Vaishnavism asserts that most souls (the heavenly hosts) abide eternally in the spiritual realm where God sits on a throne, surrounded, glorified and served by those who love Him. But because every soul has free will, there are some who are envious of God’s position. For those souls, God creates the material realm…and here we are. But He sends His representatives, like Jesus, to show us the way back home. We are all prodigal sons and daughters. When God sends His representatives to give us guidance, we usually kill them. But because they are immortal, they rise again to continue teaching and give us faith.
Everything sounds legit until you get to the last line. What do you mean by “continue teaching and give us faith”?
Also, God sounds kind of lazy : )
Jesus is eternal. Our relationship with him is “transcedental”. This word, “transcendental” means that he is not subject to the influence of material conceptions of geographic place and material conceptions of time. Therefore, today, 2000 years after his appearance in the material world, we can have a living relationship with him. And 2000 or 10,000 years from now, people who can open their hearts to Jesus can feel his presence and receive his guidance.
Therefore, one who is truly a disciple of Jesus, can receive teachings from Jesus, within his heart, even today. And by feeling the sacred presence of Jesus, the intimate son of God, within one’s heart, one’s faith will increase…for two reasons. The first reason is that in the presence of Jesus, Satin, or our demonic inclinations cannot have any influence over us. The second reason that our faith will increase is because when we cultivate the experience of a living relationship with Jesus, the joy in the heart is so refreshing, so uplifting, that a real disciple (follower of Jesus) will not be a blind follower of scriptures. Rather, he will be “born again” in a spiritual sense. His faith will become unshakable in this way.
To be surrendered to Jesus, and to follow him is not about following a checklist of rules as to how to live our lives. Jesus said this to the scribes and pharasies when they asked him, “What is the most important rule in scripture?”. Jesus said that he didn’t come to change or erase any of the rules of scripture. He told them to keep the rules. But, he said, there is one rule that is higher than all the other rules, viz., to cultivate feelings of love for God our Eternal Father, with all of our strength, with all of our heart.
There is only one way in which one can cultivate this love for our Eternal Father. And that is through the cultivation of a living relationship with Jesus. Because Jesus is love for God personified. And one can only learn this by having an intimate relationship with him. This is what Jesus meant when he said that we should accept the yoke that he wears. What is that yoke? It is the yoke of love for God, the yoke that keeps one most close to God. “Accept my yoke.” And this is precisely what Jesus meant when he said that “There is no way to the Father, except through me.” It is only through a relationship with Jesus that one can begin to understand what love of God feels like in one’s heart. Therefore, Jesus says that “It is not by good works alone.” No. We have to learn how to love God by having and intimate association with Jesus, just as one catches covid by having an intimate association with one who has covid. But by learning love of God from Jesus, one doesn’t die. He acquires eternal life. In this way we have to make Jesus our teacher, today. In this way Jesus continues to teach us.
Thank you for your wonderful question. Peter
I was in a bit of a rush yesterday, and could not answer you as nicely as I would like. So I try again today.
Jesus says in Bible when speaking to the Jewish clergy that he has not come to erase or change any of their laws by which they are living, in order to be pleasing to the Lord. However, Jesus says that the most important “rule” is to love God with all of our hearts, and all of our strength. Therefore love of God is the highest rule. In fact love of God is the essence of the teachings of Jesus, and the essence of our relationship with God. If one is trying to be a “good” person, that may be challenging because this material body and mind have other agendas. But if one actually has love of God, he becomes the instrument of God. God takes full charge of such a person’s heart, so that he becomes a shining example to all of mankind. This is the meaning of the work of the Holy Ghost. In this way, Saint Francis used to pray, “MY dear Lord, please make your instrument.” One who has love of God becomes the instrument of God in every way. Satin cannot touch him.
The next point is: How do we cultivate love for God, as opposed to love of dog, love of satisfying my tongue and belly, love of criticizing others, love of wanting to be honored by others, love of my bank account, my car, my wardrobe, etc. One can only acquire this love of God from he who has come to teach love of God.
This is what Jesus meant when he says that we should accept the yoke that he wears. He means that he considers himself to be yoked in loving service to God as his eternal master. Jesus explains that to become a servant of God, as he is, is an unlimited source of fulfillment to the heart. He says in the Bible, that the yoke that he wears is not the yoke of the tired laborer who wishes his work-shift was over. No. Jesus says that the yoke that he wears is very light and uplifting and this is what he wants to share with us.
But we can only arrive at this position of being yoked if we have love for our eternal Father, just as Jesus has love for his eternal Father. And this is what Jesus has come to share with all of us. Jesus was first preaching to the Jewish people, as he was born into that culture. And he told them that he had come to give them the next step in their spiritual development. That next step is spontaneous feelings of love for God, as opposed to being “good boys and girls” with the hope of going to heaven as a reward. Jesus came to us from heaven. He has his place there. But he comes to us, to this earthly atmosphere, which is filled with sinful, self-centered people who are filled with anger and hatred and who are never without wars, slavery and exploitation of each other. And Jesus does this because it is pleasing to his Father. Therefore Jesus says, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.” “whatever you want Father, whatever is pleasing to you…that’s what I want.” People think that Jesus suffered. But his spiritual peace and spiritual ecstasy are beyond our comprehesion. This inner beauty of the soul is a natural by-product of mature love of God. And this is what Jesus wants to share with us. So how do we obtain this gift that he wants to share?
We can only obtain this treasure by having an intimate relationship with Jesus, so that we can begin to understand his heart. Then our hearts can become like his, filled with love for our eternal Father. This is what Jesus came to share. Not rules. One who has this love for God is the wealthiest (spiritually), the wisest, the most moral, the most loving, the most kind person. These are the natural by-products of love for God. Such a person no longer has material desires, desires of the flesh. Such a person becomes a living saint. He is not an ascetic. He is joyful. he is transformed within, because of his love for God. He no longer asks God for anything, other than to be engaged in the service of God, because he finds this service to be so fulfilling.
People approach God for health, for wealth, for a better Job, for a new car, for a nice realtionship , success in business, etc. They think of God like He is the big Amazon.com in the sky. They place their oders and ask God to deliver. This is not the message of Jesus. Jesus only wants to serve the Lord out of love. “Not what I want, but only but You want.” “Not my will but Thy will be done.” This is the teaching of Jesus to all of us, by his personal example.
If we love Jesus, he reveals his heart to us, so that we can begin to imbibe the taste of his love, and carry this love for God in our own hearts. There is not other way for us to acquire this love. Therefore Jesus says, “There is no way to approach God, but through me.” This is what he means…that if we can open our hearts to him, and obtain a taste of his love for his Father, then we also can become God’s loving servants.
Then at the end of your note to me, Cade, you wrote: “God sounds kind of lazy.” Yes, God doesn’t have to toil, like those who have been put out of the Garden of Eden. That is for us. In the spiritual realm, (the ultimate garden) there is no hard work. Only loving service to the Lord, with song and dance. Therefore Jesus says, “Rejoice!” Why should God have to work? If He wants light, He says, “Let there be light”, and it exists. Work is for us, who want to be separate from God. We struggle to acquire the things of this world, because that’s the condition of our hearts. And we’re all in competition with each other. Therefore this world is such an unhappy place.
So you ask, "What do you mean by “continue teaching and give us faith”? The answer is that Jesus is available to us today. He is available to that soul who is willing to open his heart to Jesus. And from within our hearts, Jesus will teach us, will share his love for his eternal Father…with us. In this way Jesus continues teaching, to those who are willing to learn. In this way, Jesus shares his faith. Didn’t he say, “Consider the lilies of the field. They receive everything they need. They don’t struggle.” Why did he say this? Because we have no faith. Because we think that we have to struggle for everything, and become so busy with our little lives, that we find it a great challenge to live with Jesus in our heats. But if we have an intimate relationship with Jesus, he will share his faith with us.
Thanks for inspiring me to express my little understanding, Peter
Peace to all,
How is all, I have been updating theology only through generalizations on other sites and have become to know to learn faith sharing. Using generalization allows us to not preach or proselytize and through using generalization to be able to express faith rationally, to me.
Faithfully we know we are saved but for those searching faith I find expressing through logic is for all to be able to understand why we become more faithful, by understanding logically, “What is The Gift.”
To me, logically, Vaishnavism is the Father of a different name from Faith in the God of Abraham we know as One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Faith becoming through the Christ becoming again One God in all.
So true Peter1, logically He came not to remove only to fulfill faith and morality through both natures, spirit and life becoming one Body, the law in two natures, Spirit and life out of the Bosom of Abraham becoming again from the spirit through the created souls of all for the flesh, The Body to become manifested by the Power of the Holy Spirit Family reimaged becoming again again One Holy Spirit Family One God in being in all generalization.
Rationally and logically, to me God has to get His Mind to flesh through the spirit for all to become One Body through The Christ in all becoming again One God in all, to me. Creation becomes Sanctified transformed immortally and Confirmed in Communion with Him from Sacrifice through Penance Absolution of Sin through the Words forgiven becoming glorified and incorruptibly transfigured through three powers and persons in being and Personal Gods preexisting becoming inside of us and living becoming again One God in being all One Family.
The New Living Sacrifice transforms the flesh for all becoming from the Bosom of Abraham and now all for and from earth, through the flesh in One Body for all becoming again One Family, to me logically.
From Baptism through The New Living Sacrifice for Penance we become immortally flesh transformed in The Christ for all we become again Holy Spirit glorified and incorruptibly transfigured all One God in being, to me.
Peace always,
Stephen
Hi Stephen, Peace to you also, my dear friend!