Episode:Jesus in Galilee—Crisis and Consequences (Part 3)
As a solemn warning, Jesus declared: "Verily, verily, I say to you, all your sins shall be forgiven, even all of your blasphemies, but whosoever shall blaspheme against God with deliberation and wicked intention shall never obtain forgiveness. Since such persistent workers of iniquity will never seek nor receive forgiveness, they are guilty of the sin of eternally rejecting divine forgiveness."
Keywords: Urantia, Jesus, Demoniac Possession, Unclean Hearts, Self-Chosen Ways of Darkness
Summary by Kermit
Commentary on the Review
SoS discussed some of the subtleties in the function of the three cosmic intuitions given to us through encircuitment in the Holy Spirit—material acumen, moral discriminator, spiritual insight. Unlike the seven Adjutant Mind Spirits which are unable to discriminate finer differences in the realms of science philosophy, and religion, these gifts develop and mature with careful cultivation. We are encouraged to avoid the pitfall of allowing early efforts in their use to become arrested through the unwitting substitution of our preconceived opinions, settled ideas, and long-standing prejudices for the three genuine reality responses inasmuch as they can readily so masquerade in what may commonly be known as gut feelings.
We also conjectured as to Jesus’ attitude toward the inevitable emergence of Jesusism—the embrace of Jesus as the alpha and omega of a believer’s concept of God. We doubt that the Master would deliberately and intentionally foster such an interpretation of his life and teachings as opposed to simply recognizing the inevitability of such interpretations. We recognize Jesusism as a developmental stage in one’s religious development destined to pass away with the acquirement of greater insight and wisdom.
We noted that the “parting of the ways” represents the full binary fork in the road moment where you make the choice between God (righteousness) and self (self-righteousness).
153:3.3 The After Meeting (cont.)
Picking up our story with the aftermath of the epochal sermon, one of the Jerusalem spies assigned to observe Jesus and his apostles challenged their disregard for the traditions of the law of the elders regarding ceremonial cleanliness of hands and eating implements. Jesus responded with a stinging indictment of the widespread practice of circumventing the commandment to honor thy father and mother by craftily using the law of tradition allowing children to designate their substance as given to God and then keeping it for their own use.
He then goes on to deliver his instruction concerning that which defiles. Ever attempting to delineate the difference between things material and things spiritual as well as the inner and outer life, Jesus clearly pinpoints the source of moral defilement and spiritual contamination to be the evil which originates in the heart of man thence expressed outwardly and not that which enters a person via mouth or even the material mind. Again, the 5th ER uses the term “heart” to connote the spiritualized mind rather than the center of the feelings. All present including his apostles and disciples had difficulty comprehending his words. Parallel passages describing this event in the gospels of Matthew and Mark give slightly differing but overlapping lists of unholy thoughts and deeds. We noted that careful examination of the list of transgressions found in the text correspond to thoughts and behaviors requiring higher human faculties (upper domain in the hourglass analogy) in distinction to mere animal-origin expressions.
To help put Jesus’ comments into perspective note that commerce with a harlot and eating with ceremonially unclean hands were held in the same light, each worthy of excommunication. Jesus’ attack on the whole rabbinic system and oral law highlights the manner in which religious beliefs and practices accumulate over the ages. Such preference for the oral law over the scriptures betrays a thread of the old practice of ancestor worship. Even Christianity with its galaxy of saints shows this persistence of ancient religious practices. Such is the tendency of man in his quest for the eternal and immutable to existentialize that which is evolutionary and ever tie himself to the past.
153:4. Last Words in the Synagogue
To put the cherry on top of this scene, Jesus is presented with a distraught youth, his first instance of evil spirit possession. After Jesus commands the rebellious spirit to come out of the youth, he is accused of doing so by the power of the evil one and his minions. Jesus responds with his well known “How can Satan cast out Satan? A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.” He then turns his attention to those in the assembly who “presume with eyes open and with premeditated malice, knowingly to ascribe the works of God to the doings of devils!” While proclaiming forgiveness for all their sins and blasphemies, he declares that those who do so against God shall never obtain forgiveness, in reality being guilty of the sin of eternally rejecting divine forgiveness.
To the entreaties of a Pharisee asking for a predetermined sign to establish Jesus’ authority to teach, he further declares that no sign shall be given other than the many already performed.
The apostles escorted Jesus from the synagogue and journeyed home in silence, amazed and somewhat terror-stricken.
Are we who follow and believe the Master to adopt his militancy in responding to those who would assail our religious beliefs?
Notes by Brad
- Discriminate versus distinguish. Some issues are so subtle of consideration, our material minds cannot tease out the difference. A finer mind is needed to discriminate the difference.
- We see here the first instance of Jesus indicting the Parisees in an almost scathing way. The first, but not the last time.
- Only things said from the heart that have the potential to defile you. Things said by your animal-origin nature? That's just typical 8th grade schoolyard behavior.
- What "plants" have been planted, but not by the Father? Those of self-righteousness; plants you yourself have planted instead of God having planted.
- Evil is a spirit word. Wicked is even beyond evil, it connotes sin. A "wicket project" would be deliberate disloyalty to deity.
- This list "jealousy, pride, anger, revenge, railings, and false witness" includes things that can come from the animal-origin self, too. These are items that also can come forth from the inner life, as an act of will—the upper domain in the hourglass analogy.
- What would upper-domain anger look like? A self-righteous anger chafing at the universe suggesting I might not be the prime object in the universe, for example.
- Humility would be an fine antidote.
- And note that false is a high word, so false witness is a high concept. Does anyone here even know what false witness genuinely connotes?
- What would upper-domain anger look like? A self-righteous anger chafing at the universe suggesting I might not be the prime object in the universe, for example.
- See [Paper 77] for more extensive info about demoniac possession before Pentecost.
- But it isn't the Thought Adjuster that prevents this after Pentecost. It's the Spirit of Truth (acting as a Spirit of Unification)
- "Self-chosen ways of darkness" is a masterful turn of phrase.
