God Beyond Religion: Spiritual Discernment and Scripture

This is probably one of the most important things I have ever written with respect to freeing oneself from the toxic influence of orthodox dogma, especially evangelical orthodoxy. What I mean by evangelical orthodoxy is the dogma that most evangelicals agree on. An example would be the inerrancy of scripture, and that it is a rule book for all faith and practice. This idea is summed up nicely in a bumper sticker of a few years back when bumpers were chrome and not part of the body of the car. The bumper sticker I am referring to is “God said it! I believe it! That settles it!”

So, let me share with you something God allegedly said based on this view:

Exo 21:7-11  “When a man sells his daughter as a concubine, she is not to leave as the male slaves do.  (8)  If she is displeasing to her master, who chose her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners because he has acted treacherously toward her.  (9)  Or if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her according to the customary treatment of daughters.  (10)  If he takes an additional wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife.  (11)  And if he does not do these three things for her, she may leave free of charge, without any payment.”

The above passage is the instructions to sell one’s daughter as a sex slave. Did God say that? I doubt it very much. Today if a man would sell his daughter as a sex slave and got caught, he would simply go to jail and rightly so. You may say well, that was old covenant. I would say yes, I agree, but how do you know what to accept of the old covenant and what to reject? If you are alone, and if you look into your mirror, and IF YOU ARE HONEST, you will admit that it is all of the things you have been taught at church. In other words, it is based on doctrine and dogma. BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF! What I am saying here is true.

If our cultural and societal norms can progress to the place where we know that having concubines is not an acceptable thing, certainly selling one’s daughter as a concubine is not acceptable, then how could anyone ever think that God would sanction such a practice. Of course, if you’re honest you cannot. There are many more examples in both the Old and New Testaments but this one is so glaring that it was the one I chose for an example. I think that we can all rest assured that God did not say what is found in Exodus 21:7-11 ever.

The legitimate question becomes how can one discern what is revelation from source and what are cultural ideas based on cultural norms? I would not even rule out that Exodus 21:7-11 is not progressive for the cultural norms of the times. It probably would have been. My point is that it was not an edict from the creative source of the universe. To answer the question above, the first thing one must do is use the discernment of the indwelling Logos. If we are created in God’s image, and I believe we are, then we are creative consciousness and that is via the indwelling divine logos. Since the logos is the offspring of God, by virtue of being conscious agents we are the offspring of consciousness.

Quite frankly, the only thing we have in common with God is consciousness. It is by virtue of us being conscious agents that we are in the image of God. What is God’s consciousness? It is the Logos, the Tao, it is God’s Word. God’s Word is God’s offspring. The message of Jesus among other things was that he was God’s consciousness in human flesh. However, he taught that we too are just like him. We also are God’s consciousness in human flesh. It is through our consciousness that we receive mystical understanding and revelation. God consciousness is our discernment. Peter claimed in the Acts of the Apostles, that God’s consciousness, which is also God’s Spirit was poured out on all flesh. So, the answer to the question above, about understanding what mystical revelation from the source is and what is human cultural input is by using God consciousness.

Interestingly enough, God Consciousness is likewise Christ Consciousness. Christ Consciousness is the source of all mystical revelation and illumination. Perhaps I can give you some illumination of a verse in Revelation.

Rev 19:10  “Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

Yes indeed, it is the testimony of Jesus that explains the Word became flesh and dwelt in humanity. Subsequently, Jesus said that the Word indwells the rest of humanity as well. “As he is in the world so are we!” John tells us that the Word was in the world but was not recognized. He says the Word came to his own kind but was not received. However, John also states that there was those who received him. Those who were given the power to become the offspring of God. Who were they? They were all of the mystics and seers over the millennia. Each of us now has access to the indwelling Christ. That is true whether or not one has heard of or believed in Jesus of Nazareth. That indwelling Word is the source of our discernment.