My Bible/If I Could Talk With God
Friday, January 31, 2014
THE BIRTH OF
THE BIBLE
(Part 3 of 3)
By
Francis William Bessler
My Bible!
So much more could be said about this drama dealing with THE BIBLE, but I think I will leave that to scholars and believers in THE BIBLE - neither of which I am. I must admit that I used to think of THE BIBLE as the “word of God,” but I do not see it that way anymore. I do not even think it is the “word of Jehovah.” I see it now as simply a compilation of a lot of stories told as if a Jehovah is a reality; but I do not think Jehovah is a reality. I think Jehovah was invented by some writer who was trying to deal with life. He probably saw other societies as having gods and decided that his society needed one of its own. Thus, he invented Jehovah; and since other “pagans” believed they also needed a “god,” they believed in what the original inventor told them - and so it has gone down through history.
As for me, I left Jehovah behind when I left Satan behind. I do not believe there can be any “opposition to God” - as Satan has been claimed to be - and thus I cannot believe in Satan - or that a Satan exists. How can there be opposition to God if, being Infinite, God is Everywhere? God can only be opposed if He (or It or She) can also be “deposed.” Right? God cannot be “deposed” because God is Everywhere. Therefore, God cannot be “opposed” - and Satan must be myth.
Perhaps it is because I do not believe a Satan can exist that I cannot believe in Jehovah either - simply because the two go together as if they depend upon one another. Remove Satan - and Jehovah can’t exist. So if I have removed Satan from my life, then I have also had to remove a Jehovah.
But what if Satan does exist and Jehovah does exist? What then? Well, my friend, that is the argument of a “non-believer.” Those who are sure that Satan and Jehovah exist are the only ones who would ask such a question, perhaps attempting to soothe their souls; but I am a Believer in a God of Infinity. That does not make me incapable of being fooled, but it does provide for myself as much security as what other “Believers” might think they have too.
When I look around and see the wonder of life about me and know that such life is what I think of as miraculous and amazing - including my own - then I have no need for further miracles. I do not have to go somewhere else to find God. I find God wherever I go - and in whomever I meet. My Bible, I guess, is Life Itself. Like “my Jesus” of THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS said, I “know what is in my sight” and what is hidden is really of no concern to me, but if it becomes so, I simply have to remind myself that “what is hidden” is probably only the same as what I can see. So, why waste time looking for a Paradise someplace else when the only Paradise I need is right at hand?
What Will Happen When I Die?
What will happen when I die? I do not know, but I have no reason to suspect that I won’t just continue “being me.” I don’t expect to see God face to face - as some do - because my God does not have a face. My God is not a person with Whom I can walk and talk. My God is an Infinite Presence that makes All Sacred. When I die, I won’t see God anymore than I do now, but it is very likely that if I continue to “be me,” then I will continue to “see God Everywhere.”
I am reminded, however, of a verse in THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS, that offers a comment about death and what is beyond. In Verse 4 of that gospel, Jesus said: The man old in days will not hesitate to ask a little child of seven days about the place of Life, and he will live. For many who are first shall become last and they shall become a single one.
First of all, let me point out that this is not a “judgmental verse.” It is simply commenting about being old, dying, and starting over again as a little child. At least this is what I take from it. The old man in days - any old man (or woman) in days - is close to ending his (or her) life, but what comes after that? That old man (or woman) will simply become a child in a next order, so to speak.
Jesus said: For many who are first will become last and they shall become a single one. That is only to say that the old man who is about to die is one with the child who is about to be born. It is a cycle thing - nothing more. An old man - or old woman - will naturally die and then become “new” by becoming a child again in a next incarnation. The old man and the new child, then, are a “single one.” Makes sense. Right?
This is but another example, however, of a verse being in THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS that seems to be repeated in another gospel, but in that other gospel, the meaning is completely different. In THE GOSPEL OF LUKE, for example, Jesus is said to repeat the “first and last” exchange, but in a totally judgmental way. Luke is talking about being “judged” after life - not simply continuing as a child from being an old man. In other words, Luke seems to be taking a verse from THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS and changing it to fit some offering of his own; and I think this is another good example of a subsequent gospel writer selecting a verse from THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS - and altering the meaning of the original verse.
In Luke, the first will become last and last will become first is offered as a social setting judgmental thing. The “first” become those who think they are “first” in some order of salvation. Those who think they are first are really last. That is the meaning of the verse as offered in Luke, but that is not the meaning of the idea in Thomas. Luke offers his statement in the context of some final judgment. He says, starting from Chapter 13, Verse 24:
Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are. Then shall ye begin to say, we have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east and from the west, and from the north and from the south, and shall sit down in the Kingdom of God. And behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.
But did Jesus really say that? I doubt it, but a traditional Jew would have said it because a traditional Jew would have believed it; and that is one of the points of this article. Jesus may well have been taken out of context by fellow Jews and assigned the role of Jewish Messiah. A Jewish Messiah would have offered what Luke offers that Jesus said, but a simple “wise person” commenting about life in general would not have said it. I think it is good to keep all this in mind when making judgments about the real Life of Jesus - as well as about our lives too. I offer this comparison because it exemplifies how an earlier gospel writer could have said one thing - and a subsequent gospel writer could have massaged a same verse and told a completely different tale with the retelling effort. I rest my case.
Let me finish with a bit of a song I wrote a few years ago in December of 2008. This article has been about seeing God in whatever way each of us sees God. So I do believe it is fitting to conclude my thoughts on how I see God. Like I say, I do not see THE BIBLE as the “word of God,” but rather as a compilation of works by various men and women who pledged their allegiance to a Pagan god named Jehovah; and those men and women see God much different than I do. I see God, not as an outside Lord of life, but as an inside Infinite Presence; but to each, his or her own. I will let my song say the rest.
Thanks! (FWB)
If I Could Talk With God
By
Francis William Bessler
Laramie, Wyoming
12/8/2008
REFRAIN:
If God would speak to me – I think that it would be
that I would hear exactly – what I want to believe.
If I believe that God is just – and will punish those I oppose,
then that’s what I will hear – and what I will suppose.
If I believe that God is good – and belongs to everyone,
then that’s what I will hear – that everyone’s God’s son.
If God would speak to me – I think that it would be
that I would hear exactly – what I want to believe.
If I could talk with God, I think that He would say:
My son, I’m within you.
Be aware of that when you pray.
He’d say: My Presence must be mystery
because the Infinite is not for you to understand;
but that Presence is your Divinity;
and that’s to say, I’m holding your hand.
If I could talk with God, I think that He would say:
Because everything is equal in My sight,
nothing can be favored in any way.
He’d say: Look at anything, My child
and be impressed with all the majesty
that you see all the while
and know that it’s all of My Divinity.
If I could talk with God, I think that He would say:
My son, I am with you
every night and day;
but I am not only with you –
I’m with everyone.
Since I am Infinite, I’m in All –
and everyone (everything) is My son.
If I could talk with God, I think that He would say:
If you doubt that I am Infinite,
just look out into space.
If you can find where it all ends,
then it is for you not to believe;
but if you can’t find an end, My friend,
be careful not to be deceived.
If I could talk with God, I think that He would say:
Don’t be fooled when others claim
that Heaven is in another place.
He’d say: Heaven is only knowing
that where you are, I am;
and if you can find where I am not,
then Heaven there is not at hand.
If I could talk with God, I think that He would say:
Because I am in you, My child,
you should not be ashamed.
I think He’d say that everything
in that which we call Creation
is blessed of Him because He’s there;
and that should cause in us, elation.
If I could talk with God, I think that He would say:
Be not confused, My child.
Just be glad when you pray.
Say thanks for the life you have
because it’s generous beyond expression.
I hear Him saying, if you do that,
then you will always be in Heaven.