How I've Come to Understand the Bible ...

A few things that have helped me to understand the scriptures ...

- Much of it was written from the perspective of the ego (carnal flesh -- human mind) ... which is limited. Inspired by God, yes, of course ... but aren't we humans also inspired (God-breathed)? Since when does inspired mean inerrant...?

(I notice that the Bible nowhere calls itself "inerrant" or "infallible" -- humans, who egoically want to control others, say that -- and if we hear a thing often enough, by enough people, we assume it to be true -- that's how propaganda works.)

- Scripture was written by man, added to by man, translated by man, interpretted by man, and put on a pedestal by man. It was never meant to be a member of the "Godhead". It's not meant to be our authority ... it's meant to give us a glimpse of God ... the Spirit within us is our authority. How much easier it is to rely on static rules, and to live vicariously through the lives of others in the past, than to take the personal responsibility to tune in to the ever-leading spirit, and to live out a relationship with the One who says "I Am"! (God is *not* the "I Was", nor the "I Will Be.")

- In places where Paul *seems* to contradict himself (i.e., "women be silent" and yet "when women prophesy ..." -- as IF that means women must prophesy in sign language!), we have to keep in mind that Paul was quite often *quoting* what others had previously written him. These were written as *letters* - not "books of the Bible". There was no punctuation ... the translators imposed their own (egoic and often harshly patriarchal) views upon the text. There are places where Paul quotes those who had written to him, and then says the Greek equivalent of "B.S!" -- refuting what he'd just quoted! As in "we have no such laws in the church". He had to quote them, for the sake of clarity -- we do the same thing in emails we've just received-- how much more did he have to do so, when months would go by between letters...?!?

- Many (OK, all) of the verses about destruction/judgment were about the soon-pending events that THEY (in the first century) had to face, but which WE (now) do not face. Jesus warned them that the events of the "end of the age" (the old covenant age, not the "world") were to come upon them during THAT generation -- while some of THEM were still alive ... and so it happened, just as Jesus had warned them, when Jerusalem was sieged by Rome in 67 AD, and then utterly destroyed in 70 AD (interestingly after 42 months, or 3.5 years of horrendous torture), destroying the city, the Temple, and the old covenant.

We are in (& have been in) the new heaven and new earth (synonymous of the new covenant, New Jerusalem, Kingdom of God/Heaven) for a very long time now ... but most of Christianity has clung to the old covenant, complete with the sin-focus, and all the rules ... the very things Jesus came against, the very things which the prophets of the OT said would "pass away" with the old covenant (as in sin and iniquity would be no more -- for sin was *always* about infractions against the legalities of the old covenant Law).

We can let go now. We can live in the Kingdom now (which is at hand, in our midst, within us -- here and NOW, but spiritually, not physically, discerned -- for the spiritual reality *always* trumps the perceived physical realm).

Christianity/Church was a first-century-only phenomenon ... meant to help THAT generation transition from the old into the new covenant. We don't need it ... in fact, it squelches our awareness of the Kingdom-at-hand ... it ties us to the old/obsolete/GONE old covenant, nullifying all that Jesus taught.

Nothing is hanging over our heads (except the results of our own skewy/insane thinking -- as a man/society thinks in his own heart, so IS he). BUT - we get to question our thinking, and question our beliefs ... we get to ask, "is it true?" and trust the Spirit within to lead us into all truth. We do *not* have to heed the traditions of man. We *can* (& must!) trust the One who is in/as our hearts.

There is no more judgement ... just choices, and consequences which are meant to *teach* us about how to "choose again". It's all about learning, not shaming ... it's all about healing, not punishing.

We're *all* saved (& the only thing we ever had to be saved from was our wrong thinking - we need to have our minds renewed).

It's *all* fulfilled.

We're *all *One.

We need to wake up ~ and then be "agents of contagion", helping others to wake up, too.

THIS is my passion.

Shalom, Dena