Bless my lips Jehovah Adonai that my mouth may speak healing to the dying and give life to those already dead.
A simple disciple of Christ asked three of his teachers the following question, “how does a Jew get to Heaven?” The first teacher responded, “Why that is simple. Christ died for all and if a Jew accepts him then the Jew can enter Heaven”. “But the Jew does not accept our Lord” was the students reply. The Jews of Christ’s day martyred James the founder and persecuted the Christians at Jerusalem, so that they had to flee to Asia and Europe. Israel remains Jewish to this very day and they do not accept Jesus as Lord.
So how does a Jew get to Heaven? The second teacher responded, “The Jews are God’s chosen people separate and unique. The Jew gets to Heaven by keeping God’s law. They are of a different dispensation and God has promised that he will deal with the Jew in the last days once again. Remember that God told Abraham, ‘I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you’.” The student perplexed responded, “but no Jew has ever been able to keep the law. Every book in the Old Testament testifies to it and, as far as individual Jews go, I personally know of a Jew who followed God but could not keep his law. He lied, he committed adultery, and he even murdered, but I know that he loved God even when he did it and I know he is in Heaven!”
“You are very mistaken my child for even thinking that” said the second teacher. “The apostle Paul says, no liars, adulterers or murderers can enter the kingdom of God.”
But this one did teacher! His name is King David who lay with Bathsheba and killed Uriah her husband! So if a Jew doesn’t accept Jesus and he cannot keep the law, then how does a Jew get to Heaven?”
The third teacher looked the student through the eyes and said, “You are not only a danger to yourself, but you are a danger to those around you. We know the scriptures and if you must know then I will tell you. The Jew gets to Heaven because God says so in his scriptures! Who do you think you are to question God Almighty on why he does what he does and on who he allows to enter his courts? If God has a special people then he does. If God gives the Heaven to the elect then he does! If God gives hell to the damned then He does!”
The student looked back at the third teacher and quietly responded, “how ironic, you sound exactly like a Muslim cleric who say that Allah the merciful will have mercy on whomever he pleases yet you say that they are of the enemy.
Upon leaving his teachers the student understood that No Man has the answers. He looked up to Heaven and asked the wind, “how does a Jew get to Heaven?”
The answer was soft and reassuring.
“Come and See”
Friday, June 20, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
The Polytheist
El was the name given to you by the ancients
before the Genesis, when you became Elohim
for your greatness can hardly be contained by the singular.
But singular you are and you introduced yourself
to mere men as JHVH the unmentionable.
Hashem you are,
Adonai, Adoshem for double respect you deserve.
El Olam will you love me and keep me forever?
El Roi do you see me that I love you and serve you alone?
El Elyon will you lift me up beyond the reach of my enemies?
El Hai do you make the righteous alive if they die?
Jehovah know me
Yahweh save me
Jehovah Yireh provide for my needs
Jehovah Rapha give me the power of my name’s sake
Mortal men have forever called upon your many names
Yet now I am told that you respond to only one name
that you are God to only one people?
I DO NOT BELIEVE THEM MY MASTER
The Blind leading the Blind will fill the ditch in time
What is your name my Lord that I may tell the people?
“I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE”
you have said so all along…
Ein Sof, No Man will contain you with one name
It is the name unknown
Written on those that persevere in Philadelphia
according to your servants Revelation.Amen
before the Genesis, when you became Elohim
for your greatness can hardly be contained by the singular.
But singular you are and you introduced yourself
to mere men as JHVH the unmentionable.
Hashem you are,
Adonai, Adoshem for double respect you deserve.
El Olam will you love me and keep me forever?
El Roi do you see me that I love you and serve you alone?
El Elyon will you lift me up beyond the reach of my enemies?
El Hai do you make the righteous alive if they die?
Jehovah know me
Yahweh save me
Jehovah Yireh provide for my needs
Jehovah Rapha give me the power of my name’s sake
Mortal men have forever called upon your many names
Yet now I am told that you respond to only one name
that you are God to only one people?
I DO NOT BELIEVE THEM MY MASTER
The Blind leading the Blind will fill the ditch in time
What is your name my Lord that I may tell the people?
“I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE”
you have said so all along…
Ein Sof, No Man will contain you with one name
It is the name unknown
Written on those that persevere in Philadelphia
according to your servants Revelation.Amen
Monday, June 2, 2008
An Open letter to the Secular
My heart felt greetings to the secular, the humanist, the simply existent. Cognizant of the fact that God has a great deal of respect for you, I open this letter with my well wishes upon you and your loved ones. I say that God has great respect for you because you, as I, are endowed with free will and that, in my Book, is granted to us all by God (to Him be the Glory). Whether He loves you or not, I cannot tell, for I lack your subjective experiential knowledge of Him. My Book tells me that He loves you immensely, but you do not believe in my God much less my scriptures, so why would I put this truth upon you? The only thing I can say for certain is that He respects you and your choices and so must I.
To the matter at hand, which is the same freedom of choice or free will mentioned previously, both yours and mine. I choose to speak to you now with regards to the many claims you have against me and my kind. Whoever fears the Lord, and loves his neighbor in spite of self, is a family member of mine. If I pick any one slight directed at me by your world, let it then represent every other slight, because the same truth can be applied to all, which is this, whatever sins you accuse me of, you are guilty of others. We are all guilty, insufficient animals, desirous of being more, but consistently falling short of the mark.
If then I am free to choose the most egregious of sins that me and my kind are accused of, then let it be that we are hypocrites for we speak of Holy things to come in the after life while here and now we support the divisions among us, for we feel Holy when we are separate from you. I whole heartedly agree with you on this matter. If I can, from this point forward, represent all of my family in this conversation, then let me say that you are right and I am guilty. I admit to this and admit guilt to all of your other accusations leveled at me. I am guilty of a world view whose source is found in my Book and if I stand before you now ready and willing to accept your criticism, it is only because I understand that you have a world view also and as a result of yours, you also err. You have yours and I have mine. Need I tell you that there are times when yours is as odious to me as mine is to you?
Good then, because I want to get beyond, the conversation of sins, for in the 21st century I will put a hold on that conversation until you are willing to speak on it. What I am going to do in the 21st century is to dialogue about what’s right with our lives and find Common Ground. If there isn’t much right in our lives, then that’s where we’ll start. I know that shit happens.
I have come to grips with religion and I am not afraid anymore. The myth that I believe in tells me not to be afraid if you don’t believe in it too. Besides, if there is one thing I am completely certain of it is that we don’t need any more church folks! From the days of Constantine, when we first became the state religion until now, Church folks are the kind that will enslave you in order to save you and me thinks that we have enough man power in that arena already.
I am what biblical students would call a Samaritan, a half breed having grown up in their world but now a part of yours by choice. I bring my God with me for unlike the majority of my family, I believe that He wants to be with me out here among your kind. My family is convinced that He would rather stay in church and be around church folks but I think that they’re scared. I think that they fear the Master is a hard man, reaping where He has not sown and gathering where He has not scattered seed, and so they hide their talents among the grounds of the church buildings. From my perspective I see that the best way to please Him is to go where people don’t expect to find him.
An invitation to peace between the secular mind and the metaphysical spirit is what I am proclaiming today. In pursuit of this peace, I leave behind those of my family who do not see this as possible, and I commend them to God, knowing that by their master they stand or fall. I ask that you be willing to do the same, for there are those in your family that are called cynical, and they will not allow meaningful exchange among those of the Common Ground. They are those that scorn anyone that challenges their pre determined world view. They are closed minds incapable of considering that which will heal this world of it’s penchant for destruction. Let us leave the bigots and the cynical to their fates and choose instead to speak of the commonalities that exist between us.
If we are to have peace on the Common Ground, let us first acknowledge that we cannot do so without the sacrifice of compromise. Inherent in compromise is sacrifice, and more specifically, sacrifice for the good of another. Conflict reigns in the world of men because men do not want this kind of peace. Rather than bear the pain of sacrifice for another, selfish men choose instead to force their portion of sacrifice on to the opposing side and arrive at a peace through conquest. All or nothing is a detrimental mind set and cannot be sustained on the Common Ground. We must accept that our compromises are for the benefit of another, knowing that the other is then duty bound to return that which is given to them. Does this not sound familiar? It is the Golden Rule and the description of true love! True love is defined by its sacrifice. Consider the greatest love stories ever told whether religious or secular, and you will find that sacrifice for another, is the zenith of Love. Peace then is a by product of Love on the Common Ground. Can you dig it?
If we are to be purposeful on the Common Ground, let us also identify the children, and this planet, as the beneficiaries of our sacrifice of compromise. If we consider others before ourselves, then let us do so knowing that the result will be evident among the future generations on this planet, which we will one day leave behind. Foresight is an ability that needs to be nurtured through patient practice, and common practice of patience can fight against the spread of the 20th century disease of instant gratification. Are you feeling me?
If we agree then to consider others before ourselves, and if we say that we should do so for the sake of the future of this planet and its inhabitants, can we identify a process through which both the mind and the spirit can experience unification? What can coax both mind and spirit to engage and abandon their apparent mutual exclusivity? I contend that the pursuit of Virtues or Vices is the active process by which the individual mind and spirit, can unify the secular and spiritual factions in our world. Both the mind and the spirit are able to recognize the many forms of virtue and both understand that in order to attain virtue, one must be engaged. Both the mind and the spirit also know vice and both understand that to avoid vice, one must be engaged.
All that remains then is the question. Do you of the secular mind agree that Virtues are worthy of pursuit and that Vices are better off abandoned? If you do not immediately concur then you are not meant for the Common Ground. Do not call evil good and good evil for if you do, you have no part on the Common Ground. We can no longer afford to talk about desiring the good while clinging to our vices. A new covenant I propose on this day. We of the spirit will not unjustly appropriate virtue, if you of the secular mind swear not to justify vice. Are you in?
To be continued on the Common Ground…
To the matter at hand, which is the same freedom of choice or free will mentioned previously, both yours and mine. I choose to speak to you now with regards to the many claims you have against me and my kind. Whoever fears the Lord, and loves his neighbor in spite of self, is a family member of mine. If I pick any one slight directed at me by your world, let it then represent every other slight, because the same truth can be applied to all, which is this, whatever sins you accuse me of, you are guilty of others. We are all guilty, insufficient animals, desirous of being more, but consistently falling short of the mark.
If then I am free to choose the most egregious of sins that me and my kind are accused of, then let it be that we are hypocrites for we speak of Holy things to come in the after life while here and now we support the divisions among us, for we feel Holy when we are separate from you. I whole heartedly agree with you on this matter. If I can, from this point forward, represent all of my family in this conversation, then let me say that you are right and I am guilty. I admit to this and admit guilt to all of your other accusations leveled at me. I am guilty of a world view whose source is found in my Book and if I stand before you now ready and willing to accept your criticism, it is only because I understand that you have a world view also and as a result of yours, you also err. You have yours and I have mine. Need I tell you that there are times when yours is as odious to me as mine is to you?
Good then, because I want to get beyond, the conversation of sins, for in the 21st century I will put a hold on that conversation until you are willing to speak on it. What I am going to do in the 21st century is to dialogue about what’s right with our lives and find Common Ground. If there isn’t much right in our lives, then that’s where we’ll start. I know that shit happens.
I have come to grips with religion and I am not afraid anymore. The myth that I believe in tells me not to be afraid if you don’t believe in it too. Besides, if there is one thing I am completely certain of it is that we don’t need any more church folks! From the days of Constantine, when we first became the state religion until now, Church folks are the kind that will enslave you in order to save you and me thinks that we have enough man power in that arena already.
I am what biblical students would call a Samaritan, a half breed having grown up in their world but now a part of yours by choice. I bring my God with me for unlike the majority of my family, I believe that He wants to be with me out here among your kind. My family is convinced that He would rather stay in church and be around church folks but I think that they’re scared. I think that they fear the Master is a hard man, reaping where He has not sown and gathering where He has not scattered seed, and so they hide their talents among the grounds of the church buildings. From my perspective I see that the best way to please Him is to go where people don’t expect to find him.
An invitation to peace between the secular mind and the metaphysical spirit is what I am proclaiming today. In pursuit of this peace, I leave behind those of my family who do not see this as possible, and I commend them to God, knowing that by their master they stand or fall. I ask that you be willing to do the same, for there are those in your family that are called cynical, and they will not allow meaningful exchange among those of the Common Ground. They are those that scorn anyone that challenges their pre determined world view. They are closed minds incapable of considering that which will heal this world of it’s penchant for destruction. Let us leave the bigots and the cynical to their fates and choose instead to speak of the commonalities that exist between us.
If we are to have peace on the Common Ground, let us first acknowledge that we cannot do so without the sacrifice of compromise. Inherent in compromise is sacrifice, and more specifically, sacrifice for the good of another. Conflict reigns in the world of men because men do not want this kind of peace. Rather than bear the pain of sacrifice for another, selfish men choose instead to force their portion of sacrifice on to the opposing side and arrive at a peace through conquest. All or nothing is a detrimental mind set and cannot be sustained on the Common Ground. We must accept that our compromises are for the benefit of another, knowing that the other is then duty bound to return that which is given to them. Does this not sound familiar? It is the Golden Rule and the description of true love! True love is defined by its sacrifice. Consider the greatest love stories ever told whether religious or secular, and you will find that sacrifice for another, is the zenith of Love. Peace then is a by product of Love on the Common Ground. Can you dig it?
If we are to be purposeful on the Common Ground, let us also identify the children, and this planet, as the beneficiaries of our sacrifice of compromise. If we consider others before ourselves, then let us do so knowing that the result will be evident among the future generations on this planet, which we will one day leave behind. Foresight is an ability that needs to be nurtured through patient practice, and common practice of patience can fight against the spread of the 20th century disease of instant gratification. Are you feeling me?
If we agree then to consider others before ourselves, and if we say that we should do so for the sake of the future of this planet and its inhabitants, can we identify a process through which both the mind and the spirit can experience unification? What can coax both mind and spirit to engage and abandon their apparent mutual exclusivity? I contend that the pursuit of Virtues or Vices is the active process by which the individual mind and spirit, can unify the secular and spiritual factions in our world. Both the mind and the spirit are able to recognize the many forms of virtue and both understand that in order to attain virtue, one must be engaged. Both the mind and the spirit also know vice and both understand that to avoid vice, one must be engaged.
All that remains then is the question. Do you of the secular mind agree that Virtues are worthy of pursuit and that Vices are better off abandoned? If you do not immediately concur then you are not meant for the Common Ground. Do not call evil good and good evil for if you do, you have no part on the Common Ground. We can no longer afford to talk about desiring the good while clinging to our vices. A new covenant I propose on this day. We of the spirit will not unjustly appropriate virtue, if you of the secular mind swear not to justify vice. Are you in?
To be continued on the Common Ground…
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