"I have shown you many good works from the Father..." (John 10:32)

Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?" (John 10:31-32) 

Why did they want to stone Jesus?

The Pharisees and other temple officials wanted to stone Jesus because he said something they did not understand. He said:

"I and the Father are one." (John 10:30)

They did not understand this statement. They thought that Jesus was saying that he was God. So they wanted to stone him.

Even today we find this interpretation exists. Even though Jesus states clearly in the above statement that he is serving God - "works from the Father."

Jesus' statement in John 10:30 is better understood when translated more accurately, as is translated from the Lost Gospels of Jesus:

"The Creator and I are united.” (John 10:30)

Jesus was not saying that he was the Supreme Being. He was saying that he and the Supreme Being were one in will and purpose. There was a unity of purpose and will between himself and God. Jesus was doing God's will. He was representing the Supreme Being and working to please God. This makes them one in will and purpose, but in no way makes Jesus God.

This is illustrated with Jesus' prayer to the Supreme Being:

"Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will. Let the cup pass from me." (Mark 14:36)

If Jesus were the Supreme Being, he would not need to pray to anyone.

What were the 'good works' Jesus is talking about?

Jesus is speaking of his various efforts to preach to people, and also some of his healings and other miracles. These are considered "works" - from the Greek word ἔργον (ergon) meaning "an act, deed, thing done" - because these are the things that Jesus did in his service to God and his service to humanity.

Indeed, Jesus also confirms that the good works he performed did not come from himself, but rather, from God, whom he refers to as Abba or Father. This indicates that Jesus was dependent upon the Supreme Being. He was doing God's will, and his activities were empowered by God.

This is the position of God's loving servant. Jesus did not claim the miracles because he knew where they came from. They came from His Beloved, the Supreme Being. If Jesus was the Supreme Being, he would not defer to anyone. Why would the Supreme Being defer to someone else?

Could Jesus be referring to his "dying for our sins"?

This erroneous interpretation that "God became man so he could die for our sins" is preposterous. Why would the Supreme Being need to come under the control of material nature - which He created - in order to die? Are they saying that God died?

Why would God need to suffer on the cross for our sins? 

This means that the Supreme Being must somehow come under the rules of the physical world - a world of consequence. God is above these rules. He made these rules. He does not need to follow the rules He created for our rehabilitation.

If the Supreme Being wanted to remove the sins of humankind He could do so with a simple thought. He does not need to disguise Himself as a man and suffer on a cross.

Where did this notion that Jesus died for our sins come from?

This idea that Jesus died for our sins has been completely misconstrued. Yes, purification results from following Jesus, and understanding his sacrifice and commitment to the Supreme Being is purifying. But a literal derivation of texts such as Paul's misconstrues the situation entirely:

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor 15:3)

Paul's teachings were not compliant with Jesus' teachings. Jesus did not teach this. Nor did Jesus' disciples. This is why Paul openly debated James and Peter regarding Jesus' teachings.

Paul created a new interpretation of the meaning of Jesus' life that was not consistent with Jesus' teachings. Paul was not a follower of Jesus when Jesus walked the earth.

Paul supposedly (second hand - Paul never writes of this personally) had a "vision" of Jesus, and this supposedly gave him the authority to teach on Jesus' behalf. (We say "vision" in quotes because the letters say that Paul just saw a light and heard a voice. He didn't see Jesus personally. The voice could have come from someone else.) 

Paul was not a disciple of Jesus. And his teachings differed from the teachings of Jesus and Jesus' disciples who were trying to spread his teachings.

Paul's teachings were aimed at collecting followers. He was supposedly broadening the reach of Jesus' teachings to the "Gentiles" - as if "Gentiles" means a common person.

Consider for a moment what Jesus stated about his persecution:

"He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him.  (Luke 18:32-33)

So Paul wanted to round up those people who persecuted Jesus for his early church?

Actually, the word "Gentiles" - translated from the Greek word ἔθνος (ethnos), means "pagans" or those "not worshipping the true God." according to Thayer's lexicon. This means that in the context of Jesus' statement, he was referring to those who were atheists.

Yes, Jesus is referring to atheists. That's why he didn't want to teach to them. He didn't want to teach to those who didn't believe in the existence of the Supreme Being.

Now understand that the society that Paul set out to convert from was not just atheistic. They worshipped the Roman pantheon and they also worshipped some of the Emperors as though they were gods - such as Caesar.

In order to reach these people, Paul had to appeal to the idea of easy purification: That once we accept that Jesus died for our sins, we are purified.

And purification is not about loving and serving God - it is about taking advantage of God to get cleaned off.

Jesus' teachings offered another form of purification. One where our consciousness needs to change from being self-centered to loving God:

"'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) 

Could "died for our sins" be a figure of speech?

Let's say a soldier dies on the battlefield fighting for the freedom of his country. Certainly, we could say the soldier "died for our freedom." Yes, his fighting may have contributed to freedom. But his death in itself did not literally produce freedom. 

Otherwise, only one death would be required to guarantee our freedom - which would be nice. But unfortunately, it isn't literally true. Yes, it is a true statement, but it is also a figure of speech.

In the same way, one could say Jesus' body died "for" this cause of helping us reverse our self-centeredness and bring us closer to God - but it must be understood within the context of what Jesus taught while he was alive.

His persecution inherently tells us just how important that mission was, that Jesus would allow himself to be persecuted. In other words, Jesus could have changed his teachings or ran away and gone into hiding in order to escape persecution.

But he didn't, because he and God wanted to show just how important those teachings were. They wanted to show just how important it was for us to consider a change of heart - from self-centeredness to God-centeredness.

In contrast, the translation to "died for our sins" along with its continuous interpretation, alludes to some sort of exchange. Like the death of Jesus' body was somehow a ransom or payment for the debts of our sins. But when the Greek is translated correct - with the meaning of ἁμαρτία as wandering from God's law - and thus not loving Him - there can exist no ransom scenario.

There can be no scenario of ransom because not loving and serving God is cannot get paid back. It can certainly be restored - through God's mercy and Jesus' mercy. But real love is not business. It cannot be ransomed or exchanged.

Jesus' sacrifice was not some sort of ransom as imagined by many institutions and their teachers. Rather, Jesus' life, teachings, and sacrifices all serve to heal or purify our consciousness. They help cleanse our disease of self-centeredness.

Let's consider carefully what sin is. Sin is self-centered activity that harms others. This is opposed to activities done to help others, or activities specifically to please the Supreme Being. These are our two choices in life.

The physical world has been designed in such a way that there is a consequence for every activity performed in self-centeredness. Whether the activity helps others or hurts others, if it is done with our ultimate gain, there is a consequence. 

Whether the gain goes to our physical bodies, our reputation or position - or the gain of our family, club, sect or even country - the activity has a consequence. Activities that help others or help ourselves have positive consequences and activities that hurt others or hurt ourselves have negative consequences. This is God's design, and it is perfect.

Why are there consequences?

Why did the Supreme Being set this consequence system up? Just consider consequence training in the home. Every good parent does this. They reward the child for doing good and introduce negative consequences for doing something bad. Both of these - the reward and negative consequences - are consequences. These help teach the child.

In the same way, the Supreme Being set up the physical world with consequence training to help us grow spiritually. God wants us to return to Him - and come back to the spiritual world. So He set up a system of consequences in order to help us gradually grow - as fast as we wish - in order to return to our original loving relationship with Him.

Just consider how this system works. When we hurt someone's body, the system exerts a consequence that puts our body in a similar situation of being hurt. What does this do? It shows us how it feels. This, in turn, allows us to learn empathy - understanding how it feels helps us to empathize and connect with others. This can gradually teach us the meaning of relationships (relating to others) and eventually - hopefully - the meaning of love: Caring about someone other than ourselves.

You see, our problem is that each of us fell from the spiritual world because we became self-centered. The spiritual world is full of individuals who are God-centered and God's-children-centered. They are full of love and only interested in pleasing God and pleasing others. 

But we chose ourselves over this. We chose to be self-centered. So we were sent to the physical world - a rehabilitation center - to hopefully relearn why we will be happier when we return to our original consciousness of being God-centered instead of self-centered.

So the question then would be, why would God set this beautiful system up in order to help train us to return to the spiritual world where we will ultimately be happy again - only to dismantle it with Jesus' supposed death on the cross?

He didn't. If we look around us, we can see that the law of consequences is still alive and well. When we do something that hurts another, we get hurt. When we help others, we get helped. Sometimes it may take a lifetime or two to get "what's coming," but we always do. For the most part, we see the consequences either immediately or within years.

This increases our learning because we can relate to what we did before to deserve what we have now. No matter how many times a person might go to church and stare at a cross, we will still learn through consequences.

Acting on behalf of pleasing the Supreme Being, on the other hand, is purifying. This helps bring us back to our loving relationship with God.

In reality, Jesus' sacrifice illustrated how important his teachings are - that Jesus was prepared to suffer rather than disavow his teachings. Whenever we see someone sacrifice the life of their physical body for a higher cause - what does that do?

It makes us think about that higher cause. It makes us feel that the higher cause was more important than the life of their physical body, right?

Isn't this the case for Jesus' sacrifice?

The fact that he was willing to be persecuted for his teachings actually indicates the importance of Jesus' teachings. How better to underscore our teachings than to our life because of them?

Yes, Jesus could have disavowed his teachings before Pilate and the high priests at any time. If he did so, they would have surely let him go free. But Jesus refused to do disavow his teachings. At Jesus' trial, Jesus said to Pilate:

"You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." (John 18:37)

Jesus says his whole purpose for coming here is to "testify to the truth." This means that he came to teach us the truth. It is his teachings that he valued.

If Jesus' purpose for coming here was to die for our sins, this is where he would have said it, right? He would have said, 'the reason I was born and came into the world was to die for your sins." But he didn't. He said that his purpose was to teach us the truth.

This should illustrate to us that it is not specifically the murder of Jesus that has the ability to save us. It is following Jesus' teachings that can save us.

The persecution of Jesus and the subsequent murder of his body serves to bring further attention to those teachings, and the fact that those teachings were more important than the life of the physical body. And what is the sum and substance of Jesus' teachings?

“‘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)

By following this instruction, and refocusing our life towards loving and pleasing the Supreme Being, we are saved. This is how Jesus saves.

*Here is the translation of Jesus' statement according to the Lost Gospels of Jesus:

“I showed you many great deeds from the Creator – for which of these deeds do you stone me for?” (John 10:32)

"He will glorify me because it is from me that He will ..." (John 16:14)

"He will glorify me because it is from me that He will receive what He will make known to you." (John 16:14) 

How will God glorify Jesus?

One might wonder how God will glorify Jesus if he is being persecuted like a criminal, and put to death on the cross. This certainly doesn't sound too glorifying.

Throughout the ordeal, Jesus was the recipient of grotesque insults and physical beatings. These were hardly glorifying. So what is Jesus referring to?

"He" is appropriately translated from ἐκεῖνος (ekeinos), but can also mean "that one" or here, "that One." The reference is to Jesus' statement in John 16:12-13, as he has been discussing the Holy Spirit guiding his students after he has physically left them when his physical body dies.

"Glorify" here is translated from δοξάζω (doxazō). The word can certainly mean "glorify" in some contexts, but its primary meaning according to Thayer's lexicon, "is to think, suppose, be of opinion." 

It can also mean "to honor, do honor to, hold in honor;" "to make renowned, render illustrious;" and "to cause the dignity and worth of some person or thing to become manifest and acknowledged." It can also mean "to give splendor" according to common usage.

The better choice of translation would be "honor." God will honor Jesus.

We have seen this result for the past 2,000 years, as Jesus is revered throughout the world to this day. That revere is based upon the honor that God bestowed upon Jesus.

God has to receive this from Jesus?

This translation makes it seem that Jesus is God's superior. That God must wait for Jesus to give something to Him. That God is somehow dependent upon Jesus?

"Will receive" is translated from λαμβάνω (lambanō), but this word means "to take" as in " to take with the hand, lay hold of, any person or thing in order to use it;" "to take in order to carry away;" and more importantly, "to take what is one's own, to take to one's self, to make one's own." This meaning is also captured by the word "derived."

God does not need Jesus to glean information from His students. God does not need anyone. God is self-sufficient, and this is why He is called God.

But certainly, God can receive an offering from His beloved servant. Jesus can, therefore, make an offering of his teachings and his followers to God. And should this happen, God can certainly utilize that offering.

But God doesn't need it. God can do anything want he wants.

How does God need Jesus to make this known?

"Will make known" is translated from ἀναγγέλλω (anaggellō), which means "to announce, make known," and "to report, bring back tidings, rehearse" according to the lexicon. Thus, "reveal" is more appropriate.

Thus we can see that the concepts are a little more complex than indicated by the translation above. The translation makes it seem that the Holy Spirit or Spirit of Truth - πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας - must rely upon Jesus, and needs Jesus in order for the Holy Spirit to teach them. The translation is making it sound like God in the form of the Holy Spirit does not know the Truth on His own. That He needs to learn it from Jesus first.

The more appropriate translation is based upon revealing, and this is based upon a relationship. Whan a person knows one person in a relationship, they can more easily get to know the other person. That is the nature of relationships. Jesus and God are involved in a loving relationship.

That is why knowing Jesus will more easily get us hooked up with the Holy Spirit.

Is this the role of God's representative?

God's representative is a loving servant of the Supreme Being, who is sent by God to introduce his followers to Him. Those who follow the instructions of God's representative, then, are introduced to God. Jesus clearly stated this when he said to his students:

"I will show you what He is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice." (Luke 6:47)

In this statement, "words" is translated from the Greek word λόγος (logos), which is better translated to "teachings." But whether translated to "words" or "teachings," Jesus is clearly stating here that those who hear Jesus' teachings and then follow them, will be introduced to God. Isn't this what "show you what He is like" means? Certainly, the Greek also indicates this.

This is the role of God's representative. He introduces us personally to God.

This relates directly to the meaning of Jesus' statement above. Jesus is talking about the fact that they're coming to know the Supreme Being has been the result of Jesus having introduced them to God. The current state of their heart with respect to God has come about as a result of Jesus' teachings - and the extent by which they have followed those teachings.

Therefore, their own relationship with God - through the Holy Spirit - draws from their relationship with Jesus and the extent by which they follow Jesus' teachings. There is a three-way bind, so to speak, between the student, God's representative and God.

Let's say that we want to come to know an important person on a personal basis. How would we do that? We can be introduced to them by a mutual friend. If we know this friend and they trust us, then they can relay that trust to the important person.

This element of trust is a big one, however. How is trust established? This friend would need to feel that we were sincere and not just being their friend because we have wanted to get something from them - maybe use them to gain attention or something. This kind of trust is established typically by doing things to please them. This is what friendship is about.

And once the introduction is made, all three can be mutual friends.

In the same way, Jesus must trust that the follower is sincere and ready to be introduced to God. This will be automatically vetted out by us following Jesus' teachings. Then once he introduces the follower to God, they will be irrevocably bound in this relationship.

God is a Person. He enjoys personal relationships. He enjoys seeing His personal friends introduce others to Him. This is part of His enjoyment because He is the Supreme Personal Being and He enjoys friendships and relationships.

Jesus is having an intimate discussion with his closest followers, and this intimacy is being wrapped with his intimate relationship with God. It is a very confidential matter, that not many are let in to. Why not? Because most of us simply want to use whatever we derive for our own advantage. This self-focus makes us blind to the real confidential nature of Jesus' relationship with God, and his students.

Just consider, for example, what a self-centered person might do - and have done - when given a small piece of confidential information about the Supreme Being. They might try to use it to their advantage. 

They might try to, for example, start-up their own church and try to gain many followers based on the fact that they had a vision of some sort - ultimately twisting their vision into some big doctrine. 

This is the kind of thing that goes on within hell in the name of religion. Instead of being humbled by scripture, some have tried to use scripture and the teachings of Jesus to gain fame, followers and create false authority. This is why Jesus instructed his disciples:

"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." (Matt. 7:6)

*Here is the translation of Jesus' statement from the Lost Gospels of Jesus:

"He will honor me, for He takes from me and reveals it to you.” (John 16:14)

"Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth." (John 17:17)

What does 'sanctify them' mean?

Jesus is continuing his open prayer to the Supreme Being. He is speaking of his followers.

"Sanctify" is being translated from the Greek word ἁγιάζω (hagiazō), which means, in this context, "to purify - to purify internally by renewing of the soul" according to Thayer's lexicon. This means that Jesus is talking about purification here.

Many speak of purification as being cleansed of sins. And many seek such purification by going to church and participating in the various rituals of that particular sect.

While there is certainly no problem with participating in congregational prayers, the problem with the quest for cleansing is that such a desire for self-purification in itself contradicts the essence of purification that Jesus is speaking of.

Jesus is talking about the "truth" purifying his disciples. How is that?

What Jesus is speaking of is a purification of one's heart. This means one's intentions, motives and objectives in life.

Jesus was focused on pleasing God and serving the Supreme Being. And his teachings focused on doing God's will and loving God.

Is love of God sanctifying?

Yes, Jesus confirms that love of God is sanctifying. This is because as Jesus taught, loving God is the goal of life. Loving God is being born again. Therefore, love of God is sanctifying.

This also means that loving God is purifying. Purification occurs when our hearts become purified - which means they become increasingly pure. Pureness is a state of love. Loving God and loving others. 

Love means being concerned about those we love - wanting the best for them and caring for them more than we care about ourselves.

On the other hand, wanting to be purified of sins (or saved) is a self-concern. It is a concern centered around ourselves. We want to be purified because we don't want to go to hell. We want to be purified so we don't have to suffer the responsibilities of our sinful (self-centered) activities.

In fact, the two self-related concerns - material desires and the desire to be cleansed of the consequences of those desires - are two sides of the same self-centered coin.

And notice here that Jesus is not concerned about his own sanctification. He is concerned about the purification of his disciples. This is a loving attitude: Jesus loves his students and wants to see them become purified.

In other words, he wants them to become lovers of God. This is the real purification that can come from "truth". Why?

When one hears the Truth about God - being spoken or written by God's representative, making it God's "word" - it has the effect, assuming the person hears or reads that Truth with a sincere heart - it has the effect of purifying our consciousness. Hearing the Truth can change our consciousness from self-centeredness to wanting to come to know God and wanting to love and please God.

As this desire manifests and blossoms within our heart, our goals and objectives in life change. In such a state, purification of our consciousness takes place simultaneously.

Can God sanctify us directly?

The Supreme Being can sanctify or purify us directly by revealing Himself directly or revealing the Truth about Himself to us.

God can see within our hearts and understand our desires. And as we have a sincere desire to know Him, the Supreme Being begins to show Himself to us.

As God shows Himself, we may have a change of heart regarding our purpose and direction in life.

This is a very subtle event that takes place within the depth of our being and must not be confused with "seeing" with the physical eyes. This type of "seeing" takes place at the spiritual level - not at the physical level. It does, however, manifest through our activities.

But as soon as we begin to see the Supreme Being from this spiritual level, we begin to fall in love - because the Supreme Being is the most lovable, beautiful person.

And as this gradually takes place our heart and consciousness become purified because we become focused on the Supreme Being.

And such a contact with the Supreme Being - whether it takes place through direct contact with Him or His representative - also has the effect of cleansing our consciousness as well as cleansing the responsibilities of our previous sinful existence. Why? Because God is all-purifying, and He is paving our path to return to Him.

Let's say that a baby is just beginning to walk, and the father calls the baby to walk across the living room floor to him. But as the baby begins her amble, the father notices that there is a big coffee table in the middle of the room that will block the baby's ability to walk over to the father. What does the father do?

The father will move the coffee table out of the way so the baby won't collide with the table. The father clears the way for the baby to walk over.

This is comparable to the Supreme Being's activities of cleansing sins as we begin to change our consciousness - desiring to love Him and return to Him. He in effect "clears the way" for us to return to Him.

Is a change of heart the same as being sanctified?

Yes, if that change of heart is loving God and loving others.

Yet the paradox is that we cannot receive this benediction if we are concerned about receiving it. If we are focused on being cleansed so we don't suffer, we completely miss the change of consciousness that comes with a focus towards coming to know, love and then please the Supreme Being. If our focus is self-centered - upon our own cleansing - our focus cannot be upon the Supreme Being. It is one or the other.

This also applies to the use of the instrument of Jesus' persecution - the cross - to purify or cleanse our sins. Some teachings utilize the cross in an effort to become purified of their sins.

With this prayer Jesus confirms that the Supreme Being can purify us directly, with the Truth. We do not need to meditate on Jesus being tortured on a cross to be purified.

Besides, this in effect uses Jesus' crucifixion for our own purposes. Is this what a person does when they love someone? Use their persecution for their own purposes?

And there is little value in purifying sins if a person is simply going to return to the same self-centered activities after the so-called purification ceremony.

This would be akin to following a bath by rolling around in the dirt - as elephants typically do. What value is the bath if we are just going outside to get dirty again? None.

But can the cross purify our consciousness? It can if we are sincerely seeing the sacrifice that Jesus is making in his loving service to the Supreme Being.

In the same way that Jesus' focus was upon doing God's will, our focus should not be upon cleansing our sins - it should be upon cleansing our consciousness. This means changing our consciousness from being focused on me to be focused on the Supreme Being.

Jesus confirmed this as he prayed just before his persecution:

“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)

He also confirmed it in his teachings:

“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." (Matt. 7:21)

Someone who does the will of the Supreme Being has changed their consciousness from being self-centered to being God-centered. This requires a change of heart. A change from a focus on achieving our own desires, to wanting to please the Supreme Being.

But how can we do this? Only with love. Just consider how "falling in love" changes a person. They suddenly become focused on pleasing the one they love. But this "falling in love" is usually a temporary phase when it is directed at another human. Why?

Because other humans do not have the unlimited capacity of attraction that the Supreme Being has. The Supreme Being is so unlimitedly attractive that should one focus their lives upon Him we can never get enough of Him.

For this reason, Jesus asked his students to fall in love with the Supreme Being. This is confirmed by the word "all" with his most important instruction:

“‘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)

*Here is the translation of this verse of Jesus' prayer from the Lost Gospels of Jesus:

"Purify them in the Truth; Your Teachings are Truth.” (John 17:17)

"... blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29)

Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29)

Why did would they not have 'believed'?

Jesus is stating this after Thomas has put his hand into the hole in Jesus' side and confirmed his acceptance that it is Jesus who is appearing before his disciples.

As discussed with the verse previous, this confirms that Jesus did not appear to them in his physical body. Otherwise, there would be no doubt that this was Jesus. 

Indeed, Jesus is appearing to them in an angel-like appearance - one allowing Thomas to put his hand through Jesus' side. Jesus' physical body died, and the spirit-person of Jesus left that body and re-appeared to his students within an angel-like appearance.

They had physically witnessed Jesus during his missionary work. And now he was also appearing before their eyes in an angel-like appearance. So why would they not "believe" in him?

And for those "who did not see" - what would they "believe"? That Jesus appeared to his disciples? Or that Jesus existed?

There is actually no special acclaim for someone to have "believed" that Jesus existed. Most historians accept that Jesus existed - many of whom do not accept the existence of the Supreme Being.

And certainly, those people who saw Jesus walk the earth preaching and did not respect him - even those who persecuted him - certainly "believed" in Jesus' existence. Why wouldn't they "believe?"

What about Jesus dying for our sins?

Yet some interpret that Jesus was talking about believing in him "rising after three days." As if it is a special honor to believe that Jesus "rose" after three days.

What is the special advantage of that?

Many teachers claim that this is about believing that Jesus died for our sins.

This is a strategy designed to attract followers. Sectarian translators, following the Roman Catholic interpretation, set this up in order to attract followers looking for salvation.

And yes, it certainly is an attractive proposal: All we have to do is "believe" that Jesus existed and died for our sins - and we are clean. All our sins are forgiven. We won't have to suffer the consequences of our behavior because Jesus' dying on the cross cleaned it all up for us.

But these institutions don't leave it there. They say we also have to join their institution and come to church and give them some money so they can keep their jobs and five- or six-figure salaries. In other words, the "died for my sins" thing is a lure - bait to bring us in and give them our donations.

And what if we don't give them our donations to buy their big cars and houses? Will they threaten us with "going to hell"?

But why can't we just accept that Jesus died for my sins that once and be done with it? Why do we have to go back to their institution every week - to accept that Jesus died for my sins again?

And what do we hear when we go into their institutions each week? We hear them drone on about - you guessed it - Jesus' dying for our sins. And boy, we sure do like that when they assure us that we're clean. We're good to go. We're not going to hell. After all the crap we've been doing, too.

Some institutions will even pass out little crackers to eat with some juice or wine - saying the crackers are Jesus' body and the juice or wine is Jesus' blood. So they want us to eat his body and drink his blood once a week?

Why are they drinking Jesus' blood?

Sounds a little like a vampire, yet this is the ritual for some sects: They pretend to drink Jesus' blood in the form of wine or grape juice. Then they say they are saved because they drank his blood.

Yes, a vampire is thought of as someone who drinks the blood of others in order to use that blood for themselves. This is called usury.

And usury is precisely what is going on in the name of Jesus in so many of these institutions. They are using Jesus. They are using the torture of Jesus' physical body in order to get cleansed.

That's not so different from the vampire.

The reality is that Jesus did not come to preach usury: He didn't teach that we should use him to be cleansed of our sins - as if he is some sort of doormat for us to wipe our sins off on.

In fact, this is a complete perversion of his teachings.

Just consider what Jesus said when a father asked him to heal his son:

“You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” (Luke 9:41)

What did Jesus mean by "perverse generation"? He meant that instead of them hearing his teachings, many had perverted his message into one related to their own self-centeredness. "Perverse" means to distort and turn something upside down - typically into something that accommodates one's own self.

Jesus was speaking of those who make everything about themselves.

And this is precisely how these institutions are using Jesus. Instead of hearing Jesus' teachings - instructing us to love and serve the Supreme Being - these institutions and their teachers are claiming that Jesus is all about me, myself and mine - how I can be cleansed. How I can get my diseases healed. How I can make more money or get a better job if I "believe" in Jesus.

Are these products of a "perverse generation"?

What Jesus was actually doing was trying to show us how to love and serve someone besides ourselves - God. This was the meaning of his allowing his body to be persecuted. He was serving the Supreme Being. This is why he said just minutes before his arrest:

“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)

Right now all we care about is me, myself, and mine. With perhaps a little family, country and/or institution mixed in. But this is still self-centeredness. It is still all about me and my stuff.

Meanwhile, Jesus is trying to encourage his students to accept his teachings: That they can trust his teachings and follow his teachings teaching us to love and serve the Supreme Being.

This is diametrically opposed to the notion that Jesus' purpose was to cleanse our sins - a self-centered proposal. A proposal based upon a fear of "going to hell."

This fear is - yes - self-centered. It is about me, myself, and mine.

So what is Jesus really saying here to his disciples? He is asking that they "trust" in him and his teachings. That they "trust" in God and "trust" that if we follow Jesus' teachings then we will be fulfilled.

Is this about trust?

Yes, the Greek word πιστεύω (pisteuō) means to "trust" or "have confidence." It is a personal word - someone has to "trust" or "have confidence" in someone else. It is not like believing black holes exist or something. It is trusting that someone is being honest and telling us the truth about something.

Yes, Jesus is saying that he wants their trust. Because he spent years teaching them that they should give their lives to the Supreme Being. That they can rely upon the Supreme Being. That they can love God and serve God.

This requires some effort - even for a follower who saw Jesus walking on the earth before their eyes. Even when it is said by someone who performed miracles. It is still a reach - because our physical eyes cannot see the Supreme Being.

Yes, the Supreme Being is invisible to the physical eyes because each of us rejected our relationship with God at some point. So He let us go. He is giving us our space. He gave us a world and a temporary vehicle (the physical body) that allows us to ignore His existence for a while. So we can act out our self-centered desires.

But He doesn't give up on us. God wants us back. But we have to choose that ourselves. We have to make a determined choice - do we want to return to the spiritual realm or do we want to stay here in hell away from God? Then, if we decide we want to regain our relationship with God, we have to work at changing our consciousness.

If we want to return to the spiritual realm we have to regain our consciousness of love. This means we have to change. Love means caring about the Supreme Being and His children more than we care about me, myself and mine. This is our innate consciousness. This is what fulfills us.

We get a taste of this consciousness when we "fall in love" with another person of this world. For a while, we feel that we want to dedicate ourselves to this person. We do stuff for them. We serve them. And how does this make us feel?

We feel great when we are "in love." It is the greatest feeling - as we compare it to our normally self-centered consciousness.

And it is because of this glimpse into our true consciousness that everyone is chasing this "falling in love" feeling. We all want that feeling.

But the funny thing is - once we find that feeling with someone of this world - it doesn't last. We may still "love" the person, but we typically do not stay "in love" with the person. That wonderful feeling goes away. Why?

Because we realize they aren't that perfect person we expected them to be. We discover their ugly side. We find out they are also - like us - basically self-centered, with many faults.

So we lose our expectation that our being "in love" with them will fulfill us. Because our "falling in love" with them didn't fulfill us. What does that tell us?

It tells us these "in love" feelings of this world are misplaced.

But because we all pine for that feeling of being "in love" - what does that tell us?

It tells us that innately we - the person inside this temporary physical body - needs to be "in love" with the perfect person. Who is that?

It is the Supreme Being. The Supreme Being is that perfect person - that soul mate - we've been looking for.

This is what Jesus was trying to tell his students. But did they trust him? Did they trust him when he told them there is a spiritual dimension they could not see and within that spiritual dimension there is a Supreme Being they can fall in love with, and serve, and give their hearts to?

Yes, some who did not see Jesus' miraculous appearance after the death of his physical body, and did not see his healings and other indications of his special role as God's representative have trusted that Jesus really was telling us the Truth when he told us that loving the Supreme Being will fulfill us:

“ ‘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)