vrijdag 14 mei 2010

Fresh Eyes on Jesus Are we made in the image of God?

Fresh Eyes on Jesus!
Are we made in the image of God or are we children of the Devil (sinners).

There are some people who have chosen to completely de-emphasize the ministry of Jesus, because the dogma and doctrines of Christianity and the warfare against heretics left them confused and perplexed. For some, it is easier to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and move on to a new, more life-affirming belief system.

While I developed myself in Catholicism from 1958 -as a baby I was baptized protestant- I was practicing at the same time Yoga and very soon after that Theosophy and Rosicrucianism. But ever I was focussed on the Man who activated the Christ Consciousness:Jesus th Christ. Very early in my life I discovered the Unity Church, which is offering an explanation of the Sciptures which resonates better with other great religions and holy scriptures. I realized that mankind could have both a clearer understanding of the universal spiritual Laws and Principles, which govern life, and embrace a metaphysical understanding of the role of Jesus, as Wayshower and Waymaker into its daily life through Unity!!

The "Messiah" is an idea and hope that runs through every page of the Scriptures, announcing his character, his time of coming, the type and details of his mission. And the Messiah was and still is, the core of the heart of every Jew. He was promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David... he shall save Israel and the whole world!
But not everyone was reading from the same script. One reason is that the Jewish Scriptures, the Old Testament, make about 300 prophecies of a suffering, servant Messiah, but make about 500 prophecies of the triumphant King. Some rabbis talked about two Messiahs, but for most Jews, the "triumphant one" is the Messiah they were expecting. For some people, the Servant could not be the Messiah, precisely because he is depicted as suffering. The Jewish Messiah for them is a triumphant military and political figure, whose coming marks the end of the era of mortality.

In Psalm 22, we read of the agony and suffering of the Servant Messiah: My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. Our ancestors trusted in you, and you rescued them. They cried out to you and were saved. They trusted in you and were never disgraced. But I am a worm and not a man. I am scorned and despised by all! Everyone who sees me mocks me. They sneer and shake their heads, saying, �Is this the one who relies on the Lord? Then let the Lord save him! If the Lord loves him so much, let the Lord rescue him!�
By contrast, the Prophecies of Zechariah and Isaiah, (Is. 2 & Zech. 14) spoke of the other Messiah, the "Son of David," a triumphant king, who will lead Israel to the ultimate victory, and bring the Messianic era of bliss, where Jerusalem would be the capital of the world, and all the nations will come to offer their respects and goods to the Lord and to Israel.
Christianity, radically reworked all of this material to combine the two figures into one: A suffering Messiah who dies, and a victorious Messiah, who resurrects... and brings eternal life in Heaven, to those who believe in Him.

In Greek, the term Messiah is translated as "the Christ." Charles Fillmore, cofounder of Unity, writes in The Revealing Word:Christ is the perfect idea of God for man. Jesus is the perfect expression of the divine idea Man. Jesus Christ is a union of the two, the idea and the expression, or in other words, He is the perfect man demonstrated.
I believe that Jesus was a student of the scriptures, and that he fully embraced all the prophecies about the coming Kingdom. I also believe that early in His life, he committed Himself to expressing and fulfilling all the Messianic prophecies that inspired His people.
Although He was so incredibly young, he was completely devoted to that mission, and stayed on course, even though He realized that it would not be a cake-walk. What sustained Him was the sure conviction that His mission was completely dependent on letting Spirit do the work, and that He did not have to do it alone.

The three years He spent revealing the Christ Principle activated in many incarnations, were far from easy, and things got even harder as He went along. But I believe that Jesus was so willingly to fulfill the Messianic expectations of His people, that he never wavered from His mission.
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Jesus was full of encouragement and joy, even as he knew what awaited Him as the suffering aspect of the Messianic prophecy. Jesus was a young man on a mission. He remembered who he was, why He came, and who sent Him.

And don't consider the heretic words of the Church that God - with qualities as Love, Wisdom and Allmightiness- had sent his only begotten so to die for our sins. We are all onl- begotten-sons of God, but we are most of the time not accomplishing our mission. And sometimes we don't honor men in whom Christ Consciousness was activated in one or another degree: we killed Ghandi, Martin Luther King etc. We honor Madre Teresa and we let people die from hunger in other places, we honor Jesus and still we are not ready to become aware of global warming.

Jesus had activated the "I am that I am"-power manifested to Mozes in the burning bush and that's why he could have done all the miracles. Mozes also attained powers through the I Am-presence and that's why he could download the natural forces so to let the Pharaoh know that the Jewish people were ready for a new status. ( I don't hope that still you are believing that a God of love had sent plagues towards the pharaoh).

Are we ready to show that we are created in the image of God? Are we moved by the breath of God? How can every one of us show our tendency to activate the Christ Conciousness in ourselves? By living the Ten Commandments of Moses or the Two Commandments of Jesus promoting that everyone is having his daily bread, his daily prosperity; that education and spirituality is directed towards activating the Christ Consciousness; by creating a right understanding of God; by honoring our parents, teachers and elders; by loving every living thing; by showing Divine Wisdom, Divine Strength and Divine Beauty instead of just talking about these high qualities..

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