Unio Mystica or The Mystical Union?

If you have begun reading my blog postings with this entry, I urge you to go to the entry just prior to this one. To some degree, this entry is a continuation of the one prior, and it would be beneficial to read about the “social order” that God has created.

Let me start with a scripture or two. First of all, here is John 14: 19-20:

¹⁹ Yet a little while, and the world beholdeth me no more; but ye behold me: because I live, ye shall live also.

²⁰ In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

Having quoted Jesus in this passage, I now want to go back a few verses to John 14: 16-17:

¹⁶ And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever, ¹⁷ even the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth him: ye know him; for he abideth with you, and shall be in you.

Here, in these scriptures are the promise of a Comforter, the Holy Spirit, that will abide with us and be IN us. Suddenly, we now have another perspective on God’s social order and how we fit into the picture. There is first the image of the relationship between the Father, the Son, and mankind.

In this diagram, we see that mankind, and specifically Christians, have a whole new relationship with God. It shows that we are “proceeding” from both the Father and the Son. In addition, Christ has promised us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and be a part of us. So, if we are “one” with the Holy Spirit, then we must also be “one” with the Father and the Son.

However, there are serious consequences with this relationship. Jesus has warned of those, specifically the Sadducees and Pharisees, who wished to receive the notice of men when they prayed or gave alms. He spoke of the religious leaders of the day “making their Phylacteries wide and their Tassels long” so as to be noticed by others. Phylacteries were small boxes with scripture within them that the faithful tied to their foreheads as a symbolism of having God’s word in the forefront of their minds.

Matthew 6, verses 1 through 4 give us this message as to how we are to conduct ourselves:

¹ Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them: else ye have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

² When therefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward.

³ But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:  ⁴ that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee.

In a previous entry, I wrote about why the world has (and still does) despised both the Jews and the Christians. I believe that the world does not like the idea of there being any “exclusivity” to any religion. Yet, the Bible tells us that there is no other way to Heaven except through Jesus Christ.

While we can take comfort in the knowledge that we have a close personal relationship with God, we must not flaunt any feelings we have around men. When I was growing up, there were members of the church of Christ that believed that if one wasn’t a member of that church, one was destined for Hell. However, I don’t hold with that philosophy simply because I am not God.

Far be it for me to try to say that someone does not have salvation, as I have no idea as to the manner those people live their lives. They may very well be living their lives better and closer to God than I am. The last thing I will say on the matter is that Christ stated that the way to salvation was through him, and there aren’t many other religions that can profess their closeness to God in the social order that He has created.

Forgive me, but there is so much more within the lessons of The Truth Project than what I’ve posted in my entries. I haven’t even scratched the surface of all the scriptural passages and logical thinking involved with coming to the conclusions that are made in these entries.