You’re opposing something/someone who is not there. Like shadow boxing. The three in one symbolizes the ultimate unity of the one and the many. That is the message of nonduality in a nutshell. Thanks for reminding me!
If that’s what you mean (unity… not simplicity…) … why don’t folks say that?? Brentano gets it.
P.s. I am not speaking into the ether, mew mew.
There is a basic truth about the Bible, and that is that the Greek translation (Septuagint) marked a change in basic understanding, which still has its value, but left the Hebrew/Aramaic mindset behind, and some important aspects. Even the Greek is open to some discussion, because we are not so versed in the Greek of the time, though we can translate it. This is a discussion that continues in classical studies, let alone with biblical studies, so it isn’t surprising.
The fascinating thing about the ancient languages, and a mystery to philologists, is that they were so complex, and as we moved on, subsequent languages became so basic, causing the comparison of Hebrew to an ocean, Greek to a river, and Latin to a puddle. There is also the inherent progress of awareness, which you can even see in the stories of Abram/Abraham, Isaac, and Jakob/Israel, who in succession realise that God is bigger, going from a local deity to a God that provides space, and then on towards an understanding, that “God is also in this place” when Jakob was far from home. It is even clearer in the stories of the Prophets, where they turn on the ritual practises in the name of God, or in Deuteronomy, in which laws given in Exodus and Leviticus are revised.
This process of rising awareness culminates in Jesus, a remnant of Judah, who echoes the prophets and Deuteronomy to a nation in unrest, suffering under the occupation by the Romans, similar to how they were occupied by Alexander before, only with a much sterner rule. But Jesus is a new development, another paradigm in the thinking of Israel, and is met with equal force, aided by Rome’s governor, and despite all attempts to eradicate his influence, the spark had ignited amongst the people, and Paul carried the flame into the Roman Empire. Considering his words in the language that he likely spoke to the people that followed him around, Aramaic, there is that depth of meaning that was in the original Hebrew, and the perspective cosmic unity is even clearer than in John’s Gospel. “… you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” John 14:20.
It is the intertwining of creation that is “good”, the interdependence and complexity, the diversity and availability of curative sources, and the God of which Paul said, “in Him we live and move and exist,” (Acts 17:28), that shows that God is conceived as much more than the God of Israel, and his concern is much wider than a disloyal people, who have not recognised when the One calls them. This is called up when we realise that the Gospel compositions were intended to awaken an awareness comparable to Jesus, to enable us to realise that what we should divest ourselves of, is our illusionary sense of self, and take up the cross. As Felix says, “Taking up the cross is the way of self-abnegation,” or divesting oneself of illusion and aligning with the cosmic consciousness that is God.
The age to come will either have zero sexual frustration, or 100% self-control (in alignment with God’s will) I’m assuming. My patience is def waning…
Interesting that you define self-abnegation in this way. I understand it as saying that the illusion of self, as separate and individual, tends to block out the fact of unity with God. The awareness of this unity became a new paradigm with Jesus, for which he was threatened and then killed. It is a covenant of awareness if you like, in which you will realize that “I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
Paul was struggling with this “change of mind” that he understood had come with Jesus. He proposed “kenosis”, the “emptying” of the individual for the reception of this realization through divine grace. It is what Owen Barfield called final participation and Mark Vernon termed as reciprocal participation, but to this day it is not an easy teaching, which is probably why people took on physical forms of self-mortification.
In the text you quote, Paul was struggling with the apocalyptic visions that were around at the time – whether the world would end quickly. He asks whether it is prudent to make arrangements for the future if the end is coming. He also saw an advantage in his ministry by being asexual, but he also says that we are all different and some can forego sexual relations, some cannot. I wouldn’t want today to see the words as encouraging celibacy unless it comes natural to people.
gentle reminder for Ierrellus
Good News of the Kingdom #mercy Send a copy to Speechify to listen.
2hrs. read:
In brief:
Blessed are you who deal with junk now, because the salting fire will have less to burn off. Woe to you who eventually gon’ deal with it, ready or not. Do not despise the Lord’s discipline of the world he loves so much he became one of us (who are in his image), switched perspectives with us, died and rose again to show us who he is to us, who we are (IS) & OUGHT to be to him, and to others (forgiving that we can’t love perfectly, all the time, like he loves).
Please. Stop missing the point. Stop wallowing in the necessary conditions and rise out of them like you were born to do. That’s what needs reminding, every time we’re back in the mud.
Whatever you choose to call yourself, Christian or not, I hope you will aspire to be a humble human being … religiously. Religiously, as I’m using the term, means with a sense of the sacredness of everything and a commitment to reconsecrate everything.
—Brian McLaren
I call myself loved. Aspiring, no… more like… just being willing to be a co-creative part of what he’s doing. Has anyone’s sense of humor triggered your sense of awe? Js.
Never lose focus on this Person. Like turning your back on the sunset behind the rising tide, waiting for the dawn. Missin it. Gonna get swept under with the other sandcastles.
Then again. It’s darkest…
…and coldest.
Just open your eyes & tune your ears.
Like a bat-at-at.
That can’t sleep.
Cuz o the damn drip drip drip.
Don’t read too far in.
McLaren’s ego is so big, you can’t see the lies.
McLaren’s ego is so big, you can’t see the lies.[/quote
Sculptor—what kind of rebuttal is that? Where are the lies? And do you know McLaren personally to be able to comment on his ego?
updated. link in OP.
I would not use the term “religiously” here. It does not really embrace the words and the meaning you have given.
A far better word to use would be Reverently or with much Reverence.
I would not use the term “religiously” here. It does not really embrace the words and the meaning you have given.
A far better word to use would be Reverently or with much Reverence.
hiccup
Fixed:
No one has ever been up to Heaven except the Son of Man who came down from Heaven. The Son of Man was lifted above the heads of all people - as Moses lifted up that serpent in the desert - so that anyone who believes in him may have eternal life. I tell you truly that unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains a single grain of wheat; but if it does, it brings a good harvest; and where I am, my servant will also be. I had to undergo a baptism, and how strained I was until it was over! It is fire that I came to bring upon the earth - it is now ablaze! As for me, as I was lifted up from the earth, I draw all people to myself.
Fixed:
Think of the ravens. They neither sow nor reap, and they have neither store nor barn, but your Heavenly Father feeds them. And how much more valuable do you think you are than birds? Can any of you make yourself an inch taller however much you worry about it? And if you can’t manage a little thing like this, why do you worry about anything else? Think of the wild flowers, and how they neither work nor weave. Yet I tell you that Solomon in all his glory was never arrayed like one of these. If God so clothes the grass, which flowers in the field today and is burnt in the stove tomorrow, is he not much more likely to clothe you, you little-faiths? Don’t be afraid, you tiny flock! Your Father plans to give you the kingdom.
The market price of five sparrows is two farthings, isn’t it? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. Not a single sparrow falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Why, the very hairs of your heads are all numbered! Never be afraid; you are worth more than a great many sparrows! Don’t worry at all then about tomorrow. Tomorrow can take care of itself! One day’s trouble is enough for one day.
Fixed:
…Yes, alas for you Pharisees, who love the front seats in the synagogues and having others bow down to you in public and greet you with respect and call you “rabbi” while all the time you are battening on widow’s property and covering it up with long prayers.
It is true that I have given you the power to tread on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the enemy’s power - there is nothing at all that can do you any harm. Yet it is not your power over evil spirits which should give such joy, but the fact that your names are written in Heaven. Yes, but a far greater blessing to hear the word of God and obey it.
So when you pray, …