Dan,
A very thoughtful post.
"If you are speaking of spiritual things then there is only one destination of worth. Being with the Father for eternity. The alternative is darkness. The brand of the ladder is already determined:"
I agree. What I don't agree with is who gets to interpret the name of the brand, or what language it is written in. The brandname is written in the Book of Life, and each has his own.
"John 14:6) Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Jesus himself said that the ideas of Jesus, The Way, The Truth, and The Life were equivalent. Anyone who walks the same way, knows the same truth, or lives the same life, is heading to the same destination. Jesus himself in your passage showed that these ideas were equivalent with himself. "A rose by any other name" as is said, probably by Shakespeare.
No one comes to the Father except by the way and the truth and the life. Most often in the Bible the words on either side of "and" mean the same thing, and are repeated for emphasis. I believe the same is true here. Jesus stood for these things, literally. It was the things, and not the who that he felt were important. Those who honor love and life would not contradict this lesson.
"Disagree. There is one path:
(Matt. 7:13-14) "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
There is one path. I simply don't draw as narrow distinctions as you choose to. The path is indeed broad, because alongside me walk my brothers. You and I walk only in the center of our path, and ours is indeed narrow. The space alongside is reserved for our brothers. Each individual has his own, narrow path to follow, just as we can only drive on one lane of the freeway. Ours is the narrow path on that broad roadway, to keep us from infringing upon our brothers and ourselves. Just because the others have their own lanes doesn't mean we aren't going to the same place, if indeed it is a place that can be gone to.
'Jesus spoke of walking in the Light. Light does not exist unless it is first seen.'
"Is this like the proverbial tree falling in the woods? Whether we acknowledge it or not, Jesus is Light and has always been."
I agree that everyone is light. I simply meant to indicate that some do not understand that what they are seeing in themselves or others is light.
"In the context of what you were saying here, what sort of candle did the man have that attacked the Markoffs and would you rather search for the "light" in the man that attacked the Markoffs or would you rather be able to "show" him the light that already exists and has always existed in Jesus?"
This is a good example. The man did not see the light in the congregation of the Temple. If we put belief in what we see or don't see, whether it is true or not, it becomes the real world to us. So, for that man, they truly were evil to him, because he was a sick man. Just because he did not see the light in the Temple does NOT mean it was not there. In that same way, just because we cannot see the light in the man, it does not mean there is not a tiny spark there as well. What truly impresses me is Nancy and Alan's understanding that people become this way in degrees. They start out as reasonable, light filled people who cannot accept a part of themselves or an event in their life, and go through a painful process of denial, distortion, and redirection, that cascades into psychopathy. By Nancy's understanding that she might make a difference for one about to go over the edge, and by her descriptions, she has revealed that she can see the spark in them that still exists, the very spark that she would appeal to and work with. Showing the man the spark that still exists within him, or showing him the light in Jesus is one and the same, if they are both love and life. Needless to say, this man did not let his little light 'shine'. I should think that should be painful and that no one would do it by choice, if they could still see an alternative. In this way, when Nancy attempts to prevent someone from going over the edge for the protection of others, she is also helping and healing them. In order to heal, you must remove something which doesn't belong, and heal something that is already there, however dim. If the light in the man that is dim is one that he knows as Jesus, then I should say that showing him the light that has always existed in Jesus would be most important. Or Yeshua, or...
Let's reverse that question. If a man like that does manage to see light within himself, and become a healthy productive member of society again, would you rather he didn't because he didn't call the light Jesus, but called it love instead?
I remember as a child my mother dropped the pumpkin pie, and it was spread across the floor. For some strange reason, my father jumped up and down and repeatedly asked "But is it done yet?".
Sometimes it doesn't matter what you call it, its just the results that count. : )
JMO
Peace,
Darrin
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