Dan you seem to worry about going to heaven so would like to show you what I think the bible teaches. You see it hasn't all been changed by Petrine followers. It will have to be a continued post for it will not be allowed all at once because of SI limits.
BUILDING HEAVEN
There is a Bible symbol that runs throughout the bible, and that is the
builder of buildings. Man may have varied occupations, but always he is a
builder because he is building his Soul. The Bible is full of builders who
build some interesting buildings which are symbols of the human soul and the
human body - psyche and soma. This is where we get our word psychosomatic
medicine, which deals with the influence of mind over body in illness. Over
the years the medical profession has assigned a role to the mind as a cause
of disease. Someday they will understand that everything we find in the body,
whether health or disease, is always the expression of something already in
the mind or soul.
Your real self, the Christ man, builds through your psyche or soul.
Actually you are constantly building a new soul. Paul said, "For we know that
if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of
God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Your body is not
eternal at all. You get a new body about once a year, as your body is being
renewed all the time. The hair grows, a cut in the skin gradually heals and
various parts of the body are being constantly renewed. The building materials
are our thoughts. We build our thoughts all day long by the thoughts we think,
the beliefs we accept, the feelings we entertain. Thought and feeling are the
materials and we are the builders. We build as individuals and as a race, and the
things we build manifests as our bodies and our world. If you want to know
what sort of job you have done just look in the mirror. That's what you have
built. If you have poor lungs, they have been broken down by your thought and
emotions.
Your home and occupation have been built by your thought. Conditions and
circumstances of this earth, are the outpicturing of the thoughts of mankind;
beautiful scenery is man's idea of beauty, while squalor and meanness is
mankind's belief in lack and limitation. Fire, flood and famine are the
outpicturing of the race consciousness. Tornadoes, cyclones, and earthquakes,
are all the expressions of man's hatred and fears, resentments and
apprehensions. When these negative attitudes pass away from the human heart,
the negative conditions will disappear too. For they are brought on by the
outpicturing of man's soul - not of the particular people who live in the
regions affected, but of the whole human race. What you believe is what you
expect to happen; you may say, "No I don't expect it to happen to me." But,
as an example, if you have a strong belief in disease and think there are so
many diseases in the world and any one of them could attack you and lay you
low, then it is likely to happen to you sooner or later. Why is the common
cold so common? Because it is such a commonly held belief!!! This is not a
theory to me. It has been proved by my life's beliefs and experiences. My
successes, failures, and illness that I can recall, all fall in this
category.
This is our present condition as a race, wandering in the wilderness,
not yet having built the new consciousness - the permanent Tabernacle. Some
people have experienced instances of turning to God when troubles and fears
have disappeared and things have gone right. But for the most part these
have been too infrequent. As conditions change, we take the Tabernacle with
us because we too basically believe in God. (Just as many people would not be
without a Bible in the house,) yet they never take it off the shelf to look
at it!) So in all our wanderings our Tabernacle goes with us, not permanent
but temporary. On the "march," the tent is taken down and folded up, and
while it is folded we can't get into it to commune with God. If you want to
contact God, you positively must pause in the rush of things, in your
wilderness of confusion and distressing ideas. You must come to rest, pitch
your tent, and give attention to God. Many people will not do that. Like the
Israelites, they remain in the wilderness and are knocked about considerably
before deciding to make a bold move to the promised land. That is what the
Israelites did, and in the story some wonderful details are given.
It is significant that Moses did not enter the promised land. He had
done his job well. He led the people across the wilderness. He gave them a
body of law to help them regulate their lives. He set down sanitary
regulations to insure good health in that desert region. He settled their
disputes, which was no mean task in itself. He brought them in sight of the
promised land. His work was done. As a reward for all this, he was translated
and lifted out of the picture. Moses was one of the few men who did not die
but made his translation direct. Moses was the "law-giver." Knowledge of
divine law is absolutely imperative in our unfoldment. However, to enter
into our Promised Land, we require Joshua to lead us. Joshua symbolizes the
unfolding realization of the I AM, The Christ indwelling.
After Moses led them in sight of the promised land, the Israelites were
led by Joshua into the promised land. Joshua meant "leader, savior." In
order to get into the promised land, they had to cross water. In other
words, they had to rise to a higher level of consciousness. Water means the
psyche, and we have to transmute the human psyche or soul - not to destroy it but to redeem
it. Elijah had a similar experience. While training Elisha to be his
successor, he wanted to give him a final lesson. They had gone to Bethel
(house of God) and Jericho (intellect) and they finally got to the Jordan.
Elijah took his mantle and smote the waters. The water parted and they
crossed to dry land on the other side. "To strike with his mantle" meant to
hold a strong conviction of truth. Now don't try taking off your coat and
hitting anything in your way. It was Elijah's conviction that God would open
the way for him. That is "striking the water." If you solve a problem or
someone does it for you, then you have crossed the river Jordan. River means
purpose, and rivers are always going somewhere . So the river Jordan stands
for a particular purpose, and that purpose has to be transcended and the
Jordan crossed.
The chief city of Jerusalem is Palestine which means "city of
peace." It stands on a hill and in the Bible hill or mountain means uplifted
consciousness. It is a symbol of power, and it means prayer. Valley on the
other hand means fear, sin, or limitation. Moses, Elijah, Jesus and other
leaders in the Bible were often going up in the mountains for contemplation
and spiritual renewal. In the middle of Jerusalem was a great rock - on top
of Mt. Moriah. This is the place tradition says, that Abraham took Isaac for
sacrifice. The old belief was if a man had a son he had a better chance to
get into Heaven. So Isaac meant everything to Abraham, both here, and in the
hereafter. And you will have to go up on Mt. Moriah and sacrifice, or be
willing to sacrifice, some of your most cherished beliefs before getting your
contact with God.
The rock was the "Rock of Zion," and when the Israelites settled there
they proceeded to build a great building on that rock. It was the temple of
Solomon - the central building in the bible There have been three temples
built on that spot. First Solomon's temple, then the temple built under
Zerrubbabel (can't guarantee spelling<G>), and the temple of Herod, where
the Apostles went. It was significant that it was built on a rock, for a rock
does not shift or change. The bible is a book about desert people and the
desert of the bible was sandy. Since a house would shift with the sand, they
always found a rock to build on.
That is why tents were used in the desert. The rock is the symbol of the
Christ truth, changeless, and eternal. So the temple of Solomon stands for
the regenerated soul, spiritual consciousness - that which is built on a
rock. All through Psalms there is reference to God as the rock of salvation.
In the new testament Jesus tells Peter, "Upon this rock I will build my
Church." It is significant that David, whose name stands for Divine Love, was
not allowed to build the temple. God had revealed to David that he should
not build the temple, but Solomon, the man of peace. As long you have to
fight troubles - and you have to fight them with Divine Love - you can't
build the temple. Before you can build, the fight must be over and you must
get some peace of mind.
Solomon has to build the temple, and he has to build it on a rock, the
Christ truth. There is another interesting thing about the temple. It
was built in silence. Our temple of Solomon, the great Spiritual consciousness, has
to be built in silence - not in boasting, not in telling people how advanced
one is - but in quietness and in confidence. It is built in the "secret
place," in that change in consciousness which comes with contemplating God.
That is when the temple goes up.
. In the Bible, materials have a meaning aside from
their literal designation. The noble material is stone, marble being the most
refined stone. Base material is brick. It is made of slime and clay, the red
earth. The noble materials always mean the spiritual self, while base
materials stand for the human, the lower self. The Tower of Babel,
symbolizing confusion, is made of brick. The Temple of Solomon is made of
stone. Bricks are man made, but stone is given us, dug from a quarry,
squared and made up with a great deal of painstaking work. When you get a
stone building it stands, where a brick building is apt to crumble away,
particularly the brick of Biblical times, which was pretty soft. So the
Temple is made of stone, and it must be built by spiritual thought and not
by will power or by sitting down and planning the arrangements.
A collection of buildings becomes a city, and in the Bible a city means
the whole consciousness. Jesus used this simile when he said, "A city that is
set on a hill cannot be hid." In other words an outstanding consciousness is
felt and recognized by everyone. Your consciousness is made up of various
buildings. For instance your physical body, your home, job, friends,
investment, hobby, your Church - all these different departments in your life
are symbolized in the Bible as the buildings in a city. They are the
outpicturing of the buildings in your "city," your consciousness. The main
city in the Bible is Jerusalem, the Holy City, and Jerusalem means the city
of peace, the habitation of peace. It represents the consciousness which has found the peace of God.
To be continued to next post. |
