God Beyond Religion: The misinterpretation of John 1:1-13, Misinterpreted or Misled?

Below is an excerpt from "The Unvarnished New Testament."

Gaus, Andy. The Unvarnished New Testament (New Translation from the Original Greek) . Red Wheel Weiser. Kindle Edition. 

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was toward God, and God was what the Word was. It was with God in the beginning. All things happened through it, and not one thing that has happened, happened without it. Within it there was Life, and the Life was the light of the world." (Gaus did not include verse numbers and this is John 1:1-4)

It is now my belief that we have misunderstood the beginning of John chapter one. I do not believe that the passage speaks of Jesus per se' until verse fourteen where it states that the word/logos became flesh and dwelt among humanity. Prior to that it was speaking strictly of the Logos/Word of God. So let's examine what the Logos is. The Logos is the word which is in reality the conscious expression or the expression of consciousness. God's Logos/word is in reality God's consciousness. It could be literally be called the MIND of God. We can see here that it is the mind of God that created the universe. So then, it is more accurate to call the Logos it than to call it he or him. The reason is that the Logos, mind and word of God is neuter in gender. 

So why is it important to make this distinction you may be thinking to yourself? It has great importance with verses ten, eleven, and twelve. Here it is from David Bentley Hart's translation: (9) "It was the true light, which illuminates everyone, that was coming into the cosmos. (10) He was in the cosmos, and through him the cosmos came to be, and the cosmos did not recognize him. (11) He came to those things that were his own, and they who were his own did not accept him. (12) But as many as did accept him, to them he gave the power to become GOD’s children—to those having faith in his name," (The New Testament (p. 169). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition, Translation by David Bentley Hart.)

Even here, Hart refers to the Logos as it. He shifts to he in verse ten because he/Hart assumes that Jesus is now the referent. But is that the case? I have always assumed that when it states that "he came unto his own and his own received him not" that it is referring to Jews. I no longer think that is the case. So then, if the Logos came unto its own what would that be? I think we can find a clue in Genesis 1:26. Humans are created in God's image. What is that? God is spirit, energy and consciousness. So then we are spirit and consciousness. That is the essence of imago dei. The essence of being image bearers is conscious, creative spirit.

John 1:10 states that the Logos was in the world prior to the incarnation. It says prior to the incarnation that the Logos came to its own. What was its own? Conscious humanity! So, I see a case for what the bible has translated as "his own" not being just ethnic Jews, but humanity in general. So what about the "as many as received him?" Who were they? I strongly believe that it was all mystics that received the Logos over history. For example, the Logos came to Heraclitus and the stoics in 500 BCE. At that same time, the Logos came to Lao Tzu, and Lao Tzu called it the Tao. All of the mystics knew of their familial connection with the Creator God. They may not have expressed it as such but knew it just the same. The Logos was in the world but most of the humans in the world did not recognize it. 

This is the place where Jesus of Nazareth became the first born of many siblings. It finally states in John 1:14 that the Logos became incarnate. The Logos was in the world before the Logos became incarnate. Jesus was not in the world before he was incarnate. It was the Logos. The main reason for the linguistic confusion by the many translators stems from confusing Jesus with the Logos eternally. There is a way that the Logos is God's son. Andy Gaus expresses it this way in the Unvarnished New Testament in verse 18, "No one has seen God ever; God's only son who has been on his Father's lap, he himself explained that to us." (Gaus, Andy. The Unvarnished New Testament (New Translation from the Original Greek) . Red Wheel Weiser. Kindle Edition.) Jesus of Nazareth as the incarnation is the one that explained that to us.

Jesus further explained to the Apostle John that we are the incarnate Logos as well. John expressed it this way. 1Jn 4:17  "In this, love is made complete with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world." He further punctuates the concept with this. 1Jn 3:2  "Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is." It is my belief that the Christ, has appeared in his saints. It is in this way that we can come to fruition as the incarnate word. 

The question is asked in the title, misinterpreted or misled? I will let you be the judge but for me I will give the benefit of the doubt and believe that it was just confusion. 

 

. 

God Beyond Religion: Collective Consciousness, the Mind at Large

 A fascinating cognitive psychologist, Donald Hoffman is doing research that is extremely interesting to me. He has written a book called "A Case Against Reality." No, this is not a book review. I have not read the book, although it is now on my bucket list. I have watched some interesting YouTube videos in which he has been interviewed and in so doing has explained his theory. While his scientific knowledge is above my pay grade, I do take him seriously and I sense at an intuitive level that he and his researchers are on to something. 

Here is a link to a video that is long, but worth the time taken to listen to it. The Case Against Reality by zdoggMD.

Here is my distillation of the essence of the video but again, I repeat, it is worth the time spent to watch and listen to it. His claim is that the material world we experience is an interface with a vast network of conscious agents and that there is so much more to objective reality at that level than we see or know. In fact, there is so much going on at the basic level of the conscious source, it is detrimental to survival, and the entities that are the most successful in evolving do not look deeper into the reality behind the interface. It is a key to their survival and advancement. 

The bottom line of his theory, that he claims he and his researchers have proven mathematically, is that the material world is similar to a solid holographic simulation created in the conscious mind, and that a vast community of what he calls conscious agents create reality. These conscious agents combine to make very more complicated structures. According to him, what we see and experience is not reality but an interface to a greater reality similar to a virtual reality video game.

This is interesting in light of a small book written by Aldous Huxley entitled "The Doors of Perception." Huxley, a British philosopher who is most famous for his novel "Brave New World" was able to participate in controlled studies in the use of the drug mescaline which is a derivative of the peyote plant. The changes in perception he had while on the drug caused him to believe the idea that there is what he called "mind at large." Further, that the brain and nervous system actually acts as a reducing valve to this universal consciousness that aids in survival by limiting unnecessary stimuli and information.

Here is an excerpt from page six of "The Doors of Perception" by Aldous Huxley. "That which, in the language of religion, is called "this world" is the universe of reduced awareness, expressed, and, as it were, petrified by language. The various "other7 worlds," with which human beings erratically make contact are so many elements in the totality of the awareness belonging to Mind at Large. Most people, most of the time, know only what comes through the reducing valve and is consecrated as genuinely real by the local language. Certain persons, however, seem to be born with a kind of by-pass that circumvents the reducing valve. In others temporary by passes may be acquired either spontaneously, or as the result of deliberate "spiritual exercises," or through hypnosis, or by means of drugs."

What Huxley was able to do with drugs, others, seers and mystics are able to do naturally or in a state of meditation. It is interesting to me that what Huxley was postulating back in the 1950's is similar in nature to what Donald Hoffman is finding in scientific studies and mathematical models. It is also borne out by the fact that quantum physicists see the sub atomic, particulate world as being conscious. This is a theme and idea that has been put forth and repeated over the centuries by shaman and mystics the world over.

It was also suggested by Carl Jung in his concept of collective consciousness and the collective unconscious. He reasoned that the similarities throughout history of ideas in cultures that did not communicate with one another demonstrated that there were certain archetypes that were universal and able to be accessed by the minds of people that were the thought products of their ancestors. All of these ideas point to the fact that consciousness is the driving force in creation and the experience we have of the material world.

I intuitively sense that all of the mystical revelation about the nature of spiritual reality and the true essence of the world has come from this cosmic consciousness. Whether it is called the mind at large, collective consciousness, cosmic consciousness, or the conscious creative source it is the essential building block of all that exists in objective reality, and it is available in a source that resides outside the human brain.

God Beyond Religion: Developing healthy self-love

Mat 22:36-40 CSB  “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?”  (37)  He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  (38)  This is the greatest and most important command.  (39)  The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  (40)  All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

One of the focuses of evangelical theological dogma is best described as worm theology. It stems from the story of the fall and Paul's writings about the flesh and carnality. While it is true that humanity has a pathology of sorts due to the survival instinct, it is also true that most people are basically good. However, the focus on not trusting the flesh and the depravity of the human heart causes people to develop a form of self loathing. This results in not loving oneself at all. This makes it virtually impossible to love oneself and well, if a person suffering from self loathing loves their neighbor as they love themselves, the neighbor gets no love. 

The question becomes, is there such a thing as healthy self love? My answer is yes definitely. What then should be the source of self love? Here are five points to help develop self-love:

1. We are created in the image of God, we are God's image bearers. Since God is a conscious loving spirit that means that we too are conscious loving spirits. Further, God is eternal, and that means that we too are eternal.
2. We are loved by God and God has deemed us worthy of that love. If we are indeed loved by God and likewise deemed worthy of this love we can certainly realize that we should then love ourselves and deem ourselves worthy of this self-love. It is by virtue of God's love for us that we can indeed assume that God believes us worthy of love and therefore we are worthy of self love.
3. We have an innate ability to love others. The fact is that we recognize in others the qualities that are deserving of love. While there are exceptions, most all people love someone, and the majority of people love many in many different ways.
4. Before creation, God deemed us worthy of redemption and reconciliation. Paul states in Ephesians chapter one that God chose to love us, redeem us, reveal to us and in us "the Christ" before the foundation of the world which means before creation.
5.  We are given an inborn sense of compassion for others. Very young children show love and compassion for puppies, kitties, and baby siblings. They also show love and affection for other siblings as well. Again, I am not suggesting that there are no exceptions but they are just that exceptions to a much larger rule.

Given the five examples above, it logically follows that this is sufficient reason to have a healthy self-love and respect. Why is this important you may wonder? It is very important in developing a healthy self attitude that will eliminate sabotaging ones self. It is an important part of being able to manifest goodness and high vibrations into ones life. This is especially true for a Christ follower that has been taught to hate their flesh. Hating their flesh really means hating themselves. It is called by some worm theology. And as stated above, worm theology is bad theology. If God loves us, it only makes sense that we should love ourselves.

Is there evil in the world? Are there some people that seem to have an evil inclination? Absolutely! However, the majority of people are essentially good and being able to have a healthy love and respect for themselves will increase their ability to love the other, not to mention making their world a better place. For any Christian that has been exposed to life long worm theology, if I am you neighbor, forget to follow the edict of loving your neighbor as you love yourself. I can do without that!

God Beyond Religion: Three Main Points for the Christ Follower to Focus on

No matter what religious tradition you come from this in my view is good advice. It is mainly intended for Christians, and I would say specifically deconstructing Christians, but it would be good for any if they are willing and able to receive it. What is a good focus for a deconstructing Jesus follower? Here I would like to describe three main points to answer the question.

1. Believe that God is love as defined by the Apostle Paul in 1Co 13:4-8  "Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, (5)  is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. (6) Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.  (7)  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  (8)  Love never ends." The passage defines God.
2. Stand firm for justice, especially for the poor and less fortunate. As much as one has the ability, minister to the needs of the poor bringing about fairness and justice in all things. Actively demonstrate a concern for others and the planet and all that inhabits it. This means that one should be concerned for the economic, social, governmental, and ecological health of Planet Earth.
3. Learn to have a healthy love, respect, and concern for oneself, and then in turn apply and give this same love to others. Demonstrate the following attributes; Gal 5:22-23  "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  (23)  gentleness, and self-control." This spiritual fruit should be the goal and standard for each and every person.

Take note:  IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT THE ABOVE THREE POINTS ARE NOT LOOKED AT AS A LAW THAT MUST BE KEPT TO PLEASE GOD OR ENDEAR ONE TO GOD.

It all begins as it should with the belief, which in my view is a subsequent fact, that GOD IS LOVE. Further, it has at its most basic understanding the belief, in my view is a subsequent fact, that God indeed, keeps no records of wrongs. This is the foundation that allows us to completely love and trust God. In fact, this is the only kind of God one could love, and a different kind of God could not truly be loved because of fear. 

It is at this juncture that Jesus of Nazareth plays an integral role. Not only did he teach that God is love, he demonstrated what God would be like were God human. That is but half of the mission of Jesus. The other half was to face death with the perfect faith that the loving Father God would raise him from the dead, thus overcoming death and proving once and for all, that all are eternal children of Papa God. This provides the catalyst for being able to achieve focus two and three.

If we realize that we are all children of the God who is love, we would naturally stand firm for justice for all, especially those who are downtrodden and less fortunate. It is belief in the fact that God does not keep records of wrong that is the catalyst for loving God. God's mercy, grace, forgiveness and love is what sets the human mind at ease and creates peace of mind. Peace of mind nurtures love. More than that, we would likewise be concerned and committed to respecting and protecting the planet and all that lives thereon. Ecology would be important to the one believing in a loving, merciful, totally forgiving creator.

Finally, developing a healthy love and respect for self will build upon the peace of mind from knowing that God is love. The realization that we are all eternal children of the creative source, makes it possible to be more selfless. This is the source of our love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. With a focus on a loving creator, these attributes will grow continually. This is the main reason that Paul received the mystical revelation that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not counting sin. The only righteousness we have is imputed to us by God. Not for faith in Jesus but faith in God's original declaration that was recorded in Genesis 1:31. We are righteous because in creating humanity, God said it was very good.

This in my view is essential Christianity. All of the instructions of treating one another well found in the Sermon on the Mount are predicated on our faith in a loving creator, and our ability to love and respect ourselves.

God Beyond Religion: The Theological Theory of Everything

We know that physicists are searching to find a theory of everything that can take into account quantum mechanics and the general theory of relativity. They want a theory that explains the quantum world and space time. I think that we have entered a new spiritual age where we need a theological theory of everything. We need a theology that is inclusive, and will honor all the mystical revelation of all religions across the centuries. It should be a theological theory that would make it possible for most religions  to accept each other, and admit that over the course of human history the Spirit of God has given mystical revelation to many different spiritual seers, and from many different religious traditions. It is important to realize that this mystical revelation was not given to just one tribe of people. It was given to benefit all tribes. 

The tribe that I was born into as a child, and participated in as an adult is the tribe of Christ followers. I hesitate to use the term Christian as I believe that it has a problematic connotation these days. However, the fact remains that I was raised Christian and now will quite likely die Christian. That does not mean that I embrace all of the dogma attached with Christianity. The fact is I do not. I was taught from childhood that one can have a personal relationship with Jesus, and I have just that. Jesus is real to me and is not just an imaginary friend. He continually speaks to me by his Spirit. We have actual conversations almost daily and for sure weekly. These happen within my mind but, I can clearly tell who is who, and there is no doubt that it is Jesus. I want to be specific. It is Jesus of Nazareth, the one written about in the New Testament. It is the one who spoke the words of the Sermon on the Mount, and it is the one who revealed himself to the Apostle Paul. It is Jesus who's Spirit is the Spirit of Christ that indwells humanity.

I want to also make it very clear that Jesus is not as exclusive as Orthodox Christian Dogma would lead one to believe. In fact he is ALL inclusive and that is the mystical message that he revealed to Paul. However, one has to discern the difference between Paul the mystic and Paul the rabbi to really understand how Jesus used Paul to teach an all-inclusive doctrine. Spiral dynamics is a current theory that explains the development of humanity on an upward spiral showing progression toward more and more enlightenment. It is imperative to realize that the bible has progressive revelation. It is also important to realize that the early church shut off progressive revelation by codifying the canon in the late fourth century. This resulted in a stagnation of progressive revelation within Christianity.

It is my belief that each of us chose our path in this life prior to arriving outside the womb. That means that we chose our location, time of birth, parents, and all of our social and natural circumstantial environment . The choice is made with a specific purpose in mind. It can be that a lesson to learn or an accomplishment to fulfill or quite likely both. This means that we choose what religious tradition if any we will be a part of. We choose the cultural level of enlightenment we will experience. This is based on our past and especially our past lives. Yes, I believe that reincarnation is a fact of this universe, and of our purpose here.

This can be observed in the material world around us. Everything is cyclical. The water cycle is a great example. Rain is followed by evaporation and ultimately results in rain again. Leaves grow, fall, return to the soil and new leaves replace them. The cycles are many. If one believes as I do that the material universe is created by conscious energy, then it logically follows that this conscious energy would be cyclical as well. Paul hints at it in Galatians. In chapter six, he says, Gal 6:7  "Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow." It is reasonable to conclude that he is speaking of God's restorative justice. 

As I stated earlier, we choose our life path every time. It does not have to be a recycle of life here. Jesus said that in his Father's house were many rooms, dwelling places. It could be that we chose other dimensions within heavenly places. The possibilities are limitless.

Since I chose to be born into evangelical Christianity, and have since been spiritually led to an inclusive and universal expression of Christianity, then my beginning focus must be Christianity, and if Christianity, it must be with a significant connection with Jesus of Nazareth. While some may believe that they need to separate themselves from Jesus, I on the other hand see Jesus as an integral part of my spirituality. Therefore it is incumbent on me to articulate what I see as Jesus teaching and the role that he plays in my spirituality. 

What do I see as Jesus essential teachings? First and foremost he introduced God as a loving father. He went on to teach that love was the most important attribute that a human can have. According to John, Jesus taught them that God is/was love. It was such an important concept that John stated it twice in his short first epistle, (1John 4:8&16.) This then is my premise. The teaching of Jesus begins with God is love. In the Greek original text it would read that God is agape'. Agape' is the highest form of love, it is selfless love and it is the love that Jesus taught. 

The second essential teaching is found in Paul's definition of love and spiritual fruit. Love is defined in 1Co 13:4-8 CSB  "Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant,  (5)  is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs.  (6)  Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.  (7)  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  (8)  Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end." So then, when Jesus says that all will know that one is his disciple by the love they have for one another, it provides a specific detailed explanation of what Jesus meant. Paul went on to define the fruit or action that would stem from the Spirit of God. It was love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness.

If John was right, and if God is love, then it follows that the definition of love is the definition of God. Further, if the above is the definition of God is true then Yahweh is not a good representation of God. Much of the genocide found in the Old Testament does not fit with the idea that God is love, and it definitely does not model the idea that God keeps no record of wrongs. This requires spiritual discernment about what is divine revelation and what is cultural. I will explain this a little farther on in this post.

You may say to me. You have mentioned Christianity, the Christian view of God so how is this the Theological Theory of Everything? That is a fair and important question. I wrote earlier that one should leave the dance with the one that brought them. This is a metaphor for the idea that we all chose our life-path and in so doing set the conditions for our sojourn here on planet earth. Since I readily admit that I was born a Christian and chose that as my life path then it is incumbent on me to see the universal aspect of my faith in Jesus. In that I should not be exclusive of all other religious traditions. In fact, I can gain much by embracing some of their tenets and beliefs.

How should I choose which ones? Another great question. The standard, the measure should be found in Paul's definition of love in 1 Corinthians thirteen, and the fruit of the spirit found in Galatians five. Anything that fits with all of those defining characteristics is from the creative source of the universe. All that are not should be relegated to cultural human input. To give an example, that is not all inclusive but rather a sample of what I mean, I will quote the Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu. This shows that the Tao is similar to the Logos. 

"The Tao that can be understood is not the eternal, cosmic Tao, just as an idea that can be expressed in words is not the infinite idea.  And yet this ineffable Tao is the source of all spirit and matter; expressing itself, it is the mother of all created things.  Not to desire material things is to know the freedom of spirituality; and to desire them is to suffer the limitations of matter.  Yet these two things, matter and spirit, so different in nature, have the same origin.  This unity is the mystery of mysteries, and the gateway to spirituality." ~Lao Tzu. Tao Te Ching . Ancient Renewal. Kindle Edition.