The kingdom of God is a mental and spiritual place made of spiritual substance, Mind’s ideas. It is not physical. For no physicality could ever embody the limitless ideas of infinite Mind that knows no space or time or distance – the beauty of Spirit, the enrapture of creation radiant with divine Love. There is no time, space, nor distance between man, woman, child, nature, animal – all is God’s infinite creation revolving in a system and network of complete harmony. They all shine by borrowed, radiant light from the one infinite source. There is no person or personality for there is but on Ego, and all is the manifestation of the One. No competition, no personal sense of things – just the One’s infinite sense of infinity – infinite good, life, creation, activity. All is beautiful because all is Mind and this all is here and now. It is a state of mind, a state of thought following Jesus’ saying “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21) and St John’s vision “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” (Rev 21:1) This place is here and now, it exists hidden from the world but always present and actual. There is no birth, no death for there is no time. There simply is being here, now, forever, always. We will not die because we were not born. Existence is the Only. Infinity isn’t a really long time but rather the absence of time. There is no distance to separate us from other ideas for we all co-exist in the same space at the same time. God’s rainforests, beaches, coasts, skies, mountains are all ideas which are reflected in all of our being. We are all part of the One. There is no sickness, no discord, no disease because there is no matter. There never was. This enlightened state of consciousness raises the thinker up into this place and away from physicality. The ultimate demonstration of this was achieved by Enoch, Elijah and Jesus.
All ideas exist in friendship, companionship, and joy. “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” (Isa 11:6) All of God’s ideas exist in friendship and peace with one another. They are all spiritual, therefore they are all peaceful, valuable, and needed. Each is a manifestation of the infinite Mind which wouldn’t be complete without it’s entire manifestation. We all have one Life, one Mind, one Source, one being. There is not temple or body within. The nature of the one Life and Mind, the one Soul is constant being, activity, expression, movement, light, harmony. Always moving, acting, expressing. Nothing is stagnate or standing still. “Creation is ever appearing and must ever continue to appear from the nature of it’s inexhaustible source.” (Science and Health pg. 507) God is the Principle of being – the Principle of al creation, existence, life. “With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (James 1:17) Daniel proved lions not to be harmful, Paul proved the viper not to be poisonous, and the 3 Jewish boys proved the flames of a fire to be harmless because all is Mind’s idea, spiritual, untouchable. And matter is nothing in the equation of creation or being. Spirit, Mind is the only substance and is always perpetuating existence through the contemplation of Her own nature and being. And mankind, nature, and the animal kingdom are the manifestation.
What does this have to do with here and now? Through our spiritual sense, listening, and communing with the one Perfect One we see and know true reality. Our relations with the brotherhood and sisterhood of man improve, we have higher, more intelligent ideas, we are fearless, and there is no aggression or destruction because there is no death. You can not kill man and no man, woman, or child has ever died. God is good and good lasts forever. It never wears out nor becomes dim. And it never dies or is destroyed. All has existed and will exist forever.
We can realize this now and all live in peace and harmony with one another – in appreciation of each other’s divine origin, value, and goodness. We can all live solely dependant on our Source without needs or lack or wants. Simply being, existing, expressing. Limitless ideas. Loving one another. In peace and harmony and order. Supply comes from God and Love is supplying her creation with all we need each moment. And we can not want or desire anything that the one Ego does not want or desire. For all is of one accord. The elephant, the lion, the human can all be friends. We are all family, we are all brethren. Life is beautiful, creation is beautiful and we can all stand still and be in awe of the grandeur and beauty of creation. The constant, ongoing activity of Life, being, and existence. Always spiritual, beautiful, radiant, filled with light – “for there shall be no night there.” (Rev 21:25) And we are all as little children, pure and innocent.
“This state of consciousness is therefore a present possibility”. (Science and Health pg. 573)
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Theology, Medicine, Science
Jesus once gave the parable, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” (Mat 13:33)
In his teachings Jesus is frequently stating that there is a truth that seems to be hidden from the world or material senses.
Theology
He rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees for their material worship and their love of the law (or letter) and not the spirit. He said, “Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not?” (Mark 8:18) He showed us a spiritual worship that had to do with the way you think and treat others and not the material rituals you perform that often occur without sincerity.
He illustrated the importance of what is going on in your thought in this statement:
“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Mat 5:27-28)
This was a whole new way to live which had not been introduced before. He illustrates his oneness with God and the divine rights of all mankind.
“I and my Father are one.” (John 10:30)
“He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works
than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” (John 14:12)
“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)
Medicine
Jesus healed the sick without any material means. He saw and knew that man suffering, being sick, and dying was not God’s will. He raised the dying and dead each and every time.
“Jesus never asked if disease were acute or chronic, and he never recommended attention to laws of health, never gave drugs, never prayed to know if God were willing that a man should live.” (Science and Health pg. 369:15)
“"Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him."
"O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.
Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." (Mat 17:15-20)
Are we not still putting our faith in matter as opposed to spirit? Are we following the example of spiritual living, freedom, and happiness?
Science
Jesus defied the ideas of physics. He was able to be places in a moment. He walked on water. He commanded the weather. He knew peoples thoughts. He fed 5,000 people with just a few fish and loaves of bread. He was able to pay the tax collectors when he didn’t have any money.
What was science to Jesus? Well it appeared that it was the law of God that is supreme over everything else. The law of love which showed that all of man’s needs were met all the time. It seems as though it was proof of mans dominion over the whole earth.
That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" (Mark 4:35-40)
So what is the meaning of these three schools of thought: theology, medicine, and science? Is there something hidden in them that we aren’t seeing? A spiritual significance? Right now it seems as though they are based on matter, based on what we see, but what if they really meant something else, something higher?
For more ideas on this subject you can read Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
True Womanhood
In the past 25 years society has just begun to question the role of women. For 5,000 years man has been dominating society and woman has been seen as less than man – less intelligent, less capable, weak, vulnerable, etc, etc. Have we really yet broken out of this notion? Are women seeing the fullness of their true identity?
According to conservative theories woman was derived from man as told in the story of Adam and Eve where Eve is created from Adam’s rib. I concluded in my previous post “Creation” that the story of Adam and Eve is not a creation story but a story told to depict the nature of sin. If this is so, than God created male and female both in His image and likeness as Genesis states:
26 ¶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
The term here for man is used as a generic term for man – as in mankind or humanity. God creates man and woman in His own image and likeness – to be like Him – and blesses both of them. That would put man and woman as equals, both being the blessed creation of God.
How long has the true role of women been buried? What if we knew that Jesus had women disciples? How would this have affected the role of women from his time to now – knowing that Jesus himself picked women to teach his God-given spiritual teachings?
Well, with the accidental discovery of ancient gospels in 1896, we do know this. Unfortunately, due to a series of events, the first translation of these documents wasn’t around until 1955 and was still being finalized through 1983 in which we finally have the outcome of one of the three gospels – The Gospel of Mary.
Who was this Mary? Mary Magdalene whom the Bible illustrates as a prostitute. However in reading this gospel it is evident that she was one of Jesus’ disciples and one of his most spiritually advanced disciples whom he possibly favored over the others due to the spiritual advancement of her thought.
Imagine how different history would have been if we had known that a woman was one of Jesus’ best students. This only begins to show us women’s true role and significance in the world.
As women begin to understand their spiritual place in the world, their divinely ordained being, they can understand that there can be no imposition placed on them. They are entirely free to achieve, accomplish, and posses the kingdom of God. The knowledge of this has cured women of “women’s diseases”. And as we rise to the true concept of woman, man can also find freedom from this. The power is not taken from man and given to woman or vice versa. But each has their own individual, unique role to fill. Each sex is complete and perfect including both the masculine and feminine qualities in their being. Women include strength, dominion, and conviction just as man includes beauty, purity, and intuition. Neither has to take the qualities from the other because we all include them completely. By the realization of this both man and woman can naturally fulfill their roles without any impositions.
In her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy gives the definition of man – meaning the generic term for mankind, including women. Even though this definition speaks about all humanity, I have altered the pronoun for clarity in understanding the true identity of woman.
Question.--What is woman?
Answer.--Woman is not matter; she is not made up of
brain, blood, bones, and other material elements. The
Scriptures inform us that woman is made in
the image and likeness of God. Matter is
not that likeness. The likeness of Spirit cannot be so
unlike Spirit. Woman is spiritual and perfect; and be-
cause she is spiritual and perfect, she must be so under-
stood in Christian Science. Woman is idea, the image, of
Love; she is not physique. She is the compound idea of
God, including all right ideas; the generic term for
all that reflects God's image and likeness; the conscious
identity of being as found in Science, in which woman is
the reflection of God, or Mind, and therefore is eternal;
that which has no separate mind from God; that which
has not a single quality underived from Deity; that which
possesses no life, intelligence, nor creative power of her
own, but reflects spiritually all that belongs to her Maker.
And God said: Let us make woman in our image, after
our likeness; and let her have dominion over the fish
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle,
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth.
Woman is incapable of sin, sickness, and death. The
real woman cannot depart from holiness, nor
can God, by whom woman is evolved, engender
the capacity or freedom to sin. A mortal sinner is not
God's woman. Mortals are the counterfeits of immortals.
They are the children of the wicked one, or the one evil,
which declares that woman begins in dust [or from the rib of Adam]
or as a material embryo. In divine Science, God and the real
woman are inseparable as divine Principle and idea.
Error, urged to its final limits, is self-destroyed.
Error will cease to claim that soul is in body, that life
and intelligence are in matter, and that this matter is woman.
God is the Principle of woman, and woman is the idea of God.
Hence woman is not mortal nor material. Mortals will disappear,
and immortals, or the children of God, will appear as the only
and eternal verities of woman. Mortals are not fallen chil-
dren of God. They never had a perfect state of being,
which may subsequently be regained. They were, from
the beginning of mortal history, "conceived in sin and
brought forth in iniquity." Mortality is finally swallowed
up in immortality. Sin, sickness, and death must dis-
appear to give place to the facts which belong to immortal
woman.
Learn this, O mortal, and earnestly seek the spiritual
status of woman, which is outside of all material selfhood.
Remember that the Scriptures say of mortal
woman: "As for woman, her days are as grass: as
a flower of the field, so she flourisheth. For the wind
passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall
know it no more."
When speaking of God's children, not the children of
men, Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you;"
that is, Truth and Love reign in the real woman, showing
that woman in God's image is unfallen and eternal. Jesus
beheld in Science the perfect woman, who appeared to him
where sinning [or less than man] mortal woman appears to
mortals. In this perfect woman the Saviour saw God's own
likeness, and this correct view of woman healed the sick.
Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal,
and that woman is pure and holy. Woman is not a material
habitation for Soul; she is herself spiritual. Soul, being Spirit,
is seen in nothing imperfect nor material.
Whatever is material is mortal. To the five corporeal
senses, woman appears to be matter and mind united; but
Christian Science reveals woman as the idea of God, and
declares the corporeal senses to be mortal and erring illusions.
Divine Science shows it to be impossible that a material body,
though interwoven with matter's highest stratum, misnamed
mind, should be woman,--the genuine and perfect woman,
the immortal idea of being, indestructible and eternal.
Were it otherwise, woman would be annihilated.
According to conservative theories woman was derived from man as told in the story of Adam and Eve where Eve is created from Adam’s rib. I concluded in my previous post “Creation” that the story of Adam and Eve is not a creation story but a story told to depict the nature of sin. If this is so, than God created male and female both in His image and likeness as Genesis states:
26 ¶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
The term here for man is used as a generic term for man – as in mankind or humanity. God creates man and woman in His own image and likeness – to be like Him – and blesses both of them. That would put man and woman as equals, both being the blessed creation of God.
How long has the true role of women been buried? What if we knew that Jesus had women disciples? How would this have affected the role of women from his time to now – knowing that Jesus himself picked women to teach his God-given spiritual teachings?
Well, with the accidental discovery of ancient gospels in 1896, we do know this. Unfortunately, due to a series of events, the first translation of these documents wasn’t around until 1955 and was still being finalized through 1983 in which we finally have the outcome of one of the three gospels – The Gospel of Mary.
Who was this Mary? Mary Magdalene whom the Bible illustrates as a prostitute. However in reading this gospel it is evident that she was one of Jesus’ disciples and one of his most spiritually advanced disciples whom he possibly favored over the others due to the spiritual advancement of her thought.
Imagine how different history would have been if we had known that a woman was one of Jesus’ best students. This only begins to show us women’s true role and significance in the world.
As women begin to understand their spiritual place in the world, their divinely ordained being, they can understand that there can be no imposition placed on them. They are entirely free to achieve, accomplish, and posses the kingdom of God. The knowledge of this has cured women of “women’s diseases”. And as we rise to the true concept of woman, man can also find freedom from this. The power is not taken from man and given to woman or vice versa. But each has their own individual, unique role to fill. Each sex is complete and perfect including both the masculine and feminine qualities in their being. Women include strength, dominion, and conviction just as man includes beauty, purity, and intuition. Neither has to take the qualities from the other because we all include them completely. By the realization of this both man and woman can naturally fulfill their roles without any impositions.
In her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy gives the definition of man – meaning the generic term for mankind, including women. Even though this definition speaks about all humanity, I have altered the pronoun for clarity in understanding the true identity of woman.
Question.--What is woman?
Answer.--Woman is not matter; she is not made up of
brain, blood, bones, and other material elements. The
Scriptures inform us that woman is made in
the image and likeness of God. Matter is
not that likeness. The likeness of Spirit cannot be so
unlike Spirit. Woman is spiritual and perfect; and be-
cause she is spiritual and perfect, she must be so under-
stood in Christian Science. Woman is idea, the image, of
Love; she is not physique. She is the compound idea of
God, including all right ideas; the generic term for
all that reflects God's image and likeness; the conscious
identity of being as found in Science, in which woman is
the reflection of God, or Mind, and therefore is eternal;
that which has no separate mind from God; that which
has not a single quality underived from Deity; that which
possesses no life, intelligence, nor creative power of her
own, but reflects spiritually all that belongs to her Maker.
And God said: Let us make woman in our image, after
our likeness; and let her have dominion over the fish
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle,
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth.
Woman is incapable of sin, sickness, and death. The
real woman cannot depart from holiness, nor
can God, by whom woman is evolved, engender
the capacity or freedom to sin. A mortal sinner is not
God's woman. Mortals are the counterfeits of immortals.
They are the children of the wicked one, or the one evil,
which declares that woman begins in dust [or from the rib of Adam]
or as a material embryo. In divine Science, God and the real
woman are inseparable as divine Principle and idea.
Error, urged to its final limits, is self-destroyed.
Error will cease to claim that soul is in body, that life
and intelligence are in matter, and that this matter is woman.
God is the Principle of woman, and woman is the idea of God.
Hence woman is not mortal nor material. Mortals will disappear,
and immortals, or the children of God, will appear as the only
and eternal verities of woman. Mortals are not fallen chil-
dren of God. They never had a perfect state of being,
which may subsequently be regained. They were, from
the beginning of mortal history, "conceived in sin and
brought forth in iniquity." Mortality is finally swallowed
up in immortality. Sin, sickness, and death must dis-
appear to give place to the facts which belong to immortal
woman.
Learn this, O mortal, and earnestly seek the spiritual
status of woman, which is outside of all material selfhood.
Remember that the Scriptures say of mortal
woman: "As for woman, her days are as grass: as
a flower of the field, so she flourisheth. For the wind
passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall
know it no more."
When speaking of God's children, not the children of
men, Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you;"
that is, Truth and Love reign in the real woman, showing
that woman in God's image is unfallen and eternal. Jesus
beheld in Science the perfect woman, who appeared to him
where sinning [or less than man] mortal woman appears to
mortals. In this perfect woman the Saviour saw God's own
likeness, and this correct view of woman healed the sick.
Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal,
and that woman is pure and holy. Woman is not a material
habitation for Soul; she is herself spiritual. Soul, being Spirit,
is seen in nothing imperfect nor material.
Whatever is material is mortal. To the five corporeal
senses, woman appears to be matter and mind united; but
Christian Science reveals woman as the idea of God, and
declares the corporeal senses to be mortal and erring illusions.
Divine Science shows it to be impossible that a material body,
though interwoven with matter's highest stratum, misnamed
mind, should be woman,--the genuine and perfect woman,
the immortal idea of being, indestructible and eternal.
Were it otherwise, woman would be annihilated.
Creation
There are a lot of discrepancies between Bible scholars and religions today as to the story of creation. Most religions acknowledge the second chapter in Genesis, the story of Adam and Eve, as the story of creation. However, Bible scholars have come to find that there are two different depictions in the first and second chapter of Genesis.
I heard an interesting lecture by a chaplain from Boston University in which the speaker stated the story of Adam and Eve was basically a rip-off. This story came from what was popular Egyptian folklore at the time explaining the nature of sin. This would mean that the story of Adam and Eve is not a creation story but instead is describes how sin operates.
This makes sense to me since in the first chapter in the book of Genesis, the creation story has already been told.
“1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
This story of creation goes on for 6 days in the first chapter. And in it includes the creation of man and woman:
“26 ¶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
So God’s great and beautiful creation is complete on the 6th day.
Well then what happens? A mist comes up from the ground, Adam dreams, and God forbids the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent tricks Eve and she eats the forbidden fruit.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept:
1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
What does this story symbolize? How is it relevant to today?
Now God’s creation isn’t just good as it once was, or atleast to the sinful perspective of Adam and Eve. Has God’s creation changed or has the perspective of mortals changed? From this sinful perspective they are now able to see shame, violence, judgment, etc.
What is the serpent in our thought? Are we being beguiled? What are we seeing and manifesting in our experience based on our perspective? Is this perspective based on God’s perspective or a sinful perspective?
I heard an interesting lecture by a chaplain from Boston University in which the speaker stated the story of Adam and Eve was basically a rip-off. This story came from what was popular Egyptian folklore at the time explaining the nature of sin. This would mean that the story of Adam and Eve is not a creation story but instead is describes how sin operates.
This makes sense to me since in the first chapter in the book of Genesis, the creation story has already been told.
“1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
This story of creation goes on for 6 days in the first chapter. And in it includes the creation of man and woman:
“26 ¶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
So God’s great and beautiful creation is complete on the 6th day.
Well then what happens? A mist comes up from the ground, Adam dreams, and God forbids the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent tricks Eve and she eats the forbidden fruit.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept:
1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
What does this story symbolize? How is it relevant to today?
Now God’s creation isn’t just good as it once was, or atleast to the sinful perspective of Adam and Eve. Has God’s creation changed or has the perspective of mortals changed? From this sinful perspective they are now able to see shame, violence, judgment, etc.
What is the serpent in our thought? Are we being beguiled? What are we seeing and manifesting in our experience based on our perspective? Is this perspective based on God’s perspective or a sinful perspective?
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