Spiritual-Seeking.com Blog

Spring is here, and it even feels like summer. I think about the sun. The sun gives us the summer warmth and its light gives plants the power they need to grow. In the Bible, the sun is a symbol frequently used for God. It is the heat of God’s love that gives us life. And the brilliant light of God’s wisdom enlightens our minds. The perfect balance of light and heat makes us a spiritually balanced person. In this season of springtime, the sun of this world brings to my mind the sun of the other world. “On earth as it is in heaven.”

With the typical arrogance of certain scientists, Craig Ventor claims that he has created life in a laboratory from “four bottles of chemicals on a shelf.” He claims that he has created a self-replicating synthetic gene. He didn’t. What he did is to create a synthetic gene. But he required an already living bacterium to do his replicating for him. He didn’t create life in a test tube. He created a synthetic gene that an already living bacterium replicated for him. Recombinant genes have been inserted into bacteria for decades. The only difference here, is that the gene was synthesized in a lab. Unlike physics and chemistry, biology has few laws. One law it does have is this: only life can create life. This is the case for Ventor’s gene, too.

The Fifth Commandment says, “Thou shalt not murder.” The key word here is murder. Sometimes, in fact, usually, this commandment is translated as, “Thou shalt not kill.” There is a difference between murder and between killing. The difference is in the motive a person has for killing.
Murder is killing from a motive of hate. This is never justifiable. Nor is it justifiable to hate at all. Swedenborg writes,
In a broader sense by murders are meant enmity, hatred, and revenge, which breathe out destruction; for murder lies concealed within them like fire in wood under ashes. Hellish fire is nothing else; hence one is said to be inflamed with hatred, and to burn with revenge (True Christian Religion #309).
Swedenborg supports this claim with the words of Jesus found in Matthew 5:21, 22:
You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.” But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.
While murder is never justified, killing in self-defense or in defense of one’s country can be justified. When a nation is threatened by another nation the threatened nation must try to resolve the conflict peacefully. Every peaceful way to resolve the problem must be pursued first. Some peaceful ways of resolving conflict are negotiation, economic sanctions, and resolutions from the United Nations. If the other nation still threatens, and refuses to come to terms peacefully, then there is no other alternative than war. And war involves killing. In defense of one’s country, as in self-defense, killing in war can be justified.
We need to protect ourselves, just as a nation needs to protect itself with an army. There are times when we need to act to prevent someone from harming us. In its most severe form, we may need to defend ourselves physically against assault. Killing in self-defense is justified if there is no other way out. We also may need to protect ourselves psychologically against emotional threats. We need to set boundaries and not to let people get away with hurtful words and behaviors. Sometimes we need to confront others, or to bring in superiors like teachers, or counselors. But after the threat has been removed, we need to be able to forgive others. It only hurts us when we burn with revenge against someone, and when we dwell on our anger and hatred for others. This is unhealthy psychologically, and it is a violation of the fifth Commandment against murder. We need to be able to forgive.
I am upset to watch so many movies that use revenge as a justification for violence. So many movies show someone’s beloved or their friend hurt or killed, and then the hero of the movie resorts to violence our of revenge. The ancient philosophers called Stoics called the lust for revenge the worst passion of the human spirit. Violence from a motive of revenge is not justified. The lust for revenge is a form of hatred and killing from a motive of revenge is murder.
Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9). In every aspect of our lives, we need to strive for peace. Spread love and tolerance in every aspect of your life. Love, forgive, and seek peace. These are truly Godly qualities. The peacemakers are children of God.

We know by an intersection of inner and outer enlightenment. God and the angels flow into our consciousness from within. At the same time, we encounter people in our lives and we read and hear many things from without. When truth flowing in from God meets with a notion we encounter from without that is true, we accept it. It then becomes part of our memory and our consciousness. We use it in our lives to guide and direct our footsteps. Without the inflow from God, we wouldn’t recognize a truth we encounter from without.
This means that B. F. Skinner isn’t right when he says our consciousness is completely conditioned from the outside. If everything comes to us from without, there would be no way to discern what we want to accept or reject. The blank slate of our consciousness would be a confused jumble.

I just saw an interesting movie called “The Book of Eli.” The movie takes place in the world after a great, probably nuclear, war. It is about a special book that Morgan Freeman carries with him and reads from every night. The evil ruler of a city wants that book desperately. he knows its power. He knows that if he has the words from that book, he can control people and found more cities for him to rule. We soon realize that the book is the Bible.
The Bible is unlike any other book. It is God’s word. And words from the Bible have founded civilizations. Moses founded the kingdom of Israel with words in that book. Christianity was founded by words Jesus taught in that Book. The words of the Bible have power.
Swedenborg tells us that when we read the Bible, angels and God Himself becomes present. Our heart warms and our mind becomes clear. But the Bible was written so that people could relate to it. It is written in some places in “appearances.” That means God “appears” however the people thought God was like when the Bible was written. So the Bible says that God is angry, vengeful, and harsh in places. But God actually is none of these things. God is infinite love, and can’t even look upon the human race with a stern countenance. He “appeared” that way to a harsh, vengeful people.
The Bible is also written in “correspondences.” Correspondences are a symbolic language like poetic metaphors. Water means truth. The Sun means God and God’s love. Mild animals like sheep mean good feelings. We don’t need to think about these correspondences when we read the Bible. We need only read the story the way we would read any story, and the angels with us will understand the correspondences and fill us with love and enlightenment.
The Bible is just as powerful as the movie makes it. It would be good for everyone to take some time out of every day and read some of it, like Eli did.

We see war and terrorism everywhere on the news. This leads some people to think that the last days are upon us. People have been expecting the last days since the first century AD. Paul thought he would see it in his lifetime. But it didn’t come then. Then in the year 1,000 AD, because of the millenium mentioned in the book of Revelation, people were in a panic about the end times. But it didn’t come then. The real wars for the end times take place within each human heart. We battle daily with forces of darkness and forces of light. The final judgement happens each time we choose for darkness or light. It is within our souls that the final judgement takes place, as we stand before our Creator.

God manifests Himself according to the mind and culture of each individual and each society. The times of the Old Testament were characterized by warfare and fighting. Therefore God appeared to this culture as a warrior God. He appeared to this warrior culture as a warrior God so that He would be understood. We see things differently today (hopefully). We value peace and toleration of differences, So we need to interpret the warrior God of the Old Testament in historical context. There are beautiful messages about peace and compassion throughout the prophets and in other places in the Old Testament. And anyone who is on a spiritual path knows that inner warfare is something seekers undergo. In this way, we can preserve the sanctity of the Old Testament witness without accepting the problematic picture of God painted by the warrior society of 1,000 BCE.