For too long the highly Eco minded people (generally women) have let Ego rich people (generally men) take the lead because they do so more naturally. This means it has been typically men that have controlled government, business, households and even religious institutions. Through the dedicated, hard work of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Stanton and others, all women have gained the right to vote and are granted full equality under the law. Since then woman have made inroads into business and government. It is time now that women also gain full access to God. Men have defined God as our Father, King, and Lord Almighty. They have, of course, been correct God is all of those things. God is, though, in addition to being a Father, also a Mother, in addition to being a King, also a Queen, in addition to being the Almighty she is also the All--Compassionate. Some of these images appear in the bible, but they have been scribed onto God the Father. The terminology used by Christians to describe God has always been the male pronoun. It is time now for Eco to take its rightful spot next to Ego and so we must begin to use the feminine pronoun to describe God. If this does not happen, then women, and there community values, will continue to be devalued. For what is not in the image of God, is not important and valued by society. Yet, we clearly see at the very beginnings of the bible that, “God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:27 NLT) Both men and women portray the reality of God. Which in turn, means that we can use both the female and the male pronoun to describe God. The typical phrase today is that “God is beyond gender.” This statement was designed to maintain the status quo of using the male pronoun for God. The thought is that since God is somehow above gender, then it really doesn’t matter what pronoun we use, so we may as well continue using the male pronoun, since everyone is comfortable with it. I claim, that it does matter, because in only using the male pronoun to describe God this only images the divine as a male. This does not allow women to clearly see themselves in the image of God. It is past time for the kingdom of God to appear on earth, and the beginnings will start with the understanding that we can call God by both male and female pronouns. This will raise women up to true spiritual equality with men, and so both men and woman can go out armed with both Ego and Eco and really make a difference in society. Without Ego and Eco within an individual working together, no progress can be made. This means we must use our Egos in such a way that we never lose sight of Eco. In other words this is the union of Ego and Eco within a person.
This idea of a female part of the divine may sound strange, but it is actually goes back to the earliest Christian church. The Gospel of the Hebrews contains a passage that connects the Holy Spirit to our heavenly Mother. This gospel is obviously not contained in the bible, but should not be immediately dismissed as heretical just because it is not canonical. It is not like the so many other extracanical gospels that have Gnostic tendencies and later documentation dates. This gospel is quoted by Origen and frequently by Jerome, two early church fathers. Jerome makes the claim that the gospel was used by the Christian sect the Nazarenes. This sect is one of the earliest Christian sects that originated from the direct descendants of the first Jewish believers in Jesus.1 The important passage from this gospel for this discussion is quoted by Jerome from his Commentary on Isa 40:9
In the Gospel of the Hebrews that the Nazarenes read it says,
“Just now my mother, the Holy Spirit, took me.”
Now no one should be offended by this, because “spirit” in Hebrew is feminine, while in our language (Latin) it is masculine and in Greek it is neuter. In divinity, however, there is no gender.2
The Holy Spirit as our eternal mother is not just found in sources outside of the cannon, but traces of her are also found within the bible. It is not evident at first, until one starts to dig a little they might miss it completely. Once you see it, though, it is clear that there is a feminine face to God in the bible. This is especially true for Catholics, for they have extra books in their bible that the Protestants removed. In the Catholic bible one can find the book of Wisdom, which is the one that has the most references to Wisdom, or otherwise known by Christians as the Holy Spirit. The book of Wisdom has a treasure of information about her. The author’s main purpose was to give us a resource to uncover the secrets of the Holy Spirit. He tells us his goal in very clear words.
Now what Wisdom is, and how she came to be, I will relate; and I shall hide no secrets from you, but from the beginning I shall search out and bring to light knowledge of her, nor shall I diverge from the truth. … So take instruction from my words, to your profit.(Wisdom 6:22-25; Catholic Bible)
Some have said that wisdom here is a personification of knowledge about God. From the beginning and throughout this book, however, the author makes it clear that he is not just talking about knowledge, when he uses the term wisdom, but it is clearly another name for the Holy Spirit.
Because into the soul that plots evil wisdom enters not, nor dwells she in a body under debt of sin. For the holy spirit of discipline flees deceit and withdraws from senseless counsels; and when injustice occurs it is rebuked. For wisdom is a kindly spirit. (Wisdom: 1:4-6; Catholic Bible)
Wisdom is a kindly spirit who dwells in the souls of humans. How much more clearer can this text be. Wisdom is another name for Holy Spirit, this probably came about because wisdom is the most important gift that the spirit offers people. This author has plenty more to say about the Holy Spirit. It is impossible to explore everything here, but the basics are laid out in the beginnings of the text.
For wisdom is mobile beyond all motion, and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity. For she is an aura of the might of God and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nought that is sullied enters into her. For she is the refulgence of eternal light, the spotless mirror of the power of God, and image of his goodness. And she, who is one, can do all things, and renews everyone while herself perduring. And passing into holy souls from age to age, she produces friends of God and prophets. For there is nought God loves, be it not one who dwells with Wisdom. For she is fairer than the sun and surpasses every constellation of the stars. Compared to light she takes precedence; for that, indeed, nigh supplants, but wickedness prevails not over Wisdom.(Wisdom 7:24-30; Catholic Bible)
Here Wisdom is the one whose words are spoken through the prophets, and she is the glory and power of God. This coincides with how Catholics understand the Holy Spirit, in the Apostles Creed they declare that the Holy Spirit has spoken through the prophets. Another book, found only in the Catholic Bible, that also makes reference to Wisdom, is Sirach. In this book we find a few passages that describe her as motherly.
Motherlike she will meet him, like a young bride she will embrace him, nourish him with the bread of understanding, and give him the water of learning to drink.
(Sirach 15:2-3; Catholic Bible)
And again in another part of this same book we can read.
From the day one leaves his mother’s womb to the day he returns to the mother of all living, ..(Sirach 40; Catholic Bible)
There are a whole collection of books that are called the Wisdom Literature, in them wisdom’s nature is revealed. In most Christian bibles, however, these books have been deleted. There is, however, a trace of her remnants left in the protestant bible. She can be found in proverbs. There, she appears mother like as well, speaking to humanity as her children.
And so my children, listen to me, for all who follow my ways are joyful. Listen to my instruction and be wise. (Prov. 8:32 NLT)
In this book, as in the story of Adam and Eve, the Holy Spirit is connected to the Tree of Life, that is immortality.
Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her, happy are those who hold tightly.(Prov. 3:18 NLT)
The Holy Spirit purposely remains hidden, she wants us to seek her out and find her.
I love all who love me. Those who search will surely find me. (Prov. 8:17NLT)
Jesus tells us the same thing about her, “Seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened.” In this passage he was certainly referring to the Holy Spirit. The gospel of Luke makes this clear, as he ends this statement with “How much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
Jesus is closely linked with the Holy Spirit, and many of his teachings come from the Wisdom Literature. Wisdom compares herself to bread and wine (Prov. 9:5 KJV), and Jesus is symbolically bread and wine, body and blood. Wisdom spreads a great banquet and invites everyone (Prov. 9:2 NLT), and in the gospels Jesus uses a parable about a great feast (Matt 22:3NLT) At one point in the gospel of Luke, Jesus even refers to himself and John as children of Wisdom.
For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and ye say, He that a devil. The son of man is come eating and drink; and ye say Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinner! But wisdom is justified of all her children.(Luke 7:33-35 KJV)
Jesus knew both his eternal Mother and Father, and within Jesus we see a perfect combination of Eco and Ego. First, the bible tells us that people thought Jesus taught with authority. Meaning he had self-confidence. He knew his mission, and was very assertive about his message. People where drawn to Jesus by his charismatic style. He stood up against the cultural biases of the time, for example he ate with sinners, he touched an unclean woman, and he spoke of Samaritans as understanding God better than the Jews. He certainly had his own agenda and did not just go with the flow. Most all prophets have been men, because it takes a strong ego to stand up and proclaim the truth to a society that will probably disagree with you. At the same time, though, Jesus showed compassion to the people he healed and fed. He was extremely humble, asking “why do you call me good …only God is truly good.” He seemed to have a motherly compassion for the people of Israel proclaiming “How often have I wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chick beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.”(Luke 13:34 NLT) Jesus is the perfect example of how Ego and Eco combine in a person to produce someone who is both compassionate and capable.
The philosophy of the trinity links all different Christians together under one banner. Traditionally the trinity has been considered to be three persons of God in one. The three include the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father, of course, is God the Father in heaven that Jesus taught about in the gospels. The Holy Spirit as we have just seen is humanity’s eternal Mother. The third part of trinity is Jesus. Since Jesus’ main message was the kingdom, and everything he said and did was done to point to the kingdom, then it seems only reasonable that the trinity, as a central doctrine of Christianity, must also point to the kingdom. I believe it is actually the foundation of the kingdom of God, except the typical definition is too limiting. Only if we widen the definition of the trinity to include all of humanity can it then be used to describe the kingdom of God, for as Jesus said “The Kingdom of God is already among you,”(Luke 17:21 NLT) meaning the people he was talking too. I assert that the trinity does include humanity. Jesus’ spot in the trinity represents the potential that all people posses, that is to live in complete connection with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is called the Son of God, yet all Christians when baptized are called children of God. We are also included with Jesus as third part of the trinity. This inclusion, though, is not automatic, it is something that must be discovered. In Christian terms it is dying to the old self and being re-born in the kingdom of God. That is becoming part of the trinity, because it is at this point that we realize that there is no separation between us and God. The trinity is the symbolic union of Eco and Ego (Father and Mother) in a person’s soul. Then that person has become a child of the God/Goddess.
Bibliography
1.Prizt, Ray A. Nazarene Jewish Christianity. Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, the Hebrew University, 1992. p. 108
2.Robert J. Miller, ed. The Complete Gospels. Santa Rosa, CA: Polebridge Press, 1994. p. 432
Thursday, July 22, 2010
A Road to peace --Chapter 2 continued
At this point, then, I want to introduce some new terminology to help get away from the idea that masculine equals men and femininity is a trait only particular to women. I will be using terms that Ken Wilber discussed in his book “Sex, Ecology, and Spirituality.” Instead of using the word ‘masculine’ I will replace it with the ‘Ego.’1 Lately, Ego has become symbolic for selfishness. Taken to an extreme it can lead to selfishness. Here, though, I want to show the positive side of Ego that is necessary for spiritual enlightenment. Ego has creativity, logic, and rationality as it key goals. Mature Egos value producing things, and introducing new ideas that can take the world to the next level. The Ego is usually future oriented, and if it had a slogan it would be “The sky’s the limit, anything is possible.” It was Ego rich people who discovered electricity, made medical advances, and today drive technology to new heights for a better, easier life. Having a strong Ego means that a person knows who they are and what their life mission is. They know what they are good at and what they need to work on. Bold Egos forge through their struggles and so they usually achieve their goals, regardless of what others think of them. There are many shining examples of people who have followed what they truly believed regardless of what culture or tradition has dictated. Jesus, of course, stands out in this category of people. Many others throughout history have also fought for important principals such as freedom, or against racism and slavery. Our national heroes such as Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King come to mind. These have been truly great men who saw beyond the current culture and helped to bring about a more peaceful, better future.
All of this, however, comes with drawbacks. Taken to the extreme the Ego will pursue its goals without regard for other people. The Ego desires be free at all costs, and it wrongly believes itself to be completely independent. To a certain degree the Ego is correct. Part of what makes us human is that we are individuals. That, however, is only half of the picture of our humanity. By itself, the Ego cannot solve all of humanities problems. It’s missing something. That something is the reality that our humanity is conditioned by two things, that we are both part and whole.2
To see this more clearly we need to go back to the basic building blocks of life. Science can help explain the bigger picture. The entire word is made up of atoms. Yet that is not the whole story the world is not just a soup bowl with millions of atoms floating around all by themselves. Instead some atoms join together to make molecules. Molecules in turn come together to make cells which then gather together to produce the organs in our body. The next level is the different parts of our body come together to make up a complete individual. Are we then just a collection of atoms? Is that all that we are? No! As a human being we are more than a sum of our parts. Something bigger and better than just atoms, molecules and organs put together. We have an individual consciousness that uses all these parts together to serve one united purpose. Humans, though whole, are also part of something bigger. The chain of life does not stop at just one human, it continues on past the individual human and moves out beyond it to the community, the state, the nation, the world. We are both whole and a part. Just like atoms are completely whole units by themselves, they are also part of something bigger. The Ego represents our complete wholeness as an individual human beings. This, though, is only part of the story of our humanity, we must remember that we are also part of the rest of the world.
This is where femininity comes into play. It has been women, closer to nature because their bodies are intimately connected to bringing forth new life, that have rallied around nature and community. For this reason femininity can be renamed ‘Eco,’ short for ecology. (also a term used in Ken Wilber’s book)3 Eco’s focus is mostly on community, but this does not mean it is not rational or logical. Only, its logic has led it to be invested in what it sees as something greater than itself--that is the web of all life. The focus for the Ego was a rational mind and how it could be used to create and build things. In contrast, Eco focuses on being part of the something bigger than itself. It looks not how to improve itself but how to improve the whole system, sometimes this means taking a passive back seat role. It is focused on interdependence of everyone and everything. It tries to be cooperative rather than be competitive. In essence, Eco looks at how it is part of a community and downplays the self.
Once again though, Eco has seen only half the picture. Becoming embedded in being only a part of the bigger picture can lead to problems. A person could run in circles all day to make everyone else happy, all the while draining their own Ego. In this case the Ego never has a chance to develop its own talents and bring its individual gifts to the world. This leads to depression and lack of self-esteem. It doesn’t work to be only a part of a bigger system because each human is also a whole person with their own ideas, feelings, and values.
If, as the conservative Christians preach, we should be either all masculine or all feminine then we have only given credence to half of our humanity. This leads to an unhappy, unbalanced and unfilled life. It is part of the reason why so many people are miserable. One cannot ignore half of their self and expect to be fully functioning. Gender roles do just that, they proclaim that we should deny ourselves either Eco or Ego. We do not have to travel far into the bible before we come across the idea of the gender roles. The famous story of Adam and Eve was designed with that intent in mind. Sadly, within this myth, the degradation of women goes even deeper than gender roles or women being placed under a man in the divine hierarchy. This story teaches that femininity is something to be feared as it was the woman who instigated original sin, and therefore she is the cause of the disastrous after effect--the fall of all humanity. Due to this women are seen as immoral, dangerous gateways to sin, this is the very reason that they must be put under a man’s authority to prevent further decay. Hence, the beginnings of femininity associated with submission. This is certainly not the hidden message of the story, but the main theme which climaxes with Eve’s punishment that she must be submissive to her husband.
Creation stories are important for society, for they set the whole context about the meaning of life--understanding our beginnings can bring direction to our lives. Therefore, the story of Adam and Eve has not, and will not be overlooked and forgotten. Since this story has degraded women, society has followed its lead. Armed with the philosophy of Ego and Eco, it is time to take a fresh look at this famous story. Even though this story’s original intent is clearly sexist, I propose that we can re-exam it to bring a new understanding of our masculinity and femininity. Perhaps this may be my own feminist interpretation, but it is possible that the Holy Spirit was working through the author, not in his original sexist words, but in an allegorical way that leads us to the deeper, more spiritual meaning behind this creation story.
The first man’s name, Adam, in Hebrew means “human beings.” I propose that this man represents all humans, both men and women, as they are individuals, or in the terminology I have used before, Ego. So, in examining his beginnings we can get a glimpse into our own origin. The story begins with God creating this first man, Adam, out of dust and breathing life into him. These first words give us an abundant amount of information about our humanity. The first human was created out of dirt from the ground, meaning his foundational substance is part of the earth. The man, however, is more than just a walking dust ball, he was also given the breath of God, which is spirit. This means that all people are a mixture of earth and spirit.
The creation of Adam is different from the first creation story which proclaimed that God created humans as a pair, male and female. Here God created first a single human being, Adam. The emphasis in this second story is different from the first, instead of looking at the creation of humanity collectively, now the story zooms into one individual, or Ego. We do not get far in the story, though, before we are told that God decided that it was not good for Adam to be alone. This is the very first mention by God that something is “not good.” This is in direct contrast to the phrase that is repetitive in the first creation story, “God saw that it was good,” this is in reference to creation, including of course humanity. Here God proclaimed that the only thing that is “not good” is that there is only one human. Imagine being the only person on earth. There would be no one share your thoughts with, no one to hug, or to kiss. There would be no point to this lonely life. Here in the 2nd chapter of the bible, God is giving us a clue as to the meaning of life, that is, it is to be shared with other people. In essence, we were made to love each other. As discussed previously, we all are individuals with our own personalities and style, but we must live within a community.
This is where Eve comes into the picture. She represents community, humanity as a group, or in other words Eco. As with Adam, her name is symbolic, she is called the “Mother of all living.” This idea of the community represented by the feminine is used elsewhere in the Old Testament. There are feminine references about the city of Jerusalem. For example Jeremiah used this same kind of symbolism “Go shout this message to Jerusalem. This is what the Lord says: ‘I remember how eager you were to please me as a young bride long ago…”(Jer 2:2 NLT) Also Isaiah told the Israelites ” For the Lord has called you back from your grief—as though you were a young wife abandoned by her husband.”(Is 54:6 NLT) This idea of Israel as the bride of God, turns into the church as the bride of Christ. The collective is represented as a female in the Christian tradition. So God created Eve to be someone that Adam could share his life with. Recall Adam needed Eve, and God created her to be his “helper,” and this makes sense because this is the function of community. God created Eve as Adam’s helper not as a woman is suppose to help a man, but as a community is expected to help each other. Notice, she is fashioned from a part of him, as an individual is a part of the community. Meaning that every human is both an individual, but also a part of a community. It would make no sense that community comes before the individual. With this interpretation of Eve representing Eco and Adam symbolic of Ego, there is no God given hierarchy here of men over women.
The story continues and explains how the woman is tempted by the serpent and eventually succumbed to eating the forbidden fruit. She then turned to Adam and gave some to him as well. The outcome of that decision is the so called punishments. I don’t believe these are actually punishments, but more likely the consequences of sin. These things turn out to be a description of what everyday life was like for the Israelites. They were never to be a command for all time, but something to grow out of as humanity matured in consciousness. Notice that God never told Adam or Eve that they were cursed. Rather he spoke to Adam saying
“Since you have listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you though you will eat of its grains. By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust and to dust you will return.(Gen. 3:17-19 NLT)
Here it appears that God is reprimanding Adam for listening to his wife. Once we understand that she is not a representative for all women, but community, this makes more sense. Adam haphazardly went along with the Eve’s request rather than following God’s directions. In essence we must get along with others, but it is God that must direct our lives, not peer pressure. Notice, here that God is speaking to the individual, or Ego, who will now have to struggle to survive. Also, every individual will eventually face death. Death and survival are both problems that every individual must deal with. The woman, on the other hand, was never told that she would die, only the man. Does this mean that women will never die? Of course not, women die all the time. So this punishment of death to the man and not the woman only makes sense if he represents our individuality.
When God turned his attention to Eve he merely spoke to her saying, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth.”(Gen 3:16 NLT) This is not a curse from God, this again is simply an explanation of the simple fact that it is women who become pregnant and give birth. The actual pain and risk of childbirth has been reduced through the advent of medical science. Then come the tortuous words for women, “And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you” (Gen 3:16 NLT) Because of our separation from God, we also feel a real separation from each other as well. During ancient times, this was especially true between the sexes as they appeared to have different roles in life. This idea of battling for superiority is a real consequence of sin.
This is usually considered the end of the story. If this was really all of the story then it would leave us with a horrible, empty feeling of hopelessness. God punished us and sent us out into the cold, cruel world. The most significant part of the entire story is too often overlooked. The final passage of this story can be obscure and so its meaning can easily get lost.
“Behold, the man is become one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.(Gen 3:22-24 KJV)
The most significant part of the entire story is contained not in the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil which led to being cast out from the garden, but in the other tree in the garden, the Tree of Life. This tree is symbolic of the real connection between all of humanity and God. If we consider the branches of this tree to represent people, then they all come together to meet at the trunk, we all look to God as our foundation, our roots that we all have in common since God is the creator of all of humanity. At the same time the branches grow upward and reach into the sky, meaning we are all moving toward the heavens, our eternal home with God. This tree is in paradise as a sign of our omega, where humanity is going to end up. Our immortality is assured, but that does not mean that we can sit lazily around and wait for it to happen to us. It still must be earned. Every day we must live and work toward the goal of immortality. This is not something that is easy, because if it was it would be worthless. As most parents know, if you give your child everything then they appreciate nothing.
In the above passage God is talking specifically about “the man” as if he has already dismissed Eve from his memory. This is not a sexist God forgetting all about the woman and only concerning himself with “the man.” In this case it is symbolic that he is talking about the man, because the information is specifically for every individual, not necessarily to the community as a whole. It is every individuals job to find the Tree of Life. Yet, in the verse it seems as if God does not want Adam to obtain the tree, why would God say, “Lest he put forth his hand and take also from the tree of life.” I cannot believe that God has ended all opportunity for eternal life for humans before we ever got a chance to start the human race. Instead, I understand the problem to be one of timing. God was not ready for Adam to take from the Tree of Life yet because he had not yet experienced human life. Since Adam represents each of us individually, then his journey becomes our journey. God sent Adam out from the security of the garden so that he could begin the excursion of life in this world.
God, though, did not send us out of the garden and walk away from us. No, the final part of the above passage shows how God has given us help in finding the Tree of Life.
“And he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
After sending the first couple on their way, God placed a flaming sword to keep the way back to the garden, and the Tree of Life. The flaming sword is none other than the Holy Spirit and her words found in the bible. She is the gift that makes this journey possible. Let’s consider this, first, realize that the sword is flaming and fire has always been associated with the Holy Spirit. Remember at Pentecost tongues of fire came over the apostles. The sword, which turned every way, is another reference to the movement of the spirit. For further proof look at what St. Paul tells us in Ephesians, “Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God” Right here in the first book of the bible Christians are informed that Holy Spirit will guide us back to the Tree of Life.
With this interpretation of Adam of Eve story, the sexist, gender roles of this story disappear. They are replaced with God presenting to men and women two roles to perform in life. In fact, both of these the self (ego) and the community (eco) is exactly what defines our humanity. The Tree of Life is actually symbolic of these two aspects of human life. The tree represents all of humanity as interconnected as one large community, but we can still look at each individual branch and see the fruit that it produces. What connects the whole tree together of course is the trunk and the roots which we have mentioned is symbolic of God as the foundation that we all rest in. To gain the Tree of Life, we must, with the aid of the Holy Spirit balance out our Eco and Ego to be competent, loving human beings.
Bibliography
1. Wilber, Ken. Sex, Ecology, Spirituality. Boston: Shambhala, 2000. P. 456-466
2. Ibid., p. 48-49
3. Ibid., p. 467-477
All of this, however, comes with drawbacks. Taken to the extreme the Ego will pursue its goals without regard for other people. The Ego desires be free at all costs, and it wrongly believes itself to be completely independent. To a certain degree the Ego is correct. Part of what makes us human is that we are individuals. That, however, is only half of the picture of our humanity. By itself, the Ego cannot solve all of humanities problems. It’s missing something. That something is the reality that our humanity is conditioned by two things, that we are both part and whole.2
To see this more clearly we need to go back to the basic building blocks of life. Science can help explain the bigger picture. The entire word is made up of atoms. Yet that is not the whole story the world is not just a soup bowl with millions of atoms floating around all by themselves. Instead some atoms join together to make molecules. Molecules in turn come together to make cells which then gather together to produce the organs in our body. The next level is the different parts of our body come together to make up a complete individual. Are we then just a collection of atoms? Is that all that we are? No! As a human being we are more than a sum of our parts. Something bigger and better than just atoms, molecules and organs put together. We have an individual consciousness that uses all these parts together to serve one united purpose. Humans, though whole, are also part of something bigger. The chain of life does not stop at just one human, it continues on past the individual human and moves out beyond it to the community, the state, the nation, the world. We are both whole and a part. Just like atoms are completely whole units by themselves, they are also part of something bigger. The Ego represents our complete wholeness as an individual human beings. This, though, is only part of the story of our humanity, we must remember that we are also part of the rest of the world.
This is where femininity comes into play. It has been women, closer to nature because their bodies are intimately connected to bringing forth new life, that have rallied around nature and community. For this reason femininity can be renamed ‘Eco,’ short for ecology. (also a term used in Ken Wilber’s book)3 Eco’s focus is mostly on community, but this does not mean it is not rational or logical. Only, its logic has led it to be invested in what it sees as something greater than itself--that is the web of all life. The focus for the Ego was a rational mind and how it could be used to create and build things. In contrast, Eco focuses on being part of the something bigger than itself. It looks not how to improve itself but how to improve the whole system, sometimes this means taking a passive back seat role. It is focused on interdependence of everyone and everything. It tries to be cooperative rather than be competitive. In essence, Eco looks at how it is part of a community and downplays the self.
Once again though, Eco has seen only half the picture. Becoming embedded in being only a part of the bigger picture can lead to problems. A person could run in circles all day to make everyone else happy, all the while draining their own Ego. In this case the Ego never has a chance to develop its own talents and bring its individual gifts to the world. This leads to depression and lack of self-esteem. It doesn’t work to be only a part of a bigger system because each human is also a whole person with their own ideas, feelings, and values.
If, as the conservative Christians preach, we should be either all masculine or all feminine then we have only given credence to half of our humanity. This leads to an unhappy, unbalanced and unfilled life. It is part of the reason why so many people are miserable. One cannot ignore half of their self and expect to be fully functioning. Gender roles do just that, they proclaim that we should deny ourselves either Eco or Ego. We do not have to travel far into the bible before we come across the idea of the gender roles. The famous story of Adam and Eve was designed with that intent in mind. Sadly, within this myth, the degradation of women goes even deeper than gender roles or women being placed under a man in the divine hierarchy. This story teaches that femininity is something to be feared as it was the woman who instigated original sin, and therefore she is the cause of the disastrous after effect--the fall of all humanity. Due to this women are seen as immoral, dangerous gateways to sin, this is the very reason that they must be put under a man’s authority to prevent further decay. Hence, the beginnings of femininity associated with submission. This is certainly not the hidden message of the story, but the main theme which climaxes with Eve’s punishment that she must be submissive to her husband.
Creation stories are important for society, for they set the whole context about the meaning of life--understanding our beginnings can bring direction to our lives. Therefore, the story of Adam and Eve has not, and will not be overlooked and forgotten. Since this story has degraded women, society has followed its lead. Armed with the philosophy of Ego and Eco, it is time to take a fresh look at this famous story. Even though this story’s original intent is clearly sexist, I propose that we can re-exam it to bring a new understanding of our masculinity and femininity. Perhaps this may be my own feminist interpretation, but it is possible that the Holy Spirit was working through the author, not in his original sexist words, but in an allegorical way that leads us to the deeper, more spiritual meaning behind this creation story.
The first man’s name, Adam, in Hebrew means “human beings.” I propose that this man represents all humans, both men and women, as they are individuals, or in the terminology I have used before, Ego. So, in examining his beginnings we can get a glimpse into our own origin. The story begins with God creating this first man, Adam, out of dust and breathing life into him. These first words give us an abundant amount of information about our humanity. The first human was created out of dirt from the ground, meaning his foundational substance is part of the earth. The man, however, is more than just a walking dust ball, he was also given the breath of God, which is spirit. This means that all people are a mixture of earth and spirit.
The creation of Adam is different from the first creation story which proclaimed that God created humans as a pair, male and female. Here God created first a single human being, Adam. The emphasis in this second story is different from the first, instead of looking at the creation of humanity collectively, now the story zooms into one individual, or Ego. We do not get far in the story, though, before we are told that God decided that it was not good for Adam to be alone. This is the very first mention by God that something is “not good.” This is in direct contrast to the phrase that is repetitive in the first creation story, “God saw that it was good,” this is in reference to creation, including of course humanity. Here God proclaimed that the only thing that is “not good” is that there is only one human. Imagine being the only person on earth. There would be no one share your thoughts with, no one to hug, or to kiss. There would be no point to this lonely life. Here in the 2nd chapter of the bible, God is giving us a clue as to the meaning of life, that is, it is to be shared with other people. In essence, we were made to love each other. As discussed previously, we all are individuals with our own personalities and style, but we must live within a community.
This is where Eve comes into the picture. She represents community, humanity as a group, or in other words Eco. As with Adam, her name is symbolic, she is called the “Mother of all living.” This idea of the community represented by the feminine is used elsewhere in the Old Testament. There are feminine references about the city of Jerusalem. For example Jeremiah used this same kind of symbolism “Go shout this message to Jerusalem. This is what the Lord says: ‘I remember how eager you were to please me as a young bride long ago…”(Jer 2:2 NLT) Also Isaiah told the Israelites ” For the Lord has called you back from your grief—as though you were a young wife abandoned by her husband.”(Is 54:6 NLT) This idea of Israel as the bride of God, turns into the church as the bride of Christ. The collective is represented as a female in the Christian tradition. So God created Eve to be someone that Adam could share his life with. Recall Adam needed Eve, and God created her to be his “helper,” and this makes sense because this is the function of community. God created Eve as Adam’s helper not as a woman is suppose to help a man, but as a community is expected to help each other. Notice, she is fashioned from a part of him, as an individual is a part of the community. Meaning that every human is both an individual, but also a part of a community. It would make no sense that community comes before the individual. With this interpretation of Eve representing Eco and Adam symbolic of Ego, there is no God given hierarchy here of men over women.
The story continues and explains how the woman is tempted by the serpent and eventually succumbed to eating the forbidden fruit. She then turned to Adam and gave some to him as well. The outcome of that decision is the so called punishments. I don’t believe these are actually punishments, but more likely the consequences of sin. These things turn out to be a description of what everyday life was like for the Israelites. They were never to be a command for all time, but something to grow out of as humanity matured in consciousness. Notice that God never told Adam or Eve that they were cursed. Rather he spoke to Adam saying
“Since you have listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you though you will eat of its grains. By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust and to dust you will return.(Gen. 3:17-19 NLT)
Here it appears that God is reprimanding Adam for listening to his wife. Once we understand that she is not a representative for all women, but community, this makes more sense. Adam haphazardly went along with the Eve’s request rather than following God’s directions. In essence we must get along with others, but it is God that must direct our lives, not peer pressure. Notice, here that God is speaking to the individual, or Ego, who will now have to struggle to survive. Also, every individual will eventually face death. Death and survival are both problems that every individual must deal with. The woman, on the other hand, was never told that she would die, only the man. Does this mean that women will never die? Of course not, women die all the time. So this punishment of death to the man and not the woman only makes sense if he represents our individuality.
When God turned his attention to Eve he merely spoke to her saying, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth.”(Gen 3:16 NLT) This is not a curse from God, this again is simply an explanation of the simple fact that it is women who become pregnant and give birth. The actual pain and risk of childbirth has been reduced through the advent of medical science. Then come the tortuous words for women, “And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you” (Gen 3:16 NLT) Because of our separation from God, we also feel a real separation from each other as well. During ancient times, this was especially true between the sexes as they appeared to have different roles in life. This idea of battling for superiority is a real consequence of sin.
This is usually considered the end of the story. If this was really all of the story then it would leave us with a horrible, empty feeling of hopelessness. God punished us and sent us out into the cold, cruel world. The most significant part of the entire story is too often overlooked. The final passage of this story can be obscure and so its meaning can easily get lost.
“Behold, the man is become one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.(Gen 3:22-24 KJV)
The most significant part of the entire story is contained not in the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil which led to being cast out from the garden, but in the other tree in the garden, the Tree of Life. This tree is symbolic of the real connection between all of humanity and God. If we consider the branches of this tree to represent people, then they all come together to meet at the trunk, we all look to God as our foundation, our roots that we all have in common since God is the creator of all of humanity. At the same time the branches grow upward and reach into the sky, meaning we are all moving toward the heavens, our eternal home with God. This tree is in paradise as a sign of our omega, where humanity is going to end up. Our immortality is assured, but that does not mean that we can sit lazily around and wait for it to happen to us. It still must be earned. Every day we must live and work toward the goal of immortality. This is not something that is easy, because if it was it would be worthless. As most parents know, if you give your child everything then they appreciate nothing.
In the above passage God is talking specifically about “the man” as if he has already dismissed Eve from his memory. This is not a sexist God forgetting all about the woman and only concerning himself with “the man.” In this case it is symbolic that he is talking about the man, because the information is specifically for every individual, not necessarily to the community as a whole. It is every individuals job to find the Tree of Life. Yet, in the verse it seems as if God does not want Adam to obtain the tree, why would God say, “Lest he put forth his hand and take also from the tree of life.” I cannot believe that God has ended all opportunity for eternal life for humans before we ever got a chance to start the human race. Instead, I understand the problem to be one of timing. God was not ready for Adam to take from the Tree of Life yet because he had not yet experienced human life. Since Adam represents each of us individually, then his journey becomes our journey. God sent Adam out from the security of the garden so that he could begin the excursion of life in this world.
God, though, did not send us out of the garden and walk away from us. No, the final part of the above passage shows how God has given us help in finding the Tree of Life.
“And he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
After sending the first couple on their way, God placed a flaming sword to keep the way back to the garden, and the Tree of Life. The flaming sword is none other than the Holy Spirit and her words found in the bible. She is the gift that makes this journey possible. Let’s consider this, first, realize that the sword is flaming and fire has always been associated with the Holy Spirit. Remember at Pentecost tongues of fire came over the apostles. The sword, which turned every way, is another reference to the movement of the spirit. For further proof look at what St. Paul tells us in Ephesians, “Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God” Right here in the first book of the bible Christians are informed that Holy Spirit will guide us back to the Tree of Life.
With this interpretation of Adam of Eve story, the sexist, gender roles of this story disappear. They are replaced with God presenting to men and women two roles to perform in life. In fact, both of these the self (ego) and the community (eco) is exactly what defines our humanity. The Tree of Life is actually symbolic of these two aspects of human life. The tree represents all of humanity as interconnected as one large community, but we can still look at each individual branch and see the fruit that it produces. What connects the whole tree together of course is the trunk and the roots which we have mentioned is symbolic of God as the foundation that we all rest in. To gain the Tree of Life, we must, with the aid of the Holy Spirit balance out our Eco and Ego to be competent, loving human beings.
Bibliography
1. Wilber, Ken. Sex, Ecology, Spirituality. Boston: Shambhala, 2000. P. 456-466
2. Ibid., p. 48-49
3. Ibid., p. 467-477
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
A Road to Peace - Chapter 2
Some Christians denominations are dragging society back to the dark ages with their ideas about masculine and feminine roles. Conservative Christians believe that there is a divine hierarchy for all time of God-men-women.It is difficult for them to abandon this philosophy because it originates in the scripture. The words of St. Paul, “For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church”(Eph 5:23 NLT)have been transformed into the eternal words of God. In order to support this hierarchy these Christians have figured that there must be some fundamental difference between men and women.Obviously there are physical difference between the two. There is, however, a more grey area of psychological disparities. Society uses the terminology masculinity and femininity to describe these. How these terms are defined, then, determines how we view men and women. Conservative Christians tend to accept the typical definition of masculinity being about strength, and so to keep the sexes separate, femininity must be oppositely associated with weakness. If masculinity is about being assertive, then women must be passive, and if he is independent, then she becomes dependent. When we examine these masculine traits they are all characteristics of a healthy person in society. The feminine traits of being weak, passive and dependent are at worst a mental disorder and at best lead to low self-esteem for women. Masculinity seems to describe the norm for humanity, and femininity is more associated with deviant behavior.
Due to this hierarchy masculinity has wrongfully become focused on being above femininity. It incorrectly seeks power and control over the feminine, and must struggle daily to maintain that position. If women in some way seem more qualified, more powerful, smarter, taller, you name it, then this messes up the divine hierarchy. Since this is an ordained status by God, to let it tumble and disintegrate becomes sacrilegious and must be fought against vehemently. This definition of masculinity keeps men constantly on guard against woman, because it is she, as the other, who has the power to cause men to fall from their heavenly spot, that is to a position of equality with women.
Christianity was born during a time when patriarchy was a natural way of life, yet it has refused to toss off these old, outdated assumptions. Today, a large percentage of Christian churches still bar women from entering the priesthood. The Christian hierarchy, however, is not just restricted to the priesthood--it also invades the home. According to conservative Christians the home must be organized by the gender roles, that is divinely ordained tasks that are different for men and woman. The idea is that our world functions more smoothly if we follow God’s plan, which includes gender roles. To go against these predetermined duties is to go against God. Therefore, it becomes imperative that men and women stay within the limits of their gender and comply with the tasks that God assigned them. The male role is to be head of the household and provider for the family. On the other hand, the female duty is to stay at home and take care of the children. She is also to submit to her husband as the leader of the family. The message here is clear enough, in the eyes of God women are inferior to men because God is a male. Men are closer to the image of God, rank higher in God’s hierarchy and therefore more fully represent God in the office of priesthood and household leader. Again, scripture supports this idea, St. Paul penned the words, “for man is made in God’s image and reflects God’s glory. And woman reflects man’s glory. For the first man didn’t come from woman, but the first woman came from man. And man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man.” (1 Corith 11:7 NLT). The result of this is that the Christian church, like the rest of society, is tipped in favor of masculinity. The power to drive the direction of the church comes from the leaders who are all men, this leaves women on the outside to be simply followers. Their ideas and opinions are never validated or encouraged, instead they are ignored as “other.”
Due to the backlash that this philosophy has caused there has been a growth in Christian organizations were gender roles are an important part of their platforms. The “Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood,” “the Promise Keepers,” and “Focus on the Family” are some of the Christian groups sprouting up that fit this category. It is fear that has prompted the creation of these types of organizations. Many members of these groups foresee a horrible future that can only be derailed if woman are kept under control. The book the Biblical Foundations for Manhood and Womanhood" (available on the website for Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood) is very explicit about exactly how our society is going to fall apart if we do not stay within our gender imposed roles.
"When we follow the theme that there are “No Differences” into the area of manhood and womanhood, the attempt to obliterate differences leads to the emasculation of men and the defeminization of woman. Men become more like woman and woman become more like men, because “All is one.” Within marriage, if there are no differences, then same-sex “marriages” would be approved. Women who reject feminine roles will support abortion. Since there are no distinct roles for a child’s father and mother within the family, there’s really no longer any need to have children raised by family; “society” can take care of raising children. Within the realm of sexuality, homosexuality and lesbianism will be approved. The chart goes on to detail how the idea that there should be “no differences” but that “all should be one” will also work out in feminized religion within churches, in hatred of authority (if someone has more authority, then all is not one), in no competition in sports (if we have “winners” and “losers,” the all is not one), in no respect for authority and in the civil realm (with an increase in rampant crime), in attempts to abolish private property and equalized possessions (no one can be different, but all should be one), and in attempt to prohibit all-male or all-female schools or to prohibit education boys and girls separately. These are the tendencies that follow once we adopt the conviction that “all is one” and there are no differences of person in the being of God, and thus there should be no difference between men and women either."1
Further down the author continues his thought.
"They deny that there are any gender-based role differences in marriage. Within marriage an egalitarian view tends toward abolishing differences and advocates “mutual submission,” which often results in the husband acting as a wimp and the wife as a usurper. Because there is a deep seated opposition to most authority, the drive toward sameness will often result in children being raised with too little discipline and too little respect for authority."1
If men and women come to be considered equals, then the world as we know it would be destroyed because homosexuality would become normal, abortion rates would rise, and all authority would be challenged. These are major concerns that must be addressed.
The first issue of homosexuality is a vast one. I do not intend to cover all aspects of homosexuality. It is only discussed here as it relates to the gender issue. The conservative Christians main problem with homosexuality is that it is a sin. St. Paul states that it is an abomination unto the Lord. If it is a sin it seems to be a victimless one. What two homosexuals do in the privacy of their own home has almost no bearing on the moral values of the rest of the community. Sins like child abuse, adultery, greed, racism, and sexism, have a much bigger impact on society then homosexuality. Yet within the Christian community the outcry against these horrendous sins seems to get lost in the uproar over homosexuality. Conservative Christians say it’s a choice, liberals tend to believe it is an inborn trait. The question is why is there so much time and money spent on placing homosexuality into some cubby hole. The reason is that it throws a wrench into the neatly defined divine hierarchy of God--male--female. Homosexuals do not fit into any of these categories, because a man is really defined as a masculine man, and homosexuals clearly fail at this. They are living proof that not all men are masculine,(void of all feminine traits) which causes the whole hierarchy to come tumbling down. Other than messing up the power of masculinity, one must wonder how exactly does homosexuality negatively affect our society?
Where homosexuality is the dagger that destroys the gender argument, abortion on the other hand has nothing to do with gender and everything to do with sex. We tend to lump this issue into the feminist one, making it a woman’s issue, rather than facing the truth that it takes two people to make a baby. Statistics show that the top reason why women chose abortion is because either a boyfriend or husband persuaded her to have the abortion. Next on the list comes confusion, parents pressuring her to abort, lack of alternative, not mature enough, and problems with relationship or wanting to avoid being a single parent. 2 It obviously takes two people have sex, and in a likewise manner it takes two to raise a child. Women know this. They feel trapped, confused and afraid when left alone to face rearing a child by themselves. Abortion is not an easy thing to do, it kills a baby, and emotionally speaking it kills the woman too. This issue is tossed into the gender issue because it is the radical feminist who promote pro-choice. In reality, it is not the strident feminist having the abortions, it is young, teenage girls who don’t have the confidence to say “no” to their boyfriend’s advances. Teaching them a typically masculine value of asserting themselves would give them the self confidence to say “no” when pressured. On the other hand, we must also take a hard look at how some men define their masculinity by how many girls they have sex with. Teaching our young men not to pressure the girls in the first place would also help alleviate the problem. Abortion has very little to do with women foregoing the feminine role of motherhood, termed the defeminization of women. This is proven by the fact that once women are married the abortion rate drops dramatically. It seems motherhood is an accepted part of being married.
Now we come to the heart of the issue of feminine power, that is egalitarianism. The authors of book Biblical Foundations of Manhood and Womanhood are correct in stating that femininity leans toward egalitarianism, and away from hierarchies, but he has a skewed view of this philosophy. His radical understanding of egalitarianism asserts that following this philosophy would strip people of their uniqueness. In essence, this extreme view would mean that no one would be allowed to be rich, beautiful, intelligent, or have special skills because then all would not be equal. This is the real issue that threatens the overly masculine world, the fear of having to step down to the level of others in order to equalize everyone in society. For macho men strive to prove that they have gained an upper hand in the hierarchy of life. This plays out in making sure that others are lower than them, hence women must be submissive. Most feminist egalitarians, however, have a more moderate view of what this philosophy means, and within this context it does not demolish the uniqueness of individuals. They understand that there will always be people with different skills, income levels, nationalities, and other various things that make us unique. A more sensible egalitarian approach simply proclaims that these differences should not rank us. So, regardless of our individual differences, egalitarians believe we are still inherently the same in God’s eyes. Due to this fact, they profess that we all deserve the same respect. Anything that unfairly demeans a human’s dignity must be vehemently fought against. With this view, egalitarianism is not about forcing everyone to be the same, rather it is about working toward helping all humans to have an equal opportunity towards happiness. To suggest that implementing this philosophy would result in no more police authority and higher crime rates makes no sense. The author has confused egalitarianism with anarchism. Furthermore, women, who have typically been the ones raising children, understand that kids need love, guidance and yes, discipline. Children, though, eventually grow up into adults, so this is not a hierarchy that is set for life, it is a necessary condition to help our young mature. The idea of a divine hierarchy of men over women, however, is static. This means women are at the bottom with no hope of ever moving up in the world.
The slippery slope argument was used to proclaim that the world is headed toward a disaster with more homosexuals, more abortions, and loss of all authority, all because the authors of this book have a deep rooted fear of women and all things feminine. They believe that eventually the feminine will take over and control the world. Men will be feminized, the church will be feminized, and the outcome of all this female power will result in chaos. In other words femininity, found only in women, is a very dangerous thing and must be controlled in order to keep our world safe. His statement about men becoming wimps confirms his definition of masculinity as more powerful, and it gets at the core of this issue. Macho men who define themselves by their authoritative masculinity, cannot relinquish their power because then they would become sissies. Furthermore, he portrays the typical masculine fear of losing control and power onto women as if they too were concerned with those things. Notice, he will become a wimp and she will usurp his rightful power. In effect this is a complete reversal of the current powerful masculinity and weak femininity. Femininity is not about power and authority. In reality, masculinity isn’t either. It only becomes that way when it is wrongly defined as the top of God’s hierarchy, because then it becomes about controlling the feminine.
According to those who prescribe to these gender roles, men should be all masculine and women must be only feminine, to cross over the lines is dangerous, as we saw the authors of Biblical Foundations of Manhood and Womanhood fear women acting like men and men acting in a feminine way. Real people, however, are not limited by these invisible boundaries. There are assertive women, and passive men. Jesus as the head of the church never taught about gender roles. His main focus was always on the kingdom of God, and this was for everyone, nor were their different requirements or expectations within that kingdom for men and women.
Bibliography
1. Grudem, Wayne, ed. Biblical Foundations of Manhood and Womanhood. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, A division of Good News Publishers, 2002. p. 60-61
2. Mathewes-Green, Frederica. Real Choices. Ben Lomond, CA: Conciliar Press, 1997. p. 208
Due to this hierarchy masculinity has wrongfully become focused on being above femininity. It incorrectly seeks power and control over the feminine, and must struggle daily to maintain that position. If women in some way seem more qualified, more powerful, smarter, taller, you name it, then this messes up the divine hierarchy. Since this is an ordained status by God, to let it tumble and disintegrate becomes sacrilegious and must be fought against vehemently. This definition of masculinity keeps men constantly on guard against woman, because it is she, as the other, who has the power to cause men to fall from their heavenly spot, that is to a position of equality with women.
Christianity was born during a time when patriarchy was a natural way of life, yet it has refused to toss off these old, outdated assumptions. Today, a large percentage of Christian churches still bar women from entering the priesthood. The Christian hierarchy, however, is not just restricted to the priesthood--it also invades the home. According to conservative Christians the home must be organized by the gender roles, that is divinely ordained tasks that are different for men and woman. The idea is that our world functions more smoothly if we follow God’s plan, which includes gender roles. To go against these predetermined duties is to go against God. Therefore, it becomes imperative that men and women stay within the limits of their gender and comply with the tasks that God assigned them. The male role is to be head of the household and provider for the family. On the other hand, the female duty is to stay at home and take care of the children. She is also to submit to her husband as the leader of the family. The message here is clear enough, in the eyes of God women are inferior to men because God is a male. Men are closer to the image of God, rank higher in God’s hierarchy and therefore more fully represent God in the office of priesthood and household leader. Again, scripture supports this idea, St. Paul penned the words, “for man is made in God’s image and reflects God’s glory. And woman reflects man’s glory. For the first man didn’t come from woman, but the first woman came from man. And man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man.” (1 Corith 11:7 NLT). The result of this is that the Christian church, like the rest of society, is tipped in favor of masculinity. The power to drive the direction of the church comes from the leaders who are all men, this leaves women on the outside to be simply followers. Their ideas and opinions are never validated or encouraged, instead they are ignored as “other.”
Due to the backlash that this philosophy has caused there has been a growth in Christian organizations were gender roles are an important part of their platforms. The “Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood,” “the Promise Keepers,” and “Focus on the Family” are some of the Christian groups sprouting up that fit this category. It is fear that has prompted the creation of these types of organizations. Many members of these groups foresee a horrible future that can only be derailed if woman are kept under control. The book the Biblical Foundations for Manhood and Womanhood" (available on the website for Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood) is very explicit about exactly how our society is going to fall apart if we do not stay within our gender imposed roles.
"When we follow the theme that there are “No Differences” into the area of manhood and womanhood, the attempt to obliterate differences leads to the emasculation of men and the defeminization of woman. Men become more like woman and woman become more like men, because “All is one.” Within marriage, if there are no differences, then same-sex “marriages” would be approved. Women who reject feminine roles will support abortion. Since there are no distinct roles for a child’s father and mother within the family, there’s really no longer any need to have children raised by family; “society” can take care of raising children. Within the realm of sexuality, homosexuality and lesbianism will be approved. The chart goes on to detail how the idea that there should be “no differences” but that “all should be one” will also work out in feminized religion within churches, in hatred of authority (if someone has more authority, then all is not one), in no competition in sports (if we have “winners” and “losers,” the all is not one), in no respect for authority and in the civil realm (with an increase in rampant crime), in attempts to abolish private property and equalized possessions (no one can be different, but all should be one), and in attempt to prohibit all-male or all-female schools or to prohibit education boys and girls separately. These are the tendencies that follow once we adopt the conviction that “all is one” and there are no differences of person in the being of God, and thus there should be no difference between men and women either."1
Further down the author continues his thought.
"They deny that there are any gender-based role differences in marriage. Within marriage an egalitarian view tends toward abolishing differences and advocates “mutual submission,” which often results in the husband acting as a wimp and the wife as a usurper. Because there is a deep seated opposition to most authority, the drive toward sameness will often result in children being raised with too little discipline and too little respect for authority."1
If men and women come to be considered equals, then the world as we know it would be destroyed because homosexuality would become normal, abortion rates would rise, and all authority would be challenged. These are major concerns that must be addressed.
The first issue of homosexuality is a vast one. I do not intend to cover all aspects of homosexuality. It is only discussed here as it relates to the gender issue. The conservative Christians main problem with homosexuality is that it is a sin. St. Paul states that it is an abomination unto the Lord. If it is a sin it seems to be a victimless one. What two homosexuals do in the privacy of their own home has almost no bearing on the moral values of the rest of the community. Sins like child abuse, adultery, greed, racism, and sexism, have a much bigger impact on society then homosexuality. Yet within the Christian community the outcry against these horrendous sins seems to get lost in the uproar over homosexuality. Conservative Christians say it’s a choice, liberals tend to believe it is an inborn trait. The question is why is there so much time and money spent on placing homosexuality into some cubby hole. The reason is that it throws a wrench into the neatly defined divine hierarchy of God--male--female. Homosexuals do not fit into any of these categories, because a man is really defined as a masculine man, and homosexuals clearly fail at this. They are living proof that not all men are masculine,(void of all feminine traits) which causes the whole hierarchy to come tumbling down. Other than messing up the power of masculinity, one must wonder how exactly does homosexuality negatively affect our society?
Where homosexuality is the dagger that destroys the gender argument, abortion on the other hand has nothing to do with gender and everything to do with sex. We tend to lump this issue into the feminist one, making it a woman’s issue, rather than facing the truth that it takes two people to make a baby. Statistics show that the top reason why women chose abortion is because either a boyfriend or husband persuaded her to have the abortion. Next on the list comes confusion, parents pressuring her to abort, lack of alternative, not mature enough, and problems with relationship or wanting to avoid being a single parent. 2 It obviously takes two people have sex, and in a likewise manner it takes two to raise a child. Women know this. They feel trapped, confused and afraid when left alone to face rearing a child by themselves. Abortion is not an easy thing to do, it kills a baby, and emotionally speaking it kills the woman too. This issue is tossed into the gender issue because it is the radical feminist who promote pro-choice. In reality, it is not the strident feminist having the abortions, it is young, teenage girls who don’t have the confidence to say “no” to their boyfriend’s advances. Teaching them a typically masculine value of asserting themselves would give them the self confidence to say “no” when pressured. On the other hand, we must also take a hard look at how some men define their masculinity by how many girls they have sex with. Teaching our young men not to pressure the girls in the first place would also help alleviate the problem. Abortion has very little to do with women foregoing the feminine role of motherhood, termed the defeminization of women. This is proven by the fact that once women are married the abortion rate drops dramatically. It seems motherhood is an accepted part of being married.
Now we come to the heart of the issue of feminine power, that is egalitarianism. The authors of book Biblical Foundations of Manhood and Womanhood are correct in stating that femininity leans toward egalitarianism, and away from hierarchies, but he has a skewed view of this philosophy. His radical understanding of egalitarianism asserts that following this philosophy would strip people of their uniqueness. In essence, this extreme view would mean that no one would be allowed to be rich, beautiful, intelligent, or have special skills because then all would not be equal. This is the real issue that threatens the overly masculine world, the fear of having to step down to the level of others in order to equalize everyone in society. For macho men strive to prove that they have gained an upper hand in the hierarchy of life. This plays out in making sure that others are lower than them, hence women must be submissive. Most feminist egalitarians, however, have a more moderate view of what this philosophy means, and within this context it does not demolish the uniqueness of individuals. They understand that there will always be people with different skills, income levels, nationalities, and other various things that make us unique. A more sensible egalitarian approach simply proclaims that these differences should not rank us. So, regardless of our individual differences, egalitarians believe we are still inherently the same in God’s eyes. Due to this fact, they profess that we all deserve the same respect. Anything that unfairly demeans a human’s dignity must be vehemently fought against. With this view, egalitarianism is not about forcing everyone to be the same, rather it is about working toward helping all humans to have an equal opportunity towards happiness. To suggest that implementing this philosophy would result in no more police authority and higher crime rates makes no sense. The author has confused egalitarianism with anarchism. Furthermore, women, who have typically been the ones raising children, understand that kids need love, guidance and yes, discipline. Children, though, eventually grow up into adults, so this is not a hierarchy that is set for life, it is a necessary condition to help our young mature. The idea of a divine hierarchy of men over women, however, is static. This means women are at the bottom with no hope of ever moving up in the world.
The slippery slope argument was used to proclaim that the world is headed toward a disaster with more homosexuals, more abortions, and loss of all authority, all because the authors of this book have a deep rooted fear of women and all things feminine. They believe that eventually the feminine will take over and control the world. Men will be feminized, the church will be feminized, and the outcome of all this female power will result in chaos. In other words femininity, found only in women, is a very dangerous thing and must be controlled in order to keep our world safe. His statement about men becoming wimps confirms his definition of masculinity as more powerful, and it gets at the core of this issue. Macho men who define themselves by their authoritative masculinity, cannot relinquish their power because then they would become sissies. Furthermore, he portrays the typical masculine fear of losing control and power onto women as if they too were concerned with those things. Notice, he will become a wimp and she will usurp his rightful power. In effect this is a complete reversal of the current powerful masculinity and weak femininity. Femininity is not about power and authority. In reality, masculinity isn’t either. It only becomes that way when it is wrongly defined as the top of God’s hierarchy, because then it becomes about controlling the feminine.
According to those who prescribe to these gender roles, men should be all masculine and women must be only feminine, to cross over the lines is dangerous, as we saw the authors of Biblical Foundations of Manhood and Womanhood fear women acting like men and men acting in a feminine way. Real people, however, are not limited by these invisible boundaries. There are assertive women, and passive men. Jesus as the head of the church never taught about gender roles. His main focus was always on the kingdom of God, and this was for everyone, nor were their different requirements or expectations within that kingdom for men and women.
Bibliography
1. Grudem, Wayne, ed. Biblical Foundations of Manhood and Womanhood. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, A division of Good News Publishers, 2002. p. 60-61
2. Mathewes-Green, Frederica. Real Choices. Ben Lomond, CA: Conciliar Press, 1997. p. 208
Monday, June 21, 2010
A Road to Peace -- Chapter 1 continued
The Israelites were on the verge of understanding their covenant as being bonded to God in spirit. One main blockage, however, was that many still believed their covenant was bound up with their nation. Conquering their enemies and restoring the nation of Israel became a major tenant of the Jewish faith, and the idea of the new covenant got tangled up with the restoration of Israel. The new covenant was no longer about being one with God’s spirit, but they believed the fulfillment of the covenant would be the new age when they would once again be a great nation. It was also believed that their restored nation would herald in a time of peace for everyone, because all would come to recognized their God as the most high and come to Jerusalem to worship alongside the Jews.
In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all—the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. People from many nations will come and say, “come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2: 2-3 NLT)
This hope was what helped the people stay focused even though they had been trampled on. When it did not come to fruition, many factions arose to try and handle the ongoing domination of the Jews by their enemies. The Essenes decided to leave the social community, believing it was due to the sinfulness of the Jews that the restoration had not happened. They chose to abandon traditional society and hide in caves. They did this with faith that when God chose to act they would be the ones rewarded for their true faithfulness to God. Where the Essenes solution was to cower and hide, the Zealots were just the opposite they wanted to gather an army and take on the Romans by force. For them God was not acting quickly enough and needed some help. In between these two extreme groups were the Pharisees, they believed that God would act, only when his Law was followed perfectly. Therefore, they were stringent followers of the religious Law.
It is into this melting pot of ideas about the restoration that Jesus began to preach. He was clearly lined up with the Prophets of the Old Testament, and did not agree with any of the groups that had formed. The Jews of Jesus day misinterpreted Jesus message about the Kingdom of God, they had turned it into the Kingdom of Israel. According to Jesus, though, the restoration was not a national redemption, but a spiritual one to happen in people’s hearts. Jesus’ main message was a Jewish one, he preached that the Kingdom of God was at hand, it is exactly what all the Jews wanted to hear. Yet they believed it meant that the Romans would be conquered and Israel would be glorified. Jesus, however, proclaimed that the Kingdom of God could be entered into in the here and the know, even though they were still living under Roman occupation. What he did was separate out the new age of peace, from the national interests of the Jews.
Everything Jesus did from his teachings and prayers to his miracles all revolved around the message of the kingdom of God. The philosophy of Kingdom of God being the fulfillment of the covenant has gotten lost under a pile of theological ideas. And so, therefore, the new covenant has never come to fruition in the hearts of Christians. Jesus’ main purpose was to lead humanity to the new covenant, to a time when everyone shall know God in spirit. In the Gospel of John Jesus said, “the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23 NLT)
Jesus’ kingdom was intimately linked to the new covenant that Jeremiah spoke of. According to Jesus and Jeremiah religion was no longer to be about dutifully following the Law, because the spirit will naturally take people were the moral part of the law was originally pointing us. This is also what St. Paul explained as well. He converted the old symbols of the covenant to give them new meaning when he said, “true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by God’s spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not people” (Rom. 2:29) This clearly explains Jesus’ message. Once we are bumped up from the ego-centric, mind level to the higher spiritual level of the spirit we gain a better understanding of God. This includes seeing God as Jesus did, as intimately connected to people. The spirit closes the gap between humans and God. She reaches into our very heart and spiritually binds us to God. This link can never be broken. Once a person has reached this level they never return to a more primitive understanding of the divine. God is trying to explain this to us, even in the Old Testament Isaiah proclaimed for God “Look! I am creating new heavens and new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.” Yet this is exactly what people are doing today. They are trying to fit an old way of looking at things into a new earth. It doesn’t work! It can’t because God has created a new earth. In others words, God is trying to bring everyone up to the spiritual level. This is the message of the bible. A message of the fulfillment of the covenant, with the Kingdom of God on earth. A message of hope, peace and a loving God always working to bring people closer to him until they understand that there is no real separation between themselves and God.
Unfortunately, some Christian denominations actually have ideas and philosophies that run counter to God’s peace, his kingdom, his fulfillment of the covenant. They pick and chose a few select verses and build a religion of fear and ignorance around them. The religious leaders of these sects have realized that it is not peace, and entry into God’s Kingdom, but fear that motivates people. By placing fear of God into people’s hearts, these Christian leaders can control people and keep them on the right path, theirs. The main reason people try to stay on this path is to stay clear of hell. In other words these leaders feed on our fearfulness of God’s wrath. This is a sad tragedy because the main enemy of the kingdom of God is not Satan as many believe, but fear. Our human fears are killing us and the kingdom of God. Fear has the power to weaken both our body and soul, and causes us to make irrational decisions based on selfishness. It is exactly this that is causing most of the problems in the world today. Destroy fear, and God’s kingdom will grow.
God’s vengeful side is clearly a part of the bible. Many Christians falsely believe that the God of the Old Testament is a wrathful God, and that Jesus came from heaven to show a loving Father. It is, however, in the new Testament, that Jesus himself solidifies the concept of hell. There seems to be two conflicting messages in the gospels. The first one is to “love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you… Then your reward from heaven will be very great and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.”(Luke 6:27-36 NLT)) Here we are given the ultimate loving picture of God, and are called to imitate this loving God. In the Gospel of Matthew, however, Jesus, appears as a hypocrite, for he yelled at the Pharisees, “Snakes! Sons of Vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell.” (Matt. 24:33 NLT) This is clearly not a loving attitude, calling people names and putting the fear of hell in them. What are we to think of Jesus, preaching one thing and doing another. It’s like the old adage one might have heard growing up “do what I say, not what I do,” which we all know in reality does not work. This paradoxical message shows its face again and again throughout all four gospels. As children we are taught that Jesus preached about a compassionate Father in heaven. We are told that we are to follow Jesus example. Yet, Jesus own actions are not always loving, nor are all of his teachings. Time and time again, he teaches that if you do not accept the kingdom, then the only other option is hell. This philosophy actually ruins the kingdom message. Ones inner heart can only hate what it fears. So our spiritual natures cannot move closer to a scary God of fire and flames. A person’s true spiritual self is not truly aligned with the kingdom if that person is only in it to stay out of hell. True membership in God’s kingdom only comes about by being connected with God’s spirit and this can only happen through love, not fear.
If Jesus preached a message of hell, then he killed his own kingdom. This seems highly unlikely. More likely the message of judgment and the words of hate on Jesus lips are from the gospel writers who wrote 70 to 100 years after Jesus death. They had good intentions of trying to convince people that it was imperative to choose the kingdom of God. But, this message does not line up with Jesus’ original message of a loving God, who calls for people to be loving as well. One last thing to consider in this discussion, if God includes wrathfulness then does that not give us permission to be vengeful as God is. If God can punish to the extreme and throw people to the eternal agony of hell, then the torture that people do to each other seems almost insignificant in comparison. How we view God, also determines how we perceive humanity. If we can imagine a hateful God, then hatefulness will always be part of us as well. Joining in God’s kingdom is making a conscious effort to try alleviate hate from our lives.
God is all-powerful, that fact can make God very frightening to fragile humans. God understands this and in some cases in the Bible one gets the impression that God is trying to alleviate our fears. When God sent angels to Mary, John’s father Zechariah, the shepherds, and to the woman at the tomb each time the angel greeted them with “fear not.” When Simon first met Jesus, he fell on his knees professing his sinfulness. Jesus replied “Fear not! From henceforth thou shalt catch men.”(Luke 5:10 KJV) And Jesus also preached in general, “Fear not, little flock: for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32 KJV) In these cases Jesus does not teach us about a fearful, wrathful God, but rather to love and trust God. We are expected to put our entire lives in the hands of God. Jesus himself led a life that was above fear. Even in the face of death he did not detour from God’s plan. His philosophy can be summed up by St. Paul’s question, “If God be for us, who can ever be against us?” (Rom 8:31 NLT) This denies the existence of some “other” to be afraid of. Jesus didn’t even see the Roman soldiers as his enemy, but rather people who were in need of mercy. He showed love even for these soldiers when he said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing. (Luke 23:34 NLT)
Fear is based on the unknown. We don’t truly know God, so we fear God. In the society around us the same is also true. People who seem different or odd are feared as well. This is the cause of much prejudice and hatred. It comes from the old group mentality that everyone in my group is friend, anyone else who I don’t know is foe. There is a dangerous current paradigm about God within Christianity that is linked to that old, archaic idea. This is the idea of polar opposites, setting up one thing in opposition to another. According to these Christians, one is either good or bad, in heaven or hell. A person must value soul over body, the masculine over the feminine, heaven over earth and their religion over all others. This is as far away from the kingdom of God and peace as one can get. In setting up one thing as better than another the lines are drawn for battle. Now the soul must fight the body, a Christian must fight against an ungodly world, men against woman, and Christians against all other religions. Peace is only going to be found by erasing these boundary lines and incorporating all things into God’s plan.
The ultimate fulfillment of the covenant, the peace that God is driving us towards is found in spirit. We are bound to God’s spirit, and his spirit is everywhere. From the book of Psalm we learn that:
I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from you presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
If I go down to the grave, you are there.
If I ride the wings of morning,
If I dwell by the farthest oceans,
Even there you hand will guide me,
And your strength will support me.
I could ask the darkness to hide me
And the light around me to become night—
But even in darkness I cannot hid from you
To you the night shines as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are the same to you. (Psalm 139:7-12)
Within God there is no “other,” which means there is nothing to fear. In fact, God can be found in the integration of seemingly opposites things. The body and soul are one, masculine and feminine qualities can appear in both sexes, heaven can come down to earth, people can contain both good and evil qualities, and all religions hold some truths and some falsities. Peace means finding harmony in opposite things. For if people could see a part of themselves in the “other” then their anger will subside and be replaced with compassion. In that case, compromise and agreements could be made, rather than war and threats.
I believe this teaching of polar opposites is incorrect and needs to be abandoned if there is to be growth toward God’s kingdom and ultimate peace for the world. I foresee a wonderful future for the world, as I believe Jesus did with his vision of the Kingdom of God, one where all nations live in harmony, and people make it top priority to make sure that everyone has their basic needs met. I see a future where there is respect for males and females alike. It will be a world where different races and religions are treated with equal respect. This may just be a fantasy, but I believe it is the world God is moving us toward slowly each day. For as St. Paul said “There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. (gal 3:28 NLT) This is exactly what the kingdom of God will look like. Today we need a spiritual boost to propel us forward and closer to God’s kingdom. I believe that first step is to eliminate the philosophy of opposites. There are six important opposite pairs within the Christian understanding of God that must be harmonized if our world is to become a more peaceful one. These include:
1. masculine vs. feminine
2. God vs. devil
3. Christianity vs. other religions
4. soul vs. body
5. Nature vs. transcendence
The following chapters will consider each one of these dichotomies in detail and how they can be corrected.
In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all—the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. People from many nations will come and say, “come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2: 2-3 NLT)
This hope was what helped the people stay focused even though they had been trampled on. When it did not come to fruition, many factions arose to try and handle the ongoing domination of the Jews by their enemies. The Essenes decided to leave the social community, believing it was due to the sinfulness of the Jews that the restoration had not happened. They chose to abandon traditional society and hide in caves. They did this with faith that when God chose to act they would be the ones rewarded for their true faithfulness to God. Where the Essenes solution was to cower and hide, the Zealots were just the opposite they wanted to gather an army and take on the Romans by force. For them God was not acting quickly enough and needed some help. In between these two extreme groups were the Pharisees, they believed that God would act, only when his Law was followed perfectly. Therefore, they were stringent followers of the religious Law.
It is into this melting pot of ideas about the restoration that Jesus began to preach. He was clearly lined up with the Prophets of the Old Testament, and did not agree with any of the groups that had formed. The Jews of Jesus day misinterpreted Jesus message about the Kingdom of God, they had turned it into the Kingdom of Israel. According to Jesus, though, the restoration was not a national redemption, but a spiritual one to happen in people’s hearts. Jesus’ main message was a Jewish one, he preached that the Kingdom of God was at hand, it is exactly what all the Jews wanted to hear. Yet they believed it meant that the Romans would be conquered and Israel would be glorified. Jesus, however, proclaimed that the Kingdom of God could be entered into in the here and the know, even though they were still living under Roman occupation. What he did was separate out the new age of peace, from the national interests of the Jews.
Everything Jesus did from his teachings and prayers to his miracles all revolved around the message of the kingdom of God. The philosophy of Kingdom of God being the fulfillment of the covenant has gotten lost under a pile of theological ideas. And so, therefore, the new covenant has never come to fruition in the hearts of Christians. Jesus’ main purpose was to lead humanity to the new covenant, to a time when everyone shall know God in spirit. In the Gospel of John Jesus said, “the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23 NLT)
Jesus’ kingdom was intimately linked to the new covenant that Jeremiah spoke of. According to Jesus and Jeremiah religion was no longer to be about dutifully following the Law, because the spirit will naturally take people were the moral part of the law was originally pointing us. This is also what St. Paul explained as well. He converted the old symbols of the covenant to give them new meaning when he said, “true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by God’s spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not people” (Rom. 2:29) This clearly explains Jesus’ message. Once we are bumped up from the ego-centric, mind level to the higher spiritual level of the spirit we gain a better understanding of God. This includes seeing God as Jesus did, as intimately connected to people. The spirit closes the gap between humans and God. She reaches into our very heart and spiritually binds us to God. This link can never be broken. Once a person has reached this level they never return to a more primitive understanding of the divine. God is trying to explain this to us, even in the Old Testament Isaiah proclaimed for God “Look! I am creating new heavens and new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.” Yet this is exactly what people are doing today. They are trying to fit an old way of looking at things into a new earth. It doesn’t work! It can’t because God has created a new earth. In others words, God is trying to bring everyone up to the spiritual level. This is the message of the bible. A message of the fulfillment of the covenant, with the Kingdom of God on earth. A message of hope, peace and a loving God always working to bring people closer to him until they understand that there is no real separation between themselves and God.
Unfortunately, some Christian denominations actually have ideas and philosophies that run counter to God’s peace, his kingdom, his fulfillment of the covenant. They pick and chose a few select verses and build a religion of fear and ignorance around them. The religious leaders of these sects have realized that it is not peace, and entry into God’s Kingdom, but fear that motivates people. By placing fear of God into people’s hearts, these Christian leaders can control people and keep them on the right path, theirs. The main reason people try to stay on this path is to stay clear of hell. In other words these leaders feed on our fearfulness of God’s wrath. This is a sad tragedy because the main enemy of the kingdom of God is not Satan as many believe, but fear. Our human fears are killing us and the kingdom of God. Fear has the power to weaken both our body and soul, and causes us to make irrational decisions based on selfishness. It is exactly this that is causing most of the problems in the world today. Destroy fear, and God’s kingdom will grow.
God’s vengeful side is clearly a part of the bible. Many Christians falsely believe that the God of the Old Testament is a wrathful God, and that Jesus came from heaven to show a loving Father. It is, however, in the new Testament, that Jesus himself solidifies the concept of hell. There seems to be two conflicting messages in the gospels. The first one is to “love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you… Then your reward from heaven will be very great and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.”(Luke 6:27-36 NLT)) Here we are given the ultimate loving picture of God, and are called to imitate this loving God. In the Gospel of Matthew, however, Jesus, appears as a hypocrite, for he yelled at the Pharisees, “Snakes! Sons of Vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell.” (Matt. 24:33 NLT) This is clearly not a loving attitude, calling people names and putting the fear of hell in them. What are we to think of Jesus, preaching one thing and doing another. It’s like the old adage one might have heard growing up “do what I say, not what I do,” which we all know in reality does not work. This paradoxical message shows its face again and again throughout all four gospels. As children we are taught that Jesus preached about a compassionate Father in heaven. We are told that we are to follow Jesus example. Yet, Jesus own actions are not always loving, nor are all of his teachings. Time and time again, he teaches that if you do not accept the kingdom, then the only other option is hell. This philosophy actually ruins the kingdom message. Ones inner heart can only hate what it fears. So our spiritual natures cannot move closer to a scary God of fire and flames. A person’s true spiritual self is not truly aligned with the kingdom if that person is only in it to stay out of hell. True membership in God’s kingdom only comes about by being connected with God’s spirit and this can only happen through love, not fear.
If Jesus preached a message of hell, then he killed his own kingdom. This seems highly unlikely. More likely the message of judgment and the words of hate on Jesus lips are from the gospel writers who wrote 70 to 100 years after Jesus death. They had good intentions of trying to convince people that it was imperative to choose the kingdom of God. But, this message does not line up with Jesus’ original message of a loving God, who calls for people to be loving as well. One last thing to consider in this discussion, if God includes wrathfulness then does that not give us permission to be vengeful as God is. If God can punish to the extreme and throw people to the eternal agony of hell, then the torture that people do to each other seems almost insignificant in comparison. How we view God, also determines how we perceive humanity. If we can imagine a hateful God, then hatefulness will always be part of us as well. Joining in God’s kingdom is making a conscious effort to try alleviate hate from our lives.
God is all-powerful, that fact can make God very frightening to fragile humans. God understands this and in some cases in the Bible one gets the impression that God is trying to alleviate our fears. When God sent angels to Mary, John’s father Zechariah, the shepherds, and to the woman at the tomb each time the angel greeted them with “fear not.” When Simon first met Jesus, he fell on his knees professing his sinfulness. Jesus replied “Fear not! From henceforth thou shalt catch men.”(Luke 5:10 KJV) And Jesus also preached in general, “Fear not, little flock: for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32 KJV) In these cases Jesus does not teach us about a fearful, wrathful God, but rather to love and trust God. We are expected to put our entire lives in the hands of God. Jesus himself led a life that was above fear. Even in the face of death he did not detour from God’s plan. His philosophy can be summed up by St. Paul’s question, “If God be for us, who can ever be against us?” (Rom 8:31 NLT) This denies the existence of some “other” to be afraid of. Jesus didn’t even see the Roman soldiers as his enemy, but rather people who were in need of mercy. He showed love even for these soldiers when he said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing. (Luke 23:34 NLT)
Fear is based on the unknown. We don’t truly know God, so we fear God. In the society around us the same is also true. People who seem different or odd are feared as well. This is the cause of much prejudice and hatred. It comes from the old group mentality that everyone in my group is friend, anyone else who I don’t know is foe. There is a dangerous current paradigm about God within Christianity that is linked to that old, archaic idea. This is the idea of polar opposites, setting up one thing in opposition to another. According to these Christians, one is either good or bad, in heaven or hell. A person must value soul over body, the masculine over the feminine, heaven over earth and their religion over all others. This is as far away from the kingdom of God and peace as one can get. In setting up one thing as better than another the lines are drawn for battle. Now the soul must fight the body, a Christian must fight against an ungodly world, men against woman, and Christians against all other religions. Peace is only going to be found by erasing these boundary lines and incorporating all things into God’s plan.
The ultimate fulfillment of the covenant, the peace that God is driving us towards is found in spirit. We are bound to God’s spirit, and his spirit is everywhere. From the book of Psalm we learn that:
I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from you presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
If I go down to the grave, you are there.
If I ride the wings of morning,
If I dwell by the farthest oceans,
Even there you hand will guide me,
And your strength will support me.
I could ask the darkness to hide me
And the light around me to become night—
But even in darkness I cannot hid from you
To you the night shines as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are the same to you. (Psalm 139:7-12)
Within God there is no “other,” which means there is nothing to fear. In fact, God can be found in the integration of seemingly opposites things. The body and soul are one, masculine and feminine qualities can appear in both sexes, heaven can come down to earth, people can contain both good and evil qualities, and all religions hold some truths and some falsities. Peace means finding harmony in opposite things. For if people could see a part of themselves in the “other” then their anger will subside and be replaced with compassion. In that case, compromise and agreements could be made, rather than war and threats.
I believe this teaching of polar opposites is incorrect and needs to be abandoned if there is to be growth toward God’s kingdom and ultimate peace for the world. I foresee a wonderful future for the world, as I believe Jesus did with his vision of the Kingdom of God, one where all nations live in harmony, and people make it top priority to make sure that everyone has their basic needs met. I see a future where there is respect for males and females alike. It will be a world where different races and religions are treated with equal respect. This may just be a fantasy, but I believe it is the world God is moving us toward slowly each day. For as St. Paul said “There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. (gal 3:28 NLT) This is exactly what the kingdom of God will look like. Today we need a spiritual boost to propel us forward and closer to God’s kingdom. I believe that first step is to eliminate the philosophy of opposites. There are six important opposite pairs within the Christian understanding of God that must be harmonized if our world is to become a more peaceful one. These include:
1. masculine vs. feminine
2. God vs. devil
3. Christianity vs. other religions
4. soul vs. body
5. Nature vs. transcendence
The following chapters will consider each one of these dichotomies in detail and how they can be corrected.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
A Road to Peace - Chapter 1
It is with great diffidence that I place my work in this blog, for I am not a learned scholar of religion, but a humble seeker for truth. I place my hope for the future on truth. I am not arrogant enough to think that I have found the truth, but perhaps finding the truth is not necessarily the prize, but the transformation that happens during the seeking. Much of what I have to offer here is controversial to what some currently believe, and I do not expect everyone to jump on a new bandwagon. My only hope is that my writing may help move the world in the direction of peace. That is the reason I wrote my first non-fiction book, A Pluralistic Portrait of God, (available on Amazon.com) and it is the same thing that drove me to begin writing a second book. I have decided not to try and publish this one, but instead to parcel it out chapter by chapter in this blog. The book is titled A Road to Peace – a Christian perspective, and it deals with the issue of how I think Christianity can become a beacon of hope for a better, less violent future. What follows is the first half of chapter 1.
CHAPTER 1 – KINGDOM OF GOD
The road to peace is going to be paved by taking a fresh look at God especially within our Christian faith. It is all too easy to point the finger at other religions, institutions, and societies proclaiming that if they stop their bad behavior then everything in the world would be fixed. It is much more difficult to look inward and discover our own obstacles to peace. The first barrier is simply the great chasm of time between the human Jesus and our modern day which has caused Christians to drift from the original message of Jesus. Where to do we turn as Christians to rectify this problem? The bible of course.
Unfortunately, some Christians venerate the book instead of God. We have put God into a nice little box and tied him up with a bow, and called it the bible. This has ironically led to many Christians becoming similar to the self-righteous Pharisees that Jesus preached against. They have turned the bible into the Law, the standard by which to judge and condemn sinners. The bible has been used throughout history as a weapon to persecute Jews, those considered to be witches, heretics, and scientists. It has been used to justify black slavery, and sexist treatment of women. Historically the bible has been on the wrong side of almost all the major, moral dilemmas that the world has progressed through. In order to advance morally and scientifically people have had to fight against the sacred scripture. Today this continues and it is not bringing peace to the world only frustration, anger, and hatred from both sides.
The bible, then, has become a stumbling block for many Christians today. To be a Christian one has to either put on intellectual blinders or perform mental gymnastics to try to fit “The Word of God” into a round hole when clearly it has a square peg. That said, though, it is certainly not a book that Christians can ignore and place on a shelf to collect dust as if it is only an archeological remnant of the historical past. For the bible is the root of Christianity. If the root dies, then the tree dies too, and so it is with Christianity. The root of a tree is the most fundamental part of the whole plant, it is the starting point for the whole rest of the tree, and it is the supplier of water that continues to give life to the plant. The bible similarly feeds Christians spiritually, and is the starting point for their journey toward God. A tree, however, must grow forth from its root in order to produce fruit, and so to with Christianity. Right now it seems like the message of Jesus is stuck in the root, it has not developed into its maximum potential. If Christianity grows to its full maturity we have the power to cure the world of many of its worst problems. With just a root, though, we are powerless. We must use our root properly so that that we can grow into the tree of life for the world.
How exactly is the bible our root? First of all, what the bible isn’t is the exact words of God. This understanding of the bible has led Christians on extended detours away from God. I believe a better view of the bible is to see it as describing the development of Israel’s relationship with God. That relationship may never have been be perfect and in some cases might have been totally wrong. But none of the struggles to come to understand God were edited out, the moments of great connection with God, as well as the tragedies that led the Israelites away from God were all recorded in the bible. It is our job to look critically at the book, and see which trajectories were the correct ones. The important point, though, is that the Israelites never gave up, and constantly worked on their relationship with God. The Old Testament denotes that relationship as the Covenant.
As we read the Old Testament we begin with the creation of the first humans, Adam and Eve. Starting with them and journeying forward through time we learn all about the history of Israelites. This history is not recorded as unbiased facts, rather it is written only because it is relevant to God’s covenant. The actual historical events that happened were important because God played a hand in them. Notice, when God is giving Israel the ten commandments he prefaces them with, “I am the LORD thy god, which brought the out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”(Ex 20:2 KJV) The deliverance from slavery was a unique event in history that proved to the Israelites that God loved them. In short, God is creating history, therefore, history is a pointer God. When we combine these two elements together, that God is the mover of history with the idea of a covenant, then we see that history is the movement toward the ultimate fulfillment of the covenant.
Notice that in the Old Testament there is a gradual shift of morality and closeness to God as time goes on. The time after the flood was better than the terrible times before, the time after the Law was received was seen as a better time than before the Law. The age of the Israel nation was considered better than the period of the judges, when “all people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.”(Judges 21:25) Once the nation fell apart, the Israelites always looked forward to a better time in the future when the Messiah would come and restore them to their former beauty. The notion that with time the world becomes better is certainly a biblical one.
From the beginning of the Old Testament to the end we can trace a slow growth of the covenant. Initially, the covenant was just a promise that God would not flood the earth again. “I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the Bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth” (Gen 9:14-15 KJV) This is the humble beginnings of the covenant, that God would give humanity the earth and not destroy it again with a flood. In this way, the covenant was about the survival of the human race. With Abraham, though, we see a hint of something bigger. God told Abraham that “All families on earth will be blessed through you.” (Gen 12:3 NLT) Here, still at the early stages of the covenant, we have stepped up from just existing, to the hope of having a life blessed by God. This is an amazing transition at such a primitive stage of humanity. Not only does the covenant now include God’s blessings, but it is for all families on the earth. Here, it is certainly obvious that God is speaking through the author of Genesis. The average mode of thinking in biblical times was group mentality. That is you are either part of my group or not, and that determined who was friend and foe. God, though, was already trying to widen the picture to include everyone. Now, Israel sometimes forgot that the covenant was intended for all people. Israel proclaimed war on their enemies thinking that God was also against those people and would help Israel win. This is certainly NOT a God that spiritual people today can believe in. To consider these culturally induced passages as “God’s Words” for all time, is to refuse to let God speak to humanity today. The bible gives us a portrait of the Israelites that includes their incorrect attitudes, but in other verses we see that when the Israelites were ready to move to the next spiritual phase, then God was there beside them pointing them in the right direction.
Human beings are composed of several hierarchical elements which include matter, body, mind and spirit. Each child must start at the bottom and climb up the ladder incorporating each element into the next to get to the highest point of spiritual fulfillment. This same process that every human being undertakes, has also being going on throughout history. At the dawn of humanity, humans were very much like infants, unconsciously embedded in the natural world around them, matter.1 It is right here, then, in the physical world that God meets them with his covenant. The initial sign of the covenant was the rainbow, a natural part of the world that was easily seen. It would appear after it rained to remind people that they were safe from another flood. But God wanted men and women to journey forth from these beginnings to move closer to him. This meant leaving the comfort of infancy and beginning the maturing process. This is what every child does as they begin to venture forth learning to walk, run and play, no longer cradled in the arms of mom or dad. A child begins to understand that they have a body that can be maneuvered within the world. The same transition happened with early humans as they developed language and used their hands to weave baskets and produce spears for hunting. When the Israelites moved to the next level, God in a sense redefined the covenant in a way that they could make more sense of it-- through the body. The covenant moved from the physical world, the rainbow, to a person’s body, circumcision. “This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.”(Gen 17:10 KJV)
Each new level is still dependent on the previous elements. A person must still live within the world of matter, even though they have found their unique body within it. And a person still contains their body even as they move to the next phase of realizing that they have a mind. With the emergence of the mind humans could make laws and build societies. That is exactly what Israel did. God knew that the Israelites were ready for the next stage in the covenant, and so he delivered his divine laws to them through Moses. We must understand that these laws were given to them in a specific time period and that God gave them laws that made sense to them. We have since matured and moved further up the ladder in our journey to God, and so now some of those laws are certainly old and outdated. In a society were sacrifice was common, God gave the Israelites rules on how to perform sacrifices. In a society that took slavery as a natural part of life, God gave them laws to keep slavery under control. God understood that their consciousness was not yet raised to the point where slavery could be outlawed, they would have never understood or accepted such laws. To take the old, divine law meant for that period and try to incorporate it into today’s society does not make any sense. In any case, the giving of the law was a major step toward the ultimate fulfillment of the covenant. So the sign of the covenant changed from body, circumcision, to the mind, and laws. The Lord gave these instruction to Moses “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.” (Ex 31:13 KJV) Following the Sabbath was now the new sign of God’s covenant with Israel.
As the Israelites matured in their understanding of God, the covenant continued to change. The relationship between God and his people was never a static thing, as we have seen it began at the level of matter, and then was transformed into a bodily covenant based on circumcision. Next it was raised up to the level of the mind and laws. The Israelites lived at this level of the covenant for many years, during that time the foundation rested on the Law that they believed was a revelation from God given to them through Moses. They tried to keep God’s Laws at the center of the nation. The bulk of these rules consisted of regulations for sacrifices and festivals. The Laws concerning morality have survived to our current time, known today as the 10 commandments. Israel eventually got to a point where the covenant, guided by Laws, needed to be expanded to the next level. Sometimes it takes a great catastrophe to change from one’s natural ways of doing things. At this point in the history of Israel, aggressive nations to the north were standing poised and ready to conquer them. It was during this great era of stress and tribulation that the prophets raged against the current system. They ranted and raved against the normal way of doing things, that is offering sacrifice. The priests, on the other hand, were stringently on the side of the Law and sacrifices. The message of the prophets, however, was that sacrificing was not going to save the people from impending doom, only a conversion of the heart would cause God to save them. The prophets knew that sacrificing was an integral part of Israel’s original covenant, they were well versed in the scriptures that came before them. Yet, they still proclaimed that God was speaking something new now. Isaiah and Jeremiah are two of the more popular prophets that people recognize today. There were, though, more prophets such as Hosea, Joel, and Micah. Another named Amos proclaimed that God said:
I hate all your show and pretense
The hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.
I will not accept you burn offerings and grain offerings.
I will not even notice all your choice peace offerings.
Away with your noisy hymns of praise!
I will not listen to the music of your harps
Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, and endless river of
righteous living.
(Amos 5:21-24)
The prophets were people who had a new vision for what the covenant with God was suppose to be about. They realized it was not about rituals, feast days, and sacrifices. They had the audacity to proclaim that the scripture that went before was actually wrong, and had now been overwritten by something new. Jeremiah told Israel, (in the original words of the Jewish Tanakh)
For when I freed your fathers from the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burn offerings or sacrifice. But this is what I commanded them. Do my bidding, that I may be your God and you may be My people; walk only in the way that I enjoy upon you, that it may go well with you. Yet they did not listen or give ear; they followed their own counsels, the willfulness of their evil hearts. They have gone backward, not forward.(Jer 7:22-24)
This idea of rewriting scripture has been toned down in our bibles today. According to The New Living Translation Bible this passage reads slightly differently.
When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices that I wanted from them. This is what I told them... Jer 7:22-24)
Jeremiah’s original message boldly proclaimed that God never commanded sacrifice, even though the book of Leviticus clearly stated that God did demand those things. The prophets wanted to eliminate this old, outdated way of dealing with God, so they tried to erase what came before, to overwrite it with a new idea. They ached for a new and better Israel. They had great hopes that Israel would survive the threat from the surrounding nations and come to live according to a new covenant of the heart. This new way of understanding God was to make the old non-existent. This great vision was best explained by Jeremiah.
This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neigbour, and every man his brother, saying, know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer 31:33-34 NLT)
This realization of God is at the top of the spiritual ladder, it is at the very heart of what it means to be human. According to the prophets the covenant was to be confirmed by spirit. Yet, spirit is invisible, and that makes it hard for people to make the leap from mind to spirit. So the Israelites had a hard time accepting the words of the prophets. Many of the great prophets died defending their understanding of the covenant.
Israel was defeated by her enemies. In 586 B.C Babylon conquered Israel, most of the Israelites were deported. It is at this point, crushed and defeated that the Israelites looked back at what the prophets had said and realized that something may have been wrong with their current system. For one thing, they had lost their temple, it had been destroyed by the Babylonians, so sacrificing was no longer an option. They had to enter into a new understanding of God or their religion would die.
Bibliography
1. Ken Wilber. Up From Eden. Wheaton, Illinois: Quest Books Theosophical Publishing House, 1996. p. 54
CHAPTER 1 – KINGDOM OF GOD
The road to peace is going to be paved by taking a fresh look at God especially within our Christian faith. It is all too easy to point the finger at other religions, institutions, and societies proclaiming that if they stop their bad behavior then everything in the world would be fixed. It is much more difficult to look inward and discover our own obstacles to peace. The first barrier is simply the great chasm of time between the human Jesus and our modern day which has caused Christians to drift from the original message of Jesus. Where to do we turn as Christians to rectify this problem? The bible of course.
Unfortunately, some Christians venerate the book instead of God. We have put God into a nice little box and tied him up with a bow, and called it the bible. This has ironically led to many Christians becoming similar to the self-righteous Pharisees that Jesus preached against. They have turned the bible into the Law, the standard by which to judge and condemn sinners. The bible has been used throughout history as a weapon to persecute Jews, those considered to be witches, heretics, and scientists. It has been used to justify black slavery, and sexist treatment of women. Historically the bible has been on the wrong side of almost all the major, moral dilemmas that the world has progressed through. In order to advance morally and scientifically people have had to fight against the sacred scripture. Today this continues and it is not bringing peace to the world only frustration, anger, and hatred from both sides.
The bible, then, has become a stumbling block for many Christians today. To be a Christian one has to either put on intellectual blinders or perform mental gymnastics to try to fit “The Word of God” into a round hole when clearly it has a square peg. That said, though, it is certainly not a book that Christians can ignore and place on a shelf to collect dust as if it is only an archeological remnant of the historical past. For the bible is the root of Christianity. If the root dies, then the tree dies too, and so it is with Christianity. The root of a tree is the most fundamental part of the whole plant, it is the starting point for the whole rest of the tree, and it is the supplier of water that continues to give life to the plant. The bible similarly feeds Christians spiritually, and is the starting point for their journey toward God. A tree, however, must grow forth from its root in order to produce fruit, and so to with Christianity. Right now it seems like the message of Jesus is stuck in the root, it has not developed into its maximum potential. If Christianity grows to its full maturity we have the power to cure the world of many of its worst problems. With just a root, though, we are powerless. We must use our root properly so that that we can grow into the tree of life for the world.
How exactly is the bible our root? First of all, what the bible isn’t is the exact words of God. This understanding of the bible has led Christians on extended detours away from God. I believe a better view of the bible is to see it as describing the development of Israel’s relationship with God. That relationship may never have been be perfect and in some cases might have been totally wrong. But none of the struggles to come to understand God were edited out, the moments of great connection with God, as well as the tragedies that led the Israelites away from God were all recorded in the bible. It is our job to look critically at the book, and see which trajectories were the correct ones. The important point, though, is that the Israelites never gave up, and constantly worked on their relationship with God. The Old Testament denotes that relationship as the Covenant.
As we read the Old Testament we begin with the creation of the first humans, Adam and Eve. Starting with them and journeying forward through time we learn all about the history of Israelites. This history is not recorded as unbiased facts, rather it is written only because it is relevant to God’s covenant. The actual historical events that happened were important because God played a hand in them. Notice, when God is giving Israel the ten commandments he prefaces them with, “I am the LORD thy god, which brought the out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”(Ex 20:2 KJV) The deliverance from slavery was a unique event in history that proved to the Israelites that God loved them. In short, God is creating history, therefore, history is a pointer God. When we combine these two elements together, that God is the mover of history with the idea of a covenant, then we see that history is the movement toward the ultimate fulfillment of the covenant.
Notice that in the Old Testament there is a gradual shift of morality and closeness to God as time goes on. The time after the flood was better than the terrible times before, the time after the Law was received was seen as a better time than before the Law. The age of the Israel nation was considered better than the period of the judges, when “all people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.”(Judges 21:25) Once the nation fell apart, the Israelites always looked forward to a better time in the future when the Messiah would come and restore them to their former beauty. The notion that with time the world becomes better is certainly a biblical one.
From the beginning of the Old Testament to the end we can trace a slow growth of the covenant. Initially, the covenant was just a promise that God would not flood the earth again. “I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the Bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth” (Gen 9:14-15 KJV) This is the humble beginnings of the covenant, that God would give humanity the earth and not destroy it again with a flood. In this way, the covenant was about the survival of the human race. With Abraham, though, we see a hint of something bigger. God told Abraham that “All families on earth will be blessed through you.” (Gen 12:3 NLT) Here, still at the early stages of the covenant, we have stepped up from just existing, to the hope of having a life blessed by God. This is an amazing transition at such a primitive stage of humanity. Not only does the covenant now include God’s blessings, but it is for all families on the earth. Here, it is certainly obvious that God is speaking through the author of Genesis. The average mode of thinking in biblical times was group mentality. That is you are either part of my group or not, and that determined who was friend and foe. God, though, was already trying to widen the picture to include everyone. Now, Israel sometimes forgot that the covenant was intended for all people. Israel proclaimed war on their enemies thinking that God was also against those people and would help Israel win. This is certainly NOT a God that spiritual people today can believe in. To consider these culturally induced passages as “God’s Words” for all time, is to refuse to let God speak to humanity today. The bible gives us a portrait of the Israelites that includes their incorrect attitudes, but in other verses we see that when the Israelites were ready to move to the next spiritual phase, then God was there beside them pointing them in the right direction.
Human beings are composed of several hierarchical elements which include matter, body, mind and spirit. Each child must start at the bottom and climb up the ladder incorporating each element into the next to get to the highest point of spiritual fulfillment. This same process that every human being undertakes, has also being going on throughout history. At the dawn of humanity, humans were very much like infants, unconsciously embedded in the natural world around them, matter.1 It is right here, then, in the physical world that God meets them with his covenant. The initial sign of the covenant was the rainbow, a natural part of the world that was easily seen. It would appear after it rained to remind people that they were safe from another flood. But God wanted men and women to journey forth from these beginnings to move closer to him. This meant leaving the comfort of infancy and beginning the maturing process. This is what every child does as they begin to venture forth learning to walk, run and play, no longer cradled in the arms of mom or dad. A child begins to understand that they have a body that can be maneuvered within the world. The same transition happened with early humans as they developed language and used their hands to weave baskets and produce spears for hunting. When the Israelites moved to the next level, God in a sense redefined the covenant in a way that they could make more sense of it-- through the body. The covenant moved from the physical world, the rainbow, to a person’s body, circumcision. “This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.”(Gen 17:10 KJV)
Each new level is still dependent on the previous elements. A person must still live within the world of matter, even though they have found their unique body within it. And a person still contains their body even as they move to the next phase of realizing that they have a mind. With the emergence of the mind humans could make laws and build societies. That is exactly what Israel did. God knew that the Israelites were ready for the next stage in the covenant, and so he delivered his divine laws to them through Moses. We must understand that these laws were given to them in a specific time period and that God gave them laws that made sense to them. We have since matured and moved further up the ladder in our journey to God, and so now some of those laws are certainly old and outdated. In a society were sacrifice was common, God gave the Israelites rules on how to perform sacrifices. In a society that took slavery as a natural part of life, God gave them laws to keep slavery under control. God understood that their consciousness was not yet raised to the point where slavery could be outlawed, they would have never understood or accepted such laws. To take the old, divine law meant for that period and try to incorporate it into today’s society does not make any sense. In any case, the giving of the law was a major step toward the ultimate fulfillment of the covenant. So the sign of the covenant changed from body, circumcision, to the mind, and laws. The Lord gave these instruction to Moses “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.” (Ex 31:13 KJV) Following the Sabbath was now the new sign of God’s covenant with Israel.
As the Israelites matured in their understanding of God, the covenant continued to change. The relationship between God and his people was never a static thing, as we have seen it began at the level of matter, and then was transformed into a bodily covenant based on circumcision. Next it was raised up to the level of the mind and laws. The Israelites lived at this level of the covenant for many years, during that time the foundation rested on the Law that they believed was a revelation from God given to them through Moses. They tried to keep God’s Laws at the center of the nation. The bulk of these rules consisted of regulations for sacrifices and festivals. The Laws concerning morality have survived to our current time, known today as the 10 commandments. Israel eventually got to a point where the covenant, guided by Laws, needed to be expanded to the next level. Sometimes it takes a great catastrophe to change from one’s natural ways of doing things. At this point in the history of Israel, aggressive nations to the north were standing poised and ready to conquer them. It was during this great era of stress and tribulation that the prophets raged against the current system. They ranted and raved against the normal way of doing things, that is offering sacrifice. The priests, on the other hand, were stringently on the side of the Law and sacrifices. The message of the prophets, however, was that sacrificing was not going to save the people from impending doom, only a conversion of the heart would cause God to save them. The prophets knew that sacrificing was an integral part of Israel’s original covenant, they were well versed in the scriptures that came before them. Yet, they still proclaimed that God was speaking something new now. Isaiah and Jeremiah are two of the more popular prophets that people recognize today. There were, though, more prophets such as Hosea, Joel, and Micah. Another named Amos proclaimed that God said:
I hate all your show and pretense
The hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.
I will not accept you burn offerings and grain offerings.
I will not even notice all your choice peace offerings.
Away with your noisy hymns of praise!
I will not listen to the music of your harps
Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, and endless river of
righteous living.
(Amos 5:21-24)
The prophets were people who had a new vision for what the covenant with God was suppose to be about. They realized it was not about rituals, feast days, and sacrifices. They had the audacity to proclaim that the scripture that went before was actually wrong, and had now been overwritten by something new. Jeremiah told Israel, (in the original words of the Jewish Tanakh)
For when I freed your fathers from the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burn offerings or sacrifice. But this is what I commanded them. Do my bidding, that I may be your God and you may be My people; walk only in the way that I enjoy upon you, that it may go well with you. Yet they did not listen or give ear; they followed their own counsels, the willfulness of their evil hearts. They have gone backward, not forward.(Jer 7:22-24)
This idea of rewriting scripture has been toned down in our bibles today. According to The New Living Translation Bible this passage reads slightly differently.
When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices that I wanted from them. This is what I told them... Jer 7:22-24)
Jeremiah’s original message boldly proclaimed that God never commanded sacrifice, even though the book of Leviticus clearly stated that God did demand those things. The prophets wanted to eliminate this old, outdated way of dealing with God, so they tried to erase what came before, to overwrite it with a new idea. They ached for a new and better Israel. They had great hopes that Israel would survive the threat from the surrounding nations and come to live according to a new covenant of the heart. This new way of understanding God was to make the old non-existent. This great vision was best explained by Jeremiah.
This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neigbour, and every man his brother, saying, know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer 31:33-34 NLT)
This realization of God is at the top of the spiritual ladder, it is at the very heart of what it means to be human. According to the prophets the covenant was to be confirmed by spirit. Yet, spirit is invisible, and that makes it hard for people to make the leap from mind to spirit. So the Israelites had a hard time accepting the words of the prophets. Many of the great prophets died defending their understanding of the covenant.
Israel was defeated by her enemies. In 586 B.C Babylon conquered Israel, most of the Israelites were deported. It is at this point, crushed and defeated that the Israelites looked back at what the prophets had said and realized that something may have been wrong with their current system. For one thing, they had lost their temple, it had been destroyed by the Babylonians, so sacrificing was no longer an option. They had to enter into a new understanding of God or their religion would die.
Bibliography
1. Ken Wilber. Up From Eden. Wheaton, Illinois: Quest Books Theosophical Publishing House, 1996. p. 54
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