What Do You See?

 The Gospel of Truth also says that what we see in Jesus—or God—depends on what we need to see, and what we are capable of seeing.                      -- Elaine Panels "Beyond Belief"

The more I consider this statement from the Gospel of Truth, the more it intrigues me at so many levels. 

The author  applies it to what we see in Jesus and in God, and I can see that. We have such a divergent Christianity everywhere from the snake handers in Appalachia to the very serious Orthodox, from the Episcopalians to the Baptists, from New Thought to Pentecostals, wide ranges and then to the very extreme evangelical groups. Each subset of Christianity has views they have settled upon as correct. Many of the views contradict other views, and some groups are outright hostile to certain other groups. 

Interestingly, this divergence started from the very beginning. Before I started studying history, I thought it was a new phenomenon, but right from the get-go there was divergence, hostility, fighting, name calling and more. Early Christianity was wild. 

Then, as I consider this idea more widely, I see it applies to all areas, not just Christianity.  It"depends on what we need to see, and what we are capable of seeing." our biases distort our vision. The things we have decided and do not want to visit again, give us blinders.   

The world was flat in most minds for a long time, and resistance lasted long after it was proved otherwise. Women were not capable of complex thinking was settled "truth"  for centuries. We could list thousands of examples. 

I examine myself. Is there something I need to see as I see it, that is not so or only partially true? Is there something I am incapable of seeing? Yes, Truth will set us free, but are we blocking it somehow?

Thoreau said that an unexamined life was !not worth living. Let us have courage to give ourselves a check up, asking ourselves v the difficult questions. Let us be fearless seekers of Truth. 

What Don:t You Want to Know?

 I was reading a Baldwin quote this morning where he said about racism - You don't know and you don't want to know.

That led me on a mental journey of wondering what else I don't want to know. Perhaps that would be an interesting journey for us to take together.

The 1st thing that came to my mind is any sacred belief that we hold dear and don't want to examine. It could be a political belief, religious belief, belief about a person or a group or most any category. What don't you want to know, what topic is "off limits", what tooic have you decided is completely decided?

The old saying - a closed mind gathers no knowledge - seems to fit here. 

The truth is in whatever field you want to look, new information and new conclusions are constantly happening. It seems to me we need to continually update our information base. It has always been my point of view that God gave me intelligence, and expects me to use it. If I believe a lie, I need to find out and shift to seek truth.  I encourage us not to get comfortable with the old beliefs we have, but rather be willing to take in new information.  Maybe it's time to change our minds.

John vs Thomas

 I am rereading Elaine Pagels' book " Beyond Belief.". This morning I came to the portion where she's sharing some contrasts between the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Thomas.

John portrays Jesus as the only son of God, the only light that leads to God, Whereas Thomas portrays Jesus as embodying the light that leads us to discover God's light  is within us all, because we are all made in the image of God.

Apparently Both gospels were written about the same time, near the end of the 1st century. But John's gospel fit the needs of organizing into what became a church. Thomas's ideas led more to individual spirituality. It is interesting That the powers that emerged in that time , declared Thomas's work heretical. Even though most of John's gospel was very different from Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it was included as an acceptable gospel, although debated for quite a while whether or not it should be included.

I find it very interesting that even though the Gospel of Thomas was banned, labeled heretical, and mostly destroyed, his ideas somehow seeped into the middle ages and the great mystics who were very much in alignment with the message of Thomas. 

And then the twist of fate, in 1945  in Nag Hammmadi there was the Gospel of Thomas, as well as many others thought to be lost.  The gospel of Thomas was, after centuries, available  to read and study and contemplate.

At first,  they were thought tp be Gnostic. However they are now not thought to be Gnostic , as they do not proclaim to have all secret truth .

I encourage you to read at least two of this find - The Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Truth. Enter the diversity of the first century. Imagine all of the points of view that were in abundance until someone, a group of someones, decided what was and what was not acceptable. It was  according to a few men, who were far removed in time from the life of Jesus, that we now have this particular New Testament. interesting.

Our Genesis

If I had a choice between wisdom and immortality, I’d opt for wisdom. Proverbs 3:18 wisely states of Wisdom, “She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; / those who hold her fast are called happy.” ---A,J, Levine,, "Genesis"

  I am enjoying AJ Levine's new book on Genesis. Above is a small quote that I was pondering this morning. 

 So if we had the choice between 2 trees, Wisdom and Immortality, which would you choose? I agree with A.J. that wisdom is essential.

 It saddens me to see so many people today in the throes of extreme emotion, on the far side away from Wisdom. Wisdom quietly observes, and weighs, and considers And then often comes up with something that works for everyone, or maybe everyone except the extreme outliers. 

 Perhaps in our list of goals for our lives, we could place Wisdom at the top, so that it guides all of those other things for which we aim our lives. I find that when I'm still and listen, I get guidance that leads me maybe in a different direction than my ego wanted to go, but ultimately in a much better direction.

 I full-heartedly recommend that we all put Wisdom at the top of our value system, and pay homage to it by listening to it for every decision and action. Take a deep breath. Be still. Listen. 

A chance to hear me

 This Sunday, August 9, 2026

I will be giving the sermon at the Temecula United Methodist Church's service 

It will we posted on the church's YouTube channel and Facebook page in the afternoon.

 You are invited!

 

Critical Thinking Is Critucal

 In the past couple of weeks I have come across some examples of non-critical thinking that have began to disturb me. 

 At a personal level, I found my retina doctor was outright lying to me and expecting me to believe him. I have a weird eye condition where I'm looking through a dancing web of smoky pink stuff. And he told me it was because of the shots he was giving my eye. He said he could suck it out, but it might damage my eye and it was my only one I had left. But I said you only gave a shot in my left eye and it's in both eyes. As he walked out the door he said well we'll suck it out next time if you dare to, but I don't recommend it. I'm looking for a new retina doctor. 

I started reading a book on the Bible by a supposed Bible scholar, a former professor of the Bible at a leading university. But it's full of guesses and suppositions and assuming he knows the motivation and thinking of the authors. At least 50% of it is made-up stuff. I'm thinking someone who does not know could be believing it because of his creds. If they do not apply critical thinking and ask themselves questions, they would be vastly misled. 

Even more importantly, I watch in horror as communist inspired people are running for office and want to take down America. One Speaker I heard even said that his hero was Mao Zedong!  He was a bona fide mega villain. People apparently are not thinking and don't know history. I remember my political science professor saying that you can tell which country is the best by which way the borders leak.  Nobody is risking their life to get into North Korea or China or Russia or Cuba. People are trying to get into America because of opportunity and freedom.

I heard hundreds of horror stories of communism firsthand in the years I taught in the former Soviet union. Sure free stuff sounds great,.but there is a terrible price. You give up your freedom and maybe your life  And you're poor while the leaders are rich. If you're falling for the rhetoric of the communist inspired people calling themselves democratic socialists, which they aren't, please do some research. On top of this, they are extremely anti-Semitic.  Haven't  we had enough shameful pogroms and holocausts? 

Please pay attention. Do a little research. Look at life behind the iron curtain. Look at what life is like in North Korea. Look anywhere communism rules or has ruled. They're just glorified dictatorships. The leaders want power and then they take everything from you. They want to take everything from the rich people. the people who run businesses and generate employment and give people opportunities. They lie about capitalism, which is the system where more people got out of poverty than any other system in the history of our planet.Think think think.

Do your own actual research in search for what is accurate and true.. Whatever the topic,  apply critical thinking. The key points are: analysis, evaluation, questioning, logic leading to logical conclusions or at least hypotheses, and self-reflection. Start with an opening purpose and question. Gather information without bias, that is all sides of the question. Let logic lead. Be willing to find truth. Avoid confirmation bias.  Try it out on whatever topic you want. Learn first hand  the empowerment you feel from.thinking critically. 

God bless you on your journey my dear friends. 

A New Story

 I want to share with you What came to me this morning in my meditation. I saw a span of my life, particularly the last year or so. Then  I had this message,."That story is done. You have completed all of its parts Let it drift away." And I saw it drifting away from me, getting smaller and smaller, but also less and less color until it turned into a vapor and was gone. I felt a breath of freshness.

Then I heard my Song ,  "Here I am lord. Is it I lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart." I saw now , in this stage of my life, I may not have grand travels.or  large audiences listening to me Yet I have purpose still. 

My words travel. Whenever I check the stats on this blog, I'm amazed at the number of people in so many countries that have read my words in the last 30 days or whatever period of time I ask about. My books travel. Hopefully many of you honor me by purchasing one or more of my books. I write when I'm inspired, so I don't feel like most of my writing is just me, it's Spirit moving through me.  My latest book, "The Book of My Life, I Wouldn't. Believe It Either, If I Hadn't Lived It" tells the story of my spiritual journey of overcoming and becoming evermore in tune with the Infinite. People say to me that it really inspired them to overcome whatever it is that's their challenge.  My "The Key, Forgiveness and Beyond" was written because I became an expert on forgiveness because I had to do so much of it. It has traveled the world and set many people free.

I also saw that just being present In each moment, I'm able to make a difference, maybe one person at a time. My job is not done - to be a beneficial presence, and to see how far spiritually I can go in this lifetime still apply.Where will God lead me this time in my next story?

Listen and see where God will lead you next.