May 7, 2024
The light of your being
More to the point, what did Jesus say?
After I published the Waiting & Faith post, I received a lengthy comment. It was filled with compassion, conviction, and concern. And it counseled me to find Jesus in my life. When I mentioned this to my husband, who grew up in an evangelical Christian home, he made the predictable comment about wondering whether Jesus was lost. Old joke. Yet in a sense, he is very much lost to us.
Scholars tell us that the Bible was written by forty different people, across three continents, over nearly 2,000 years. In the writings, there are voices and perspectives of scholars, shepherds, kings, commoners, fishermen, tax collectors, doctors, and priests. There are adaptations with political and community control agendas. Scholars suggest the actual teachings of Jesus are best found in the gospels. Yet even the gospels have been shape shifted over time.
In his translations of the original Aramaic texts, author Neil Douglas-Klotz offers an authenticity and new understanding that is quite amazing. Here is one example, the contemporary gospel verse followed by the ancient text translation.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works
and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 5:16, King James Version
Let the light of your being,
the consciousness of knowing
your real Self,
radiate and illuminate
the human beings
you find before you,
as well as the
community of voices
you find within.
When they see and feel
your atmosphere of ripeness,
your ability to act
at the right time and place,
they will be reconnected in praise
to the song and harmony
of the Parent of All,
the nurturing Force
that re-creates the cosmos
each moment,
unfolding a universe
of sound, vibration, and light.
There is such beauty and harmony and resonance when we hear the true voice of ancestral wisdom
Beannacht,
Judith
Thank you for the beautiful translation. It sounds so much more like What a wise man would say. Less like bowdlerized versions, written by mostly men , to promote their own agenda for power and control. How can the real translations be introduced to those who have been indoctrinated?
Bennacht,
Carol
That’s an excellent question. I think it extends to the broader question of how we share ancient wisdom with people. That is becoming very much the focus of the sacred sisterhood that has evolved from time in Ireland. Some create pod casts, some create artwork, some write. We are all called to our own way of doing it.
Sometimes I do wonder how the truth of Scripture and in particular of the story and meaning of Jesus Christ–which (and who) to begin with is for everyone, having no notion of rank among us (except to raise the world’s so-called lowly)–has gotten across at all well. As you note and as far as we know, the Bible was penned and set down by men and groups of men and through political agendas, no doubt. I guess it is a truth that transcends, subsumes, thank goodness. I think the version you’ve excerpted here is clearly poetic, also inviting new ways to consider old, new, ongoing truth. Thanks!
Yes. I also love the poetry of it. And prefer to think that is what a mystic and spiritual teacher would say. Because it’s both beautiful and inspiring.
Wow. Jesus is already in your life, and in a most beautiful way. And more than most, you have studied him, to now share with us a glimpse of his true message. Such an incredible difference between his words and those of his translators. Thank you!
Thank you, sister!
Hi Judith and anyone else interested.
Search Matthew 5:16 and on any of the Bible websites like Bible hub or Bible gateway they will give you the verse. They will have a default translation which maybe the King James Version or a different commonly used vesting but you can select from many different versions including literal versions. I tried it and the young’s literal translation give’s pretty much the same as the king James.
Neil Douglas gave a Gnostic understanding, twisting it to fit his belief system. Some verses lend well to doing that but many more don’t. That’s why if you read the Gospels for yourself you will see the Gnostic understanding unravel.
It’s tempting to believe the Bible has been altered and used for controlling the masses but again if you read it you will quickly see that is not the case, it condemns the authorities that often use it to justify their authority, probably one of the reasons the Roman Catholic Church actually burned people for translating into English or other common spoken languages.
Also the Dead Sea scrolls and other early manuscripts prove it had not been altered.
Yes the Gnostic Gospels are not included but with closer examination it’s easy to see they are attempts to preach a different Gospel and don’t fit in with the rest. They are usually dated to later times and don’t tie in with the rest. It maybe convenient to believe that the Bible has been altered to dismiss it, I used to hold to that idea having never read it myself and just listening to people like Alan Watts and other Gnostics giving their analysis.
One reading it I was convicted of the Truth, I realised the deception I was caught up in, one thing about lies is their is endless different versions of the story but there is only one Truth and it’s hidden in plane sight, or not hidden at all but most just reject the story because we are the guilt party, we are the sinners, and we are not the heroes of the story, we can’t redeem ourselves through our perceived good works.
Please dig deeper and don’t research the bible by listening to gnostic and new age’s interpretations which will cherry pick with what it can work with and discard what it can’t. You real need to read or listen to the Gospels for yourself and decide what was Jesus actually claiming and whether you believe his claims.
It is the most important thing you will do in your life, trust you own ability to discern the Truth, if you really want the Truth you will find it.
There is a lot more I could say but I will restrict it to one thing for now. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were banished from it because of their sin, it wasn’t that they forgot they were in it or who they were.
Neil Douglas-Klotz gives a Gnostic view which inverts the Genesis story to the same thing the serpent told Eve, it’s the hidden knowledge that sets us free, eating from the tree of knowledge, we can become like gods, infinite creators.
That clearly is not the story of Genesis or any of the Bible from start to finish, it should be obvious that Klotz is completely misinterpreting that passage to suit his own view.
That is Gnosticism, seeking Gnosis or knowledge/ wisdom for our spiritual evolution.
The Bible says the Wisdom of Man is foolishness to God.
You will never understand the gospel from that narrative, Jesus has to be demoted to just another prophet or wise man or ascended master or some other Gnostic concept.
There is a big gulf between these two views and that’s what I’m asking you all to research more, both don’t just look at the sources who analyse it from your own perspective. Look at the opposite side and see does it hold any merit. Search for Gnostic deception or new age deception videos and testimonies to get a story from people who had your perspective and changed, see does that hold water.
Thanks!!