I just read Dan Brown's new novel, The Lost Symbol, (an excellent read by the way) and he wrote something that never even occured to me. God created Adam 'in His own image', and His image wasn't physical, because God is spirit. So originally we were spirit, and the Garden of Eden existed in spirit form. This makes total sense to me, and if you carry the story further, after being kicked out, he placed the cheribum and a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life. Adam and Eve were sent out to 'work the land'. When you think about this as being we were created as spirit beings, but the fall cast us out into the physical realm, and a guardian sent to keep us from finding our way back. This has so many repercussions as far as understanding of the Bible, it's a bit mindboggling to me at the moment. I know literalists will poopoo this, but even they must admit that parts of the story (the apple, for instance) are definately symbols for something else.
I have always struggled with the 'why' of not knowing or having any real evidence of life after death. At least this is an explanation, that we are really spiritual beings trapped in physical bodies, and if we knew we were spirits we wouldn't be trapped anymore, possibly, or would pursue it more anyway. Mankind has always had superstitions about another world beyond our reach, spirits and demons and gods. Of course, if this is really the case, it also begs the question, why did we not get restored to the spiritual realm after the sacrifice of Jesus. I mean mankind. Is there really some test that we all must go through here in this realm? Do we really have to 'just believe'? Why when we're saved are we not allowed freedom from this mortal body instantly? I guess maybe this whole thought process just leads to more questions than answers. At least if it's all about the here and now, the path I'm on has me feeling that my here and now is worthwhile.
It does shed a different light on the creation story though.
YOU can learn directly from God.
If you're religion is confusing to you, there's a reason. Get a red letter Bible, and read the words of Jesus to the priests and preachers of His day. Then understand this: There's no difference between them and the priests and preachers of our day. Why would there be? Just as there was in His day, there are some with good intent, but even they are learning from a corrupted system. Want the truth? Throw out everything you've learned from them, pick up the Bible, and read it for yourself. Not by chapter and verse as you were taught. Particularly in the New Testament, read the way they were written, as letters. And unless you're well versed in Old English, get a modern translation. One you can read and understand. Stick to the New Testament at first, so as not to be overwhelmed. And know this, it isn't the word of God the way you were taught. It's the word of God as understood by those who wrote it. Try to understand it from the point of view of those it was written to...we were taught to read it as if it was written to us!
The problem with that is, those the New Testament was written to were going through the transition from one Covenant to another. They were awaiting an event in their time. To learn about that event, one needs to consult historians, such as Josephus and his account of it in "Wars of the Jews."
The problem with that is, those the New Testament was written to were going through the transition from one Covenant to another. They were awaiting an event in their time. To learn about that event, one needs to consult historians, such as Josephus and his account of it in "Wars of the Jews."
Questioning the established theologies. The church teaches the law, just as it did when Jesus railed against it in His day. A discussion on the freedoms He gave us, and why true followers might want to operate on the outside. The truth is out there, but where?
Saturday, January 9, 2010
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Of course, the Mayans (or Hopi's) believe that we're in the window of time when mankind is going to go through that transformation back to spirit. Those are some very interesting prophecies, from a people who date themselves to before Atlantis, dating themselves back some 26,000 years. People generally think they were wiped out I think, but there are still some 400 Mayan tribes (including the Hopi's, who say they came from Guatemala and that they are Mayan.) The comet in Oct '07 that briefly was the largest entity in our solar system and had a blue haze to it. Their prophecy talked about the 'blue comet' as the beginning of the window of 7 to 8 years where the world as we know it would change and we would enter the '5th' world. The specific 2012 date is not really the day they predict it to happen; Dec 21 of that year is a specific astrological event that signals the end of the cycle of their calender. Could this be when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth like the sands of the seashore? We shall see.
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