G-50: Going Forward… November 14, 2014

 Jonathots Daily Blog

(2413)

That pretty much concludes everything. At least for now.

Every intelligent creature willing to move toward wisdom is learning. And all learning requires both a willingness to make mistakes and a desire to repent.

After billions of years, the process continues.

It’s not so much that we search for knowledge as that knowledge is waiting for true searchers. And what makes a true searcher?

That’s easy.

Not being afraid to be wrong–or at least mistaken.

Good will come. Evil will challenge. Kingdom will rise against kingdom and nation against nation.

Those who get caught up in the temporary conflict of the moment will soon be forgotten.

The earth is stronger than any of its occupants. The universe has more purpose than any poet can imagine.

But when all has been said and done–and that is unlikely to happen soon–the desire of the heart of the Creator is to bring us back to the Garden.

So how can you make sure that you’re moving toward the Garden instead of glorifying the arid desert?

1. Find enjoyable work.

Stop hanging on the cross, trying to suffer for being a grownup. Once and for all, a crucified man set us all free. Anything you do that avoids joy is wasted breath and exhausting effort.

2. Be equal partners.

Avoid those who make distinctions between men and women, colors and races, religions, sexuality and just general preferences. Equality is the only form of humility that has everlasting power.

3. Honor nature.

The Earth brings forth fruit of itself. Stand back in awe. You are not absent from the process, but rather, included. Don’t abuse your Mother and expect your Father to stand idly by, approving.

4. Meet your Creator at the end of the day and enjoy the cool of the evening.

Life is not a perpetual prayer session nor is it a fit of anger, shaking a fist at the heavens. It is understanding that there is a time for work and a time for commiserating.

5. And finally, choose life over knowledge.

As beautiful as knowledge can be, and as essential as it is to your well-being, it is life that brings you abundance.

So I speak to you:

• Use life to pursue desire.
• Employ your desire to acquire knowledge.
• Let knowledge advance science.
• Realize deep in your soul that science will always lead you to God.
• Worship God for the purpose of loving humans.
• And finally, enjoy humans to better your life.

 

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G-49: June 30th, 1863… November 7, 2014

 Jonathots Daily Blog

(2406)

Gettysburg
June 30th, 1863

Three prayers float their way up to the heavenly realm.

They are distinctly different, uniquely crafted by the speaker to adequately accentuate the piety of their position while simultaneously offering sufficient humility for the auspicious occasion.

Prayer 1

Our most sovereign God, we have just taken over this command of troops and are headed off into the Pennsylvania countryside. We are certainly without experience. We are vacant a master plan. So we come to You, seeking both wisdom and protection–wisdom for our frailty of mind, which causes us to dance between fear and an over-exaggerated sense of importance; and protection because the enemies set before us are much more adept at their craft and perhaps even more dedicated to their cause.

Our purposes for marching through these fields are diverse and perhaps for some of us, unknown. It is everything from duty, to mission, avoiding disobeying the common law, and even for some, seething anger.

We do not ask that you give us the day in battle, but please give us our daily bread, and may we be able to chew it, swallow it and accept it as our portion.

“We feel we are in the right, but as is often the case, we may learn the error of our ways. Amen.

Prayer 2

Eternal God who is Almighty in the Heavens, we come to you as the Army of Virginia, set out to right what is wrong and to preserve the glorious blessing of our heritage and beliefs. As cheated brothers, for a season we feel the need to pick up arms and right the injustice and regain the freedom to live among our constituency with integrity and with respect to that which we consider to be holy.

We know you have been with us as we have prevailed in battle, and we know you will be with us throughout this day as we once again set a path towards quickly ending the bloodshed and resume our lives with family and kin.

Here in Gettysburg, make our cannons accurate, our swords swift and our bullets straight. Even in our hearts, we have no animosity towards these individuals. They just stand in the way of our liberty.

Yet as you said in your Holy Book, there is a time to kill, and we respect that season by doing it to the best of our ability. Amen.

Prayer 3

Derz Jesus: Dey have plans to kills Marcus today. Lawd, he don’t do nothin’ but pick cotton slow. I’z wishin that Yous listen to me eben though I’m not worth more than the dirt I came from. Maybe, Lawd, if Iz talk to the Massa, he’s let me pick extra cotton to make up for Marcus. Gives me words. May the work that I done here speak, gon ahead of me, so when I ax for Marcus’s life, theys not be hangin him, but instead, he be comin home to his wife and three.

Iz so weak. I needs Youz, Lord. I needs to save my brother. Helps me before my mind goes to breakin apart. Helps me to keep from bein angry. Helps me to be a man, even though dose I talk to don’t believe I be one. Amen.”

Three prayers presented to God.

But only one was answered.

For you see, because the plantation owner was busy trying to gather provisions for the Rebel Army, it slipped his mind to kill Marcus.

The prayers that came from the two armies gathered to do battle were ignored. The combatants were left to their own devices, to slaughter one another at will.

God had stopped honoring nations, peoples, cultures and ideals.

He was looking for someone with great ideas, a heart for his fellow-man and a willingness to do something noble in a time of utter chaos.

 

 

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G-48: 1619… October 31, 2014

 Jonathots Daily Blog

(2398)

Excitement.

• A season of reason.
• An hour of power.
• A college of knowledge.
• A start for art.
• A relief for belief.
• A release of peace.
• A righting of the course of fellowship.

And then … 1619.

A Dutch trader, selling his goods along the African coast, runs across a tribesman who has no money, but is willing to give a cargo of human beings, his neighbors, as exchange for his merchandise.

The wayfaring seaman pauses, thinking. He knows he doesn’t dare return without some sort of remuneration, or face losing his job–maybe worse. He looks at the half-clothed, nervous, twitching beings in front of him. They don’t look like him.

His brain sets in motion a nasty logic:

1. These people are vulnerable.
2. Therefore, these folks are less.
3. These souls are our servants.
4. These creatures are our property.
5. These possessions are our slaves.

Much to his surprise, when he returns from his journey, expecting a rebuke for his choice, he is praised for such an inventive idea and commissioned to return and do it again.

As often is the case, there is a market. Therefore we pursue it–without wondering about its ramifications.

A painful portion of poison is perpetuated upon peoplehood. They digress.

And then one day, in a crowded, heated hall, nervous men, trying to cover their apprehension with verbal boldness, agree to a document which states clearly, directly and without apology:

“All men are created equal.”

1776.

Perhaps it is the remedy for 1619.

We shall see what price they’re willing to pay…for their own convictions.

 

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G-47: The Chosen Two … October 24, 2014

 Jonathots Daily Blog

(2391)

Leonardo da Vinci

 

Something changed.

Nicolaus Copernicus

For 199,500 years, people focused on land, children, eating, drinking and warring–so much so that 1,000 of those years were spent submerged in a darkened era, when religion and politics kept humankind bound in serfdom.

But you see, the glory of an omnipotent God is that He made Himself submissive to human free will. This is why the question, “Why doesn’t God do something?” is not only ridiculous, but futile.

William Harvey

Granting free will is an invitation to interruption.

So in the last 500 years, the Father who created all has escaped the rigors of Jews and Gentiles and welcomed the new chosen two: science and creativity.

It was a risky decision, because those who tend to be scientific and creative are not always reverent or worshipful. Matter of fact, they might even be atheistic.

Galileo Galilei

It might seem counterproductive–to be a God who encourages the godless. But if people don’t have a vision stimulated by science and creativity, they perish in small-mindedness.

So God, the Father, who created us all and placed within us the image of His creative mind, linked with Mother Nature, welcoming science to join the party as a family. Adding the Son to be the human example of how all things work, you have a lovely nuclear union.

It is no longer about who prays the most.

It is not about lineages or birthrights.

Johannes Gutenberg

It is not about the worship of holy books.

Progress in the Spirit is being made by discovering the science that God has placed in His evolution and creation, and the unfolding of the creativity He anointed in the human race.

G. F. Handel

Our heroes are not patriarchs–they are patrons of the arts and pathologists who are helping mankind advance in understanding, with the hope that granting longevity of life will open the door to spiritual revival.

For 199,500 years, we progressed 10% in our comprehension. But once science and creativity were given license to breathe, and Mother Nature and Father God, along with the Son, were united, we began to believe there were answers in the world around us.

The question remaining was if we could translate these discoveries into a deep sense of praise and appreciation for the Giver.

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G-46: Carnal Creative … October 17, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

(2384)

 

A return to sacrifice.

People were once again trying to establish their piety by what they gave up, abandoned, diminished or rationed.

For twenty-five generations, the Earth was encompassed by a spirit of religion which ended up welcoming greed and violence to maintain the bondage to practice rather than purpose.

People who sacrifice always produce one fruit: pride.

It is the duplication of the spirit of the Pharisees, who ended up killing off the new idea because it wasn’t approved by committee.

Human beings were never meant to sacrifice. They become both angry and self-righteous.

Even though I desired to be their Father and was merely requesting an attitude of obedience to the natural order and spiritual law, all I was offered was ritual and regulation.

What I learned through this era, dubbed the Dark Ages, was that even obedience is less than effective because it makes people terrified of non-compliance.

I created man in my image, and woman also–but my image is not one of sacrifice. My image is not even obedience. I blow like the wind at my Spirit’s whim.

My image is creativity.

And of course, it is impossible to be creative when sacrificing, because the fear of stepping over the line or being too expansive intimidates the trembling adherent.

And those who are obedient do well at following instruction but find it difficult to explode with a fresh anointing born of joy or agony.

So after the twenty-five generations passed, a rebellious sort emerged from the masses, expelling the rigors of religion and the constraints of obedience.

They were a carnal sort. They were subject to their appetites more than to a hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

They were carnal, but they were creative. The Renaissance bloomed.

It was at that point that I had to make a choice. Did I want to be a Father, remembered by dusty, ancient scrolls written by patriarchs, or did I want to be a laborer in creativity, blessing the world with innovation?

Should I continue to hide out in huge cathedrals with those who were afraid of monsters, dragons and demons, or should I align myself with the more ornery and less orderly fellows?

I thought it best to encourage creativity.

I turned my back on papal wishes and stood and applauded the painter of a ceiling who believed he had captured the image of God.

I ignored decrees from conclaves of cardinals to peek over the shoulder of the soul painting the Last Supper.

I aligned myself with new wine, knowing that the old wine was good for nothing but idle conversation.

Carnal creativity.

I just believed it was more possible for a man or woman who had just made something beautiful to accidentally discover my Spirit than to believe that some dried-out, bitter, priestly shell, poring over a manuscript, could capture the essence of my Spirit.

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G-45: Dark Pages … October 10, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

(2376)

What made you think I would tolerate your religion?

What caused you to believe that you were given permission to rustle up rules and regulations and herd spirituality into some stinky-hole corral of repetition?

Did you forget how I mocked the traditions of men when I walked among the Jews? I ridiculed their ceremony and chided them for their elaborate clothing, flaunting their position.

Therefore, will I accept your garb of garbled expression, touting sacrifice, or worse, supremacy?

• Wash your hands? No, thank you
• Fast? I am a glutton.
• Pray? Only in my closet of privacy.
• Stone that harlot? I do not condemn her.
• Worship the temple? I shall tear it down.

I am nauseated by your praise without heart. They are words of explanation without meaning, droned in somber tones to establish solemnity.

Blind from your eyes plucked by bouts with vengeance.

Toothless, pleading for your mother’s milk.

Calling one another Master, Reverend, Bishop, Cardinal, Pope.

Yes, Pope.

Did you forget it was the Jewish Pope, Caiaphas, who condemned me to death, using the Roman puppet to act out the violent, fool-hardy charade?

It is as if the Pharisees have hijacked my work instead of the mission being heralded by cleansed lepers, freed whores and liberated Gentiles, dancing for joy.

You have taken the pages of my words and turned off the light, to revere the book and ignore the context.

When you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you are cannibals because you ignore my mind and reject my heart.

There are no kings.

There are no serfs.

You are drunk on your own swill of piety.

As I told the daughters of Jerusalem, your house is left desolate. It is a tomb, displaying silence as the evidence of a slaughtered hope.

I was here.

Did you fail to learn of my actions?

I despise those who feel they are better than others, even if they can recite a litany of their righteous deeds.

I never knew you.

I don’t want to know you.

You cannot imprison my healing virtue in the torture chamber of your tiny vision and narrow mind.

I am the wind. I will blow where I desire.

I will find liberty and immerse my efforts in the waters of freedom.

You have found the heaviest burdens and laid them on the shoulders of broken travelers.

You have made my name weary when it was meant to produce rest.

I hate your religion.

I shall create again, calling new souls … and bring your efforts to nought. 

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G-44: Blogging… October 3, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

(2369)

Paul was a blogger.

Although it’s commonly accepted that he authored books, what he really penned were entries which he posted to various individuals and congregations, expressing his mood in the moment.

So sometimes we have:

• happy Paul
• sad Paul
• angry Paul
• theological Paul
• philosophical Paul
• bruised Paul
• attacking Paul
• judgmental Paul
• merciful Paul
• Pharisee Paul
• and Gentile Paul

Nothing much is achieved in reading the New Testament without understanding this concept. For if you isolate off one of Paul’s posts and attempt to characterize his entire message by its content, you will soon be frustrated by another entry, which seems to be contradictory.

Before you become critical of this grab-bag styling, you might want to consider the audience Paul was trying to reach. First, he worked around the erroneous premise of trying to be “all things to all men so that he might save some.” Here’s the problem with the idea: the Jews seek for a sign, the Greeks want wisdom, the Romans crave power and the Barbarians yearn for an identity. It’s difficult to believe that any singular paragraph, clump of verses or accumulation of chapters could appease all of these sensitivities.

So by the time the first century came to an end, and all of the original folks who ate and lived with Jesus were dying off, the message was suffering from a “clarification crisis.”

Some people favored Paul, some Peter, some Apollos, and others, some no-name who didn’t make the Biblical cut.

Simultaneously, the Romans were gradually getting tired of killing Christians and because of the failings of their Empire, were looking for a fresh motivation. So as time marched on, the Romans embraced this “Mesopotamia Message” as their own, and of course, in the process, swallowed it up with their bureaucracy.

The Romans, being authoritarians, felt that the weakness of the Pauline preaching was that it allowed too much freedom for the individual, without the structure of a governing body filled with superiors.

So this new Roman church was structured exactly the same as Rome itself–with an Emperor, a Senate, tribunals and even, to a certain degree, legions of soldiers.

The ironic result was that a God who came to study man was ignored in favor of men who decided to study God.

Meanwhile, the Barbarians discovered a potent identity. They could defeat Rome and rule the world, such as it was.

So a message which was intended to place the Kingdom of God within the heart of each believer was now placed within the whim of a potentate.

Alas, my friends … leave it to human beings to make things worse when they organize. 

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