Thoughts about Abraham and Jesus

When God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, (an Angel told him to stop just before), many people interpret this to be a test of Abraham, was he willing to do Gods word even to the extreme of sacrificing his own son.

But I think it was more than that, it also relates to Jesus, how great of a thing it was to ask Abraham, and at the last moment Abraham's life was spared, but Jesus was sacrificed.

Also though, in the book of John, Jesus talks about forgiveness, and Jesus demonstrated a willingness to forgive even the taking of his own life.

Today throughout the world, we have many groups of people hating each other and we get a cycle of vengeance and that cycle never seems to end. Jesus took the first step in ending the cycle.

I have had dreams all of my life about a changed Earth, and while the physical changes are remarkable and beautiful, what is most notable is the society.

There are no fences, many houses have open doors and windows, there is no violence, very little in the way of material possessions and yet, we have all that we need.

People still have jobs, but much fewer hours are spent because we produce only what we need. The free time is spent with family and friends, telling stories, playing games, making music, and just enjoying and appreciating the wonderful world we've been given.

Such a society could never exist with the hatred and lack of love that exists in the world today. This new world is what God wants for us, this existing disaster is not. But it's up to us to change.

It's going to be hard for me and I know for many people. But I believe if I ask Jesus to come into my heart and change it, it will happen, and I do that. Admittedly, I fear the pain that will be involved, but I've seen what the new world looks like and I've come to realize that I'm not such a good director of my own life.

But we're all in this together. A lot of the people I've talked to are very turned off my religion, but I would suggest to you that religion and spirituality are very different.

I would particularly encourage you to read the book of John and the other gospels, and ask God to bring you wisdom. I don't claim any sort of wisdom myself, I've made a mess of my life and hurt others, but I understand now that Jesus showed us the way to a new and better world, and loved us so much that he died to give us life in that world.

So if you've been turned off by religion, or not; I would encourage you to try to read through the book of John, understand what is being said; and see if you don't feel the love of Jesus come to you.

I know I will be going through some material difficulties, and I know I won't live in this body to see that new world because I've been told I will not be here for the final hour, but I will see it in a new body if I do God's will. That's a big challenge but I want to see an end to suffering and craziness that exists in this present world.

Science, Religion, and God

One thing that troubles me about our current state is science and spirituality are viewed as being at odds with one another.

Sure religion and science have run-ins, religion is a belief system, science is supposed to be a process, but after years of vested interest it often becomes an equally stagnant belief system.

There are things that we are told in the Bible that if applies to science would accelerate rather than retard it's advancement. The Bible tells us not to be proud and arrogant. A problem that seems to affect science is that people spend a lot of years studying to get letters after their name, then publish to earn a living. Their living comes to depend upon their reputation and there pride and arrogance become hard to resist. With that often comes an attitude that what has been learned is absolute and that everything is already known. Any evidence that contradicts that is an insult to the ego and discarded.

Science and direct spiritual experiences are two distinct ways of knowing, science deals with knowing that can be proven and demonstrated, but it is very poor at dealing with that which can't be easily proven or shared. Unfortunately, many natural phenomena fall into the latter category, especially those dealing with the more interesting aspects of nature such as consciousness.

Objectivity is highly prized, but impossible to obtain for it is impossible to rule out the role of the observer. Science often excludes spiritual experience and knowledge because objectivity is impossible to obtain, yet in truth, objectivity is impossible to obtain scientifically as well, the subject always affects the results.

Some areas that trouble me, science expounds the existence of the so-called "God part of the brain", suggesting that because seemingly spiritual experiences can be provoked by stimulating certain parts of the brain electrically or magnetically, that the spiritual experience is just a hallucination of sorts.

This logic is flawed, it is no different than saying because stimulation of the visual cortex creates visual effects, that everything we see is a hallucination.

What brain science fails to find or explain, is the man within the man. It can readily explain how various signal pathways and processing take place, but it can't explain why we subjectively experience something. A machines state doesn't automatically imply that the machine experiences that state, unless you suggest that all machines and perhaps everything is imbued with consciousness, and perhaps this isn't entirely off-track.

I believe that humanity would benefit if science and spirituality weren't always at odds with each other and if religions would be open to genuine spiritual exploration.

The more my understanding of both science and spirit evolve, the less they are at odds. I know that as a human being I can never fully understand God or God's plan, nor will I ever fully understand the universe that God created, but I am coming closer to understandings that are consistent both with observation and God's word.

I wish people could integrate these things more because they're both methods of knowing more about the same reality in which we live.

Egyptian Beliefs

The guest on a late night television show is an Egyptologist. I didn't catch her name but it was a statement that she made that I found interesting.

She said that the ancient Egyptians believed that if you wrote something down it would come into being in the next life.

I'm curious how broad that belief was since many common day transactions and occurrences were recorded and surely those were more a matter of record than prediction.

This didn't seem entirely appropriate to this blog except that I'm curious as to how the ancient Egyptian belief meshed with Christianity. Someone once loaned me a copy of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, (translated into English), and their beliefs regarding the nature of humans and the afterlife was extremely complex.

Anyway, the idea that writing something down would make it come into existence in the next life is not something that I extracted from the book, so I'm curious where it did originate.

Modern Science in an Ancient Book

I'm of the belief that science is not incompatible with Christianity or spirituality in general and I feel rather taken back at the constant fight between the ideas of creationism and evolution.

Creationists insist on taking all of the Bible entirely literally. While it is clear that parts of the Bible are historical narrative intended to be taken literally, other parts are metaphorical or poetic, and not to be taken literally.

That God created everything doesn't have to be at odds with evolution which only describes one process used to implement that creation.

Even things as fantastic as the sun standing still have a possible basis within accepted laws of phystics.

I believe that the more we advance science, the more we understand about the nature of reality, and the more we learn to correctly interpret scripture, the less science and religion will seem at odds.

Questions

Many people who write blogs on spiritual matters do so from a position of assumed authority; I really created this blog as a matter of sharing my own exploration and hoping that it might further that of others as well.

I've had an instance of what I consider to be direct intervention early in my life; but after that really walked away and did not keep Christ in my heart.

And where Christ is not present, Satan has a field day and I can see now how a trap has been laid; I will not accept Satan's terms, whatever the cost.

So I am trying to follow God's will but find it difficult still but I am trying. I am trying to understand better what God intends for my life; why I am still here and I'm finding that difficult; there are many things I know I should do but to focus is difficult.

I try to understand Christ; forgiveness by God's grace, but the gospels, particularly John, are full of quotes of Jesus saying things like Judge not lest ye be judged, or forgive and they will be forgiven, which seems more legalistic. Clearly we're not up to being on par with Jesus when it comes to forgiveness or compassion.

I try my best, but my best doesn't seem all that good. Fear rules my life all too often and I find myself running away from doing the right thing.

Quodlibet Journal

I was referred to this site by one of my customers who is a reverend and whom I had asked a question with respect to references in the Bible concerning references to Sons of Gods and the Nephilim. Unfortunately, the only thing I could conclude from the writings on this site was there were as many opinions as there are people who have thought about the subject. In the end it remains a complete mystery.

This website is interesting overall, although I don't agree with everything or even much of what is posted, particularly with respect to the death penalty which the author suggests is part of creation, but there is much in Mossiac law that was changed by the coming of Christ.

At any rate; it's some food for thought so I added it to the sidebar.

Victor Zammit

I added a link to the sidebar to an interesting website, Victor Zammit; that primarily concerns itself with evidence for life after death; but also there is material relating to the general nature of spiritual reality.

I haven't posted here for quite some time because it really has come to feel like people aren't getting it.

But tonight; on my 50th birthday, the end of a half century of being alive; and the beginning of another; I watch the election returns; and the country that I had thought to be totally apathetic, uncaring, and doomed to self-destruction appears to have turned a corner.

I feel genuinely optimistic for the first time in decades.