The Kingdom of God
Do you think most people understand what Jesus was saying when he spoke of the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven? I am pretty sure that many don't. I suspect from my conversations, particularly with conservative or fundamentalist Christians, that the Kingdom is seen as a realm far away in space or another time dimension that will come to Earth and become a literal kingdom ruled by Jesus; at which time our planet will literally become Heaven once Earth is cleansed of all the sinners eliminated during Armageddon. God will judge the "quick" (old way of saying alive) and the dead and only those who are worthy and practice the approved form of Christianity will live in this kingdom forever. If you ask a fundamentalist Christian of one denomination if a Christian of another sect would be allowed entry into the Kingdom, you would find a wide variety of answers. Most would agree that Roman Catholics would not be citizens of the Kingdom even though they literally invented Christianity as we know it. Seems to me that this attitude is a bit like telling the author that he cannot read his own book!
So a resident of the Kingdom of God or Heaven (Jesus used these terms interchangeably) would not only have to be a fine person of upstanding character but even that would avail this person of nothing if he were a Buddhist, Muslim, Taoist, Confucianist, Religious Scientist, Hindu, Pagan, Catholic, Orthodox Christian, Anglican, Latter Day Saint or any number of other unacceptable religions or sects. Why this Kingdom is more exclusive than Skull and Bones at Yale University or the Los Angeles Country Club! It seems clear that this view of the Kingdom of God does not have a belief in being inclusive or in Oneness with all Creation.
This, in my view, is where Christianity has departed from the central message of the Christ. The Old Testament Jews, who ploughed the ground from which Christianity sprouted, envisioned a tribal Jewish God of reward and much punishment who had chosen the Jews from all the people of the Earth to serve him as his acolytes and priests. In return, God had given His people the Mosaic Law for His people to live by and would reward only them for strict adherence to this law. No gentiles need apply in the world of the Old Testament. The Old Covenant was between only God and the Jewish people and was based on retributive justice...an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth.
The entire message of the Christ was that the Old Covenant was now obsolete, that God has written a new one to encompass all the peoples of the Earth. The New Covenant is based on Divine Justice, that what you sow, so shall you reap. There is no external punishment or reward. We receive back just what we put out. We were to rise above the temptation of retribution and literally "turn the other cheek". Love was to be the motive force of the Universe and the lodestone of man's consciousness; no longer the Mosaic Law that demanded adherence to hundreds of rules and regulations.
In light of the New Covenant, Jesus distilled the 10 Commandments to only 2. If you obey these 2 commandments, the others are covered. The truth is that the Kingdom of God, as Jesus plainly told the disciples, is within each and every one of us. It is not up there, or over there or someday. It is right here right now, waiting for you to walk into the front gate and pick up your passport, if you live these commandments and if you believe.
Love God with all your heart and all your mind. (Be one with the infinite Mind of God, know that God and you are one.)
Love your neighbor (fellow human - all of them!) as you love YOURSELF.
I wrote "yourself" large because that is the command from God that so many forget. It is just as important to love yourself as it is to love your neighbor. Why, is it so important? We are to love ourselves with humility, understanding what we are loving is what God has created and it is magnificent! We did not create this magnificence, God did. The key to self love is to remember where the power is and who provides it. True humility is not the "weak worm in the dust" but rather the proud creation of the Most High God, who gives thanks each minute of life for the manifold blessings he or she has received as their birthright.
There are two good reasons to love ourselves. First, God made us and God does not make junk. How dare we not love something created in the vast Mind of God? Our essence is what God fashioned, to hate ourselves is to hate God. True, our mind, our words, our choices may have made God's masterpiece into something that resembles a velvet painting of Elvis Presley, but the answer is not to loathe what God has made but to remind ourselves who we really are. Scrape off the barnacles of your ego-based thinking; our beliefs in the false gods of illness, poverty, war, fear,, resentment and hatred. In the same fashion as Brasso restores that brass plate from green ugliness to bright, shiny beauty, so the opening of our hearts to love, to joy, to perfect substance, supply and to God will make us new again. "be you transformed by the renewing of your mind".
A great truth is that those who do not love themselves can never really love anyone else or love God. Like the mother on an airplane, when decompression occurs the mask goes on Mom's face first. If she is not all right, how can she save her child? If we do not take care of ourselves and love ourselves, how can we properly care and love those in our lives and give to our brothers and sisters who are sent to our door?
The Kingdom of God belongs to all of God's creations. Their citizenship papers were stamped by the hand of God himself when He first thought them into being. Their passport is irrevocable for they are Divine creations, expressions of the Most High God with the Indwelling God within. The Baptist across the street, the Catholic on the corner, the Muslim one street over, the Buddhist on the next block, the Hindu you meet at the market, the Religious Scientist that you meet when you walk into my front door or any one of a million or so other homes; we are all citizens of the Kingdom of God.
We are all thoughts in the Mind of God and beloved of God just because we are here! If you love God, if you love the teachings of the Master or any of the many great souls sent to bring the Light of God to humankind, then practice love for yourself, for God and for all you meet. Love must become the center of your world and the compass by which you steer your life. No matter how you celebrate God, may your faith give you peace, comfort and strength and may you be well, prosperous and happy!
And So It Is!
Reverend Dore' Jacques Patlian
So a resident of the Kingdom of God or Heaven (Jesus used these terms interchangeably) would not only have to be a fine person of upstanding character but even that would avail this person of nothing if he were a Buddhist, Muslim, Taoist, Confucianist, Religious Scientist, Hindu, Pagan, Catholic, Orthodox Christian, Anglican, Latter Day Saint or any number of other unacceptable religions or sects. Why this Kingdom is more exclusive than Skull and Bones at Yale University or the Los Angeles Country Club! It seems clear that this view of the Kingdom of God does not have a belief in being inclusive or in Oneness with all Creation.
This, in my view, is where Christianity has departed from the central message of the Christ. The Old Testament Jews, who ploughed the ground from which Christianity sprouted, envisioned a tribal Jewish God of reward and much punishment who had chosen the Jews from all the people of the Earth to serve him as his acolytes and priests. In return, God had given His people the Mosaic Law for His people to live by and would reward only them for strict adherence to this law. No gentiles need apply in the world of the Old Testament. The Old Covenant was between only God and the Jewish people and was based on retributive justice...an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth.
The entire message of the Christ was that the Old Covenant was now obsolete, that God has written a new one to encompass all the peoples of the Earth. The New Covenant is based on Divine Justice, that what you sow, so shall you reap. There is no external punishment or reward. We receive back just what we put out. We were to rise above the temptation of retribution and literally "turn the other cheek". Love was to be the motive force of the Universe and the lodestone of man's consciousness; no longer the Mosaic Law that demanded adherence to hundreds of rules and regulations.
In light of the New Covenant, Jesus distilled the 10 Commandments to only 2. If you obey these 2 commandments, the others are covered. The truth is that the Kingdom of God, as Jesus plainly told the disciples, is within each and every one of us. It is not up there, or over there or someday. It is right here right now, waiting for you to walk into the front gate and pick up your passport, if you live these commandments and if you believe.
Love God with all your heart and all your mind. (Be one with the infinite Mind of God, know that God and you are one.)
Love your neighbor (fellow human - all of them!) as you love YOURSELF.
I wrote "yourself" large because that is the command from God that so many forget. It is just as important to love yourself as it is to love your neighbor. Why, is it so important? We are to love ourselves with humility, understanding what we are loving is what God has created and it is magnificent! We did not create this magnificence, God did. The key to self love is to remember where the power is and who provides it. True humility is not the "weak worm in the dust" but rather the proud creation of the Most High God, who gives thanks each minute of life for the manifold blessings he or she has received as their birthright.
There are two good reasons to love ourselves. First, God made us and God does not make junk. How dare we not love something created in the vast Mind of God? Our essence is what God fashioned, to hate ourselves is to hate God. True, our mind, our words, our choices may have made God's masterpiece into something that resembles a velvet painting of Elvis Presley, but the answer is not to loathe what God has made but to remind ourselves who we really are. Scrape off the barnacles of your ego-based thinking; our beliefs in the false gods of illness, poverty, war, fear,, resentment and hatred. In the same fashion as Brasso restores that brass plate from green ugliness to bright, shiny beauty, so the opening of our hearts to love, to joy, to perfect substance, supply and to God will make us new again. "be you transformed by the renewing of your mind".
A great truth is that those who do not love themselves can never really love anyone else or love God. Like the mother on an airplane, when decompression occurs the mask goes on Mom's face first. If she is not all right, how can she save her child? If we do not take care of ourselves and love ourselves, how can we properly care and love those in our lives and give to our brothers and sisters who are sent to our door?
The Kingdom of God belongs to all of God's creations. Their citizenship papers were stamped by the hand of God himself when He first thought them into being. Their passport is irrevocable for they are Divine creations, expressions of the Most High God with the Indwelling God within. The Baptist across the street, the Catholic on the corner, the Muslim one street over, the Buddhist on the next block, the Hindu you meet at the market, the Religious Scientist that you meet when you walk into my front door or any one of a million or so other homes; we are all citizens of the Kingdom of God.
We are all thoughts in the Mind of God and beloved of God just because we are here! If you love God, if you love the teachings of the Master or any of the many great souls sent to bring the Light of God to humankind, then practice love for yourself, for God and for all you meet. Love must become the center of your world and the compass by which you steer your life. No matter how you celebrate God, may your faith give you peace, comfort and strength and may you be well, prosperous and happy!
And So It Is!
Reverend Dore' Jacques Patlian
posted by Rev. Dore' Jacques Patlian at
7:13 PM
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