"For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see ..." (John 9:39)

"For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." (John 9:39) 

What does 'for judgment' mean?

Jesus makes this statement as the man healed from his blindness bowed and worshiped him.

However, the translation* is questionable.

Here the Greek word κρίμαa (krima) can be translated to 'judgment,' but then the sentence does not make sense. The word κρίμαa (krima) can mean a 'decree, judgment or decision'. 

The word before κρίμαa is εἰς (eis), which can be translated to 'into, unto, to, towards, for, among'. Therefore, the more appropriate translation of the phrase εἰς κρίμαa would be something along the lines of:

"it has been decided..."

Why did Jesus 'come into the world'?

Jesus has spoken about this elsewhere. He has clearly stated that God sent him, and his teachings are not his own, but come from God:

"I have not come on my own; but He sent me." (John 8:42)

"For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it." (John 12:49)

"The words I say to you are not just my own." (John 14:10)

So how can Jesus be anyone’s judge or make anyone blind or not blind outside of God’s authority? How could Jesus say that all his teachings are God’s and not his, yet be interpreted as saying that Jesus now can sit in judgment as God does?

In other words, Jesus has come into the world by God’s command. God made a decision to send him into "this world."

And what does Jesus mean by "this world?" "World" has been translated from the Greek word κόσμος (kosmos). According to Thayer's lexicon, κόσμος can also be used to describe "the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God." Now how does this sit in the context of Jesus' statement, where he is reflecting on the man being healed of blindness?

Here Jesus is referring to the physical world - that place where those who have rejected God dwell. In this physical world, we spiritual living individuals are operating temporary physical bodies in an attempt to gain fulfillment away from God. Just as a driver steps into a car to drive, we have stepped into these physical bodies in an attempt to enjoy independently of God. This is because we, at some point, became envious of God. We sought what God has. This is why the serpent told Adam:

"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:5)

"You will be like God" is the crux. This indicates the symbolism regarding why Adam ate the "forbidden fruit." Adam represents each of us, and the fruit represents our desire to become like God.

Why do we want to be like God?

To desire what someone else has means we have become envious.

When a person becomes envious of someone, any relationship between them is over. This is what happened to us. We became envious of the Supreme Being. We wanted to enjoy like God. We wanted to have others worship us rather than worship Him.

So God sent us away from Him. In order to exercise our desire to be God, we had to be separated from Him:

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. (Genesis 3:21)

So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. (Genesis 3:23)

What are "garments of skin"?

Are we talking animal skins or something? No. We are talking about our physical bodies - they are made of skin. In other words, the Supreme Being gave us physical bodies to dwell in, because our spiritual selves had become contaminated by our envy and self-centeredness.

Then it says Adam was "banished" from the Garden of Eden. This symbolizes that we were pushed out of the spiritual world and put into the physical world - where we 'wear' our new physical skins - these temporary physical bodies.

The physical world allows us to exercise our envy. We can try to make others worship us. We can pretend to be the owner as we accumulate money and material goodies. In other words, we can try to play God here.

But here we can never own anything, and others' worship of us is false. Others only want their own stuff and think that if they pretend to worship us, they will get something in return. And the money and goodies? We lose everything at the time of death, if not earlier. So we own nothing.

The reality is, this physical world is a place of rehabilitation. It is designed to teach us about ourselves, with options to change. This is why there are so many lessons within this world. We are here to learn.

How so? The physical world is a place of consequence. It is a place where everything we do has a consequence - good and bad. If we hurt someone, we'll be hurt. If we help someone, we'll be helped.

What does this teach us?

It teaches us to care about others. It teaches us the meaning of relationships, and possibly even the meaning of love. Why? Because this is our original identity. The spiritual world, where we are from, is a place of love. It is a place where we have a personal loving relationship with God and we serve God and His associates within that relationship. This place, however, requires us to be purified to re-enter it.

For those who learn the preliminary lessons of caring for others, they become ready for their final step in the rehabilitation process. This is the step provided by God as He dispatches His representative to come to our aid in finalizing our rehabilitation and taking us home. This is God's mercy.

God's representative reintroduces us to the Supreme Being. He shows us how we can re-develop our loving relationship with God. It is a difficult process because it requires us to leave behind our hopes to enjoy like God. It requires us to give up our envy.

And those who will not give up their envy - those who will go to any lengths, even using God's teachings to try to dominate and take advantage of others - they will be sent back for more rehabilitation.

This is what Jesus means by "the blind will see and those who see will become blind." Those who have progressed in their rehabilitation process and are ready to hear the truth and renew their loving service relationship with God are enlightened by the teachings of God's representative. By following those teachings, they advance gradually, eventually returning to the Supreme Being at the end of their physical lifetime.

For those who reject God's representative - such as the institutional temple Pharisees and high priests rejected Jesus - they will return for more rehabilitation within the hellish "garments of skin" of the physical world.

For those who have graduated in their rehabilitation process to a point of being able to innocently hear Jesus' teachings - without trying to take advantage of them as have many of the officials of the ecclesiastical sectarian churches of today - they can graduate as they hear and act on Jesus' most important teaching:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." (Mark 12:30)

*Here is the translation of this verse according to the Lost Gospels of Jesus:

“It was decreed that I come into this world so those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” (John 9:39)

"No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." (John 11:4)

"This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." (John 11:4) 

Why is Jesus saying Lazarus won't die?

This statement was made by Jesus when he heard about Lazarus, whose body was sick. Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha. All three were students of Jesus. The Mary here is the person who had washed Jesus' feet with her hair and applied scented oil to him as she worshiped him.

Here Jesus is not only predicting that Lazarus' body would not die from this illness. Jesus is explaining why the miracle would take place. He was also aware that Jesus was actively glorifying God with his life and teachings.

First Jesus states, "it is for God's glory." This is the ultimate purpose, and the purpose of Jesus' miracles and teachings: To help us resume our lost loving relationship with God.

Note that Jesus did not indicate that the miracle of healing Lazarus would occur for the benefit of Lazarus. This is the prime motive that so many go to see charismatic preachers who claim to heal people in the name of Jesus. They do not go to glorify God. They do not go to learn about Jesus' teachings. They go to get healed, just as one goes to a doctor.

This is a self-centered approach towards the worship of God and Jesus. This approach assumes that God and Jesus are our servants and we simply order up some health (or any other material benefit) and they deliver it. Actually, it is the other way around. We are God's servants.

What does Jesus mean by 'God's Son'?

Then Jesus says, "so that God's Son may be glorified through it." "God's Son" is translated from the Greek phrase υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ. τοῦ θεοῦ means "of God." While υἱὸς can be translated to "son" in the context of a physical father-son relationship, this is, to quote the lexicon, "in a restricted sense, the male offspring (one born by a father and of a mother)."

In the absence of that literal meaning of a physical father and son, the lexicon also translates υἱὸς as "used to describe one who depends on another or is his follower." 

Since Jesus was not referring to a physcal body father/son relationship, and was referring to his spiritual relationship with God, the latter translation applies. This translates to, 'dependent follower' or better, 'loving servant' more appropriately.

But then we can add Thayer's lexicon statement about the use of this Greek word υἱὸς:

"The Jews called the Messiah υἱὸς εἶ τοῦ θεοῦ pre-eminently, as the supreme representative of God"

Utilizing this context, as Jesus was specifically sent by God - this could be translated to God's servant, but in this context, the more appropriate translation would be God's Representative.

Is this referencing servants of God?

Servants of God is consistent with the original texts translated to the multiple references to "Sons of God" among the English Bible translations:

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. (Genesis 6:2)

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. (Genesis 6:4)

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. (Job 1:6)

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. (Job 2:1)

When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:7)

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." (Matt. 6:9)

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)

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Romans 8:14)

For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. (Romans 8:19)

Each of these references to "sons of God" refers to those who are devoted to God - those who lovingly serve the Supreme Being.

But in the case of Jesus, as God has specifically sent Jesus to teach us, Jesus is a special type of servant of God: He is also the Representative of God.

This also means that υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ is best translated* to Representative of God: and Jesus' statement to:

"so that God's Representative may be glorified through it."

And why would the Supreme Being want to glorify His representative? God wants to bring attention to His representative's teachings. Why? Because God wants us back. He wants us to be happy, and the only way we will be happy is by resuming our natural position as the Supreme Being's loving caregivers within the spiritual dimension. This is why Jesus' primary instruction was:

"'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)  

Why did Jesus heal Lazarus and not everyone else?

This also brings up the notion of unfairness. Why does the Supreme Being heal some people and not others? Why was Lazarus healed and not others? Is God unfair? Was Jesus unfair?

This brings into view the bigger picture of this, which is why some people are born into poverty while some children die of starvation. Many in fact have questioned God's kindness and even His very existence because of this fact. The question posed is:

Why, if God is kind and loving, is there so much suffering in the world?

The answer to this comes from understanding what the physical world is, and who we are, why we are here. While this has been discussed elsewhere in detail in these writings, let's summarize:

1) We are not these physical bodies. We are each individual and eternal spiritual living beings, temporarily driving a particular physical body.

2) The physical body is a temporary machine designed to reflect the current state of our consciousness, combined with the accumulation of consequences from our prior activities. We might compare this to a car. We buy a car based on a combination of our particular preference of cars and our bank account balance (which is based on our prior activities and earnings). 

Then we drive that car around for a few years, and at some point, it breaks down (or we sell it first). Then we get out of the car and then buy another car - and again the car we end up buying and driving is the result of a combination of our preference for cars (consciousness) and our bank balance (the accumulation of prior activities).

3) Because the physical body is only an exterior vehicle, what happens to it does not happen to us. We can certainly experience and learn from what happens to the body, but because we are eternal spiritual living beings, what happens to the physical body does not happen to us. We get out of the body unscathed (except for our learning experiences, which we keep).

4) The purpose of pain and suffering in the physical world is to teach us and help us rehabilitate. We fell from the spiritual dimension because we became self-centered. The spiritual world is a place where everyone loves and serves God - and each other. This is our home. But because the Supreme Being gives us freedom (love requires freedom), each of us has the choice to be God-loving or self-loving.

Self-centeredness is not a characteristic of the spiritual world. It is a characteristic of the physical world. When we took on these temporary physical bodies we were granted the freedom to exercise our self-centeredness.

5) The physical world, however, is a place of consequence. Everything done selfishly - even if it is for our family or country - has consequences. As we cycle from one lifetime to the next, the type of body we take on will depend upon our past decisions and actions. This serves to teach us. It helps us to understand the consequences of our choices, just as consequence learning helps children grow into responsible adults.

6) Should we learn the lessons of the physical world, we may rise to an intelligent human form and have the opportunity to hear from God's representative. Should we take their teachings seriously and apply them to our lives, we may, with the Supreme Being's help, be rehabilitated and become ready to return to the spiritual world.

Utilizing this information, we can now see the suffering of the physical body for what it is. We can also learn to grow beyond it by applying Jesus' teachings.

This is why Jesus is focused on glorifying God. Glorifying God heals our selfishness. When we glorify God, we are re-developing our lost loving relationship with Him.

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

“This sickness will not cause death, but will serve to glorify God, and thereby glorify the Representative o God.” (John 11:4)

"The man who loves his life will lose it ...." (John 12:23-25)

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life." (John 12:20-25)

What does 'coming in the name of the Lord' mean?

Jesus is responding to the Greeks' request, but also reflects his being ceremoniously welcomed as he walked through Mount Olives into Jerusalem by his students and disciples, who shouted:

"Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" (John 12:13)

Coming "in the name of the Lord" means that Jesus was recognized by his students not as the Supreme Being, but as God's representative. Someone who comes in someone else's name is an emissary or messenger for that person. This is confirmed by Jesus when he said earlier:

"But He who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from Him I tell the world." (John 8:26)

The Hosanna chant of his students and disciples also testifies to the importance of God's Holy Names. This is a holy praising of God and in this case, God's representative.

Jesus' students and disciples are appreciating this fact - that Jesus is God's representative - and the Greeks who came to worship in Jerusalem also had heard this.

So Jesus, seeing that he is being praised and sought out as he comes into Jerusalem, comments that this is a moment in time when he is being glorified. But then he characterizes being glorified, and what this praise means to him.

What does Jesus' kernel of wheat parable mean?

The kernel of wheat that drops to the ground and "dies" as a seed - sprouts, in other words - symbolizes those who commit their lives to serving and pleasing God and being of service to others. The seed that does not end up sprouting in the ground stays alone - symbolizes the empty and lonely person who does not exchange a loving relationship with God.

The physical world is populated primarily by empty, lonely people. Even those surrounded by big families and lots of so-called friends are lonely without a loving relationship with the Supreme Being. 

Those of us who ignore our innate relationship with the Supreme Being are truly alone. 

Those who surround us might give us the illusion of loving relationships, but these relationships are all conditional relationships: They care about us as long as we care about them, and/or we fit their other requirements (status, money, family, etc.)

The bottom line is that these relationships are dependent upon the physical body. Those we are relating to in this world - family and friends - identify us and themselves as these temporary physical bodies. Therefore, they are not reaching the real us - the person who temporarily occupies the physical body.

This might be compared to two cars driving down the freeway together. The cars might look like they are relating because they are driving so close to each other, but the drivers within each car are not relating. They don't even know each other. And then the cars separate, never to be seen together again.

Jesus presents our two choices quite clearly. We can either focus on our false identities within this empty physical world, or we can resume our natural position as one of God's loving servants. The later course produces other "seeds" as we naturally influence others with our spiritual consciousness.

Jesus confirms this with the next sentence, as he states that, "The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."

How does a person 'lose' their life if they 'love' it?

The "his life" in the first phrase is the same as "his life in this world." Jesus is talking about our physical existence in the material world.

There is a distinction between the self and the physical body. They are independent of each other. We wear these physical bodies for a temporary period of time, and we leave them then they die.

Our physical lives can either be a platform for learning about the Supreme Being, re-establishing our loving relationship with Him and coming to serve Him; or they can be about chasing the fleeting physical pleasures of the world. This chasing of the pleasures of the physical body is described by Jesus as "The man who loves his life."

So then he says that if a man "loves his life" in the world, "he will lose it." What will he lose? Jesus clarifies this as he describes that "the man who hates his life in the world will keep it for eternal life."

Why does "eternal life" go to one who "hates his life"? If a person realizes that this physical world and its empty pleasures run counter to the state of being one of God's loving servants, then that person will hate the physical world.

The physical world, populated by physical bodies and physical elements, is not eternal. It is all temporary. It is changing dramatically, and every body dies. For each of us, the physical world is temporary because our bodies will die within decades. Most bodies die within about 5-8 decades. A few live a little longer, but every body dies. This makes this physical world temporary for each of us.

"Eternal life" is our natural position in the spiritual realm. We are each spiritual beings, who are temporarily occupying a physical body. This physical realm was developed by God as a place where those who wanted to be away from the Supreme Being could go and pretend to be someone they're not for a while.

Thus while the physical world allows us to play out our temporary identities and ignore God for a while, it is also a place of learning - a place of rehabilitation. If we use this lifetime to follow Jesus - sent by God to help us re-develop our relationship with God - then we can return to our natural position - our permanent home - in the spiritual realm. If not, then we will continue to assume temporary physical bodies and be away from God.

Jesus confirms that he's come to teach us to re-establish our loving relationship with God with his most important teaching:

“ ‘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 Jesus' statement according to the Lost Gospels of Jesus:

“The time has come that the Servant of Humanity shall be exalted. Very truly I say to you, “If a kernel of wheat doesn’t fall to the earth and die, it will remain alone. And should it die, it will bear much fruit. One who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it, to live eternally." (John 12:23-25)

"Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet ..." (John 13:10)

"Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." (John 13:10)

What does Jesus mean by 'clean'?

Jesus using a metaphor. He is comparing being clean physically with being spiritually purified, as he replied to Peter's enthusiastic statement:

"Then, Lord, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" (John 13:9)

This is confirmed as Jesus said: "And you are clean, though not every one of you."

The word "clean" is being translated from the Greek word καθαρός (katharos). This can mean "clean," but also "pure." According to the lexicon, it can mean "free from corrupt desire, from sin and guilt."

Thus, Jesus is pointing out that most of his students of his were purified. Apparently, except one. This, apparently, refers to Judas, confirms later in this conversation:

So Jesus is indicating that all those disciples who were with him and getting their feet washed by him were purified. The statement, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean," metaphorically indicates that he considered the disciples spiritually purified, and thus his washing their feet would be compared to maintaining an already purified state.

The first question this brings is that if some teachers are right that we can only be "saved" or "cleansed of our sins" - or purified - by Jesus' dying for our sins, how were Jesus' disciples purified before Jesus was crucified?

Some teachers go to the extent of saying that no one was saved prior to Jesus' dying for all of humanity. Some even claim that anyone who died before Jesus had to wait around for Jesus' crucifixion before they can be saved, which is supposedly why all the "prophets" were predicting Jesus' coming to save all of humanity. And now they say we have to wait again for Jesus to "come again."

This teaching makes no sense. They are claiming that those blessed ancient teachers such as Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Job, Samuel, Eli, David, Noah, Isaiah and so many others who directly communicated with God and served Him with love and devotion were not "saved"? That they too had to wait around for Jesus to die on the cross for their sins?

This nonsensical proposition was developed by institutional Roman Catholic teachers desiring to control the population through religion. They sought a doctrine that claimed the only way anyone could become spiritually purified, or "cleansed of their sins," or "saved" was through Jesus' crucifixion. (An amazing irony, given the Romans' involvement in Jesus' crucifixion.

This is despite the fact that many were saved and purified before Jesus as we see evidenced in the Books of the Old Testament. And Jesus purified and cleansed those around him long before he was crucified.

Isn't this a place of consequences?

Everything we do that affects others physically or mentally has a consequence. These will produce a corresponding effect upon our future in order to teach us, good or bad, the results of our activities. This is for educational purposes. We are here to learn, and consequences allow the physical world a process for teaching us.

In other words, we learn about how to be more empathetic, by becoming more aware of how our actions affect others.

This is about learning to love. Empathy towards others is about loving others. When we love someone, we automatically empathize with them. The ability to love can also be gradually developed through empathy.

These lessons are part of the design of the physical world, created by the Supreme Designer, God. We might compare this to a very advanced video game. Just as a person can sit down at the computer and start up a video game, the spirit-person takes on a physical body in the physical world.

Just as a person might choose a suitable icon to play in the video game - and come to identify with that icon - the spirit-person begins to operate and identify with a temporary physical body in the material world based upon the lessons that need to be learned. And just as the video game is programmed with various rules of engagement, the physical world is also programmed with consequences.

Typically a video game will come with a series of challenges in the form of virtual opponents, virtual race tracks or whatever. We might have to fight or steer a car or whatever. As we play the game, we win points if we follow the rules and we play the game well. If we don't follow the rules, or don't play well, we lose points. Most video games come with a combination of winning points and gaining advantages. When we win points we also move up to a higher level. In other words, the way we play the game comes with consequences - good and bad.

The physical world is comparable. We accumulate advantages when we do things that help others, and this leads to positive consequences. But if we do things that hurt others, this leads to negative consequences, which typically reflect what we did. If we punch someone, we're likely to receive something reciprocal. If we steal from someone, we'll be put in jail (our freedom stolen from us). These are all negative consequences.

Does this describe 'eye for an eye'?

Consequence learning is the notion of 'an eye for an eye.' But many have misinterpreted this to mean humans have to take violent responses to others' activities. As Jesus taught when a woman was about to be stoned to death, mercy is the greater position.

As this is applied to consequences, we can be merciful and render just and fair sentences.

In some cases, we are not responsible for rendering justice. For events outside the realm of crimes, the physical world is designed for automatic consequences. We don't have to enforce these, because the physical world is already programmed within its design to present consequences to each of our self-centered actions.

Sometimes, the consequences do not come so quickly. They may take a few years, or even a lifetime to come back to us. In other words, the activities of our current lifetime will produce consequences into our next physical lifetime - assuming we choose to remain engrossed in our physical identities.

Did Jesus teach this?

This is why Jesus' disciples asked Jesus the following question when they came upon a person who was blind from birth:

His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John 9:2)

If the man did not live a previous lifetime, how could he have sinned previous to being born blind? We know from this and other statements that Jesus indeed taught that the spiritual person can transmigrate from one body to the next.

This also gives us a clear understanding of the term "going to hell" - a term accepted by practically every organized religion. If a person dies, and the body is buried and decomposes, how could that person possibly "go to hell"?

The only way that person could "go to hell" after the body dies and decomposes is if the person is not the physical body. The person must be able to separate from the body at death in order to "go to hell."

Where do we think hell is?

In some underground cave, full of fire with horned devils brandishing pitchforks? Have we found any of these yet in our drilling and excavations of the earth?

What about the suffering we see right here on this planet? What about the children born into starvation? What about women born into countries where armed men rape them, torture them and burn their villages? What about the people who are - and especially those from times past - born into slavery, to be whipped by cruel masters? (Slavery in different forms continues to this day.) Are these people not in hell?

And what about the rest of us? Are we in that great a place? Are we not also born into relative suffering, as we cry during birth, only to struggle with diseases, survival, and aging, to become crippled and then die in pain? Are we also not suffering - albeit not as bad as some others?

This physical world is hell. Hell is that place designed for those whose consciousness and previous activities are being reflected right back to us. In other words, our individual suffering has been caused by each of us. No one else is to blame.

Does God want us to suffer?

So then we must answer that question that so many sane people ask when they try to relate a Supreme Being with the suffering evident in the physical world. They ask:

If God exists, then why is there so much suffering?

or

If God is a loving God, then why is there so much suffering?

These are both logical questions that most sectarian institutions have no reasonable answer to. 

The first part of the answer goes back to the video game analogy. Just as the computer operator is not the video game icon that he or she is playing in the video game, we are not these physical bodies. Our physical bodies are like automobiles that we get in and drive. They are not us.

And just as the computer operator playing the video game can turn off the computer and walk away (or the car driver can step out of the car), we  - the spiritual person - can each also leave our physical body and this physical world, and return home to the spiritual realm.

In other words, the suffering that we see is not happening to us or others. It is happening to these virtual machines called our physical bodies - which we, unfortunately, identify as ourselves.

This means that the suffering of the world is only taking place to these physical machines - not us. Our only suffering is due to our misidentification with them - and our being away from the Supreme Being.

This element - that we become engrossed in the identities of our physical body by virtue of our desires - is also part of the Supreme Being's design. Why?

The objective of the design of the virtual physical world programmed by the Supreme Being is to give us:

1) A place where we could virtually escape from God's presence
2) A place where we could seek out our own enjoyment
3) A place where we could pretend that we are the center, and the universe revolves around us

But at the same time, He also programmed the physical world with a rehabilitation (consequence) system to help us. Why? Because the Supreme Being loves us and knows that we will only be happy if we are with Him, being His playmate and caregiver in the spiritual realm. This is our true identity. So out of love, the Supreme Being programmed into the physical world:

1) A facility that allows us to re-learn the meaning of caring for others
2) A facility that allows us to re-learn what love is and what compassion is
3) A facility that teaches us about humility
4) A facility that shows us how alone we are without Him
5) A facility that pushes us to re-evaluate our decision to be away from Him

These traits; love, compassion, humility, and being connected and dependent upon the Supreme Being, are our lost natural traits. So He is simply trying to remind us - through this virtual medium - of who we really are, in hopes we will return to our natural position.

How does this relate to consequence learning?

Let's compare this to the consequence learning system that good parents train their children with. If the child steals something, they get grounded and can't play with their toys for a period. If the child messes up something, they have to clean it up. What does this teach the child? To respect others' possessions and things. In other words, we can see what the parents are trying to teach by the consequences the child is given.

If we look around us at the various consequences of the physical world, we can see what is trying to be taught to us: Love, caring for others, respecting others, and so on.

And the state of our learning travels within our consciousness, as we travel from moment to moment, year to year, and lifetime to lifetime.

Some like to argue that there is no way the spiritual person could inhabit another physical body. Yet we are inhabiting multiple bodies even within this lifetime. The body we wore as a child is not the same body we are wearing as an adult. The entire body - every atom and molecule - is different. Even the molecules making up our genes have recycled. Therefore, we are changing bodies all the time. Science has determined that within five years, the body's molecules have been recycled.

What is the self?

So what is the permanent 'thing' among our changing bodies? It is the self - the spiritual person that operates the body. When we look in the mirror we do not see our self. We see the physical body that our self operates. When we look at our childhood picture, we see the body our self operated before - which is now gone. Now our self is operating a physically different body.

But the pure spiritual self is not the only thing that travels through changing bodies. Our consciousness also travels with us. This consciousness covers the pure self with desires and consequences (the state of our learning), and it is this consciousness that determines the shape of our physical bodies.

It is like carrying around baggage. If we want to go to Detroit so that we can have fun on the town, we will travel there carrying a suitcase full of clothes suitable for going out on the town. If we didn't want to go out on the town, we wouldn't need those clothes. Now if we didn't work hard at our job, we couldn't afford to put nice clothes in the suitcase. We would put whatever clothes we could afford in there.

In the same way, our desires determine what kind of future body we will wear, limited by our past activities. The more we treat people with care and kindness, the fewer limitations our future bodies will have in satisfying our desires.

But whether our past activities have been good or bad, as long as we maintain self-centered desires, we will remain trapped within the confines of the physical world. Here we will remain in hell - experiencing virtual pleasures and pains to the degree of our desires and past activities.

In other words, hell is that place where we are disconnected - by our selfish desires - from God and our loving relationship with Him.

What is spiritual purification?

Becoming spiritually purified has nothing to do with our wanting to be cleansed of our sins. The desire to be cleansed of our sins is still a self-centered desire, so it has nothing to do with spiritual purification.

A person becomes spiritually purified when their objective and mission is to please (do the will of) the Supreme Being.

In this condition, the person is cleansed of self-centered desires, because they have fallen in love with God, and they seek to please the one they love.

This change in consciousness has a completely purifying effect on our consciousness. It is like the person going to Detroit realizing they do not need to go. They won't need a suitcase. In the same way, if a person does not have self-centered desires, they don't need to carry around a self-centered consciousness and the prospect of future physical bodies. They can return home to the spiritual realm after this physical body is finished.

The reason Jesus indicated that his disciples were "clean" - or purified - is because they became part of his mission. His mission was to please the Supreme Being because He loved God. Because Jesus' students wanted to please Jesus as their teacher, they were hooked up with his mission - and thus lost the 'baggage' of self-centered goals. Even if they were not perfect in their love for God, as long as they were linked up with the mission of Jesus, their consciousness was cleansed.

Of course, a person can change, in either direction. The Supreme Being gives us the freedom at any moment to move closer to Him or away from Him. Thus, for those who are moving towards Him, most of us still need further preparation before our consciousness is perfected enough to return to the spiritual realm. This is a personal and often gradual process.

Challenges are put in front of us to test us, and we still face consequences for whatever activities we do with self-centered intent. These can serve to make us stronger, wiser, and more aware of who we are and what our ultimate position is - assuming we continue to desire to return to our relationship with the Supreme Being. As our love for Him grows, our self-centered desires burn away, and we become prepared to return home.

This is the core of Jesus' instructions, and why his most important one was:

"'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. 22:37-40)

"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father ..." (John 15:26-27)

"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning." (John 15:26-27)

Who is the 'Counselor' Jesus is referring to?

Here "Counselor" is being translated* from the Greek word παράκλητος (paraklētos). According to the lexicon, the Greek word refers to someone who is "summoned;" "called to one's side;" "an advocate;" "one who pleads another's cause with one;" "an intercessor;" and "in the widest sense, a helper, aider, assistant."

Jesus is referring to the Supreme Being's expansive role of influence, often referred to as the "Holy Spirit."

This is confirmed by the use of the combination of πνεῦμα (pneuma) meaning "spirit" and ἀλήθεια (alētheia) meaning "truth."

But we must notice how personal Jesus makes this reference. He says "whom I will send to you from the Father."

So just who and what is this Holy Spirit that Jesus is referring to who will be counseling and assisting the disciples of Jesus after he has left them?

Why would this Holy Spirit assist them?

Is it assisting in the way of how famous football players and Olympic athletes pray to win the game or the race? Is that the kind of assisting Jesus is talking about?

Jesus is stating not only that he will "send" the Holy Spirit "to you from the Father" but he clearly identifies the "Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father." What does this mean?

The English phrase "goes out" is being taken from the Greek word ἐκπορεύομαι (ekporeuomai), which can be translated in one of two ways: Literally, as "to go forth" "go out" and "depart;" or metaphorically as "to come forth, to issue, to proceed as in feelings, affections, deeds and sayings," or "to flow forth," "to project," or "to spread abroad."

We must take into context the fact that Jesus is utilizing physical speech to describe a topic within the spiritual dimension. The Supreme Being is not limited as a human being is. He is not limited by time and space. A human being - a spiritual person occupying a gross physical body - is limited to the time and space of our physical body. We can typically be in only one place at a time.

The Supreme Being does not have this limitation. He is not limited by space and time. He is the Creator of space and time. Therefore, He is in control of space and time, and thus not limited by space and time.

Let's use an analogy. Let's say that we were to erect a miniature train set, with a circular track, and three little train stations built-in, and we program the train to run at a certain speed with stops at each station.

We erect trees and nature along the tracks between the train stations, and we put in all sorts of miniature figures that represented people, their dogs, telephone booths and other things to make the train set place seem like a real place.

During this creative process, we realize that we can pretty much add whatever features we want to the train set. We can put the buildings and trees where we want. We would have lots of creative leeway with the train set.

However we set things up because we had created this train set land, we could always change things around when we wanted to. We could always insert ourselves or our needs to have the train run at different speeds, run a different course, make the towns different and so on. We are in control of this little space because we made it.

And it is not as if we have to assume any of the characters we installed into the train set landscape to affect our control over it. We don't have to, for example, become one of the trees so that we can sneakily manipulate the trains or the stations. We are not limited by the train set landscape we made. We are outside of the dimension of this landscape.

The Supreme Being is in the same position. Because He created the physical world, He is not limited by it. He can manipulate it when He wants to. He can change things around when He wants. He can also support any particular activity when He wants. He does not have to become some sort of physical "ghost" or "spirit" or other concoction of our minds in order to influence things. He is not limited by His creation at all.

Just because the Supreme Being lies outside the confines of time and space doesn't mean that He isn't a person. The Supreme Being is a person, with spiritual form.

And because the Supreme Being's abilities lie outside the limitations of our physical world, His ability to influence, assist, counsel and so on cannot easily be described with words typically used to describe the things of this physical world. This is why Jesus often spoke metaphorically and used various parables as he described the spiritual realm.

But the Supreme Being set up and programmed this physical world for a purpose: To grant those of us who wanted to be away from Him the ability to exercise our freedom, and our desire to enjoy in a self-centered fashion.

This is because love requires freedom. Love cannot be forced.

Can we see God?

Because the spiritual realm is a place where its citizens are loving and not self-centered, once we decided to exercise our freedom by becoming self-centered, we could not remain in the spiritual realm. God had to create another place for those of us who wanted to exercise our freedom not to love Him or care for Him.

This is why our physical eyes cannot see God, or His expansive influence over the physical world. The Supreme Being designed the physical world in such a way that we could ignore His existence for a while.

God created a place where each of us could take on a virtual identity, and each play roles where we could pretend God does not exist and pretend we are the center of the universe. This is, in fact, the role that most of us in the physical world is playing at this very moment.

Just consider: Even though there are billions of people in the world, each of us thinks we are the central character: I am the most important person - or those physical extensions of "I," my family, are the most important persons - in my life.

This myopia - of feeling that we are the center of the universe - is our disease. We say 'disease' because this is not our natural condition. Our natural condition is seeing the Supreme Being as the center of our lives, and the universe. Our natural position is being one of God's humble loving caregivers, and loving all of our spiritual family members - God's children.

Since our current condition - thinking we are the center of the universe - is not our natural condition and thus is a diseased condition, the Supreme Being also programmed within the physical universe a rehabilitation system. This includes the law of consequence - that we must experience whatever - through our self-centeredness - we put others through.

This law of consequences - played out over multiple lifetimes - is why some of us are born into suffering conditions and some of us are born into more comfortable conditions. It is the result of our past behavior - and designed to gradually teach us that hurting others only hurts ourselves, and we aren't the center of the universe.

What are we?

We are spiritual beings, not these physical bodies. These bodies are temporary vehicles that each of us wears, and the physical world is a place of rehabilitation. Our spiritual self can migrate from one body to the next until we become sufficiently rehabilitated and become ready to return home to the spiritual world and our innate relationship with the Supreme Being.

You see, the spiritual realm is a personal place. It is a place of relationships. This is why when Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit he says "whom I will send to you from the Father." It is not as if Jesus is the Father or the Holy Spirit - Jesus is obviously distinguishing between himself and God here.

But one who loves the Supreme Being can effectively "send" God to us due to their devotional relationship with Him.

It is a matter of unity of will. Jesus loves the Supreme Being with all his heart and soul, and everything he does is to please God. This is confirmed:

"... for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me." (John 5:30)

Therefore, Jesus can in effect bring the Supreme Being to others because Jesus is doing God's will. He is acting on behalf of the Supreme Being through his loving devotion to Him. They have a unity of purpose - which is why Jesus could also say "I and the Father are one." It is not as if they are the same person and don't have individuality: They simply have a oneness of purpose, based on love.

Because of this unity of purpose, Jesus knows that after Jesus leaves the physical world, the Supreme Being will watch over Jesus' disciples, and guide them as they attempt to carry on Jesus' mission, and "testify" by passing on Jesus' teachings.

And what is Jesus' mission? To speed up our rehabilitation process by introducing us to the Supreme Being and explaining the pathway for us to return home to the spiritual world:

“ ‘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 Jesus' statement from the Lost Gospels of Jesus:

"When the Counselor comes – whom I will summon to you from the Creator – this is the Spirit of Truth who expands from the Creator – He will testify for me. And you will testify also, because you have been with me from the beginning.” (John 15:26-27)