A Tale

A young man was walking from one casino to another on the Strip in Las Vegas when he came upon a beggar with no legs, sitting on the pavement. He leaned over and whispered to him; "Do you believe that life is nothing more than a crap shoot?" "Yes" said the beggar and he then quoted the words of Solomon.

"The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to people of understanding, nor yet favor to people of skill; but time and chance happens to them all."

Seeing that the beggar was a very wise man, he asked another question. Do you believe in divine intervention? " Yes" replied the beggar, "but it is exceptional and rare. God does not like to tamper with His creation in the world of Yin and Yang." Being somewhat perplexed the younger man then asked," Where do you get the strength and courage to face each and every day." The beggar then answered, " It is through prayer, grace and charity that I am a survivor." At that point the young man took out a hundred dollar bill and placed it in his tin cup before heading to the next casino.

The Inquiry

Knowing that I was not a church member, a person once asked me "Do you think you will go to heaven?" Referring to the two great commandments of Jesus I replied, "I love God and I love people." He said nothing more and walked away. God reaches out to different people in different ways. With Christians; it is in Jesus and the New Testament. The Jews; Moses, Abraham and the Torah. With Muslims; Allah, Muhammad and the Koran. And Native Americans; the Great Spirit speaking through dreams, omens and signs. Without proselytizing, I like to think, regardless of the road traveled, if you do good in your life, you shall be rewarded. And I would love to believe that this is what Jesus implied when he said, "In my Fathers house there are many mansions."

Emanuel Swedenborg 1668-1772

The great Swedish theologian had an interesting take on the afterlife. (Heaven and Hell).  He believed, in so many words, that when we die, we each take with us, our preferences and disposition. We get to meet many other departed spirits, including our loved ones, family and friends. When we do meet with other spirits, we communicate not in words but in thoughts. None are hidden, all are revealed. Mutual compatibility will determine the length our our stay. Depending on our preferences and disposition, we may move on and gravitate toward other spiritual beings. So, in Swedenborg's view of the afterlife, the swine will be among the  swine, friends among friends, and angels among angels.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

Different words resonate with different people. The following quote struck a cord with me..

"God is the power of first cause, nature is the law, and matter is the subject acted upon."

"Matter The Subject Acted Upon"

Trying to comprehend DNA technology is a lot like watching a new TV Mini-Series drama. Once you get to know the characters, it becomes easier to follow and a lot more interesting.The main genealogical characters are DNA molecules, chromosomes and nucleotides which are chemical building blocks, identified as adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C). and guanine (G). And through the different sequences written in code with the nucleotides alphabet, of A,T,C,and G, there can be found a long string or map of instructions for each and every organism. Looking at this aspect of creation alone, one may conclude that God is indeed the power of first cause.

Spirit of Light

The Sun has all the attributes of the Creator and provides the living spark for all organisms. In ancient times it was thought of in the terms of a deity and worshipped accordingly. It was to them, as Thomas Paine once said, "The great visible agent for the great invisible God."

GEWL

A tetragrammaton. It represents the multiplicity of life as we know it from God, Earth, Water and Light. The book of Genesis tells the story of how it all began.  

Mystical Insight

The ALL is the essence in all. A thing in itself is nothing. Only in relation to something else does it become. The interaction or encounter between what comes in, what goes out, what is given, what is received, determines what is this, what is that.That which is the strongest or most dominant will prevail. 

String Theory

In quantum physics scientist believe they have discovered a Holy Grail in oscillating and vibrating strings that can create or alter the composition of matter. Can the thought process also be projected to create oscillating and vibrating strings? Far fetched? Maybe not when you take under consideration the mechanisms involved in creativity, intuition and prayer. Maybe we should lead science more in this direction.
And give notice to the old and ancient maxim from Hermetic philosophy, that reads; "As above, so below; as below, so above."

Quantum:

The double slit experiment proves that with observation you can improve the probability of making a certain thing happen. From a physics view a  negative aspect of this is when you focus on the particle you lose sight of the momentum. Focus on the momentum, you lose sight of the particle. Another example from the world of nature, focus on the tree you lose sight of the forest. Focus on the forest you lose sight of the tree. Even better one, focus on God you lose sight of reality. Focus on reality you lose sight of God.The extreme differential of the last example can be explored in the writings of both Schopenhauer and Swedenborg.

A Paradox

Without God, Satan would not be known.
Without Satan, God would not be known.
With two together there is something.
With one alone there would be nothing.  

Afterthought

The second line the above entry "A Paradox" is probably controversial. After 40 days in the wilderness Jesus did not say to the devil, "I will destroy thee." Instead he replied, " Get thee behind me, Satan" and when it was all said and done, the devil departed to await another time or season. 

Exegesis

Probably the most quoted verse in the New Testament is John, 14.6
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me."
At first glance, this seems to say "My way or the highway." And this would be a contradiction of who Jesus was, His life and ministry. I read it a little differently.
"I am the way, and the truth, and the (light); no one comes to (the right hand of) the Father, but through Me."
In this view of God the Father, " None of His children are forgotten or left behind."

Birthdays

Not knowing if it was true or not, I read somewhere that the birth date of Jesus was celebrated on March, 25 for over 300 years. In 345 AD, Pope Julian II decided to switch the date of Christmas to December 25, thereby coinciding it symbolically with the Winter solstice. It also happens to be the same birth date of Buddha and Krishna of India and Horus, the ancient God of Egypt. 

The Road to Damascus

Many biblical scholars believe the Pauline Epistles predated the four Gospels. Why did the apostle Paul, a near contemporary of Jesus, always speak to the spirit of the word and not sometimes to the letter of the word? The Epistles and early letters makes no mention of extraordinary events in the life of Jesus, nor is there any reference to his words, prayers and parables.

New Testament

I still find it hard to believe that the early Gospel authors, more than a hundred years later, could have captured or gotten it right all the spoken Aramaic words of Jesus? And was there a proper chain of custody to protect the original Greek and Latin manuscripts taken from oral history and written on papyrus and parchment, from being tampered with? And what about the selection process of Constantine and the Nicene Council? Did they take certain liberties for political reasons? All valid questions but does it really matter?

A Senior Pastor from a very prominent and open church here in New England recently declared in the church newsletter:

"All who seek the unconditional love, the amazing grace and the transforming forgiveness of God -the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - are welcome at His table in our church."

The Purpose Driven Life

When I first heard about Rick Warren and the runaway best seller above, I went to Barnes & Noble to purchase the book. After reviewing the contents, I must say that I disagree with the second chapter. Warren's contention is that God has a plan or purpose for "everyone". To my way of thinking, the laws of nature, free will, yin and yang, time and chance rules all. I just can't believe that God is in the planning business. All one has to do is look at the world at large and the history of human suffering to understand this. However, what is most prevalent is God's "grace" and is available to all who seek it. It is through the grace of of God that the Messenger came into being. And to give to us, the way, the truth and the life, thus making our yoke a little easier and our burden that much lighter. 

The Lord's Prayer

Make no show of piety, pray to the Father in your own simple way. In private and from the heart, Extol His greatness, accept His will, here and above. Petition your daily needs. Ask pardon for a wrong done and give in kind for a wrong received. Pray that you not be tempted within and delivered in kind from things without. 

(God is and was the prime mover in all that I have written. How appropriate and right it is to end with a paraphrase version of "The Lord's Prayer." Praise be to God Almighty!)

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