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Bonita wrote: Jesus had taught the twelve that the parable should be concerned with only one central truth . . . .Here is the link to the sower 151:1:2 where some seed fell by the waysideAnd here is the link to the sower 151:4:1 where his enemy came in the night and sowed weeds with his wheat.This was Jesus’ explanation of why he presented parables.151:1:4“And this we will do so that those who really desire to enter the kingdom may discern the meaning of the teaching and thus find salvation, while those who listen only to ensnare us may be the more confounded in that they will see without seeing and will hear without hearing. My children, do you not perceive the law of the spirit which decrees that to him who has shall be given so that he shall have an abundance; but from him who has not shall be taken away even that which he has. Therefore will I henceforth speak to the people much in parables to the end that our friends and those who desire to know the truth may find that which they seek, while our enemies and those who love not the truth may hear without understanding. Many of these people follow not in the way of the truth.”Is the principle truth in the sower parable about: the act is ours, the consequences God’s?
I do believe that is a core teaching Mara. One I’ve struggled with over the years….to “fix” and to “solve” and to “manage” the outcomes of my fixes and solutions is such a temptation. To know outcomes reduces uncertainty I think and so it is normal enough to try to predetermine and manage the outcomes WE desire or think best according to our own knowledge and power to effect.
But I think the “effect” of human will/choice “cause” is indeed in God’s hands and in those hands created for such. We are in control of our intentions and our sincerity and our responses to all that happens and in all relationships and so we provide cause but the results or effects we cannot predict nor control. This is where the trust comes in that Jesus so sublimely displayed….no matter the cause, the ultimate and reality effect is in good hands, and not mortal ones. We are to sow good seed and let the Lord worry about where it falls and what happens with it. We are in charge of our own seed sowing and we are not in charge of the ground or rain or sun or the crop that comes by our sincere sowing…we are servants and ambassadors only of Him who is in complete control of everything else. We need to have confidence in God and his will and way to make all things right….as the Master demonstrated to his universe while among us here.
Speaking of cause and effect, to sow good seed is to be responsive to the spirit – the sincerity of purpose and the grace of the sower is a result of or effect of prior choices made to respond to our highest thoughts and ideals in a search for or a relationship with God within us. Sowing good seed must be thoughtful and purposeful according to our experience and wisdom which is another harvest of good seed previously planted by the one who now sows even better seed. It’s all connected….in cycle and circuitry…..the cause and the effects of cause as can only come over time, by repetition, by improvement, and that by experience…..reality alignment within and without. May one sow good seed accidentally or without good intent?
The Parable of the Sower was Jesus’ first parable and the only one, as far as I can tell, which he explains. He does this after the apostles spend hours dissecting it and turning it into an allegory. Jesus allowed Thomas to sum it up for everyone:
151:2.6 My brethren, I did not wish to prolong this discussion, but if you so desire, I will say that I think this parable was spoken to teach us one great truth. And that is that our teaching of the gospel of the kingdom, no matter how faithfully and efficiently we execute our divine commissions, is going to be attended by varying degrees of success; and that all such differences in results are directly due to conditions inherent in the circumstances of our ministry, conditions over which we have little or no control.
So . . . the sowing of seeds, regardless of how sincere, will meet with varying success due to conditions we have no control over. I think this is what Jesus meant when he said, “Let the Spirit of Truth do his own work.” (178:1.16) I also think that the following quote from Jesus applies to this parable:
155:1.5 Let me emphatically state this eternal truth: If you, by truth co-ordination, learn to exemplify in your lives this beautiful wholeness of righteousness, your fellow men will then seek after you that they may gain what you have so acquired. The measure wherewith truth seekers are drawn to you represents the measure of your truth endowment, your righteousness. The extent to which you have to go with your message to the people is, in a way, the measure of your failure to live the whole or righteous life, the truth-co-ordinated life.
Bradly wrote: May one sow good seed accidentally or without good intent?Is that a rhetorical question? If not, I’d say that intentions are paramount. They must be sincere. They may not always be wise, but they must be sincere. However, sincere seed sowing is not planned out, orchestrated or premeditated. So in a way, it can be considered accidental, sort of as you pass by. I think this is demonstrated by the second half of this parable which is more enigmatic.151:3.15 Before he dismissed the group for the night, Jesus said: “Now will I tell you the last of the parable of the sower. I would test you to know how you will receive this: The kingdom of heaven is also like a man who cast good seed upon the earth; and while he slept by night and went about his business by day, the seed sprang up and grew, and although he knew not how it came about, the plant came to fruit. First there was the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And then when the grain was ripe, he put forth the sickle, and the harvest was finished. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear.”My guess is that the part where he says, ” . . . while he slept by night and went about his business by day,” is at the crux of it all. We know that growth is unconscious; we know that we should let the Spirit of Truth do his own work; we know that the effort is ours but the consequences are God’s; and, we know that we don’t really know how it all comes about. We really don’t know the true effect of our seed sowing as it ripples through the universe. And it doesn’t matter really. If we are living loyally, as in the presence of God at all times, then the seeds of our spiritual fruit will naturally be sown, but it is not our concern what happens afterwards. And if we try to micromanage this process of seed-sowing, it will not end well because it becomes our work instead of God’s work. I always bristle when people tell me they’re doing God’s work. “Oh really,” I think to myself, “better to let God do his own work and you stay out of his way. Go sleep by night and do your business by day and let God grow the fruit the way he wants to grow it.”Bradly wrote: May one sow good seed accidentally or without good intent?Is that a rhetorical question? If not, I’d say that intentions are paramount. They must be sincere. They may not always be wise, but they must be sincere. However, sincere seed sowing is not planned out, orchestrated or premeditated. So in a way, it can be considered accidental, sort of as you pass by.I think sowing good seed can be accidental and even done without favorable intent. A UB example that comes to mind is an anecdote I heard of a fan of Martin Gardner who read his scathing book “Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery”, and found the quotes of the Urantia Book interesting enough despite the context that he found a copy for himself and went on to become a reader. Not sure of the veracity but it’s not hard to imagine having happened.If the seed is good, and the soil is good, then the original intent — positive, negative, or indifferent — that led to the seed ending up in the soil seems to have little to do with the growth that naturally results.
Good point tas. But Martin Gardner’s intent was sincere. Unwise maybe, but sincere nevertheless. It’s just proof that God does do his own work. He can make lemonade out of lemons if he wants.
Good point tas. But Martin Gardner’s intent was sincere. Unwise maybe, but sincere nevertheless. It’s just proof that God does do his own work. He make lemonade out of lemons if he wants.
But we can know nothing of intent or wisdom of another.
The part Jesus added to the Parable of the Sower, the one where the sower slept by night and went about his business by day, was also a parable belonging to “the kingdom of heaven is like . . . ” group. The next day Jesus added another kingdom of heaven parable using the sower:
151:4.1 The next day Jesus again taught the people from the boat, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while he slept, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and hastened away. And so when the young blades sprang up and later were about to bring forth fruit, there appeared also the weeds. Then the servants of this householder came and said to him: ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Whence then come these weeds?’ And he replied to his servants, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants then asked their master, ‘Would you have us go out and pluck up these weeds?’ But he answered them and said: ‘No, lest while you are gathering them up, you uproot the wheat also. Rather let them both grow together until the time of the harvest, when I will say to the reapers, Gather up first the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn and then gather up the wheat to be stored in my barn.’”
So truth seekers have enemies then? Gees, who would have thunk it? Those living within the kingdom of heaven have to put up with evil doers who sow the weeds of untruth. Yet the Master says that those evil weeds must continue to exist along side the good wheat until the harvest lest the good ones get damaged. Is there punishment for the evil weed sower himself, or only his deeds? We’re not told in this parable, but we know that, “within every sin is concealed the seed of its own destruction.” (53:9.8)
So truth seekers have enemies then? Gees, who would have thunk it? Those living within the kingdom of heaven have to put up with evil doers who sow the weeds of untruth.
The problem is that who can discern the wheat form the weeds without judgement? Jesus said,’who an I to judge?”.
Who are you that you can judge? LOVE your enemies. Put up with you brother, but more, love your brother.
Till the harvest comes, there can be no judgement.
So truth seekers have enemies then? Gees, who would have thunk it? Those living within the kingdom of heaven have to put up with evil doers who sow the weeds of untruth. Yet the Master says that those evil weeds must continue to exist along side the good wheat until the harvest lest the good ones get damaged. Is there punishment for the evil weed sower himself, or only his deeds? We’re not told in this parable, but we know that, “within every sin is concealed the seed of its own destruction.” (53:9.8)
Isn’t the lack of peace and the state of anxiety enough punishment? There is no “balance sheet” of justice as in the Book of Judgment taught me in my youth. The punishment of evil and of sin both lie within the mind and the vicissitudes suffered by a lack of faith and love response just as the rewards for faith and love are similar in how the mind is thusly affected by these free will choices (both the punishment and the reward are but the responses experienced and the further effects of either choice upon future choices – there is no need for judge and jury to verify those results that are intrinsic and inevitable to both sets of choices made). So, yes there is “punishment” but it is not administered upon us by any third party or even God I do not think – all beings suffer to the degree they are not aligned with universe reality and spirit gravity….and that alignment is always up to the choice of every free will being in time and space.
And I know we are taught that all is recorded for our further education to come but God does not punish evil or the evil doer for evil does not exist in spirit-reality – its consequences are for education of self to assist in the shifting of the seat of identity – and such consequences are relentless and persist until better choices are made…..at least until so many consciously bad choices twist the self into reality irrelevance that we cannot perceive the better way any longer I think.
(1674.5) 149:5.3 “Much of man’s sorrow is born of the disappointment of his ambitions and the wounding of his pride. Although men owe a duty to themselves to make the best of their lives on earth, having thus sincerely exerted themselves, they should cheerfully accept their lot and exercise ingenuity in making the most of that which has fallen to their hands. All too many of man’s troubles take origin in the fear soil of his own natural heart. ‘The wicked flee when no man pursues.’ ‘The wicked are like the troubled sea, for it cannot rest, but its waters cast up mire and dirt; there is no peace, says God, for the wicked.’
The lack of peace is designed to be the motivation FOR peace…..and not truly punishment I don’t think. God has no interest in punishments but for the voluntary pursuit of TB&G resulting in sublime joy. This is a self modulating and correcting process – the more aligned we are the better everything is and becomes and vice versa. We must pay attention to our outcomes and how those make us feel and thereby make better choices and align our behaviors with reality…and when the fruit comes, we may know it is by those better choices that they do so.
(1674.6) 149:5.4 “Seek not, then, for false peace and transient joy but rather for the assurance of faith and the sureties of divine sonship which yield composure, contentment, and supreme joy in the spirit.”
(1176.5) 107:0.5 It is the Adjuster who creates within man that unquenchable yearning and incessant longing to be like God, to attain Paradise, and there before the actual person of Deity to worship the infinite source of the divine gift.
I have wondered if this yearning diminishes over time by our refusal to respond to it? We are told in the parables that the kingdom is like the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price which seems to say it must be our heart’s desire, its greatest desire of all. What if it’s not? Is one who does not hear and respond to the whisper in their mortal life really to be an agondontor if they survive but did not yearn and seek and find prior to the rehabilitation and training worlds? Finaliter status is for all who eventually fuse but I wonder about the finaliter agondontor corps?
both the punishment and the reward are but the responses experienced and the further effects of either choice upon future choices – there is no need for judge and jury to verify those results that are intrinsic and inevitable to both sets of choices made).
Does this apply to Gabriel vs Lucifer?
So, yes there is “punishment” but it is not administered upon us by any third party or even God I do not think –
Who do you think plugs in the juice on the electric chair when a being is annihilated? Is there an assisted suicide? Does the condemned slash their own wrists?
And I know we are taught that all is recorded for our further education to come but God does not punish evil or the evil doer for evil does not exist in spirit-reality
If evil does not exists then why does paper 54 exist?
Bradly wrote: Isn’t the lack of peace and the state of anxiety enough punishment? . . . The punishment of evil and of sin both lie within the mind and the vicissitudes suffered by a lack of faith and love response . . . .The only way an evil mind can punish itself is if it has a conscience, a sense of guilt, a certain amount of remorse or contrition. The conscience is the forum where moral contests are debated within the mind; the place where the lower nature is at odds with its higher nature; the arena where the perplexities of the moral nature are worked out; the place where the seeds of decisions concerning spirit dominance begin to germinate. If this struggle never takes place, there is no conflict, and the mind is at peace with itself.We have been told that individuals living entirely on the level of the lower nature and those living entirely on the level of the spiritual nature experience no such conflict or confusion. Only those who concern themselves with matters of right and wrong suffer from these things.159:3.7 Forewarn all believers regarding the fringe of conflict which must be traversed by all who pass from the life as it is lived in the flesh to the higher life as it is lived in the spirit. To those who live quite wholly within either realm, there is little conflict or confusion, but all are doomed to experience more or less uncertainty during the times of transition between the two levels of living.An evil person who never bothers to take into account the consequences of his/her actions on others, is a person without a conscience, is an antisocial person. An antisocial person is one whose soul is drying up and ceasing to exist. However, the personality continues to exist despite it all, wreaking havoc and chaos on others, all the while in complete psychic comfort. These are the people we are told, that as a society, we must learn to identify and control. Group justice. (51:4.8)
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