To have love, give love.

Sawadee Khrap

My meditation this morning,  first thing that came into my mind was Jesus’s words “If you see me,  you see my Father”.  But He also said

“If you bring it into being within you, (then) that which you have will save you. If you do not have it within you, (then) that which you do not have within you [will] kill you.” {#70  Gospel of Thomas}. And  #76  ” “The kingdom of the Father is like a merchant who had merchandise and found a pearl.  That merchant is prudent. He sold the goods (and) bought for himself the pearl alone.  You too look for his treasure, which does not perish, (and) which stays where no moth can reach it to eat it, and no worm destroys it.”

To me that means that only the gifts or miracles from Spirit are those that will not perish. I think “The Prayer”, traditionally attributed to St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) captures the essence.

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
And where there is sadness, joy
O Divine Master, grant that I may
Not so much seek to be consoled as to console
To be understood, as to understand
To be loved, as to love
For it is in giving that we receive
And it’s in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it’s in dying that we are born to Eternal Life
Amen”

All the cliché’s and sayings that I heard, as a child, from my parents, in church, school, AA, and now my spiritual path have deeper meaning.  Before I’d dismissed them as great sayings but not something I needed to cultivate as my life.

Peace, love, pardon, faith, hope, light, joy, console, and understanding ARE
the gifts of the Spirit – (I prefer to replace “pardon” with “Forgiveness”.  Pardon implies something happened but no punishment is deemed necessary, Forgiveness says it never happened, it is just an error in judgement that needs to be corrected).

Now these must become the cornerstones of my spiritual path – God is LOVE therefore so am I. 

Father, help me to make these ACTIONS become my path so I may become a reflection of Jesus and Yourself.   Amend

God Bless      Ciao

Labyrinth

Sawadee Khrap

Simon brought me a brochure from “Seven  Fountains Jesuit Retreat Center” on Huay Kaew Rd near the Zoo.  “Inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, the Seven Fountains welcomes all who come to deepen their knowledge and love of Jesus Christ.” 

One attraction is their labyrinth for meditation.

labyrinth

I plan to visit someday and walk the meditation path. But it dawned on me this morning, during my exercise walk, that God had provided me with my own. Every morning I have to push myself to take my exercise walk up and down the parking garage in my condo- 8 floors – my labyrinth. Another stark example that I have everything I need provided for me – I need but stop complaining or searching for a excuse to procrastinate and look around.

Thank you Father       God bless

Damn it’s cold

Sawadee Khrap

WOW !!!  it’s really been cold for the last week.  12-14 C  each evening and with no heaters in the condo – my place has been getting colder and colder each night.

Today I started to open the oven and use it to at least take the chill off my condo. Thank God I have a great kitchen.  It Works great.

I really can’t believe how I have adapted to the hotter weather here.  When I was young and lived in Nebraska, walking to school at –20 C  was common place in the winter. We played outside too.  When I moved to San Francisco, 4C was bone chilling cold for me – BUT NOW  14 C is unbearable.  I run for the heaters.    26 C is the coldest I like.  Amazing.

Ciao

Experience, strength, and hope

Sawadee Khrap

This morning I awoke with the memory of my nights dreaming.  I had a clear picture of what it means to “look, listen, and not judge”.  And I remembered a lesson also told to me in Alcoholics Anonymous.  Make a list of all we had harmed, including those that we thought had harmed us, and be willing to let the grievances go.

Grievances are the results of judgements.  Condemnation of the actions of others that I have held against them.  Actions, in my mind alone, that they are certainly NOT aware of and therefore it would be impossible for them to make amends.  For example, when some one cuts in front of me in line.  

If I am really honest, my first thought is, Who the hell do they think they are, to do THAT to ME. Were they deliberately trying to piss me off?.  Didn’t they see WHO they were jumping in front of?  Did they think they were better than ME?   DID’NT they see MY SPECIALNESS.  When actually they probably had no idea that I was there, busy in their own problems.  But my habit to immediately jump to judgements could not see that.

HERE’S THE KEY:       That the character in any dream, ME, is but the ‘actor’,  binding the dream to his specialness, not allowing the DREAMER (Christ) to evaluate and change the dream to a happy one.

Look, listen and do not judge.  simple. BRING ALL GRIVENCES TO THE HOLY SPIRIT AND LET HIM JUDGE.    Be grateful that I am offered thoroughout the day the opportunity to see these grievances acted out before me so I can look, listen and make a different choice by NOT Judging. Developing this habit for  the first action I take in all situations.

This is HEALING in its basic form, bringing all this anger or  judgements, actually degrees of hate, stored as stress,  particularly for me in my back muscles as pain (sickness) , and letting it go. 

My lesson for the day “Today the peace of God envelopes me. And I forget all things except His Love.”  (ACIM – L 346)

To forgive IS to Forget

God Bless   Ciao

Vegan ? is there precedence

Sawadee Khrap

Just finished watching a video on NetFlix “Game Changer” on YouTube.  Wonderful movie showing the detritus effects of meat and dairy products on the blood and wellness of the human body .

But I  also found the challenger to the video “ Game Changers DEBUNKED” on YouTube.  Listened to them both but still I will go meat less.

They reminded me of what was said in Genesis 1 creation story.  “I have given you every plant with seeds on the face of the earth and every tree that has fruit with seeds.  This will be your food. “  Has science caught up with the Bible?

Check out these very strange sayings attributed to Jesus in “The Gospel of Thomas” such as:

(11) Jesus says: “This heaven will pass away, and the (heaven) above it will pass away. And the dead are not alive, and the living will not die.  In the days when you consumed what was dead, you made it alive. When you are in the light, what will you do?  On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?”

(56) Jesus says: “Whoever has come to know the world has found a corpse.  And whoever has found (this) corpse, of him the world is not worthy.”

(70) Jesus says: “If you bring it into being within you, (then) that which you have will save you. If you do not have it within you, (then) that which you do not have within you [will] kill you.”

(108) Jesus says: “Whoever will drink from my mouth will become like me. I myself will become he, and what is hidden will be revealed to him.”

AND at the last supper (Passover Seder) Jesus broke bread and said “this is my body” and took wine “this is my blood” and “do this in remembrance of me.”    Jesus did not use the lamb, the sacrificial lamb meat, present at the Seder dinner  -BUT – he chose the bread.  Exactly as stated in Genesis 1 – Elohim’s designated food.

Also notice that later in Genesis 4, Yahweh preferred Abel’s offering of choice parts of the firstborn animals of his flock and rejected Cain’s crops from the land. (in the illusion)

“And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.”  Genesis 14:18, KJV

The “Most High God”  was Elohim

“For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Yahweh sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:”    Psalm 110:4 and Hebrews 7:21

Everything points to Elohim’s Creation and the food for humans he supplied.  I ,for one, can testify that since I have stopped eating meat products and started juce’ing , I do feel lighter, more energic, and intend to continue.  A good indicator of my success will be any lowering of my blood pressure hopefully indicating cleaner arteries.  I’ll keep you posted on my progress as I intend to have a Sonogram done in 6 months to see is there really is a difference from my last test last month..

God Bless   Ciao

and now my apology to GOD

Sawadee Khrap

Father, so long I have denied my Oneness with you.  Forgive me my belief in the lie of this world.  Your Holy Spirit is teaching me to awaken and return to You. Accept my actions as my prayer.  Guide me to realize that ONLY forgiveness is the key to the acceptance of You.  I am Love and can give only love because of what I am. I AM your Son, the CHRIST.  Judgement is NOT of You, Specialness is NOT of You.   Thank You for providing me the means to lay down the toys of separation, specialness, sin and death. Amen

An apology

Sawadee Khrap

I want to apologize for my last post rather than just remove it. “Why are we searching” should have read  “WHY AM I”.

Again, my belief in the lie of specialness raises it head. This blog is intended to be a place where I can post my progress of learning who or what  I  am – NOT a platform where I can display my “special” knowledge of how to find the answer.  I need always remind myself that there is only one Teacher, and it’s not me.  I came to learn and only share my EXPERIENCE, strength and hope.

Why are we searching

Sawadee Khrap

Why are we always searching for friends, to be happy, to “find” love.?   Why are we not just BEING love, happiness, friends – ONE?

Because we have been told a lie and we believe it “To be SPECIAL” IS happiness !

Or is it?   Specialness demands that we have an opposite, a comparison – this requires a judgement.  And are we knowledgeable enough to make a valid judgement or is it a two-edged sword that will split happiness from our grasps?

Could the answer is to stop searching and just BE.

God Bless

Hebrew, Chinese, and now a Hindu Mansion

Sawadee Khrap

The creation story from a different perspective – can you see the similarity ?

hindu

In this publication is this great story of Brahma:

“The Story of Brahma and This Illusion that is Maya

There is an old story from India about the God,Brahma, who was all alone. Nothing existed but Brahma and he was completely bored. Brahma decided to play a game, but there was no one to play the game with.  So he created a beautiful goddess, Maya, just for the purpose of having fun.  Once Maya existed and Brahma told her the purpose of her existence.  She said “Okay, let’s play the most wonderful game, but you have to do what I tell you to do”  Brahma agreed and following Maya’s instructions, he created the whole universe. Brahma created the sun, stars, moon, and the planets. Then he created life on earth, the animals, the oceans, the atmosphere, everything.

Maya said “How beautiful is this world of illusion you created. Now I want you to create a kind of animal that is so intelligent and aware that it can appreciate your creation.”  Finally Brahma created humans and after that he finished the creation, he asked Maya when the game was going to start.

“We will start right now” she said.  She took Brahma and cut him into thousands of teeny, tiny pieces. She put a piece inside every human and said, “Now the game begins!!  I am going to make you forget what you are and you are going to try and find yourself!”  Maya created the dream, and still, even today, Brahma is trying to remember who he is.  Brahma is there inside you and Maya is stopping you from remembering what you are.”

It’s difficult to hid the truth, and I am convinced that the Holy Spirit will always use any available form or symbol in this world to show me the truth . I need be be open to learning.

God Bless

To Re-Focus

Sawadee Khrap

Today, in my meditation I was led to re-focus my image of existence. Here is my picture:

‘Genesis 1’ in the Bible presents a world where everything is spirit [thought] encompassing everything in it Oneness.  Humans [male/female or souls] exist in this world as spirits in the likeness of their Creator, united in their common identity in the mind of God as His Son “the Christ”.   All is blessed, good, happy, united, eternal and inclusive [Love].

But then as it continued in Chapter 2, I began to see another story:  This story has god making man from the dust of the earth and woman from a separated piece of him.  Then that god puts man in a wonderful garden, telling him not to partake of the fruit of a certain tree, knowing full well that he will disobey. He then allows a snake to tell them that the fruit would make him special and give him god like powers of judgement. And as expected, he did eat this fruit. Now this wrathful god had every right to banish him from the garden and punish him with a life of pain, sorrow, and sacrifice until death – calling it sin.

What happen?  I think that somewhere somehow in Genesis’s (1) unity of thought, called the Sonship, an insane question was considered “Is there anything other than God [Reality or Heaven] that would make me happy? and some in the sonship took it under consideration [Fallen Angels or souls], projecting it out as their new reality.  What could it be but the opposite of what Reality really is – an illusion, a dream, or a nightmare.
 
Imagined was a dark, cold, world where Oneness is forsaken for specialness and separation.  Eternity replaced with degrees of time, bodies instead of free spirits, death instead of life. Love lost to degrees of hate.  A place where enemies exist, attack becomes possible, condemnation and judgement determine what is real.

This “something other than God” the desire to be Special.  Specialness demands I be separate, unique, with god like powers of judgement that allow ME to change MY reality as I see fit. An EGO, where I am the center of MY universe. !! god !!  Exactly like the world I think I live in now.

Have you ever asked a child “who broke your toy? Their first answer is to put the blame on some imaginary object or another person – never themselves.  Is that what’s happening here?

So how could I justify this game –  First I could blame it on the snake for lying to me. Also blame it on the god because He put me here knowing I would disobey. It’s not my fault.  Quite a story and it goes on and on, judgement on top of judgment.  Defend and attack. Eat or be eaten. Sin ending in death

But exactly where and what am I (Frank) in this game,and how does that affect me?    First lets figure out who are the participants in the game.

1. Dreamer of the dream of separation:
  – the part of the mind of the sonship (Christ – the unity of souls) that considered the insane question  projecting it out as the world of matter – the big bang. The Fallen ones in the Genesis story – Christ’s Wrong-mindfulness.

2  Characters of the dream of judgements:
  – ME (Frank) the separated one in the illusion, also dreaming like the child with the broken toy – projecting out a world of people to blame for his misgivings. Seeing reality through a darkened lens, my judgments with myself as center god or character.

3  Holy Spirit:
  – God’s answer to the insane question – only God is real, nothing else is exists, herein lies the peace of God
 
Ahh !!  There are 2 dreams – one Christ mind controls, the other I (ME -Frank) have dominion over.  As Jesus “The Christ”, said ” I give you the keys to Heaven, what ever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, what ever you loose on earth will be loose in heaven”

So how do I escape my dream?   Being willing to look at all my judgments through God’s answer the “Holy Spirit”, past/present/future and do not judge.  By allowing the truth or reality behind it to be as it is – NOT as me being the center of my world.  Examining every judgment but if I find the “except” then let it go.  Truth is always TRUE and any exception, at any level, makes it false.   Simple to say,  actually simple to do if I am really willing to give up control.

When I release my dream, then Christ’s Right-mindfullness can correct the 1st dream of separation.  Changing the dream to a happy dream of unity, as close to heaven as possible, where perception can melt into knowledge and the Sonship can recognize It’s Oneness again.

This is my vision, perhaps it is similar to yours.  It determines my path and has shown me my Guide.

God Bless

Our chosen paths

Sawadee Khrap

“When the student is ready the teacher will arrive ! ”
Thanks, Dan,  I am constantly reminded of this as I walk on MY path to the Universal TRUTH.

I want to take this time and post to thank my friend and occasional visitor, Dan M..   Last names are not necessary, but you can find some his comments in earlier posts.

I have established this blog as a way for me to chronical my chosen walk down the path to TRUTH – which I call God.  I searched  for and found  a guide that says he has walked this path before me and can alert me of any chuckholes, obstacles, dead ends, or detours before I experience them,  if I follow his guidance.  This is the guide I have chosen and the path I believe is the way for ME.   He even said there are many other paths that lead to truth but this is the one chosen for me. My intention is to walk as quickly and surely as possible, believing that if I stumble or veer off the path, he will be there to help me regain my composure.  Until I find that this guide does not know the way, I will continue to trust in him and follow. This blog is my EXPERIENCE. STRENTHT, AND HOPE along that path.

Dan, commented on HIS path to the universal truth of life, existence, and His experiences, strengths, and hopes and his chosen guide or guides.  I believe we all walk to this  Universal Truth , whatever name we have called it.  Thanks again Dan, that you would take the time to SHARE with us the roadmap you are following on your path to truth.  How else can we all learn unless we SHARE,  helping each other along OUR chosen paths. 

Preaching says I have walked this way and made it clear for you – nonsense – Sharing says I have walked this way and will share my knowledge of the obstacles I’ve encountered to help you along your way.  I am sure there will be many intersections where we can met and share again our experiences, strengths  and hopes, quickening all our steps to the final destination.

Please feel free to comment on any post, share your experiences, all will be posted.   There are many places on the Internet where discussion, arguments, and the like can be found -HOWEVER,  this blog, I will try to maintain , as a place to openly SHARE un-encumbered by crosstalk or condemnation.

God Blesses ALL

IN the world and NOT of the world

Sawadee Khrap

A friend of mine asked me to comment on how I view being in the world and not of it. Frankly ,  pardon the pun – I don’t very well but I am practicing letting go and asking , thus learning “how to” like everyone else. 

My present understanding is that everything I see is a projection from my mind and reflects what my state of mind is. It is a projection , a judgment, which clouds the reality of God’s Creation of Oneness.  That being so, it remains that ONLY my concept of the world can and needs to be adjusted – my judgments of right /wrong that needs to be examined and re-assessed with the Holy Spirit.  Listen, Learn and Do not judge.  The error that needs correction is my judgments – Do not attempt to change the world but change my mind about the world.

For example, if I see a person suffering with some form of sickness –  it is because the sickness is a form of separation or special in my own mind projected out upon them so I think I am  free from its effects.  But my seeing them as special and apart with some problem reinforces the idea that we are NOT ONE in God. Capable of suffering and death – the destruction of God’s Son – the proof that this world  is real and without God.  So changing my mind as to what I am looking at is the only way to restore sanity or God’s peace of Oneness.   Realizing I am like a little child without any understanding of what I am seeing and ASKING for help by my guide, the Holy Spirit or Christ. 

I think the greatest error a “A Course of Miracles – Teacher of God” can make is to believe that he/she has to change the world (also the inherent problem with almost all religions,  they got it right – others don’t,    they see the light – others don’t).   When in reality there is only one student (ME/Christ) and one teacher – the Holy spirit – no matter whatever or whoever that teacher appears to be to me.  ‘ME/Christ’ is the total creation of the Sons of God – the collective Souls created in Genesis 1.  The “me” is the wrong-mindfullness part of Christ’s mind – the teacher is the right-mindfullness part.  The me in the dream (the character) and is not real, does not exist, is but an illusion seen in a body as finite, used to prove separation is real. As Jesus (the ‘man’ but also ‘the Christ’)stated

“I gave you the keys to Heaven and Earth that what ever you bind on Earth will be bound in Heaven and whatever you loose on Earth will be loose in Heaven.” (Matthew 16:19  KJV)

It is my (the character’s) judgment that will loose or bind the dream – remove my judgment and let Christ’s  Right-mindfullness judge correctly with the Holy Spirit and the world will change accordingly.  THUS everything is a lesson that I can use to reveal to my mind past judgments, loosen that judgment, and allow Christ to dream a “happy” dream.   Remember Christ Jesus said He was the Alpha and the Omega – the beginning and the end.

ACIM is a practical study aid – For instance, if I can go anywhere and meditate by seeing everything and everyone as “Christ” disguised in a body and looking for a place to perform a miracle – then my world will be a happy dream where only forgiveness and love are offered. To each figure I offer my loosening of past and present judgments and correctly see only Christ, in His full Innocence, playing the judgmental part I had assigned or projected out. Leaving forgiveness to Christ’s Right-mindfullness NOT attempting to place it in an earthly frame.

Remember what Jesus said “Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.   Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it”. (KJV John 8:42)

  The world of judgments is the lie, a collective judgment from all of Christ’s wrong-mindfullness – my character is but one aspect, or maybe a better word is – perspective.  It is “My” function to look at and open to the Holy Spirit all my past and present judgments and allow Christ’s Right-mindfullness to judge again. Seeing them before me is how I look upon them  “Look, Listen, and do not judge” is how I allow them to be corrected. I want to be as a little child looking at the world anew asking the Holy Spirit – What is that?

This is my interpretation of the theology of life here on earth – perhaps yours is different – a universal theology is unimportant but a universal Experience is a relationship with the Divine.

God Bless

Tian or Elohim

Sawadee Khrap

From my last  post I found it amazing that the same story is contained pictorially in the ancient Chinese language, almost identical to Genesis except “Tian” is used for “Elohim” and “Shang Di” for “Yahweh”.  With one major exception the Chinese pictographs were created 2500 years earlier than the writing of  Genesis by Moses. Both tell of the “garden”, fall into sin, the flood and the ship carrying 8 that were saved to become the forefathers, the tower, the confusing of tongues, dispersion across the lands, and the annual sacrifice demanded by the God.

large boat- Noah

The information I drew from was a video produced by Steven Liu : Hidden Codes in Chinese Characters on YouTube and similar examples Dr. CK Thong : God in Ancient China on YouTube.  Check them out for the full story – definitely not disappointing.

It doesn’t prove the validity of the Bible but it does show that from different cultures and times the same story was remembered with similar ceremonies  – the human race was one at one time. 

God Bless

Was Jesus gay ? Did he accept gays ?

Sawadee Khrap

To sober up,  I had to become honest with myself and seek a spiritual path or life.  My childhood faith was “Christian”  but I also had to admit that I was gay – two incompatible lifestyles – OR ARE THEY?  

Since I had to be honest with myself about being a gay man and finding “Christ” in my life .  Accepting Jesus, as the example to follow, was the best thing I have done to turn my life around, and admitting I was gay is the second.   Nor I do find any contradictions here.

Let me turn to the Bible:     “Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?  And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.”   (Matthew 26:17-18  KJV)          and later

“Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus’ breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it.”   (John 13:23-26 KJV)
  
“Jews gather at Passover Seders to recall their foundational story with gratitude and awe: God extracted an oppressed people from under the yoke of their oppressors, making of them a vibrant nation. The Seder of today acts out the drama of the past in order to keep the memory fresh. But at the same time, the tradition hints at a powerful alternate understanding of the Seder: God took the Israelites out of Egypt so that they would tell the story later. In other words, the events of the past took place so that they could be recounted in the future.”   (Tabletmag.com  ‘What’s the point of Passover’)

“Seder plate: The seder plate (there’s usually one per table) holds at least six of the ritual items that are talked about during the seder: the shankbone, karpas, chazeret, charoset, maror, and egg –  Zeroa: A roasted lamb or goat bone, symbolizing the korban Pesach (Pesach sacrifice), which was a lamb offered in the Temple in Jerusalem and was then roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night.”    (Google search)

“In olden times (meaning in the times of the Talmud and before) the wealthy and noble class would recline while they ate, whereas simple poor people would eat while seated on the floor. Reclining is indicative of a person of leisure who has time to dine with out worrying an interruption that would cause him to get up. The importance of leaning at the Seder is explained that since we were slaves in Egypt and now we are free men, therefore we must act in accordance to our new status. Since it was the custom of noble men to eat while reclining on a sofa or on cushions, so today we are obligated to eat as noble men who recline.  …..  Reclining was done on the left side, not on the back and not on the right side.  …..   Now in those times eating was not done as we do with a knife and fork, but rather the food was prepared in the kitchen and brought in front of the individual diner on small personal trays (which took the place of our table) ready for the diner to eat using only his hands. Since the food was pre-prepared in the kitchen, it was possible to recline on the left side, using the left hand to support oneself and use the right hand to eat.”     (www.jewishmag.com ‘To lean or not to lean’)

Now picture – Jesus lying down on his left side with the disciple he loved “lying on his breast” – that to me is cuddling.   I can’t picture it any other way, can you?  That is not to say that Jesus was gay but that if he had a gay disciple that wanted to cuddle, Jesus would not deny him that security. Jesus loves all – EVEN GAYs.   It is amazing that it is almost impossible to find a image of a actual Seder where they are all lying on the ground  in the ancient style- NOT sitting at a table.  That’s too GAY to show. 

Does that mean that he was was gay because he had gay followers,  or a prostitute because he had prostitutes in his group.    – of course not.   But to love as Jesus loves is to accept others as brothers and sisters in Christ and not condemn then for what they think they are, “the lie of the devil their father”.   As he said “Father, forgive them they know not what they do”    This last point is another discussion and I will post my insights and understandings on that too.

Being “gay” is not just having sex but wanting to have a total relationship with another of the same sex.   Another post later.

And consider too Jesus broke bread to represent his body and did not choose the lamb – what insight could we gain from this ?    Another question to ponder or  meditate on.

God Bless

The Law, Christ, and the Bible story

Sawadee Khrap

“When “the law” is mentioned in the Bible, it harks back to the days of the Old Testament. There are hundreds of commands given to the Israelites, but the phrase “the law” refers specifically to the compilation of decrees found in the first five books of the Bible. This whole body of law was given the name Torah.

Obedience to this law was the awesome obligation of God’s people as they attempted to merit His favor and blessing. After all, Israel was His special people, and they were bound together in a solemn covenant with Him. So the laws are not just some rules laid down by the tribal chief, but they were the laws of the covenant community. When the law was transgressed, the covenant was broken, and so was the relationship with God! That’s why the law occupied such a huge place in the life of Israel.

In order to restore the broken relationship, sacrifices were required and penalties were prescribed. Yet all these sacrifices were really inadequate. They tried to lay the culprit’s guilt on a sheep or goat which was then killed – as though that scapegoat could really take away the guilt. True, God prescribed all this, but could such pitiful attempts at making amends ever really be adequate? In the Bible God is portrayed as so holy and just, that sin cannot be brushed aside. Actually the Bible presents sin as so horrendous that it merits death. This is the basic human predicament.”   (www.biblica.com  FAQ #17)

But if we look closely at the bible there is no law stated in Genesis 1, everything was made perfect and “good” and humans (male/female) in the image of Elohim (MOST HIGH GOD).   It wasn’t until Genesis 2 that Yahweh/Elohim, then just Yahweh (The LORD) made Adam from the dust of the earth, women from a rib of Adam, placed them in a garden and commanded they not eat the fruit of a Special tree because they will think they are gods, sin and know death.

It is in Genesis 2 and the rest of the Bible that the story of sin, sacrifice, suffering and finally death is told.  Yahweh made the body (the symbol of separation from God), dictated the Law to Moses, demanded sacrifices, took on human attributes such as anger, jealousy, vengefulness ,etc..

It is into this world (an Illusion) that Elohim sent his SON, the CHRIST, manifested in the form of Jesus to save the world from itself.  As Jesus stated:

“If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”  (John 8:42  KJV)

It is amazing that the same story is contained pictorially in the ancient Chinese language, almost identical to Genesis except “Tian” is used for “Elohim” and “Shang Di” for “Yahweh”.  With one major exception the Chinese pictographs were created 2500 years earlier than the writing of  Genesis by Moses. Both tell of the “garden”, fall into sin, the flood and the ship carrying 8 that were saved to become the forefathers, the tower, the confusing of tongues, dispersion across the lands, and the annual sacrifice demanded by the God.

In future posts I intend to expand more specifically on all of the ideas presented above.  And of course supply detailed references that I have used.

God Bless