On my Facebook group page, The Alternative Christian, I conducted a three-day experiment asking participants to respond to the topics you see below. The statements represent a compilation of their answers.

My purpose for doing this is to demonstrate that this core set of values represents the basis of our understanding of all topics of a spiritual nature. For example, someone can say, “I believe in prayer.” What does that mean? How you view prayer is influenced by your understanding of these three core values. If you think of God as the old man in the sky, your understanding of prayer will be different from one who sees God as an indwelling, accessible presence. Likewise, your view of Jesus, of the Bible, of healing, of prosperity and so forth begins with this trinity of values. Understand their core values and you’ll understand why some are aggressively trying to save souls while others accept that the awakening to the inner presence of God is their salvation. You’ll understand why some are waiting for the Second Coming while others see it as an inner awakening to their own Christ potential. You’ll get why some see the Bible as God’s primary way of communicating with people, while others see the Word of God as that inner living flame of the soul.

I would recommend this exercise for anyone, to take a meditative approach to answering these three questions: What is my understanding of the nature of God? What is my understanding of the nature of the individual? What is my understanding of the relationship between God and the individual?

If you’re interested in becoming a part of The Alternative Christian, make sure you have a Facebook account then click the link and request membership in the group.

The Nature of God
God, the one power of the universe (omnipotent), is greater than all but accessible to all, organic and uniquely personal. Centered in the silent core, that holy void within every person, God is expressed through each living thing as the all-encompassing, healing energy, the pure, infinite, eternal source of unconditional life, love, power and intelligence. God is the object of all that we seek, the awe-inspiring joy, the creative life-force in whom all things live and move and have their being.

I have started a closed Facebook group called The Alternative Christian. If you have a Facebook account and are interested in becoming part of this group, let me know with a comment to this post and I’ll send you an invitation. Here is the basic premise for the group:

The Alternative Christian is for those who resonate with a Christian-based message beyond the mainstream but not so far as the woo-woo New Age approach.

The first question I have posed is this: What is your understanding of the nature of God?

21 people signed up yesterday and today and I look forward to hearing from many more of you.

Blessings, JDB

YouTube: The Mystical Thread

Audio: The Mystical Thread

As we’ve seen, the Gospels carry two messages: one is the developing doctrine of the early church, the other is what we’re considering the mystical thread that runs through the teachings of Jesus. How do we recognize this thread? We look for ideas that are consistent, not with early church doctrine, but with the principles of mysticism. These principles will always include references to 1) the omnipotence God, 2) the divinity of the individual, and 3) the relationship of oneness between God and the individual. In some verses these ideas are evident while others will require some thoughtful consideration before they yield their hidden treasure.

Jesus made references to God caring for sparrows, lilies of the field and birds of the air in general. He assured his listeners that God, their heavenly Father, would take care of them as well. We can picture how this happens with a favorite illustration of mine. We mow our lawn and a healing intelligence is there to respond to each individual blade of grass. If every lawn on the planet is cut at the same time, this non-depletable presence responds just as quickly and just as certainly.

We see the first element in our trinity of principles as the grass immersed in the omnipotence of God. The healing power is dispersed everywhere, equally at the same time. The second element presents as this power fully involved in every single blade, meaning the whole of the healing power is intimately involved, down to the cellular level. We see the third element in the fact that all the grass is one with this healing energy, no begging for its help required.

“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?” (Matt. 6:30).

There isn’t room here to cover all the instances of how the teachings of Jesus rest on this powerful trinity of principles. We will continue to explore specific passages in the weeks ahead. The important thing is to be able to identify this mystical thread as a key assurance that God is truly a present and responsive help in our times of uncertainty and need.

[Note: I was absent Sunday due to a minor surgery, which was a success. I want to thank Elaine Lawrie-Foss, a lifetime Unity student, for speaking in my place. JDB]

Youtube: The Silence (audio only)

Audio: The Silence

Excerpt from The Silence, by E.V. Ingraham

The moment it dawns upon you that the first sense of stillness that you feel as you practice the silence is the actual presence of God, that moment you have passed into the realm “beyond the silence,” for then there comes to you a conscious revelation of one of the outstanding characteristics of God Himself. But back of the silent nature of God lie all the numberless phases and degrees of Him who is all.  The silence then becomes the locus (place in consciousness) for receiving the inspiration of the Almighty that gives understanding; the locus where the Spirit of truth becomes the only teacher, where man gains knowledge of the Infinite at first hand.  Silence ceases to be mere stillness, and becomes the unfolding presence of Divinity itself.  At this moment you have literally touched the hem of His garment, and the complete reconstruction of your nature begins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

YouTube: The Mystical Union

Audio: The Mystical Union

“Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?  So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:4-6).

How we understand Jesus’ kingdom of God is our key to understanding the mystical thread running through his teachings. Is this kingdom a biblically prophesied day of judgment, complete with major destruction, wailing and gnashing of teeth? Or is it a quiet spiritual awakening that is born and grows through our consciousness from the innermost recesses of the soul? It is clear from the overall message of the New Testament that the early Christian community couched it in apocalyptic terms. But when we lift the sayings of Jesus from this evangelical narrative, we find another, inner-directed message more closely associated with the mystical thread.

Jesus often speaks in contrasting terms. He uses things like good and bad fish, wheat and tares, wide and narrow gates, old and new wine, houses built on rock and sand, man and woman, to name a few. We get the most from these illustrations when we see them, not as references to believers and sinners, but as contrasting types of consciousness. One is the surface, senses-based understanding, the wide gate that most rely on to navigate through their world. The other is a consciousness built upon the bedrock of the soul, the narrow gate that relatively few discover. This is the heart of the gospel of Jesus for it not only establishes our relationship with God, it gives us a practical spiritual base from which to weather life’s storms.

Matthew obviously used this passage simply as commentary on the institution of marriage. The deeper meaning addresses the need for unity between the intellect (man) and the intuition (woman). Rather than think of ourselves as a human being seeking a spiritual experience, we correctly understand ourselves as a spiritual being having a human experience. From this spiritual foundation, the intellect and the intuition act in unison, the soul inspired intuition providing the primary insight. We are no longer two but one flesh, our head and our heart joined in spiritual matrimony.

This is an appropriate message for today. Our intellectually driven science sees the soul as little more than a neurological process, an unnecessary curiosity. The towering intellect has effectively divorced this intuitive counterpart for that singing siren of technology.

We know that civilizations grow or fall on the same principle: from the inside out. It’s what we grasp as our center that determines which direction we go. Through all time, this mystical union that God has joined together is truly a marriage that no culture can afford to put asunder.

Youtube: Finding Your Center of Power

Audio: Finding Your Center of Power

The Alternative Christian Series

“Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:22-24).

Last week we focused on the parable of the prodigal son, which is all about coming home. Coming home is a return to your center of power, a key element of the mystical thread that we’re considering as the Gospel of Jesus.

How do we find our center of power? Jesus says to have faith in God. That is, draw your attention away from that mountainous problem that looms before you and recommit to turning your faith in God.

A story found in 2 Chronicles really drives this home with a practical how-to. Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, is informed that many of Judah’s enemies have formed an alliance and are coming to attack. Jehoshaphat responds in fear, but he vows to “seek the Lord” and calls for a national fast. Addressing the Lord, he says, “In thy hand are power and might. We are powerless. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon thee.” Then the Lord spoke through the prophet Jahaziel. “You will not need to fight in this battle. Fear not, and be not dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God’s. Go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”

The recognition that the battle was not theirs but God’s indicates they had found their center of power. Jehoshaphat then orders singers to go before them singing praises. In the end, the forces arrayed against Judah began to fight amongst themselves and they destroyed one another.

God within is our center of power, the source of our strength. If we are drawing our strength from what we have rather than from who we are, we may discover that we don’t have what it takes to win the battle.

When Jesus says, “…and does not doubt in his heart,” he is echoing Jehoshaphat’s, “In thy hand are power and might. We are powerless. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon thee.” In other words, both are describing a very definite shift in focus. How will the mountain be cast to the sea? How will the army be defeated? We don’t know. We only know that our eyes are upon thee. Our faith is in God.

This is the homecoming, the return to our center of power. Problems come in the form of mountains and great armies that seem poised to destroy our peace. Return to your home, your center of power by reaffirming your faith in God, the absolute good working through your life right now.

 

 

 

 

YouTube: The Gospel of Jesus

Audio: The Gospel of Jesus

The Alternative Christian Series

We have four Gospels about Jesus, but do we have a Gospel of Jesus? I like to think we do, and it’s found in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). The story not only provides a summary of the entire problem of sin and salvation, it also gives us the key to the mystical thread that I believe represents the heart of his message.

Luke positions this parable and the two that precede it—the lost coin and the lost sheep—in the early Christian context of the wayward sinner, which is how it is usually considered today. Though we’re led to believe that Jesus taught a repent or else message, his original intent was probably more in line with the less abrasive, forgiving words and actions of the father toward his wayward son. It’s been suggested that Luke was seeking to appease a remnant of John the Baptist’s following who would have been accustomed to John’s harsher tone.

An overview of this parable shows that it contains all three phases of the Hero’s Journey: 1) the departure 2), the initiation 3) the return. The son leaves his ordinary life to heed the call to adventure. Once out, he encounters severe trials that lead him to the brink of disaster. His transformative moment occurs when he comes to himself. The arrogance of youth is replaced with humble compliance. He returns home a changed character.

I think the perfect litmus test for Jesus’ gospel is found in how well his various sayings align with the tone of this parable. The sinner is punished by his sins, not for them. The father does not forgive the son because he never condemns him. He expresses nothing but unconditional love. The only condemnation in the story comes from the older brother, who represents the demand for punishment found in so many mainstream religions.

If we go back to the statement that Truth is the omnipotence of God expressing as the spiritual essence of every individual, we see this principle portrayed in the prodigal story. The father represents this perpetual state of self-expression in his love for both sons. Our wayward thinking does not change the expressive activity of God in us. We may wander into the far country of despair, but because this relationship of oneness is unchangeable, we can come to ourselves and begin our journey home, no bargaining required.

The younger son breaks the rules and the older son insists on punishment for his sins. Both suffer as the result of their transgressions. The father goes out to welcome his wayward son, but he also goes out to console his angry son.

The story clearly illustrates the unconditional love of God, a message worthy of being treated as the good news, the Gospel that Jesus likely intended to bring to the world.

YouTube: The New Birth

Audio: The New Birth

The Alternative Christian Series

“Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3).

We’ve all heard of the born-again Christian. We may think of this new birth, as one mainstream Christian writer puts it, as occurring in one who “turns from sin and with his or her whole heart trusts in Christ as personal Savior and Lord.” But the context of this well-known encounter between Nicodemus and Jesus gives no indication that this is what Jesus meant. He explains to Nicodemus that “flesh gives birth to flesh, but Spirit gives birth to spirit.” The new birth is a transition from that which is born of the flesh to that which is born of the Spirit. One cannot see the kingdom of God, he says, unless they experience this shift, this new birth. Interestingly, we see this same idea expressed in the Hindu Upanishads: “Thou canst not behold Me with thy two outer eyes, I have given thee an eye divine.”

That in us which is born of the flesh is our body-based self-image, the core identity most of us use to navigate through life. We can refer to this surface self in many ways including the personality, the ego, or as Paul’s “mind of the flesh” (Romans 8:6). The physical body is the central component of the self-image. In contrast, that which is born of the Spirit is, of course, our spiritual essence, the image and likeness of God we know as the soul. We come to know the soul, not through “thy two outer eyes,” but through our intuitive faculty, the eye divine. “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:6). To go into your room and close the door is a way of saying, Turn away from the senses, listen and learn to feel the innermost promptings of the Spirit. This is not an intellectual pursuit but an intuitive activity in which we attune to the quiet radiance emanating from our spiritual center.

This new birth occurs in most as a gradual awakening. It may begin as unrest accompanied by questions about life’s purpose. This evolves into a new way of thinking. We eventually lay down the books and actively pursue a first-hand experience with God. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).

When the door is opened, God is immediately transformed from speculative theory to concrete reality. Our new birth opens our eye divine to see this otherwise invisible spiritual realm, this kingdom that, as the Gospel of Thomas states, “… is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it” (Saying 113). This is not simply a shift in ideas. It’s a consciousness transforming renewal of the mind, a new birth. The soul is brought into our field of awareness, not as a conceptual abstraction, but as the living energy we know as the true basis of our identity.

 

YouTube: The Alternative Christian

Audio: The Alternative Christian

A Series

The thread of Truth runs through all the world’s religions, often overshadowed by the low hanging fruit of dogmatic beliefs handed down through generations. These gain acceptance, not necessarily because they are true or spiritually logical, but because they are repeated so long and so often we assume they must be true.

I consider myself a Christian, but I obviously do not flow with the mainstream. In this sense, I would compare myself to Jesus. He was a Jew, but his greatest critics were the Jewish orthodoxy. They had their doctorates in religious law, but they had no understanding of the spiritual rebirth he spoke of with Nicodemus. Paul, who began his life as a Pharisee, had an experience that opened his mind to a deeper level. “The unspiritual man (strict intellect) does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually (intuitively) discerned” (1Corinthians 2:4).

Embodied in the teachings attributed to Jesus there are universal principles that largely go unacknowledged by our native Christianity. Critical scholars believe that the first Gospel writer, the author of Mark, began simply with a list of sayings attributed to Jesus. To these he added his own narrative and interpretation of who and what Jesus was. Matthew and Luke created their differing versions about a decade later. John, who presents a completely independent interpretation, appeared sixty to seventy years after the death of Jesus. These writers were evangelists, not historians. To find the gospel or “good news” of Jesus, we must look beyond the imposed and currently accepted interpretations of early church orthodoxy.

Truth, as I will define it through this series, is the omnipotence of God expressing as the spiritual essence of every individual. I’m confident Jesus taught that a return to the bedrock of our spiritual core is the key to salvation from the full range of life’s hardships. When he said, follow me, he was not suggesting that we follow him, the man, but the instruction he was giving. The kingdom he spoke of is not lo here or lo there. The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21).

That Jesus appealed to the common person of his day tells me his message was both accessible and practical. But as someone has pointed out, what we’re now presented with is not the religion of Jesus, but a religion about Jesus. When we start from the basis that we are each an expression of that one presence and one power we call God, we more readily see the present and practical value of what Jesus was communicating.

Through this series we will explore the many gems of wisdom found throughout the sayings of Jesus. We’ll look at how these sayings were compiled and put into narrative form as the Gospels we know. Most importantly, we’ll explore the universal principles embodied in the sayings and actions of Jesus, principles that serve as a solid basis for those who feel comfortable identifying as the Alternative Christian.