Is it Mr. Christ? Or Just Jesus?
Unity Basic Principle #2
Rev. Don Jennings - Past Minister
All philosophies and religious doctrines are opinion, not fact. No matter who says they have the ultimate
truth, the ultimate truth is, we don't know. What we do know is that life works better when we choose to believe certain
ways. Some people believe in original sin because it serves them to do so. Unity teaches and believes in original blessing
for the same reason.
Things Worth Believing
There is a wonderful line in the movie Second Hand Lions "some things are worth believing even if
they aren't true, like 'all people are basically good'". Well, we do believe that all people are not only basically good,
but are created that way and have not been sullied by a so-called event in mythology at the beginning of time.
I want to get into the metaphysics of the story of the Garden for a few moments: In the second story
of the creation of the world (yes, there are two different stories, each telling about the creation in a different way, each
from a different time and author) man is not created in God's image, but from the dust of the ground. The God-part of
man is God's breath, which is used to animate man.
In the first story, man and woman are the last things created, in the second story, man is created
first, woman is created from man, last. (Some woman say that man was a prototype for woman, in woman, God
finally got it right. That is an interpretation too!)
You and I are on a journey, one that can never go back to a place where we are a
non-participant in our own destiny. We must go forward, because we are compelled to go forward by our own
divinity.
My point is this: An interpretation of this story, and the expulsion from the garden for eating of the
fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is this: We are here to name our world: (man is given the task of
naming the animals).
We are not complete until we consciously integrate the thinking and feeling sides of our
nature (woman is created and stands with man in the garden).
We cannot live in a world of instinct forever (the garden) because when we integrate thinking
and feeling, we begin to partake of knowledge of duality, or the world, that takes us out of purely instinctual
behavior forever (eating of the fruit, and leaving the garden). We can never unlearn what we have learned (we
can never go back to the garden) and therefore must move ever forward, toward our own Christhood (the
New Jerusalem of Revelation).
The Journey
You see; you and I are on a journey, one that can never go back to a place where we are a
non-participant in our own destiny. We must go forward, because we are compelled to go forward by our own
divinity. That is why we choose to look to Jesus, who saw so clearly what humankind's destiny really is: to love
one another, and to learn to live together in peace, and to build a New Habitation of Peace for the world.
I choose to study the words of Jesus because they give me both a blueprint for my life as
a Christed individual, and because they give me hope for myself and for the world. I believe in the innate
divinity of all people, and include in my prayers those, who from the world's point of view, are my enemy.
I choose to believe that Jesus death was not a sacrifice to a vindictive god, but his life
was an example for me of what is important and how to live life from the highest point of integrity. I teach
Jesus, and Jesus' teachings, not as a way to be saved from hell, but as a way to save ourselves from useless,
unnecessary suffering of believing that we are sinners trying to avoid hell in the afterlife. That suffering is
the hell we are already in!
My question for you this week is: what do you think about Jesus, and His teachings?
What part is Jesus playing in your life today? Is Jesus Christ the head of your life and your church? These
questions are worthy of your consideration in the coming week.
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