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Sabinatu wrote: …a chance to develop peace…Some further thoughts on peace.
Jesus gives peace to his fellow doers of the will of God but not on the order of the joys and satisfactions of this material world. Unbelieving materialists and fatalists can hope to enjoy only two kinds of peace and soul comfort: Either they must be stoics, with steadfast resolution determined to face the inevitable and to endure the worst; or they must be optimists, ever indulging that hope which springs eternal in the human breast, vainly longing for a peace which never really comes. [Paper181:1.7, page 1954:4]
The peace which Michael gives us is the same as he called upon when he lived here as a mortal—the satisfaction of a God-knowing individual.
A certain amount of both stoicism and optimism are serviceable in living a life on earth, but neither has aught to do with that superb peace which the Son of God bestows upon his brethren in the flesh. The peace which Michael gives his children on earth is that very peace which filled his own soul when he himself lived the mortal life in the flesh and on this very world. The peace of Jesus is the joy and satisfaction of a God-knowing individual who has achieved the triumph of learning fully how to do the will of God while living the mortal life in the flesh. The peace of Jesus’ mind was founded on an absolute human faith in the actuality of the divine Father’s wise and sympathetic overcare. Jesus had trouble on earth, he has even been falsely called the “man of sorrows,” but in and through all of these experiences he enjoyed the comfort of that confidence which ever empowered him to proceed with his life purpose in the full assurance that he was achieving the Father’s will. [Paper181:1.8, page 1954:5]
Peace is of good cheer and fearless because it is sustained by the Father’s wise and sympathetic overcare.
Jesus was determined, persistent, and thoroughly devoted to the accomplishment of his mission, but he was not an unfeeling and calloused stoic; he ever sought for the cheerful aspects of his life experiences, but he was not a blind and self-deceived optimist. The Master knew all that was to befall him, and he was unafraid. After he had bestowed this peace upon each of his followers, he could consistently say, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” [Paper181:1.9, page 1954:6]
“….Jesus was determined, persistent, and thoroughly devoted to the accomplishment of his mission….”
Oh, I am peaceful in my soul that”thy will be done” will be done. No problem with that kind of inner peace.
However, I would like to give other people the opportunity of SECULAR peace. And that WILL not be done unless the stool of “religious authority” is kicked out from under war mongerers, of all people.
Sounds like you lost the wind in your sails, Vern. Back to jingoism – the psychological manipulation of christians….
Trust me, you will find a different Jesus when you realize the CONTEXT
Still working with the info about religion as a MIND endowment – the revelation part of FER – found in Papers 99 -103 – maybe this will bring “peace” to those timid souls, or at least let them know to stay out of the “psychological” way of peacekeepers on a warpath
What do they call those timid souls – “passive-aggressive?” They sure seem to be able to whip themselves out of their torpor rather quickly when it comes to fighting their battles of UNreality….”all mouth” is the slang we used to use until the “LISTS” become “absolute”.Page 1117 – “Now rather, are the sons of God enlisted together in fighting the battle of reality’s triumph over the partial shadows of existence. At last all creatures become conscious of the fact that God and all the divine hosts of a well-nigh limitless universe are on their side in the supernal struggle to attain eternity of life and divinity of status. Such faith-liberated sons have certainly enlisted in the struggles of time on the side of supreme forces and divine personalities of eternity; even the stars in their courses are now doing battle for them; at last they gaze upon the universe from within, from God’s viewpoint, and all is transformed from the uncertainties of material isolation to the sureties of eternal spiritual progression. Even time itself becomes but the shadow of eternity cast by Paradise realities upon the moving panoply of space.”
some explanation for the “kingdom is within you”…however, just because you finally see God’s viewpoint a little, does not mean you are God – hehe
Sabinatu wrote: …faith-liberated sons have certainly enlisted in the struggles of time on the side of supreme forces and divine personalities of eternity; even the stars in their courses are now doing battle for them…Sabinatu wrote: …gaze upon the universe from within, from God’s viewpoint…Sabinatu wrote: …explanation for the “kingdom is within you”Hi Sab, indeed a process of shifting the seat of identity from the material to the spiritual.Human beings possess identity only in the material sense. Such qualities of the self are expressed by the material mind as it functions in the energy system of the intellect. When it is said that man has identity, it is recognized that he is in possession of a mind circuit which has been placed in subordination to the acts and choosing of the will of the human personality. But this is a material and purely temporary manifestation, just as the human embryo is a transient parasitic stage of human life. Human beings, from a cosmic perspective, are born, live, and die in a relative instant of time; they are not enduring. But mortal personality, through its own choosing, possesses the power of transferring its seat of identity from the passing material-intellect system to the higher morontia-soul system which, in association with the Thought Adjuster, is created as a new vehicle for personality manifestation. [Paper112:5.4, page 1232:5]
Choice—man’s greatest opportunity and his supreme cosmic responsibility
And it is this very power of choice, the universe insignia of freewill creaturehood, that constitutes man’s greatest opportunity and his supreme cosmic responsibility. Upon the integrity of the human volition depends the eternal destiny of the future finaliter; upon the sincerity of the mortal free will the divine Adjuster depends for eternal personality; upon the faithfulness of mortal choice the Universal Father depends for the realization of a new ascending son; upon the steadfastness and wisdom of decision-actions the Supreme Being depends for the actuality of experiential evolution. [Paper112:5.5, page 1233:1]
Judas, on realization of what he had done could not live with himself
From a distance Judas saw them raise the cross piece with Jesus nailed thereon, and upon sight of this he rushed back to the temple and, forcing his way past the doorkeeper, found himself standing in the presence of the Sanhedrin, which was still in session. The betrayer was well-nigh breathless and highly distraught, but he managed to stammer out these words: “I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood. You have insulted me. You have offered me as a reward for my service, money — the price of a slave. I repent that I have done this; here is your money. I want to escape the guilt of this deed.” [Paper186:1.4, page 1998:2]
When the rulers of the Jews heard Judas, they scoffed at him. One of them sitting near where Judas stood, motioned that he should leave the hall and said: “Your Master has already been put to death by the Romans, and as for your guilt, what is that to us? See you to that — and begone!” [Paper186:1.5, page 1998:3]
Humiliated, Judas threw the thirty pieces of silver on the temple floor as in devastated realization, he left to personally face the consequences of his betrayal of Jesus.
As Judas left the Sanhedrin chamber, he removed the thirty pieces of silver from the bag and threw them broadcast over the temple floor. When the betrayer left the temple, he was almost beside himself. Judas was now passing through the experience of the realization of the true nature of sin. All the glamor, fascination, and intoxication of wrongdoing had vanished. Now the evildoer stood alone and face to face with the judgment verdict of his disillusioned and disappointed soul. Sin was bewitching and adventurous in the committing, but now must the harvest of the naked and unromantic facts be faced. [Paper186:1.6, page 1998:4]
His despair was desperate and well-nigh absolute, in such a forsaken state of mind his only means of dealing with such hopelessness, was suicide.
This onetime ambassador of the kingdom of heaven on earth now walked through the streets of Jerusalem, forsaken and alone. His despair was desperate and well-nigh absolute. On he journeyed through the city and outside the walls, on down into the terrible solitude of the valley of Hinnom, where he climbed up the steep rocks and, taking the girdle of his cloak, fastened one end to a small tree, tied the other about his neck, and cast himself over the precipice. Ere he was dead, the knot which his nervous hands had tied gave way, and the betrayer’s body was dashed to pieces as it fell on the jagged rocks below. [Paper186:1.7, page 1998:5]
The Master intentionally delayed his appearance to the apostles because he wanted them to reflect on what he had already told them regarding his death and subsequent resurrection
Matthew was highly confused; he listened to the discussions of his fellows but spent most of the time turning over in his mind the problem of their future finances. Regardless of Jesus’ supposed resurrection, Judas was gone, David had unceremoniously turned the funds over to him, and they were without an authoritative leader. Before Matthew got around to giving serious consideration to their arguments about the resurrection, he had already seen the Master face to face. [Paper191:0.10, page 2038:5]
The childlike trust of the Alpheus twins was evident when they said their mother had already talked with Jesus, they believe her.
The Alpheus twins took little part in these serious discussions; they were fairly busy with their customary ministrations. One of them expressed the attitude of both when he said, in reply to a question asked by Philip: “We do not understand about the resurrection, but our mother says she talked with the Master, and we believe her.” [Paper191:0.11, page 2038:6]
Thomas was conflicted, he wanted to be with his fellow apostles but wanted them to initiate contact as he was too proud and stubborn to admit to himself his need to be with them to pull him out of his depressed state of mind. Jesus wanted Thomas to be with the apostles before he would appear to them.
Thomas was in the midst of one of his typical spells of despairing depression. He slept a portion of the day and walked over the hills the rest of the time. He felt the urge to rejoin his fellow apostles, but the desire to be by himself was the stronger. [Paper191:0.12, page 2038:7]
Reasons Jesus put off the first morontia appearance to the apostles:
- he wanted them to have time, after they heard of his resurrection, to think well over what he had told them about his death and resurrection when he was still with them in the flesh.
- wanted Peter to wrestle through with some of his peculiar difficulties.
- he desired that Thomas should be with them.
The Master put off the first morontia appearance to the apostles for a number of reasons. First, he wanted them to have time, after they heard of his resurrection, to think well over what he had told them about his death and resurrection when he was still with them in the flesh. The Master wanted Peter to wrestle through with some of his peculiar difficulties before he manifested himself to them all. In the second place, he desired that Thomas should be with them at the time of his first appearance. John Mark located Thomas at the home of Simon in Bethpage early this Sunday morning, bringing word to that effect to the apostles about eleven o’clock. Any time during this day Thomas would have gone back to them if Nathaniel or any two of the other apostles had gone for him. He really wanted to return, but having left as he did the evening before, he was too proud to go back of his own accord so soon. By the next day he was so depressed that it required almost a week for him to make up his mind to return. The apostles waited for him, and he waited for his brethren to seek him out and ask him to come back to them. Thomas thus remained away from his associates until the next Saturday evening, when, after darkness had come on, Peter and John went over to Bethpage and brought him back with them. And this is also the reason why they did not go at once to Galilee after Jesus first appeared to them; they would not go without Thomas. [Paper191:0.13, page 2038:8]
Christianity is now struggling for its very existence
Christianity exhibits a history of having originated out of the unintended transformation of the religion of Jesus into a religion about Jesus. It further presents the history of having experienced Hellenization, paganization, secularization, institutionalization, intellectual deterioration, spiritual decadence, moral hibernation, threatened extinction, later rejuvenation, fragmentation, and more recent relative rehabilitation. Such a pedigree is indicative of inherent vitality and the possession of vast recuperative resources. And this same Christianity is now present in the civilized world of Occidental peoples and stands face to face with a struggle for existence which is even more ominous than those eventful crises which have characterized its past battles for dominance. [Paper 195:4.4, page 2075:2]
The predominance of scientific minds and materialistic tendencies in society is a challenge to religionists…….a gigantic struggle between the secular and the spiritual, which the religion of Jesus will win.
Religion is now confronted by the challenge of a new age of scientific minds and materialistic tendencies. In this gigantic struggle between the secular and the spiritual, the religion of Jesus will eventually triumph. [Paper 195:4.5, page 2075:3]
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