1 Corinthians 12

[year2027]

God first

he Aquarian Gospel of Jesus Christ, by Levi H. Dowling, [1920], at sacred-texts.com

Chapter 26

Jesus at Katak. The car of Jagannath Jesus reveals to the people the emptiness of Brahmic rites, and how to see God in man. Teaches them the divine law of sacrifice.

1. In all the cities of Orissa Jesus taught. At Katak, by the river side, he taught, and thousands of the people followed him.

2. One day a car of Jagannath was hauled along by scores of frenzied men, and Jesus said,

3. Behold, a form without a spirit passes by; a body with no soul; a temple with no altar fires.

4. This car of Krishna is an empty thing, for Krishna is not there.

5. This car is but an idol of a people drunk on wine of carnal things.

6. God lives not in the noise of tongues; there is no way to him from any idol shrine.

7. God's meeting place with man is in the heart, and in a still small voice he speaks; and he who hears is still.

8. And all the people said, Teach us to know the Holy One who speaks within the heart, God of the still small voice.

9. And Jesus said, The Holy Breath cannot be seen with mortal eyes; nor can men see the Spirits of the Holy;

10. But in their image man was made, and he who looks into the face of man, looks at the image of the God who speaks within.

11. And when man honours man he honours God, and what man does for man, he does for God.

12. And you must bear in mind that when man harms in thought, or word or deed another man, he does a wrong to God.

13. If you would serve the God who speaks within the heart, just serve your near of kin, and those that are no kin, the stranger at your gates, the foe who seeks to do you harm;

14. Assist the poor, and help the weak; do harm to none, and covet not what is not yours;

15. Then, with your tongue the Holy One will speak; and he will smile behind your tears, will light your countenance with joy, and fill your hearts with peace.

16. And then the people asked. To whom shall we bring gifts? Where shall we offer sacrifice?

17. And Jesus said, Our Father-God asks not for needless waste of plant, of grain, of dove, of lamb.

18. That which you burn on any shrine you throw away. No blessings can attend the one who takes the food from hungry mouths to be destroyed by fire.

19. When you would offer sacrifice unto our God, just take your gift of grain, or meat and lay it on the table of the poor.

20. From it an incense will arise to heaven, which will return to you with blessedness.

21. Tear down your idols; they can hear you not; turn all your sacrificial altars into fuel for the flames.

22. Make human hearts your altars, and burn your sacrifices with the fire of love.

23. And all the people were entranced, and would have worshiped Jesus as a God; but Jesus said,

24. I am your brother man just come to show to way to God; you shall not worship man; praise God, the Holy One.

1. The fame of Jesus as a teacher spread through all the land, and people came from near and far to hear his words of truth.

2. At Behar, on the sacred river of the Brahms, he taught for many days.

3. And Ach, a wealthy man of Behar, made a feast in honour of his guest, and he invited every one to come.

4. And many came; among them thieves, extortioners, and courtesans. And Jesus sat with them and taught; but they who followed him were much aggrieved because he sat with thieves and courtesans.

5. And they upbraided him; they said, Rabboni, master of the wise, this day will be an evil day for you.

6. The news will spread that you consort with courtesans and thieves, and men will shun you as they shun an asp.

7. And Jesus answered them and said, A master never screens himself for sake of reputation or of fame.

8. These are but worthless baubles of the day; they rise and sink, like empty bottles on a stream; they are illusions and will pass away;

9. They are the indices to what the thoughtless think; they are the noise that people make; and shallow men judge merit by noise.

10. God and all master men judge men by what they are and not by what they seem to be; not by their reputation and their fame.

11. These courtesans and theives are children of my Father-God; their soul are just as precious in his sight as yours, or of the Brahmic priests.

12. And they are working out the same life sums that you, who pride yourselves on your respectability and moral worth, are working out.

13. And some of them have solved much harder sums than you have solved, you men who look at them with scorn.

14. Yes, they are sinners, and confess their guilt, while you are guilty, but are shrewd enough to have polished coat to cover up your guilt.

15. Suppose you men who scorn these courtesans, these drunkards and these thieves, who know that you are pure in heart and life, that you are better far than they, stand forth that men may know just who you are.

16. The sin lies in the wish, in the desire, not in the act.

17. You covet other people's wealth; you look at charming forms, and deep within your hearts you lust for them.

18. Deceit you practice every day, and wish for gold, for honour and for fame, just for your selfish selves.

19. The man who covets is a thief, and she who lusts is courtesan. You who are none of these speak out.

20. Nobody spoke; the accusers held their peace.

21. And Jesus said, The proof this day is all against those who have accused.

22. The pure in heart do not accuse. The vile in heart who want to cover up their guilt with holy smoke of piety are ever loathing drunkard, thief and courtesan.

23. This loathing and this scorn is mockery, for if the tinselled coat of reputation could be torn away, the loud professor would be found to revel in his lust, deceit and many forms of secret sin.

24. The man who spends his time in pulling other people's weeds can have no time to pull his own, and all the choicest flowers of life will soon be choked and die, and nothing will remain but darnel, thistles, burs.

25. And Jesus spoke a parable: he said, Behold, a farmer had great fields of ripened grain, and when he looked he saw that blades of many stalks of wheat were bent and broken down.

26. And when he sent his reapers forth he said, We will not save the stalks of wheat that have the broken blades.

27. Go forth and cut and burn the stalks with broken blades.

28. And after many days he went to measure up his grain, but not a kernel could be find. 29. And then he called the harvesters and said to them, Where is my grain?

30. They answered him and said, We did according to your word; we gathered up and burned the stalks with broken blades, and not a stalk was left to carry to the barn.

31. And Jesus said, If God saves only those who have no broken blades, who have been perfect in his sight, who will be saved?

32. And the accusers hung their heads in shame; and Jesus went his way.

with love and a holy kiss Roy

Edited February 12, 2010 by year2027

[spectrum49]

Excuse me year 2027.

I read your post. I can't see how is possibly relates to the topic. And you said nothing about it at all. I'm LOST!

Can you elaborate on it somewhat and show me how this fits into our discussion?

SPEC

[year2027]

God first

thanks spectrum49

Chapter 26

6. God lives not in the noise of tongues; there is no way to him from any idol shrine.

9. And Jesus said, The Holy Breath cannot be seen with mortal eyes; nor can men see the Spirits of the Holy;

22. Make human hearts your altars, and burn your sacrifices with the fire of love.

23. And all the people were entranced, and would have worshiped Jesus as a God; but Jesus said,

chapter 27

8. These are but worthless baubles of the day; they rise and sink, like empty bottles on a stream; they are illusions and will pass away;

9. They are the indices to what the thoughtless think; they are the noise that people make; and shallow men judge merit by noise.

10. God and all master men judge men by what they are and not by what they seem to be; not by their reputation and their fame.

11. These courtesans and theives are children of my Father-God; their soul are just as precious in his sight as yours, or of the Brahmic priests.

16. The sin lies in the wish, in the desire, not in the act.

22. The pure in heart do not accuse.

24. The man who spends his time in pulling other people's weeds can have no time to pull his own, and all the choicest flowers of life will soon be choked and die, and nothing will remain but darnel, thistles, burs.

25. And Jesus spoke a parable: he said, Behold, a farmer had great fields of ripened grain, and when he looked he saw that blades of many stalks of wheat were bent and broken down.

26. And when he sent his reapers forth he said, We will not save the stalks of wheat that have the broken blades.

27. Go forth and cut and burn the stalks with broken blades.

what more can say

with love and a holy kiss Roy

[geisha779]

Let's break it down, shall we? Starting with verse 4:

*There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.

*There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.

*There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

*Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

*To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom,

*to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,

*to another faith by the same Spirit,

*to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,

*to another miraculous powers,

*to another prophecy,

*to another distinguishing between spirits,

*to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,

*and to still another the interpretation of tongues.

*All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

Two messages seem to jump out at me:

1. Not everyone has all the gifts of holy spirit, thus not everyone has all the manifestations.

2. Humankind is a community...no man is an island...we depend on each other...just as the different parts of our bodies make up the whole, so do individuals make up the community of mankind to work for the "common good."

That is really interesting that you mention community and how things can be diverse and unified at the same time.

*There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.

*There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.

*There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

Three unique things here, Spirit, Lord, God. . . . all working in community with each other, dependent and intertwined . Maybe there is a hint in there about how we as the Body should be operating.. . . . . to me, it is all found within this community of Father, Son, Holy Spirit. . . . . really. The idea of being one with, equal to, but being in willing subjection to. . . .really beautiful when you start considering it.

How can we be ONE body with many parts. . . . creating a whole single entity? Where does that come from?

But, look at TWI's teaching about the Holy Spirit, which I believe is actually blasphemous. We took what is fairly obvious now. . . . the premise that it is as the Spirit wills and turned it around to mean as WE will. Doesn't really jive with the rest of scripture. There is something going on within the community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit which I believe is enlightening as to how we as a single body with many members and one head should operate for the glory of God. As God wills.

1 Peter says it so clearly. . . . As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:

The Holy Spirit. . . . joining us. . . . working as He wills. . . . giving diverse gifts to different people for the edifying of the church, which works in community to glorify Christ . . . . who glorifies God.

The question never would have come up, if the Corinthians were not coveting and lusting after the gifts instead of seeking their purpose and source. Really ironic given TWI's teaching of all nine all the time. . ..

And now that I think about it. . . . . TWI taught we had God in Christ in us the hope of glory along with the break away piece of little hs all separate and all dwelling in us. . . . pretty crowded in there when you factor in all the devils spirits that used to possess us.

One God.

Edited February 14, 2010 by geisha779

[soul searcher]

That is really interesting that you mention community and how things can be diverse and unified at the same time.

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. (Romans 12:6)

BTW, regardless of what the bible says, I consider musical talent to be a gift (yes from God). And, since it is a gift from God, then the execution and perception by others of that talent is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. The same goes for great singers, writers, artists, etc. More than one musician has said that a particular compostion or peformance was divinely inspired.

Three unique things here, Spirit, Lord, God. . . .

Kind of off-topic here, but I was watching Bill Maher rag on religion last night on HBO (he's not kind to religion), and he was riffing on the Jesus is God/Son of God thing.

I have to admit it was pretty funny.

[sirguessalot]

I agree, though not misused but misinterpreted.

Not allowing patience and temperance to guide.

Even in misinterpreting there is a will present.

Cause those knots will be untangled.

---

Nice source for the Enneagram sirg.

One can see these in themselves first.

this last line especially seems to point to the crux of the matter

and what i have come to trust about contemplative dimension of the enneagram

as well as contemplative understanding of God, Christ, scripture (and religion and life in general)

as if the biblical "baby's milk" and "daily bread" of "practice" and "study" and "research"

is found not in beliefs...or interpretation and translation of texts...or thinking or wanting or wishing...

...but by simply sitting down, being still, being quiet, closing your eyes, and paying very close attention...for extended periods of time...on a regular basis.

How else does one expect to see what is going on inside the self unless one actually spends time there...awake?

How else does one expect to remove the splinter in our own eye if we do not discover our (inner) eye?

this is beginner's mind

but without some contemplative understanding of the gospel and history of religious experience

...and without some form of actual practice to test and directly experience such an understanding,

the meaning of manifestations of 1 Cor 12 will likely remain a mystery to christians

and never leave the realm of supernatural powers and/or endless translational and conceptual disagreements and debates.

like in twi/pfal and ilk...our modern mainstream christianity has lost almost all awareness of this practical fundamental aspect of christianity.

we have even actually come to avoid and demonize disciplines involving any sense of stillness, silence, interiority as if they were alien, enemies, new age, nonsensical, or insane.

this lack of interiority and lack of self-examination leads to being trapped in "outer darkness"

...and all the anger and sorrow and enmity that goes with it.

without some sense of devotion to the interior life...we are next to nothing like the original christians.

meanwhile...atheists, even though they avoid the same terrain, have no choice but to debunk the externalization of the interior and literalization of the myths.

...

some good news, as then, is that the path is always as close as our very breath...and very responsive to even the simplest flicker of our attention in that direction.

and Christian history is full of well-developed art forms for doing exactly this.

not supernatural...but extra-ordinary...organic...anatomical

we repent by turning completely around...

we cease our searching only outwardly for God...and take the most direct path to the center of our own nature.

this is the lesson of the ages for both faith and reason.

[cman]

Yes, nice sirg....

and in this silence lies our demons as well

that is why we must practice it to an art

otherwise these will remove the silence, peace, and will to see

that even in the demons of our own inner darkness is light to be discovered

destroying (changing) that which frightened to that which heals