"Friend, your sins are forgiven." (Luke 5:20)

This statement by Jesus confirms the meaning of the various healings by Jesus. Here is the text prior to this statement:

One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven." (Luke 5:17-20)

So Jesus, while he was teaching a lecture, saw this man lowered down in front of him on a mat.

Notice that Jesus did not say, "your body is healed." He said, "your sins are forgiven."

What do sins have to do with being paralyzed?

More specifically, what did this man's being paralyzed have to do with his sins?

This also relates to a question that Jesus' disciples asked Jesus on another occasion:

"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John 9:2)

This again relates a physical impairment to sinning. It is obvious from these verses and others that there is a connection between sinning and one's physical condition, and not only from this lifetime.

What is that connection?

The physical body is a vehicle we drive. It is like a car that we get in and drive for a while. It is not us. We are spiritual beings. We are eternal. The physical body is temporary. It lasts a few decades and then dies. When it dies, we get out.

The physical world and our physical body were designed for rehabilitation. Here we are presented with a learning system replete with a variety of tests and consequences.

These tests and consequences come in the form of our physical condition, our environment, and the many challenges we face. Whatever physical condition and environment we are in reflects our past choices: They reflect a combination of our consciousness and our activities.

We can see this all around us. A person sits in jail because they hurt someone. Another person has a particular job because they went to school and trained for that job. Yet another person is a famous gymnast because they practiced gymnastics for 10 straight years instead of going out with their friends.

All of these and more illustrate how our past activities create our current situation. Our past activities also create the condition and appearance of our bodies. The gymnast, for example, has a muscular, healthy physique because they worked hard during their training. Another person may have an obese body because they did not work hard but instead sat in front of the TV, eating.

These are the more obvious indications that our physical body reflects our past activities. We don't necessarily see all the connections this easily, however. Our past activities affect our current body and environment in more subtle ways. They also cross over lifetimes, as indicated by Jesus' disciples' question.

Recycling atoms

While many are disturbed by the controversy about whether "reincarnation" exists or whether Jesus taught "reincarnation," the fact is, we are "reincarnating" right now. Our physical body is made up of atoms and molecules and these atoms and molecules are being recycled at every moment.

Scientists estimate that the entire body's molecules and atoms are recycled within five years. This means that we are changing bodies even within this lifetime.

For example, if we were to look at a picture of our body when it was a baby: That body is now gone. The atoms and molecules that made up that body have now been replaced by new atoms and molecules. We have thus "reincarnated" even within this lifetime.

It is like looking at a waterfall. We can look at a waterfall for a few minutes and then kneel down and tie our shoes. When we look back at the waterfall, it will be a different waterfall. All the water that was in the waterfall the last time we looked is now gone, and replaced by new water.

Our bodies recycle atoms and molecules in the same way. They are constantly changing. We might have a baby body on, then later have a teenager body on. Later we'll have a middle-aged body on, and then an old body on. Throughout these changing bodies, we continue to be the same person.

We might learn and grow, but we are still the same person. We have just changed bodies. This is why we struggle with old age. This is why we have what is called, a "mid-life crisis." We try to deny that our body is getting old because we are not the body. We are eternal. We are wrongly identifying ourselves as these temporary bodies.

Just as the changes in our body over the years reflect our activities and consciousness, when we leave our body at the time of death we move on to a place of respite. But eventually, we are destined to continue our learning experiences in a way that reflects our past activities and current consciousness. This is typically within another physical body of some sort.

If we utilized our time and energy to take advantage of others and we hurt others, our next body will likely reflect those activities. If we maimed people during this lifetime, we may take on a lame body in the next lifetime.

If we blinded someone in our last lifetime, we may take on a body that was blind in our next. 

But if used our last lifetime to help others, if we do take on another physical body, we'd likely have a healthy body in the next physical lifetime.

Just as our current body changes with our consciousness, so does our next body. Our physical body now and in the future perfectly reflects a combination of our desires (consciousness) and past activities.

This is because the Supreme Being created the physical world as a place of consequence. It is a rehabilitation center. Our activities create consequences because we are here to learn. Consequence learning is now the method parenting experts say is the best way to train children. Why? Because we learn best by seeing the consequences of our activities.

Learning about love

And learning provides the vehicle to get out of this physical world of consequences.

Consequences provide a method of teaching us about love. About caring for others. We were sent here to the physical world because we rejected our natural position as one of God's loving caregivers. We were bounced out of the spiritual realm because we decided we didn't want to love God and love God's children anymore. We decided we wanted to be number one. We wanted to be the center of attention. We wanted the authority and the power. We wanted independence from God.

So the Supreme Being set up this physical universe to give us the illusion that we are independent, and we are the center of attention. Here we can pretend that we are the master of all that we survey (even though we are not).

Here we can seek out our own desires, and pretend we have authority. And the Supreme Being gave us physical bodies to accomplish this and identify with - physical bodies that have no ability to see the spiritual realm or the Supreme Being. This renders the illusion that the Supreme Being may not exist - so that we can try to enjoy ourselves without having to see Him.

But together with these illusions, the Supreme Being set up the physical world with a consequence system of learning. This is to allow us to gradually learn that we will not be happy being self-centered. This system allows us to slowly develop the understanding that our natural position is one of caregiver. We are not self-centered enjoyers by nature. We are givers by nature. And we will not be happy without our Best Friend, the Supreme Being.

This is why even the richest and most successful people are not fulfilled by their wealth and fame, but rather, find some fulfillment in giving to others. They are slowly learning that they are caregivers by nature, not bosses, rich people or famous people by nature.

This may seem unfair to some. That some people become very wealthy and/or famous, while others remain poor. Some people are healthy while some become sick or die from starvation, or are paralyzed. Why are some so much better off than others. Is God not fair?

Does God not care about us? Or did the world get out of God's control? Or is God a vengeful person who wants to get us back?

None of this is true. As explained above, the Supreme Being loves us and simply wants us to be happy. He gave us the freedom to make this choice for ourselves, but the only way we will be happy is when we are back in the spiritual realm in our natural position as one of His loving caregivers. This is our natural position, and this is what will make us each ultimately happy.

This is why we spend our lives looking for that perfect soul mate to love and care for, who will love us and care for us forever. Yet we never quite find that perfect soul mate here. When we think we find them, we might "fall in love," but then eventually we find all their faults, and find out that they, like us, are simply looking out for themselves. Or perhaps we do find some ongoing love over the years with someone, but then eventually their body dies and they leave us. One way or another, we find out they weren't so perfect after all.

Once we decide we do want to return home, the Supreme Being is waiting for us. He sends His representatives such as Jesus to bring us home to Him. Those representatives He sends teach us about Him (re-introduce us to Him) and show us how we can re-develop our loving relationship with Him.

This is why Jesus has the ability to remove people's sins. Removing sins is not like removing a nail stuck in someone's shoe. It is not like being put through a carwash. Yet this is how it is often portrayed. Furthermore, many teach that only Jesus' crucifixion can cleanse our sins.

Yet we can see from scripture that this is not true. Jesus was able to cleanse the consequences of this paralyzed person's sins on the spot. Jesus did not have to be crucified to cleanse the consequences of this person's sins.

That is why the person's paralysis was cleared - because the paralysis was a consequence of the person's past activities. By Jesus forgiving those activities, the consequences were also cleared.

How did Jesus forgive sins?

How could Jesus do this as if by magic?

Note that Jesus clarified his act was not the same as healing a person's body when he said:

"Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?" (Luke 5:23)

The word "sins" in Jesus' statement is taken from the Greek word ἁμαρτία (hamartia). This word means, according to the lexicon, "to err, be mistaken," "miss the mark," "an offense" and "to wander from the law of God, violate God's law." These are related to God. They are actions that ignore God. They are self-centered actions. This is why Jesus could say that the person's sins were "forgiven." God, upon Jesus' request, was forgiving this man's activities that had forsaken God over the years.

There are three aspects of sin. The first is consciousness. A person has a particular consciousness - desires. These desires produce activities. Activities that are self-centered produce consequences.

Then, because all activities have consequences - good and bad - sinful activities typically come with consequences that lead to suffering.

Clearing people of those consequences was not the focus of Jesus' mission. Rather, Jesus' mission was focused primarily upon cleansing their consciousness.

How do we know this? We can see this by Jesus' teaching. If he just wanted to heal the consequences of people's past activities why would he teach to them? Because he wanted to also change their consciousness. If he wanted to heal everyone he would have set up a hospital and had everyone line up to be healed. Instead, Jesus traveled the countryside, teaching.

How did Jesus help change their consciousness?

But how did Jesus change their consequences and thus cleanse their sins? Internally, Jesus was requesting that God grant the person forgiveness. Due to the loving relationship between Jesus and God, when Jesus asked God to forgive someone, God forgave them out of love. This is the nature of the loving relationship between God and the representative of God.

But more importantly, Jesus was also able to cleanse a person's consciousness, so that the person's desires changed from being self-centered to being God-centered. This was the true healing that Jesus gave, and this healing was offered to anyone through Jesus' teachings.

Such a person, with a changed consciousness, can, therefore, change their entire future. Having the past consequences changed does not solve our bigger problem. When we change our consciousness from being self-centered to being God-centered, we act in the loving service of the Supreme Being. Instead of creating a future within another physical body, this creates a future that returns us back home to the spiritual realm with the Supreme Being and His loving caregivers and friends - our real family members.

Note that the verse states that "When Jesus saw their faith..." Why is this important? "Faith" means trust. They trusted in Jesus. They trusted in Jesus' connection with the Supreme Being. Their efforts reflected this trust. And Jesus rewarded that trust. We can also have this trust. Such trust is the basis for re-establishing our loving relationship with the Supreme Being.

What is the purpose of consequences?

Consequence learning allows us to grow. This is the purpose of the consequence learning system the Supreme Being set in place. The condition of our body - whether suffering or otherwise - allows each of us to reflect upon our activities, and learn from them.

The suffering in the physical world is taking place only to our temporary physical bodies. Not us - each of us is a soul, not the physical body.

Our bodies could be compared to cars in a demolition derby: They get wrecked up and yet the driver can get out of the car and walk away. In the same way, each of us will leave our body at the time of death, having (hopefully) learned the lessons that body and its experiences offered us.

It is like sitting down at the computer. We might assume a temporary computer identity as we log on to a website, and that identity might undergo some challenges during the website visit, but we can always log off, turn off the computer and walk away from that identity. In the same way, the suffering of the physical world is virtual.

It is real, but it does not impact our real selves outside the learning we take away. Should we learn from these consequences, and seek out the Supreme Being, we have the chance to turn off the physical world and return to our home in the spiritual realm.

And this was Jesus' intent. While the New Testament has focused quite a bit on Jesus' healings, the true message is hidden within his teachings. Jesus said "Friend, your sins are forgiven" instead of "your body is healed" because he was teaching his students that our actions create consequences and those actions can be forgiven. This is because the universe is a personal place. And the Supreme Being is a person. A Person who is compassionate and loving, and always ready to forgive.

He was also teaching that the action that creates the ultimate consequence: returning to the spiritual realm - our home - is related to the consciousness of devotion: loving the Supreme Being. This is why Jesus' most important instruction - as was Moses' - to his students was:

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'" (Luke 10:27 and Deuteromy 6:5)

"Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? ..." (Luke 5:22-24)

"Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." So he said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." (Luke 5:22-24)

Here Jesus is responding to Jewish teachers who were in the crowd who were questioning Jesus' ability to forgive sins. The text states:

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Luke 5:21)

Does this offensive thinking by the Pharisees and the Jewish teachers mean that Jesus is God since he was able to forgive the man's sins? 

Did they understand why Jesus could forgive sins?

No, because they did not know who Jesus was. The reason they do not know him is that they are trying to cheat their way into their authority. They have no real authority. Their seminary degrees and appointments by high priests - and today by bishops and deacons - offer them no access to the spiritual realm of love for God. These degrees and appointments only offer authority over physical things: Jewish temples, church buildings, organizations, money and so on, together with those rewards and salaries in return for their services.

And while they might be able to give eloquent sermons on Saturday or Sunday, unfortunately, their sermons have no power to change people's hearts. Some might even offer confessions or other rituals supposed to forgive people of their sins in the name of Jesus Christ. Yet these rituals have no effect. They cannot deliver the authority of Jesus or God because that authority only comes from a heart full of love for God - which Jesus had. Such authority doesn't come from seminary degrees, appointments by high priests, deacons or bishops, or elections by cardinals.

So how did Jesus gain the authority to forgive sins? Only through love of God, and the granting of this authority by the Supreme Being.

This is why Jesus said:

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." (Matt. 28:18)

"For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in himself. And He has given him authority to judge because he is the son of man." (John 5:26-27)

The key to this lies in the question:

What does "son of man" mean?

The English phrase, "son of man," has no practical meaning. Why would it be such an important title for Jesus to attribute to himself? Every man is a son of a man. Why is this so special?

The problem lies in the translation of the Greek phrase, υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. The word υἱός (huios) has been translated to "son" incorrectly in this context. υἱός can mean a male offspring with regard to the family, but the word also refers to a devotional relationship. Thayer's Greek lexicon states that υἱός can be "used to describe one who depends on another or is his follower." Consider this for a moment. Someone who depends on someone and follows that person is devoted to the person they are following, yes?

This means that the correct translation of υἱός (huios) in this context - Jesus' referring to himself, should be either "follower," "devotee" or "devoted servant."

The Greek word ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos) can mean "man," "mankind" or "humanity." Jesus is obviously not speaking of a specific man. He can only be speaking of mankind, humankind or humanity.

Thus the appropriate translation of υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (τοῦ means "of") would be:

'Servant of Humanity'

Why does Jesus consider being a servant of humanity so special? Consider what he told his close disciples:

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." (Mark 9:35)

"You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve..." (Mark 10:42-45)

God also gave this same title ("son of man" = "servant of humanity") to Ezekial. And both Job and David also referred to themselves with the same title.

This is the essence of Jesus' position, and he is encouraging his students to also take up that position. And what is that position? It is the position of servant. Jesus is God's servant, and by virtue of his service to God, he is also the servant of all of God's children.

Why? Because Jesus' service is to bring us back to the Supreme Being. The Supreme Being loves each of us and wants us to come home to Him. He wants us to return to our natural position as one of His loving servants. Why? Because the Supreme Being loves us. He wants us to be happy. And we can only be happy when we are in our natural position.

Just as Jesus' position as the servant of humanity is expressed with the phrase, υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, Jesus' position as the servant of God is expressed with the Greek phrase, υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ. The Greek word θεοῦ (theosis) is God's Holy Name. Thus Jesus is being described as the devoted servant of God.

Knowing these facts, we can now understand why Jesus has the authority to forgive someone's sins.

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." (Matt. 28:18)

"For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man." (John 5:26-27)

The authority that Jesus is referring to is not his. By his own admission, this authority has been given to Jesus. This means the authority is not from Jesus, but the Supreme Being.

The Supreme Being never has to be given authority. Authority originates with the Supreme Being. Thus we can know from Jesus' referral to himself as servant, and as being given authority, that by acting as the Supreme Being's confidential loving servant, Jesus is given certain authority.

Now what exactly is the authority to "forgive sins"? What is "sin" and what is "forgiveness"?

Here "sin" is translated from ἁμαρτία (hamartia), meaning to "to err, be mistaken," "miss the mark," "an offense" and "to wander from the law of God, violate God's law."

A sin is thus a self-centered act, and sinning is self-centered consciousness. It is a consciousness that sees me as the center of the universe. It sees my happiness as my central mission. Thus, self-centeredness is the opposite of love.

What is the essence of "God's law"?

Love for God, as taught by Jesus, Moses and others, as the central, key commandment (Matt. 22:37, Deut. 6:5).

The Supreme Being set up the physical world and these physical bodies with consequences. This is because this is a place of learning - a rehabilitation center of sorts, for those of us who turned our back on the Supreme Being and our true nature.

Thus, every self-centered act has a consequence. Furthermore, the consciousness of being self-centered has a great effect: The effect of offensiveness. By being self-centered, we are ignoring the Supreme Being. By ignoring the Supreme Being, we are offending Him.

This is why "sins" are spoken of as being forgiven. A person who forgives another person has been slighted somehow by that other person. If it was an automatic process of removal, the phrase would be "your sins are removed."

This is similar to Jesus' situation. Such a servant of the Supreme Being and a servant of humanity is given authorization by God to act on His behalf. This includes forgiving sins because Jesus knows under what circumstances the Supreme Being requires to have that person's sins forgiven. He has been authorized through his loving service relationship with God.

And the Supreme Being, who enjoys a close loving relationship with His loving servant, always complies with His devoted servant and immediately forgives the person. It is actually quite immediate because God's loving servant enjoys such a trusting relationship with God that the Supreme Being immediately executes the desires of His loving servant.

This is because the desire of the loving servant is linked up with God's desires. Their desires are one and the same, because of the devotional love of God's servant.

Thus, practically any contact with God's loving servant will have a purifying effect - because of that relationship of love that exists between God and His loving servant. This can even include a picture or other representation of God's representative.

This is why the man's paralysis also became cured. Because the consequences of his past activities that created his current physical condition - his paralysis - were forgiven and removed from the person.

The Supreme Being is ready to forgive any of us for our sinful nature. But in order to be forgiven of something we have to also feel sorry.

Let's say that we bumped into a person while walking down the street, and he fell down. Would the person forgive us if we yelled at them for being in our way? Would they forgive us if we just walked on and left them laying on the ground?

But if we stopped and said we were so sorry, and then helped them up, we would certainly be forgiven by the man.

Will God forgive us?

The Supreme Being doesn't need us to be sorry in order to be forgiven. He already forgives us. But in order to be relieved of the consequences of our previous acts, our consciousness must change. We have to become sorry for those activities. We have to feel sorry that we have ignored the Supreme Being for so long. In this condition, the consequences of our self-centered life will be relieved.

Typically a person cannot do this alone. This is because the physical world is so strong, and our envy and self-centeredness are so ingrained that it is nearly impossible for us to have a change of heart, and thus become cleansed of the consequences of our prior self-centered activities and consciousness.

This is where the representative of the Supreme Being comes in. Jesus is God's representative, and his teachings have the ability to change a person's heart from being self-centered to being God-centered. He can introduce us to the Supreme Being, and change our consciousness from self-centeredness to loving the Supreme Being.

This allows one's entrance into the spiritual realm, as the spiritual realm is the domain where its citizens each enjoy a fulfilling loving service relationship with the Supreme Being.

Because the loving servant of the Supreme Being is engaged in a loving relationship with God, and because of their love and commitment to God's children to help them, the Supreme Being bestows upon His representative powers as needed to change the hearts of others.

And as those hearts are changed by the teachings and activities of God's representative and loving servant, our consciousness can change, and we can also enter into the devoted servitude of the Supreme Being - as Jesus asked his disciples to enter into.

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged...." (Luke 6:37)

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." (Luke 6:37)

Why is Jesus saying this?

Jesus is speaking to "a large crowd of his disciples" according to Luke 6:17. This means not only that Jesus had far more than 12 disciples. He had many followers who had become disciples.

Now Jesus is providing key takeaway teachings that his students can apply to their lives immediately. This central teaching is not only applicable then to his disciples. It is applicable to practically everyone.

Ultimately, Jesus is discussing a common issue that most of us have: That we tend to easily judge others, and will often condemn others with our statements.

When we sit in judgment of others, we are considering ourselves above those we judge. What we do not realize is that our judging of others actually degrades us.

Judging others is not our natural position. Judgment only belongs to those who are full of knowledge - as God is. By judging others, we are mistakenly putting ourselves in the position of God: That of knowing everything.

Do we know everything?

No. Knowing everything is not our natural position. Our senses are limited. Our minds and brains are limited. We cannot claim to understand much at all, because we are limited by nature.

The Supreme Being, however, knows everything and controls everything. Therefore, only He can sit in judgment. Only He can truly understand everyone enough to judge us.

We may be children of God, but we are children of God. Consider, for example, a child who is born into a family. Can the newborn child start making decisions about what happens among the family members? No, because the child doesn't know anything. The child is a newcomer.

But the mother and father are aware of the family because they've been around. So they are able to make decisions about things should go, because they are aware. They are knowledgeable. The newborn baby is not. The newborn is a newcomer.

Isn't this our position?

Even if we have been living on this planet for a few decades, we are still newcomers compared to God. We are ignorant when we compare ourselves to the Supreme Being, who knows everything. When we are in the newcomer position we should reserve judgment. When we don't know what is what and who is who - we don't have any business judging others.

Our lack of awareness comes from the fact that we are separated from God. We are separated from the Source of knowledge.

When separated from God and acting on our own behalf we have no knowledge. We are separated from the Source of power and authority.

But when we assume our natural position as God's loving caregiver - serving God with love - we can become connected. Being connected allows us to have greater knowledge, and this creates compassion towards others - the opposite of judgment.

Connecting with God also fulfills our ultimate position of humility - not false humility, but the real humility of accepting our actual position as one of God's loving servants.

When we act on behalf of the Supreme Being we fulfill our needs to love and be loved. To care for and be cared for.

This is why becoming forgiving of others, as Jesus states, results in our being forgiven. When we are tolerant of others, understanding of others, caring for others, and forgiving of others when they may offend us, we become linked up with the Supreme Being because this is God's nature. God loves us unconditionally, and understands us, is tolerant of us, and is forgiving.

We become linked up with that forgiving nature when we forgive others, and thus we line ourselves up with receiving the forgiving nature of the Supreme Being.

Can we learn to forgive?

Learning to forgive others is part of the purpose of the suffering and strife of the physical world. We are spiritual beings - not these physical bodies. Our bodies are temporary vehicles meant to take us through consequences that provide lessons meant to show us love, forgiveness, humility, and kindness. The physical world is a rehabilitation center for those of us who became self-centered and forgot how to love.

When we receive the consequences of our prior activities we, in fact, get to see how it feels to subject someone else to our selfish acts. Then we get to compare these with acts of kindness. We get to play out our desires and compare the results with acts that help others. 

Eventually, we learn that helping others and caring for others provides us with more fulfillment than caring only for ourselves. This leads us towards understanding, and towards love, which gradually unveils the Source of love, the Supreme Being.

As we reach a point where we are able to truly forgive others, we also reach the point where the Supreme Being becomes increasingly visible in our lives. Should we be sincere, the Supreme Being will gradually guide us closer and closer to Him, even though we may have rejected Him in the past.

This is because He wants us to come home to Him. He wants us to be happy. This is love. This is forgiveness.

"Give, and it will be given to you...." (Luke 6:38)

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Luke 6:38)

Here Jesus is explaining to his students the law of consequences, programmed into the physical world by the Supreme Being.

Isn't Jesus describing consequences?

Jesus is describing the law of consequences here. In this world, whatever is done to others will come back to us. When we treat others poorly, we will be treated poorly. When we treat others with love, love will come back to us.

Oh, but we don't always see this manifest immediately? Yes, it is true that we may not always receive the corresponding treatment we put out come back immediately. Sometimes we may receive quite the opposite immediately, as we may treat someone nicely and they lash back at us for little reason.

The reason for this is that most of the consequences of our activities take some time to manifest. A thief, for example, may steal for many years without getting caught. Eventually, he will, however. And once he does, everything he possesses will be taken from him - including his freedom - as he is thrown in jail.

Some consequences occur through successive lifetimes as well. We may, for example, be born into a family where a drunken father beats his children. What did we do to deserve this?

The teachings offered by today's sects cannot provide answers to these types of issues. They cannot answer why children are born into suffering. They cannot answer why people suffer in general. So they make up reasons, such as saying that God has lost control and now Satan controls the world.

Can God ever lose control?

By definition, the Supreme Being - God - can never lose control to Satan or anyone else. The Supreme Being is always in control. Not a blade of grass moves without the sanction of the Supreme Being.

Therefore, the premise of some institutional teachers that God has somehow lost control to Satan in the world - that Satan is running around loose out of God's control - is erroneous. God never loses control over His creation.

So why are some people born into suffering while others are born into a comfortable household?

Jesus is describing how this occurs. When we give to others, we will have more. When we take from others, we will have less. When we hurt others, we will hurt in the future as a result. This is the law of consequences. Sometimes consequences for our activities occur immediately, in this lifetime. Sometimes our consequences occur in the next lifetime.

Oh, but we don't believe that we could have previous lifetimes?

It is not a matter of belief. It is a matter of science. Each of us is a spiritual person inhabiting a physical body. We are not these bodies, and this can be shown scientifically.

Consider our physical body when it was a baby. Let's look at a picture of that body. Where is that body now? Scientifically we know the molecules and atoms that made up that baby body are now gone and are replaced by the atoms and molecules that make up our current adult body. Scientists have determined that all the body's atoms and molecules recycle within five years.

This means that we have effectively changed bodies from our baby body to our adult body. We are now wearing a different body. We can see this easily as we look at that body as well. The baby body is a lot different than the body we are wearing now.

Yet we are still the same person. We are the same person that inhabited that baby body. We are now inhabiting an adult body, with different skin, blood, organs, and so on.

This means that we have effectively changed bodies, from our child body to our adult body.

The eyes between our baby and adult body might look a bit similar, however. This is because the same person inhabited both bodies, and the eyes reflect the personality within.

Can we really change bodies?

Now that we have established logically that a person changes bodies throughout this physical lifetime, we can more easily understand how a person can inhabit another physical body at the end of this physical lifetime.

It is because the person inhabiting the body is not physical. The person - you and I - is a spiritual being. A being of another substance - a spiritual substance not perceived by the physical eyes.

This can be understood at the moment of death. When a person dies, the life of the body leaves. The body - formerly animated - now lies lifeless. Yet the makeup of that body has not changed. The dead body contains every element the living body had - all the cells, DNA, brain and so on. What is missing is the person - the spiritual being.

There are many scientific studies that show we are not physical but rather, are spiritual beings. Consider the millions of clinical death cases where the person describes rising above their clinically dead body, and seeing things that the dead body could not have seen. Who is rising above the body? Consider also new research from MIT showing that infants already have a developed sense of morality and selfishness. Where did they get this from without any training?

These and more studies indicate we are not these physical bodies, but we are beings of another dimension: Not perceivable by the physical eyes. We are spiritual, not physical.

Did Jesus teach this?

It is clear that he did. Along with statements regarding the two types of resurrection, consider, for example, this question raised by Jesus' disciples about a man who had been born blind:

"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John 9:2)

Now if Jesus had not been teaching his disciples that the person can have a physical body prior to this one, how could they have questioned whether the man sinned prior to his being born blind?

So what is the spiritual being doing within a temporary physical body?

We have been thrown out of the spiritual realm because we became self-centered. The spiritual realm is a place of love. The citizens of the spiritual realm are loving caregivers of the Supreme Being, and they exchange loving relationships with each other, along with a unique loving relationship with God.

But because love requires freedom, each of us has the freedom to love or be self-centered. Those of us who became self-centered were tossed out of the spiritual realm because we no longer belonged there. This event was described in Genesis 3 with symbolism (see The Meaning of Genesis for these verses and their meaning).

What is this world about?

The physical world was set up by the Supreme Being to provide a place of learning. It is a place where we can grow as souls.

It is also a place that we can ignore and reject the supremacy of the Supreme Being. Here we can pretend that we are the center of the universe. Here we can pretend that we are the most important person. So this world sets up the ability for each of us to learn and grow as souls.

But we can also refuse to learn the lessons of this world. We can refuse to grow. We can decide that taking care of myself is the goal of life.

This is why this world is a place of consequences, as Jesus describes here. To encourage us to learn and grow.

For us self-centered souls, the physical world is also a rehabilitation center. The Supreme Being programmed the physical world to help rehabilitate us - to encourage us to learn to love. And hopefully, to encourage us to return to Him and our home in the spiritual realm.

Consider for a moment the purpose of consequence training for children. Child psychologists have now concluded that this is the best way to raise a child. Why? Because a child learns better by experiencing the consequences of their actions, rather than simply being disciplined out of context of the action.

And this is precisely why the Supreme Being programmed the physical universe with consequence learning, as Jesus explains here. He is trying to rehabilitate us.

So what is the consequence learning system of the physical world intended to teach us?

Just consider a person, as mentioned above, who beat his wife and children in one lifetime and received no consequences in that lifetime, but in their next lifetime they were themselves born into a family where the father beat his children. What would happen to the child?

Hopefully, that child's experiences being beaten would result in them becoming opposed to family violence. They would know how it feels to be beaten, and would hopefully not beat their own children. This is what consequence learning does. It puts us in the very position that we put others in, in order to teach us.

What do we need to learn?

And what does the accumulation of consequence learning teach us in general? To care for others. To think of others as we think of ourselves. To put ourselves in the position of others. This is called empathy, and empathy is the gateway to resuming our natural loving nature.

Our spiritual selves are loving by nature. This is why we each seek to love and be loved throughout our lifetimes. We may treat others poorly through our self-centeredness, but within - our spiritual selves - we simply want to love and be loved.

We seek the love of others as we attempt to achieve fame, fortune and success. We seek the love of others and seek to love others as we conduct our family lives. But these activities are mixed with self-centeredness - our disease. And the purpose of the consequence training of the physical world is to cure us of our disease of self-centeredness.

Our escape hatch to the spiritual realm is not just cleansing our self-centeredness: It is resuming our loving relationship with the Supreme Being. A person who has progressed in consequence training will naturally reach out to the Supreme Being. We may not be perfectly cleansed of our self-centeredness, but we are at the stage where we can understand what love means and what service means.

Why have we forgotten our best friend?

The Supreme Being is our forgotten Best Friend. He is our forgotten Constant Companion. This is why we seek that perfect "soul mate" throughout our lives. We know there is someone special out there. What we don't realize is that the Supreme Being is that "someone special."

Once we reach out to the Supreme Being, He will guide us back to Him. This may take some time, as we gradually become purified of our self-centeredness and our many residual desires. He will lead us through many learning experiences and situations that expand our consciousness - not only of ourselves, but of Him. Slowly, we will come to know Him more and more - and assuming we are willing - fall in love with Him again.

This resuming of our eternal relationship with the Supreme Being is what concludes the cycle of birth and death that we each experience in the physical world of consequences, as we hopefully evolve from lifetime to lifetime. Should we progress to the condition of resuming our loving relationship with the Supreme Being, we will certainly leave this physical world and return to the spiritual realm.

But we don't have to if we don't want to. If we would rather just focus on our own well-being, then we will continue to dwell in the physical world. But don't count on returning to a human form. There are thousands of other species of physical bodies we can also inhabit, that are perfectly designed for our particular consciousness.

Isn't this the definition of hell?

As many Saints have warned, should we not focus our lives on evolving spiritually, we will succumb into the depths of hell. But hell is not necessarily a physical place - a physical dungeon or place underground. Hell is about our consciousness. A person who envies others, hates others, and thinks only of their own welfare is living in a hellish consciousness.

We live in our consciousness. If are consciousness is hellish, we are living in hell.

Hell, essentially, is ignorance of the Supreme Being. Those who have completely lost any remembrance of God are lost in hell. We may imagine hell as a place of suffering - and truly it is, as we can see all of the physical forms - every organism - as suffering pain, disease and death.

But because these physical bodies are not us - we are merely occupying them temporarily just as a person would drive a car around - the real meaning of hell is being removed from the consciousness of God as a benefactor and best friend.

Let's use whatever intelligence we have now to evolve spiritually during this lifetime. Let's not put it off. Let's not wait until we are on our deathbed to consider God carefully. We may not even have a deathbed. Our body may die in our sleep or in an auto accident. So we should take this very moment in our lives to reach out to the Supreme Being to help us guide us back to Him so that we can return home to the spiritual realm, and resume our loving relationship with Him.

This is Jesus' ultimate request for us, and why he said:

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Luke 10:27)

"Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves." (Luke 10:3)

Jesus is instructing his 72 students, who are being sent out to preach. Here he confirms that he is sending them, and he knows they will be met with challenges.

Why is Jesus comparing them to "lambs"?

In fact, Jesus was also compared to a lamb. Who did, and why is that?

The word "lamb" in these contexts is being translated from ἀρήν (arēn) - meaning a sheep or a lamb.

Some teach that Jesus is a lamb because he died for our sins - comparing this to sacrificing animals as discussed in parts of the Old Testament.

As if Jesus' role was simply to die for our sins.

Many, in fact, interpret this from John's statement about Jesus:

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29)

But we see here that Jesus is also comparing his disciples and students to lambs. Is he also saying that they will be killed and sacrificed as animals?

Don't be ridiculous. In fact, neither John the Baptist nor Jesus ate meat - let alone did they sacrifice lambs or any other animals. They were not utilizing the word "lamb" to indicate someone who gets sacrificed.

They are speaking of the concept of obedience and dedication. A lamb or sheep is known to follow the sheep-herder and obey him (and his sheep-herder dog). They tend to trust in the sheep-herder and will easily be taken from one field to the next. This is where the expressions "sheepish" or "sheep-like" come from - the notion that sheep will innocently follow the sheep-herder without a lot of commotion.

This is confirmed by Jesus' use of the word "lambs" in this statement about his very own disciples. They were being "lambs" because they were obedient.

Technically, a lamb is a young sheep. Most consider a lamb to be less than a year old. Over one year, it becomes a sheep. But here and throughout the scriptures, there is no distinction given between lamb and sheep in Greek and Hebrew. It is the same word. But because the tradition among ecclesiastical English translations has been to translate both the Greek ἀρήν (arēn) and the Hebrew word כֶּבֶשׂ (kebes) to "lamb" even though both words actually refer to a sheep or a lamb - and in the case of the Hebrew, also a ram.

So is John and Jesus referring to their respective students (yes, Jesus was a student of John) as "lambs" because they were to be slaughtered and sacrificed?

That would be a grotesque assumption, one that can only come from a "wolf."

Who are the "wolves"?

Yes, the "wolves" that Jesus is describing to his students - those they would face - describes those ecclesiastical Jewish groups - the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the various priests and their cohorts and followers. These ecclesiastical institutions had assumed fanatical and inaccurate interpretations of the teachings of Moses and the prophets. So they were opposed to Jesus' and John's teachings.

Why? Because John and Jesus - and Jesus' students - were teaching love for God. They were not fanatics. They were teaching the core message of Moses and all of the prophets: to love and serve the Supreme Being.

But those ecclesiastical institutions of Jesus' times were focused upon the various rules and regulations of the Temple teachings, and not upon the core teachings of the Prophets like Moses and David, who focused their attention on loving and serving - and praising - the Supreme Being.

This is confirmed by Moses:

"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (Deut. 6:5)

"Love the LORD your God and keep His requirements, His decrees, His laws and His commands always." (Deut. 11:1)

"So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today--to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul--" (Deut. 11:13)

"For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to Him, and to keep His commands, decrees and laws; then you will live..." (Deut. 30:16)

"...love the LORD your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the LORD is your life..." (Deut. 30:20)

And Jesus' teachings mirrored Moses' -

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)

Like during Jesus' time, modern-day fanatical institutions put their focus upon rules and rituals. They have lost sight of the purpose of Jesus' core teachings, and have become "wolves."

Contrasting this, "lambs" or "sheep" have been used to represent those who are devoted followers of God.

Remember that John said about Jesus:

“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29)

"Lamb of God" illustrates that Jesus was a devoted servant of God. He belongs to God. He is following God. He is dedicating his life to God. Not that he is some sort of sacrificial animal, as some have interpreted.

Did Jesus' persecution remove our sins?

John's statement above, "takes away the sin of the world" has been misconstrued by some. They teach that Jesus' death on the cross automatically removes the sins of the world.

That is a ridiculous assumption. If it were true, then why is sinning still going on? Why are some people still murdering others? Why are some people dealing drugs? Why are some people bombing innocent people? Why are some people raping women? If the "sins of the world" were automatically removed by Jesus' "dying" on the cross then why are these sins continuing?

Furthermore, why did Jesus suggest - in the Lord's Prayer - that we ask God directly to forgive their sins if he removed the sin of the world?

Some will say that since Jesus died for our sins, we don't have to suffer the consequences of sinning. So there is no responsibility for harming someone? That a murderer no longer has to spend the rest of his life in jail or be sentenced to death as a consequence of that sin? Or a rapist doesn't have to spend 20 years in jail? Aren't these some of the consequences of sin?

Some might respond by saying that we have to "accept" that Jesus died for our sins in order for our sins to no longer have consequences. Wow, that's easy. Why then are so many Catholic and Protestant followers in jail today? Many of them went to church as youngsters at least. Why did they have to suffer the consequences of their sins after they had gone to church and "accepted" that Jesus "died" for their sins?

The reality is that this physical world is designed so that we suffer the consequences of activities that harm others (sin). We may be able to repent and be forgiven, yes. But Jesus taught that forgiveness must come from God:

"And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us." (Luke 11:4)

What John the Baptist is talking about when he said that Jesus "takes away the sin of the world" is that Jesus saves people through his teachings. It is through Jesus' teaching love for God and loving service to the Supreme Being that Jesus is able to remove the propensity to sin. John isn't talking about removing the responsibility or consequences of sin (self-centered activity).

In other words, John is referring to the ability of Jesus' teachings - and the example of his life - to change our consciousness. He is talking about Jesus' teachings being able to change our consciousness from self-centeredness to being God-centered.

Any activities that are self-centered produce consequences. This is the law of the physical world. But activities performed in the service of the Supreme Being - to please God - do not have physical consequences, because these are spiritual activities. These activities elevate and purify our consciousness.

Can service provide purification?

As we are elevated through service to the Supreme Being - our consciousness becomes cleansed. As our consciousness becomes cleansed, our inclination to sin (self-centered activity) decreases.

This is the process because this is how the Supreme Being designed it.

So Jesus is comparing his students to "lambs" here because he, like John, sees that his students will be working on behalf of the Supreme Being by passing on Jesus' and John's teachings, while the "wolves" will be trying to stop those teachings. Their teachings, because they reflect Jesus' and John's teachings - which reflected Moses' and David's and other prophets' teachings - will have the ability to save people by cleansing their consciousness.

Oh, but you don't believe that Jesus was passing on John's teachings? Here Jesus is instructing these 72 to teach the following:

"Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’" (Luke 10:9)

Sound familiar?

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matt. 3:1-2)

Then once John was imprisoned, Jesus began to teach the same message:

From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matt. 4:17)

And as it states here in Luke, Matthew also confirms that Jesus told his students to teach the same message:

"As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.'" (Matt. 10:7)

So we find that Jesus certainly was teaching the same message as John, and telling his students to pass on the same message.

Meanwhile, the "wolves" will be trying to keep people in their fanatical camps so they can continue getting paid and being "top-dog" among their temples and villages.

Thus we find that history repeats itself with respect to the Supreme Being and His loving servants who are trying to spread His message. Why? Because the lessons the physical world teaches are set up by design. There is historical repetition because the physical world was designed by God to teach the same lessons, and thus consequences will repeat themselves as different people throughout history are taught those same lessons - if indeed they learn them.

If we don't learn these lessons when we have the opportunity to, we will lose that opportunity.

“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ ..." (Luke 10:5-6)

“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you." (Luke 10:5-6)

Jesus is continuing his instructions to the 72 disciples whom he is sending out to preach among the villages and towns.

Why does he say "peace to this house"?

Was Jesus really saying "peace to this house" as we might consider it in modern English? Is he saying that these houses - or the people in them - are at war and require peace proclamations to be made inside?

While we find the Greek word εἰρήνη (eirēnē) is being translated to peace along with most of the other English Bible translations including the King James, we do find in the New Living Version that it is being translated to "God's peace" - even though God's Name is not being mentioned in the original Greek text.

What is being assumed here is that Jesus is not speaking of "peace" as in a lack of warfare. This contextual use of "peace" is indicated from Strong's lexicon, as it defines the alternate use of εἰρήνη (eirēnē) as being, "the way that leads to peace (salvation)." So this is indicating another kind of peace being spoken of by Jesus - relating to salvation.

Is this about peace within?

Just consider the state of the physical world for a moment. Currently, we find suffering and violence in various places. We find terrorism, kidnapping, war. We find daily occurrences of murders, rapes and other acts of hatred each day in the news.

We find in some places people are being enslaved in prisons for speaking freely. We find in some places women are enslaved in sex syndicates. We find in some places that children are being worked as slaves in factories.

In other places we find people starving, or trampled by natural disaster and left homeless. And throughout the world, we find millions of people sick from cancer, AIDS, or suffering from other diseases. Even in places that seem like idyllic places, we find outbreaks of malaria and other ailments throughout the populations.

Where is the peace in this world? Where is the freedom from suffering? Can we find peace from the onslaught of suffering around the world by walking around and talking about "peace"? This was, in fact, the mission of hippies of the 60's and 70's - with the peace signs and all the talk of "peace." Did it help? Perhaps a little. But not much.

Thus we find that while this may be the best translation into English possible, it does not convey the meaning of this instruction by Jesus. It is, in fact, sort of a "code word" - referring to a grander teaching of Jesus, similar to how Jesus taught in parables.

And yes, Jesus was speaking of the freedom from the various sufferings of the physical world - all of those things mentioned above and more. How? How could a house be freed from these sufferings?

By those inhabitants understanding their real identity and their relationship with the Supreme Being.

You see, all of the sufferings of the physical world - they belong to this world. And our temporary physical bodies - they too belong to this world.

Is there peace for the physical body?

The body was designed not to have peace. The physical body can feel pain from the time in the womb, as it grows within a tiny womb space. As the body is pushed out of the womb it is typically covered in various bacteria and as it makes contact with the outside environment the body can experience a kind of shock. Yes, this is why virtually every baby cries loudly at the time of birth. Because the body is born into pain.

And the pain of the body continues throughout life. The body submits pain responses from any number of injuries; from disease; from being hungry; from being thirsty; from being otherwise hurt; from even growing (hence the term "growing pains"). The body goes from one type of pain to another - on a virtual cycle of pain.

And as the body ages, it reaches new types of pain; including the various pains of working; the pains of aging; the pains of breaking down physically, and getting old, which include muscle pain, joint pain, breathing pain, teeth pain, and so on.

Adding to these are the pains associated with the mind. These include being scared, being anxious, being nervous, being embarrassed, and others. These pains of the mind fill in the gaps between the physical pains. In other words, we might have a period where we have little physical pain, but during that time we may have more mental or emotional pain.

Yes, this physical body and mind are full of pain. They are born in pain and they die in pain. At the end of our physical lives, our bodies will die in excruciating pain, accompanied by mental pains associated with fear and anxiety, and losing what we are attached to.

But all of these pains belong to the physical body and the physical mind. They are elements of the physical world. They are part of the design of this physical world - created by the Supreme Being.

Yes, we are in hell. This physical world is hell - and our particular region of hell might be better or worse than others.

Yes, all of the pain of hell was designed. Why? Does God want to torture us? What kind of loving God wants to torture us?

Actually, we are the cause of all this pain. We are the cause of all the pains of the physical body and mind and the physical world. How so?

The Supreme Being simply created a space for us to play out our self-centered desires, and experience their consequences (good or bad). He simply created a zone where we could experience the position of feeling that we are better than others. A place where we could act superior to others, and thus experience being "king for a day" (or lifetime or whatever).

But this "zone" - the physical world - also had to be built with certain parameters. One of the central parameters programmed into the physical world is the law of consequences. We must be able to experience the consequences of our actions.

This law of consequences is also seen within the scientific observations of the physical world such as the "law of cause and effect." This principle dictates that every action has a reaction and every event, a cause.

This is part of the dynamic of the physical world. Without it, we would have chaos. There would be no order within the physical world.

In the spiritual realm, the order is produced by the personal energy of the Supreme Being. But in the physical world, the order is produced by His indirect energies, such as the principle of consequences - the law of cause and effect.

So what does this have to do with the sufferings of the physical world?

Why is there pain in this world?

There is pain in this world because pain teaches us. Pain gets our attention. We immediately want to stop the pain, and contemplate the cause of our pain.

Pain allows us to realize - if we allow it - that we are spirit, not the physical body. It is a flashing red light that indicates that this is not our home. That we have a home outside of this world.

We might compare this to how a person might step into a car and begin driving the car. Once the person is in the car, they leave the garage and begin driving on the freeway. The car gives the person access to the freeway. In the same way, the physical body gives access to the physical world.

And just as a car driver must obey the rules of the freeway - the driver of the physical body must observe the rules of the physical world. The threat of an accident - causing pain - teaches us to follow the rules.

But the stress of driving - including accidents or near-collisions - also makes the driver want to stop driving and get out of the car.

For example, if a car were to slam on the breaks in the middle of the lane while driving on the freeway they would certainly be smashed into by the car behind them. And for this reason, there are minimum and maximum speeds posted. This and other rules - such as staying in the correct lane - is required in order to keep order on the freeway - keeping the freeway from becoming chaotic.

Now if our car had such an accident on the freeway - caused by someone running into the car after we slammed on the brakes on the freeway - would we blame the person who put the speed signs on the freeway? Doing so would be idiotic. The accident would be our fault. We broke the rules and stopped in the middle of the lane on the freeway. Getting hit was simply the consequence of that.

In the same way, as mentioned, there is a consequence (good and bad) to every self-centered activity within the physical world. Whatever activity is performed creates a consequence. And everything that we decide to do during a conscious human lifetime - creates consequences that will affect not only this life but future lifetimes.

As such, every physical body is experiencing the results of previous activities. This takes place on an individual level, a society level, and a cultural level. Group activities affect each of the individuals in that group depending upon their level of participation or responsibility in the group or society.

Thus every victim of every crime or otherwise painful experience is receiving precisely the reaction of a previous activity they had in the past. For example, a person who has difficulty breathing during much of their life due to a lung infection may be suffering because they suffocated in a previous life. And a person who is raped in this lifetime likely raped someone in their previous lifetime. And so on.

In other words, there is no such thing as an "innocent victim" within the physical world.

Is our identity an illusion?

The other and most important principle to understand about the physical world is that these physical bodies are not us. They are an illusion of identity. They do exist, but the body is not me - it is an illusion of me.

This might be compared to a dream. When we are dreaming we are actually sleeping and actually having a dream. So the dream is really happening within our mind. But are the events taking place in that dream happening to me? No. They are happening to my dream-identity. They are happening to this person I am identifying within the dream.

Therefore, I may get slugged in my dream, or I may fall off a cliff in my dream. But did my waking physical body fall off the cliff? No. Only that dream-state body fell.

Did we experience suffering while we got hurt or fell off the cliff? Yes. Why? Because during the dream we were identifying with our dream-state identity. We thought it was me.

But it wasn't me. We know this when we wake up and think back - "whew, I'm glad that was only a dream!"

In the same way, what is taking place to this physical body is like a dream in that it is not happening to me. It is happening to a virtual me - a facsimile. A surrogate.

In fact, there was a movie called "The Surrogates," starring Bruce Willis. In this movie, the robot technology was so advanced that people could lie in their beds attached to a machine that allowed a surrogate of themselves - a robot that looked like a real person - to go out in public and deal with all the problems. Outside, surrogates could get crushed or knocked off but the person running the robot from their bedroom would not be hurt. They would just order up a new robot.

This is very similar to our situation. In our situation, we are running these physical bodies but we are not these physical bodies. The only difference between the movie and our situation is that God has programmed things so that while we are running our surrogates we forget our real identities. Our real identities are blocked from our consciousness, and we identify ourselves as these bodies.

In other words, we get sucked in. This can again be compared to a dream. While we are dreaming, we completely forget who our bodies are in the physical world. A man might be a janitor in the physical world but be dreaming he is a sea captain undergoing a mutiny and being thrown overboard to the sharks. During the dream, he completely forgets his identity as a janitor.

Can we get lost in our dreams?

Yes. This is precisely what happens to us in the physical world. We have become lost in this landscape of the physical world. We have completely forgotten our real identities - our spiritual identities - as we've gotten sucked into the illusion of our temporary identities.

And how do we know these physical identities are temporary? We can simply look back and forward at our physical lifetime. If we are an adult, for example, we can look back at our high school days when we were a big sports star (or whatever). We are no longer that sports star. Perhaps our body is now overweight - or just old and wrinkled - now. Our body looks nothing like it did, and that role we played - the high school sports star or whatever - is now gone. It was temporary. The role no longer exists.

And soon this body will die and be buried and all of the roles in life we played will be wiped out forever.

So we can understand that the sufferings of the physical world are only taking place for these temporary bodies - our surrogates. These physical bodies are temporary vehicles we drive for a while so we could experience the physical world.

Why? So we could act out our self-centeredness.

And so that we can - at the same time - learn.

Yes, the physical world is a teaching experience. It is like a computer program designed to teach children. Have we ever seen these? Now kids can go to school and learn their courses by opening up a certain program that manages their learning process.

Yes, this physical world manages our learning process. But in order to truly learn some of these lessons, we must become lost in them. We must identify with the situation to truly learn from it. We must truly experience those consequences in order to learn from them.

Just imagine if we didn't get lost in the physical world.

Again we could compare it with a dream. Say the janitor was dreaming of being a sea captain but realized that this was just a dream and really he is a janitor. He wouldn't get involved in the sea captain situation. He would chuckle as the dreamscape presented the big ship and the mutiny at sea. He would not be afraid of being thrown overboard and get eaten by sharks because he knew he'd just wake up and he'd be fine.

But by realizing that he was a janitor and not the sea captain, he also won't be able to learn the lessons needed to learn in that situation. Maybe in the dream, he treated the crew badly and that was his lesson - that's what you get when you treat others badly.

As stated previously, the consequence programming of the physical world teaches us. You see, part of God's programming of the physical world is that as we get lost in these identities, the consequences they receive allow us to learn and grow. Our consciousness becomes more evolved. We become wiser (hopefully).

But now let's look at the situation from the perspective of Jesus' statement - about peace in the context of his students giving his teachings to those who are ready to be woken up.

Again let's say that the janitor dreaming about being thrown overboard has already learned those lessons, and actually does remember that he is a janitor and is not actually being thrown overboard and this is only a dream. What will happen?

He will not be anxious about being thrown overboard in his dream. He will remain peaceful while he is being thrown overboard because he knows that he is not the sea captain, and he is not really being thrown overboard - only his dream-state identity is. He knows that he will wake up soon and his dream will evaporate, and thus is not scared or anxious because he is aware.

This is the kind of "peace" that Jesus is discussing but in a spiritual context. It is the peace of his students understanding their real identities and their real purpose in life. They might be physically walking into a house that might have different kinds of suffering - maybe some people are sick or hungry; or sad because someone died.

How can Jesus' students bring peace into a house?

But Jesus' students can bring "peace" into that house. How? By bringing into the house the teachings of Jesus, and their service relationship with the Supreme Being and the Supreme Being's representative.

They can enter the house and see the house and its inhabitants for what they really are: Created by the Supreme Being and belonging to the Supreme Being.

And they can see their role as being related to the Supreme Being. They can understand that their happiness is tied to pleasing the Supreme Being. They can see their role as being the devoted servant of the Supreme Being.

As such, the words that come from their mouths will reflect this consciousness - and those words, coming with praise of the Supreme Being - will serve to bring "peace" upon that house and those within the house. Why?

Because those students who bring that consciousness into the house can change the consciousness of those who hear them.

And what is that consciousness? It is knowing our real identity in relationship with the Supreme Being. We are God's loving servants. We are His playmates. We are His. We belong to Him. Whatever situation we are in at the moment is related to our relationship with Him. He is teaching us, guiding us. Everything is within His control. (We might have choices, but He is still in control.)

This consciousness serves to wake us up from this bad dream of false identification with the physical world. This effort to wake people up to our real identity is summed up in a teaching that John the Baptist taught, Jesus taught and Jesus told his students to teach:

"The kingdom of God [or Heaven] is near." (Luke 12:31, Matt. 3:2, Matt. 4:17, Matt. 10:7)

By realizing the consciousness above - just as the janitor who realizes he isn't being thrown to the sharks - we can realize that all of the sufferings we are experiencing - and going on around us - is not happening to us. It is happening to our surrogate.

And we are only suffering because we are identifying with this surrogate.

Now Jesus says further - "If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you."

What is "promoting peace"? It is most certainly, someone who is desiring to be woken up, or someone who is already seeing themselves as a servant of God - or at least someone who is seeking to achieve perfection in their relationship with God. This person is "promoting peace" because they are wanting to be woken up - and possibly want to wake others up from this bad dream we are having - this illusion that we are these physical bodies and we are stuck in hell.

Thus we can state that part of the meaning of the Greek word εἰρήνη (eirēnē) being translated to "peace" is wisdom. Spiritual knowledge.

Note then Jesus states that such a person - one "promoting peace" will receive the "peace" brought by Jesus' student - "If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them" - they will be able to receive the teachings of Jesus - the wisdom - through Jesus' student. They will be receptive to that wisdom, and thus their knowledge of the spiritual realm will increase - bringing them additional "peace" - wisdom, spiritual knowledge.

But if a person is not ready to receive that wisdom - or "peace" - then Jesus is saying, "if not, it will return to you." In other words, the wisdom will remain with Jesus' student. It won't be leaving them. They will come away with more of it in fact.

But even if the person in the house received the wisdom it is not as if Jesus' student would lose it in the house somewhere - or the person would take it away from them. No, this "peace" is not like a physical object, that has physical limitations. It is a well-spring of eternal life, as Jesus indicated later to his students:

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives." (John 14:27)

Here we see again Jesus is speaking of giving and leaving with his disciples, his "peace." That is, the understanding of their relationship with the Supreme Being and their actual identity as one of His loving servants.

This spiritual identity is tied to a particular type of relationship with the Supreme Being. This is clarified by Jesus' most important instruction:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Luke 10:27)

"I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom ..." (Luke 10:12-15)

"I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades." (Luke 10:12-15)

What is Jesus referring to?

Here the translation of ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ to "that day" makes it appear as though Jesus is referring to the teaching of the previous verse, "The kingdom of God has come near" as "that day." Yet this is inaccurate.

The reality is that Jesus is speaking of another subject matter, as stated clearly in Matthew with this statement:

"Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent." (Matt. 11:20)

This is evidenced by the statement that followed this, correlating with Jesus' statement in Luke above:

"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you." (Matt. 11:21-25)

And in Matthew, Jesus finishes this discussion with a statement indicative of its meaning:

"At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what You were pleased to do." (Matt. 11:25-26)

So we can see from this that the transcribers and translators of Luke attempted to join Luke 10:12-15 to Jesus' teaching instruction out of context, deriving a false interpretation from those instructions.

This doesn't mean that Jesus didn't say Luke 10:12-15 during the same discussion with his students. It just means that the translation and placement of the text - specifically the use of "on that day" - is obviously trying to force an interpretation that is not within Jesus' statement.

Is Jesus threatening the "end of the world"?

Rather, the Greek word translated to "that day" is ἐκεῖνος (ekeinos). This word does refer to a specific event and time, but not the end of the world. Rather, Jesus is referring to the time of death - that time when each person individually will face judgment day.

We know that Jesus isn't referring to the end of the world because he compares those towns that reject his disciples to other towns such as Sodom. The end of the world didn't happen when Sodom was destroyed, right? So why would Jesus be talking about the end of the world now then?

Let's understand Jesus' statement more clearly. Jesus is speaking of different towns: Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum; and he makes reference to Sodom, Tyre and Sidon together with "the day of judgment."

Why is Jesus speaking of these various towns? Is he cursing these towns with future destruction?

First of all, some of these towns, such as Tyre and Sidon, still exist today. They are both seaside towns located in the ancient Mediterranean area referred to as Phoenicia - now located in Lebanon. Others like Bethsaida and Capernaum were small villages that were not destroyed, but do not exist today in their past form. Those locations continued to exist centuries after Jesus' statement, however. Chorazin, for example, continued as a Jewish town at least through the 1700s.

In other words, it is not as if all these towns faced cataclysms of destruction.

Now if Tyre and Sidon still exist and weren't destroyed, why is Jesus mentioning them? Why is he mentioning them together with Sodom (which was destroyed with Gomorrah), and comparing them to towns such as Chorazin, Capernaum, and Bethsaida, within which Jesus had preached and performed miracles?

Jesus is comparing them metaphorically with the two towns (Tyre and Sidon) spoken of by the Prophet Ezekiel: wherein he criticized and cursed the inhabitants of these two cities along with others - indicating the consequences of judgment day upon those inhabitants.

And we know that since those people that lived in any of these towns - Chorazin, Capernaum, Bethsaida, Tyre and Sidon - have long since passed away following the statements of both Ezekiel and Jesus - and the fact that the towns Tyre and Sidon still exist today - illustrate these statements were not prophesying against their towns' destruction as suggested by some interpreters.

Why is Jesus cursing towns?

Neither Jesus nor Ezekiel are cursing towns in themselves. It is not like anyone who happens to be born in such a town is forever cursed or something. That would be pretty unfair wouldn't it?

Those people who lived in the towns that caused Jesus and Ezekiel to curse them - they have long passed away.

Yes, both Ezekiel and Jesus were condemning specific people who inhabited those towns who were offensive. And the fact that they would face their consequences on the day each of those people died.

What does he mean by Hades?

Jesus also brings up "Hades" - from the Greek word ᾅδης (hadēs), which relates to either "hell" or the "abode of the wicked" according to the lexicon. Where is "Hades"?

Those people within those towns at that particular time offended Ezekiel and Jesus, respectively and specifically - and thus offended the Supreme Being. Those individuals who rejected Jesus' teachings, and Ezekiel's teachings - would receive the consequences of their choices and subsequent actions following the time of death - their particular "day of judgment."

Each of us has a "day of judgment:" This is the day each of us leaves our physical body at the end of its particular lifetime. We must each face the results of the culmination of our activities during our human lifetime at the time of death.

We must each face the consequences of our choices, and activities at the time of death of the physical body. This is what "day of judgment" refers to.

This fact has been missed by some Biblical interpreters. Why has it been missed? A lack of understanding of the context and meaning of these and other statements made by Jesus and the prophets.

Why have they misinterpreted Jesus' statements?

Partly due to peer pressure, partly due to not wanting to lose their salaries, and partly because they have not been dedicated enough to thoroughly investigate and pray for guidance on these matters.

Instead, they have tried to use Jesus' teachings as means to increase their reputations, wealth and number of followers. Due to this, they have no entrance into the deeper meaning of Jesus' teachings. Thus they cannot teach the deeper meanings of Jesus' teachings - because they have offended Jesus and the prophets. Because they are trying to use them for self-centered purposes.

Jesus describes this scenario within one of his prayers to God:

"At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what You were pleased to do." (Matt. 11:25-26)

By "wise and learned," Jesus is referring to those who position themselves as being ecclesiastical church leaders - trying to impress others with their supposed wisdom in order to collect followers and make their salaries. These hidden agendas are completely unrelated to serving the Supreme Being.

And by "little children," Jesus is not referring literally to children in the verse above. He is speaking of those who humbly place themselves at God's feet. The phrase "little children" is derived from the Greek word νήπιος (nēpios), which refers metaphorically to "untaught" and "unskilled" according to the lexicon.

In other words, Jesus is referring to humility. Those who approach the Supreme Being with humility - not feeling they know so much or are deserving of any respect - are those whom the Supreme Being reveals Himself to.

David also spoke of this in one of his Psalms:

Though the LORD is on high He looks upon the lowly but the proud He knows from afar. (Psalms 138:6)

Jesus' statement reflects this understanding about how the Supreme Being sees from within, those who approach Him humbly versus those who wish to simply utilize His worship in order to gain the attention of others, and/or other compensation or reward for their supposed service.

This is also reflected in Jesus' statement regarding the making a show of prayer:

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matt. 6:5-6)

This relates directly to Jesus' statement about "little children" because Jesus is talking about love and dedication - a relationship - not usury.

Just consider if a man were to discover after he married a woman that she didn't really love him, but rather, married him simply for his money. While most of us might think, 'so what - happens every day,' that's not what such a man will think. He will be devastated. He will be offended by the fact that the woman pretended to love him, and went through all the motions of a loving relationship - all in order to gain access to the man's wealth.

This can be compared to the Supreme Being and a religious faker, except that God is never surprised. He knows our hearts from within.

Nevertheless, the Supreme Being is still offended by a person who tries to use worshiping Him for the purposes of gaining prestige, followers and even just the acceptance of others.

Does God need us?

It is not as if God needs any of us. God is in complete control of everything.

Yet the Supreme Being also has a soft, loving heart. He is a tender person. A loving person. He is attracted to those who humbly approach Him because God is precious. He has a precious heart.

As such, it is those who approach the Supreme Being in a heartfelt manner who gain His attention.

Understand that seeing God is not about us gaining the power to see Him. It is about Him showing Himself to us. And God doesn't bother showing Himself to those who just want to use Him for their own self-centered purposes. Those who want to be the big reverend, the big guy in the pulpit or whatever - these people do not attract the Supreme Being, and because of that, He does not care to show Himself to them.

Rather, those who put themselves at His feet, begging for mercy, feeling lost and alone without Him - those He will show Himself to because they are dedicated to Him. They want God for who He really is. Just as the wealthy man wants a woman who will love him for himself, not for his wealth - God wants to exchange a relationship with someone who wants the Supreme Being, not to prove to others they are the 'big religious guy.'

Jesus confirms that each of those who offend the Supreme Being by using religiousness to gain the respect of others will receive the consequences of their offensive activities:

"Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely." (Mark 12:38-40)

The bottom line is that we must remember that the Supreme Being is a person. He is not a monolith or a burning bush or a vague force. He is a person with feelings and personality. He has likes and dislikes. He enjoys some things and doesn't like other things.

And it is not as if God will be punishing these people Jesus is mentioning with the intention of wrath.

No. Those who use the worship of the Supreme Being to gain the respect of others will suffer by the virtue of their own activities. They will simply receive the consequences. When someone offends God, God simply turns away and that person is simply left in the pit of their own choosing. They wanted to avoid a personal relationship with God and instead mix it up with fame - so they become devoured by their own desires and the consequences of those activities that stem from those desires. This is "Hades."

We have seen this over and over within charismatic evangelism. We have seen numerous charismatic evangelists who sought wealth and fame in the name of Jesus - and sooner or later they are caught with their hand in the cookie jar so to speak. And then everything falls apart for them. Consider this statement by Jesus:

"Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matt. 7:22-23)

Notice that Jesus uses "that day" here as well - again referring to judgment day.

The bottom line is that neither Jesus nor Ezekiel was cursing the four towns mentioned in some kind of vague future prophecy about the end of the world: They were each condemning those individuals at a particular time and place for offending the Supreme Being by ignoring or abusing the teachings coming from the Supreme Being's loving servants.

Each of us is presented with a choice. We can accept the teachings of God's representative. Or we can ignore them. Worse, we can try to use them - and thus abuse them.

Whatever choice we make has a consequence. That is the nature of any relationship.

Why have we forgotten our relationship with God?

Say an old friend calls us on the phone and leaves a message that they want to get together with us. We now are faced with a choice. We can call them back and accept the invitation. Or we can ignore them. Or we can even call them back and start cursing at them or something. The choice is ours, and this choice is presented to us because we had a relationship with that person.

In the same way, we have a choice about the Supreme Being because each of us has a past unique relationship with the Supreme Being. We were each created to love Him and serve Him. But because love requires freedom, we had the choice to love Him and serve Him or not.

We rejected Him and were cast into this physical world and into a temporary physical body.

This is "Hades" - the physical world; full of greed, hatred, disease, suffering. Yes, we are in hell right now, although there are much worse regions of hell than the human form of life.

But it is not as if God doesn't give second chances. He does. And the human form of life presents us with that second chance. During this lifetime we can choose to return to Him. Or not.

God simply wants us to love Him and serve Him because this will make us happy - and He wants us to be happy. This is why Moses, Jesus and others taught the same important instruction:

" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Luke 10:27)