In the Beginning, each of us was created to relate to Yahweh. Our purpose was to receive the infinite Love that He wanted to express and then, by returning to Him, partner with Him as creators.
Just as with any human relationship, your relationship with Yahweh will be unique and individual. Your partnership with Him in the Divine Dance will trace a different path than anyone else's. The way you interact with Him will be vastly different from the way that anyone else interacts with Him. You will know Him differently than anyone else knows Him.
And yet, He is One. He will not be anything other than Himself. Due to His Infinite nature, however, we cannot presume to define Him. We can only experience Him as He shows Himself to us.
Anyone who relates to Yahweh is blessed by that relationship. Sometimes people don't know that they have the ability to relate to Yahweh as individuals. They either think that they have to relate to Yahweh like someone else relates to Him or they consider themselves unworthy of relating to Him. Ultimately, they do not trust Yahweh.
Because of this, they hold themselves back from Yahweh. In the illusion, we've all experienced this with Yahweh and with other people, fearing their rejection or ridicule, we have hidden ourselves away. I hid myself behind 387 pounds of flesh before I realized that there is no such thing as hatred or fear.
People who are not relating to Yahweh are in illusion. Thus they are in pain. When they see someone who is relating to Yahweh and see that blessing, they want that. Everyone wants to relate to Yahweh, whether they know it or not.
There are people who have related to Yahweh in unique, individual relationships throughout time. As they relate to Yahweh, they move through their own unique lives and Divine Dance patterns. This naturally produces revelation, blessings, and complete and utter joy! It also produces an incredible love for everyone and a desire to share with others. People who relate to Yahweh in this depth want everyone to know the love and joy that they know, and so they will share the facet of Yahweh that they have seen as best they can. (Some even do it on blogs...)
However, it benefits a person nothing to hear about another's relationship to Yahweh except that this might drive them to seek their own. Yahweh is so beautiful! Everyone should know Him!
Unfortunately, what has often happened over the course of history is that one person's relationship-revelation has turned into another person's religion.
Let's take Moses, for example. Moses talked with Yahweh face-to-face. He went up to the mountain, braving the fear of rejection and death to hear His Voice for himself. (That fear is powerful in illusion when the Being with whom you are going to talk shows up as thunder and lightning and has proven His power by sending plagues over the place where you used to live and then calling you out into a desert by moving oceans for you.)
Now I can't tell you much about Moses's relationship with Yahweh because I am not Moses, but I can say that what the Israelites did with it was not a relationship, but a religion. Unwilling to talk to Yahweh themselves, they took Moses's relationship-revelation and tried to fit it to their lives. This became a worldwide religion.
There was a man named Zarathustra--or Zoroaster--who lived in ancient Persia. He knew of a Supreme Wise Creator long before the Jews had ever traveled to Persia. He knew things in the stars that Yahweh would tell him. He knew that there was one supreme creator God in a land of polytheism. I believe that he had a true relationship with Yahweh, though I can't really say since I am not Zoroaster. The religion that others formed around Zoroaster's relationship-revelation was called Zoroastrianism. It, like all religions, melds Reality revelation with man's concepts of right and wrong.
I would venture to say that any religion with a core of Truth started with one person's relationship with Yahweh. Some religions are offshoots of other religions, and so indirectly link to another's relationship with Yahweh. I'm talking about Islam, Druidism, Buddhism, the Ba'hai faith, etc. All of these are either directly or indirectly linked to someone's relationship-revelation with Yahweh.
Thus we can define religion as-- the appropriation, whether directly or indirectly, of the relationship-revelation of one man or woman with Yahweh God for use by another person or group of people without that relationship.
No wonder religion stagnates!
Brace yourselves...
There was another man called Paul. Paul had a special relationship with Yahweh. He was supernaturally delivered from his illusion by being temporarily blinded. He was led on a special individual path throughout the Mediterranean by Yahweh Himself to lead others into relationships with Yahweh. I don't know all about Paul's relationship with Yahweh because I am not Paul. Some people got together, saw his life and heard his teachings, and compiled his writings into a canon. They formed a religion around Paul's relationship-revelation as well as some of the relationship-revelations of other men such as John, Moses, David, Abraham, and Peter.
So I ask you, is Christianity a relationship or a religion?
I think this must be answered by each individual. I am not saying we do not exchange or draw on the revelation of others. Clearly, I am not saying we don't share our own relationship-revelation with others (or I would not bother writing this). What I am saying is that we must share in relationship with Yahweh and others. Relationship with Yahweh is paramount!
As I learn of others' revelation or we discuss things that Yahweh has been sharing with us, I am not making their relationship-revelation into my own revelation. Instead, I am receiving Truth from them and allowing Yahweh to weave that Truth into the relationship I have with Him. It's actually a beautiful and simple process, and as with all things, it involves quiet trust in Him. I do not have to struggle to understand what they are saying and fit it into what I already know. Neither do I strive to make you understand me. Instead, I hope I write clearly and trust Holy Spirit to reveal Himself to you.
Otherwise, it profits nothing. The Spirit gives life...
Religions have shaped our world. Wars have been fought--and are now being fought--over religions. Entire centuries were dominated by religious thoughts. Countries were founded and formed around religious ideas. People have literally lived and died by the sword, defending their beliefs to the death because they have no relationship to back up what they're saying. Thus, anyone who does not believe the same is a threat to them, for they present other options.
Relationship will shape the future. We do not need to fight each other or force our views upon one another because we are not threatened by what others believe. Yahweh is vast! We know that it is possible to have differing views of Him and all be right. (Note! I am not saying all views of Yahweh are Reality. There are some who view Yahweh from illusion in this time.) We know His Nature--who He is and what could never be. We do not worry about someone's differences lessening our own beliefs or taking away our own Truth because everything we know is backed by relationship, not by what someone else said or saw.
Because I know Yahweh, I know Truth. Because I know Yahweh, I trust Him to show His Truth to others, recognizing their right to receive His Truth for themselves and realizing that they might see things from a different--but no more or less True--perspective than me.
I evangelize, then, not by warring with others or shoving Truth down their throats, but by resonating with Yahweh's Truth for me and resonating with Yahweh's Truth for them. I present the joy of relationship, opening them up to the possibility of their own relationship with Him.
And the Spirit gives life.
Just as with any human relationship, your relationship with Yahweh will be unique and individual. Your partnership with Him in the Divine Dance will trace a different path than anyone else's. The way you interact with Him will be vastly different from the way that anyone else interacts with Him. You will know Him differently than anyone else knows Him.
And yet, He is One. He will not be anything other than Himself. Due to His Infinite nature, however, we cannot presume to define Him. We can only experience Him as He shows Himself to us.
Anyone who relates to Yahweh is blessed by that relationship. Sometimes people don't know that they have the ability to relate to Yahweh as individuals. They either think that they have to relate to Yahweh like someone else relates to Him or they consider themselves unworthy of relating to Him. Ultimately, they do not trust Yahweh.
Because of this, they hold themselves back from Yahweh. In the illusion, we've all experienced this with Yahweh and with other people, fearing their rejection or ridicule, we have hidden ourselves away. I hid myself behind 387 pounds of flesh before I realized that there is no such thing as hatred or fear.
People who are not relating to Yahweh are in illusion. Thus they are in pain. When they see someone who is relating to Yahweh and see that blessing, they want that. Everyone wants to relate to Yahweh, whether they know it or not.
There are people who have related to Yahweh in unique, individual relationships throughout time. As they relate to Yahweh, they move through their own unique lives and Divine Dance patterns. This naturally produces revelation, blessings, and complete and utter joy! It also produces an incredible love for everyone and a desire to share with others. People who relate to Yahweh in this depth want everyone to know the love and joy that they know, and so they will share the facet of Yahweh that they have seen as best they can. (Some even do it on blogs...)
However, it benefits a person nothing to hear about another's relationship to Yahweh except that this might drive them to seek their own. Yahweh is so beautiful! Everyone should know Him!
Unfortunately, what has often happened over the course of history is that one person's relationship-revelation has turned into another person's religion.
Let's take Moses, for example. Moses talked with Yahweh face-to-face. He went up to the mountain, braving the fear of rejection and death to hear His Voice for himself. (That fear is powerful in illusion when the Being with whom you are going to talk shows up as thunder and lightning and has proven His power by sending plagues over the place where you used to live and then calling you out into a desert by moving oceans for you.)
Now I can't tell you much about Moses's relationship with Yahweh because I am not Moses, but I can say that what the Israelites did with it was not a relationship, but a religion. Unwilling to talk to Yahweh themselves, they took Moses's relationship-revelation and tried to fit it to their lives. This became a worldwide religion.
There was a man named Zarathustra--or Zoroaster--who lived in ancient Persia. He knew of a Supreme Wise Creator long before the Jews had ever traveled to Persia. He knew things in the stars that Yahweh would tell him. He knew that there was one supreme creator God in a land of polytheism. I believe that he had a true relationship with Yahweh, though I can't really say since I am not Zoroaster. The religion that others formed around Zoroaster's relationship-revelation was called Zoroastrianism. It, like all religions, melds Reality revelation with man's concepts of right and wrong.
I would venture to say that any religion with a core of Truth started with one person's relationship with Yahweh. Some religions are offshoots of other religions, and so indirectly link to another's relationship with Yahweh. I'm talking about Islam, Druidism, Buddhism, the Ba'hai faith, etc. All of these are either directly or indirectly linked to someone's relationship-revelation with Yahweh.
Thus we can define religion as-- the appropriation, whether directly or indirectly, of the relationship-revelation of one man or woman with Yahweh God for use by another person or group of people without that relationship.
No wonder religion stagnates!
Brace yourselves...
There was another man called Paul. Paul had a special relationship with Yahweh. He was supernaturally delivered from his illusion by being temporarily blinded. He was led on a special individual path throughout the Mediterranean by Yahweh Himself to lead others into relationships with Yahweh. I don't know all about Paul's relationship with Yahweh because I am not Paul. Some people got together, saw his life and heard his teachings, and compiled his writings into a canon. They formed a religion around Paul's relationship-revelation as well as some of the relationship-revelations of other men such as John, Moses, David, Abraham, and Peter.
So I ask you, is Christianity a relationship or a religion?
I think this must be answered by each individual. I am not saying we do not exchange or draw on the revelation of others. Clearly, I am not saying we don't share our own relationship-revelation with others (or I would not bother writing this). What I am saying is that we must share in relationship with Yahweh and others. Relationship with Yahweh is paramount!
As I learn of others' revelation or we discuss things that Yahweh has been sharing with us, I am not making their relationship-revelation into my own revelation. Instead, I am receiving Truth from them and allowing Yahweh to weave that Truth into the relationship I have with Him. It's actually a beautiful and simple process, and as with all things, it involves quiet trust in Him. I do not have to struggle to understand what they are saying and fit it into what I already know. Neither do I strive to make you understand me. Instead, I hope I write clearly and trust Holy Spirit to reveal Himself to you.
Otherwise, it profits nothing. The Spirit gives life...
Religions have shaped our world. Wars have been fought--and are now being fought--over religions. Entire centuries were dominated by religious thoughts. Countries were founded and formed around religious ideas. People have literally lived and died by the sword, defending their beliefs to the death because they have no relationship to back up what they're saying. Thus, anyone who does not believe the same is a threat to them, for they present other options.
Relationship will shape the future. We do not need to fight each other or force our views upon one another because we are not threatened by what others believe. Yahweh is vast! We know that it is possible to have differing views of Him and all be right. (Note! I am not saying all views of Yahweh are Reality. There are some who view Yahweh from illusion in this time.) We know His Nature--who He is and what could never be. We do not worry about someone's differences lessening our own beliefs or taking away our own Truth because everything we know is backed by relationship, not by what someone else said or saw.
Because I know Yahweh, I know Truth. Because I know Yahweh, I trust Him to show His Truth to others, recognizing their right to receive His Truth for themselves and realizing that they might see things from a different--but no more or less True--perspective than me.
I evangelize, then, not by warring with others or shoving Truth down their throats, but by resonating with Yahweh's Truth for me and resonating with Yahweh's Truth for them. I present the joy of relationship, opening them up to the possibility of their own relationship with Him.
And the Spirit gives life.
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