Although it is no ones
place to criticize other cultures, observations can be made soberly. It is clear that every
culture's concept of God is different based on their spiritual
concepts and maturity.
The Hindu concept of Divinity, the Taoist concept of God and
the Christian concept of God, to name a few, all differ profoundly.
They all agree that there is a Supreme Being but, they relate to that
Being differently because of the concept they have of It. In all positive religions of the world the Supreme Being
is generally, universally and conceptually regarded as an indescribable, omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent; having an "all encompassing energy and consciousness."
The Old Testament description of God does not differ from this. The God of the Old Testament world is not different in any way from the New Testament God. But, in addition to the essense of the Eternal Being, God in the New Testament presents Himself in the person of Jesus Christ to bring Himself closer to His created children, that they might recognize Him and make it easier for them to comprehend His Being; thus making it easier for human being to fathom and to love Him. Before that time God had never presented Himself in any form other than perhaps "Light."
This concept of a physically personified God is the main difference between Christianity and all other religions because through it the concept of what God had been conceived as had been completely and forever changed and made even grander through His humility, Charity, Wisdom and Love. This is the fundamental part of what makes Christians Christian;
the belief that Jesus Christ is no mere prophet, but God Himself
personified.
According to Jakob Lorber, the Heavenly
Father thought that to present the Lord Jesus Christ as His Son would
be conceptually easier for humanity to comprehend because a being cannot be it's own offspring. If Christ is God
and the Heavenly Father is God, well, this poses an interesting
question. How can Christ be His own son or, how can God be His own
son? This requires a little explanation and the Heavenly Father,
through Lorber, says it best.
Human being in the Image of God
Understanding that most
human beings who have had children can easily comprehend that their
children are in varying degrees an extension of themselves in
appearance and character; the Father goes on to elaborate that the
Lord Jesus Christ is actually an extension of the Divinity itself. In
other words Christ is a specific part of the consciousness of God, a specific
aspect of His being; the Wisdom of God incarnate. He is not separate
from God but, part of God. Which validates the statement made by Christ
that He and the Father are One.
The Father represents God's Love and Christ represents God's Wisdom.
It is not a human being who
had stated that we are made in the image of God; God made this
statement. If, we as human beings are
made in the image of God, as we can see from every offspring of every species, we
must also poses attributes in our being that are similar to God; while not being God.
Few contemplate the
significance of this. If children born of Earthly parents can clearly
observe that their parents and children resemble each other
in their inner and outer structure; if we are to believe that God is
our Father, then we must also resemble Him in our inner and outer structure
as well.
Many deductions can be made from this.
One myth of popular
culture can be immediately disposed of. If God is the supreme being
and we are made in His image; then there can be no other life form that is higher
than the human form. That means that no Klingons, Wookees, or Yodas can exist in
reality, even though they may exist in the imagination (souls) of
some.
A more interesting
ramification is that if we are made in the image of God; everything
that is in us, that permits us to function, is also part of that same image. In mystical terms
God is considered to be the model of everything and has historically
been regarded in mystical circles as the Great Universe, we humans being a copy or, an image of the same
are subsequently called the Small Universe. The Macrocosm and Microcosm; forever
inseparable - one within the other. The other axiom that links these two concepts is the very ancient saying, "As
Above, So Below," or "As it is in God, so it is in us" or, as it is within us, so it outside of us. This is why in
all ancient schools of mystery/wisdom the first premise of knowledge
was to "know thy self." Because; if you know yourself, you will discover that God is to be found within you and thereby you will also
know God; and, if you know God you will also willingly do His Will -
which is the ultimate freedom.
Furthermore, in the
personality of God there must also exist all of the virtues and emotions
that we experience as humans, only in God they are in compete order and under
complete control but, in humans, although they could be, generally, they are not.
- We could not have love were it
not already in and from God. The Wrath of God is well known in the Bible, so it
also exists in us. Wisdom exists in God and can also be awakened in
human beings. Loneliness exists in humans, so it must also exist in
God and so on. Some may have a problem with this concept, but Christ
did walk among us as a human being exibiting very human emotions, weaknesses and temptations even though He was God.
The Multifacetedness of God - The All In All
The concept that we are as multifaceted as God can and should be explored further to come to a better
understanding and relationship with the Creator. It is often stated that in order to
come to God one must go through Christ. There is a good reason for
this. However, in the English speaking world, especially the North
American English speaking world, the concepts needed to explain this
are in some ways absent because of the short comings of vocabulary and
present day etiquette. So, lets try to set down this conceptual frame
work.
An Analogy . .
At one time even in the
English speaking world etiquette dictated a certain amount of
formality and protocol, structured for the sake of and to foster respect amongst and
between people. This structure was based upon relationships. The
younger towards the older, towards strangers or other unfamiliars or,
the station one had in life. It
also included for the demonstration of respect designations of
"distance;" meaning that if someone who was not a direct acquaintance
or relative was addressed or spoken to, protocol dictated that they be addressed in the third person until such time as they
permitted you to refer or otherwise speak to them in the first person.
This permission needed to be granted once that person took you into
their confidence or friendship, otherwise one was seen as taking undue
liberties and thereby being disrespectful towards their person.
This social protocol symbolically represented the separation between ones outer being, inner being and inner sanctum and how far someone was permitted to enter into the confidence of another person.
In the modern North American world all the formality is completely gone. Almost everyone
addresses everyone else as
"you," "you guys," "yo," or some other similar first person designation. In
nearly every other culture on earth this is considered to be extremely
and appallingly rude.
Why? Because this lack of structure permits anyone to trample on your inner space and leads to a complete disrespect of another persons being especially when children do this.
After nearly 4 decades of the decline of this protocol, this concept is not at
all understood by most present day North American English speaking people.
Few in North America know how to use the words thou, thy, mister,
mistress, madam, ma'm, miss, misses, sir, and to a much, much lesser extent; your
highness, majesty, eminence, your grace etc. These words were commonly
used out of and to show respect for one's person. With this breakdown
the respect due to every individual has diminished to the point of
being completely lost or otherwise non-existent.
Whereas at one time a man might address his loved one as dear, now pop culture might say, "Yo Bitch" and take it as a compliment.
Some might say that these
titles smack of snobbery, but they actually serve a very important
purpose. These designations permit one to know where one stands in
relation to another person and thereby present an opportunity for
individuals to exercise a certain amount of due respect to be paid to
one another. Respect, being a form of Love, should be paid at all times
to all people according to their relationship. To address someone whom
we do not know in the third person is to show extreme respect to someone we do not know well enough to fully love. Through these protocols
the opportunity for a relationship introduces itself in an extremely
gentle manner because of the care one must exercise in the
deliberately careful choice of their words. In addition, there is also
a conscious discipline involved in doing so, to ensure that the people
involved are not taken for granted and that it does not degenerate
into utter snobbery. In addition to all of this, these titles address
the very specific and different aspects of our being.
In a family the terms;
mother, father, son, daughter, dad, mom, grandmother, grandfather,
aunt and uncle and so on are used to designate the relationship and degree of respect warranted. It
would be considered disrespectful to refer to those in ones family by
their first name other than betwen siblings or cousins. Even though in the
course of ones life any one
person may have several of these designations used to be described,
defined or otherwise addressed by, they remain one singular person.
Depending on who is doing the addressing, the degree of closeness is
usually designated in the title they are being given.
For instance; a man who
has a mother and father, brothers, a wife, and children and nieces and
nephews might be addressed by several different titles, names or pet
names. Each name will address a certain and specific aspect of his
being. Should his mother or father address him, a certain feeling is
invoked; should his wife address him another part of his being is
invoked. Should one of the other of his children address him yet
another aspect of his being is stirred. All of these people who have
addressed him so far were familiars but, should a stranger address him
where there is no relationship address him it would feel different and
a different manner of addressing is required. The relationship of the
people to him is what makes the difference and for each relationship there is an appropriate title or manner of address.
In practical terms; a
normal person may love several people in their lives, but each of
these people occupies a different part of that person through their
love. A person may have love for all the members of his family and his fellow
man but, each of these other people is loved differently. Should a
loved-one ask a favor of a person, their response to the loved-one
will be different, if say, a stranger would ask the same favor of them.
In the same way, if the love we have for our mother or father is
different than our love for our brothers and sisters and different
again from our wife or husband and different again for our children
and their children. When each of these people address us they are
addressing a slightly different aspect of our being.
Every aspect of our being
has a character. Our loving side is different from our stern side, is
different from our philanthropic side, is different from our sexual
side, is different from our angry side and so on.
When we address God, it
is different than when we address the Heavenly Father and different
again when we address the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament asks us
to address the Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ when we pray. The
Lord's Prayer addresses "Our Father" not "God" directly for a very good reason
even though they are one and the same. The relationship between us,
God, the Heavenly Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ is different
relative to us. For this reason in the Old Testament a priesthood was
necessary to act as an intercessor between human beings and God
because God was known as being Wrathful. In the New Testament with the
coming, crucifixion and death of the Lord Jesus Christ who asked us to supplicate Him directly there
was no more need for a third party intersession; we could pray on our
own directly with the aspect of God that is the Heavenly Father; the
Love of God or the Lord Jesus Christ; the Wisdom of God as His
Children without fear of the Wrath of God.
In the Old Testament
there were several names used for the different aspects of God.
Jehovah (IHVH), Jehovah Zeboath, Jehovah Elohim, El Shaddai, Adonai,
El, and others, each addressing a different quality or aspect of God.
It is a matter of respect
when addressing the Love of the Supreme Being. The manner in which we
address each other is an exercise in loving our fellow man. We cannot
say we love God if we cannot respect or love our fellowman. To address
God as "God" even though He is God would be like saying; Hey You! or
calling your physical father by his first name. Don't expect a
friendly reply!
These concepts are out of
the New Revelation by Jakob Lorber.
