Why Did God Create the Universe?

This entry is part 9 of 57 in the series Mysteries

Question Nine

Why Did God Create the Universe?

Again, we must remember that if we want to understand God we must first look at ourselves for we are in his image.  The question to ask then is why do we create?

The answer is quite simple. We create because we enjoy the challenge and when the creation reaches its envisioned end we achieve a degree of satisfaction and happiness. A life without creative endeavors is a pretty boring and unfulfilling one. Sooner or later we all want to do something challenging, useful and constructive. This even applies to God.

So why did God create all there is? The same reason we create. Creating the universe and then occupying it with his life essence was a major challenge.  Guiding the universe toward his desired end is an even bigger one.

He is far from being all powerful to the extent that he can just snap his fingers and make everything work just right.  Like us he finds himself in the middle of a life and has to figure out how to deal with it.

The difference is that his life is on a much vaster scale extending over trillions of worlds and billions of years.

You and I would probably get frustrated over such a tremendous project, but not God. He moves ever onward toward completion and depends in part on the cooperation of you and me for his own progression. That turns out to be a major problem for him because few of us are in alignment with his will.  The fact that God can get anything done when he has to use the tiny lives within his creation to assist him is a miracle in itself.

Other parts of the universe are much more cooperative than humans have been, but God has faith that we will eventually learn our lessons and sense there is a greater plan than our own little lives and cooperate.

Once we collectively realize that we are a part of something greater than ourselves and work for the good of the whole, as well as ourselves, then the progress God seeks to make with his own life will be enhanced.

It is a fallacy to think that God does not need anything, let alone have a need for us. He needs everything within his creation to fulfill his vision, even you and me.

When you think about it, it makes life just a little more meaningful when you realize that God needs us, just as we need him.

Copyright by J J Dewey 2014

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Is Jesus or God Perfect?

This entry is part 8 of 57 in the series Mysteries

Question Eight

Is Jesus or God Perfect?

This is another one of those traditional beliefs, not supported by the Bible, but by tradition, that is bolstered by fear of offending God.  What if you were to teach that God is not perfect in every detail and then after death you are confronted by a being that is perfect and is annoyed at you for the insult? Why, you just might be sent to the nether regions of outer darkness.

On the other hand, it seems safe to teach that God is perfect.  If God is perfect and a strong authoritarian then he is likely to be pleased at your complements. But, if he is not perfect he may still be pleased that you gave him the benefit of the doubt. The idea of promoting the perfection of God seems to be a good insurance policy.

There are several problems with attributing perfection to any being, even God.

(1) Perfection is in the eye of the beholder.

(2) The Bible doesn’t say that God is perfect.

Let us start with the first one. Perfection is in the eye of the beholder just as beauty is.

There are many creations that the majority will admit are beautiful, but none that appeal to all.  There is no work of art, a human being, an animal, a flower or a diamond that all will agree to be the most beautiful of its kind.

The same judgment goes into perfection. What is the perfect work of art, the perfect poem, the perfect crystal, the perfect planet, ruler, king, president, man, woman, etc.?

The Buddhists in the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan thought that their world’s largest, 180 foot tall statue of Buddha, represented beauty and perfection.  In peaceful times people came from all around the world to see it. But the Taliban had a different opinion. To their eyes it was an ugly abomination so they took high explosives and blew to smithereens the great work that had existed there for 1400 years.

This sad account of ignorant action illustrates the point that both beauty and perfection is in the eye of the beholder and not a thing we can earmark for everyone.

Therefore, a person’s view of a perfect God may be much different than his neighbor’s.  My view of a perfect God may be your view of the devil himself.

Now let us move on to the second statement that the Bible doesn’t say that God is perfect.

“That’s blasphemy and untrue,” says the fundamentalist. “Let me give you two statements from the Bible that prove you wrong.

“Here is one about God: ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father in heaven is perfect.’” Matt 5:48

“And here is one about Jesus: ‘And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.’” Heb 5:9

“Obviously, the Bible says both Jesus and God are perfect.”

Not so fast, my friend.  Those words were not written in English, but translated from the Greek.  An examination of the meaning of the Greek words reveals that believers have been relying on a gross mistranslation over the centuries.

There are two words in the Biblical Greek from whence the word “perfect” is translated. The first is AKRIBELA and the second is TELEIOO.

The word AKRIBELA corresponds to the modern usage.  If a person or thing is AKRIBELA then it functions flawlessly with no imperfections. The religious leaders in the days of Jesus placed great emphasis in following the laws of Moses with this type of perfection.  They placed particular attention on the Sabbath Day and condemned Jesus for not being perfect in honoring it. They thought that if one were perfect (AKRIBELA) that he would do no work on the Sabbath Day as was written in the law, but Jesus labored tirelessly on this day healing and teaching. They even criticized him and his apostles for picking some grain to eat on the Sabbath.

In the end they crucified him because they thought he was far from perfect and thus could not be the messiah.

The other word translated as “perfect” is TELEIOO. “Perfect” is a poor translation, not correctly representing the meaning. This, or the adjective form, TELEIOS, does not imply that one has functioned without flaw but that he has finished a job or completed a work. Let us therefore interpret from the Greek and retranslated the above two verses.

Instead of, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father in heaven is perfect.” It should read, “Finish your work to completion even as God does his.”

That makes a lot more sense doesn’t it? After all, who can expect any mortal to be as perfect as the infallible omnipotent, omniscient God that is envisioned by many religions?

Now let us look at the one about Jesus which reads, ‘And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation…”

A much better translation is, “Having finished his work he became the author of eternal salvation…”

Conclusion: It was the enemies of Jesus who placed great emphasis on flawless perfection, whereas Jesus placed emphasis on getting the job done successfully, even if he had to use flawed fishermen to help him.

God brings his works to wonderful and beautiful conclusions, but that which happens as the work progresses may be far from perfect. That which is to be the beautiful butterfly was once a repulsive caterpillar.

Copyright by J J Dewey 2014

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Is God All Powerful?

This entry is part 7 of 57 in the series Mysteries

Question Seven

Is God All Powerful?

The common view among believers is that God is indeed all-powerful. If he wanted to establish a paradise on earth he could will it done in an instant, or if he wanted the entire earth to disappear he could make it vanish in the snap of a finger.

This belief creates a problem for skeptics as they say that if there is a God he must be one mean guy. If he has all power then why does he allow wars and not extend a hand to those suffering and in need, especially innocent little children? Rather than believe in a mean God, they generally believe in no God at all, as a world ruled by chance seems to make more sense to them.

Believers counter that all this suffering is part of some divine plan to allow us free will and teach us lessons but even they have a problem when loved ones have to endure great pain or grief.

It indeed appears that a piece of the puzzle is missing for no explanation so far satisfies the soul.

The missing piece of he puzzle is this.

God is not all-powerful.  There, I’ve said it.  This is a blasphemous statement for some believers but food for thought for others, as it explains a lot.

But, if this statement is true why would so many think otherwise?  Is it because the omnipotence of God is taught in the Bible?

Actually, it is not.  The Bible says that God is powerful, but nowhere does it say he is all-powerful and omnipotent.

So, if this doctrine did not come from the Bible, where did it come from?

The answer is quite simple. Just put yourself in the position of one of those who first formulated this and other doctrines on the attributes of God.

You have a responsibility to teach the people the truth about God and you are not clear on the idea yourself.  You study all the holy writings for answers to your questions. You wonder, is God all-powerful, omniscient, perfect, etc.?  He seems to be but the scriptures do not give many details about such things.

You are now faced with a decision about the presentation of your teachings. “Should I teach that God is all-powerful or merely powerful?”

You think about it a minute and consider the results if you are wrong.  If you diminish God in any way and it turns out that he is all-powerful then he may be offended and punish you.  On the other hand, if you present God as being even greater than he is then he is not likely to be offended. Who’s going to punish anyone for assuming good things about them?

Therefore, you consider that the safe route is to assume the best and the highest possible things about God in all you present.  You tell the people he is indeed all-powerful, omniscient, perfect, etc.

It’s a win win for you.  If you are correct God will be pleased and if you are wrong he will not be offended.

This approach to teaching about God has influenced  most teachers down through time.  After all, it is human nature to take the safe route, and this most of us do pretty consistently.

Let us be brave souls though and discern the true reality, for it is also written somewhere that God hates a coward

If we want to know the power of God we must look at two things.

(1) Ourselves.  As we said earlier we are reflections of God or made “in his image” as the Bible says. Therefore, if we want to understand the power of God we must look to ourselves. It turns out we human beings are capable of doing some powerful things.  We have harnessed atomic energy, built great structures and are generating computing power that will soon equal the human brain itself.

When humans are united the Bible says that “nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” Gen 11:6

So we can accomplish anything we imagine to do but we do not consider ourselves as being all-powerful.

Why?

Because many of our goals take an enormous amount of time. We have desired an efficient form of central heating for thousands of years but only achieved it recently.  We have also desired peace on earth for thousands of years, and have made some progress, but the goal is still far away.  Yet we know in our hearts that it will come one day.

Like us, God can accomplish whatever he sets out to do, but he is not all-powerful to the extent that he can just snap his fingers and make everything work perfectly in an instant.

(2) Reality

The scripture says: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” Psalms 19:1

If indeed the universe, the galaxy, the earth and all things therein are the handywork of God, then that is what we must observe to understand his use of power.

The Hubble telescope has looked back in time about 13 billion years and this has allowed us to see what the early universe looked like just shortly after creation.  What we see are galaxies that do not have the form and beauty as nearby galaxies whose light doesn’t take so long to reach us.

This tells us that, over a very long period of time, billions of years, the universe has been increasing in refinement, perfection and beauty.  In other words, God just didn’t snap his fingers and make perfect creation in an instant. He has an idea of how he wants the universe to end up and he’s been working at perfecting it for over 13 billion years.

The same idea applies to the earth. 4 billion years ago this place looked like a living hell. There were volcanoes spewing hot lava all over, the surface was too hot for water and the atmosphere was poisonous to life. Then over a long period of time this creation has turned into a very beautiful planet.

What does this knowledge tell us about the power of God?  It tells us that the Intelligence we call God is indeed powerful for the creation of the universe was a very powerful thing to do.  On the other hand, this intelligence is not all powerful, for it has taken him a long time to get it right and he’s still working on it.

Conclusion:  the Intelligence we call God is indeed powerful and can accomplish any work he wishes if given enough time.  On the other hand, he is not all powerful in that he cannot instantly make his creations perfect any more than we can.  Just like it takes time and thought for us humans to build a house it takes God time and thought to get his universe completed to his satisfaction.

The Bible tells us that God worked for six periods of time to manifest his creation.  If he had all power he wouldn’t have had to work at it until the work was good, but could have just snapped his fingers and made a perfected universe appear.

To understand that God is powerful, but not all powerful should be encouraging, not discouraging.  Why?  Because it brings us closer to pure truth and the truth always empowers and makes us free.

 

Copyright by J J Dewey 2014

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Does God Know Everything?

This entry is part 6 of 57 in the series Mysteries

Question Six

Does God Know Everything?

If God is omnipresent and his life fills the entire universe that is a large part of the way to seeing God as all-knowing or omniscient. But it doesn’t quite get us there.

Remember that the key to understanding God is to understand ourselves. Since we are in his image we reflect his attributes.

Each of us dwells in a physical body and our life force is present in each part, extending to every cell therein. But are we omniscient concerning our body?  Are we aware of what each of the many trillions of cells are doing?

No. We are not?

Could we be?

We know for certain that if we focus our attention we can be much more aware of the various parts of our body than we are. Meditation techniques teach us how to be aware of our breath, our sensations and various parts of our bodies of which we are usually oblivious. If we are ill we can tune into our bodies and attain an awareness of what needs done to make it well. Some yogis maintain that there is an entire universe within our bodies and with correct training we can become aware of the cells and even atoms within it.

Is the One Life whose body is the universe aware of everything happening on the trillions of worlds within?

In this respect God is a lot like us. He has his goals and dreams and is moving his creations forward to an end that will eventually be satisfying.  He focuses on this and this focus moves trillions of lives, suns and galaxies forward toward his purpose. Just as we do our work without dwelling on individual cells, even so does God labor without dwelling on the tiny lives within the universe. He’s looking at a much bigger picture.

BUT… Within our body are smaller concentrations of intelligent life.  We have our various organs which function with a high degree of intelligence as well as the tiny cells which have a life of their own. The way your body works to keep it healthy is this: The whole consciousness, which is you, takes care of the big picture and sees to it the body as a whole gets what it needs.  Then the smaller lives take care of the lesser details and maintain a support system that is not perfect, but manages to keep the body functioning well most of the time.

Even so, God takes care of the big picture and his overall consciousness is focused on that, but within the body of his universe are many smaller lives including you and me who are linked to the life of God. As an extension of his consciousness we are individually aware of many things which God is not.  But another way of looking at it is this. We are an extension of the consciousness of God.  This means that if we are aware of something then God is aware of it.

If it becomes necessary the greater lives in the universe, including the one Great Life, which is God can focus and tune into any part of the body which is desired.

So… as humans our surface consciousness is only aware of a few things going on in our bodies, but the overall life has unlimited knowledge of what is happening down to the tiniest cell and extended intelligence seems to take care of everything so the body functions well.

Even so, while God is taking care of the big picture the smaller lives within his body are an accumulation of intelligence that makes the whole of the life of God pretty much all knowing. But each individual life within the body of God, including God himself, doesn’t pay much attention to the tiny details, but leaves them for the lesser lives to handle.

We’ll talk more about these lesser lives later on.

Copyright by J J Dewey 2014

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Is God Everywhere?

This entry is part 5 of 57 in the series Mysteries

Question Five

Is God Everywhere?

Believers have often told us that God is everywhere. Even Jesus told us that God was aware when the tiny sparrow falls to the ground.

On the other hand, many believers talk about God as if he were an exalted human sitting on a throne as described in the Bible. Here are excerpts from the Book of Revelation:

“…a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne …  And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals…. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne…. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away…. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face.”

This idea of God in human form sitting on a throne ruling all things on one hand, and an invisible spirit which is everywhere on the other, is confusing to many and turns them away from believing in a Creator. Orthodox ideas of God seem contradictory to unbelievers and not conform to logic.

So what is the truth of this matter then?

Jesus gave a hint at the truth when he said this:

“And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.” Matt 23:22

So, what is it that composes the throne of God?

It is “heaven,” or, in other words, the universe itself. And where is God? It is written he is sitting on this throne of heaven or the universe.  Now get this. The word “sitting” comes from the Greek KATHEMAI, which can sometimes be translated as sitting but usually conveys the idea of occupying an abode, to dwell or to live in.

Consider this modern translation of the word from Matthew 4:16

“The people living (KATHEMAI) in darkness have seen a great light; on those living (KATHEMAI) in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” New International Version.

Obviously, the people were not “sitting” in darkness in the land, but they were dwelling or living there.

Even so, when Jesus told the people that God “KATHEMAI in heaven” they mostly likely interpreted that to mean that God dwells or lives in heaven or the universe of all there is.

Here is the clarifying answer:

We know there is intelligence in matter because humans are intelligent and they live in matter. This intelligence which is you is omnipresent in all the cells of your body. If your big toe hurts you know of it because your life occupies all your body.

Even so, the body of God is the entire universe, and since he lives in the universe as a whole, he is aware of his entire body because it is a part of his being.  This makes God aware of a sparrow falling to the earth because even a tiny bird is a part of the life of God and it is aware of itself.

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How Did the Universe Come To Be?

This entry is part 4 of 57 in the series Mysteries

Question Four

How Did the Universe Come To Be?

Scientists tell us that the universe is expanding.  They have measured the rate of expansion and calculated when the starting point began and what it must have been. These calculations show that the entire universe began about 13.7 billion years ago where everything there is was compressed into an infinitesimally small point, smaller than an atom.  They call this a singularity.

For some unexplainable reason this singularity exploded with unimaginable force, which created atoms and other particles in perfect balance. How that balance occurred they know not. They only know that it happened.

If you think creation by an Intelligent Designer is fantastic consider that this theory has it beat.  Let us pick just one part of the theory, that everything began with a very very small point of compressed matter. To understand how fantastic this is, consider the difficulty in reversing the Big Bang.

First you could take your body and compress it into a particle as big as a grain of sand. Then you could take the 7 billion other people and compress them into 7 billion grains of sand. Then you could take all those pieces of sand, which could create a good portion of a beach and compress all them into a single grain. If you think that is a good trick then look at the work we still have to do.  We have all the people of earth compressed into a grain of sand sitting on planet Earth, which is a pretty huge place.

Now we have to take the entire planet and compress it.  This would take some serious energy expenditure, but let us imagine it could be done. Voila! The earth and humanity are now compressed together into a piece of matter the size of a grain of sand, but the amazing thing is the mass is still there. Lifting that grain of sand would be like Atlas lifting the Earth.

Even though we have now accomplished the impossible we are just getting started. Now we need to compress the planets in our solar system.  We might as well start with Jupiter.  Wow, we are in for some serious compression here for Jupiter is 1330 times the volume of the earth and 318 times as heavy and that’s not counting its many moons.

Let us now compress Jupiter and its moons. Uuugggh.  What a job.  It is now the size of a grain of sand.  Now we move on to Saturn, Neptune and Uranus which are also much larger than Earth.  We do the impossible and compress them.  Finally we move on to Mercury, Venus, Mars, the asteroids, Pluto and the rest of the dwarf planets and compress them.

Now we have that done we tackle the sun, which has more mass than all the planets put together, somewhere around the mass of 1,000,000 Earths. To reduce this to the size of a grain of sand is a real miracle, but somehow we do it.

We still have the other stars to reduce.  Let us start with a big one, the Eta Carinae system.  We have our work cut out for us, for this sun is 250 times the size of our sun and a million times as bright. Imagine, though, we get the job done and it is compressed to the size of a grain of sand.

Hold on, we are just getting started.  There are around 300 billion suns, just in our galaxy and 100 billion known galaxies and who knows how many unknown. Now really strain your imagination and see each of these stars reduced to the size of a grain of sand and gathered together into one place.

What do we have before us?  Amazingly we have more sand than would fit in all the beaches and deserts on the whole of planet Earth. In fact, there would be enough sand for five or more planet Earths.

That is one heck of a lot of sand.

We still have our work cut out for us.  Now we have to take these trillions of grains and compress them to one individual grain. Okay, really stretch your imagination here. There, it is done.  The whole known universe is now reduced to a single grain of sand.

So… have we reproduced the original singularity that Big Bang theory tells us originated the universe?  Not really. Believe it or not, we still have a long way to go. The grain of sand is still much larger than the singularity.

Let’s get to work and compress more, but the mass of the universe is so huge this is getting difficult. Grunt, grunt, there, the grain of sand is reduced to a piece of dust. Is that the right size now?

No. Still a long way to go. The Singularity is smaller than an atom and do you know how many atoms there are in a speck of dust?

About four times as many as there are stars in the entire known universe.

Wow.

So now imagine these trillions of atoms being compressed into the size of one atom.  How far away are we now from the size of the Singularity? Are we are now getting close?

Some say yes, some say no, but most say it was as small or smaller than an atom.

If you think of what we have done so far is fantastic, now consider this.

Take away the factor of some intelligence like us doing the work and imagine that all by itself this tiny Singularity, for some reason that defies explanation and imagination, just explodes and creates the whole universe with you and me in it.

The amazing thing is that scientists are not using their wild imaginations in visualizing this, but say it really happened.

So which is the wilder thought?

(1) The singularity as small as an atom exploded for no understandable reason and created all there is, or,

(2) Some type of Intelligence made it all happen.

Putting it this way doesn’t make Intelligent Design seem too difficult to believe, does it?

Hopefully, this dialog prepares the reader’s mind to consider something new.  Here it is.

Science is correct that the universe began with a Singularity which was an infinitesimally small point, but the point was smaller and much different than any of them supposed.

The point was not one of unbelievable condensed matter, but a point of pure Intelligence.  The matter that created the universe did not yet exist except in the mind of this Intelligence, for the current matter of the universe is not created from anything that is solid, as evidenced from the fact that regardless of how small we go into matter, solid mass cannot be found. All that can be found for sure are wavelengths.

And of what are the wavelengths composed?  If they are not composed of anything solid then what creates them?

Answer:  Thought.

And what originates the thought?

Intelligence.

And where did the Intelligence come from?

The interplay of opposites.

This interplay and Intelligence co-exist and have always been.

Intelligence created matter out of Itself, and thus we have Intelligence within matter all throughout the universe.  This Intelligence moves the evolution of all things forward toward an end unimaginable to us at this time.

“There is no such thing as intelligence in matter,” says the skeptic.

To this we respond: “Are you intelligent?”

He answers, “Yes, of course.”

“Do you exist in matter, of which your body is composed, or are you some phantom?”

He has no intelligent response.

Copyright by J J Dewey 2014

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Where Did God Come From?

This entry is part 3 of 57 in the series Mysteries

Question Three

Who created God, or Where did God come from?

Believe it or not the Bible tells us where God came from.  Here it is:

“God came from Teman.” Hab 3:3

Actually, I was kind of pulling your leg here for this does not tell us the origin of God but the writer was merely saying that the Presence of God was in Teman as it once was in Mount Sinai

It is interesting that this question is often asked by atheists to illustrate the futility of a belief in God, or a Creator. But then believers often forget to ask an important question in return.  Here is a possible dialog that could be used:

Believer: Where did the universe come from?

Atheist: It started with the Big Bang

Believer: And what originated the Big Bang?

Atheist: An infinitesimally small point that contained everything in the universe we call the Singularity.

Believer: And where did this singularity come from?

Atheist: We don’t know. We suppose it’s just always been there.

Believer: So why do you not have a problem with an eternal Singularity, but discount an eternal Intelligence?

Atheist: Scientific calculations tell us everything started with a Singularity.

Believer: And what made the Singularity explode into the Big Bang?  Could that be God, an intelligence with no beginning?

Atheist: I don’t think so.

Believer: Yet you believe in a Singularity that just exploded out of the blue for no reason into a universe that has intelligence (humans) in matter.  Is it logical that an infinitesimal point with no intelligence created matter that has intelligence within it?

Atheist: That’s where logic leads us.

Believer: So something that is not intelligent created intelligence in matter (humans). It seems a stretch here to call the believers in Higher Intelligence the ones who are not logical.

The bottom line here is that it is the greatest mystery of all that anything even exists, whether it be God, man or a single rock. It is just as difficult for an atheist scientist to explain why a rock exists as it is for a believer to explain why God exists.

So, does this mean we have no answer on the subject?

No.  There is always an answer and here it is:

All things created from form have a beginning and end whether it be a galaxy, a sun, a planet, the human body, a cell or an atom. Intelligence, which is the essence of God and man has no form but merely uses form. That which is formless does not exist in time and is therefore eternal with no beginning and end. Thus the formless intelligence of God has no beginning because it does not exist in time.

The entire universe is the physical body of God and it had a beginning and will have an end, but the Intelligence that created it is not subject to time and is eternal.

Understanding this is perhaps the greatest mystery of all, but it is an undeniable fact that creation and intelligence exists. The fact that anything exists is indeed mind-boggling to contemplate and has led mystics past to exclaim, “How great is the mystery of Godliness!”

Copyright by J J Dewey 2014

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Keys Writings 2013, Part 20

This entry is part 22 of 25 in the series 2013

Sept 8, 2013

Recognizing the Good Obama

Maryellen asks:

I have a question with no answer. Let us say that most of us here on Keys agree that Obama is trying to level the US and does not have our best interest at heart and in the end seeks to destroy our country. Now what if Obama was drowning in a lake. Would it be more harmless to save him or not? In the long term, would more people benefit with him alive or with him out of the picture?

JJ

Ruth was right in that Obama has not yet demonstrated himself to be an enemy of Good as was Hitler of whom it was definitely desirable to dispose of. He was elected by the people and we are legally obligated to sustain him even if we do not agree. Besides if something happened to Obama we would hen have Joe Biden as President and that may be an even worse situation.

It is interesting that many presidents have had vice presidents that scare the opposition more than himself. For instance, Bush had Cheney who many Democrats saw as Darth Vader. Sometimes I think they make these picks for the sake of life insurance.

Actually, I have been in a situation, not once but three times, as described by Maryellen. My marriage to my first wife was literally a hell on earth and three times she attempted suicide and three times I saved her. The second two times I was tempted to just do nothing, thinking of how much easier my life would be without her. But then I thought of the possible karma I would accumulate and also the fact that I was told there was a purpose for her being in my life.

Now, on hindsight, I can see I made the right decision. Sometimes the tough times in our lives are where we make the greatest progress.

 

Sept 12, 2013

The Subconscious

There seems to be some confusion over my teachings on the subconscious mind. Do we have consciousness there or not? Ruth quotes this from my previous writings:

“There is no such thing as a subconscious mind. It’s an oxymoron. If you have a subconscious mind it means it’s below the threshold of your consciousness. If it’s below consciousness, then it’s not consciousness. Consciousness is only something that’s conscious. You don’t have a subconscious mind any more than your computer has a subconscious mind. You have computer programs that run yourself and this is what they call the subconscious. If you tell a psychologist that he’ll think you’re crazy but think about the oxymoron here. If something is below your consciousness how can it really be conscious?”

In making this statement I was clearing up the language by indicating that our subconscious mind deserves a more accurate name. If we have no conscious participation in what is going on within it’s sphere then it is not a part of our consciousness.

Here’s the dictionary definition of “consciousness.”

“An alert cognitive state in which you are aware of yourself and your situation.”

Since we as entities are not aware of what is happening in the subconscious then it is not a part of our awaking consciousness. Consciousness is aware of what is happening.

Does this mean there is no consciousness in our brain, our cells and the atoms of our body? No it doesn’t mean that but it does mean that the consciousness of the many tiny lives that live there are separate from your own waking consciousness. There is some type of consciousness everywhere, even in the computer you are using.

However, the programming that resides there happens not because of the work of the tiny lives there, but because a human intelligence created it. The programming and response you get from your computer makes that aspect seem more conscious than the atoms and molecules that compose it, but it is not. A program is not consciousness, but consciousness uses programming.

There is a lot of programming in your brain and you as a conscious entity puts it to use. In addition to this other conscious lives within you also use the programming.

What is called the subconscious is basically programming that is used by consciousness in various degrees.

Ruth wonders if the Jews came from Saturn. Very doubtful. DK tells us that they came from a previous solar system. During the previous solar system neither the earth, Saturn or the Sun even existed. They were not yet created.

The Jews and the earth in general have a strong link to the Lord of Saturn and it is possible that this link goes back to a previous solar system. There is definitely an untold history in this solar system that has yet to be told.

 

Sept 13, 2013

The Computer and the Brain

LWK made some interesting statements about the subconscious and I agree with most of them. I think we can fine tune this one a bit. He says:

Actually a computer has an OS (Operating System) and a BIOS (Basic Input-Output System) that operates below the OS. It is a crude analogy to consciousness and sub-consciousness in humans.

If you compare a computer to a human mind then you have higher levels of programming analogous to the conscious part of the mind and lower level programs extending down to the BIOS. Where the human mind is different from a computer, and where the analogy fails, is that a computer has no free will, no power of decision.

I would say the mind is like a computer in many respects. It has higher level programming which we are sometimes conscious of and this is what we call “awareness.” However we have many programs that operate below that level which we are not directly aware of, but on which our awareness totally depends (just as higher levels of programming in a computer depend on lower levels the details of which the higher level is totally uninformed of).

JJ

The brain and the mind are two different things. The mind interacting with the brain creates conscious awareness as we know it. A computer has no mind or conscious awareness but is like a brain that can be used by one with consciousness.

Larry tells us hat the computer is made of two basic ingredients. The first is BIOS (Basic Input-Output System) and the second the operating system. Perhaps a third with be the RAM memory which they both use.

All three of these are within the physical brain. One thing we can all agree upon is that the brain does indeed store memory which we use. They say that new memories are encoded in the hippocampus and then eventually transferred to the frontal lobes for long-term storage. Perhaps the hippocampus is like the RAM and the frontal lobes correspond to the hard drive storage.

The rest of the brain is comparable to the BIO and would include the processor and any other components. If we studied the makeup of the brain and how it works we could find correspondences to the various ingredients.

The interesting question is where is the operating system? One might think it corresponds to our consciousness, but it is not conscious, but created through a conscious being writing it and piecing it together into a functioning whole.

So where is our operating system that is created through a conscious endeavor?

Larry steered us on the right track with this statement:

“If you read Ayn Rand she talks of emotions largely being the result of conscious programming. In her model our values program our emotions. How we feel about something depends on what we think.”

And what determines the unfolding of the emotional and thinking self?

It is the unfolding of the seven centers, the chakras.

Primitive man, who accesses just a couple centers, operates on system 1. As the pedals begin to unfold he moves to system 1.1. As a new center or major energy opens he moves to system 2 and so on until he obtains an operating system that functions at relative perfection.

So where is the conscious decision maker in the analogy?

It is the end user. After all, the computers we use are merely extensions of the brain. In a way a computer is a second brain that assists the first with abilities the natural brain does not have – like a flawless memory that can be retrieved.

So where does the programmer fit in? This is comparable to the Higher Self, or the soul. This is conscious intelligence that guides us in moving toward a higher operating system that uses more advanced programming.

Analogies are rarely exact but are quite accurate in principle and contemplating them brings much light.

 

Sept 14, 2013

Thought and Intelligence

LWK expressed interest in my views on mind so I thought I would elaborate.

The trouble with the word is that is used loosely in various shades of meaning by many. It’s a little like the word “soul” which is used in the place of a half dozen other more precise words.

The first thing to clarify is that the mind is not the physical brain even though many in our society use mind in reference to it and its calculating features. The mind survives the brain at death and existed before birth.

What then is mind?

To understand we must first realize what we as entities are. In learning the First Key of Knowledge we discovered that our essence is that power which makes decisions and we manifest as decision makers.

This essence which is us inhabits seven planes of existence, of which the physical is the lowest. The next up is the astral/emotional composed of astral matter. Our essence, blended with the higher planes, interplaying with the matter of this plane creates the feeling nature.

The next step up is the mental plane. Our essence, blended with the higher planes, interplaying with the matter of his plane creates what we know as mind.

Our essence uses mental matter as a vehicle to create mind and mind uses the brain and physical matter to create consciousness on the physical plane. Mind and brain are both vehicles used by our true self to explore the various worlds in this great universe.

Our intelligence is not brain or mind but uses them both. Our intelligence has the ability to shine a light on things made available to it by mind, emotion and the brain. It then has the ability to discern, judge and make a decision based on its power of discernment.

No two intelligences are the same but all have different degrees of light available to discern true reality and to judge that reality for the sake of decision making.

Intelligence is manifest in the decisions we make and mind, emotion and brain is a vehicle of intelligence.

The brain works with data, the emotion, feeling and the mind reason and understanding.

The manifestation of intelligence on earth is determined by two things. First, the quality of the initiating intelligence, and, secondly, the quality of the vehicles in use.

Think of it this way. On one hand we have Einstein working with an old Windows 386 and an average guy working with the latest PC. Even though Einstein may have inferior equipment he can still produce some very intelligent effects and work that will surpass the average guy. Even so, you cannot tell a person’s intelligence by the quality of his memory or his college degrees. You have to look at his decisions and what he makes of the talents he possesses.

 

Sept 16, 2013

Maps

Here’s a link Mindy sent me of interesting maps. I had fun browsing through them.

40 Maps That Will Help You Make Sense of the World

Sept 19, 2013

Question

Maryellen asks, What if your wife who tried to commit suicide asked you not to save her? Would you have saved her anyway?

JJ

She didn’t want to be saved at the time but most suicides are in an unnatural state of mind. I would try to save any suicide by any means necessary who still has a good natural lifeline ahead. Now those who are ill and in great pain is another matter and I think should be allowed to make a decision to stay or to go. This would not be an impulse decision as are most suicides.

Sep 20, 2013

Life From Space?

Scientists `Very, Very Confident’ They’ve Found Extraterrestrial Life – See What It Looks Like

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/09/19/scientists-very-very-confident-theyve-found-extraterrestrial-life-see-what-it-looks-like/

 

Oct 2, 2013

The Genes and Destiny

Stephen wants to know if inherited genes or do other factors under our control influence diseases?

The answer is that it is both. In most cases the inherited factors of our body and character are influences rather than anything written in stone.  Weaknesses inherited are often the result of past karma.

Those who see illness as caused by inheritance and cannot be overcome are deceived for that which we inherit are merely influences that push or pull us in certain directions.  Let me illustrate.

Jim is a happy go lucky character who is very even tempered and likeable. Then his wife’s water breaks and he has to take her to the hospital to have the baby. On the way he is met by a very time consuming detour because of construction.  Then a few bocks later there was an accident that held up traffic. Finally he gets behind a little old lady who will not let him pass as his wife tells him she thinks the baby is coming now.

Jim gets frustrated and lets out some choice words.  His wife thinks that this does not sound like the Jim that she knows.

Now a person may be a fairly spiritual entity overall but incarnates into a family that is quite coarse and carnal and also has a propensity toward cancer.

Until this person connects with his soul, even though he is a fairly advanced person, it may seem like he is one of the family because of the influences.  Just as Jim was influenced by temporary forces, even so are we from the forces we inherit.

But just as Jim can choose to remain calm even when the little old lady is in the way even so can we neutralize the forces that we inherit if they are undesirable.

Here is a guy who was born in a family where most of them got cancer but he has been healthy all his life and believes he has a cure

http://drleonardcoldwell.com/only-answer-to-cancer/

Here’s the story of a guy who was diagnosed with a “genetic heart deformity and heart disease. The doctors told him that unless he underwent open-heart surgery, his weak and deformed heart would not be able to pump sufficient blood to an adult body and he would be dead by the age of 20.”

He overcame all this and now is healthy as a horse and makes a living helping others with their health.

http://herbdocblog.com/dr-schulze-biography/

People are mistaken when they think we are controlled by our genes. We are controlled by our decisions.  The power of decision makes us what we are.  We become what we decide to become. Making the definite decision is the hard part for most of us.

 

Oct 13, 2013

Was Jesus A Myth?

An American Biblical scholar, Joseph Atwill, is presenting the idea that Jesus was a purely fictional character invented by the Roman Emperor Titus to trick the Jews into becoming pacifists and turning the other cheek so they could be easier to control.  This is apparently getting a lot of press and an article ca be found on it here:

http://uk.prweb.com/releases/2013/10/prweb11201273.htm

A reviewer at Amazon made some great points on Atwill’s previous book.  Here is a partial quote:

“Furthermore, it is clear that Atwill fails on the point of ancient social psychology. He supposes that Jesus was invented to attract militaristic, messianic Jews; yet the figure of Jesus is precisely what a dedicated Sicarii would least follow. Indeed, Atwill openly contradicts himself, for he claims he cannot see how Judaism could produce such diametric opposites, yet he argues that Christianity was built to make these opposites attract! He supposes, in other words, that Judaism would not produce such a group; but he hypothesizes that Jews then converted to such a group!

Even more problematic for Atwill is what is said by Roman writers whose works he ignores. Tacitus’ comment in Annals 15.44 places the origins of Christianity, and Roman reaction to it, nearly a decade before Titus’ final victory. Atwill says nothing at all about this critical passage; nor does he mention Pliny’s letter to Trajan asking what to do about Christians. Atwill wishes to posit convenient forgetfulness as the cause of the loss of knowledge about Christian origins; and how credible is it that Hadrian and Pliny “forgot” this, or did not know about it? How credible is it that Domitian (himself a Flavian!) persecuted Christianity and forgot that his own relatives had created it in the first place? Why would some of those relatives actually become Christians? Atwill makes no effort to explain how Christianity spread; he offers a bare paragraph on this saying that “wicked priests” introduced the religion to the masses (Jewish?); but then, “The first people to hear the story of Jesus would most likely have been slaves (Gentiles???) whose patrons simply ordered them to attend services. After a while some began to believe, then many.” [258] End of explanation!”

Here is another good article illustrating some of Atwill’s flawed assumptions:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wwjtd/2013/10/joseph-atwill-has-not-proven-that-jesus-was-made-up-by-the-romans/

A good objective book on the subject of Jesus’ existence was written by a non believer named Bart D. Ehrman who decided to check into it through studying the historical record. Even though he doesn’t believe Jesus to be the Messiah he did conclude that the historical record does prove quite conclusively that the gospels were based on a real person.

Here is one quote from his book, “Did Jesus Exist?”

The evidence is abundant and varied. Among the Gospels we have numerous independent accounts that attest to Jesus’ life, at least seven of them from within a hundred years of the traditional date of his death. These accounts did not appear out of thin air, however. They are based on written sources—a good number of them—that date much earlier, plausibly in some cases at least to the 50s of the Common Era. Even these sources were not fabricated purely from the minds of their authors, however. They were based on oral traditions that had been in circulation year after year among the followers of Jesus. These oral traditions were transmitted in various areas—mainly urban areas, we might surmise—throughout the Roman Empire; some of them, however, can be located in Jesus’s homeland, Palestine, where they originally circulated in Aramaic. It appears that some, probably many, of them go back to the 305 CE. We are not, then, dealing merely with Gospels that were produced fifty or sixty years after Jesus’s alleged death as the principal witnesses to his existence. We are talking about a large number of sources, dispersed over a remarkably broad geographical expanse, many of them dating to the years immediately after Jesus’s alleged life, some of them from Palestine itself. On the basis of this evidence alone, it is hard to understand how Jesus could have been “invented.” Invented by whom? Where? When? How then could there be so many independent strands of evidence? Page 171

Perhaps the greatest evidence for the existence of Jesus is something overlooked by all the scholars and that is his actual words quoted in the New Testament. It is difficult to believe that some scheming fraudulent Romans could have written the greatest spiritual teachings and words of all time, quoted more than any other on the planet for spiritual edification. Roman philosophers and historians did write many words but all of them together are not quoted as much as a paragraph from the Jesus of the New Testament. His words are Eternal Words that will not pass away.  The words of the Romans are just words.

 

Oct 14, 2013

Hands of God

Nathan wrote:

Nathan:

If I were to get a serious illness and had to get surgery, who do I place my faith in and thank when it’s all done? The surgeon or God?

JJ

Both. We are in the image of God and as such are extensions of the Deity. The surgeon thus represents the arms and hands of God doing his work.

Larry

…in a Near Death Experience book I ran across a guy who toured Shamballa but who was not given it’s name. He described a great room that held two crystals coming up out from the floor. He was told that advanced souls with permission and training could place hands on those crystals “see” and influence anyone or anything on Earth. So this NDE account dovetailed right in when I read JJ’s fiction story a few years later.

JJ

Interesting.  For the record I have never read this guy’s work or any other about crystals in Shamballa.

 

Oct 16, 2013

Question; Have they discovered the God particle?

If anything the existence of the Higgs Boson shows that the foundations of our creation are much too complex to have began with no intelligence involved. And the Higgs is not the ultimate particle but one of many yet to be discovered.

 

Oct 17, 2013

Question

Say a man found away to cure cancer and he was in the middle of writing a scientific paper that would revolutionize the world but he has a heart attack and dies but before he does he gets the paper published…..now this will give him good karma only he dead. How will good karma serve him now. It it manifest in his next life.

JJ

You don’t get much good Karma for just coming up with ideas.  Karma depends on what you do with the time you have here.

The man who came up with a cancer cure but died will create a lot of good carry over effects because he dedicated his life to an endeavor to help the many.  This will enable him to be born in a  good situation in the next life so he will be able to do much good and possibly retrieve the ideas he had from the past life.  After all, each life is a continuation from the past one just as each day continues after the past day after some sleep.

 

Stauffenberg did more than think about disposing Hitler, he made a courageous attempt. Perhaps the most important reward he got out of the situation was a realization of the true nature of the Beast and how to dismantle it.

 

Nov 1, 2013

Obama and Daniel

A guy on a form I visited posted this quote from Daniel Chapter 11.  He thought it applied to Obama.  Some does seem to correspond.

36 “The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place. 37 He will show no regard for the gods of his ancestors or for the one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all. 38 Instead of them, he will honor a god of fortresse ; a god unknown to his ancestors he will honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. 39 He will attack the mightiest fortresses with the help of a foreign god and will greatly honor those who acknowledge him. He will make them rulers over many people and will distribute the land at a price.[d]

.

40 “At the time of the end the king of the South will engage him in battle, and the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood. 41 He will also invade the Beautiful Land. Many countries will fall, but Edom, Moab and the leaders of Ammon will be delivered from his hand. 42 He will extend his power over many countries; Egypt will not escape. 43 He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and Cushites[e] in submission. 44 But reports from the east and the north will alarm him, and he will set out in a great rage to destroy and annihilate many. 45 He will pitch his royal tents between the seas at[f] the beautiful holy mountain. Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.

 

Copyright by J J Dewey 2013

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What Is God?

This entry is part 2 of 57 in the series Mysteries

Question One

Is There a God?

Answer:

Yes.

That was easy, but it gives out nothing new on the subject.  For the good stuff, let us go to the next question.

Question Two:

What is God?

There are a lot of different views on this subject and many of them are subjects of great ridicule from unbelievers. They will often poke fun by saying something like:

You believe in the great Santa Claus (or man) in the sky.

You believe in an angry old man on a throne who just barks out crazy commands as well as the talking snake in the Bible.

Your God must hate us since he lets us all suffer so much with wars, hurricanes and disease.

Actually, the critics would have some justification in their attacks if God were really a being as believed by most.  If He could just snap his fingers and make this world perfect, or speak the word and create world peace and end all suffering, then it does seem strange that He would allow so many innocent ones to suffer while others who are tyrants sleep peacefully at night in their luxurious mansions. It also seems strange that He would command Israel to kill the Canaanites, take their land and then punish gays, witches and rebel children with death.

Yet no matter how odd the actions of God are in the Bible or the sacred books of other religions, people still believe in a Higher Intelligence and see it as benevolent.

Perhaps if we just knew the mystery of this Being everything would just fall in place.

The resolution to this whole conundrum is found in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible which tells us:

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Gen 1:27

Humans are thus in the image of God, or projections, or more precisely reflections of Him. If we therefore want to understand God we must look at ourselves.  If we are reflections in the image of God then this tells us that God is a lot like us.

When we create a thing, whether it be a car, a television or a computer program it is not perfect at first but has many flaws.  But, over time our creations improve until they function almost flawlessly.

The same thing happens with God and his creations. The Universe started out as a disorganized mass and has now evolved into a creation of beauty as revealed by the Hubble Telescope. This earth started out as an inferno, far from perfect, but is now a beautiful planet. Humans have a history of being savages and killing their enemies for sport as many tribes did in Old Testament times, but are now learning to treat each other with respect, though they are still far from perfect.

Higher Intelligence, which we call God, has to work with humans through other humans. When one has a life-saving operation that saves his life, what does the patient say?  He usually says, “Thank God!” But the one who saved his life was a reflection of God, a being who is one of the hands of God on the earth.

God is intelligence in matter and His body is the universe.

“There’s no such thing as intelligence in matter,” says the skeptic.  Well, think again. I’m sure you consider yourself intelligent and you exist in a body composed in matter, do you not?

It is indeed an undeniable fact that intelligence does exist in matter and it is not that big of a leap to consider that larger bodies than humans also have intelligence dwelling in them.

But, contrary to popular belief about God, this Greater Intelligence is merely trying to bring his creations to perfection just as His reflections, or humans, are attempting to do with theirs. There are lots of problems to solve that manifest on the way.

Copyright by J J Dewey 2014

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The Prime Question

This entry is part 1 of 57 in the series Mysteries

Answers to the Mysteries of the Universe

By

J J Dewey

Introductory Question

The Prime Question

Can I know the truth of things beyond the physical?

Answer:  A definite yes.

If something exists, whether it be visible or invisible, perceptive to the senses or not, it can be discovered and verified.

For instance, humanity was oblivious to the existence of ultra violet and infrared light until recent times. If someone would have described their existence the best minds of the past would have discounted the idea as the ramblings of a frenzied mind.

The fact remains that these two realms of light did exist and a means was found to prove it so.

Even so, there are many true realities that exist beyond the physical.  Like ultra violet, all we need are the tools to verify them.  Science itself has already done this to a degree. Pure energy has an existence beyond anything we might deem as physical and in past ages resided in the area of the metaphysical.  Einstein and the demonstration of his theories through the atomic bomb proved that matter could be converted to a non-physical pure energy. Now all scientists accept the idea of a formless non-physical energy as something that is verifiably true.

It is true, in this age, that hundreds of things have been discovered which were beyond the perception of the senses just a couple generations ago.  Is it not logical that there are yet many discoveries to be made in the unseen worlds?

Such a thing is not only logical but is verifiable.  And how can it be verified?

Through the essence of ourselves, as our makeup is composed of much more than the physical. This is easy to prove as the mind, the emotions, our imagination and our dreams are not a part of physical reality yet few would deny their existence.

Polls show that the majority of people believe in God and in some form and an afterlife. Why is this?  It is largely because most people sense the existence within themselves of something that is connected to realities beyond the physical senses.

Then there are others who do not perceive any sensation beyond the physical.  Why would many perceive sensations beyond the physical while others do not?  The answer is focused attention. We perceive in accordance with the direction of our attention. Just as the blind person places more attention on touch than average and senses more with this sense than the rest of us, even, so the spiritual person places more attention on the inner feelings and senses things there that are overlooked by non believers.

The answers in this book are based on the proposition that there are indeed perceptions available beyond the physical and within our whole nature is access to unlimited knowledge and understanding.  All we have to do is place focused attention on the world within and the door of extraordinary perception can become available.

There lies within each one of us a connection with infinite Intelligence. It is from the vantage point of this connection I write this book, but with no claim to infallibility.  All of us are capable of wrong perception and incorrect interpretation of that which is perceived. Even so, perceive we must if we are to explore new worlds and thus this book is born. Those fellow travelers who also strive to perceive beyond the physical will find much food for thought within these pages.  Enjoy.

Copyright by J J Dewey 2014

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