Seeing our divinity with unveiled eyes

Someone said:  

"The word "evil" means "to veil"... All destructive behavior is born of our failure to see our divinity and to accept our divinity... I'm not a Christian and neither was Jesus, but the whole point behind forgiveness of sins is to remove this veil... this obstacle keeping us from loving our self... Most Christians completely miss the whole point of the Gospel entirely... they go on hating who they are and creating destruction as a result... The word Gospel means good news and yet most Christians have found a way to turn it into bad news."

It is interesting to see the word evil meaning "to veil", which hinders a person from seeing one's own divinity. It may explain why Jesus described the Jewish generation as evil because they failed to see their own divine nature. Jesus may have tried to unveil their eyes by telling them that their true identity is the light of the world. Perhaps the law had blinded their eyes to see the truth of who they are because they had thought they had to do something in order to become righteous. 

I am thinking that in Luke 11 when Jesus described whether their eye is single or evil, he could be referring to whether their inner eye/vision is veiled to see their own divinity. 

34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also isfull of darkness.

35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. 

36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

(Luke 11:34-36)

To me, darkness simply means ignorance of one's own divinity. Jesus came to bring light to dispel people's ignorance of their divine identity, hence darkness is overcome by light. Sin in the Jewish context also refers to ignorance or amnesia of one's true identity and forgiveness of sin means unveiling of one's true identity, as pointed out by the post. Back then, the Jews and Pharisees failed to see their own divinity and hated themselves and became destructive, to the point they tried to kill Jesus too. Similarly, as noted in the post, many people in Christian circles fail to see the gospel or good news of their own divinity and so they hate themselves and others, seeing themselves as sinful and unworthy. Even though they may be taught to see Jesus as their covering with the robe of righteousness, and know they are crowned with glory, the underlying message they get from institutional church is that there is nothing good in them and only Jesus is their righteousness. But that is the old covenant mindset because the Jews put themselves under the law. The law is the one that condemns, not Jesus/God. God has all the while seen everyone as innocent and perfect/complete because he/she/it made us in divine image and declared us very good. The gospel of inclusion therefore unveils our mind to see the truth of who we are and see our original glory in the face of Christ our true identity. We will have single eye that sees our body as being full of light, knowing we are the light of the world.

God is all in all

"I will have nothing to do with a God who cares only occasionally. I need a God who is with us always, everywhere, in the deepest depths as well as the highest heights. It is when things go wrong, when good things do not happen, when our prayers seem to have been lost, that God is most present. We do not need the sheltering wings when things go smoothly. We are closest to God in the darkness, stumbling along blindly"

~Madeleine L'Engle

Yes, it is a divine paradox in that God is most present in our darkest moments of doubt and despair. I think much of the popular religious teachings tend to portray god to be present only when people have faith and is absent when people lacks faith or positive thinking, which sound fluffy and shallow. Yet God is all in all, and many a times deep calleth unto deep during our times of sorrow and anguish. A deeper peace lies within that is beyond superficial happiness and material pleasure, and also beyond doubts. God is love and love is found in everything and transcends polarities and duality. God is indeed with us always.

The Unrelenting Pursuit of God's Overflowing Love

"In Gen 9:6 and numerous other references, God confirms that man is still His image and likeness. The image and likeness that man was created in, is immutable – it cannot be destroyed. Darkness might have dimmed it, the father of lies might have obscured it, wickedness might have twisted man out of his true pattern, but the essence of man has never been completely destroyed.

In Luke 15 Jesus tells us of the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son.

The sheep remained a sheep although lost; the coin retained its value, although lost; the son remained a son, although lost. In all three cases the owner remained the owner and committed to that which was lost. The sheep and the coin contributed nothing towards being found. In the case of the son, his situation changed ‘when he came to himself’ (verse 17)

Even the word lost has the most beautiful promise in it, for you cannot be lost unless you belong!

God still saw enough value in us, to pursue us and save us at the greatest cost. 

Mankind was not corrupted beyond the possibility of restoration. Mankind was not lost beyond the possibility of salvation."

- Francois du Toit

This post reminds me of the unrelenting pursuit of love of our divine Lover who constantly reinvents Himself to woo us because His love is constantly overflowing. Whether as a shepherd finding his lost sheep that is his duty and livelihood, or a woman recovering her lost coin that is her prized possession, or a father reclaiming his lost son who bears his own image and likeness as well as his lineage, his salvation and redemption of our souls affirms and assures us of our intrinsic value and worth. He would not rest until we are all redeemed. And even after He has bought us with a price, He continues to pursue us with love and blessings, reminding us always of our blessedness. Yes, surely goodness and love (Christ) shall chase us down all the days of our life, and we will dwell in the house of the Lord (Christ consciousness) forever.

Salvation Has Rescued Us From Darkness (Ignorance) To Light (Understanding)

I have been blessed reading about the successful rescue mission of the 33 miners in Chile who were trapped for more than 2 months underground (from August to October 2010). I have been following the news about their plight for the past few weekends when I read about them in the newspapers. I think it’s almost like a real-life parable or illustration of how we all are rescued or translated from darkness to light.

Colossians 1:13-14 says “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

We were once in darkness, a place of ignorance. We were blinded in our minds to the immense love of our Father in heaven. We did not know our true identity. We felt alienated from God, when all the while God has never alienated Himself from us. He wants us to KNOW Him.

I believe then that Jesus has come to save us from our ignorance. He has come to give us an understanding of who God is and who we are in Him.
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Someone may quote Philippians 2:13 and say that we need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (meaning to imply some work on our part to remain “saved”). But I think we need to look at the historical context of this verse as well as consider the audience relevance. Have done a bit of study on Philippians 2:12-16 – I think the Concordant Literal Version of the Bible kinda captures the original Greek thought better:

So that, my beloved, according as you always obey, not as in my presence only, but now much rather in my absence, with fear and trembling, be carrying your own salvation into effect, ¹³ for it is God Who is operating in you to will as well as to work for the sake of His delight. ¹⁴ All be doing without murmurings and reasonings, ¹⁵ that you may become blameless and artless, children of God, flawless, in the midst of a generation crooked and perverse among whom you are appearing as luminaries in the world, ¹⁶ having on the word of life, for my glorying in the day of Christ, that I did not run for naught, neither that I toil for naught.”
(Philippians 2:12-16, Concordant Literal Version)

Paul was writing to the first century christians who were living among the “crooked and perverse generation” which refers to the religious people in Israel – I believe the salvation in that context is referring to being saved from the destruction together with the temple in 66-70AD — indeed, none of the christians were reported to perish during the Roman army siege – they had heeded Jesus’ warning to flee to the mountains of Judea. Besides, the salvation they knew then was salvation in all its fullness (wholeness, preservation, protection, etc) – it comes from the Greek word soteria. And yes, salvation is also a Person – Jesus is the Yeshua of the world.
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If we know Jesus as He really is – that His name is Salvation (Yeshua) – we will know that He is the Saviour of the world. Love came to save, love came to serve, love comes to give – Jesus is love personified, and He is salvation personified.

Jesus is the Saviour of ALL men. (See 1 Timothy 4:10)

When we say we are in Jesus, we actually mean we are in Salvation.

The good news is that: Salvation is here – in us, with us, for us. Even for those who do not know Jesus, HE knows them – that is their security. It is WHO knows us that matters, not how much we know Him – we cannot never fully know Him, for that matter. We all may lose sight of Him at times, but He never loses sight of us.
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I have had a misconception about what salvation means. I used to think salvation means being saved from hell (whatever that ‘hell’ meant), but I have learnt that salvation is simply saved from having a wrong mindset about God and about ourselves.

‘Hell’ is a pagan concept that has been used by the Roman Catholic church to control the masses with fear. This website “Hell is a misunderstood concept in Christianity” explains the details.

You may also like to listen to this video ‘Hell as an invention of the church‘.

The lake of fire is not literal but metaphorical. If it were literal, how would it be possible for death (which is non-physical) and hades (grave) be cast into the lake of fire?

We all have (had) a part in the lake of fire, which was not meant to torture us, but to purify. Phillip explained it like this: “The Greek word for fire is pur. Strong’s Concordant of the Bible #4442. This is where we get our English word ‘purify’. The lake of fire is no more than a purification process that every man will endure. (Mark 9:49) So the lake of fire is symbolic and it is not a literal fire.”

Revelations 21:8 speaks of the old Adamic nature and the old identity that experience the second death. It is not referring to people being burnt and tortured forever.

In short, Jesus came not to save people from ‘hell’ (which is a pagan concept). He came to save us from having a wrong mindset about God and about ourselves. He came to show us that God is all the while with us and He has never alienated Himself from us. He came to show us God is love and to restore our sense of identity which is found in Him.
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“And you, who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, blameless, and above reproach in His sight” (Colossians 1:21-22)

Notice that this sense of alienation and being enemies took place in our minds? Hence, God sent His Son to renew our mind (or repent – change our mind or change our thinking) to see ourselves in His image – that we are holy, blameless and above reproach.

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ ALL shall be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22)

In God’s mind, we are all made alive in Christ. We are new creations. We are the righteousness of God in Him. We are beloved children of God, accepted and highly favoured in the Beloved. We are the apple of God’s eye, and He loves us with an everlasting love.

When we awake to the truth that we are righteous in Him and He is in us, we will experience the abundant life He has given us – full of hope, full of joy, full of peace, full of health, full of finances. That is spiritual awakening at its fullness!

“Awake to righteousness (awake to the truth that you are the righteousness of God in Christ), and do not sin (do not fall short of the understanding that you are one with God and as a result living below the best He wants you to have); for some do not knowledge of God (who is in us and in whose image we are made).” (1 Corinthians 15:34; words in parentheses are mine)

Mary Lou Houllis said, “The Bible is not about the physical realm.” Indeed, the gospel (or good news of Christ) is about our belief system. What we believe will manifest in our lives. Our perception creates our reality. When we align our minds with the mind of God that proclaims we are one with Him, we will experience the truth of the gospel in tangible ways, in manifested blessings.

You may also like to listen to “The Creator You” by Mary Lou Houllis, who heads the New Beginning Oneness Center.

Recommended Readings:
“God’s Salvation Plan – Salvation of All” by Jath van der Westhuizen
“Misunderstandings about the meaning of hell (Part 1)” by Jath van der Westhuizen
“Misunderstandings about the meaning of hell (Part 2)” by Jath van der Westhuizen
“Redemption of Mankind” by Jath van der Westhuizen