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The following has been written, prepared and edited by Rhys Evans
Who
(Are you)
Why
(Are you here)
Where
(Are you going)
One of the things that makes life difficult and is the greatest cause of fear and sadness is the idea that we only have one life to live, one opportunity to accomplish whatever we believe to be important, only one chance to become the perfect soul that our creator intended for us to be. It is the idea that was fomulated by the early Christian church to make sure that absolute control of its members would be guaranteed. It is the same control that was used by the Roman emperors to extend their rule and control their citizens, and it worked. The emperors said: "Do what we say or die". The church couldn't say that, or it would negate the teachings of Jesus, so their commandment was: "You only have one life to do the things we consider right, and if you don't follow our rules, you will go to a place called Hell where you will be tortured forever". Scary thought, and it worked!
The ironic part is that they were promoting the teaching of Jesus as their reason for existing, and yet Jesus had taught that we live forever in the love of God and that we can return to more than one life to achieve whatever is necessary. He said that John the Baptist had been Elijah in a former life; also the disciples asked Jesus if the blind man had been born blind because he had sinned (obviously born more than once); also Jesus indicated that he had been on earth before as Melchizadek.
The church would say that Jesus could do the things he did because he was God, but Jesus always called God "the Father", and he said we are all God's children. He even said that the miracles He had done could be done by any one of us, and even more, because He was going to the Father. This meant that He was the teacher of God's truths, but not "God". He said that God was in all of us and that we could become "one with God" even as He was by living the truth that He was teaching. You can see how the church rule confused things. "Hell" is not a place but a condition of the spirit. If a person lives a life without loving God, his own self, and his neighbor, as Jesus taught his followers to do, the person may have to experience some of the things he did wrong by meeting similar problems in another life. Since we all learn by experience and making decisions, that would be a very fair way to change our mistakes. The blind man would be a good example. What he did in another life to cause him to be born blind can only be surmised, but it would be a hard and probably successful way to learn.
If this understanding could be accepted by everyone, think what a change would occur in the world. We would live our lives in a much different way, doing unto others the things we would like others to do to us. No more selfishness, greed, hate, crime, or other bad ways of living. Even fear would disappear because we would know that death is just removal from physical life for a time, and if necessary, we might be back on earth, perhaps with those we knew and loved before, or maybe meet them in other times and places. If God is our Father, we are all Brothers and Sisters.
If this sounds like a "put-down" of the Christian church, think again. If the church had not used the "Hell philosophy" to control its members, the teachings of Jesus might have faded away in the centuries after His death. If it took "Hell" to keep us in touch, so be it. The thing is that as time goes on we learn new things and we need to address the errors of the past even as we learned that the world was round from the voyages of Columbus and others.
The thing that makes it even more clear that we are "souls" who come to live in a body and can leave that body at any time is shown by what is called NDE's (near-death experiences). Because of the many discoveries of the medical profession, we have case after case of patients who are believed "dead" for considerable amounts of time and who "come back to life" with extraordinary experiences "out of the body". These experiences may not be explained by science (which is all important to some people) but the fact that there is such an agreement of what is experienced is difficult to explain, especially when many thousands of cases have now been claimed.
If NDE's are right and we can go to "the other side", meet those who have died, and experience some very unusual (and beautiful) things, we should have a pretty good case for believing what Jesus taught; God loves us, and He gives us unlimited opportunities to learn His truths.
If what you have just read is too hard to believe, or if you consider it sacreligious, I don't blame you. We believe what we believe. People thought Galileo was not telling it right when he said that the earth was just another planet revolving around the sun and was not the center of the universe, (the belief held by the church) so they sent him to prison until they found out he was telling the truth. Maybe NDE's are the telescopes of our generation.
There are some interesting ideas that could be true if NDE's give us a glimpse into a new way of looking at life. If we can leave and return to our bodies, then it indicates that our bodies are not really "us". We are the part of life that exists without a physical body. To use a metaphor, it is like our bodies are "cars" in this physical world for our spirit to "travel" in. If we really take care of our "car", it might last for many years longer than expected unless it has an "accident". And since everyone uses a "car" in different ways, accidents caused by others are always a possibility.
That is why this kind of belief would be very positive. If all of us realized that the kind of "car" we would have and the kind of "life" we would put our "car" through depended entirely on our own driving experiences in the past and our own driving decisions in the present, we all might become better "drivers". Wouldn't that be something! No more road rage, speeding tickets or drunk driving! Just careful drivers obeying the laws of God so that we could finally reach "home" and enjoy the fruits of our decisions rather than having to go and get another "car" based on what we could "afford". Of course, accidents do happen that we have no control over, but if we have done nothing to cause it, we will not have to go to "court" or be judged for it.
Do you take care of your "car" or do you damage it by filling your "tank" with "bad gasoline"? Do you let your "engine" overheat until it breaks down (anger)? Using these metaphoric examples may seem strange, but it indicates that in some ways our bodies and cars have things in common.
Because we are here to learn, it is not inappropriate to call our earth a school. Whether we are in kindergarten or high school or college, we only advance by learning the lessons we are given. Just as in regular school, if we choose not to do the lessons, we may have to repeat the class. It is always to our advantage to learn the things that will allow us to graduate. Those who don't graduate usually are stuck with a life that is not only tougher but not as satisfying as it could be. The more we know, the better decisions we make.
Obviously, since having other lives means having other experiences, every person goes to a different "school" and has different "lessons". We all need to learn what we need to know, and the people in our lives can be our "teachers" in one way or another. If you decide to follow someone's example and use things that will harm your "car", that is your choice. If you do things because you honestly believe in your heart that it is right, that is also your choice, and it is the best one. It is your spirit giving you advice from earlier experiences. We do not necessarily get all the right answers in one life time, but some people do, and we usually recognize them as "saints" or "avatars". They are also the best "teachers". Jesus was an example.
If we are going to "Hell" for making the mistakes that religions consider unforgiveable, then it is hard to believe that God is a "God of Love". I can only speak for myself, but if my children make "mistakes", I will give them every opportunity to overcome them. I would never cast them into a place from which they could never return, and if I feel that way, I know a "God of Love" is even more forgiving. Doesn't that make sense to you? Maybe not, but then that's your choice.
As has been said: "Each day there is set before you good and evil. Choose ye". If all your results come from your choices, good luck, and may God's love be part of every decision!
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TRUTH or truth