Who Are We…….Really?
Let me start by saying that I wrote this in 2015, and today, late July 2021, much has changed in our world, especially the past year and a half as our freedoms have been all but stripped from us due to a "pandemic". I have my thoughts and opinions on this and I am definitely in the minority, but this is not the forum for those. In reviewing this I have made some slight changes and alterations in light of where I am now, but the vast majority of it is still sound for today. I do believe the Bible is divinely inspired. I rarely take the Word of God as completely and fully literal, just read what Jesus said about why He taught everything in parables. I still listen to select Word Faith teachers in spite of its own shortcomings, but have found it to be the closest truth to the Word of God and Teachings of God through Christ.
Rob Vogt - July 30, 2021
Today I want to discuss a subject that by all Christian’s standards will almost certainly label me a Heretic. But I’m okay with that because the religious leaders in Jesus’ day accused him of blasphemy for making the same assertion. It is my hope that as you read and reason through the evidence presented here, through various sources including the Bible, you’ll be left with no alternative but to accept what I present as truth and if not by all means please respond in the comments below. By no means do I claim to have it all figured out or that I ever will have it all figured out in this lifetime. As I’ve stated before I simply go where I feel the evidence takes me and where I feel the Spirit is leading me and then try to present that evidence. I will not and cannot take at face value what traditional Christian doctrine, science or any other source says or doesn’t say about the our world and reality as we understand it. And I must reiterate at the outset that this is in no way a condemnation of Christianity, Christian doctrine or individual Christians, for if not for this religion and my decision to follow it and investigate it over the past twelve years, I would not be where I am today in my beliefs and faith. There is absolutely no doubt that I am not the same person today and that is as a direct result of reading the Bible and trying to interpret and understand the teachings of Jesus while also reading many Christians authors and listening to numerous Christian teachers. The key has been separating the wheat from the chaff or eating the meat and spitting out the bones as the sayings go.
Today I ask, Who Are We….Really? And in that regard I want to talk about traditional Christian doctrine of God the Father, Jesus as the Son of God, the Holy Spirit as God and our place and position in the creation and as a child of God in that equation. What does the Bible say about the matter? What is the latest science, especially at the quantum level, showing us about our reality, our relationship to it and how we influence it? What did Jesus say about the matter in the Gospels and what does the Apostle Paul have to say in his Epistles?
But before we get started I feel I need to momentarily digress here, so as to set the stage as we proceed. One of the greatest gifts, aside from the literal feeling of a massive weight of guilt and shame being instantaneously lifted from my shoulders the very moment I finally surrendered my will and asked God to save me, was the gift of a Bible from a couple whose son’s Bible study we attended shortly after my conversion if you will. They said, “Read this every day.” which I did every morning. But I wasn’t content to just read the English translation which happened to be an NIV translation. As I progressed I read many other English translations, then purchased a Hebrew/Greek interlinear that had Strong’s numbers attached to each word which you could then look up in a Concordance or on the internet. They would show the original Hebrew or Greek word along with the English understanding of the original word. It was through and as a result of this individual intense, deep study that I first started to question what I was being told and taught to believe and accept as truth from the Bible, creation, the universe and my significance and role in all of it.
I point this out because I feel that in order to fully grasp what scripture is saying, it is imperative at times, to look to the original Hebrew or Greek words for a deeper more meaningful understanding of what the writer is trying to get across to us as the English language often does not do justice to the text.
So with that in mind I want to start with a passage from an ancient text not discovered until 1945 called; The Gospel According to Thomas, (or the Gospel of Thomas), which is an early Christian non-canonical sayings-gospel that many scholars believe provides insight into the oral gospel traditions. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Thomas) It was my daughter that first introduced me to this recently discovered Gnostic text when she gave me a book called the Gospel of Thomas: The Gnostic Wisdom of Jesus by Jean-Yves Leloup (Leloup, 2005).
When I opened it and started reading the first few verses I was awestruck as I found the verses to be some of, if not the most profound statements I had ever read in my 20+ year search for meaning and understanding about our place and relationship to the universe. When I combined this with what I’d been discovering through my study of the Bible, Science, especially at the quantum level and numerous other sources I was in awe. It comes from the first 5 verses of this Gospel with a portion of the second verse being one of the most profound.
These are the words of the Secret.
They were revealed by the Living Yeshua.
Didymus Judas Thomas wrote them down.
(1) Yeshua said, "Whoever lives the interpretation of these sayings will no longer taste death."
(2) Yeshua said, "Whoever searches must continue to search until they find. When they find they will be disturbed; and being disturbed, they will marvel and will reign over All.”
(3) Yeshua said, "If those who guide you say: Look, the Kingdom is in the sky, the birds are closer than you. If they say: Look, it is in the sea, then the fish already know it. The Kingdom is inside you, and it is outside you. When you know yourself, then you will be known, and you will know that you are the child of the Living Father; but if you do not know yourself, you will live in vain and you will be vanity.”
(4) Yeshua said, "The aged person will not hesitate to ask a seven day-old-infant about the Place of Life, and that person will live. Many of the first will make themselves last, and they will become One.”
(5) Yeshua said, "Recognize what is in front of you, and what is hidden from you will be revealed. There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed."
This interpretation comes from the above stated book, but, there are several different interpretations just as there are in the Christian Bible with each reading slightly differently. For example in verse one depending on the translation it can read, “Whoever lives the interpretation of these sayings, finds the correct interpretation of these sayings, discovers the meaning/interpretation of these sayings/words, will not taste death.
In verse two we are to search/seek and keep on searching/seeking until we find, much as Jesus said to do in the Gospel of both Matthew 7 and Luke 11 the result of which will initially leave us disturbed/troubled/dismayed when we find, but that dismay will lead us to marvel and be astonished before ultimately being able to rule/reign over the all/everything. If these words are not from Jesus they are profound nonetheless considering the fact that there was one man, according to the Bible, that came to earth more than 2,000 years ago that displayed an incredible ability to transcend/rule and reign over all. A man that was able to command sickness and disease to depart, raise the dead, command the wind and the waves to be calm, feed thousands from a few fish and loaves of bread, turn water into wine, walk on water, walk through walls and ultimately transcend death as we know it. His name was Jesus and Christianity not only recognizes him as the Son of God but as God incarnate in the flesh. And the claim that I have heard throughout most of my Christian walk is that He was able to do what He did because He was God. But He was also man and as I read the scriptures it became clear to me that He walked the earth not as God but as a man. So all that He did, according to scripture, He did as a man, not as God. It can get a bit confusing. Was He God, was He man or was He both at the same time? And what about us, where do we fit into this whole picture? That’s what I hope to show as we move forward.
So let us look at a few examples from scripture to prove my claim that Jesus was a man when He performed all His miracles on the earth.
At the beginning of The Gospel of Matthew 9:2-8 a paralytic is brought to Jesus by four friends and verse 2 says that, “When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic,
"Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you."
Of course the religious leaders that were there immediately said within themselves and I paraphrase, “Who does this man think that He is that He can forgive sins. He blasphemes for no one can forgive sins but God alone.” And Jesus knowing the evil thoughts within their hearts responds in verse 5-6,
So here we see Jesus showing, not only the ability to forgive sins as a man, but also healing a paralytic as a man. Yes, I hear someone saying, but it was because He was the Son of God and God in the flesh and that is why He could do what He did. Well then let us read verse 8, “Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.”
Who had given such power to God, to the Son of God? No it says who had given such power to men.
The Apostle Paul also deals with the matter of whether Jesus did what He did as a man or as God in Philippians 2:5-8 and here for the sake of brevity and looking at specific words I will use the Amplified and New American Standard translation because I feel it gives the best description of what we are trying to get across;
Php 5:6-8 Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:] Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being. - AMP
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. - NASB.
So clearly Paul is showing us here that although Jesus was equal to or One with God that He emptied Himself of all of His Godhead powers. Yet that said, although He emptied himself and took on the nature of a servant, He still displayed all the qualities and powers of God as a man as far as reigning over the natural realm. How was this possible? The truth is that Jesus walked the earth for 30 years and according to scripture never performed one single miracle, until that is,
God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. - Acts 10:38 NASB
So although He was a man and did all that He did as a man that Bible says He was anointed of God and it was not until He was baptized that John says he saw the Holy Spirit as a dove descend upon him that Jesus then started to perform the miracles and supersede the natural realm.
To be anointed according to the Greek word G5548 chriō is to consecrate and furnish with the necessary power and gifts of the Holy Spirit.
So are we any different? According to Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:21 and 1 John 2:20 we have been anointed with the same Holy Spirit and if we’re to truly believe what Jesus said in John 14:12,
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”
Not only should we be doing and experiencing what Jesus did, but, even greater works than that of Jesus according to this verse.
So if in fact as the Bible claims we are equal to Jesus and frankly the Father for that matter as I will show, why do we not experience this in our everyday life? I have experienced small bits and pieces over the years, but never the fullness and never the greater works. In some circles of Christianity we do see and hear stories of healing, people being raised from the dead and various other needs being miraculously met. I do know that my wife and I have been a part of and visited churches and have been to conference’s where belief in healing, speaking in tongues, seeing financial needs met, the laying on of hands and the raising of the dead etc. are believed and in some cases witnessed but these churches are often heavily condemned and criticized by many other segments within the church body.
The stand out point that I am trying to get across to the reader from just these first two verses in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas is that according to the writer, when we come to discover and understand the interpretation, that is the correct interpretation of the sayings, parables, and message from Jesus we will initially marvel or be troubled.
Why? Because I firmly believe that when you truly realize who you are …..really are as a child of the living God, your unlimited potential, that fact that you are the ultimate creator of your world, because you are one with God, equal to God, God in you and you in God you will find it disturbing or troubling.
Why? Because again, we have been conditioned and programmed to believe that we are inferior, imperfect, fallen sinners not worthy of God and that God is Holy, perfect, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, and He is, and that we are separate from God. Many, I think I can fairly say, probably have this vision in our mind of God the person, with long white hair, a big white beard and a rod seated on a throne somewhere out there in some place called heaven , while we’re stuck in this evil fallen hell hole called earth. I know that that has been my experience in the past. It was this very claim by Jesus that he was equal to God, was one with God and in essence was God that had the religious leaders of His day calling Him a blasphemer for daring to put Himself on the same level as God. I think this is a key area where we have failed, in not recognizing that we are no different from Jesus and He showed us and told us as much.
The Christian religion in a nutshell, goes something like this. God created man in His own image and likeness to be rulers or gods over this planet earth with God as our source. We messed it up, disobeyed God, became separated from God and lost as a result. Now God had to find a way to restore us to Himself. That is where Jesus comes in, as He fulfilled all the necessary rules/laws that we couldn't so that we could be restored back to God. How does this happen, well we say some non biblical religious prayer asking Jesus and God to forgive us of our sins and we get what is called Born Again. At that very moment we are told something supernatural happens, we are miraculously restored to God the Father and that Jesus Himself, God, Himself and God the Holy Spirit all come to live inside us. We become ONE with God, yet it has been my experience over the past twelve years in this religion that we don’t receive and we won’t accept this reality due to our conditioning as being inferior, lack of understanding and lack of faith.
In Hosea 4:6 God said,
“my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
There can be no truer statement. Yet Jesus said in both Matthew 7:7-8 and Luke 11:9-10
The writer states that if we ask it will be given, if we seek we will find and if we knock it will be opened to us. I want to and will explore this further but will come back to this as I want to cover the remaining three verses of our opening verses from the Gospel of Thomas.
So about our belief that God and His Kingdom are somewhere out there in a place called heaven? If we move on to verse 3 we can see a striking similarity in this passage to that found in Luke 17:21:
“nor shall they say, Lo, here; or lo, there; for lo, the reign of God is within you.'” - Young’s Literal Translation.
“nor will they say, `Look, here it is!' or, `There it is!' For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst." - NASB
How many times have I read or seen in the media of some pastor, evangelist, preacher or some cult leader prophetically claim the return of Jesus, God’s Kingdom or the end times, would occur on such and such a day only to see the day pass as any other day. In Luke 17:20 it says that the Pharisee’s had been questioning Jesus about when the Kingdom would be coming and Jesus’ response was that the kingdom was not coming with signs to be observed but rather, the kingdom of God was within us and in our midst. Jesus also tells us in Matthew 24:38-37,
It is when, as I stated above, that we come to grasp and understand this reality of who we really our in relation to God that we will then know our true selves as sons and daughters of the living Father. Until then He says we live in vain and will be vanity. Other translations say, “you will live in poverty, and you will be poverty.”
How would I define vain or vanity? There are a couple of different ways I would define the words. One description would be a person who has an excessively high opinion of themselves, their appearance, abilities or worth, conceit or pride. But I would also say with utmost certainly that if one could see beneath the surface of that person and get inside their head and heart you would find their vanity is based in the very opposite, that being fear, a lack of self-worth, not being happy with oneself. Why? Because they don’t know who the really are, they are lost, they feel that in order to be accepted or to fit in that they need to act, behave or look a certain way. How do I know this? Because I am describing myself to a great extent, I still remember the day when I’d finally had enough of playing the game of the world, always having to put on what I felt were different masks depending on which person or crowd I was around.
I would define the vain as used in the verse above as one having no success and not producing or getting the desired result, as one having no real value, a life marked by futility or ineffectualness. In this regard I think it is fair to say that not only is the world littered with vanity and vain people as one look at the magazine rack of any supermarket checkout or the staggering increase in Cosmetic surgery worldwide will leave little doubt about that. Sadly though I think it would be fair to say that a large portion of the Christian church lives in the same vanity. But why? Because, as I pointed out above, the fact that we’ve been indoctrinated and conditioned to believe that we are all imperfect humans, living in an imperfect world and will probably remain so until we die go to heaven and receive our resurrected glorified body. Jesus said in Matthew 5:48,
"Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." - NASB.
I remember the first time I read that and thought....HUH? How can I ever possibly be as perfect as God is perfect? That's impossible. Let’s be honest how many Christians would dare to consider that they are on the same level and equal to Jesus or their heavenly Father. To say such a thing would be a blasphemous and arrogant statement! Yet Jesus did just that. He said, if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father -John 14:9 and, I and the Father are one - John 10:30.
I say and do only what the Father tells me to say and do -John 5:19. He was in perfect union and harmony with God and knew His place as a son of the Father and HE came to show us the Father and who we are in relation to Him.
This, I believe though, is where we have failed miserably as a society and why so many people and many more within the Christian church live a life of poverty and never ever reach their full potential. And by poverty I don’t mean for lack of money or material possessions, I mean spiritual poverty as a state of feeling inferior, insufficient, having no self-esteem or self-worth. Although many claim to be saved and born again, including myself, most I humbly say are still dead and lost. They don't know who they really are. And that’s what religion does; it keeps one bound, burdened, inferior, and lost.
Jesus addressed this very issue in Matthew 23:1-5 when He said to the multitudes and to His disciples,
“The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat [of authority]. So observe and practice all they tell you; but do not do what they do, for they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy loads, hard to bear, and place them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not lift a finger to help bear them. They do all their works to be seen of men;” - AMP
Can anyone relate?
Now moving on to verse 4, I see a striking similarity here as spoken by Jesus in Matthew 19:30,
The footnote [a] for this verse reads; Or, foremost, chief. That is, first in time; or first in status. The parable that follows illustrates this point. In answer to Peter’s question in v 27, Jesus says God will reward based on His own will, not what we think we deserve; and based on completion of the work assigned to us, not based on comparison to the work done by others or in proportion to our part of the total work performed. Compare the parable at 25:14. Thus from the human viewpoint, some seeming to have done the least will seem to be rewarded the most; some who appear to deserve more will receive the same as others who appear to deserve less.
"Thus the last ones will be first, and the first ones, last”
and in Matthew 20:16,
while in Matthew 22:14 He says,
It’s is interesting that in the Gospel of Thomas verse 4 we're told,
it’s the first who make themselves become last that will become One.
How does one interpret this statement? Well if we refer back to the passage above from Philippians 2 where it indicated Jesus emptied Himself and we consider that it is when we empty ourselves of our false self that is the ego. That part of us that tells us we are unique and separate individuals, our own gods, in control of our own lives and decisions etc. The me, myself and I, that incessant voice that’s constantly babbling inside of our heads either puffing us up in pride or breaking us down and beating us up.
In Matthew 16:24 Jesus said to His disciples,
What I believe Jesus is trying to get across to humanity here is that in order for us to attain that same level of union and harmony as He experienced with the Father, that ability to become One, it is imperative and absolutely essential that we crucify or deny ourselves. And by ourselves I think He is referring to that part of us that wants to be in control, its own god, our prideful, arrogant self-centered ego that is always, always seeking outside approval from the world. It is those that are able to empty themselves of self, that will ever experience the fullness of God as Jesus did. We see it in some of the great saints, but I also believe that those that practice various forms of meditation or any practice that shuts down the egoic mind will find that union, the oneness with the divine. In fact I remember just recently asking myself and even posing the question on Facebook wondering what Jesus prayed those many nights He spent on the mountain or when it says He slipped away from the crowds to pray? I realize now that He was probably meditating in the sense of emptying himself of self and becoming One with the Father.
Christianity would have me believe that those the meditate, which is really a form of quieting the egoic mind, emptying oneself of self, according to the teaching of Buddha or various other Eastern mystics and teachers is pagan religion and has no relation to the God of the Bible.
Yet Jesus uses an analogy of a wide and narrow gate that I think speaks appropriately to this in Matthew 7:13-14,
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."
(Let me add here that I wrote this in 2015, after leaving the church, jaded and frustrated. Today in 2021 I do believe that Jesus who is the Living Word of God is the way, the truth and the life.)
Luke records Jesus as saying,
"And someone said to Him, “Master, are the ones being saved few?” And the One said to them, 24 “Be striving to enter through the narrow door, because many, I say to you, will seek to enter, and will not be able." - Disciples Literal New Testament
Let's move on to the final verse 5, we can see that what is said here is found in all three of the synoptic Gospels at Matthew 10:26, Mark 4:22, and Luke 8:17, where we read that there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed or anything secret that will not come to light. But according to Thomas it is not until we recognize what is right in front of us that that which is hidden will be revealed to us.
As another translation reads, "Recognize what is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will become plain to you. For there is nothing hidden which will not become manifest."
I think Matthew sums it up nicely when he quotes the Prophet Isaiah in chapter 13:14-15,
Looking at each of the footnotes we read [a], That is, The prophecy saying. [b], Or, thick, fat, insensitive. [c], That is, with difficulty. They are spiritually hard of hearing. [d], This expresses the purpose of the people. They willfully closed their eyes to God that they might not ever see what they did not want to see, and never have to change their ways and return to God.
This without a doubt is why most of us rarely if ever experience God and fewer still attain to their full potential. I have no doubt that humanity has the ability to reach the same level as Jesus, but for lack of knowledge as Hosea said they perish. I still remember a church 12 step group I partook in some years ago as a facilitator. Almost all in the group were lifetime Christians, born into a Christian household and raised in one of many different Christian denominations. One my greatest teachers, Charles Capps says, "Once you become indoctrinated you quit thinking" and the statement is so true. Many or almost all in the group had been through this program multiple times and were still no further ahead or any closer to the freedom and victory that Christ came to give us. They were still stuck in fear, ignorance, shame, guilt and bondage. I was known as the man of faith in the group having been immediately introduced to the Word Faith message of Kenneth Copeland and many others that are a part of that same teaching. The whole New Testament is based of the Law of Faith, for without faith Hebrews 11:6 says it's impossible to please God. At the time I had just discovered that I didn't have to live in that guilt and shame, that bondage that had kept me paralyzed for most of my adult life to that point. Like many who turn to drugs I used alcohol and marijuana to escape that shame and guilt of all the bad stuff I had done to people and myself. I suffered years of severe clinical depression with suicidal thoughts. But, I had just been told that I didn't have to carry that weight any longer because there was a man named Jesus Christ that had carried all that garbage for me, all my garbage, all my guilt, all my shame and that it had been nailed to a cross and with that knowledge for the first time in my adult life came an incredible sense of freedom. Others in the group just didn't seem to or had no ability to grasp this and I remember bringing it before God because I just couldn't understand what part of the Gospel, being set free from they couldn't grasp. The fact that for some this was their third, forth, fifth time going through the same Christian based 12 step program and they were still in bondage to their baggage said a lot. What He eventually showed me was that they were spiritually deaf and dumb, that although having ears to hear they heard not and that having eyes to see, they saw not. Why? They were bound by religious indoctrination and they couldn't think or reason for themselves. Almost every church I have ever been in and many of the sermons I used to listen to on a local Christian radio station teach nothing but sin consciousness. That we are, as believers, the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus is rarely ever heard or taught, yet, that is the truth of the new covenant. We think that such a statement is arrogant, prideful, and that to be humble we need to be beneath God, inferior to Him, continually recognize the we are still sinners even if we have been saved by God's grace. As Proverbs 23:7 says, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."
If you sit your whole life or years under teaching that continually proclaims that you are nothing but an old unworthy sinner saved by grace, that you'll never be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect because you are a fallen human even though Jesus has saved you and you are going to heaven and that to even consider that somehow you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus is blasphemous or even a sin how could you ever get free from under that. Like Capps says, once indoctrinated, you have no ability to think for yourselves. I think more than anything else some of these new age atheist, although I confess I have not read any of their work beyond some reviews or You Tube video's, such as Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens speak more against the religious dogma being taught than a belief in a creator.
Our life and the reality we experience and live is, and will never be, anything more than a exact reflection of what we believe about ourselves, the image we have of our creator and the world we live in. Our thoughts consist of our beliefs and those beliefs become our words and those words Jesus said are seeds that we are planting and when you plants seeds, whether good seeds or weed seeds you will always get a harvest, whether good or bad.
Our life and the reality we experience and live is, and will never be, anything more than a exact reflection of what we believe about ourselves, the image we have of our creator and the world we live in. Our thoughts consist of our beliefs and those beliefs become our words and those words Jesus said are seeds that we are planting and when you plants seeds, whether good seeds or weed seeds you will always get a harvest, whether good or bad.
All that said the ultimate point I guess that I am trying to get across is, are we any different from Jesus the man? And if so, then what separates us or makes us any different than He was as a human being when He walked the earth? My own view is that it is our thoughts, emotions, beliefs and most importantly our Ego, that false self-centered part of us that we think is the real us, when in fact, it is an imposter that has deceived us into believing that it, the ego, is who we really are. I think it is a perfect representation of the devil or Satan as described in the Bible and that in itself is whole other article unto itself for another day.
Love in Christ, Rob.
There is so much more I want to add and I did not even get into the science in this article. I guess I will have to settle for that being a separate article. And there was one more Scripture that I wanted to explore with respect to Jesus when the religious leaders accused Him of being equal to God but that will form Part 2 of "Who Are We....Really?
