Things Your Minister Never Told You

If you’re anything like most Christians, you have lots of questions about your faith – questions that your minister never was able to properly answer for you.

The question that started me down the path of self-discovery was this: Why does one have to seek the Truth?  The Bible says, that if you seek the Truth, the Truth will set you free.  The implication is that you don’t already know the Truth, not even from reading the Bible.  If you have to seek the Truth, it obviously must not be self-evident.  So following are certain truths about the Bible that your minister probably never told you about:

• If Jesus was born of a virgin mother, he couldn’t have been the messiah.

The reason is that, according to prophecy, the messiah had to be a descendant from King David and any lineage that Jesus had from King David would have had to have come through Joseph (since Mary was not related to King David).  If Joseph was not the biological father, then there would have been no descendancy from King David.

•  Jehovah lied when he said, “…there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other” (Isaiah 43:10).

For example, Psalm 82:1 says that, “God presides in the great assembly; he renders judgment among the gods.”

• The Bible says that slavery is acceptable.

See the Tenth Commandment re. coveting another man’s slave.

• How many Adams were there and what were their names?

There was more than one (see I Corinthians 15:45).  Even Eve was considered to be an adam (see Genesis 5:2), as the word generally referred to “mankind”.

•  The concept of  “The Trinity” was not a concept of the disciples or the early Christians.

The word “Trinity” is not even mentioned in the Bible.

• You have never been told about the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven or the wisdom of God.

Down through the ages, this information has always been withheld from the masses.  Obviously, that material is not in the Bible, although references to it are (see Matthew 13:11; Ephesians 3:3,5; Romans 16:25; Corinthians 2:6-8).

•  Was Jesus the only son of God?

Apparently not. Genesis 6: 2-4 mentions that there were many sons of God, although they may be totally unrelated.

• Who wrote the Bible?

With the exception of some of Paul’s letters, historians and scholars don’t know exactly who wrote the various bible stories. Even some of Paul’s so-called letters were probably not written by Paul.

 

Unfortunately, when some theologians attempt to answer questions like these they start from the premise that dogma is correct.  They then work backwards in coming up with want they think is a “plausible” response which coincides with their dogma.  For example, if one were to ask what the Bible says about who created man, the obvious answer is God.  However, the obvious answer is really not all that obvious since Genesis 1:26 tells us, “And God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness’….” and Genesis 3:22 says, “And the Lord God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil”.  Those two verses make it quite clear that God had help when he created man and that the others had the same image and likeness of God.  Talk about an inconvenient truth.  Some deists explain this by saying that it was actually the Trinity who created man – the very same Trinity that is nowhere to be found in the Bible.

The Bible says that the Kingdom of God is within.  Within, where?  What is it and how does one access it?  By now, it should be pretty obvious that I am going to say that… these are things that your minister probably never told you.

“One of the problems is that the average Christian in the average church who listens to           the average Christian broadcasting has such an oversimplified understanding of both the Bible and of church history – it would be deeply disturbing for them to really learn church history.”

– Brian McLaren, leading Christian pastor and theologian

 

Atheism vs. Christianity

Someone recently posted a video of a debate  between Atheism and Christianity.  I didn’t bother to watch because that kind of debate infers that one or the other is right.  What if they’re both wrong?

Take Atheism.  It’s actually as much a religion as… say religion is.  In one respect, it’s the belief that you can solve all the mysteries of life simply by employing logic (and one’s intelligence).  Atheists have built their whole world around the achievement of their vision of nirvana through the elevation of the mind to what approximates a form of godhood.  Of course, one has to stop and realize that our physical senses are so flawed as to severely limit our brains’ perception of reality.  We can’t even properly discern what’s occurring in our own dimension, let alone in the multitude of other dimensions that science says are out there. For example from a scientific standpoint, it’s totally preposterous to argue the non-existence of an Absolute simply by observing Nature.

Aside: By the way, isn’t it also illogical to try to prove a negative?

If atheists don’t want to believe in a higher power, I’m totally okay with that.  The mistake that is typically made, though, is that they reject God based upon Christianity’s narrow definition of the Creator.  After all, absence of proof of the Christian god does not equate to proof of absence (or non-existence) of God.   What if Christianity is wrong?

Conclusion:  Then rejection of the Christian god by atheists does not necessarily mean that they don’t believe in God.  They simply have rejected the Christian version of divinity.

Aside: How about the gods of other religions, say Islam or Buddhism?

So then what about Christianity?  Christianity’s holy book, of course, is the Bible – the Old Testament and the New Testament.  Here’s the problem.  The god of the Old Testament is different than the god of the New Testament.  The god of the Old Testament actually seems more like a man than a god.  He walks and talks (e.g. in the Garden of Eden), wrestles with Jacob in the story of Jacob’s ladder, makes covenants with Abraham as well as others and for good measure he frequently goes around killing people he doesn’t like (how Christ-like); finally, the gods become mortal, or always were mortal as the case may be, and then die (Psalm 82:7).

However, in the New Testament there is a complete reversal of form.  God totally changes his stripes.  Suddenly, he is invisible (Romans 1:20), he is spirit (John 4:24) and, in fact, no man has ever seen him (John 1:18).  Pretty confusing, right?

So exactly which god is atheism rejecting?  Well, for sure, they’re going to reject any god that is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient.

Aside:  What if God exists but is not omnipotent, omnipresent or omniscient?

Just a guess, but I think that the atheists might respond as Epicurus did, “Then why call him God?”  However, if a Creator does exist, what else would you call him, maybe Bubba?  Just because God doesn’t fit your idea of God, that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t exist.

The world is the way it is whether we want to accept and acknowledge it or not.  Something must have caused the universe to come into existence.  Why not call that something God?  Certainly, great minds like Plato, Voltaire, Rousseau, Whitman and even Einstein did.  If it was good enough for them, shouldn’t it be good enough for the rest of us?  Belief in God never required a church or a religion, or even a Bible for that matter.  So for me, I’m not at all interested in this debate.  It’s just so much arguing over the smell of swamp gas (see quote below).

 

“If there is no God, then all abstractions are chemical epiphenomena, like swamp gas over fetid water. This means that we have no reason for assigning truth and falsity to the chemical fizz we call reasoning or right and wrong to the irrational reaction we call morality….”

     –   Douglas Wilson

The Cave Man, God and the Missing Link

An old, well-known ad jokingly stated that, “It’s so easy, even a cave man can do it.”  As it turns out, however, our predecessors were not as stupid as they have been made out to be.  In fact, many of them could do even more than we can today.

The fact is that the ancients knew things that modern man has discovered only in recent times, if at all.  In the intervening millennia, man could only stand back and marvel at their achievements and wonder how it was done.  Even today, we have been unable to determine how some of their great structures were built, especially given the known technology of the time.

The monoliths that dot the landscapes around the world are really only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. The ruins that lie underwater, on the other hand, are altogether beyond imagination, at least in terms of chronology.  It’s nothing less than a rewriting of the history of man’s evolution.  These underwater ruins have been discovered in various places around the world, from Japan to the South Pacific to Cuba to India to the Black Sea and to the North Sea.  What makes these discoveries stand out from those on land is that these sites, by definition, have to be dated prior to the end of the last ice age some 12,000 years ago when the world’s sea level rose significantly, putting these sites under water.  The thing is, man was supposedly living in caves 15,000 years ago.

What kind of civilization could have possibly built these magnificent structures? How is it possible that such a civilization even existed?  Where did they come from?  Where did they go?  So many questions with so few answers.

Where they came from is a matter of some debate, with science offering up their theory of evolution. I say theory because evolution is not supported by the scientific record. The first big problem with evolution is that the fossil record increasingly does not support it. Steven Jay Gould, a well-known evolutionary biologist, has described this situation as “the trade secret of paleontology.”  Rather, the fossil record shows the sudden emergence of new species out of nowhere, fully complete with all their characteristics and then rarely changing over time. What’s missing are any intermediate life forms evidencing evolution. This, then, is the infamous “missing link.”

The theory of evolution requires that atoms organize themselves into  complex arrangements.  Never mind that evolution has no explanation for just how the first living cell arose spontaneously from a bunch of “dead” chemicals.  That’s why molecular biologist, and Nobel Prize winner, Francis Crick supported the theory of man’s origins known as Directed Panspermia.  For Crick, there was no primordial soup that gave rise to the first living cell on Earth; not possible he said.  Instead, the seeds of life came from the Cosmos and were directed by intelligent life forms.

Further, some scientists would say that evolution is contradicted by the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which stipulates that all biological and physical processes naturally diminish to lower levels of organization. For example, the sun will burn out one day.  Instead evolutionary theory says that atoms are supposed to become increasingly more and more complex.  The fossil record, however, shows the exact opposite – decreasing complexity. Even in man, you can find decreasing complexity. Scientists have recently discovered that a 28,000-year-old Cro-Magnon brain is about 15-20% larger than our brains today.

The results from a recent scientific study of human intelligence show a decline of over 13 IQ points since Victorian times.  It seems that man’s intelligence may be in decline.  Another study by Stanford University professor Gerald Crabtree also reflects that humans are getting dumber. Crabtree believes that had the average Athenian from 1000 BC lived in modern times, he would be considered a genius, IQ wise.

How is that possible?  Well, consider that some of the greatest civilizations in history appeared out of nowhere already fully developed, including the Sumerians and the ancient Egyptians, and then diminished over time.  The Sumerians were advanced well beyond the great Greek civilization which came two thousand years later.  As for the Egyptians, they haven’t constructed anything of note for 4,000 years or so.  Until the 19^th century, all the brilliant scientists and linguists of Western Civilization had been unable to translate the ancient hieroglyphics of Egypt.  They were finally only able to translate them when an ancient translation table fell into their laps.

There are probably only three possibilities as to how this all happened and who this ancient civilization was, as follows:

• They were a prior human civilization which was for the most part decimated by a natural calamity.  For example, according to Hopi and Mayan mythology, other civilizations have come and gone in this world prior to modern man (homo sapiens sapiens).
• They were a group of extraterrestrials who subsequently left the planet, and/or stayed here and were virtually decimated by a natural calamity.
• They were the gods of mythology and religion.

I actually have reason to believe that all three scenarios are, at least partially, true. By that I mean that intelligent life has existed on this planet for millions of years.  The terraforming of the planet, including the seeding of intelligent life, was the result of very advanced, inter-dimensional beings.  Therefore, in this respect, I agree with Crick. These higher level beings were considered by the ancients to be gods.  Why not, if in fact they created man. Their technology was incredibly advanced and was considered by ancient man to have created miracles.  By definition, then, they had to be gods.

By my reckoning, man has in some respects de-evolved from ancient times.  The brain is smaller and intelligence has apparently decreased.  We haven’t even learned some of the basic lessons of life such as the environment is way more important than progress, for example.  As for where we came from, evolution has shown that it doesn’t have the answers.  How could it when man has, in reality, evolved from consciousness rather than matter!

 “I believe in Spinoza’s God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.”

     – Albert Einstein

My Good Friend God

People seem to be very demanding of their god.  First and foremost, he always has to be there for them.  Otherwise, they seemly want to disown him.

Case in point are certain atheist friends of mine.  In the beginning, they were mostly religious – at least their parents were.  My friends became religious by default, something akin to getting cancer from second-hand smoke.  However, a funny thing happened on the way to church.  God wasn’t there for them and, therefore, he must not exist.

The other day, however, I had a believer tell me something quite similar.  God had to be there for them at all times.  Otherwise, they didn’t consider him to be God.  It rather shocked my sensibilities at first.  It had the feel of a New Age covenant of sorts: I will choose you for my God if you will always be there for me.  To me, it seems rather presumptuous for man to tell God what the conditions of their relationship should be.

I suppose that some of this can be laid off on man’s understanding of God, as taught from the pulpit or as ordained by an infallible Pope.  After all, God has been said to be omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient, not to mention all loving and all good.  So tell me, why does man feel that he can define the Absolute, and that he can actually read the mind of God?  God simply…is.  He needs no explanation, needs no one to defend him, to pray to him or to worship him.  Those are finite attributes conjured up by man’s finite mind about an entity that is infinitely incomprehensible.

To add insult to injury, some question why anyone refers to him as God unless he acts exactly how they want him to act.  It all seems pretty selfish to me.  While I understand man’s psychological need to have God in his life, we should stop blaming God for everything and take some personal responsibility for our lives.  Although unbeknownst to most people, we, ourselves, are the very change in the world that we have been waiting for.  As God said in the movie Bruce Almighty,  “Parting your soup is not a miracle, Bruce, it’s a magic trick. A single mom who’s working two jobs, and still finds time to take her kid to soccer practice, that’s a miracle. A teenager who says no to drugs and yes to an education, that’s a miracle. People want Me to do everything for them, but what they don’t realize is, they have the power. You want to see a miracle, son?  Be the miracle.”

The Cosmic End Game

The great unknown in evolution is how it all works (i.e. what animates life?).  Not knowing, there are some people who will stop at nothing in order to be the first to figure it out.  Failing that, they will try to steal your soul.

There’s been a battle going on for control of this planet for literally thousands of years.  The forces of light and dark, good vs. evil – call it what you will.  Some people would like to keep man’s consciousness enslaved in matter in order to prevent his evolution.  As it says in the Bible, the Gods don’t want man to be like them (see Genesis 3:22).

Evil is a concept that man has grappled with since the Garden of Eden.  In the Lord’s Prayer, man prays to an invisible spirit (“our Father who art in Heaven”) to deliver him from an ever-present evil.  This would have been necessary only if evil existed as the result of external forces. In a biblical sense, only an evil being (e.g. the god of the Old Testament) would threaten to punish those who would refuse to worship or obey it.

Even today, evil plays a prominent role in the events that shape society.  There’s a reason for all the evil in the world, beyond man’s poor choices resulting from his own free will.  That reason is that our genetic disposition is prone to evil, due to genetic manipulation.  DNA research has identified 223 genes whose source, scientists say, come from 20 unknown extraterrestrial life forms.  In other words, the human race is the result of genetic hybridization.  In effect, evil has been embedded in the collective unconscious of mankind!

The war between these powerful forces extends out into the Cosmos and has been ongoing for eons. Perhaps evolution even requires it, since positive change seemingly always comes out of chaos.  The myths of the Mayans and the Hopis both refer to worlds that have come and gone before us, with the destruction of life leading to regeneration just like the Phoenix rising from the ashes.

These opposing factions are locked in a battle of the present and the past in order to determine the future, our future. You could say that they both belong to civilizations which exist outside of time. They are time-travelers then, of a sort, who are trying to influence the timeline which links us to our various probable futures. Unfortunately, in one of those futures, your soul may have all but died out.  Therefore, it may well be up to humanity to make a collective choice as to which way we need to go.

If instead your waiting for Christ to return, you ought to be forewarned that he isn’t coming.  More correctly, he’s already here. That is, the spark of divinity (Christ Consciousness) is in each one of us and is ready to be awakened.  That awakening, should it occur, would be the much talked about Second Coming. The cosmic clock is about to strike midnight. It’s time for everyone to wake up.

“Reality is not confined to space and time. The psyche is not under obligation to space    and time alone.”

     – Carl Jung

The Infinite Worlds of Creation

According to the Bible, God created the universe in six days.  However, until recently nobody has ever bothered to explain that he actually created an infinite number of worlds, only one of which is the physical universe that we are aware of.   However, our perception of our existence is distorted by the fact that our physical senses cannot perceive beyond this universe and, for that matter, cannot even observe much of what exists in our own world.

While religion has been slow in coming to this realization, science has not.  Its Multiverse Theory has some interesting twists to it though.  According to Michael Talbot, author of The Holographic Universe, “Our reality is an expression of a deeper order of existence that exists beyond space and time.”  Religion would call this deeper order of existence “heaven”.  The difference between religion and science on this point is that, in religion, heaven is a place that you might go to after you die whereas, in science, your true reality is in heaven and your existence in this world is only a projection from that heaven.  Note: We live in what is seemingly a solid world and yet an atom, which is 99.9% empty space, somehow holds it all together.

Another twist resulting from Multiverse Theory is that you will continue to exist in heaven even after you cease to exist in this world.  The conversion of energy into matter (from heaven to our world) and the return of matter back to energy (dying and going to heaven) is what I refer to as The Circle of Life.  It’s a continuous regeneration of Creation that has no beginning and no end.

King Solomon believed that there was nothing new under the sun.  That belief can now be correctly understood under Multiverse Theory.  Everything that will ever exist currently exists (outside of our physical universe) in a field of infinite possibilities.  All thoughts, ideas and concepts are not unique.  We do not create them, we simply rediscover them by attracting them into this world (through the Law of Attraction).  For example, Paul McCartney once said that he never composed a song.  Rather, the music just came to him (he heard it in his head).

The deeper scientists probe into the quantum world the more they find organized information, in other words Intelligent Design.  The implication of Multiverse Theory is that we exist in a virtual reality matrix where our brains process this information. Accordingly, everything that we see and experience is a world of information that occurs in the mind.  As the Bhagavad Gita says, “The transmigration of life takes place in one’s own mind.  For what a man thinks, he becomes. This is the mystery of eternity.”

So the mystics were right after all.  Our universe is a world of consciousness which is the fundamental reality of all existence.  Consequently, physical reality is but a projection of our consciousness.  In other words, the cosmos is simply a figment of our imagination!

 “Life is only a dream and we are the imagination of ourselves.”

  – Bill Hicks