Christ

ASCENSION

I submit my website home page lesson in order to reveal one way for progressive Christians to view the present Earth Shifts, Jesus as a Wayshower, and where humanity fits into the Whole of the cosmic events now taking place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For eons, the spiritual journey of humanity has involved alternating spans of time between life in a physical body and life on the plane of spirit. Living within a physical body entails limitations that do not exist during the intervening periods on the spiritual plane.

When we enter a physical body, we leave behind most memories of prior lifetimes on Earth. By age 4 or 5, most of us have forgotten our experiences on the plane of spirit. The reasons for our soul’s choice to enter another physical body are buried within our subconscious minds. We begin to view the present incarnation as the only time we have, or will, experience life on Earth. Sadly, our societal institutions allow us—even encourage us—to remain in this amnesic state of consciousness. The inevitable result is that we feel separated from God and cut off from the root of our being. Not knowing where our roots extend, we view every part of creation as separate from ourselves. We stand alone on an empty island.

CHAPTER #2 - “WHO SINNED? … THIS MAN OR HIS PARENTS? John 9:2

Endnotes may be found on my website under the title of “Reincarnation in the Bible.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What does the Bible have to say about reincarnation?" Nothing, if we expect to find the word reincarnation.

A lot, if we read the Bible through the lens of belief in reincarnation. In Chapter 1, I discuss the early Church Fathers’ efforts to establish a worldwide church subscribing to one and the same doctrine. A very serious repercussion has been heresy trials resulting in excommunication, burning of books, even death for expounding a different doctrine.

A second devastating consequence has been the forced reading of and interpretation of the Bible according to the established church creeds. Any portion of the Scriptures that is contrary to the established creed (or, for those churches not subscribing to a creed, the traditional facets of the Christian doctrines) are ignored. Much within the gospel of John, which many scholars believe to be based in Gnosticism, is an excellent example. Another illustration is Jesus’ statement, found twice in the gospel of Matthew, that John the Baptist is Elijah.

CHAPTER #1 - HAVE WE LIVED BEFORE?
In response to a question about resources relating to reincarnation, I include excerpts from my book, A New Christian: My Spiritual Journey. These two chapters are posted on my website under the title of “Reincarnation In the Bible.” There you can see the Endnotes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why does our Western culture choose to ignore the valuable contributions the concept of reincarnation can make in our understanding of life?"

"Why is the Church so hesitant to give credence to a belief in reincarnation?"

One reason is that Christian historians have failed to give reincarnation its rightful place in Church history. Western Christian historians have simply not reported the role of reincarnation. With the dawn of the New Age of Aquarius, ancient books are being translated into English. The layperson can now catch glimpses into what really happened.

The human psyche is deeply scarred with the Church’s horrendous teaching of a physical place called hell, created by a God who intends to punish some individuals for eternity.

Having declared the teaching of reincarnation heretical in 553 C.E., the church was left with no explanation for how God’s justice could work itself out? After all, Galatians 6:7 reminds us: “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.” It is plain for all to see that not everyone who commits major crimes reap the results of that behavior in this life. Therefore, there has to be a hell where those criminals can be punished. Right?

(The Church declared “reincarnation” to be a heretical teaching during its 553 C.E. Fifth Ecumenical Council when it condemned Origen and his teachings. ---Page 119 of Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, Vol. I, ed. Norman P. Tanner, Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1990. Origen who taught both pre-existence of souls and reincarnation, was one of the most influential of Early Christian thinkers.)

For the past couple of months, I have frequently driven to a nearby location where I can view the sunset. Awe-inspiring ... breathtaking ... beautiful beyond words ... are feeble attempts at describing the loveliness displayed. Looking up, the sky becomes God’s cathedral enfolding our planet ... the indigo, white, rose pink, and gray clouds are transformed into heavenly stained glass windows, shimmering in the light of the Sun. Looking up, I am aware of our planet nestled within a universe of planets, stars, and Suns. Looking up, I pray the Lord’s Prayer for our planet.

On the other hand, I observe drivers speeding past a lovely sunset ... people walking along the roadside ... church members parking their cars nearby and going inside ... few, if any, look up long enough to behold the heavenly vision surrounding them. All are engrossed in the tasks at hand ... tasks that seem, to us, to be vital to our earth plane lives. Yet, these very tasks tend to separate us from the much more comprehensive drama of God’s unfolding plan for our planet. They cause us to look down ... to forget that our lives are taking place on a planet ... within a solar system ... within a galaxy ... within a cosmos.

CHALLENGE: I post this article, hoping it will create much discussion on Crossleft---pro or con! We need to air out all the cobwebs and assist Christians in learning to think for themselves ... to seek Truth on their own ... to discern Truth that feels intuitively right to them ... to know that my Truth may not be your Truth ... and that is okay!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE: For the purposes of this article, I use the term “Source of our being” to refer to the omnipresent energy of Divine Love in which we live and move and have our being—-the Ultimate Source of all creation.
I use the term “Awakened Christian” to mean the one who follows Jesus as A Wayshower on the pathway to individual ascension. Jesus, as a Wayshower, reveals the way; He cannot walk the path for us. The awakened Christian recognizes this fact and strives to tread his/her own pathway to ascension. See the article entitled “Ascension” and the 16 Lessons on the Book of Job on www.pathwaytoascension.com.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jesus Christ taught and practiced nonviolent resistance. In a time of oppression, as Jesus and fellow Jews experienced, nonviolent resistance takes on a heightened importance, and peacemaking becomes more than an art.

While speaking to a hillside crowd Jesus proclaimed, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” The speech Jesus gave came to be called the “Sermon on the Mount.” Going beyond mere appeals to his listeners to live in peace, he told them to go out and make peace. Much of his audience were not expecting a Messiah who extolled the virtues of peacemaking, but one who led the Jewish people in violent and triumphant revolt against their Roman occupiers.

The people who do not feel love and unity with everything will have to remain calm until they work up enough momentum so they can take part in a spiritual resurrection. They can help humanity and themselves by first developing their mind, then they can help others. Love you neighbor as yourself, one must first love oneself.We go through life meeting different people; polite, impolite, old, young, husbands, wives, and different-in-laws, but in all these relationships we are meeting a part of ourselves. These people are just showing us how to live properly so it doesn't matter how long we live, what matters is how we live.

The highest wisdom is to intuitively perceive the truth and to arrive at the spiritual realization that God and man are absolutely united. This is difficult though because we have been conditioned to look outside ourselves to others. As small children we depended on our parents for almost everything, and later we learn to depend on our jobs, families and friends for support. We are not separated from God so why do we need another to translate God's intention for us? We think we need others to translate because we are individuals who think we are separate within God, but we are unit consciousness within pure consciousness. Pure consciousness is not separate from us; we separate our unit consciousness with the thought that we are separate. The Bible confirms this thought and quotes Jesus as saying "Ye are perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” The soul is the starting point for this perfection. http://thinkunity.com

The personal story of Adam and Eve explains the tendency within the universe to disperse. A centrifugal motion radiating from the nucleus is what causes the worldly consciousness to appear to separate from God. The world in itself has no reality at all because it is in perpetual change without much meaning or consistency. The objects and things existing in it are separated in time and space and are changing from one moment to the next. Therefore, the microcosm apart from the macrocosm is nothing but when it knows the macrocosm, it is reality itself, constant and full of being. The feeling that we fell from pure consciousness and loss bliss is due to the separation from our internal existence. This has caused the present era of confusion where everything is divided, not centered, and separated from the whole or pure consciousness. This can be related to the story of Adam and Eve leaving the Garden of Eden or the unit consciousness separating from pure consciousness. http://thinkunity.com