Someone viewed our Seminary website and emailed me the following thoughts. Not sure what I think, if I agree with her. See my thoughts below her letter.
Dear Council ~
I came across your site, and was interested to see how you blend what you describe as esoteric or mystical concepts with variations on Christian faith.
I became a Christian last year, and have found that yes, Christian faith is a mystery. from the outside, it makes little sense. that God would or could limit Himself to One Man, and that One Man’s death could do anything for us. the concept that we are saved not by striving after truth, or by our insights, but by faith in Jesus strikes us as counter-intuitive.
We have this idea that spiritual truth and freedom is something we have to work for, find out, discover, or look within ourselves to find. but the One who said plainly “if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed” did not mean for us to try to reach God, peace, enlightenment, or wisdom through our own efforts. if we could do that, God would not have sent His Son, who proclaimed Himself to by the Light of the World, the Bread of Life, and the giver of living water.
We all long for union with God, and some kind of understanding. but we are meant to seek and find that not within oursleves, or through concepts, but in and as a unique Person, who lived, died, and lives now. it’s that humbling one’s self before Jesus the Person which is most difficult. we long to treat Him as a symbol, nice man, teacher, or idea, or perhaps as a blue print to what we can become, if we too “wake up” to the fact that we and God are one. yet the truth is that we need Jesus. the gap between us and God, which we may try to bridge through innumerable means can not be bridged by us, but has been bridged already by God, as and through His incarnate Son. because He died for us, and lives now, we too can live.
Realizing that somehow, Jesus could give me something i could not get myself, and coming to the point where one humbly asks for Him to help you, is hard. it takes a toll on self, ego, pride, and the intellect. but coming to that point is so worth it. Ravi Zacharias describes it as “you humble your self before Him, and He accepts you”. and in that acceptance is a real new life, new self, and walk with God.
In and because of the historical, pre-existant, and now living Jesus.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Katia writes:
Definitely seems counterintuitive as she says to think one man’s death could “save” us, no gnosis, no awakening required. So I think I don’t agree with her. I think Jesus died because of man’s actions, and maybe some of Satan’s, and because he didn’t want his followers to be killed in a hunt for him. I don’t think he died to satisfy a justice-obsessed god who needed to see a broken bleeding god. And if he died to defeat death, to “save” us from death, why haven’t we been saved from it yet? No evidence things in that department are any different than before the crucifixion. However we do have evidence that Yeshua’s MESSAGE has made things different, “saved” people, by waking them up with the achievement of gnosis, leading thousands of bright souls to commit acts of charity and kindness, to unselfishly guide and aid the humans around them. Most people go thru their lives not really guiding and aiding humanity. Jesus inspires people to wake up and spread the gnosis. This humbling yourself before him as the lady above describes could be the quieting of the selfish-me, the “humbling” or taming of that me-me-always-me persona in our heads (eg0).
+Katia
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
5 Responses:
September 14th, 2009 at 6:38 am
Dear Katia and blogger,
I have recently come to know the Esoteric Interfaith Church and deeply appreciate the message and beliefs. I have been a Christian my whole life of almost 50 years and have spent considerable time exploring the different denominations and have researched them in search of the ‘right’ church for me. Although many are closely related in their basic beliefs and foundations, the dogmas and stiff rule-making hierarchies left me feeling empty.
The beauty of the message of the E.I. Church is that it, to me, closely mirrors what the blogger was saying above, although I do not believe she understood that. Having been in her shoes and having asked the same questions, here are my thoughts:
Being ’saved’ by accepting the gift of life through Jesus Christ is only possible when one quiets his heart and ‘looks inside’ to see that there is an emptiness that will only be filled by God. Whether we believe that Jesus died for our sins so that we may be redeemed, or whether Jesus was crucified simply as an act of violence, does not affect the overall outcome of our position today. The end result is the same.
In order to accept the faith of traditional Christianity, or to accept the belief in Esotericism, the same process is applied. We must look inside ourselves, recognize that there is something missing, and turn to God to fill that space. I believe that we will be filled by the Creator.
This goes back to me earliest questions about Christianity as a child. I asked my parents, “what about Native Americans, or others, who did not hear Christ – are they in Hell or can they be saved?”. This was a simple question, but it opened the door to many, much more complex questions and, for me, a lifetime of searching for those answers.
To be brief, I have come to believe that God, the Universal Creator and Power of all things, speaks to the various peoples of the Earth in various forms. Look at the variety in people and culture around the world and you will see that our God must have a palate of many colors. So, it is reasonable to believe that He reaches out to the different peoples in different ways. How arrogant we would be to think that only one belief structure or denomination would be right for every living person.
I invite this blogger to look deep within and examine the real message that Christ was sending in the New Testament. It is a message of love and forgiveness and, just as Christ found people more important than the rules of the temple, we will find that faith is more important than the rules that surround it.
Peace to you all.
September 14th, 2009 at 7:24 am
Hi Katia,,
The blogger wrote about the “variations in Christian faith” that she saw at your site and I’m not sure if she is criticising what she sees at your website, or liking it. Perhaps she isn’t aware that “variations” began immediately after the crucifixion, and that everything is a “variation” of Jesus’ teachings, etc. The idea of “One True Christianity” is a bit of storytelling. There are variations, we choose one because it connects us to the Sacred, with its Pauline-based, Gnostic-based, Sacred Union-based, or any of the hundreds of variations inbetween.
The point that I agree with her about is that Jesus Christ contains a sacred mystery and offers a true mystical experience of the Eternal, through him. I can see that she’s having some mystical experiences with Jesus, but his ability to shower us with love isn’t because he was crucified, or because of the concept that he “died for our sins.” He was already showering the world with love, compassion, and healing, every day that he walked the dusty roads of Judea.
I disagree with the idea that Jesus is the only bridge to an experience of the Everlasting. For me, that will always be a bit of hubris that seeks to set Christianity above all other religions. And it is much of Christianity, with its “we have the only bridge to God” idea, that might need to develop a little humility about itself and itsr relationship to other religions. There is more than one way to connect to the Eternal.
I love Jesus and feel his mystery deeply but I don’t believe that he died for my sins. In fact, I don’t want anyone to “die for” or be tortured o that my life can be better. I find that idea really appalling. Love is the universal bridge into the Everlasting, not death, not torture, not austere deprivations that later versions of Christianity developed.
Love, Jen
Jennifer Reif
“The Holy Book of Mary Magdalene”
http://www.demeter.spiritualitea.net
September 14th, 2009 at 7:34 am
Hi Eddie,
I love what you say here…all of it, you are really coming from a place of wisdom and experience. Thank you, it was great to read your post.
Love, Jennifer
“The Holy Book of Mary Magdalene”
September 17th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
To Jennifer and all;
You make some wonderful points in your post and I agree with most of what you are saying. The only exception that I would comment on, and this is personal belief, is that Jesus did, in fact, die for our sins. The difference in today’s religions is whether we believe, or not, that His death is the only path to the Creator.
I share your view that Christianity as a body could use a dose of humility in dealing with other faiths and religions. For me, that is the basis of an Interfaith church, and something that I hope to explore much more.
However, I do continue to hold onto my faith in Christianity. We know that there are several accounts of Christ’s teachings, recorded by different people at different times, and they all share the same message, which lends to their credibility. It is also for this reason that these, and not other, books were included in the Bible by the Great Council. As Paul said, “2 Cor 13:5 Test yourselves and find out if you really are true to your faith. If you pass the test, you will discover that Christ is living in you. But if Christ isn’t living in you, you have failed.”
Surely by this we are saying the same things…Christ, the Holy Spriit, The Creator, God, is alive in us all, and by opening our hearts to this fact we come to the truth. The mystery you mentioned, to me, is like what Paul said “1 Cor 13:12 Now all we can see of God is like a cloudy picture in a mirror. Later we will see him face to face. We don’t know everything, but then we will, just as God completely understands us.”
People of all nations and of all cultures see this cloudy picture in the mirror. Later, we will all see clearly.
Thank you for your post and peace to all.
September 18th, 2009 at 8:09 am
My Dear Rev.Dr. R;
I also resonate a bit of conflict after careful reading of the original email. It seems contradictory to rest the very survival of our consensus consciousness on the concept of having a higher purpose, while yet so readily dismissing the natural (and rightly so!) human endeavor of learning and striving to reach the Christ mind or unity by the non-action simple acceptance.
Could we compare this to those of us who disdain an interest in self study and regard the search for deepest meaning as _new age drivel_ often spoken from the self-assured perspective of promised deliverance at the rapture? (IOW – no need to help ourselves, because the trumpets will blow and the true souls will rise.)
Perhaps this comparison is harsh and forgive me for it please, but these arguments usually devolve — as with all foot-pounding dogmata — into a discussion of effort and will vs acceptance and grace.
The mystery school recommends effort and will (to TRY) while the Christ mind urges acceptance and grace (to FORGIVE). But I ask does it not require effort and will to achieve acceptance and grace?
To this humble soul it is the difference between saying. “I am Saved by Christ” and the challenge of living as if you were. These are the seas that must be parted by each one of us so that we may progress to the other side.
Love and peace to all.