beloved son tortured. What kind of God is that? Is that the kind of God that we could love as Jesus taught?<br />
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<h2>Why would God need Jesus to suffer to forgive our sins?</h2>If God was truly all-powerful, why would He need to make His servant suffer on a cross to remove people's sins? Does God need to follow some sort of ritual sacrifice in order to do something?<br />
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God can remove someone's sins simply by willing it. This is why Jesus taught his students to ask God for forgiveness for their sins in the Lord's Prayer:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>He said to them, "When you pray, say:</i><i>" 'Father, hallowed be Your Name, Your kingdom come.</i><i>Give us each day our daily bread. </i><i><b>Forgive us our sins,</b></i> for we also forgive everyone who sins against us." (Luke 11:2-4)</blockquote>Why did Jesus teach his students to ask God (<i>Father</i>) for forgiveness if all they had to do is wait for his crucifixion?<br />
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The fact is, this notion of the murder of Jesus' physical body being some sort of sacrifice for our sins so that we can go on sinning and wiping our sins off on Jesus is a hoax. It is a teaching intended to gain followers by making purification cheap and easy. There is no need for a change of heart (repenting). Jesus made a clear statement about such teachings along with those who teach them:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"</i> (Luke 7:21-23)</blockquote>Rather, the manner in which Jesus can take away sins is accomplished by his teachings and his example. By teaching us to love and serve God, and by showing us how to love and serve God (<i>"does the will of my Father"</i>) <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/08/if-any-one-of-you-is-without-sin-let.html" target="_blank">Jesus could effectively remove the sins</a> of those who followed him. How so? By <i>changing their hearts. </i>By convincing them to give their lives to the Supreme Being.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">How can our sinful nature be purified?</h2>Sins are not removed by some magic trick. It is not a passive act. The Supreme Being does not remove the consequences of self-centered activity on a whim. The consequences of self-centered activities are part of the Supreme Being's system of learning within the physical world. Without consequences, we would continue our self-centeredness with no hope of having a change of heart.<br />
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But should we begin to learn the lessons borne of consequences, and approach the Supreme Being <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/12/remember-words-i-spoke-to-you-no.html" target="_blank">humbly</a>, asking for forgiveness while being prepared to forgive any offenses others make against us, the Supreme Being forgives our past sinful nature. This is Jesus' teaching, as evidenced by Jesus' request to turn to God and pray to Him:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Forgive us our sins,<b> </b>for we also forgive everyone who sins against us."</i> (Luke 11:4)</blockquote><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jPGIc0VQxdM?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-38822727798568788282014-11-07T10:54:00.001-08:002021-09-14T14:01:23.960-07:00"You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas." (John 1:42)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><blockquote>Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter). (John 1:40-43)</blockquote></i></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">What is Jesus doing with Peter?</h2>Jesus is taking Peter as his disciple - naming him Cephas. This word means, "like a stone."<br />
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Just as John the Baptist took on Jesus as his disciple, Jesus took on Peter as his disciple. And just as John took on other students and disciples, Jesus also followed in his footsteps and <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/07/i-pray-for-them-i-am-not-praying-for.html" target="_blank">took on other followers and disciples</a>. This is a long-honored tradition among saintly teachers, and the basis for passing on the teachings of love for God.<br />
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Confirming this, we find practically every saint and prophet became a student under a saintly teacher. In some cases, the teacher was the father of the student. In other cases, a priest anointed the student:<br />
<blockquote><i>"[God speaking]Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so they may serve Me as priests. Their anointing will be to a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations.”</i> (Exodus 40:15)</blockquote>This lineage of priests and their students becoming priests has continued through the centuries. In the case of David and Solomon, we also know that David requested the priest Zadok and Nathan the prophet to take Solomon to Gihon. What happened in Gihon? The Old Testament says:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites went down and put Solomon on King David's mule and escorted him to Gihon. Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon.</i> (1 Kings 38-39)</blockquote>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">What is anointing?</h2>The presumption was that the <i>"anointing"</i> was merely the appointment of Solomon as king. Why would a priest have to do this, however? Why couldn't David simply just select Solomon and be done with it?<br />
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We also see this same <i>"anointing</i>" is considered in the book of Samuel, as it applies to Samuel and David:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>Samuel did what the LORD said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, "Do you come in peace?"<br />
</i><i> Samuel replied, "Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me." Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.<br />
</i><i> When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD's anointed stands here before the LORD."<br />
</i><i> But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."<br />
</i><i> Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, "The LORD has not chosen this one either." Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, "Nor has the LORD chosen this one." Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, "The LORD has not chosen these." So he asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?"<br />
</i><i> "There is still the youngest," Jesse answered, "but he is tending the sheep."<br />
</i><i> Samuel said, "Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives."<br />
</i><i> So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features.<br />
</i><i> Then the LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; he is the one."<br />
</i><i> So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah.</i>(1 Samuel 16:1-13)</blockquote>So we can see from this discussion that "anointing" was not simply the choosing of a king. The anointing process was taking place between one of God's loving servants (in this case, Samuel, who did the will of God) and someone that God has chosen to be anointed. Notice that after the anointing, <i>"the Spirit of the Lord came upon David."</i><br />
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In other words, the "anointing" process was not the choosing of a king, but a ceremony that represented God's selection of one of His representatives. Note also that David was Jesse's son. Who was Samuel? David's spiritual teacher.<br />
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We can see the same tradition of teacher to student with respect to Samuel in the Old Testament:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.</i><i> One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. Then the LORD called Samuel.</i><i> Samuel answered, "Here I am." And he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." </i><i> But Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down." So he went and lay down.</i><i> Again the LORD called, "Samuel!" And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me."<br />
</i><i> "My son," Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down."</i><i> Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD : The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.</i><i> The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me."<br />
</i><i> Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.' " So Samuel went and lay down in his place.</i><i> The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!"</i><i> Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."</i>(1 Samuel 3:1-10)</blockquote>So again we see here that Samuel had a spiritual guide and teacher, Eli, and <i>"he ministered before the LORD under Eli".</i> This illustrates the process of learning under a teacher and servant of God, as the path towards establishing our own relationship with God.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Is this a succession of teachers?</h2>Notice also how Eli called Samuel "son" even though Samuel was not actually his genetic offspring. Samuel was Eli's student.<br />
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This tradition continued throughout the Old Testament, even to Jesus' day. When <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2009/11/for-john-came-neither-eating-nor.html" target="_blank">John the Baptist</a> hesitated to baptize ("anoint") Jesus, Jesus said:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>“Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”</i> (Matt 3:15)</blockquote>Remember that Jesus also took on disciples.<br />
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This indicates a continuation of the process of handing down God's message from teacher to student. It is the process that God has empowered, because God enables us to come to know Him through His loving servants. This process concludes in the student also following in the footsteps of his teacher, and working to pass on God's message just as his teacher did.<br />
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This is the process that is empowered by the Supreme Being. It is a succession or lineage of teachers, passing on the Truth from one generation to the next.<br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jPGIc0VQxdM?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-62852741501575539892014-11-06T13:34:00.001-08:002021-09-13T15:21:32.327-07:00"Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit....." (John 1:47-50)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote><i>When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit." </i><br />
<i>"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."</i><br />
<i>Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel."</i><br />
<i>Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that."(John 1:47-50)</i></blockquote><h2 style="text-align: left;">Was Jesus the <i>'king of Israel'?</i></h2>the word <i>"king"</i> here is translated from the Greek word βασιλεύς (basileus). According to Strong's lexicon, this word can mean "leader of the people," or "prince," or "commander," or "lord of the land." It can also mean "king."<br />
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Obviously, <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/12/is-that-your-own-idea-or-did-others.html" target="_blank">Jesus was not a king</a> in the common sense of the word. Jesus held no legal governmental authority that could have attributed the word "king" to him.<br />
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The word “king” here is thus a mistranslation. The better translation is “leader,” as taken from the lexicon. This would fit the circumstances of the situation and the English language.<br />
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Interestingly, the word "Israel" here may not mean a region or country as it does today. This Hebrew word means, literally, "he shall be a prince of God." This name was given by God to Jacob, and it is assumed that this is a character identifier rather than a common name.<br />
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While "leader of Israel" is an appropriate translation, one could certainly make the case that what Nathaniel was describing Jesus as also representing the lineage of Israel - referring to those who love and serve God.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What does <i>'Son of God'</i> mean?</h2>Now let's consider Nathanael's statement regarding being the <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/01/and-he-has-given-him-authority-to-judge.html" target="_blank">Son of God</a>, and then afterward, Jesus' own use of the word <i>"son"</i> in the context of <i>"Son of Man"</i>:<br />
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Here the Greek word that has been translated to <i>“son”</i> is υἱός (huios). This may indicate a relationship of offspring in the limited sense of the physical body, but it is more appropriately defined, as taken from the Greek lexicon, to mean "one who depends on another or is his follower."<br />
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Furthermore, the Greek word that has been translated to <i>"man"</i> is ἀνθρώπου, which can mean "man" but can also mean "humankind," "people" or "humanity."<br />
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Thus, within the context of the self-reference of υἱὸς τοῦ [of] ἀνθρώπου, the more appropriate translation would be something like:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"servant of humanity" or "servant of the people"</i></blockquote>We find this alternative use for the word "son" throughout the scriptures For example, we see this use of the word "son" as follower or servant in this text spoken by Eli to his student, Samuel:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”</i> (1 Samuel 3:6)</blockquote>"Son" is also the wrong translation used in connection with υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ or "Son of God." Let's consider how the term "Son of God" is used in the larger context:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>...the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. </i>(Genesis 6:2)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.</i>(Genesis 6:3-5)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God."</i> (Jesus, Matthew 5:8-10)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>...because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. </i>(Romans 8:13-15)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. </i>(Romans 8:18-20)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus"</i> (Galatians 3:25-27)</blockquote>We can see by these statements that the use of the <i>"Son of God"</i> is much broader than simply Jesus being the only Son of God. We are certainly seeing this among Jesus' disciples as well.<br />
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Are we saying that God can only have one son? Are we saying that God is now impotent since He had His one son and no one else?<br />
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Certainly, this is ridiculous. God has innumerable children. He has directly created each of us. It is not as if, as the politically-driven Synod of Nicea - assembled by emperor Constantine in the fourth century as part of his effort to control Europe and the middle east through the control of the Christian church - Jesus is the only <i>begotten </i>Son of God while we are all indirect sons of God. This is preposterous. We are all children of God.<br />
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Rather, as we can see from the use of the phrase "sons of God" in the texts above, the word "son" was used to signify a loving servant of God: Someone who has, out of freedom of choice and love, given their life to God. The "Son of God" is someone who has dedicated their life to God.<br />
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While we find many references to "Son of God" in the Bible that many sectarian teachings have singled out Jesus as the only Son of God.<br />
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In reality, this reference is describing a particular <i>role </i>or <i>position</i>, not one single person. When the prophets in the Old Testament refer to a coming "Son of God" they are referring to someone who will take on the role of loving servant of God and become God's representative.<br />
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This might be compared to the word "ambassador." While we might refer to someone in particular as "ambassador," we will also refer to the duties of a person in that role in general. A person might say, "the ambassador will represent the president of the United States and all of the people of the United States." This would be a correct statement that could be applied to a particular person who is currently holding that office, as well as any other future person who may hold that office in the future.<br />
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But if someone says, "there will only be one ambassador," well that is another story altogether. What about those who served as ambassadors of the U.S. before this particular ambassador? How about those who will succeed the ambassador currently holding office?<br />
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This is the same misconstruction that has happened within the sectarian world. Because of a combination of two things:<br />
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1) The desire of emperors, popes and bishops (and other sect and church leaders) to control the people and thus declare that Jesus was the only Son of God (i.e., if there were others, they would lose their control)<br />
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2) Those not becoming servants of God themselves. Because they did not follow Jesus and surrender their lives to God and become the loving servants of God, they instead took on this falsehood of just proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God and then supposedly being saved by Jesus (salvationism - a selfish desire that has nothing to do with serving God).<br />
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We can see this also in Acts, where Jesus is described as God's servant, yet it is translated to "Son of God" in the King James version. In the New International Version, it has been translated correctly:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus. </i>(Acts 3:13) </blockquote>Here the Greek παῖς or ‘pais’ better translates to "servant" than "son."<br />
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The combination of these two elements has created this misconstruction of the notion of Jesus as the only Son of God. In fact, we are talking about Jesus being the loving servant of God. And as he says above in Matthew 5:8-10, we can all become sons of God simply by following Jesus' instructions, the first and most important being:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." </i>(Matt. 22:37-38)</blockquote><h2>What is a better word instead of <i>son </i>then?</h2>When most people hear the word "son" they conjure up a male offspring. Sometimes a supervisor or older person might also greet a younger man as "son." But this is quite rare compared to the typical application of the word "son" in modern English.<br />
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From a spiritual context, this creates quite a bit of confusion because a son is typically a physical offspring. When we try to apply this term applied to the physical body to a spiritual context things get confusing.<br />
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Now let's consider the true meaning of the words being translated to <i>"son"</i> in 'Son of God' and 'Son of Man.' What the heck is a <i>"Son of Man"?</i> Does this make any sense?<br />
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Remember the translation of υἱός (huios) to "follower" or "loving servant." This also applies to the meaning of “Son of Man.” The use of "man" is not a single "man" here. It is not one man, but men in general. In other words, <i>mankind</i>, or <i>humanity</i>.<br />
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Here Jesus is describing himself as a <i>“servant of mankind”</i> or a <i>servant of humanity.</i> In other words, he feels that he has come to serve people by bringing them the teachings of God. This is certainly the highest service, as Jesus is practicing the second greatest commandment:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"</i> (Matt. 22:39)</blockquote>The reason the second command is like the first is that once a person loves God, they will automatically love all of God's children. It is automatic. They will instantly feel saddened by the state of existence that some of God's children are in as they (we) are ignoring God and not loving God. Thus, the loving servant of God will work to deliver the message of love of God to all of God's children.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What is 'heaven and earth opening' mean?</h2>Consider Jesus’ next statement. Jesus predicts that they will see heaven opening, and angels ascending and descending on the servant of humanity. What is Jesus saying here?</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Jesus is saying that he will be teaching them about God, and those teachings will open the gates of heaven to those men (the translation from Greek refers to a plural “you”) who accept the guidance of God's representative.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
Should they follow the teachings of God's representative(s), they will guide them back home to the kingdom of God. Notice that some of the angels are <i>"descending."</i> Why?<br />
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These are God's representatives - angels - who are being sent down to earth to teach us about God. It isn't that God is losing some angels and gaining others. They are coming and going because God is sending them and bringing them back. It is a passageway, that allows God's messengers to descend to the earth, and bring others back home, back to God's kingdom. And why are they on the <i>"backs of the Son of God?"</i><br />
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</i> It is because as these angels descend from God's kingdom to bring us back, they become loving servants of humanity. They bring God's message to us as a gift. And the message: If we also become God's loving servants (sons of God) we will be happy, and will return to our eternal loving relationship with God.<br />
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<b>*Here is the translation of these verses from the Lost Gospels of Jesus:</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, and said of him, “Truly, an Israelite in whom there is no deceitfulness.” Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?” Jesus replied, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered and said to him, “Rabbi, you are the Representative of God; you are the leader of Israel.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I saw you under the fig tree, you are believing? You will see greater things than this.” (<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/966163">John 1:47-50</a>)</i></blockquote><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jPGIc0VQxdM?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-16959378136689896382014-11-05T11:14:00.001-08:002021-09-13T15:23:38.264-07:00"Dear woman, why do you involve me? ..." (John 2:4-8)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote><i>On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." </i><br />
<i>"Woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My hour has not yet come."</i><br />
<i>His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."</i><br />
<i>Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now." (John 2:1-10) </i></blockquote><h2 style="text-align: left;">Was Jesus a bartender?</h2>Did Jesus abandon Jewish law and the teachings of the prophets and convert water to wine and get people drunk at a wedding?<br />
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This is what is being proposed by sectarian translators of the Biblical texts. As we will see with the original Greek texts, Jesus did not abandon Jewish law and supply fellow guests of the wedding alcohol.<br />
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We do see some narrative in the books of the New Testament that Jesus did tolerate and teach to people who drank alcohol. But we also know that Jesus' teacher, John the Baptist, was very strict about maintaining abstinence from alcohol.<br />
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The Book of John is describing an event whereby Jesus turned water into a grape beverage at a wedding. The woman that Jesus responded to initially was his mother, who told Jesus they had no more. Jesus was clear to her that his time for preaching and <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/11/father-i-thank-you-that-you-have-heard.html" target="_blank">performing miracles</a> had not yet come, yet his mother insisted.<br />
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Once the water in the jars was taken out to the banquet, they had been converted. Was this beverage that Jesus converted grape juice and not alcoholic wine?<br />
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Consider that the attendees at the wedding were observant Jews. Would Jesus have turned water into an alcoholic beverage and broken Jewish law? Would he have gotten all those people drunk? Was Jesus a bartender or enabler of alcoholism? <br />
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Consider that Jesus was a student of John the Baptist. Both were considered Jewish teachers and observers of Jewish law:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of dedication to the LORD as a Nazirite, they must abstain from wine ... (Numbers 6:2-3)<br />
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"Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk...."</i> (Habakkuk 2:15)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"It is not for kings, O Lemuel—not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, lest they drink and forget what the law decrees, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights." </i>(Proverbs 31:4-5)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.</i> (Ephesians 5:18)</blockquote>Rather, wine and beer were to be used strictly for medicinal purposes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish..."</i> (Proverbs 31:6)</blockquote>Current Jewish custom allows for the drinking of a glass of wine on special occasions. But intoxication is still condemned, even today.<br />
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<h2>Didn't Jesus drink alcohol?</h2>One might argue that Jesus' statement in Matthew (duplicated in Luke) confirms that Jesus drank alcohol. Yet quite the opposite is true when we examine the statement carefully:<br />
<blockquote><i>"For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.” (Matthew 11:18-19)</i></blockquote>When this statement is examined carefully along with the Greek, it becomes obvious that Jesus is saying that he did not drink alcohol. Jesus did sit down at the table of <i>"sinners"</i> - as they accused those who had sumptuous meals together with wine. <br />
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Not only does Jesus not state he drank alcohol here - it actually illustrates that Jesus did not drink alcohol (<i>"a drunkard"</i> - from the Greek word, οἰνοπότης (oinopotēs) - meaning "winebibber"). <br />
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Jesus is comparing the lies they were telling about John (that he <i>"had a demon"</i>) with what they were saying about Jesus.<br />
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If one were to say that Jesus is confirming that Jesus drank alcohol, that would mean he is also saying that John the Baptist <i>"had a demon."</i><br />
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These are what they were accusing John of - which was obviously untrue. Thus we have to also accept that Jesus did not drink alcohol - because that would be untrue as well. This is what they were accusing - not what Jesus was. <br />
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As such, we have to reject the notion that Jesus drank alcohol. If he did drink alcohol, then Jesus would not have said they were falsely accusing him of being a drunkard - drinking alcohol.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Was this a non-alcoholic wine?</h2>The Greek word translated to <i>"wine"</i> here can refer to either an unfermented (non-alcoholic) wine or a fermented wine.<br />
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<i>Oinos </i>is a wine that can be fermented or unfermented (used in Matthew 9:17, Ephesians 5:18 and in John 2). <i>Gleukos</i> is a sweet, fresh grape juice (as in Acts 2:13).<br />
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This is also reflected in the Hebrew scriptures of the Old Testament. Some verses utilize the Hebrew word תִּירוֹשׁ (tiyrowsh), which indicates a freshly squeezed unfermented "wine" - more of a juice. Then there is יַיִן (yayin), a fermented wine - meaning it could be intoxicating, depending upon how long it is fermented (aged).<br />
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Typically, wine-makers utilize yeast to speed up the fermentation process, to convert more sugars to alcohol. When yeast is not used, the sugars convert more slowly, producing a wine that will have very little alcohol content unless it is aged a while.<br />
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<h2>A <i>'cheaper'</i> wine?</h2>We should also note that Jesus stated that, <i>"Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine ..."</i> Here the word "choice" is being translated from the Greek word, καλός (kalos), which can mean "good" or "choice," but also "morally good" and "noble," as well as "genuine" and "approved."<br />
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Something that was "noble" or "morally good" would not be alcoholic under Jewish custom. Something that is both "morally good" and "genuine" would also indicate that it was fresh, and thus not alcoholic. It was not fermented, because it was fresh - and "morally good." <br />
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John then comments that this miracle was the first of many and that it caused Jesus’ disciples at that time to put their faith in him (John 2:11). Surely, serving intoxicating wine at a wedding would not have impressed any serious followers during those times of strict Jewish custom.<br />
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We should note that the Apostle John - as were James, Peter and most others - did strictly observe Jewish or Mosaic principles. It was Paul who, after Jesus left the planet, broke away and insisted that followers of Jesus didn't have to observe Mosaic principles.<br />
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Furthermore, the jars that Jesus had turned into the grape juice were stone water jars intended for the use of Jewish ceremonial washing. Would Jesus have turned the contents of what was being used for purification purposes into a source of drunkenness?<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What is the context of Jesus' statement?</h2>We can conclude that the circumstances of this event indicate that Jesus did not abandon Jewish law and the teachings of the prophets and get people drunk at a wedding. All indications are that the wine was freshly squeezed and not thoroughly fermented. It was thus not alcoholic. <br />
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If by chance he did convert the water to fermented wine, it was for the purpose of being used ceremoniously and medicinally as a single serving, not as a source of intoxication. Noting that this was a wedding - a religious ceremony in Jewish custom - it was more likely grape juice.<br />
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While Jesus complied with the request of his mother, we know that Jesus was keenly aware of the time and circumstances for <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/09/the-will-of-Him-who-sent-me.html" target="_blank">his service to the Supreme Being</a>. <br />
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Jesus was representing the Supreme Being. God does not have his representatives cause people to become intoxicated. Jesus' statement, <i>"My time has not come,"</i> shows that Jesus was subservient to the Supreme Being's will, and understood that the Supreme Being had a plan for imparting His teachings.<br />
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This illustrates Jesus' focus upon pleasing the Supreme Being, as confirmed elsewhere:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me."</i> (John 5:30)</blockquote>Getting people drunk would not have been pleasing to the Supreme Being.<br />
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<h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>*Here is the translation of this event according to the Lost Gospels of Jesus:</b></h4><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there and Jesus and his disciples had been invited to the wedding. When the grape juice was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more grape juice.” “Madam, what does this have to do with me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever he tells you to do, do it.” Now there were six stone water jars set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each. Jesus said to them, “Fill the water jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. And he said to them, “Draw some out and take it to the table master.” So they took it to him, and the table master tasted the water that had become grape juice. He did not know from where it had come, but the servants who had drawn the water knew. The table master called the bridegroom aside and said, “Every man serves the choice beverage first and when people have drunk freely, then he serves the cheaper grape juice. But you have kept the good juice until now." (<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/966163" target="_blank">John 2:1-10</a>)</i></blockquote></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-37330997820328281432014-11-04T11:46:00.001-08:002021-09-13T15:24:30.436-07:00"Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!" (John 2:16)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Here Jesus is speaking angrily to those who were selling goods within the boundary of the temple. Here is the text leading to his statement:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.</i> (John 2:13-15)</blockquote>He overturned tables and drove the animals outs. He was very upset. Why was Jesus so upset?<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What did Jesus mean by <i>'my Father's house'?</i></h2>This is how Jesus described the temple: <i>"my Father's house".</i> Jesus is personalizing the temple. This was where people worshipped God.<br />
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There are three pertinent words here:<br />
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1) <i>"my"</i> is possessive. Why would Jesus be possessive concerning God? This is because Jesus enjoys a personal relationship with God. A loving relationship. Consider the use of "my" when someone says "my husband" or "my brother." The word "my" signifies a loving relationship that allows them to say "my." Otherwise, there is no ownership. Jesus does not own God any more than a wife does not own her husband or one brother owns another brother. But the use of "my" signifies a particular relationship: one of love.<br />
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2) <i>"Father"</i> signifies that God is an individual, separate from Jesus. "Father" also indicates a familial relationship, where one person (Father) created the other (Jesus). It also indicates dependency: A person looks to their father as a protector and guardian. This is how Jesus felt about God.<br />
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3) <i>"House"</i> indicates a dwelling place. A "house" is a place where someone lives. In other words, Jesus saw that God dwells in the temple. This does not mean that God only lives in the temple because we know that Jesus and other prophets have described God as residing in heaven. So we know that God can expand Himself, and dwell within those places where He will accept worship. This does not depend upon a building. It depends upon devotion. God will dwell where ever He is worshipped with love and devotion. Once a loving servant of God asks God to come within a particular location to be worshipped, God will comply. This is because God enjoys exchanging loving relationships.<br />
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In other words, Jesus became so upset because they were abusing the house of God - with Whom Jesus had a loving relationship.<br />
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So we can see that Jesus was upset with people turning the location of loving worship to God into a market. Is this much different from what takes place at most professional churches and temples around the world? We see so many bazaars and flea markets being hosted at churches. Churches have become the means of funding so many unrelated events today.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Why is money so important to some institutions?</h2>We can see Jesus' disdain for turning the temple grounds into a place where money is king. Those sellers and money changers on the temple were all about money. The temple became a place of business. It became centered around money.<br />
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This was opposed by Jesus, because Jesus taught that the temple was a place of worship, not a place to make money.<br />
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Ironically, even though Jesus angrily turned over tables and chastized these sellers, today we find many sects that claim to follow Jesus will engage so much effort to raise money. <br />
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These efforts include turning churches into bazaars and marketplaces, mirroring the kind of event Jesus condemned here. <br />
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Some sects have billions of dollars of funding from so many events. To this we add the so many pleas by sectarian evangelists who ask for money in so many tricky ways, to bring billions into their coffers. Why do they need so much money? Why is money such a central focus among these so-called religious leaders?<br />
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The reason is that love of God is not as important. If helping others learn to love God - Jesus' primary teaching - is not the primary mission of the institution, that emptiness creates a hole. Such a hole must be filled, and most will fill that hole with the need to make money. This is the hole of self-centeredness, which pervades this world.<br />
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<h2>Should preachers earn a salary?</h2>Jesus did not earn a salary from preaching. Neither did John the Baptist. Nor did Jesus' disciples.<br />
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Yet we find that most of today's religious leaders are paid salaries to preach. Is this appropriate? To turn preaching into a business in order to earn money and even - for some institutions - become wealthy.<br />
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Isn't this offensive to God and Jesus? To turn an activity that should be based upon love into a business?<br />
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Jesus' example is clear. Teachers who truly represent Jesus do not accept payment for their services. They do not earn salaries. If someone wants to donate to the teacher, that is their free choice. But there is never a salary set up. This taints the entire process with quid-pro-quo, which leads to greed. It has no part in the teachings of God and God's representative.<br />
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This does not mean money is not required for distributing spiritual information. Yes, expenses have to be paid, and sometimes printing costs and building costs and microphone costs have to all be paid for. So donations and payments can be made for these things. This is not the same as profitability, however. Once a person takes a profit from passing down the teachings of Jesus and the prophets, those teachings are tainted and have no value.<br />
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So how would a teacher of God be fed and have a roof over his or her head? Yes, donations can pay for this. A fund can be set up to house and <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/11/i-have-food-to-eat-that-you-know.html" target="_blank">feed the teacher</a>, and pay his expenses related to teaching. <br />
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Things used for the purposes of disseminating the Truth can certainly be paid for by donations. But earning a lucrative salary from preaching runs contrary to everything that Jesus stood for.<br />
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Jesus states this <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Freely you have received; freely give." (Matt. 10:8)</i></blockquote>Jesus was not paid to teach. Neither was his teacher John. Neither were his disciples. Why not? Because this is God's will.<br />
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Teaching about God is not a paid position. And receiving a salary for teaching about God is offensive to God. Yet so many sectarian teachers today will pay for their seminary education, and then be paid to teach. Contrasting Jesus' principle, theirs is:<br />
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<i>"You have paid to receive, now charge to give."<br />
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This function - of paying to receive and being paid to give - is rooted in self-centeredness. Service is the opposite of self-centeredness, and thus indenture. If a person is paid to do their service then the service is not voluntary. It is indentured.<br />
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The Supreme Being wants us to come to love Him out of our free will. Not in exchange for something else.<br />
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-78188598120312435102014-11-03T10:20:00.001-08:002021-09-13T15:32:37.653-07:00"Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." (John 2:19)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">After Jesus drove out the sellers in the temple court (see post below), someone asked Jesus:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?" </i>(John 2:18)</blockquote>This was his answer. In both Matthew and Mark, it is indicated that Jesus also said this, but he is not quoted saying it. In both Matthew and Mark, someone else is claiming that Jesus said this.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Was Jesus referring to a building?</h2>It is important to note that the people he spoke to thought Jesus was talking about the temple he was standing near. They responded:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?"</i> (John 2:20)</blockquote>But the Gospel of John follows with:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>‘But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said.’</i> (John 2:21)</blockquote>This indicates that Jesus was referring to <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/05/you-are-from-below-i-am-from-above-you.html" target="_blank">his body as a temple</a>. This concept has been spoken of many times by Jesus, earlier prophets and disciples of Jesus.<br />
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What does this mean, however? What does it mean for the body to be compared to a temple?<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Isn't the body a temple?</h2>The reason the body is a temple is because it houses the <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2020/02/flesh-gives-birth-to-flesh-but-spirit.html">soul or the individual spirit-person</a>. Each of us is a spirit-person temporarily occupying a physical body.<br />
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We are not our physical bodies. Our physical bodies are temporary vehicles we utilize to try to enjoy this world (or serve God with if we are inclined) for a few decades. Then we leave the body at death. The manner in which we've used the body is then judged. This has been appropriately described (and woefully misunderstood), in scripture as "judgment day."<br />
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The body is also a receptacle for the Holy Spirit of God. This is God’s expansion into each of our bodies. Within each body, next to the living being, God’s expansion is there, making Himself available to turn to Him. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Some might think this is pretty fantastic. Yet even we can beam radio wave signals into homes and automobiles in the form of television and radio.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
For God to have a technology allowing Him to expand into each body may be amazing, but it is nevertheless practical. God's expansion is there to help guide us should we be willing to accept such guidance.<br />
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It is for this reason that Jesus clearly indicated that his body was a temple.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What was raised in three days?</h2>The reason three days is significant is that Jesus appeared to his disciples after three days, just before he ascended and returned home to the spiritual world.<br />
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But what was raised? Did Jesus' dead body reawake and start walking around again? What about the various holes - in his hands, and feet, and sides? Wouldn't blood be leaking out of these holes if the body became alive again and started walking around?<br />
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First, it should be clear that the Greek word translated to "raised" is ἐγείρω (egeirō). I can mean "to arouse," but also, according to the lexicon, "cause to appear" and "to cause to appear, bring before the public."<br />
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The Scriptures do not indicate that Jesus appeared in his physical body. Rather, it states clearly that he appeared <i>"in a different form."</i> It also states that his disciples and students did not recognize Jesus when he appeared to them:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. </i>(Mark 16:12)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him</i>. (Luke 24:15-16)</blockquote>Later Jesus appeared again to his disciples, and again they did not immediately recognize him. Many <i>doubted</i> (e.g. "doubting Thomas").<br />
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Even in his next appearance, they did not necessarily recognize him:<br />
<i><blockquote>When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. (Matthew 28:17)</blockquote></i></div>The text also states that Jesus' spirit left his body on the cross:<br />
<blockquote><i>When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:30)</i></blockquote>We know scientifically that the body decomposes after death. The soul - the spirit - leaves the body ("passes"). The Roman guards, and Joseph all confirmed that Jesus' body was dead when they took him down from the cross (or tree) and laid him in Joseph's temporary tomb.<br />
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The only mystery here is what happened to Jesus' dead body? Well, the fact that they had laid it in a temporary tomb belonging to Joseph's family might indicate that it was removed to Jesus' family tomb - as was Jewish custom.<br />
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Furthermore, the guards that were watching over the tomb were not wanting there to be a scene. So there is also a considerable likelihood that the guards rolled the rock back and removed Jesus' dead body from the tomb.<br />
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All this means that Jesus appeared to them in an apparition - similar to what angels can appear with. Such an appearance is different in substance than the physical body. An apparition can appear in one form and actually change appearance as well.<br />
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But the fact that Jesus appeared to them after three days - long after his body was murdered and dead - indicates that Jesus illustrated his command over physical nature. His 'temple' could be murdered - yet he would still re-appear to them three days later - within his true temple of the spirit. <br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Does the spirit leave the body at the time of death?</h2>Consider this exchange between some Sadducees and Jesus regarding our identity after death:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. "Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. The second and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died too. Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?"<br />
Jesus replied, <i>"The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection. But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.”</i></i> (Luke 20:27-38)</blockquote>Let's consider this statement carefully. This not only clarifies our true identity but the meaning of resurrection. Resurrection obviously means the returning of the spiritual self back to the spiritual world.<br />
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This is confirmed by Jesus' statement, <i>"they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection."</i> And since he includes that not only <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/05/you-are-from-below-i-am-from-above-you.html" target="_blank">do we rise after death</a>, but we continue living after the death of the body: <i>"He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.”</i><br />
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The only way we can live after the death and decomposition of this body is if we are distinct from our physical bodies. We are spiritual, with angel-like bodies. We are not these temporary physical bodies.<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-74638599965468318112014-11-02T14:23:00.001-08:002021-09-13T15:33:08.686-07:00"... no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." (John 3:3)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><blockquote>He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him." Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again." (John 3:2-3)<br />
</blockquote></i></div><h3>Who is Jesus speaking with?</h3>Here Jesus is sitting with a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a member of the institutional temple ruling council. Nicodemus accepted that Jesus was God's messenger.<br />
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Nicodemus was a Pharisee and accepted Jesus as God's representative. Jesus did not correct him or deny this. By not denying the Pharisee, it is logical to assume that Jesus indeed saw himself as ‘<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/09/i-am-good-shepherd-i-know-my-sheep-and.html" target="_blank">a teacher coming from God.</a>’<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What does <i>'born again'</i> mean?</h2>Jesus is describing to the Pharisee that in order to see God’s kingdom we must be “born again.” But the primary definition of the Greek word translated to "again" is ἄνωθεν (anōthen). And this also means "from above" according to the lexicon. This means the term can also be translated to <i>“born from above.”</i> This actually provides a deeper meaning to Jesus’ statement.<br />
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This is confirmed by his <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/09/i-tell-you-truth-no-one-can-enter.html" target="_blank">next statement about being born again</a>.<br />
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Why? Because Jesus was not talking about the human body being born again. The kind of rebirth Jesus is speaking of is to have a spiritual change of heart.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What is a change of heart? </h2>In Jesus' context, a spiritual change of heart means to begin giving up our self-centeredness in lieu of beginning our path towards loving and serving the Supreme Being. This was Jesus' central message.<br />
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While we can make such a decision at any time, this spiritual rebirth does not usually happen instantly. Rather, it starts with a commitment to change. Once we make a commitment to change, we have begun to travel the path towards renewing our loving relationship with God.<br />
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Proclaiming to others that we "accept Jesus as our savior" as is the custom in many of today's sectarian institutions, is not the spiritual rebirth Jesus is describing. This "I accept Jesus" or "I'm born again" proclamation only brings attention to ourselves. It is an attempt to gain the acceptance of others.<br />
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<h2>Did Jesus teach this?</h2>Jesus spoke specifically to this, "I accept Jesus as my savior" doctrine:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>“Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father Who is in heaven.”</i> (Matthew 7:21)</blockquote>Crying out in front of others, or a crowd of parishioners that we are "born again" and that "Jesus is my savior" should be considered equivalent to the saying of "Lord, Lord" in Jesus' statement in Matt. 7:21. <br />
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Jesus' teachings were meant to bring attention to God. He was trying to teach us to love God and love others. He didn't allow himself to be crucified so that we could proudly brag about how religious we are. He didn't go through all that pain in order for us to use him to dust off our sins so we could go back and do some more.<br />
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Jesus' life was about encouraging us to give of ourselves. To become servants of God and others. He wanted us to change our hearts from self-serving to God-serving: From loving ourselves to loving others.<br />
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We can tell by Jesus' statements is he wants us to serve and please God. <i>"He who does the will of my Father" </i>means acting in a way that is pleasing to God. A person who is focused on serving and pleasing God is not so interested in making proclamations about themselves. <br />
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Being saved, in fact, is of little concern to one who loves and works to please God. A loving servant of God has little care about being "saved." Their central desire is to please God now and in the future.<br />
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Developing this attitude takes work. It takes commitment and discipline. It also takes putting oneself at the feet of the Supreme Being: <br />
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We need God's help in order to change and grow spiritually. We do not have the strength to change alone. We must rely upon God's help. At the point where we lay at God's feet, God will help to change us from within.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-69323269847603992272014-11-01T13:33:00.001-07:002021-09-13T15:34:10.423-07:00"... no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit." (John 3:5)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote><i>"How can someone be born when they are old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born!" Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit." (John 3:4-5)<br />
</i></blockquote><h2>What is Jesus describing?</h2>Nicodemus is responding to Jesus' statement that <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/09/i-tell-you-truth-no-one-can-see-kingdom.html">one must be born again</a>. Nicodemus doesn't understand the term. He is wondering if Jesus is describing the physical body being born after it was born as an infant.<br />
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This is not an uncommon response to this term. Today, many sectarian teachers teach about the need to be born again. And many parishioners talk about having been born again.<br />
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But do we really understand what being born again is? Certainly, it is a little difficult to understand given that we typically only see the human body only being born once as an infant.<br />
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Jesus responds by discussing the meaning of spiritual rebirth.<br />
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<h2>What does <i>'born of the water and the Spirit'</i> mean?</h2>The <i>'water and the Spirit'</i> refers specifically to a spiritual rebirth. Jesus and his teacher John the Baptist utilized baptism to symbolize having a chance of heart while being given a blessing from the Supreme Being.<br />
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This combination of immersion and blessing from God through His servant was illustrated by the baptism of Jesus by John:<br />
<i><blockquote>Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the One who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen and I testify that this is God's Chosen One." (John 1:32-34)</blockquote></i></div>John is humbly describing his own form of baptism. If John was not baptizing with the spirit then why would Jesus undergo baptism with John? Why would Jesus have undertaken baptism with John if John was not baptizing with the spirit?<br />
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Certainly, John also baptized with the Holy Spirit. That is why John described how the Spirit came down as a dove. Because John's baptism had power. It had authority.<br />
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John also describes, <i>"but the One who sent me to baptize ..."</i> Who is the "One who sent me"?<br />
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John is referring to the Supreme Being. God sent John to teach thousands of people and gave many of them baptism in the River Jordan.<br />
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To say that his baptism was only water is to take John's statement out of context. He wasn't saying his baptism had no meaning and purpose. Rather, he was humbly describing his own power while promoting Jesus' power and authority.<br />
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Certainly, John wanted Jesus to succeed. He also saw Jesus as better than himself. But this is typically what a humble person does. Someone with spiritual humility will downplay their own authority and glorify someone else. This is also what Jesus taught:<br />
<i><blockquote>"Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant (Matthew 20:26)<br />
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"The greatest among you will be your servant." (Matthew 23:11)</blockquote></i>John the Baptist was Jesus' teacher. He illustrated personally what being <i>"great among you"</i> meant.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What does <i>'enter the kingdom of God'</i> mean?</h2>To <i>'enter the kingdom of God'</i> doesn't have anything to do with going to heaven. This is because everywhere is part of God's kingdom. What is being discussed is returning to our loving relationship with the Supreme Being. This can occur whether or not we are here in this physical world.<br />
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The Supreme Being set up a world that helps us learn about ourselves. But this world also gives each of us the freedom to love Him or not.<br />
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Ultimately God created us for the purpose of exchanging a relationship with Him. Still, if we aren't interested in exchanging a relationship with Him we don't have to. He will not force His love upon us. We can reject Him at any time. We can avoid Him, and live within this physical world feeling that we are the center of the universe for thousands and thousands of lifetimes.<br />
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This is because love requires freedom. God gave us the freedom to love Him or not.<br />
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So <i>"being born again"</i> is having a change of heart that says, <i>I choose to return to God.</i> God will not let us come home unless we want to be with Him. We have to want to return to our original relationship of <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/07/as-long-as-it-is-day-we-must-do-work-of.html" target="_blank">loving service to Him</a>.<br />
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If we still want to be God or enjoy like God there is no place for us in the spiritual dimension. This is because the spiritual dimension is a place where everyone loves one another, and everything is focused upon God's enjoyment. Everyone is enjoying God's enjoyment. If we try to enter the spiritual dimension with our self-centered attitude, it simply will not work. We will not be able to function.<br />
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The spiritual kingdom is a beautiful place where everyone cares more about their Best Friend the Supreme Being and each other more than they care about themselves. This is what love is.<br />
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Imagine a dinner table where the family was all making sure that everyone else had enough to eat. What would happen? Everyone would get enough to eat, right? Now imagine another table where everyone's major concern was whether they would get enough to eat. What would happen here? They would fight over the food, and the strongest people would get the food and the weakest people would starve. Isn’t this what is happening throughout the physical world?<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-14022217025619805232014-11-01T11:30:00.003-07:002022-08-13T18:44:14.862-07:00"Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit..." (John 3:6-8)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><blockquote>"Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." (John 3:6-8) </blockquote></i></div><h2>What does <i>'flesh gives birth to flesh'</i> mean?</h2>Jesus now must try to explain the difference between the physical body (here <i>"the flesh"</i>) and the spiritual body (here <i>"the spirit"</i>) to Nicodemus. <br />
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The physical body is a temporary vehicle for the spiritual self. Each of us is an eternal spiritual individual.<br />
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As spiritual individuals, each of us was created by the Supreme Being. He is the <i>"Spirit"</i> in the above statement, and we are the <i>"spirit"</i> within this physical body.<br />
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The physical body is simply a tool or vehicle for the spiritual individual. It is like a person driving a car. A person can get in a car and drive it, and then he can get out of the car at some point and walk away.<br />
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We are like the car driver and the car is like our physical body. The <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/10/our-friend-lazarus-has-fallen-asleep.html" target="_blank">spiritual individual utilizes the physical body</a> for a few decades. Then we must leave it behind, just as a car owner must one day get abandon an old car.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What does <i>'you cannot tell where it comes from'</i> mean?</h2>Jesus is describing the reality that the spiritual person and the Spirit - are both invisible to the eyes of the physical body.<br />
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Each of us is a person, and we are composed of spirit. This means that we are more properly identified as <i>spirit-persons</i>.<br />
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The world of spirit - where the <i>"Spirit"</i> and the <i>"spirits"</i> dwell - cannot be perceived with the physical senses, because the purpose of being in the physical body is to allow us the opportunity to learn within a state of naivete.<br />
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One might compare this to scientific medical research. In a double-blinded medical study, both the patients and the doctors are "blinded." They are "blinded" by not being able to know who is receiving what.<br />
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The reason why the patients and the doctors are blinded is so that the drug or herb can be tested without the influence of forcing the outcome through some sort of bias. It is like testing from a blank slate.<br />
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In the same way, when foods or beverages are compared, the taste tester will wash out their mouth between tastes so each can be tasted with a fresh palette. <div><br /></div><div>This rinsing of the mouth also gives rise to something used in medical testing. That is when the subject doesn't know whether they are using the medicine or a placebo. This is called being "blinded." When both the patient and the doctor don't know who is using the medicine or the placebo, the medical study is called "double-blinded."</div><div><br />
In the case of the physical world, we are also "blinded." We are given a "blank slate" in order to learn. We are born into this world having forgotten our former lives and our connection with the Supreme Spirit. We also forget our identity as a spirit-person.<br />
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Such a "blank slate" allows us the ultimate in options. We can make a variety of choices in our lives, including choices related to helping or harming others, and those related to finding the Truth about the Supreme Being.<br />
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In other words, this "blank slate" allows us to forget about God if we choose to, and virtually ignore Him. We can even pretend that we are God - as some teach. Or we can simply live our lives as though we are the center of the universe.<br />
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<h2>What does this have to do with being born again?</h2>Jesus also states here that, <i>"You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'"</i> What do the "spirit" and the "Spirit" and our "blank slate" have to do with being born again?<br />
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Being born again in Jesus' vernacular is basically having a change of heart.<br />
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Coming to the point where someone has a change of heart and is born again typically takes time to learn the lessons this world teaches us. This is something that occurs from within the heart, and this means others often cannot see such a change of heart.<br />
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This is because the realization of God and the change of heart that is being referred to as being "born again" is an internal process that cannot be seen or recognized physically (outside of one's activities).<br />
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Just as we cannot see the "spirit-person" or the "Spirit" with these eyes, we cannot see a person being born again with the physical eyes. Again, this is because the spiritual world is invisible to our physical eyes. Our eyes were not designed to see the spiritual world. They were designed to allow us to ignore the spiritual world.<br />
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Therefore, the process of being born again takes place invisibly. It is not the proclaiming of being "born again" as many do among sectarian institutions. This is not being "born again." Being "born again" is a change of heart. It is a change of our spiritual attitude. It is deciding to turn towards God. It is making a determination that we want to love God and serve God. It is a decision to give up our enviousness of Him.<br />
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This is a very private and very personal decision, that comes from deep within. It has nothing to do with what religion, sect or other "team" we might belong to. It is a decision made between each of us and the Supreme Being.<br />
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That makes this decision a spiritual decision - one that has its origin in the <i>"Spirit."</i> In other words, our spiritual selves come from God, and He is our means to remove our physical illusion that we are these physical bodies. He is our means of returning home, even though we are caged within a temporary physical body.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Why did our <i>'spirit'</i> take on <i>'flesh'?</i></h2>Why is the spiritual individual encased in a temporary physical body? This has been symbolically explained in Genesis:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.</i> (Genesis 2:21-24)</blockquote>Here we see that God <i>‘made garments of skin for Adam and his wife.’</i> What are garments of skin? Are we talking animal skins? Or little leaves as depicted in some art renderings of Adam and Eve? No, we are talking about human skin. We are talking about the physical body.<br />
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In other words, because Adam (more appropriately translated to "spirit-person") disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit, God banished him from the Garden of Eden - heaven. God sent Adam and his wife out of heaven, gave them physical bodies of flesh <i>‘to work the ground from which he had been taken.’</i> What is the <i>‘ground?’</i> This is the physical world. The <i>"garments of skin"</i> are made from (or taken from) the physical world.<br />
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And what was the <i>‘tree of knowledge of good and evil’</i> that God is referring to? And what did God mean by <i>“the man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil’?</i><br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What is the <i>'tree of knowledge of good and evil'?</i></h2>Remember that God asked Adam not to eat the fruit from the <i>tree of knowledge of good and evil.</i> Why not? And why did God put the tree in a place where Adam could eat its fruit in the first place? The <i>tree of knowledge of good and evil</i> is better translated to the "knowledge of pleasure and pain."
The knowledge of pleasure and pain is rooted the desire for enjoyment. The desire for pleasure naturally produces pain because in order to feel pleasure, one must also be prepared to feel it's counterbalance, which is pain. In short, this represents a desire for self-centered enjoyment separate from God.<br />
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Why was this advised against by God? Because God created all of us for His enjoyment. He wanted to exchange relationships of love. But in order to exchange real love, God also had to give us the freedom to love Him or not. That freedom was expressed in our also having the choice to want enjoyment for ourselves (represented by the symbolic temptation by the serpent). Once this desire takes root, one must face both sides of <br />
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Desiring to be the enjoyer is basically desiring to be God, because God is the only true Enjoyer, and we are subjects in His kingdom. </div><div><br /></div><div>Still, He gives us the freedom to love and serve Him. Otherwise, it would not truly be love.<br />
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So eating the forbidden fruit is symbolic of each of us spirit-persons, at one time or another, rejecting our position as being a subject in God's world. It symbolizes wanting to become God-like. This is, generally speaking, the root of envy.</div><div><br />
This self-centered perspective of wanting to be God-like is the state God described in Genesis as: <i>“the man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil’.</i><br />
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In the spiritual sense, "good" is being a loving caretaker of God (our natural identity) and "evil" is the self-centered desire of being the enjoyer and having others love and serve me. Once we develop this desire to be the enjoyer, God boots us out of the spiritual world.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Does God force us to worship Him?</h2>God doesn't force us to worship Him. Neither does he force us to remain around Him. Instead, He creates a temporary virtual world, where spirit-persons can live apart from Him and even reject His existence if they want to.<br />
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This is God's way of, as a Sting song says, "If you love someone, set them free." God has set us free - free to determine for ourselves whether we want to love and worship Him.<br />
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This is why we were given these physical bodies.<br />
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With these physical bodies, we are in the illusion that we are the center of attention, and nothing matters but us. We can focus on making ourselves happy, and screw everyone else. With these physical bodies, we can ignore God's existence and pretend that we are God!<br />
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The virtual physical world is not a perfect world, however. God would not do that. He would not let us go forever. He still wants us back. In order to draw us back to Him, He had to create, within this virtual physical world, a learning program so that we might - assuming we wanted to - learn and hopefully realize that we are not happy - no matter how many goodies we get, or how many screaming fans we have - away from God. We are not happy without our Best Friend, Protector, and Companion.<br />
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Yet even though we rejected God and wanted to pretend to be God, He still loves us and still wants us back. So He set up this physical world in such a way that we should learn that the only way we can truly be happy is if we return to His Loving Arms.<br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-13146998001799327842014-10-31T10:41:00.001-07:002021-09-15T15:20:15.987-07:00"You are Israel's teacher, and do you not understand these things?" (John 3:10-15)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote><i>"I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man [or man who is in heaven]. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:10-15)<br />
</i></blockquote><h2 style="text-align: left;">What did Nicodemous ask?</h2>Here Jesus is responding to Nicodemus the rabbi's continued questions. After Jesus’ previous statement (see previous entry), Nicodemus asks:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>“How can this be?”</i> (John 3:9)</blockquote>This prompts Jesus to question how it is that Nicodemus is a Jewish teacher, and he cannot discern between <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/05/does-this-offend-you-what-if-you-see.html">matter and spirit</a> — one of the basics of spiritual life (as Jesus had spoken of earlier). Did the Jewish teachings not teach about the spiritual world and the difference between the spiritual world and the physical world?<br />
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Then Jesus comments that even though authorized teachers and prophets in the line of David, including John the Baptist, taught about the dimension they know — heaven, or the spiritual world — people (such as Nicodemus) do not believe them.<br />
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Even as they try to teach about the spiritual world from the perspective of the physical material world, the people still do not believe their teachings. Jesus presents that one cannot know about heaven (the spiritual world) unless he has entered the spiritual world and can thus speak about it from experience. One cannot speak about the spiritual dimension with authority unless they have been there, in other words.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What does <i>'Son of Man'</i> mean?</h2>The next sentence has often been misinterpreted. "Son of Man" is often confused to mean an exclusive position. This would mean that no one except for Jesus has ever been in heaven. If we believe this interpretation, this means that all of the other prophets and saints through the years never went to heaven: Only Jesus has been there. This is a nonsensical position, yet this is the interpretation that the sectarian preachers, ministers and priests would have us believe.*<br />
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Furthermore, the Greek word translated to “son” is υἱός (huios). This can indicate a relationship of offspring in the context of a physical family, but in this context, it is more appropriately defined in the Greek lexicon, as "one who depends on another or is his follower."<br />
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"Man" is being translated from the Greek word, ἀνθρώπου, which can mean "man" but can also mean "mankind," "people" or "humanity."<br />
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Thus, within the context of the self-reference of υἱὸς τοῦ [of] ἀνθρώπου, the more appropriate translation* would be "servant of humanity" or "servant of the people."<br />
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This is why God called Ezekiel "Son of Man" ["servant of humanity"] more than 60 times, and why he also called Daniel "Son of Man."<br />
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Accordingly, Jesus refers to <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/01/and-he-has-given-him-authority-to-judge.html" target="_blank">himself as the "Son of Man"</a> with a humble reference. We can also see this humble self-identification in David's referral to himself as a Son of Man:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"O Lord, what is man that you care for him, the Son of Man that you think of him?"</i> (Psalm 144:3)</blockquote>The reason professional sectarian teachers want to describe Jesus as the only person who's been to heaven is that they - ironically as Jesus also describes here - are not speaking from a position of being from the spiritual world. Their interpretations are coming from those whose eyes and hearts only see the physical world.<br />
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The appropriate translation* of υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, rather than <i>"Son of Man"</i> would thus be <i>"servant of humanity,"</i> or <i>servant of the people.</i><br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Is Jesus the only spiritual teacher?</h2>Many sectarian institutions have put forth the premise that Jesus is the only bonafide spiritual teacher. Is it true?<br />
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This is precisely the intention of the Council of Nicaea in Constantinople of the fourth century, organized by King Constantine. And his purpose? To organize the Christian churches and their various teachers into one church so it could be controlled politically. Why? So that Constantine could maintain control over Europe. He understood that by controlling the teachings of the most popular religion, he could control the population.<br />
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So the council organized what is referred to as the Nicene Creed. This creed was a sectarian interpretation of the scriptures imposed upon the Christian world by a body of political appointees from various churches, gathered under the command of Emperor Constantine. This turned the teachings of Jesus into a political tool to exert power over people. It had nothing to do with the truth.<br />
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This goes against everything Jesus and all his disciples taught. If Jesus was the only teacher then why did Jesus send out his disciples to teach to others? They must also be teachers if they were teaching.<br />
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And those who teach on behalf of sectarian institutions today are also assuming the role of teacher. Even if they proclaim that Jesus is the only teacher, they are teaching that. Therefore it would be a hypocrisy to teach that Jesus is the only teacher. <br />
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Jesus also quoted the teachings of the Prophets before him. This confirms that Jesus accepted the Prophets teachings. Part of the purpose of the Bible is to chronicle the teachings of the Prophets. They taught that to realize God, one must humbly approach God in prayer, and hear from those teachers who are representing God. They taught that one's relationship with God is a personal one, not one of an organization of men. Love of God cannot be enforced by a political group.<br />
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The knowledge of God does not come from an electorate: It comes from one's personal communion with God, and God hands this knowledge down through His loving servants - those prophets and teachers such as Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2020/04/isaiah-53-did-isaiah-predict-jesus.html">Isaiah</a>, Jesus and so many others.<br />
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All of these teachers were individuals teaching a personal message. They were not political assemblies of men. God's representatives are individuals, not political groups with ulterior motives.<br />
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For this same reason, all political assemblies of men, be they made up of cardinals, bishops, deacons or whatever, do not represent God. They are councils of men and/or women who seek to sustain the organization they represent. Their conclusions, voted on just as a legal bill might be voted on, do not represent the will of God. Their conclusions represent the political will of that group.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What is the Council of Nicaea?</h2>Therefore, we cannot accept the conclusions of the Council of Nicaea. The First Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. created seven creeds. The next council, fifty years later, further embellished upon these with nine creeds. They defined who Jesus was, how Mary fit in, and the relationship between Jesus, God and the Holy Ghost.<br />
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These nine creeds have since become the pillars of the interpretation of the scriptures by sectarians around the world. And the teachings of practically every preacher, reverend, priest or pope of today's sectarian organizations all teach these misinterpretations of Jesus' teachings.<br />
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Anyway, the translation to <i>“Son of Man”</i> simply makes no sense. What the heck is a <i>“Son of Man”?</i> Isn't every male a son of a man? Furthermore, the sectarian explanation of this does not make practical sense either.<br />
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This translation as <i>"servant of humanity"</i> is consistent when applied to other mistranslations of <i>"Son of Man"</i> throughout the Bible, in addition to David's self-reference quoted above:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"...how much less man, who is but a maggot— a Son of Man, who is only a worm!"</i> [Job, humbly referring to himself] (Job 25:5-6)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"He said to me, "Son of Man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you." "</i> [Ezekiel referring to God calling upon him] (Ezekiel 2:1-3)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"He said: "Son of Man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have been in revolt against Me to this very day."</i>(Ezekiel 2:2-4)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"He then said to me: "Son of Man, go now to the house of Israel and speak My words to them."</i>(Ezekiel 3:3-5)</blockquote>(God refers to Ezekiel as the <i>"Son of Man"</i> over 60 times)<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate. "Son of Man," he said to me, "understand that the vision concerns the time of the end." " </i>(Daniel 8:16-18)</blockquote>Certainly, these indicate that υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου does not refer to the exclusive position of Jesus. <i>"Servant of humanity"</i> is the only logical translation of υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.<br />
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Thus, Jesus and other prophets such as David and Ezekiel could refer to themselves as <i>“servants of humanity”</i> because they were devoted to helping others return home to God. And this, of course, is why God referred to Ezekiel as a <i>"servant of humanity."</i><br />
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So when Jesus makes these statements about the <i>servant of humanity</i>, he is speaking in a general way. Note how he refers to the <i>servant of humanity</i> in the third person. Why wouldn’t he just say “me” or “I” if it were all about him? No, he is speaking in general about how loving servants of humanity descend from the spiritual world to bring others back home to God. This is a selfless mission - one that requires the loving servants of God to make many sacrifices in their service.<br />
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So why was Jesus bringing up the concept of being <i>"lifted up"</i> within the context of the rabbi not understanding the spiritual world and the difference between the physical world?<br />
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The concept of <i>“must be lifted up”</i> describes the sacrificing of one's physical life in the service of God, the departure of the spiritual individual from the physical body, and the resulting ascension (or return) of God's loving servant to the spiritual world.<br />
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This is what Jesus did. He sacrificed his physical body as part of his loving service to God and humanity, illustrated his identity as spirit to his disciples, and then ascended into the spiritual world to return to God.<br />
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Why the sacrifice? Was it so that people could stare at the cross every Sunday and be relieved of their sins so they could return to their selfish lives on Monday free of the consequences of their actions? Certainly not.<br />
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When people do not believe someone, radical action must sometimes be taken to illustrate the seriousness of the issue. In Jesus' case, teaching the Truth required significant sacrifice to illustrate just how important our relationship with God truly is. This is, in fact, the reason for Jesus' sacrifice: To illustrate the importance of our relationship with God.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Isn't that what any sacrifice says? </h2>Consider an army soldier who gives his life to his country in a battle. What is this sacrifice saying? It is saying that the soldier considers his country more important than his own life.<br />
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In the same way, Jesus' sacrifice is saying that he considered God, and the teachings of God, more important than his own physical life.<br />
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Note also that Jesus was not the only representative of God that sacrificed his life in his service to God. Jesus' own teacher, John the Baptist, also sacrificed his life on behalf of his teachings and service to God. He was beheaded by Herod, after being jailed. In addition, many of Jesus' disciples were also tortured on behalf of their teachings and service to the Supreme Being.<br />
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This is the ultimate service to God, and to humankind.<br />
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It is not, as terrorists would imagine, murdering innocent people while committing suicide. Jesus did not commit suicide and neither did his teacher John the Baptist or many of Jesus' disciples. They were murdered by those who could not tolerate someone teaching love of God.<br />
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Some might ask: Why did God let Jesus be murdered then?<br />
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This scenario would essentially remove the freedom of those who murdered Jesus from rebelling against the Supreme Being. To do so would be to also remove their freedom to decide to love God.<br />
<br />
In other words, the Supreme Being give each of us the freedom to love Him or not - which requires the freedom for us to also act against His will and thus act in a self-centered fashion.<br />
<br />
This does not mean that God has lost control. It simply means that God allows us to exercise freedom within a virtual reality - this temporary physical plane of existence.<br />
<br />
Should a person understand the meaning of Jesus' sacrifice, and see the purpose of life is to serve and please God, that person will have, as Jesus puts it here, <i>"eternal life."</i> What is <i>“eternal life?”</i> Eternal life is returning home to God in the spiritual world: A place without birth, disease, old age and death. Life in the physical world is temporary. Life in the spiritual world is eternal.<br />
<br />
Eternal life is also where relationships are eternal. Our physical relationships with friends, family and spouse, are all temporary. They end when the body dies. The relationships of the spiritual world - ones centered around loving God and loving His children - are eternal. They do not end when the body dies.<br />
<br />
And being "saved" is not a condition of being cleansed of sins: <i>It is a change of heart.</i> It is the change from a selfish consciousness to the consciousness of love for God and His children. This is the consciousness of those within the spiritual world.<br />
<br />
<h4 style="text-align: left;">*Here is the translation of these verses from the <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/966163">Lost Gospels of Jesus</a>:</h4><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel and do you not understand these things? Truly I say to you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you do not accept my testimony. If I speak of worldly matters and you do not trust me, how will you trust me when I speak of spiritual matters? No one ascends to the spiritual realm unless he descends from the spiritual realm as the Servant of Humanity. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Servant of Humanity be honored, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life.” (<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/966163">John 3:10-15</a>)**</i></blockquote><br />
**There is considerable evidence from earlier texts that Jesus' statement ended at John 3:15, and the verses later numbered as John 3:16-21 were added in as commentary by later translators. It is for this reason that a number of translations, including this one, end Jesus' quote at John 3:15.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-68727405151400888662014-10-30T09:49:00.003-07:002022-05-01T16:30:16.090-07:00For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son ... (John 3:16-21)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote><i>[For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.] (John 3:16-21)</i></blockquote><h2 style="text-align: left;">Is this commentary or scripture?</h2>These verses have been controversial because there is considerable scholarly opinion that Jesus' statement to Nicodemus ended at <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/10/you-are-israels-teacher-and-do-you-not.html">John 3:15</a>, and these verses (John 3:16-21) were added later by another writer. <br />
<br />This makes sense because these verses clearly come from a voice of commentary rather than the instructive, practical voice of Jesus. Further, there is no clarity in the text about who said this. And it stands out with multiple inconsistencies in Jesus' direct teachings.<br />
<br />
The notion that 3:16-21 is commentary is supported by the translation from the Original New Testament version, which footnotes 3:16-21 with the following:<br />
<blockquote><i>"Footnote: While much that was in his documentary source (the Memoirs of John the Priest) has been adapted by the Greek author to bring the text into line with his ideas, as here, some passages, largely by way of commentary, stand out as his distinctive contribution. Whenever possible attention has been drawn to these, as in this instance, and some have been placed below the main body of the text and in slightly smaller type. The present passage is John 3: 16-21. [This passage has been so placed by the translator.]"</i></blockquote>Furthermore, the <a href="//thetencommandmentsministry.us/ministry/ferrar_fenton/pdf/john.pdf" target="_blank">Ferrar Fenton Translation</a> brackets the entire text of 3:16-21, as having been <i>"added by translators."</i><br />
<br />
Supporting this, we find a number of New Testament translations put end quotes of Jesus' statements to Nicodemus at the end of John 3:15. Biblical versions that do this include the <a href="https://www.biblica.com/bible/niv/john/3/">New International Version</a>, the <a href="https://lumina.bible.org/bible/John+3">New English Translation</a>, the <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV1&byte=4926419">Revised Standard Version</a>, and the <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/966163" target="_blank">Lost Gospels of Jesus</a>.<br />
<br />
This would make this section more likely a purport by sectarian translators, inserted following the Roman Nicene council of 325 AD. After all, the philosophy of Jesus was altered by the early Church at the Roman Nicene council of 325.<br />
<br />
That council was presided over by the Roman Emperor Constantine, who was a Christian neophyte with no formal spiritual training. Constantine's motive in the council was to affirm that Jesus was divine (God) in order to control the people of the region. This led to the formation of the Roman Catholic church.<br />
<br />
It should be noted that some of the council members - who were considered regional Bishops of their respective regions - did not agree with this affirmation that Jesus was divine (God). Instead, they accepted Jesus as God's representative.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">What does <i>'God so loved the world' </i>mean?</h2>One example of some of the inconsistency with Scripture comes with the first phrase of 3:16. This phrase appears inconsistent with many other statements within the Bible that relate to God loving the <i>world</i> or the <i>people</i> of the world. Many translations of 3:16 have utilized <i>"people of the world,"</i> though <i>"people"</i> is not in the Greek of this statement. And it is for this reason that most of the Biblical versions utilize only <i>"world."</i><br />
<br />
With regard to the <i>world</i>, Jesus himself stated:<br />
<blockquote><i>"Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble!" (Matt. 18:7)<br />
<br />
"What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?" (Matt. 8:36)<br />
<br />
“You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world." (John 8:23)<br />
<br />
"I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me" (John 14:30)<br />
<br />
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first." (John 15:18)<br />
<br />
"But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned." (John 16:7-11)<br />
<br />
"I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world." (John 17:14)<br />
<br />
“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me." <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/10/righteous-father-though-world-does-not.html">(John 17:25</a>)</i></blockquote>
So we find some major inconsistency here with regard to how Jesus' teachings perceived the "world" and how this particular commentary of John 3:16-21 sees the "world." Jesus saw the "world" as that place where people have forgotten the Supreme Being. The place that influences us towards self-centeredness. The place where Prophets were persecuted and Jesus was persecuted.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Therefore, if Jesus did say this he was referring to God loving those who are living within the world. This of course is a testament to God's unconditional love and mercy for us.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Does God have only one son?</h2>Then we have the phrase, <i>"one and only Son,"</i> which contradicts a number of other Biblical verses, including some statements by Jesus himself:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God." (Matt. 5:9)</i></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection." (Luke 20:36)</i></blockquote>In addition, we find this verse in the first chapter of John:<br />
<blockquote><i>But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name (John 1:12)</i></blockquote>One of the critical points to consider here is the Greek word μονογενής, which translates directly as “unique or special.” This word is used nine times in the new testament: Luke 7:12; 8:42; 9:38; John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; Hebrews 11:17; and I John 4:9. In these texts, this word, μονογενής has been translated to either <i>“one and only”</i> or <i>“only begotten.”</i><br />
<br />
Again, the translation terminology from Greek was driven by the edicts of the Nicene council, as they attempted to portray Jesus as the only begotten son of God. Again, this was consistent with the entire strategy of the Nicene council, the politically motivated gathering of religious leaders from around Europe by Emperor Constantine, in an attempt to control the Christian world by controlling its scripture and interpretations.<br />
<br />
This resulted in them choosing four of many living scriptures being read during those times that regarded Jesus, and literally burning the rest. The Dead Sea scrolls and the Nag Hammadi scriptures were just a few of those scriptures not acceptable to the Nicene council. A number of others have also been found, but many were burnt and lost forever.<br />
<br />
The Nicene council also carefully selected "official" scribes who translated the Greek texts into the languages of Europe, following the edicts and creeds of the council. This supported the goals of Constantine to politically control the Christian world of that day. This political interest drove the council to translate (or create) the text to imply that Jesus was the exclusive son of God. This in effect would prevent any other teacher to gain a position of authority within the Christian societies throughout Europe.<br />
<br />
The question that the <i>"one and only"</i> or <i>"only begotten"</i> interpretation/translation brings up is whether God is so impotent that He could only have one begotten son.<br />
<br />
Accordingly, many theologians over the centuries have argued that the more appropriate translation for μονογενής ("monogenes") means "priceless and irreplaceable." This was certainly how the word was translated in Psalms 22:20 and 35:17.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, the Septuagint word meaning “only” or “solitary” is μονοτροπος (see Psalm 68:6). This would differentiate from the word μονογενής used here.<br />
<br />
In addition, we can see the use of μονογενής as translated as "unique" or "incomparable" from the Hebrew Wisdom of Solomon (7:22), written in Alexandria around 100 B.C.<br />
<br />
We can also understand the meaning of μονογενής as we see other Greek works. In a Greek poem written by Parmenides in the fifth century B.C., μονογενής was used to describe a being who was "unique" (Frag. 8.3-4). This illustrates the use of the word in context.<br />
<br />
The word μονογενής is also used in the Old Testament to refer to Isaac as supposedly Abraham’s "one and only" son (Heb 11:17). Yet we know that Abraham did not have only one son. Thus the more appropriate translation of the Greek μονογενής is “unique” or “special.”<br />
<br />
We can also see that the word μονογενής cannot mean "only begotten son" as in "no one else" when we see that God also applied this honor to David:<br />
<br />
<i>I will proclaim the decree of the LORD :<br />
He said to me, "You are my son;<br />
today I have begotten you.”</i> (Psalm 2:7)<br />
<br />
The same translation applies to this and John’s statement. Some have also translated Psalm 2:7’s last statement to <i>“today I have become your Father.”</i> Yet the context and Hebrew from which it is translated is the same.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">What is a <i>'begotten son'?</i></h2>We should note that there is another context of <i>“begotten”</i> that is revealed from Psalm 2:7. Since the word <i>“today”</i> is used, we know that there was a change, prompting God to bestow upon David the honor of being God's "begotten son."<br />
<br />
What did David do to deserve this privilege? Certainly, we can see, from the statement <i>"I will proclaim the decree of the LORD,"</i> that this assignment is due to David's acting on God's behalf, as he proclaims God's message. This illustrates that David has submitted himself to God, and become God's servant. He has surrendered himself to God, and God has empowered him to be His representative.<br />
<br />
This process, of becoming God’s loving servant, results in a spiritual re-birth of sorts. This is a person who is deciding to do God's will instead of his own will. This “re-birth” is what is being translated to as “begotten” or “begetting” (meaning, “to give birth”).<br />
<br />
Thus we can see that the application of this word is better describing Jesus as having a unique, priceless and irreplaceable relationship with God, one that is born from a decision to do God's will. This could also be described as an intimate and confidential relationship.<br />
<br />
Thus we can more appropriately translate the two words together: “μονογενής υἱός” as a "special follower of God," or “intimate loving servant of God.”<br />
<br />
This is confirmed by the fact that the Greek word translated to "son" (as in "son") in the New Testament is υἱός (huios), which according to the lexicon can mean "son" "in a restricted sense, the male offspring (one born by a father and of a mother)." <i>But it also can mean according to the lexicon, "used to describe one who depends on another or is his follower."</i><br />
<br />
This means the word is also used to describe a <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/12/for-father-loves-son-and-shows-him-all.html" target="_blank"><i>dedicated follower</i> or <i>loving servant</i></a>.<br />
<br />
This also more appropriately fits the situation and is also more practical. Anyway, why would God only beget one person? Is God somehow limited in His ability to beget children? Most men can theoretically beget tens if not hundreds of children in their lifetime. And we are saying that God would only beget one person? This is simply illogical.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Are there other <i>'sons'</i> of God?</h2>This also contradicts scripture. We find many places in the Old and New Testaments of others also referred to as “sons of God.” Here are a few:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><i>When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.</i> (Genesis 6:2)</i></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><i>The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.</i> (Genesis 6:4)</i></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><i>Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.</i> (Job 1:6)</i></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><i>Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.</i> (Job 2:1)</i></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><i>When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?</i> (Job 38:7)</i></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><i>"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."</i> (Matt. 6:9)</i></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><i>But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name</i> (John 1:12)</i></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><i>For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.</i> (Romans 8:14)</i></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><i>For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.</i> (Romans 8:19)</i></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.</i> (Galatians 3:26)</blockquote>
Here we can see a consensus on the use of <i>“son of God”</i> within scripture. The "son of God" is not an offspring as we might conceive of in the physical sense. With regard to creation, we are all children of God. But what creates that special title of being referred to as a son of God?<br />
<br />
This follows when a person becomes devoted to God. When a person becomes exclusive to God and becomes His loving servant.<br />
<br />
In the case of Jesus, we must add an additional concept - the reality that Jesus was sent by the Supreme Being to teach us. He was thus representing God. When the servant of God is sent to teach about God, the term υἱός τοῦ θεοῦ would be better translated to <i>"Representative of God."</i> <br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Is this about exclusivity?</h2>The exclusivity inferred by many professional sectarians upon Jesus is not God’s exclusivity, as the political Nicaea council wanted us to think. It is <i>us</i> having an exclusive focus on God. As we can see by the quotes above, all of us have the ability to become <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/12/whoever-serves-me-must-follow-me-and.html" target="_blank">confidential loving servants of God</a>. We simply have to travel the road to get there. This means we have to dedicate our lives to God.<br />
<br />
Gradually, with this dedication, comes our increasingly exclusive focus upon God. This is the exclusive or confidential nature of a unique and personal loving relationship with God. In other words, each of us has a unique, inborn relationship with God. Most of us inhabiting physical bodies within the temporary physical world have simply abandoned that relationship for the sake of self-satisfaction.<br />
<br />
This is reflected by the statement above, <i>"Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil."</i> <i>"Evil"</i> is the state of selfishness that portends that we are the most important person. This develops into greed, which develops into lust, anger, violence, and the other symptoms of self-centered emptiness. <i>"Light,"</i> on the other hand, is the worship and love of the real center, God. This is the opposite of "evil" or selfishness.<br />
<br />
And the statement, <i>"...what he has done has been done through God,"</i> indicates that Jesus is God's loving servant, and God utilized Jesus as His representative.<br />
</div><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-44127004755810517702014-10-29T10:20:00.007-07:002021-09-14T14:07:32.518-07:00"Will you give me a drink?" ... (John 4:7-14)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<blockquote>
<i>When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you
give me a drink?" (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) "You
are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?"
(For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, "If you
knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would
have asked him and he would have given you living water." "Sir," the woman
said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you
get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us
the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his
livestock?" Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be
thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.
Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water
welling up to eternal life." (John 4:7-14)</i>
</blockquote><h2>Why is Jesus speaking with a Samaritan woman?</h2>Here Jesus was sitting by a well and has asked a woman for a drink from the well. They then had a discussion. The woman is questioning why she, a
Samaritan woman, would give a Jewish man water. Jesus responds that if she knew who Jesus was, she would not question this.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">It is notable that during those times, Judean men did not speak to Samaritans. Nor did they speak to women unless necessary. So speaking to a Samaritan woman casually was simply unheard of. Especially for a Jewish preacher.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">But they didn't realize who Jesus was. He is God's representative. And God cares about everyone. It doesn't matter what body we might be wearing or what status in life we might be temporarily occupying.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Jesus did not care, because he loved her. Just as God loved her. This love supersedes the restrictions of our physical eyes and our physical minds. It is hard for us to even imagine the kind of love that the Supreme Being and His representative have for us.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Such love is unconditional. Regardless of our past. Regardless of whether we have been good or bad. Regardless of the body we wear or the positions we occupy. The Supreme Being and His representative care for each of us.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This love became obvious as the Samaritan woman began to realize that Jesus cared for her despite her past and despite her position in life.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">It is no surprise to hear from some Biblical scholars that the woman became one of the first Christian preachers following her encounter with Jesus.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">What is <i>'living water'?</i></h2>
More specifically, what is the <i>“living water”</i> Jesus is referring to? Is
it some magical type of water?<br />
<br />
No, water is being spoken of figuratively, or symbolically. The water Jesus is
speaking of, which would bestow life upon the woman, is the word of God:
Jesus’ teachings about who we are (spiritual beings) and what our goal in life
should be:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment."</i>
(Matt. 22:37)
</blockquote>
Jesus’ teachings quench the fire of thirst for satisfaction we perpetually seek. We are always seeking fulfillment, and fulfillment is achieved by loving God. Jesus’ teachings will satisfy us, because we are currently seeking happiness where there is none: In self-centered attempts to gain fulfillment from the physical world.<br />
<br />
The teachings of Jesus produce the <i>“welling up to eternal life”</i> because
they bestow upon us the
<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/05/i-am-light-of-world-whoever-follows-me.html" target="_blank">knowledge of God</a>
and our ability to resume our original loving relationship with God.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Is this about being born again?</h2>
Being "saved" and being "<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/09/i-tell-you-truth-no-one-can-see-kingdom.html" target="_blank">born again</a>" are not the public pledging of allegiance to Jesus, as many among the organized sectarian institutions would have us believe. Consider this
statement by Jesus:<br />
<blockquote>
<i>"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your
name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many
miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me,
you evildoers!'"</i>
(Matt. 7:21-23)
</blockquote>
The operator in this statement is,
<i>"only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."</i> This is requisite for being "saved" according to Jesus' teachings.<br />
<br />
Being "saved" and "born again" is the resumption of our loving service relationship with the Supreme Being. It is doing God's will instead of our own will. It is the changing of our hearts from being self-centered to being
God-centered. <br />
<br />
The decision to change can be made immediately. But a
change of heart is typically a gradual process that requires work. And service.
This is why Jesus said, <i>"...will become in him..."</i><br />
<br />
Our relationship with God is eternal. It is not like the temporary relationships of this world. The bodies of everyone around us - including family members - all die at some point. Those relationships are all thus temporary.<br />
<br />
Our relationship with God, however, extends beyond the death of this temporary physical body. It does not stop when the body dies. This is because not only are we eternal. Our relationship with the Supreme Being is also eternal.<br />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-35178836037412773682014-10-28T08:40:00.002-07:002021-09-14T14:12:22.185-07:00“Go, call your husband and come back.” (John 4:16)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><blockquote>The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." "I have no husband," she replied. (John 4:15-16)<br />
</blockquote></i></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Why is she asking Jesus to give her this water?</h2>After <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/10/will-you-give-me-drink-if-you-knew-gift.html">Jesus discussed 'living water</a>' in a metaphorical sense, the woman now asks Jesus to give her some of that symbolic water. She wasn't asking Jesus for normal water. She had access to water in the well. She didn't need normal water.<br />
<br />
In other words, she is asking Jesus for eternal life. This is the symbolism being used in terms of living water. She is asking Jesus to bestow upon her eternal life.<br />
<br />
As stated with that symbolism, eternal life means to re-establish our loving relationship with God. This brings us eternal life and this is what Jesus was offering to the woman.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Why does Jesus ask her if she has a husband?</h2>Jesus is responding to the Samaritan woman asking Jesus to give her some 'living water.' She responds with:<br />
<blockquote><i>“I have no husband,” she replied.</i> (John 4:17)</blockquote>This discussion by Jesus has two concurrent purposes. One is to show the woman that Jesus can see into her life and heart. He shows her that he knows that she has had a number of previous husbands, and her current relationship is not her husband.<br />
<br />
Jesus is not passing judgment upon the woman, but he does know what is going on in her life. He has that sort of vision, according to the text. He is not only seeing into her heart - he is seeing into her life.<br />
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<h2>Is Jesus flirting with an unmarried woman?</h2>This is a spiritual discussion. Jesus was not flirting with her. As shown with his other discussions, Jesus illustrated with his life that he saw people in the spiritual sense, not as physical bodies.<br />
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In other words, Jesus did not see her as a woman, and not as a Samaritan. Jews were not even supposed to associate with Samaritans during those times. So Jesus was ignoring racial and tribal concerns.<br />
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But Jesus sees the spirit within the woman's body, rather than the physical body. He sees the spiritual self. We are all spiritual individuals underneath these temporary physical bodies.<br />
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This problem of identifying with the body has created all sorts of misunderstandings among the various sectarian institutions. Not only do they misidentify Jesus as his physical body - saying he was a Jew and so on - but they see all his teachings and actions relating to the physical body as the person.<br />
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This is grossly incorrect, as we see throughout Jesus' teachings that he knew himself and others as <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2020/02/flesh-gives-birth-to-flesh-but-spirit.html">spiritual beings</a> temporarily occupying a gross physical body.<br />
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Here are a few statements where Jesus indicated we are not these physical bodies:<br />
<blockquote><i>"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”</i> (Matt. 26:41, Mark 14:38)</blockquote><blockquote><i>"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul." </i>(Matt. 10:28)</blockquote><blockquote><i>“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell."</i> (Luke 12:5)</blockquote><blockquote><i>“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear."</i> (Luke 12:22)</blockquote><blockquote><i>"<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/09/i-tell-you-truth-no-one-can-enter.html" target="_blank">Flesh gives birth to flesh</a>, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit." </i>(John 3:6)</blockquote>This last statement by Jesus clearly identifies that we are each spirits - not these physical bodies - as children of God. As such God - who is from the spiritual realm - created His children - each of us - as spiritual beings.<br />
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Thus we can know that these gross physical bodies - <i>"flesh"</i> - are our vehicles. They are not us. When they die and decompose, we continue to exist.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Was Jesus his physical body?</h2>We also see clear evidence that Jesus was not his physical body:<br />
<blockquote><i>And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.</i> (Matt. 27:50)</blockquote><blockquote><i>Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? </i>(Mark 2:8)</blockquote><blockquote><i>“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” </i> (Luke 23:46)</blockquote><blockquote><i>When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/01/it-is-finished-john-1930.html" target="_blank">It is finished</a>.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit</i>. (John 19:30)</blockquote>The phrase,<i> "gave up"</i> is translated from the Greek word παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi), which means, according to the lexicon, "to commit, to commend" and "to give into the hands (of another)."<br />
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In other words, Jesus was giving himself - his spiritual self - to the Supreme Being. He was committing himself to God.<br />
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This is what a <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/12/for-just-as-father-raises-dead-and.html" target="_blank">devoted person does when they love someone</a>. They give themselves to the one they love. This was what Jesus was doing at his time of death and this is what Jesus did throughout his life as he traveled from town to town teaching others about the Supreme Being.<br />
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Just see the kind of commitment Jesus had for the Supreme Being as he worked to please his Beloved:<br />
<blockquote><i>"<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/01/by-myself-i-can-do-nothing-i-judge-only.html" target="_blank">By myself I can do nothing</a>; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me."</i> (John 5:30)</blockquote>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-67456367917304182622014-10-27T08:49:00.001-07:002020-09-22T16:43:39.067-07:00"You are right when you say you have no husband. ..." (John 4:17-18)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote><i>"The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true." (John 4:17-18)<br />
</i></blockquote>Here Jesus is responding to the woman's answer:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>“I have no husband,” she replied.</i> (John 4:17)</blockquote><h2>Why is Jesus saying she has no husband?</h2>Jesus is showing the woman that he has the ability to know her past. This is to show her that <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/05/you-do-not-know-me-or-my-father-if-you.html" target="_blank">God has empowered Jesus</a>. Jesus is bringing attention to the teachings that God has instructed him to teach. In order to do so, from time to time he illustrated some of the power God had given him.<br />
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This is evidenced by the fact that following Jesus' statement, the woman said:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet." </i>(John 4:19)</blockquote>The ability to know that the woman had five previous husbands, and her current boyfriend is not her husband illustrates to the woman that Jesus has been given extraordinary power.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Does this mean Jesus is God?</h2>Does knowing her boyfriend is not her husband mean that Jesus is the Supreme Being, as many sectarian teachers claim? If Jesus was God then who was he praying to:<br />
<i><blockquote>"'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:9-10)<br />
</blockquote></i>Or when he prayed:<br />
<i><blockquote>“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matt. 26:39)<br />
</blockquote></i></div>Prayers like these confirm that Jesus never taught that he was God. Therefore, we cannot accept that Jesus is God. Even when he said, "I and the Father are one," Jesus was clarifying that he was united with God: That Jesus had the same will as God. This is confirmed when Jesus stated that he was God's representative:<br />
<blockquote><i>"<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/09/the-will-of-Him-who-sent-me.html" target="_blank">For I have come down from heaven</a> not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent me."</i> (John 6:38)</blockquote>According to Jesus, doing God's will means serving God. It means lovingly wanting to please Him. That is the prime definition of a loving servant.<br />
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As we'll see <a href="https://www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/11/woman-believe-me-time-is-coming-when.html" target="_blank">in the next statement</a>, Jesus' purpose for showing his abilities is in an attempt to bring the Samaritan woman back home to her loving relationship with God. This is the clear definition of "being saved."<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-84636641117550580632014-10-26T09:37:00.003-07:002021-09-14T14:14:20.140-07:00“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth." (John 4:21-24)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote><i>"Woman," Jesus replied, "believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth." (John 4:21-24)<br />
</i></blockquote>So what, when, and where is Jesus referring to when he says to the Samaritan woman that <i>"a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem"?</i><br />
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The reason Jesus talks about the mountain is because the Samaritan woman said:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”</i> (John 4:20)</blockquote><h2 style="text-align: left;">What is Jesus telling the woman?</h2>Jesus is clarifying to the woman that the ultimate worship of God and the exchange of our original relationship with God does not require us to be in Jerusalem or on the mountain. It does not require us to be in a church or a synagogue or a mosque or a temple. It does not require us to be in the "holy land," or even require us to occupy any location on earth, even it is called the "holy land."<br />
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The exchange of our original loving relationship with God takes place in the spiritual dimension. It is a spiritual exchange that does not require us to be in any physical geographic location.<br />
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This very point that Jesus is making, in fact, is the answer to the sectarian violence and struggle for land among Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and other groups around the world.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Doesn't God own everything?</h2>He owns all the land. He owns all the Holy places. Whether a person claims to be a Jew or a Muslim or a Hindu, there is no ownership to any particular tract of land or temple by any human or group of humans. God owns every temple and all lands.<br />
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So why are so many in the Middle East and around Asia fighting with each other to claim ownership of certain lands and holy sites? Why is it so important to them that they would kill others or force hardship and wars simply to gain control of those lands?<br />
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It is because they do not accept that God is the only Owner and He is in full control. And any portion that we might be given to caretake does not give us the right to claim ownership rights to the detriment of others.<br />
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The ironic thing about all of these wars and struggles over pieces of land and holy sites is that if everyone were to simply accept that God owns all the land and all the holy sites, then there would not only be peace, but everyone would share the land and the land would be more productive for everyone. And the holy sites would be open to all to worship, regardless of sect or religious institution.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Why do fanatics fight over God's property?</h2>Today we see that some fanatical institutions are claiming God's property. They would like to control certain sections of land that actually belong to God.<br />
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The evidence that they do not own or control this land is plain to see: They have to fight others for the land. If the land belonged to them would they have to fight for it? No.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">If the land belonged to any particular institution or religion then that religion or institution would be able to control the land without having to fight for it.<br />
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But because they fight for it we know that it does not belong to them.<br />
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Today these sites - instead of being cultivated for food and worship - are now covered with tanks, fences, bombed-out buildings and barracks. There might be a few farms here and there, but mostly everyone is focused upon guns, tanks, missiles and bombs. Why?</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Because the focus is not upon accepting each other as God's children. The focus is upon claiming God's property as ours. This is why there is bloodshed and not enough food to eat among these regions.<br />
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Is this how God would have us treat His children? Is this pleasing to a God that simply asked, through Moses and Jesus, to love Him and care for His children?<br />
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Certainly not. They are simply fanatics who do not trust that God is the Ultimate Owner, so they feel they must try to gain control using force.<br />
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And as a consequence there is suffering. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Is this suffering caused by God?</h2><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">No. It is caused by those people who hurt and abuse others - who will, by the laws of physical nature, also come to suffer from the same pain they cause upon others: If not in this life then the next.<br />
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Ironically, Jesus is supplying the answer to these various sectarian and nationalistic strifes with this statement. He tells the woman:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"...the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."</i></blockquote>What does Jesus mean by <i>"spirit"</i>? He is discerning between the physical world and the spiritual world. Each of us is <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2020/02/flesh-gives-birth-to-flesh-but-spirit.html">spirit in essence</a>, and so is God. The spiritual dimension is not a void or vague place. It is a real place. It is a place of activity, relationships, and individuals. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Yes, people live in the spiritual world. So does God. Here God enjoys His relationships with those spiritual individuals who decide they want to exchange a loving relationship with Him. This is the place Jesus is discussing.<br />
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We can enter this place at any time, simply by singing God's Names or otherwise praying, thinking of God, or otherwise <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/06/i-have-brought-you-glory-on-earth-by.html" target="_blank">glorifying Him</a>. We don't need to be in a mosque, temple, church, mountain, or holy land.<br />
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In fact, the real "promised land" that was referred to many times by the prophets and by God <i>is</i> the spiritual world. It was not some piece of desert with a couple of mountains on it. God was trying to bring those who were worshiping Him back to the spiritual world: This is the real holy land.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What does <i>'Salvation is from the Jews' </i>mean?</h2>Jesus saying that<i> "salvation is from the Jews,"</i> has a particular context. We know that Jesus is not talking about the Pharisees or Sadducees of the organized temples of those times, because he constantly railed against these sectarian teachers and their quest for power and authority.<br />
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The word <i>"Jews"</i> is being translated from the Greek word ἰουδαΐζω, which means to follow the teachings given by the prophets.<br />
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Jesus is coming from a long line of spiritual teachers that included Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon, Job, John the Baptist and others in between. This succession of teachers (often referred to as prophets) brought to the region the messages and instructions of God.<br />
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Jesus is also within that lineage of teachers, and thus Jesus speaks from that position, and his instructions were consistent with the teachings of the prophets, tuned to the time and circumstances of that society. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Thus Jesus is saying that salvation is accomplished by following the teachings of the prophets.<br />
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Note the use of the word <i>"salvation"</i> here. Let's consider this in light of some modern-day professional sectarians who say that the only path to salvation is from Jesus dying on the cross. If this were so, why didn't Jesus say "salvation is from me dying on the cross"?</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">No, Jesus never said that one could be saved from him dying on the cross. That was not part of his teachings. Therefore, it is hypocritical for sectarian teachers to say they are representing Jesus' teachings and at the same time teaching that Jesus' dying on the cross brings us salvation.<br />
<br />Rather, Jesus does teach what does bring salvation, in this statement. We can know from Jesus' statement here that one can be saved by following his teachings - the same teachings that were passed on through the lineage of the Prophets such as Abraham and Moses and Joshua and David and John the Baptist.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This salvation was available before Jesus' physical body died on the cross. And it is still available to us today.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What is salvation?</h2>Most think of salvation as being saved from the consequences of our sins. This means the consequences of our self-centered activities (because "sins" are, in fact, self-centered activities that harm others). </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This, however, is not the goal of salvation. In fact, suffering the consequences of our prior actions is actually good for us. It helps us grow and helps us realize that we should love each other and care for each other.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">But yes, it is possible to not have to suffer the consequences of our prior actions. But that requires us to learn those lessons from a spiritual perspective. That means having a change of heart.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Such a change of heart can be accomplished through Jesus' teachings.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
What Jesus meant by salvation is the return to our original loving relationship with God. This is the <i>"salvation"</i> from our self-centered and lonely existence. Should <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/09/peace-i-leave-with-you-my-peace-i-give.html" target="_blank">we give our lives to God</a> in love and trust, and live our lives trying to please God, we are saved from the struggles related to seeking happiness where there is only misery and loneliness. This is what Jesus means by <i>"worship."</i><br />
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Returning to our lost loving relationship with the Supreme Being doesn't require we join any sect or be of a particular race or nationality. It doesn't require us to be in a certain place. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">It simply requires a humble and sincere approach to the Supreme Being: One that accepts our individual failings and sincerely reaches out to the Supreme Being with humility, love and devotion.<br />
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Jesus conveyed this attitude to his students:<br />
<blockquote><i>At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do."</i> (Luke 10:21)</blockquote></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-46486514890195022012014-10-25T10:06:00.002-07:002021-09-14T14:16:36.314-07:00"I who speak to you am he." (John 4:26)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This statement by Jesus came after the Samaritan woman said:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>“I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” </i>(John 4:25)</blockquote><h2 style="text-align: left;">Is Jesus the <i>Messiah</i>?</h2>The word "Messiah" is translated from the Greek word Μεσσίας (messias) and the Hebrew word מָשִׁיחַ (mashiyach). We'll discuss the meanings below.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">By all accounts from the New Testament, we find that Jesus was indeed considered Messiah.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">But according to the Jewish interpretation, Jesus was not the Messiah. This interpretation suggests that the Messiah still has yet to come. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">According to some other sectarian interpretations, Jesus was the Messiah, but Jesus still has to come again to save the faithful. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">So both of these doctrines apparently consider there to be only one Messiah. For the Jewish sect, he has not yet come. For other sects, he came as Jesus but he is coming again.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The key question both of these sectarian interpretations bring up: Why would God – the most Powerful Being in all of existence – only be able to create one Messiah for all of humanity? Is God impotent?<br />
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And why would God make everyone wait for that one Messiah - long after most have died? </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">And if God will send another Messiah, why hasn’t He? Does God not care about us? Does God not want us to be saved? If so, why would all of His believers have to wait for thousands of years for this one Messiah to come (or come again) - long after their bodies have decomposed?<br />
<br />We can only conclude that both interpretations make no sense. They are interpretive speculation put out by those who claim to have authority from God, but actually don’t.<br />
<br />Let's dispel these erroneous doctrines, using Scripture as our guide:<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What does <i>Messiah </i>mean?</h2>The Greek word used in this verse is Mεσσίας (messias) - used only twice in the New Testament, here and in John 1:41 - which means <i>"anointed one"</i> according to Thayer's lexicon.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Other versions of the New Testament (such as NIV and others) translate the Greek word Χριστός (Christos) to "Messiah." But this Greek word also means <i>"anointed"</i> according to Thayer's lexicon. This word has been translated to "Christ" in King James and some other versions.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Furthermore, the word "Messiah" is only used twice in the Old Testament, in the Book of Daniel. This is translated from the Hebrew word מָשִׁיחַ (mashiyach) as mentioned above.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The Hebrew word for "Messiah" also means<i> "anointed priest"</i> according to Gesenius's lexicon. <br />
<br />What does <i>anointed </i>mean?</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">We find a clear description of the meaning of <i>"anointed,"</i> <i>"anointed one"</i> and <i>"anointed priest"</i> as we review the Biblical texts:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">[God speaking] <i>"<b>Anoint </b>them just as you <b>anointed </b>their father, so they may serve Me as priests. Their <b>anointing</b> will be to a priesthood that will continue for all generations to come."</i> (Exodus 40:15)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">[God speaking] <i>"This is the offering Aaron and his sons are to bring to the Lord on the day he is <b>anointed</b>: a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half in the evening."</i> (Lev. 6:20)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and <b>anointed </b>him to consecrate him.</i> (Lev 8:12)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>The priest who is <b>anointed</b> and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred linen garments.</i> (Lev 16:32)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>He must stay there until the death of the high priest, who was </i><b><i>anointed </i></b><i>with the holy oil.</i> (Num 35:25)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">[God speaking] <i>"I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in My heart and mind. I will firmly establish his house, and he will minister before My <b>anointed </b>one always."</i> (1 Samuel 2:35)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord's <b>anointed </b>stands here before the Lord."</i> (1 Samuel 16:6)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">[God speaking] <i>"Do not touch My <b>anointed</b> <b>ones</b>; do my prophets no harm."</i> (1 Chron. 16:22)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">[David's prayer, referring to himself as anointed] <i>"O Lord God, do not reject your <b>anointed one</b>. Remember the great love promised to David Your servant."</i> (2 Chron. 6:42)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">[David glorifying God and referring to himself] <i>"He gives His king great victories; He shows unfailing kindness to His <b>anointed</b>, to David and his descendants forever."</i> (Psalm 18:50)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">[David glorifying God and referring to himself] <i>The Lord is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for His <b>anointed one</b>. </i>(Psalm 28:8)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">[God, referring to David] <i>"I have found David my servant; with my sacred oil I have <b>anointed </b>him."</i> (Psalm 89:20)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">[<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2020/04/isaiah-53-did-isaiah-predict-jesus.html">Isaiah</a>, glorifying God and referring of himself] <i>"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has </i><b><i>anointed </i></b><i>me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners..."</i> (Isaiah 61:1)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">[an angel of God, speaking of Zerubbabel and Zechariah] <i>So he said, "These are the two who are </i><b><i>anointed </i></b><i>to serve the Lord of all the earth." </i>(Zechariah 4:14)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">[Jesus, speaking of himself] <i>"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has <b>anointed</b> me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed..."</i> (Luke 4:14)</blockquote>Thus we can conclude that God's <i>anointed priest</i> or <i>anointed one</i> is a person who has become a devoted servant of God. Someone God has empowered to represent Him and teach others. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Using this understanding, we can conclude that God considered all the prophets and teachers of the Old Testament as anointed. He considered the priests to be anointed. He considered those who He sent to teach others as anointed.<br />
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Why would <i>"anointed one"</i> be used in a singular fashion then, such as in:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"The Lord is the strength of His people, a fortress of salvation for His <b>anointed one</b>."</i> (Psalm 28:8)</blockquote>Is David speaking of some person in the future? No, David is speaking of himself, in the singular:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><i>Look upon our shield, O God; look with favor on Your <b>anointed one</b></i></i>. (Psalm 84:9)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>But You have rejected, you have spurned, You have been very angry with Your <b>anointed one</b>.</i> (Psalm 89:38)</blockquote><br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Is Messiah a role?</h2>We can see in the Psalms above that David is referring to himself as <i>"anointed one"</i> (Messiah) as if the <i>"anointed one"</i> is a role, title, or position. And we can see that <i>anointing </i>was considered a type of consecration and God referred to this as a role as he instructed that His priests be <i>anointed</i>.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This means that the <i>anointed one</i> - or Messiah - was considered a role in Scripture. Those who were <i>anointed </i>became God's representatives - His <i>priests</i>. His Messiahs.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
Let's use an example. Let's say that a military person has undergone the training and schooling, and has been given the title of "captain."<br />
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This person is now addressed as "captain" by both superiors and subordinates. He might also refer to himself to those superiors or subordinates as "your captain," or even "the captain." (e.g., "I am the captain," he says to his soldiers.) Does this mean that there is only one "captain" in the military? Certainly not. There are many who hold the position of "captain," and many in the past have also held the position of "captain."<br />
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At the same time, however, there is only one "captain" in any particular unit, and that "captain" is in charge of the unit. Therefore, anyone in the unit can refer to the captain as "the captain" and everyone else will know precisely who he is referring to.<br />
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But if someone outside of the unit referred to "the captain," now that would be confusing, because which unit's captain were they referring to?<br />
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This is the same issue that has occurred in scripture, and why some have inferred that there is only one Messiah (anointed one).<br />
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<i>“Messiah”</i> can also mean <i>“savior.” </i>This specifically refers to the pure loving servant of God who is empowered as a messenger from God to teach us about God. They have been empowered by God to save us, in other words.<br />
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A <i>Messiah</i> is a position, not a specific person. God has sent many <i>Messiahs</i>. And He will continue to send Messiahs to earth. God is not impotent. He can produce multiple Messiahs - multiple representatives who can each guide us back to Him. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h2 style="text-align: left;">Were Jesus' disciples also Messiahs?</h2>
We can see the process of <i>anointing</i> in action during the life of Jesus. We see that Jesus baptized his disciples. Baptism is a form of <i>anointing</i>. Oil was not readily available to impoverished preachers. So water was used.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Then we see how Jesus taught his followers and confided with them about God. Then after some time, he instructed those who were ready to teach others:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. But be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”</i> (Matt. 10:16-20)</blockquote>The last sentence describes God's mechanism of how God communicates through His empowered representatives.<br />
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Why would Jesus tell his followers to go out and teach if he were the one and only Messiah or savior for humanity? Why would he send his students out to preach if he was saving the entire human race with his crucifixion, or by his coming back sometime in the future?<br />
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As we compare this statement by Jesus with the statement by Jesus about himself in Luke 4:14 (above), we can see the pattern. We also see this same pattern in John the Baptist's preaching, and in the many prophets before. They all taught about God, and taught that their serious followers also go out and teach the same teachings. They were all God's messengers, and thus Messiahs.<br />
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Quite simply, we can see that Jesus is showing his followers how they can also become representatives of God. They can also, like Jesus, become an instrument for God to speak through. This also means they would be able to save people: they would, as long as they followed Jesus' instructions, also become saviors or Messiahs.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What is the Messiah's purpose?</h2>The Messiah has a <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/06/if-god-were-your-father-you-would-love.html" target="_blank">personal relationship with </a><a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/06/if-god-were-your-father-you-would-love.html" target="_blank">God</a>, and introduces others to God. And should we accept that introduction we become saved.<br />
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The legend of some future one and only Messiah has been promulgated by those teachers who are not anointed. They have not been empowered by God. Instead, they have been elected by councils of men. Thus their teachings are political in nature. They do not represent God, so they must make up an interpretation that somehow gives their organization some exclusive right or power. They have to present their organization as the exclusive means to reach God.<br />
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The problem becomes, how do they create this exclusive access? They must create a future icon who is supposedly going to come in the future. This gives them the ability to fabricate exclusivity. This gives them the ability to say that <b><i>once the Messiah comes</i></b> he will only be picking those who have joined this organization.<br />
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Consider the consequences of this future one and one Messiah: What has happened for all those billions of people over the centuries who have come and gone (and even joined the organization) while humanity <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/08/i-am-with-you-for-only-short-time-and.html" target="_blank">waits for the Messiah to come</a> (or come again)? Have they just missed the boat? Or are they all just waiting in some kind of gigantic “waiting room” for that magical day to come?<br />
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The speculative idea that everyone get held in some kind of waiting room (or “purgatory” some like to call it) after death is just that: speculation.<br />
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When we, each a <a href="https://www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2020/02/flesh-gives-birth-to-flesh-but-spirit.html" target="_blank">spirit-person</a>, leave the physical body at death, we will move on. In most cases, this will mean a new physical body according to their consciousness and past activities. Typically there is a period of reflection on the previous life and some learning experiences between our physical incarnations. These add to the learning experiences of our physical lifetimes.<br />
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God loves us. He wants us to come home. He is constantly sending His messengers (Messiahs) to gather up those who are seeking Him from every generation.<br />
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And the day of judgment spoken of in scripture is the day each of our bodies dies. Each of us will be judged for our lifetime in the body. At that moment we will face the judgment of our Maker, and face the consequences of our activities within this lifetime.<br />
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At the same time, each of us has an opportunity to come home at any time. We simply have to make the decision. God is waiting for us, out of love and compassion. If we make the decision to come home to Him, God will arrange for us to meet His representative, who will re-introduce us to Him.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Does God require exclusivity?</h2>The real Messiah of God does not fabricate exclusivity. Why not? Because the empowered representative of God doesn't need to. God's representatives do not teach exclusive means to access God. They teach that any one of us can turn to God and access Him at any time. <br />
<br />God does not require exclusivity. Any of us can pray to God and thus access Him at any time.<br />
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Yes, the most efficient way to discover more about God from within this physical world is from someone who already has a loving relationship with God. Knowing more about God is critical. Love of God requires that we establish a relationship, and we cannot love someone we do not know.<br />
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But there is no need to panic. Each of us also has a spiritual guide outside this world who is helping guide us back to the Supreme Being. We can speed this process through humble prayer. The Supreme Being can reveal Himself to us as He wishes, relative to our sincerity. He is never restricted.<br />
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Yes, Messiahs are rare in this world. This is because the physical world is the place where those who <b><i>don't</i></b> want to be with God go. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">That is why the Supreme Being also provided us with Scripture, to be able to look back in time to understand the teachings of those Messiahs He has sent us in the past.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">One who sincerely seeks to return home and renew our lost loving relationship with the Supreme Being can seek Him from within our hearts. God will guide us towards Him and utilize those guides He considers appropriate.<br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">We can rest assured that God cares about each and every one of us. He is watching over us, and wants the best for us.</div><br />
<a href="https://www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2020/04/isaiah-53-did-isaiah-predict-jesus.html"></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-57357774651722731272014-10-24T11:48:00.005-07:002021-09-14T14:17:51.448-07:00"I have food to eat that you know nothing about." (John 4:32)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<blockquote><i>They came out of the town and made their way toward him. Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." (John 4:30-32)</i> </blockquote><h2 style="text-align: left;">What is the <i>'food'</i> they <i>'know nothing about'?</i></h2>After Jesus was urged by his disciples to eat something, he tells them he has food they don't know about. What is that food? It is spiritual food.<br />
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Jesus' statement also confirms the meaning of <i>“give us each day our daily bread”</i> (Luke 11:3) in the Lord’s prayer. The <i>food </i>that Jesus is discussing is the food that feeds the spiritual self.<br />
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Our real food is a loving relationship with the Supreme Person, God. Once the spirit-person within - the spiritual being - renews their relationship with the Supreme Being, they want to do the will of the One they love:<br />
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Such a person will want to do God's will out of love. This service relationship satisfies the spiritual person, just as physical food satisfies the physical body’s hunger.<br />
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And why does Jesus say that his audience knows nothing about this spiritual <i>food?</i> It is because the physical world is where those who don't want to have a relationship with God come to. This is where those who have rejected their relationship with God go.<br />
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This issue of internal satisfaction is specifically why most people in the physical world are struggling to become fulfilled with the forms and things of the physical world, yet remain empty and unhappy.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Can we be full yet empty within?</h2>Through media, we have been able to see the most wealthy and famous people become physically full yet remain unfulfilled. Why?<br />
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We have been able to watch some of the richest and most glorified people in the world descend into depression, drug abuse and suicidal behaviors. Even though they had everything material a person could ever desire: The adoration of millions of people and all the money they could ever spend; their activities indicate a continued emptiness. They have remained unfulfilled despite having practically everything the physical world can offer.<br />
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Assuming that happiness results from obtaining these and other physical things, there is a problem. Because the world's most famous and wealthy people have all these things and more. They can have whatever the physical world can offer.<br />
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Even the assumption that family brings happiness - the moral of so many movies and shows - is also devoid. If family brings happiness, why are there so many unhappy, depressed people? Practically everyone has family of some sort. Why is there so much unhappiness despite so many large families?<br />
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Because not only do physical things like money and fame not bring happiness: Families of this world also do not bring happiness.<br />
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<h2>Why don't these things bring us happiness?</h2>This points to the reality that we are not these physical bodies. If we were these physical bodies, then why would the things of the physical world not satisfy us?<br />
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Since the forms and things of the physical world do not satisfy us, we must not be physical. We must have <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/08/before-long-world-will-not-see-me.html" target="_blank">a deeper existence</a>, one beyond the confines of this temporary physical body.<br />
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And certainly, we see this at the time of death. A dead body lies there, but without life. The entire body - every molecule and cell - is still there in the dead body. But the body is lifeless. What has changed?<br />
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The spirit-person within - who was driving that physical body - has left.<br />
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The fact that we cannot see this spirit-person within who leaves the physical body points to the fact that the spirit-person lies within another dimension. It is not perceivable by the gross physical senses.<br />
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This is why there are so many clinical death cases where a person whose body was revived reports having left the body and observed things from outside the body. They observed the body from above, and many cases prove the spirit-person could observe things that were not otherwise observed as their physical body lay with closed eyes and a sheet over the head. <br />
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Since we are spiritual in essence and not these physical bodies, then we cannot be satisfied by the things of the physical world. It might be compared to a driver of a car being hungry and thinking that if he fills his car's gas tank up with gas he will no longer be hungry. He will soon find that filling the gas tank won't relinquish the car driver's hunger because the car driver is not the car.<br />
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For this reason, Jesus, identifying himself as the spiritual child of God and not the physical body, relayed to his students that his food was loving the Supreme Being and serving Him. This is confirmed by Jesus' next statement:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/11/my-food-is-to-do-will-of-him-who-sent.html" target="_blank">“My food,” said Jesus,</a> “is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work."</i> (John 4:34)</blockquote>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-8169240355338670992014-10-23T10:03:00.005-07:002021-09-14T14:19:45.277-07:00"My food is to do the will of Him who sent me ..." (John 4:34)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote><i>"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work." (John 4:34)</i> </blockquote><h2>Who is the <i>'Him'</i> Jesus is referring to?</h2><div style="text-align: left;">Jesus is undoubtedly referring to the Supreme Being here. This is who Jesus loves, and this is who Jesus is serving.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This statement clearly identifies that Jesus is living for God. He is acting on behalf of God. He wants to please God.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Curiously, the sectarian translators and institutions that published the NIV and most of the other versions do not capitalize the words "Him" and "His" in this statement (the capitals were added in the NIV translated verse above). Why not?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We find this issue throughout the New Testament, as translators have repeatedly missed capitalizing references to God in Jesus' teachings.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This is because these translators - like the Pharisees Jesus was speaking to - <i>know nothing about </i>- what Jesus is referring to here.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2>Why is this the <i>'food'</i> they <i>'know nothing about'?</i></h2><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Before Jesus says this he said:</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i></i></div><blockquote><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i>"I have food to eat that you know nothing about." (<a href="https://www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/11/i-have-food-to-eat-that-you-know.html" target="_blank">John 4:32</a>)</i></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"></div></blockquote><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Now that we know what he was describing, we can correlate that Jesus is saying they do not know about this <i>"food"</i> because they weren't interested in doing the will of the Supreme Being.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This key statement by Jesus defines his central mission and his prime directive. It also clearly defines who Jesus is, spoken by Jesus himself.</div>
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With this statement, Jesus clearly defines himself as God's servant and representative. <i>"My food is to do the will of Him who sent me"</i> means that Jesus identified himself as God's servant and God's messenger.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The Pharisees and the priests of the institutional temple system of Jesus' time knew <i>"nothing about"</i> this because they were more interested in their own self interests. They were interested in their positions within the temple system. They were interested in being honored and respected by parishoners.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Why is this considered <i>'food'</i> by Jesus?</h2>If someone does someone else's will, then they are subjugating their will to that other person's will. Why would doing God's will be like <i>food</i> to Jesus?</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The primary purpose of food is to provide the body with its basic nutritional needs. In order to keep the body going, we must have food.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The <a href="https://www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2020/02/flesh-gives-birth-to-flesh-but-spirit.html" target="_blank">spirit-person</a> does not need this sort of physical food because the composition of the spirit-person is spiritual. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">But the spirit-person needs another form of food for sustenance. This is the food of love. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Each of us needs love. Because we are each a spirit-person, we need love. This is why we chase love throughout our lives. We want others to love us. And we want to give love to others. This is why families are so important to so most of us. Because families are a source of the exchange of love.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Jesus is speaking of the exchange of a higher form of love: Spiritual love. He is speaking of exchanging love with God. This is <i>spiritual food.</i></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">That's what doing God's will is. It is an act of love. It is an exchange of love.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This is why Jesus compared doing God's will to his food. Because he becomes fulfilled by exchanging love with God.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This was Jesus' primary objectvie: <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/10/as-father-has-loved-me-so-have-i-loved.html" target="_blank">To please God, whom he loved</a>.<br />
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The concept of pleasing God bothers many of us. Why? Because we don't want to please someone else. We don't want to do someone else's will. We want to be the king of our lives. We want to do what we want. We want to please ourselves.<br />
<br />This also goes for those who use Jesus to get what we want. To pray to Jesus to get wealthy or to help our football team win is not tasting the <i>spiritual food </i>that Jesus is speaking of.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Was Jesus God's servant?</h2>This is essentially what Jesus is admitting to here. To do someone else's will means to serve them. Jesus saw himself as God's servant.<br />
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He is teaching by example to be God's servant. Furthermore, Jesus is teaching that God sent him. This makes Jesus God's messenger and representative.<br />
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If someone says that someone has sent them, then they are representing the person who sent them. They become the sender's messenger. This means that Jesus is God's representative and messenger.<br />
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The fact that Jesus is mentioning food also means that <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/11/father-i-thank-you-that-you-have-heard.html" target="_blank">Jesus is thriving from His service to God</a>. This is his pleasure. This is what Jesus enjoys. Jesus is not focused on his own pleasure. He wants to please the Supreme Being. Jesus confirmed this simply in another statement:<br />
<blockquote><i>"... for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me." </i>(John 5:30)</blockquote>This is not such a foreign notion to most of us. Most of us have experienced at some point "falling in love" with another person. While "falling in love" is but a tiny glimpse of love for God, from it we find that there is a kind of pleasure in loving and caring for someone else besides myself. Why?<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Are we meant to serve God?</h2>By nature, we are all lovers and caregivers. We are by nature not masters. We are caregivers. We were created by the Supreme Being to love and serve Him, and love and serve each other.<br />
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But because the Supreme Being wants an exchange of true love, he also gave us the freedom to love Him or not. Without the freedom not to love God, how could we truly love Him?<br />
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This is the reason we are here in this temporary physical world: We are the ones that chose not to love Him. We are the ones that rejected our loving relationship with the Supreme Being. And because we wanted to be independent of Him - He kindly gave us a dimension where we could pretend He doesn't exist. A place where we could focus on ourselves and pretend to the bosses and masters, even though we aren't.<br />
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One might compare this to parents who give a child their own room so the child could get away from the parents sometimes. The child can close the door and play alone without the parents. But this doesn't mean the child is independent of the parents. It also doesn't mean that the child is now the boss of the house. It just means the parents gave the child the freedom to exercise some independence.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Doesn't this mean that Jesus is not God?</h2>If someone does someone else's will, there are obviously two individuals involved, each with their own will. One who does another's will is subjecting themselves to the other out of choice. In this case, out of love.<br />
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The interpretation that Jesus is God was born from those organizations that sought to gain authority by virtue of exclusivity. This is a product of politics, not service to God.<br />
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To claim that the loving servant of God is God is to forget God. This is offensive to both Jesus and God. This is why Jesus said:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>“Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”</i> (Matthew 7:21)</blockquote><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-42043012060701042262014-10-22T12:31:00.005-07:002021-09-16T13:29:13.419-07:00"Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? ..." (John 4:35-38)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote><i>"Don't you have a saying, 'It's still four months until harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor." (John 4:35-38)</i> </blockquote><h2 style="text-align: left;">What do the<i> 'crop'</i> and the<i> 'harvest' </i>symbolize?</h2>Jesus is speaking to his followers and disciples about passing on his teachings to others. The people who learn about God and change their lives as a result of Jesus' teachings are essentially harvested. They essentially become the <i>crop</i>, because Jesus' teachings can grow within our hearts and eventually allow us to change.<br />
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Jesus knows that as his teachings are passed to others, others have a chance to <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/09/i-tell-you-truth-no-one-can-see-kingdom.html" target="_blank">change their hearts</a> and give their lives to the Supreme Being. This is the ultimate <i>harvest</i> because it essentially helps the Supreme Being bring home those who are ready to return to Him.<br />
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The crop consists of the souls who are ready and prepared. They have become prepared by the teachers such as the Prophets that lived before Jesus. This is why Jesus says that others <i>sowed</i>. Those who <i>sowed </i>were those messengers of God before Jesus who taught their followers - and those who followed - about the Supreme Being.<br />
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So Jesus is stating that the hard work has already been done. All his disciples have to do now is pass on Jesus' teachings - which also echoed the teachings of the Prophets - in order to complete the process of inviting those souls back home as they are ready.<br />
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These are the souls who can be educated and given a chance to have a change of heart prior to their leaving the physical body at the time of death. Every day people's bodies die. Our bodies will also die. As the body ages, diseases develop that eventually ravage it and force us to leave the body. Each of us is a soul or spirit-person who operates the physical body for a few decades before leaving it at the time of death.<br />
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<h2>Who are the <i>'sower'</i> and the <i>'reaper'?</i></h2>The <i>"sower"</i> in this parable is someone who teaches people about love of God. The <i>sowers </i>in this case are the Prophets, John the Baptist and Jesus. Essentially, they had been teaching and slowly changing people's hearts over the centuries.<br />
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The <i>"reaper"</i> in Jesus' analogy represents those of his disciples who will be organizing and gathering together those who have been influenced by these teachings. If a person had a change of heart after hearing Jesus' and the Prophets' teachings, they would naturally become prepared to become a follower of Jesus. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This process of bringing those people along, to further their commitments to loving and serving the Supreme Being, would essentially be "reaping" or harvesting those who have had a change of heart.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This is what Paul and his followers missed about Jesus' teachings. Paul had never heard Jesus' teachings directly, even though some sectarian institutions call him an apostle of Jesus. Since he didn't hear Jesus' teachings directly, he didn't understand the importance of following the teachings of the ancient lineage of Prophets and teachers discussed throughout the Bible.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">What Paul didn't realize is that Jesus was <i>passing on the teachings of the Prophets. </i>It wasn't as though Jesus was making up his own teachings.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This is why Jesus quoted the Prophets in so many of his teachings. Even his "greatest commandment" was a quote from Moses (to love God with all our heart, from Deuteronomy 6:5).</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">While sectarian teachers of today like to say that Jesus was referring to the Prophets predicting his arrival, he was actually quoting their teachings to support his teachings. He was <i>"fulfilling"</i> their teachings by passing them on to others. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This opens up an entirely new dimension in Jesus' teachings. If one understands that Jesus was passing on the teachings of the Prophets (including John the Baptist) - and clarifying them for a different society - it gives Jesus' teachings even more power.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">It also provides a strong foundation - which Paul's philosophy (called the "Pauline doctrine") didn't have. Paul made up a new speculative theory that Jesus' crucifixion saves us - we just have to accept it.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Yet Jesus never taught this. Jesus taught that what saves us is accepting and following the teachings of the Prophets - the first and greatest of which is to love God with all our heart and soul.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Furthermore, by making up a new doctrine, Paul created a rift between Christianity and Judaism. Something that Jesus would have never approved of.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Yes, Jesus did find fault with the temple hierarchy. He did criticize it. But he wasn't inventing a new religion. He was trying to clarify the teachings of those who preceded him, such as John the Baptist, Isaiah, David, Samuel, Joshua, Moses, and Abraham.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">These are the <i>sowers </i>Jesus is referring to in this statement. And Jesus' disciples are the <i>reapers.</i> <br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Is this about Judgment day?</h2>Many have interpreted that Jesus is teaching about Judgment day. They have assumed that Jesus is speaking about some theoretical point in time where the end of the world comes and everyone becomes judged and reaps what they sow.<br />
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Such an interpretation is full of holes. The least of which is that it has been 2,000 years and the end of the world has yet to come. Does this mean that Jesus was tricking his students into thinking that the end of the world would come during their lifetimes?<br />
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Or are these interpreters talking about the end of the world the ones who have been tricking us?<br />
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The latter is true, since the end of the world keeps being <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/08/i-am-with-you-for-only-short-time-and.html">predicted by charlatans</a> who have continued to be wrong over the centuries.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Will God murder all the unbelievers?</h2><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Some sectarian institutions preach that the world will end soon and when it does, they (members of their institution) will be saved while God will come to the earth and murder all the unbelievers. Then they will "inherit the earth" alone.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Could this be true? Such a scenario has been used for centuries by some sectarian groups in order to scare their congregations into staying with their <i>cult </i>(yes, these sects are effectively <i><a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/08/i-am-with-you-for-only-short-time-and.html" target="_blank">doomsday cults</a></i>).</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">They preach this scare tactic in order to enlist followers and maintain followers. Meanwhile, the leaders of these organizations enjoy elaborate wealth and comfort on the backs of their followers' donations.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The question really comes down to what kind of god they are worshiping. If they are worshipping an angry, mean and hostile god who will wipe out anyone who doesn't worship him - well, they are not worshipping the real God.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">They may be calling this god the same name as Jesus and the Prophets called on. Yes, Jesus and the Prophets did call upon Jehovah by name as they worshipped Him.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">But that Jehovah is a kind God. He is a loving God. That Jehovah unconditionally loves each of us - regardless of whether we believe in Him or not.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">In reality, the freedom to not love or worship God is ingrained in God's creation. Why? Because this freedom is required in order to love God. If we didn't have the freedom <i>not to worship</i> or <i>not love God</i>, we couldn't really <i>love God</i>.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Yes, love is a choice. If we have no choice, then it is submission. It is not love.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">And worship is also a choice. If we have no choice to worship, then it is slavery.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">God is not seeking to make us slaves or to threaten us into submission. For the entire history of the human race - over a million years according to scientific evidence - humans have always had the freedom of choice to worship God or not.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">And those institutions and their preachers who try to threaten us by saying that God will murder all the unbelievers - they are not referring to God. They are referring to a fictional character created by other hard-liner institutionalists who wanted to threaten their followers.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">What about "fearing God" then?</h2><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Doesn't it say this in the Bible? Actually, the word "fear" with respect to God is mostly mistranslated in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word יָרֵא (yare') can mean "fear" in some contexts, but can also "to revere," "to honor," and "to hold in awe" and also "wonderful" or "admirable" according to Strong's and Gesenius' lexicons.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">We can see how institutional translators would rather threaten people and strike fear in their followers over the centuries, as they have chosen the darkest possible translation of this word - out of its context. (What is that context? Those Prophets who revered God were writing these words.)</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Such a choice of translation actually reflects the very <i>choice </i>that God gives all of us. God even gives us the choice to mistranslate and misinterpret His own scriptures.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">God even gives the choice even to harm His messengers. This is why so many Prophets were persecuted, and why Jesus was persecuted by those whose authority was threatened by these messengers of God.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">These facts only teach us that God is a loving, caring God. He is not mean. He will not kill those who don't believe in Him. He gives us the ultimate choice to love Him or worship Him. He even gives us the choice to believe in Him. That is why He mostly hides from us.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">In reality, every single body will die at the end of our lifetime. Believers and unbelievers. Every <i>body</i> will die.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">What is Jesus saying above then?</h2><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Jesus is using an entendre here as he amalgamates the concept of harvesting souls by educating them about God. The harvest relates to success in the goal of life: Learning to know and love the Supreme Being.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As far as judgment day referred to by Jesus elsewhere: At the moment of death, each of us will leave the physical body. This is our individual <i>judgment day</i> because it is at this moment that those souls who have developed the consciousness to return to God are taken up to the spiritual world. Meanwhile, those souls whose journey has not been perfected will return to the physical dimension to continue our education.<br />
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Essentially, <i>Judgment Day</i> occurs when our bodies die, and the activities of our lives are judged.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What about reaping what we sow?</h2>While not here, Jesus has used reaping what we sow in other contexts as well. In the physical world, our choices and activities have consequences. If we make others suffer, we will suffer similarly in a future incarnation.<br />
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In other words, self-centered individuals return back into bodies that reflect their past activities and consciousness.<br />
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This means that whatever pain and suffering we inflict upon others is perfectly returned to us in the form of a new body - born into a particular family and society. If we commit others to pain, we will receive the same pain back either in this lifetime or the next. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">As such, after the death of this body, we will take on another body that suffers those same pains we have inflicted upon others. If a person rapes and starves people as some in Africa have been doing, they will be raped and starved in their next body. This is part of God's perfect design: <i>"As you sow, so shall you reap."</i><br />
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This also explains the question that some ask:<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Why is there suffering in the world?</h2>God does not cause the suffering of this world: we do.<br />
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Each of us causes our own suffering, by inflicting suffering upon others. If we become a party to suffering, we will experience the same suffering we were a party to causing upon others.<br />
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It is not as if we are guaranteed a human body: We may also be put into an animal body, fish body or even an insect body. These types of bodies are designed for more suffering. In such bodies, we are chased by giant predators. We are in fear for most of that physical lifetime. These bodies represent the worst of hell.<br />
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Oh, but you thought hell was some kind of hot dungeon somewhere under the earth with fiery horned devils chaining people to the walls? Where is that dungeon? Have any excavators or drilling rigs found any hot dungeons with horned people under the earth's surface lately? Today, drillers can drill down for miles under the ground. No one has ever drilled down into a dungeon with horned devils and chained up people.<br />
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Let's get something clear: The physical dimension is hell. This is the place where those individuals who want to escape God go.<br />
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The visions of hell drawn up in scripture are analogous. Yes, hell is a place of suffering. And yes, people are chained up - as the spirit-person is trapped (chained) inside a physical body racked with pain and suffering. The general description of hell is accurate. It is simply not understood in a practical manner.<br />
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The reality is that we are in hell right now, but some of us in human bodies are relatively more pain-free than others. Yes, there are people in worse hells than ours: Consider parts of the world where people are starving, ravished with diseases, or are being raped or tortured. These are suffering worse hells than we are at the moment. (This doesn't mean we shouldn't try to help them, however.)<br />
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Or think of those trapped in small animal or insect bodies perpetually chased by large predators. This is a much worse hell than ours. Yet this hell exists all around us.<br />
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Each person in a physical body is living within some extent of hell. Every <i>body </i>will be racked with pain and disease. Every <i>body </i>will feel agonizing pain. Every <i>body </i>will suffer a gruesome death. This is the reality of wearing a physical body: Just as it is a reality that the car you drive will break down at some point, and you'll have to leave it behind and get a new car.<br />
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Yet each of us can determine the extent of our future hell by our activities and consciousness today. We can determine whether we are <i>harvested</i> by the <i>Glad Reaper</i> - God and His representatives - to return home to the spiritual dimension, or be harvested by the <i>grim reaper</i> to continue our hellish existence in the physical dimension. It is our choice.<br />
<blockquote><i>"I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor"</i><br />
</blockquote>Again, Jesus is referring to the work that he, John the Baptist, Moses, David, Solomon, Abraham and the rest of the prophets have done. They had given people information about God and the spiritual world. They had taught people the commandments of God, and instructed them to love God with all their hearts. These were the <i>"sowers"</i> that came before Jesus' students.<br />
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Remember that Jesus is speaking to his students here. He says, <i>"I sent you to reap what you did not work for."</i> Jesus is essentially asking them to go out and continue the teachings and gather those who want to return to God by confirming and practicing the teachings of Jesus and the lineage of teachers (the prophets) that he came in. He wanted his students to continue those teachings, and bring those who want to go home, back to the spiritual world - where there is no pain, no death, and no suffering.<br />
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This is the world of love that each of us seeks from within. This is the world where the Supreme Being is the center. The physical world is the world where each of us wants to be the center.<br />
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In order to return to our home in the spiritual realm, loving and serving the Supreme Being must become the center of our lives. This is our natural position, and what will fulfill us and complete us.<br />
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-41194949101031719662014-10-21T10:42:00.004-07:002021-09-17T14:52:06.131-07:00"Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe." (John 4:48)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote><i>When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there. Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. "Unless you people see signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe." The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies." "Go," Jesus replied, "your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. (John 4:45-50)</i> </blockquote><h2 style="text-align: left;">Did Jesus come to heal everyone's body?</h2>Here Jesus explains his reason for healing. He is responding to a <i>"royal official”</i> who begged Jesus to heal his dying son. Jesus responds with the above statement.<br /><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This illustrates that Jesus was not that interested in healing everyone’s body. Obviously, he was empowered with this ability: He could have healed everyone he saw if God wanted him to.<br />
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After Jesus’ first sentence above (4:48), the official said:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Sir, come down before my child dies."</i> (John 4:49)</blockquote>In other words, the official did not care about what Jesus was teaching. He was only interested in his son’s survival. Jesus didn’t have to go to his son to touch him or anything. Jesus simply said, <i>“You may go. Your son will live.”</i> This could mean that Jesus didn't need to heal the boy - that he knew he would recover. Or it could mean that Jesus could heal the man’s son without having to see or touch him.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Either way, knowing that the boy would be healed from a distance was miraculous.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />Did Jesus have <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/12/unless-you-people-see-miraculous-signs.html" target="_blank">some magical powers</a>? Where did his miraculous powers come from? Actually, Jesus himself explained where these powers came from:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."</i> (Matthew 21:21-22) </blockquote>This means that Jesus was accepting that this miraculous power comes from the Supreme Being. And it comes through connecting with God through prayer.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Could Jesus have been referring to himself? Praying to himself? This is not logical, because Jesus was standing there in front of them. There would be no need to pray to someone who was standing right in front of them.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This indicates Jesus is referring to praying to God.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Furthermore, there would be no need to do a miraculous sign in order to have the man or anyone else who saw Jesus <i>believe</i> that Jesus existed. They were seeing Jesus with their own eyes. They didn't need to believe in Jesus' existence.<br />
<br />The word <i>"believe"</i> in this statement and in John 4:48 is translated from the word πιστεύω (pisteuō), which means to <i>trust</i> - "place confidence in" or "to be entrusted."<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Does this mean trusting in God?</h2>In other words, Jesus wanted the man and those around him to put their <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/06/do-not-let-your-hearts-be-troubled.html" target="_blank">trust in the Supreme Being</a>. To trust in God means to accept that whatever situation we are in, it is for our best and there is a reason behind it and the Supreme Being is in control. While it doesn't mean we should not take care of our bodies, it means accepting that there is a purpose behind everything that takes place.<br />
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Typically, at least in the physical world with respect to hardships related to these temporary physical bodies, things happen in order to teach us.<br />
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But does this mean God wants us to suffer? Absolutely not. What is not understood is that these physical bodies are not us. They are temporary vehicles we drive for a short period of time and then they die. When they die we - the soul within - leave them behind.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What is physical pain?</h2>The pains of the body are specific to the physical body, not the spirit-person. The spirit-person only connects with the pains of the body because we are in the illusion that we are these physical bodies. This is why Jesus also said:<br />
<blockquote><i>“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear."</i> (Matt. 6:25)</blockquote>Why is Jesus teaching this? Because he wanted them to put away their anxieties about their physical body and come to rely upon the Supreme Being.<br />
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To rely upon the Supreme Being means to <i>trust </i>Him. It means accepting that He has our best interests at heart. It means accepting God as our Loving Master and Best Friend.<br />
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And why did Jesus not ask God to simply heal everyone, but rather, he chose a select few to heal? Didn’t he care about the others? Jesus was giving everyone the solution to the pain, suffering and death of the physical body. He was trying to teach everyone that the physical body is a temporary vehicle, and the way out isn’t to heal the body: The way out is to return to God.<br />
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Should we come to <i>trust</i> and rely upon the Supreme Being - once we return to the loving service of God - we transcend the temporary anxieties related to this temporary physical body. And once the body is finished, we can return to our spiritual home to be with God and the rest of our spiritual family.<br />
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-24968379584430967882014-10-19T11:49:00.004-07:002021-09-17T14:53:16.540-07:00"Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." (John 5:1-14)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote><i>Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat." But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' " So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?" The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." (John 5:1-14)<br />
</i></blockquote></div>This event was also portrayed in Matthew and Mark as well, with some differences. In both, Jesus didn't see the healed man later. Instead, Jesus forgave his sins on the spot:<div><blockquote><i>Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven." At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!" Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." So he said to the paralyzed man, "Get up, take your mat and go home." Then the man got up and went home (Matthew 9:2-7)<br /><br />Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." So he said to the man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!" (Mark 2:3-12)</i></blockquote>
<h2>Why are these Gospels tell this event differently?</h2>The details of these events indicate they are likely the same event. All have in common the instruction by Jesus to 'pick up your mat and walk.'
But in Matthew and Mark, the emphasis is on Jesus forgiving the man's sins. In John, we find that Jesus connected the disability of the man with his prior sins - and warned him that further sinning would come with further consequences.<br />
<br />This is a rather stark difference, but they are connected. Since in John's version, Jesus tells the man that if he sins in the future, worse will happen, this means there was some purification involved, since he was no longer suffering from what must be his prior sinful activities. <br />
<br />This means that forgiveness was involved in John's version, since he was no longer paralyzed. But John's event explains Jesus' teachings beyond simply healing the man and forgiving sins:
Because Jesus links his activities to consequences in the future, this means that his prior activities also produced his paralysis.<br />
<br />This opens up a broader definition of <i>"sinning"</i> - one that is related to consequences. Our actions that harm others have consequences. It is a significant teaching of Jesus that isn't revealed in Matthew or Mark.<br /><br />
<h2>Why does Jesus teach about consequences to <i>'sinning'?</i></h2>In this verse, the word <i>"sinning"</i> is translated from the Greek word, ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō). This word means, according to Thayer's lexicon, "to be without a share in," or "to miss the mark," or "to err, be mistaken," and "to wander from the law of God."<br />
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Because the central law of God is oriented around love for God and love for others, to wander - or miss the mark - is captured within the sense of self-centeredness. Self-centeredness is the diametrical opposite of love. <br />
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Furthermore, to act in a self-centered manner and harm others, as a result, encompasses the true essence of "sin."<br />
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And as Jesus points out, such activities that harm others have consequences.<br />
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This indicates that Jesus taught that there was a connection between the action of sinning and physical reactions such as becoming crippled or worse. This is the fundamental law of the physical world: <i>Cause and effect.</i> How we use our physical bodies will create a reaction: <i>"As you sow, so shall you reap."</i><br />
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This is particular to using our bodies for self-centered purposes. Another word for this is <i>consequence</i>. The physical world is <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/02/do-not-hold-on-to-me-for-i-have-not-yet.html" target="_blank">a world of consequence</a>.<br />
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Why? This is how the Supreme Being set it up. God set up a world of consequence to help <i>teach us</i> how to improve our consciousness, and evolve spiritually. Why? Because God knows that we will only be happy when we return to our original position as His loving caregiver.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What is consequence learning?</h2>Teaching through consequences is a well-known behavioral method in child-rearing. Child psychologists have studied child behavior and found that applying a system of consequences for bad behavior is by far the best method of producing children that head out on the right track.<br />
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Why is this? Because consequences maximize learning. When a child does a bad thing, these researchers have discovered, punishing a child can yield a long-term traumatic effect. But this is not true for <i>consequence learning</i>.<br />
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In <i>consequence learning</i>, there is a consequence for both good and bad activities. For example, if a child throws food, then they must clean up and even pay for the damage. That is the consequence of throwing the food. If the child does their chores, they get an allowance or time to play.<br />
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The Supreme Being has set up the ultimate consequence system within the physical world. When we do something that hurts someone else, we will end up being hurt in precisely the same way that we hurt another. When we do something to help someone else, that also comes back to us.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Is being self-serving so bad?</h2>Being self-serving in itself is not necessarily wrong. One can be self-serving to protect oneself. One can certainly be self-serving when it comes to acting responsibly. After all, to survive in this world we must keep the body alive. We must gather food and water, and sometimes that means being competitive.<br />
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But when that self-serving activity harms others unnecessarily, this is categorized as sinning by Jesus. The opposite of sin is service to God and love for others. When we act to please God or because we love others, there is no physical consequence created. This is because service to God and loving others lie outside the domain of the physical world. These are spiritual activities.<br />
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Since the man had been paralyzed for 38 years (John 5:5) we know from Jesus' statement that something the man had done (sin) previously caused him to be crippled. Since he was crippled since childhood, did he do something during his childhood to cause his being crippled? And what about people who are born crippled? Why are they born crippled?<br />
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<h2>Why are some people born crippled or born into poverty?</h2>Past life research over the past fifty years has accumulated a large amount of data indicating that most of us have occupied previous physical bodies. A substantial amount of scientific evidence of past lives was documented by Dr. Ian Stevenson, a medical doctor and professor of research at the University of Virginia, Department of Psychiatric Medicine.<br />
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Over several decades of research, Dr. Stevenson and his associates clinically studied thousands of children who accurately recalled in detail a previous lifetime. This research was soon corroborated by the results of many other researchers.<br />
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Past-life memory was only accidentally discovered by Dr. Stevenson, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia. Being a conservative psychiatrist and professor, Dr. Stevenson had no prior belief in the transmigration of the self before these accurate past-life accounts began unfolding.<br />
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The research documented children who detailed previous lifetimes as historical persons, describing events with a clarity and experience only possible from having lived personally in that situation.<br />
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The research did not stop there. The scientists then researched the historical accuracy of the statements heard by children, to confirm whether (1) the subject could have known these facts otherwise, and (2) whether the facts can be confirmed as being historically accurate. In both instances, the evidence supported transmigration.<br />
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Though undoubtedly controversial, the research has been thoroughly peer-reviewed and clinically supported.<br />
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In addition, many other studies have documented similar findings. Many studies have utilized hypnotherapy - by M.D.s and/or licensed psychiatrists - to assist with the recall of a past life - with similar results after investigation of the historical person.<br />
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Some thirty scientific books and hundreds of scientific papers have been written to document these research studies. Dr. Stevenson’s research itself spanned over thirty-seven years and documented at least 2,500 cases of previous life recognition by children who accurately remembered their past lives.<br />
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Dr. Stevenson's corroborated research indicated that past life recollection fades by about age seven. Before that age, children will often speak spontaneously about their previous lives as historical individuals, recalling historical details decades old and otherwise unknowable.<br />
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Dr. Stevenson wrote several books on the subject, presenting the evidence in a clinically rigorous and scientific manner (Tucker 2005; Stevenson 1997). As mentioned, a number of other scientists have documented regressing patients into verifiable past lives, including Dr. Helen Wambach (1978), Dr. Morris Netheron (1978), Dr. Edit Fiore (1978), Dr. Bruce Goldberg (1982), Dr. Joel Whitton (1986), Dr. Brian Weiss (1988), Dr. Christopher Bache, Dr. Winafred Lucas (1993), Dr. Marge Rieder (1995; 1999) and a number of others.<br />
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Some of the studies targeted particular periods or events among subjects. Dr. Rieder, for example, documented regression sessions with certain patients that revealed historical information regarding Millboro, VA — a pivotal village during the Civil War. Dr. Rieder’s patients accurately described many detailed elements of the war and the town, including the uncovering of previously unknown hideaways and tunnels used during the civil war in Millboro.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Did Jesus teach transmigration? </h2>The evidence points to yes. Not only in this statement but elsewhere. For example, in John 9, Jesus was asked by his disciples:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/07/neither-this-man-nor-his-parents-sinned.html" target="_blank">Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents</a>, that he was born blind?"</i> (John 9:2)</blockquote>Let’s consider the question asked carefully. Why did Jesus’ disciples ask this question? First, we should consider that multiple disciples asked this question and not just one ‘rogue’ disciple. This means that it was a question that arose from an understanding between Jesus and his disciples from Jesus’ teachings.<br />
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In other words, it was assumed that before the man was born, he had the ability to sin. In other to have the ability to sin, the man must have had a previous physical body. Why? Because as Jesus taught previously, sinning was an action brought upon by the flesh. In other words, the person must have had a prior physical body in order to have sinned before he was born.<br />
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Note also that Jesus did not ridicule or criticize this question. He took it in stride. He did not say, “what a preposterous question.” What he said was:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me.”</i> (<a href="https://www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/07/neither-this-man-nor-his-parents-sinned.html">John 9:1-3</a>)</blockquote>Because Jesus accepted that the man <i>could have</i> previously sinned, he admitted that the man must have lived prior to his being born into that body - since he was born blind. While he is saying that the activities of his previous life did not cause his blindness, Jesus is acknowledging that they could have. Jesus is saying that there was another purpose to the blindness other than as a consequence of his previous activities — previous to being born blind: A purpose arranged by God.<br />
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Jesus also directly admitted transmigration when he said that John the Baptist had appeared in a previous lifetime:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished." (Matthew 17:12)
</i></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist. (Matthew 17:13)</i></blockquote>
The bottom line is that the physical world is a place of consequence and learning, created by God. Although it is hell (yes, this is hell), the physical world maintains a perfect mechanism for teaching us the consequences of our actions; and it is this mechanism that causes the suffering we see in the world today (in other words, we cause our own suffering). This is all part of God's lesson plan, meant to help each of us evolve spiritually.<br />
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Should we learn life's lessons, and evolve spiritually, and re-develop our love for God, we will leave the physical world and these temporary bodies behind, and return to the spiritual world, because <i>"flesh gives birth to flesh and the Spirit gives birth to the spirit." (<a href="https://www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2020/02/flesh-gives-birth-to-flesh-but-spirit.html" target="_blank">John 3:6</a>)</i><br />
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-89001671145386378502014-10-18T08:55:00.006-07:002021-09-17T14:54:04.264-07:00"My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I, too, am working." (John 5:17)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><blockquote>The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well. So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too am working."</blockquote></i></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">What does <i>'His work'</i> mean?</h2>This is Jesus’ response to those who were questioning and criticizing Jesus for working on the Sabbath. Notice here that Jesus is clarifying that he is not God. There are two entities here: There is <i>"My Father"</i>, and there is <i>"I"</i> (Jesus).<br /><br /><div>Jesus is differentiating himself from God by saying that God is always working, and so is he.<br />
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Jesus is clarifying not that he is God, but that he has a relationship with God. He is not the Supreme Being. Jesus is God's loving servant, as also illustrated here.<br />
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This is illustrated with the word <i>"too."</i> While God is <i>"always at His work"</i>, Jesus is also (<i>"too"</i>) doing God's Work - indicated by the Greek word κἀγώ (kagō), which means "likewise" or "also" according to the lexicon.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What does Jesus mean by, <i>'I too am working'?</i></h2>When a person does someone else's will and works on their behalf, they have become their servant. If they freely do this work out of love, then they are that person's loving servant. This was <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2013/07/for-i-gave-them-words-you-gave-me-and.html" target="_blank">Jesus' relationship with God.</a><br />
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Furthermore, when a loving servant does the work of their master, there becomes a oneness of purpose between the two. The master's will is non-different from the loving servant's will. This is the oneness (of purpose and will) that Jesus has described elsewhere: Not that God and Jesus are one and the same person.<br />
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If Jesus is God, then who is Jesus referring to when he says <i>"My Father"</i>? Is he making up a name and pretending there is another person when really he is the Supreme Being himself? This is a ridiculous supposition.<br />
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In reality, those who accept Jesus as the Supreme Being simply do not know the Supreme Being. Sadly they have forgotten God because they don't want to do someone else's will. They want to keep doing their own will and have Jesus' sacrifice prevent them from suffering any consequences.<br />
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Sadly, they are missing the one true relationship that Jesus was trying to show us by example and through his teachings: To love and serve our Best Friend and Protector, God. By substituting Jesus for the Supreme Being, we are ignoring the One Person that Jesus dedicated his life to.<br />
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By substituting Jesus for the Supreme Being we are also missing the relationship that will completely fulfill us.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What is the point of Jesus' teachings?</h2>Simple observation of the activities of many sectarian institutions that claim to follow Jesus reveals that many have missed the point of Jesus' teachings.<br />
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If we are amazed that many priests in the church could possibly be so empty and deranged as to molest young children, we must know that these evils are <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2012/11/you-did-not-choose-me-but-i-chose-you.html" target="_blank">fruits of a bad tree</a>: That is the tree that has forgotten God.<br />
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In their pomp and ceremony regarding Jesus' blood and the focus upon having their sins forgiven, this empty philosophy has missed the very teachings that would have made them whole: A loving service relationship with the Supreme Being, our Best Friend and Protector.<br />
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This is called a higher taste. Once a person tastes love for the Supreme Being, they have tasted something that overcomes materialism and self-centeredness. Jesus illustrated this higher taste when he said:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>“My food,” said Jesus, “<a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/11/my-food-is-to-do-will-of-him-who-sent.html" target="_blank">is to do the will of Him</a> who sent me and to finish His work."</i> (John 4:34)</blockquote><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-81479085504529331972014-10-17T19:05:00.006-07:002021-09-17T14:54:29.367-07:00"... the Son can do nothing by himself ..." (John 5:19)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote><i>For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. Jesus gave them this answer: "Very truly I tell you, the son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his father doing, because whatever the father does the son also does." (John 5:18-19)</i> </blockquote><h2>Is Jesus saying this literally or metaphorically?</h2>Many have misinterpreted this literally, with the <i>"son"</i> being Jesus and the <i>"father"</i> being God. For this reason, many translations have added capitalization to "father" and "son."</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Rather, Jesus is using the relationship between a father and his son metaphorically to explain the relationship he has with God.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">If Jesus was referring strictly to himself and God here, he would have said something like:<br />
<blockquote><i>"Very truly I tell you, I can do nothing by myself; I can do only what I see my Father doing, because whatever the Father does I also do."</i></blockquote>Certainly, this would be a more appropriate statement for Jesus to make if he was referring specifically to himself.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Why wouldn't Jesus do this, and speak in the first person instead of the third person if he were speaking literally of himself?<br />
<br />Because Jesus was referring to a role - not a specific individual. Yes, he was conferring that he was in that role - but this role was not exclusively himself, or else he would have just said "Jesus" or "me."<br />
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We do find that Jesus does make a similar statement about himself directly, later on:</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote><i>“When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me." (<a href="https://www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/05/when-you-have-lifted-up-son-of-man-then.html" target="_blank">John 8:28</a>)</i> </blockquote><h2>Is Jesus referring to dependency?</h2></div>Jesus was responding to those wanting to criticize Jesus, saying that <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/12/my-father-is-always-at-his-work-to-this.html" target="_blank">Jesus was putting himself equal to God</a>. Jesus clarified that just as a son is dependent upon his father, he was. <div><br /></div><div>Jesus is suggesting that he is dedicated and dependent upon God, just as a son is dependent upon his father.<br /><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">In response to the Pharisees' complaint about Jesus, Jesus is also indicating that his followers have the opportunity to regain their relationship with God and become dedicated to God. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">What kind of relationship? Taking shelter of God. Becoming dependent upon God.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Such is the opportunity for each of us. Any of us can choose to take shelter in God and become one of God's dependents. One of God's lovers. This is what Jesus is trying to teach his students.<br />
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Jesus was also illustrating that indeed, he is to be included as someone who has taken shelter in God. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This occurs in any loving relationship. A person who loves another will do the will of and act on behalf of the one they love. This is the essence of Jesus' life and the essence of Jesus' relationship with God.<br />
</div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07078229100116402956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608853601436271019.post-39893810266311499922014-10-16T13:22:00.004-07:002021-09-17T14:58:29.693-07:00"For the Father loves the Son and shows him all He does. ..." (John 5:20)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote><i>"For the Father loves the Son and shows him all He does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed." (John 5:20)</i></blockquote></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Who is the "Son" according to Jesus?</h2>After using <i>son </i>and <i>father </i>as a<a href="https://www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2010/12/i-tell-you-truth-son-can-do-nothing-by.html"> metaphor in John 5:19</a>, Jesus goes further to reveal his own dependent relationship with God.<div><br /></div><div>Here, the use of <i>"Son"</i> as in the or the "Son of God" in most sectarian Bible versions is a slight mistranslation.* The word <i>"son"</i> has been translated from the Greek word υἱός (huios). While this could indicate a relationship of offspring (father/son), this is only "in a restricted sense, the male offspring (one born by a father and of a mother)"<br />
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But it is important not to confuse Jesus' metaphors with himself. In the same way that we would not confuse God with a master of slaves in another of Jesus' analogies.<br />
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This is why Jesus uses the Greek word γάρ (gar) - which refers to the previous statement in similarity. Thus this can also be translated to "similarly" as well. According to Thayer's lexicon, the "succeeding statement contains the reason for its immediate predecessor," and "it serves to explain, make clear, illustrate, a preceding thought or word." In this case, Jesus' statement here explains the metaphor about the son and the father in John 5:19.<br />
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When relating to Jesus' relationship with God, the more accurate translation* of the word υἱός (huios) as taken from the Greek lexicon, is <i>"one who depends on another or is his follower."</i><br />
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Thus the word more closely means <i>"devoted follower"</i> or<i> "loving servant."</i><br />
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In the sense of a teacher such as Jesus, it could also be accurately construed to mean <i>"representative"</i> as in God's representative.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Did God have only one son?</h2>The concept that some have claimed, of God begetting only one son makes no sense and does not agree with scripture.<br />
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Besides, why would God only beget one son? Would the Supreme Being, the Controller of all creation, somehow be limited in His ability to beget children? Most men can theoretically beget tens if not hundreds of children in their lifetime. And we are saying that the Supreme Being can only beget one person? Is God now impotent? This is simply illogical.<br />
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This also contradicts other verses elsewhere in scripture. We find many verses refer to multiple devoted children of God:<br />
<blockquote><i>When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the <b>sons [devoted followers (בֵּן)] of God</b> saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. </i>(Genesis 6:1-2)</blockquote><blockquote><i>The Nephilim were on the earth in those days — and also afterward — when the <b>sons [devoted followers (בֵּן)] of God</b> went to the daughters of men and had children by them. </i>(Genesis 6:4)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><i>Now there was a day when the </i></i><i><b>sons [devoted followers (בֵּן)] of God</b></i><i><i> came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.</i> (Job 1:6)</i></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><i>Again there was a day when the </i></i><i><b>sons [devoted followers (בֵּן)] of God</b></i><i><i> came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.</i> (Job 2:1)</i></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><i>When the morning stars sang together, and all the </i></i><i><b>sons [devoted followers (בֵּן)] of God</b></i><i><i> shouted for joy?</i> (Job 38:7)</i> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"> [Jesus speaking] <i>“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called <b>sons [devoted followers (υἱός)] of God</b></i>.” (Matthew 5:9)</blockquote><blockquote><i>...Adam, the <b>son </b></i><i><b>[devoted follower (υἱός)]</b></i><i><b> of God</b>.</i> (Luke 3:38)</blockquote><blockquote>[John, speaking of Jesus] <i>Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become <b>children </b></i><i><b>[devoted followers (υἱός)]</b></i><i><b> of God</b>.</i> [John 1:12].</blockquote><blockquote><i>"Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are <b>sons </b></i><i><b>[devoted followers (υἱός)]</b></i><i><b> of God</b>."</i> (Romans 8:12-17)</blockquote><blockquote><i>“You are all <b>sons </b></i><i><b>[devoted followers (υἱός)]</b></i><i><b> of God</b> through faith in Christ Jesus.”</i> (Galatians 3:26)</blockquote>Here we can see a consensus of the translations of <i>“sons of God”</i> within scripture. Yes, these translations utilize "son" - but their source comes from υἱός (huios) in Greek and בֵּן (ben) in Hebrew - both referring to "devoted followers" or "loving servants" in these contexts.<br />
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Thus the <i>"sons of God"</i> are not referring to physical offspring. Yes, we are all children of God, but this does not explain why some of God's offspring are being referred to as υἱός (huios) or בֵּן (ben) in Hebrew and some are not.<br />
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Again, the answer is that υἱός (huios) in this context is, as the Greek lexicon puts it, <i>"one who depends on another or is his follower."</i> In other words, the <i>"son of God"</i> in this context is a <i>loving servant of God</i>.<br /><br />
In the context of Jesus we must add an additional concept - revealed by Thayer's Greek lexicon, which states concerning the term υἱός τοῦ θεοῦ:</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"The Jews called the Messiah υἱὸς εἶ τοῦ θεοῦ pre-eminently, as the supreme representative of God"</i></div><div><br /></div><div>This would mean in the context of Jesus, υἱός τοῦ θεοῦ would be better translated to <i>"Representative of God."</i></div><div><br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Why is Jesus speaking in the third person?</h2>Also notice that Jesus is referring to υἱός (huios) in the third person. This indicates that the reference is to a particular designation, rather than exclusively Jesus. When a person is speaking exclusively of himself, he will simply say "I" and "me."<br />
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This means that while Jesus is certainly including himself as one of God's loving servants, Jesus is not referring to himself as the <i>only</i> loving servant of God. Again this is confirmed when Jesus said:<br />
<blockquote><i>"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called <b>sons of God</b></i>.” (Matthew 5:9)</blockquote>By the way, <i>"peacemakers"</i> is derived from the Greek word εἰρηνοποιός (eirēnopoios) which refers to one who brings or spreads peace. In this context, however, it refers to bringing peace to one's heart by spreading God's message. So in this context, Jesus is saying that those who are spreading God's message to others (thereby bringing them internal peace) are God's loving servants.<br />
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In fact, Jesus' entire statement above (John 5:18) is referring to activities a loving servant would do. A loving servant is one who willingly, and out of love, follows his master. A loving servant completely relies on his master, and refuses to act alone. He only acts in a way that is pleasing to his master - in this case, the Supreme Being. This is what makes a special loving servant such as Jesus, God's representative.<br />
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Here Jesus also clarifies that when the representative of God is acting, he is not acting alone. Because he is only acting on what he knows will please God, he is acting on God's behalf.<br />
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This point begins to clarify the issue that had been brought up by those wanting to criticize Jesus, saying that Jesus was putting himself equal to God (John 5:17). Jesus clarified that because he (as God's loving servant and representative) is dedicated and dependent upon God, the actions of God's representative simply reflect God's will.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Is Jesus in love with God?</h2>This occurs in many loving relationships. A person who loves another will do the will of and act on behalf of the one they love. This is the essence of Jesus' life and the essence of Jesus' relationship with God.<br />
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Yes, Jesus was in love with God. And this is the source of their oneness.<br />
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This is important. As Jesus utilizes this metaphor of the relationship between a son and his father, Jesus is revealing an aspect of his intimate loving relationship with the Supreme Being.<br />
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Notice also that Jesus says, <i>"Yes, to your amazement..."</i> Why would this be to <i>"<b>your</b> amazement"?</i> Does this mean that everyone else will see what God shows Jesus? And how will they know what God shows Jesus? If Jesus has such an exclusive relationship with God, as sectarian teachings propose, how is it that those who Jesus is talking to will be able to see and be amazed by all the things that God shows Jesus?<br />
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The solution to this riddle, and the riddle of why Jesus is talking in the third person, is that Jesus is not speaking of an exclusive relationship between himself and God here. He is speaking in general of the <a href="//www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2011/07/as-long-as-it-is-day-we-must-do-work-of.html" target="_blank">loving relationship between God and his loving servants</a> - comparing to loving sons of fathers.<br />
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This is a relationship that Jesus enjoys, and also a relationship that the teachers (prophets) such as John the Baptist, Abraham, Jacob, Solomon, David, and many others, also enjoy with God in the spiritual world and as they walked the earth. He is wanting to include his students in this statement as well, because he sees that many of his students are also becoming (or will become) God's loving servants. This is why he can say, <i>"to your amazement..."</i><br />
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Yes, Jesus is trying to teach those around him, who are doubtful that anyone can re-develop our loving relationship with God and become one of God's loving servants. And once they become one of God's loving servants, God will also <i>show </i>them His love through activity and knowledge.<br />
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As Jesus indicates, a loving relationship with God is an active relationship. There are two persons involved: The Supreme Being and His loving servant. If one of God's children chooses to become one of God's loving servants, then there is an active relationship. The activity of sharing a relationship is what Jesus is referring to when he says, <i>"shows him all He does."</i><br />
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This is the case in any loving relationship. Each party <i>shows</i> the other their love with actions. Actions illustrate the love one person feels for another. This type of loving action also occurs between the Supreme Being and His representative. God is continually <i>showing</i> His loving servants His love through loving action. God frequently sends His representatives to teach us - as evidenced by the prophets of the Old Testament. He also communicates directly with us through the Holy Spirit.<br />
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God's representative is also loving God through action. This is part of the active relationship that exists between God and His children. We can either see it for what it is or try to make Jesus out to be someone he is not.<br />
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Jesus came to teach us to love the Supreme Being:<br />
<blockquote><i>"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)</i></blockquote>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">*Here is the translation of this verse from the <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/966163">Lost Gospels of Jesus</a>:</h4><blockquote><i>"Similarly, the Creator loves His Representative and shows him all the things He Himself does. Yes, and He will show him greater deeds than these, and you will marvel." (<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/966163">John 5:20</a>)</i></blockquote><br />
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