My Morphing Perspective of Jesus ... and Thus of Us!

Sooooo ... what have I come to believe about Jesus? I'll share it with you, even as it's morphing, emerging, developing ... and this is what I see for today, for now -- awaiting further revelation...!

Many folks already know that I believe that all are saved. Puts me on the spiritual hit-list with some. Put me on the prayer list (as in "pray for her deceived and dangerous soul!") with others.

But I've come to see something way-beyond that ... I believe that we never had anything to be saved *from* in the first place. I no longer believe that we are separated from God, or ever were. In fact, it now strikes me as absurd! How the heck did we think we could manage to get separated from Omnipresence in the first place...? God permeates all that is -- in Him we live and move and have our being ... we are only alive because He enlivens us.

I don't believe in original sin, either. Much of the historical Christian church never swallowed that theory. Eastern Orthodoxy doesn't uphold it. I see "original blessing" instead. I see that the Garden of Eden is a parable of us, in the "womb" ... and we had to be born, to experience the sense of "separation" (even as each infant must), in order to experience the perception of being apart from God ... in order to return to God. We come from God, we return to God. (The parable of the prodigal son is a lovely story that expounds on this -- taught by Jesus, who wanted us to see something deeper than the words He conveyed.) Nor do I any longer entertain the notion that "God cannot be near sin."

I'll expound on that a bit ...

~ I see the "fall" as the acquiring of an intensified sense of ego/duality in mankind (there is historic/archaeological/geological evidence to show that a sudden and massive "shift" occurred in mankind, 6,000 years ago -- prior to that violence was merely accidental).

~ I see the story of Adam and Eve as just that -- a story. A parable. Jesus only taught in parables, and He says He did what He saw the Father doing ... I see the Father inspiring folks to write parables in the Hebrew scriptures as well. "Adam" and "Eve" are not first names -- they're never again used in scripture. Instead, they mean, "mankind" and "mother of life", respectively. I see them as symbolic of human-kind, at some point in history -- showing us what happened when humanity experienced a significant shift in ego-focus.

~ If God cannot be near sin, then why does He go to them, after they "fell" and sinned? THEY hide, but He goes a-looking. They have shame, but He has compassion. He talks with them, takes care of them, helps them to face what they've done (though they blame-shift!), and He provides for them. He also warns them of the consequences of their choice to "eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (i.e., to see from an egoic perspective of judging everything as good or evil - or duality). [As a sidebar, God warns Eve (woman) that Adam (man) will seek to rule over her as his ego-reaction. If it had been a command, God would've addressed Adam. And, God warns Eve (woman) that her ego-reaction will be to seek to find her sense of identity/security in him (man).]

~ Regarding the belief that we are separated from God: David says, "where can I go where you are not - if I go to the abode of the dead, You are there." Even in the most "God-forsaken" place, God is THERE.

~ Paul says, "nothing created [which includes you, and me, and every human, AND our wills] can separate us from the love of God." And God IS love. Love and God are synonymous.

~ Then there's the prayer of Jesus, on the night before He let Himself be killed (He laid down His life for a purpose..!). The most fervent thing on His mind, was that we would know that we are One ... with each other, and with Jesus, and with God. That we would be one AS Jesus and the Father are One. I notice that the Prodigal-Father's answer to the son (who lacked awareness of his connection to the Father) was, "My son, you are always with Me. Everything I have is yours." I believe He says that to each and every one of us..!

~ And further, when Jesus was supposedly "full of our sin", and Jesus supposedly felt the separation as God supposedly turned His back on Jesus -- the *reality* is that "God was IN Christ, reconciling the world to Himself." AT that moment. FURTHER, the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world..! WE just had to have it play out in history, before our eyes, so we could *get* it...! (& we still don't!) [Regarding Jesus crying out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" ... He was calling out the first line of Psalm 22. They didn't number or title their psalms. They used the first line ... and all Jewish men memorized all the psalms ... as Jesus cried the first line out, they all knew what the rest of the psalm said ... go read it for yourself, particularly v. 27 on, so you can see precisely what He was wanting to convey to them, as His dying breaths prevented Him from saying much more than that.]

So, what if...?

~ What if Jesus doesn't want to be worshipped, any more than He wanted worship then?

~ What if WE took His life and teaching, and made Him into a tangible image of God -- which is something the Israelites were forbidden to do...?

~ What if the "anti-Christ" is to put the historical Jesus in the place of Christ? (anti doesn't mean "against" so much as "instead of")

~ What if we've focused on Jesus, instead of The Christ?

~ What if the Christ is OUR identity? We are "in Christ". Jesus is our elder brother, but there is only one Son of God -- all of humanity as One.

Next -- what I'm seeing that Jesus demonstrated/demonstrates to us...

Shalom, Dena