Discovering Spirituality - Episode 13 - The Gospels - Podcast Transcript

Hello and welcome to the Discovering Spirituality podcast. Episode 13: The Gospels. In this podcast I will be sharing my thoughts on the writing " The Gospels" taken from the channeled book "The light in Your Life is Spirit" by George A. Thompson.

A simple message, at a simpler time, for a simpler people. So what was it? What was so important  that this one event had to show us? The history has been significant, after all it created Christianity, the catholic church, the crusades and god knows how many religious wars.

I don't know much about the bible or it's stories but I do know the story of Jesus. How at 33 years old, he was a preacher, a prophet who was nailed to a cross by the Romans, and crucified. And how he rose from the dead to give final instruction to his discipline about what they should do. I also know the story of how he was betrayed by a kiss from Judas. I know the story of how Mary Magdalene anointed his feet with oils.

My point is that I know many aspects of the story of Jesus but I know nothing about what he actually said. And I am wondering if I could ever find out, my curiosity has been aroused so to speak.

Of course I could start by reading the bible but can I trust what it says, after all, from what I understand, it was compiled thousands of years ago for primarily political reasons by emperor Constantine at the latter end of the roman empire.

Not only am I curious about what he reportedly said, I am curious as to why this event took place and why it was so important.

Was he the son of God? Did he perform miracles? And why do people worship him and refer to him as Lord?

I am wondering if this event was planned in some way? The virgin birth, the location, its political climate, the most remembered death in history, the rise of one of the world's largest religions! It strikes me as being no accident.

Since man has always been prone to creating elaborate mythologies I wonder how much of this fantastic tale is actually true. Perhaps there is no way of knowing and that his teachings have been lost. But from what I understand these where not his teachings but Gods, he spoke of God's true word, he did this for only three years yet the impact has lasted for thousands of years.

What is interesting about Jesus is that he proclaimed that he was the messiah, the son of God, the king of kings. Unlike Mohamed who was claimed to be a prophet and Buddha, and Lao Tzu who where regarded as sages, speakers of truth and teachers. All of these individuals are regarded as the progenitors of the world's largest religions. All revered in their own rights but Jesus came from the source, the son and God was his father.

The word of God, not a single word but teachings, guidelines if you will. I decided to do a little research. I listened to some of the bible, the gospel of John and I learned a little about the history of that time, the conflicts, the beliefs and the politics. What struck me was the degree of distortion and how cryptic "God's word" became.

Although there was writing, tales, myths and scripture they were primarily passed down orally, with the compilation of these stories taking hundreds of years to be written down.

I am still curious about the content of these writings, what was the goal, the objective, the purpose? Was it simply to solidify the concept of a single God? Or was it to introduce the concept to man that both himself and God existed in a relationship and that by having faith in this relationship man could and would elevate himself to a higher more enlightened state?

I feel deceived exploring this writing. How could humanity take these teachings and distort them to the point where in modern times many people are repulsed by any talk about God. One would think that teachings of this magnitude to help humanity would be revered and shared without distortion, with truth, but our history clearly paints a different picture.

I feel deceived because I was denied this truth and that the point where I am at in my life, it feels like starting from scratch.

I want to know "God's word" without religious distortion. I suppose I could consciously ask God to tell me himself. Maybe he already does and my current exploration is a part of that process.

Maybe I am at the point where I am ready to hear it and to make my own way towards developing this relationship. Do I just start asking questions, then wait for an answer in whatever form that this takes?

I do know one thing though, to get to this point has been a struggle and it continues to be a struggle, purely because I am challenged with the efforts needed to undo my past conditioning. And I wonder if I will have the intelligence and the will to apply what I learn. It's not always easy to follow the path, and it's even harder to know if the support you are given is to be trusted, especially when you consider how the human mind works.

It is so easy to misunderstand or embellish not to mention, dealing with the imagination and delusion that the mid is prone to creating. Even ones social responsibilities can become too much, living with stress and the various burdens associated with success and simply living.

There seems to be so much conflict and not enough peace. No space to simply be or to think. We are always dancing to someone else's tune.

I was thinking today that there was a time when man developed groups and societies and culture to survive. But if you unite that group under one banner and give it direction you can force their will do your bidding. Then you no longer have a society, you have an army, the physical embodiment of conflict that can be directed to service the needs of the few.

Those in control, those who know how to manipulate the minds of the masses, to instill fear to distract them enough to be compliant. Is this what we have become, instruments of conflict and fear, capable only of creating chaos within ourselves and others. And for what? It seems like such a waste of a life, to live in fear and chaos, and to spoon feed our children the same toxicity so that their futures will be just chaotic.

The more I look into the life of Jesus the more I realize what we were ultimately left with are stories that are mostly unsubstantiated. There is actually very little historical evidence that proves these events took place. Of course this is not to say that they did not happen, but is makes believing in the people and the events difficult because modern science and archaeology cannot prove it.

Not only that, the accounts of these events as stated in the bible and very cryptic and down right confusing and do not translate well in this modern age. In fact I don't think they have ever translated well since may different people from different cultural backgrounds have each interpreted these texts in their own unique way.

I cannot help wonder that if God presented his teaching to a simple people in a simple way then why have they not been retained in their original form? This is of course me speculating due to my ignorance and lack of understanding of the subject. But then again, maybe these simple truths have been buried over time due to repeated misinterpretation and down right lies.

Are these truths the 10 commandments the ones that were given to Moses? Perhaps they are? One thing is for sure, I am eager to find them, and to study them and learn from them.

Maybe this is why there is a new book, a modern perspective for a modern time, a more direct approach for an individual that is more capable of reasoning and understanding instead of trying to figure out cryptic biblical texts.

"I am you, and you are me". I cannot recall exactly who said this, if it was either God or Jesus, but nevertheless I find it deeply profound and it has given rise to thought.

"I am you, and you are me", does this not speak very clearly about the relationship between man and God. Does this not suggest a connection between the two, the divine unification.

Perhaps this is a starting point, to accept that you are part of something greater than yourself. That you are as God is. "God made man in his own image", comes to mind.

So what is this part of us that is God? Is it the human soul, our life force, our consciousness. Maybe it is ours to discover, to explore?

This also suggests that in order to accept this truth we need to have faith or belief. To believe in the unseen, the invisible, to establish the simple conscious threads of connection, to consciously accept that there is another apart from the "I".

But the "I" is what we focus on. The isolated identity, the consciously disconnected the selfish and the self centered, for the "I" is the universe and the creator or reality. If the "I" does not believe it, if the "I" is not certain then it does not or cannot exist and so conscious becomes the unconscious. The closed, the ignorant.

So I accept that "I am you, and you are me", then what? What comes next, what question do I ask? How do we exist together, how does it work, what part of you am I?

I was thinking that in order to develop a relationship one must first start a conversation to get to know one another, to communicate.

Traditionally to converse with God one uses prayer, but how to start? What do I ask, will I receive a reply?

If God is the creator, the creator of life then does he also support and nurture life? Would he nourish me with that which will make me grow? It makes sense therefore that he would not give me anything to make me wither, nothing negative, only truth, not fantasy or desire.

Would he nourish me with understanding that I may understand other aspects of his creation, the world and the life that inhabits this world? Do I actually understand what would nourish me, what is it that I wish to understand?

Would he teach me to find peace and happiness without the trappings of society. I do not need wealth or things to make me happy. I have everything I need to indulge my creativity, which provides me with contentment, and welcome respite from the days stresses.

I could ask God about God, in particular, how our relationship works. How about the purpose of our relationship, is there anything in particular that I need to pay attention too?

I did realize something today as my mind wandered and played out a meeting that I had not yet had. As usual I was on the defensive, ready to cut down my opponent with words, and righteousness. Then I realized something, when we explore and develop spiritual understanding it is so very easy to claim that you are righteous. I considered  the many religious men and women who quoted scripture and the bible in order to condemn those that they saw as being untouched by God.

This has made me realize the power that religion has and was built into religious text in order to silence and control the unworthy. It may explain many of the conflicts waged in Gods name.

So throughout history, the supposed true word of God was used to instill fear instead of love. This is a far departure from what was intended if the creator of all life gave his word to nurture and support life.

Very often within religious teachings you will hear the words "sin" and "repent" mentioned. After all did Jesus not die on the cross for all mans sins?

The origins of the word sin is interesting, it originally meant "missing the mark". It has now come to mean, "an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law." Whereas the original sense of new testament Greek "sin", is failure, being in error.

So if you sinned using the original definition you where in error or failed, which of course does not suggest that you broke any laws, divine of otherwise.

If found in error you could make corrections to bring success. But if you broke divine law then you had to pay a price even if it was conscious or not. To break a law suggests punishment to atone for ones crime. And in many cases throughout history and in modern times, to sin is to commit a crime.

This strikes me as a bit heavy handed since the church spoke on Gods behalf, so who were better to dish out divine retribution, Gods punishment.

No wonder faith in the church is declining, to live in fear of God must be quite the burden. So religions have, through the application of exercising moral judgement, turned God into the bogeyman. And why would anyone in their right mind put their faith in this kind of tyranny?

Of course you can't atone, pray for absolution and repent your sins away because only God can forgive you, not yourself.

To repent is to feel more remorse or regret for ones transgressions. To shift from a state of ignorance to a state of understanding. This requires a bit of thought and consideration to reach this point of understanding.

To acknowledge ones sins involves no law to be broken, no justice to be served, only understanding to be acknowledged and applied. To forgive yourself for your weakness and to know why you were weak.

Through the course of this exploration there are a few things I have come to realize. Perhaps these are God's truths or at least the foundation, the starting point if you will.

Acknowledge and believe in the unseen. Know that you are not separate from God, know that you can commune with God and he will commune with you. Acknowledge and understand your weaknesses and correct them. Ask no other for forgiveness only yourself and know that you are loved because God is love.

This may or may not be true but they make sense. They do suggest a framework, a plan of sorts, a purpose. My curiosity has me asking why? The truth of Jesus, the birth of religions based on the worship of one god. The true word of God, what course will this take?

Is it to understand the meaning of life? To know that when your time comes to pass that you lived with love and truth instead of hate and desire. It cannot be about purely being happy and content, living stress free that seems very self indulgent to me.

And those were my thoughts on the writing The Gospels.

If you are interested in reading the writing from the book "The Light in Your Life is Spirit", you can download it from this link.