God Beyond Religion: Taking a look at the gospel of John with fresh eyes, ears, and mind.

 

I wondered, and I'm now being convinced that the doctrine or teaching presented in the gospel of John by orthodoxy is completely off the mark. It seems to me the gospel of John is far more esoteric and gnostic than I had previously thought. It is truly the place where Jesus was teaching about the higher self and who we humans really are. I will begin this thought with a verse from John chapter 3. John 3:3  Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." This rendering is from the new revised standard version, but it is the only rendering I know of that states being born from above instead of born again. I think that this is theologically motivated rather than being a linguistic necessity. The truth of the matter is that the literal translation of the Greek word anothen. It means from above. Now if I were to provide a translation I would prefer using realm in place of Kingdom. so, I would write it very truly, I tell you, no one can see the realm of God without being born from above. And further, I take the concept of being born from above as a metaphor for being spiritually and consciously awakened. The reason for this is, in my view, seeing the realm of God means being awakened to the realm of God which coincides with spiritual and consciousness awakening.

This verse comes from a passage that tells the story of Jesus meeting with a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews, which could have been a member of the Sanhedrin, or at the very least, an official in the local synagogue. He tells Jesus that because of the miracles Jesus performed he knows that he is from God. It is at this point, that Jesus tells him he must be born from above to even be able to see, that is to comprehend, the realm of God. Jesus was pointing to the fact Nicodemus needed to be awakened to the reality of the spiritual realm. In fact, it is reasonable to conclude that the sin the of world was being spiritually asleep. The definition of sin in the Greek is missing the mark. Humanity, and in this case the Jews, had missed the mark by forgetting their spiritual nature. Jesus’ mission was to awaken them to their divine nature. He was trying to awaken them to the fact that they were one with the source and with each other. He also let them know that the source was father. In other words, they were family with the creative source and thereby family with one another. The family metaphor is indicative of the relationship of individual points of consciousness within the overall field of universal consciousness.

So, being born again, or born from above is not about a spiritual birth as much as it is about remembering the reality of who we humans really are. I know this is cliché, but the fact is, we are spiritual conscious entities having a material experience. When the Bible says that we are created in God's image, and it further says that God is spirit, then to be created in God's image it is to be created as a conscious spirit. However, it takes being awakened to our spiritual divine self. The realm of the divine is truly spiritual, that is in more scientific terms conscious energy. It is conscious energy that creates and sustains the material world.

The point of being born again is not being saved from sin and hell. The reason for the born again experience, actually born from above experience is to be awakened to the realm of God. It is to be awakened to the spiritual realm, the realm of creative conscious energy. Why don't we take some of these concepts and terms back giving them their proper meaning and incorporate them into an eclectic spirituality that is inclusive and universal?

God Beyond Religion: Seeing Through a Glass Darkly; I'm in Transition

1Corinthians 13:12  "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

After a hiatus of 10 years, I returned to blogging on the freedom blog in May of 2020. The 10-year hiatus was the result of me dedicating 10 years, and over 500 posts to a blog entitled a "paradigm shift for thoughtful evangelicals." That blog came about as a result of me attending a funeral of a close relative in the Bible Belt. The relative loved Jesus and God, but early in life had an addiction problem. The addiction came back and was a contributing factor in her death. I was incensed by the number of evangelicals that had determined she may have headed to eternal torturous punishment in hell. It was then that I decided to write a blog showing how erroneous evangelical Christian doctrine was.

 

In May 2020, I concluded that I had written everything I needed to on the paradigm shift blog. My interests was growing in metaphysics. For a long time, 20 years at least, I had an eclectic spirituality that I did not make known in my public persona. Even though I had come back to evangelical Christianity in the early 1990’s, I had not ever embraced or believed the doctrine of hell. Further, I was skeptical of much of the Old Testament. I saw the garden creation myth as an allegory, and not a real event. I was leery of all the violence in the Old Testament that was sanctioned by God. I could not accept or reconcile the fact, that if God is love, that he would sanction and in some instances command extreme violence against humanity. I would not accept that God would sanction a man selling his daughter as a sex slave, a concubine. Moreover, I had reasoned that much of the New Testament was cultural input and not divinely inspired direction. I had come to believe that the Bible was a combination of metaphysical, mystical revelation, and cultural commentary.

 

So that is where I was at the beginning of May 2020. As I now look back over the Freedom Blog from that point until today July 10th 2021, I am seeing a major and profound transition of thought and belief. It all began early in 2020. We were preparing to move to a new location here in Memphis. The property we were moving to, and subsequently working on, had a Japanese theme in the backyard. There was a Torii gate facing an outdoor shed that was similar to an oriental temple shrine.

 

I sensed that the Tori gate was a power vortex or power spot. The home had been occupied by an oriental lady that died. While we were working on the place prior to moving in, I sensed her presence though she was not malevolent in any way. However, this was an impetus to get me to focus more on eclectic spirituality. At the same time, I felt the urge to begin to invest in and collect crystals. I also joined a Facebook group that was named the Metaphysical Christian. This was not completely new to me because many years earlier in the 1970's, when I lived in Arizona, I was deeply involved in metaphysics and new age spirituality. I had studied numerology and even gave readings. During my return to evangelical Christianity, I never really dismissed my metaphysical, mystical, spiritual experiences and I believed that they were compatible with my Christianity.

 

During this same time, I began to study and explore various ideas, both scientific and metaphysical that dealt with the way we view and understand the material world. I have concluded that the path I am now on is best called eclectic spirituality. I still have a significant and personal attachment and relationship with Jesus of Nazareth via the universal, cosmic Christ. I am convinced that the Christ is the higher self of any Christ follower. Further, I think it is synonymous with what the Christian scripture calls the divine nature and the Holy Spirit. It is important to realize this is just a part of my eclectic spirituality. I add to it the many things I've studied and researched over the last year and a half. To mention a few, though it is not an exhaustive list, are hermetic teaching, the Tao TE Ching, Doctor Donald Hoffman’s work in cognitive science, the theories of Rupert Sheldrake, the writings of William Walker Atkinson, sacred geometry, the writings of Aldous Huxley, and the theories of Carl Jung, I'm quite certain that I have left out some important parts but through all of this, in conjunction with mystical revelation found in the New Testament, I have found a preponderance of evidence both spiritual and scientific that strongly suggests that indeed as the hermetic teaching states, the material world we live in is mental. 

Over this time my views had become less Christian centric and far more eclectic. This can be seen easily as you read through the blog posts from the beginning one in May of 2020 until now. I don't think that I need to eliminate any of them, nor do I need to edit them. This will serve to acknowledge that the transition is there and easily seen by me or anyone who reads the blog. I believe it can be attributed to an observation the apostle Paul made in the above verse from first Corinthians. I, like everyone, see through a glass darkly. But in that effort, it is an upward path toward an awakened light within.