Conflict #02: innate divinity vs original sin … (09/21/18)
While Paul regularly focused on our tendency to fail as humans and thereby be less than divine (a la “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” ~ Romans 3:23 – see also 2 Corinthians 12:7-9), Jesus continually reminded his followers that they could always transcend such selfishness and thereby reflect their innate divinity instead (see John 1:12-13’s “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God” + John 14:12‘s “the one who believes in me will do the works I do”). Whereas Paul claimed that our sinning was essentially inevitable (that we are all “sold into slavery under sin” ~ Romans 7:14-20 – see also Romans 5:12), Jesus repeatedly encouraged his followers by encouraging them to do the improbable (a la Matthew 5:44-48, Matthew 18:21-22, & Luke 6:27-36 et al) because “with God all things are possible” (see Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27, & Luke 18:27).1 While Paul believes that we humans are weak and need saving by Christ (see Romans 5:18-19 & Romans 6:6-7 – also Romans 8:19-25 et al), Jesus reminded his followers that original sin is a myth (like the Old Testament says – see Deuteronomy 24:16 & Ezekiel 18:20); that the perfect Love of the heavenly Father (see Matthew 5:48) resides ever within us all (see John 14:20) and is easily re-enlivened with every choice of selfless kindness we make (see Matthew 24:12-14 & John 13:15-17; also Matthew 11:30‘s “my yoke is easy and my burden is light”, as well as Luke 12:32‘s “it is your Father’s great pleasure to grant you the Kingdom”, the ubiquitous omnipresence of “the Kingdom of God” in Luke 13:18-19 & John 14:15-26, and our ready knowledge of The Way thereto mentioned in John 4:4).
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1In order to fully comprehend this verse (and all those similar to it) it is critical to comprehend two things about the ministry of Christ – namely, A) that for Jesus God resided “in Heaven” (see Matthew 5:16, Matthew 5:45, Matthew 6:1-9, Matthew 7:11, Matthew 10:20, Matthew 12:50, Matthew 18:14, Matthew 23:9, Mark 11:25, & Luke 11:13) and B) that for Jesus Heaven existed “within” us all (see Luke 17:20-21 – also Matthew 4:17, Matthew 10:7, Matthew 11:27, Matthew 22:32, Luke 3:22, Luke 12:31, John 1:18, John 3:23, & John 14:1-3 + John 14:20-26 et al).
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