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==CHAPTER 23==

==CHAPTER 23==

Jesus continued to teach the twenty-four, saying:  

Jesus continued to teach the twenty-four, saying:  

*"The heathen are not without excuse when they rage at us. Because their outlook is small and narrow, they are able to concentrate their energies enthusiastically. Their goal is near and more or less visible. Wherefore do they strive with valiant and effective execution. You who have professed entrance into the kingdom of heaven are altogether too vacillating and indefinite in your teaching conduct. The heathen strike directly for their objectives. You are guilty of too much chronic yearning. If you desire to enter the kingdom, why do you not take it by spiritual assault even as the heathen take a city they lay siege to? You are hardly worthy of the kingdom when your service consists so largely in an attitude of regretting the past, whining over the present, and vainly hoping for the future. Why do the heathen rage? Because they know not the truth. '''Why do you languish in futile yearning'''? Because you obey not the truth. Cease your useless yearning and go forth bravely doing that which concerns the establishment of the kingdom.

*"The heathen are not without excuse when they rage at us. Because their outlook is small and narrow, they are able to concentrate their energies enthusiastically. Their goal is near and more or less visible. Wherefore do they strive with valiant and effective execution. <u>You who have professed entrance into the '''kingdom of heaven''' are altogether too vacillating and indefinite in your teaching conduct.</u> The heathen strike directly for their objectives. You are guilty of too much chronic yearning. If you desire to enter the kingdom, why do you not take it by spiritual assault even as the heathen take a city they lay siege to? You are hardly worthy of the kingdom when your service consists so largely in an attitude of regretting the past, whining over the present, and vainly hoping for the future. Why do the heathen rage? Because they know not the truth. <u>Why do you languish in futile '''yearning'''?</u> Because you obey not the truth. Cease your useless yearning and go forth bravely doing that which concerns the establishment of the kingdom.

*"In all that you do, become not one-sided and overspecialized. The Pharisees who seek our destruction verily think they are doing God's service. They have become so narrowed by tradition that they are blinded by prejudice and hardened by fear. Consider the Greeks, who have a science without religion, while the Jews have a religion without science. And when men become thus misled into accepting a narrow and confused disintegration of truth, their only hope of salvation is to become truth-coordinated -- converted.

*"In all that you do, become not one-sided and overspecialized. The Pharisees who seek our destruction verily think they are doing God's service. They have become so narrowed by tradition that they are blinded by prejudice and hardened by fear. Consider the Greeks, who have a science without religion, while the Jews have a religion without science. And when men become thus misled into accepting a narrow and confused disintegration of truth, their only hope of salvation is to become truth-coordinated -- converted.

   

   

   

   

====[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_155_-_Fleeing_Through_Northern_Galilee#155:4._ON_THE_WAY_TO_PHOENICIA On the way to Phoenicia]====

====[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_155_-_Fleeing_Through_Northern_Galilee#155:4._ON_THE_WAY_TO_PHOENICIA On the way to Phoenicia]====

They paused for lunch under the shadow of an overhanging ledge of rock, near Luz.  

They paused for lunch under the shadow of an overhanging ledge of rock, near Luz.  

But before Jesus had begun to answer Peter's question, Thomas broke in, asking:  

But before Jesus had begun to answer Peter's question, Thomas broke in, asking:  

*"Master, I should really like to know just what is wrong with the religion of our enemies at Jerusalem. What is the real '''difference''' between their '''religion''' and ours? Why is it we are at such diversity of belief when we all profess to serve the same God?"  

*"Master, I should really like to know just what is wrong with the religion of our enemies at Jerusalem. What is the real difference between their religion and ours? <u>Why is it we are at such diversity of '''belief''' when we all profess to serve the same God?"</u>

And when Thomas had finished, Jesus said:  

And when Thomas had finished, Jesus said:  

====[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_155#155:5._THE_DISCOURSE_ON_TRUE_RELIGION The Discourse on True Religion]====

====[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_155#155:5._THE_DISCOURSE_ON_TRUE_RELIGION The Discourse on True Religion]====

Jesus made it clear that the great difference between the '''religion of the mind''' and the '''religion of the spirit''' is that while ecclesiastical authority upholds the former, the latter is wholly based on human experience.  

Jesus made it clear that the great difference between the '''religion of the mind''' and the '''religion of the spirit''' is that while ecclesiastical authority upholds the former, the latter is wholly based on human experience.  

Jesus continued:

Jesus continued:

*"<b>And now, which one of you would prefer to take this easy path of conformity to an established and fossilized religion, as defended by the Pharisees</b> at Jerusalem, rather than to suffer the difficulties and persecutions attendant upon the mission of proclaiming a better way of salvation to men while you realize the satisfaction of discovering for yourselves the beauties of the realities of a living and personal experience in the eternal truth and supreme grandeurs of the kingdom of heaven? Are you fearful, soft, and ease seeking? Are you afraid to trust your future in the hands of the God of truth, whose sons you are? Are you distrustful of the Father, whose children you are? Will you go back to the easy path of the certainty and intellectual settledness of the religion of traditional authority, or will you gird yourselves to go forward with me into that uncertain and troublous future of proclaiming the new truths of the religion of the spirit, the kingdom of heaven in the hearts of men?"

*"<u>And now, which one of you would prefer to take this easy path of '''conformity''' to an established and fossilized religion, as defended by the Pharisees</u> at Jerusalem, rather than to suffer the difficulties and persecutions attendant upon the mission of proclaiming a better way of salvation to men while you realize the satisfaction of discovering for yourselves the beauties of the realities of a living and personal experience in the eternal truth and supreme grandeurs of the kingdom of heaven? Are you fearful, soft, and ease seeking? Are you afraid to trust your future in the hands of the God of truth, whose sons you are? Are you distrustful of the Father, whose children you are? Will you go back to the easy path of the certainty and intellectual settledness of the religion of traditional authority, or will you gird yourselves to go forward with me into that uncertain and troublous future of proclaiming the new truths of the religion of the spirit, the kingdom of heaven in the hearts of men?"

All twenty-four of his hearers rose to their feet, but he raised his hand and stopped them, saying:

All twenty-four of his hearers rose to their feet, but he raised his hand and stopped them, saying:

*"Go now apart by yourselves, each man alone with the Father, and there find the unemotional answer to my question, and having found such a true and sincere attitude of soul, speak that answer freely and boldly to my Father and your Father, whose infinite life of love is the very spirit of the religion we proclaim."

*"Go now apart by yourselves, each man alone with the Father, and there find the unemotional answer to my question, and having found such a true and sincere attitude of soul, speak that answer freely and boldly to my Father and your Father, whose infinite life of love is the very spirit of the religion we proclaim."

====[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_155#155:6._THE_SECOND_DISCOURSE_ON_RELIGION The Second Discourse on Religion]====

 

====[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_155#155:6._THE_SECOND_DISCOURSE_ON_RELIGION The Second Discourse on Religion]====

   

   

After continuing their journey, they paused in the shade of the hillside, and Jesus continued to teach them regarding the religion of the spirit, in substance saying:

After continuing their journey, they paused in the shade of the hillside, and Jesus continued to teach them regarding the religion of the spirit, in substance saying:

*“You have come out from among those of your fellows who choose to remain satisfied with a religion of mind, who crave security and prefer conformity. You have elected to exchange your feelings of authoritative certainty for the assurances of the spirit of adventurous and progressive faith. You have dared to protest against the grueling bondage of institutional religion and to reject the authority of the traditions of record that are now regarded as the word of God. Our Father did indeed speak through Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Amos, and Hosea, but he did not cease to minister words of truth to the world when these prophets of old made an end of their utterances. '''My Father is no respecter of races or generations in that the word of truth is vouchsafed one age and withheld from another'''. Commit not the folly of calling that divine which is wholly human, and fail not to discern the words of truth which come not through the traditional oracles of supposed inspiration.

*“You have come out from among those of your fellows who choose to remain satisfied with a religion of mind, who crave security and prefer conformity. You have elected to exchange your feelings of authoritative certainty for the assurances of the spirit of adventurous and progressive faith. You have dared to protest against the grueling bondage of institutional religion and to reject the authority of the traditions of record that are now regarded as the word of God. Our Father did indeed speak through Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Amos, and Hosea, but he did not cease to minister words of truth to the world when these prophets of old made an end of their utterances. My Father is no respecter of races or generations in that the word of truth is vouchsafed one age and withheld from another. Commit not the folly of calling that divine which is wholly human, and fail not to discern the words of truth which come not through the traditional oracles of supposed inspiration.

*“I have called upon you to be born again, to be born of the spirit. I have called you out of the darkness of authority and the lethargy of tradition into the transcendent light of the realization of the possibility of making for yourselves the greatest discovery possible for the human soul to make -- the supernal experience of finding God for yourself, in yourself, and of yourself, and of doing all this as a fact in your own personal experience. And so may you pass from death to life, from the authority of tradition to the experience of knowing God, thus will you pass from darkness to light, from a racial faith inherited to a personal faith achieved by actual experience and thereby will you progress from a theology of mind handed down by your ancestors to a true religion of spirit that shall be built up in your souls as an eternal endowment.

*“I have called upon you to be born again, to be born of the spirit. I have called you out of the darkness of authority and the lethargy of tradition into the transcendent light of the realization of the possibility of making for yourselves the greatest discovery possible for the human soul to make -- the supernal experience of finding God for yourself, in yourself, and of yourself, and of doing all this as a fact in your own personal experience. And so may you pass from death to life, from the authority of tradition to the experience of knowing God, thus will you pass from darkness to light, from a racial faith inherited to a personal faith achieved by actual experience and thereby will you progress from a theology of mind handed down by your ancestors to a true religion of spirit that shall be built up in your souls as an eternal endowment.

Jesus continued saying:

Jesus continued saying:

*“I admonish you to give up the practice of always quoting the prophets of old and praising the heroes of Israel, and instead aspire to become living prophets of the Most High and spiritual heroes of the coming kingdom. '''To honor the God-knowing leaders of the past may be worthwhile, but why in so doing, should you sacrifice the supreme experience of human existence: finding God for yourselves and knowing him in your own souls'''?"

*<u>“I admonish you to give up the practice of always quoting the prophets of old and praising the heroes of Israel, and instead aspire to become living prophets of the Most High and spiritual '''heroes''' of the coming kingdom.</u> <u>To honor the God-knowing leaders of the past may be worthwhile, but why in so doing, should you sacrifice the supreme '''experience''' of human existence: finding God for yourselves and knowing him in your own souls?"</u>

*“Every race of mankind has its own mental outlook upon human existence. Therefore must the religion of the mind ever run true to these various racial viewpoints. Never can the religions of authority come to unification. Human unity and mortal brotherhood can be achieved only by and through the super-endowment of the religion of the spirit. Racial minds may differ, but the same divine and eternal spirit indwells all mankind. The hope of human brotherhood can only be realized when, and as, the divergent mind religions of authority become impregnated with, and overshadowed by, the unifying and ennobling religion of the spirit -- the religion of personal spiritual experience.

*“Every race of mankind has its own mental outlook upon human existence. Therefore must the religion of the mind ever run true to these various racial viewpoints. Never can the religions of authority come to unification. Human unity and mortal brotherhood can be achieved only by and through the super-endowment of the religion of the spirit. Racial minds may differ, but the same divine and eternal spirit indwells all mankind. The hope of human brotherhood can only be realized when, and as, the divergent mind religions of authority become impregnated with, and overshadowed by, the unifying and ennobling religion of the spirit -- the religion of personal spiritual experience.

Jesus finished this discourse saying:

Jesus finished this discourse saying:

*“You must cease to seek for the word of God only on the pages of the olden records of theologic '''authority'''. Those who are born of the spirit of God shall henceforth discern the word of God regardless of whence it appears to take origin. Divine truth must not be discounted because the channel of its bestowal is apparently human. Many of your brethren have minds that accept the theory of God while they spiritually fail to realize the presence of God. And that is just the reason why I have so often taught you that the kingdom of heaven can best be realized by acquiring the spiritual attitude of a sincere child. It is not the mental immaturity of the child that I commend to you but rather the spiritual simplicity of such an easy-believing and fully trusting little one. It is not so important that you should know about the fact of God as that you should increasingly grow in the ability to feel the presence of God."

*<u>“You must cease to seek for the word of God only on the pages of the olden records of theologic '''authority'''.</u> Those who are born of the spirit of God shall henceforth discern the word of God regardless of whence it appears to take origin. Divine truth must not be discounted because the channel of its bestowal is apparently human. Many of your brethren have minds that accept the theory of God while they spiritually fail to realize the presence of God. And that is just the reason why I have so often taught you that the kingdom of heaven can best be realized by acquiring the spiritual attitude of a sincere child. It is not the mental immaturity of the child that I commend to you but rather the spiritual simplicity of such an easy-believing and fully trusting little one. It is not so important that you should know about the fact of God as that you should increasingly grow in the ability to feel the presence of God."

*“When you once begin to find God in your soul, presently you will begin to discover him in other men's souls and eventually in all the creatures and creations of a mighty universe. But what chance does the Father have to appear as a God of supreme loyalties and divine ideals in the souls of men who give little or no time to the thoughtful contemplation of such eternal realities? While the mind is not the seat of the spiritual nature, it is indeed the gateway thereto.

*“When you once begin to find God in your soul, presently you will begin to discover him in other men's souls and eventually in all the creatures and creations of a mighty universe. But what chance does the Father have to appear as a God of supreme loyalties and divine ideals in the souls of men who give little or no time to the thoughtful contemplation of such eternal realities? While the mind is not the seat of the spiritual nature, it is indeed the gateway thereto.