1998-11-30 05:01:00
I will make several comments about Gabrielle's comments on my comments.
The main thing I am trying to get across here is that perfection is an illusion. What perfection is, is different for each person. To the Jews who crucified Jesus, he was one of the most imperfect beings who everlived. To the born again Christian he is completely flawless.
The interesting thing is that the early Apostles realized this and NO WHERE in all the Bible do they call Jesus perfect.(AKRIBELA) In fact they do not even call God perfect.
Gabrielle's quotes John 17:23 "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."
Again we have a mistranslation that is used by all the current advocates of the orthodox view of Jesus.
The word perfect here is again translated from the Greek TELEIOO which means "complete," "completion of a job" or "Finished."
Thus the correct translation n is: "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made COMPLETE (or Whole) in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."
The word equivalent to the modern word perfect is AKRIBELA and if you check your Bible Concordance you will not find this word ever used in connection with God or Jesus.
The early teachers understood the Hebrew and were familiar with the Revelation of Moses and the wise knew that Jehovah, Jesus, Peter, you and me are all in a state of becoming and that if a being could become perfect then his purpose for existence would cease.
Here are some interesting questions to ask someone who believes in perfection:
IS GOD PERFECT
QUESTION: Is God perfect?
ANSWER: Yes.
QUESTION: Then you believe that God does not make mistakes?
ANSWER: Yes. He doesn't make mistakes.
QUESTION: Did God create you?
ANSWER: Yes.
QUESTION: Are you perfect?
ANSWER: No.
QUESTION: But if God created imperfect beings such as ourselves then God would have to be imperfect, wouldn't he?
ANSWER: No,. God is perfect and created us perfect, but He has given us our freewill and, using this freewill, we make imperfections.
QUESTION: But who created your freewill?
ANSWER: God.
QUESTION: So we come back to the same conclusion. God created you in an imperfect state. How can you believe that God is perfect?
ANSWER: You are twisting things. (This is the answer a person gives when he doesn't want to face truth or admit that he has been wrong.)
QUESTION: Did God create the earth, the minerals, plants and animals?
ANSWER: Yes.
QUESTION: I notice that animals are also not perfect. Some get sick, others are dangerous and bite people. Did God make them imperfect?
ANSWER: I'm not sure.
QUESTION: How about plants and minerals? Very few crystals are nearly perfect and many plants are misshapen and off color. If God is perfect and He created everything, then why is everything not perfect?
ANSWER: It's because of man's original sin that all this imperfection came into the world.
QUESTION: But, apparently imperfection was already in the world, for the imperfect serpent was here when man arrived. Was man responsible for the creation of the imperfect serpent?
ANSWER: No.
QUESTION: So than one must conclude that man is not responsible for all the imperfection in the world. Is this right?
ANSWER: I guess.
QUESTION: So who is responsible for imperfect creations?
ANSWER: The Devil. God makes things perfect, but man and the Devil corrupt them.
QUESTION: So when were you created perfect by God?
ANSWER: When I was born.
QUESTION: Are you saying then that all babies are perfect when they are born?
ANSWER: Well, I know that some are born without limbs and with defects. I must have been perfect when I was conceived.
QUESTION: But you were not created when you were conceived, and we know that nature aborts many conceptions, so even they are not perfect. If God is perfect and you are created at birth by Him, then why are not all babies perfect?
ANSWER: You are twisting things.
QUESTION: Do you really believe that God is perfect or is that just what you have been programmed to think?
ANSWER: You've got me confused. What's your answer?
The answer: perfection in the world of form is an illusion and is in the mind of the beholder. The closest we come to it is called "relative perfection."
Gabrielle also quotes the first few verses of John. These verses are very much misunderstood by the religious world.
The Bible says yes. It tells us that there is a hierarchy in all things, even the Gods: "If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgement and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth (many scholars think that this refers to Jehovah) AND THERE BE HIGHER THAN THEY." Eccl 5:8
The Duay version renders it this way: "If thou see the oppressions of the poor, and violent judgements, and justice perverted, in the province, wonder not at this matter: for he that is high hath another higher, and there are others still higher than these."
The Bible does tell about a God who created all the heavens who must be a lot higher than the God of the earth. It also tells us that he made the worlds through the power of the Son of God. (Hebrews 1:1-3) It makes it sound as if it was Jesus the man from Nazareth who created the trillions of worlds out there and is perhaps the one God that is over all things.
This belief is further reinforced because Jesus is identified as the Word in the first chapter of John by the Christian world: "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word WAS GOD. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men." John 1:1-4.
This sounds confusing. God is identified with men, the God of this earth, the creator of all the heavens, and now as the man Jesus who created all things. What really did create all things? A more correct translation will help here. The Concordant Version does the best job in rendering the original Greek in John 1:1-4: "In the beginning was the word, and the word was toward God, and God was the word. This is in the beginning toward God. All came into being through IT (not Him), and apart from IT not even one thing came into being which has come into being. In IT was life, and the life was the light of men."
There is a major revelation here in this more correct translation. The word is an "it" and not a "he". The original translators of the King James wanted to glorify Jesus to the position of the creator of all the heavens so they changed "it" to "he". Some of the modern translations give an honest rendering but most show their bias by keeping the "he".
The original word "it" is very significant. This indicates that "it" is an energy (words are vibration and vibration is energy) and not a single person. The same with the Son of God. It is not just the man Jesus but all who reach the Christ consciousness can be Sons of God. Jesus was a representative on this earth (not the originator) for the power of the Word of God, or the Son energy.
There is a hierarchy of beings of a diverse magnitude of consciousness who are tuned into the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost energies. There are billions of entities in each category throughout the universe and even though Jesus is the greatest teacher of humanity many others on other worlds are greater than he.
After a thousand years of relative peace he who occupies the position of Christ will leave this system and become a student on another one. Thus "the first shall be last and the last first."
Jesus himself is an individual entity like you and me, but the Christ principle is a point of interplay between Spirit and matter that our consciousness must attune to discover the mysteries of God.
Copyright 1998 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved