I have now been asked twice to post more about my spiritual dreams on the blog, so I'll answer that request now by doing so. I do not intend to post all of them as they happen because I think some require the context of other dreams to be properly understood, but others certainly do stand on their own, like one powerful dream I wrote about earlier here in a blog titled "Modern Honesty" (look it up if you haven't seen it.)
In a dream from June 29, 2010, a spirit guide gives me some advice regarding the utility of wishing for material comforts. He brings me to a vantage point from which I can see the Earth far below. He points to a specific location on the planet and it is brought close for us to see. It is a squalid scene in a slum like those found in Cairo or Calcutta. People live in tin-roofed shacks surrounded by garbage. I am asked to look at one shack. Inside, there is an average-sized family for this part of the world. Among the children is one boy of about six to eight years old. The guide asks me to consider his life of poverty and squalor as he explains his message.
"Why should you wish for a life of comfort when true comfort comes from peace? The best thing is to live a blameless life. Why should you or anyone be allowed to live in a place of enduring peace unless you yourself are peaceful? Until you become this yourself, you cannot be allowed to live in such a place."
The boy I was asked to watch was an example of a person who was living a blameless life, and so his comfort in that slum was greater than anything offered in any palace of the world. That kind of comfort could be had by anyone immediately by making the effort of becoming peaceful themselves.
It is easy enough to project our lack of comfort onto many external things, but the power is within each of us to change that by changing ourselves. I just read a wonderful book by Laura Hillenbrand titled "Unbroken" that touched on this theme strongly. If you enjoy reading long well-written non-fiction about personal growth under trial, I recommend it highly. At the moment, it is high up on my all-time top ten list of favorite books.
A blameless life is an ample reward, just as the cost of anything less may be too high.
AP
Dear Andrew,
ReplyDeleteAccording to Christianity, the purpose of God being incarnate in Jesus is to enable those not-blameless to get help. They can repent and call on the power of the truth (the power of the Lord) to get help in resisting the temptations that arise from being not blameless (but a mixture of good and evil). All is not lost for those people, if they know what to do. Much work, of course, is still then required in reforming their hearts and minds according to thtat truth.
Ian
Ian,
ReplyDeleteIf you read my book, you'll see a dream about this very subject, a very powerful dream. I only mentioned one of three parts to it, but you'll know it when you see it. I have had quite a few dreams about this kind of thing. The message is simple and clear: change your life now, don't wait, because when the time comes all will be revealed and it will be too late. There are several of these that I left out of the book, but not for lack of interest. The word count and "other" issues got in the way. They will have to wait for another book.
AP
Dear Andy,
ReplyDeleteI was taking the issue as more concerning individual people, rather than the planet as a whole. That way, everyone gets a chance for repentance in adult life, no matter when they are born. I am therefore somewhat skeptical about taking your global vision as referring to the whole earth, as distint, say, from the 'earth' on which we stand in our spiritual life (the basis or foundation of our beliefs).
Ian
Not sure what you mean by that. There is a misunderstanding in there somewhere I think, either on my part or yours. Okay, I see the problem (just checked the posts). Indeed, you are talking on the individual level, but then so am I. My dreams concern everyone globally, but the solution is always individual. The specific "Christian" solution contains within it the important elements of what I would call the generic solution. However, I should state for the record that I am aware that my dreams are not completely consistent with Christian teachings. From what I can tell they are most consistent with OT material, less so with modern NT-based doctrine.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest difference as it relates to this issue is that my dreams are pretty clear that the kind of change recommended is not a verbal or mental acceptance of help from Jesus, but involves actual changes in one's life and the way one interacts with the world. Added to that I'll mention that my own reading of Jesus' statements in the NT is consistent with this but inconsistent with the later "faith not works" doctrine instituted after the death of Jesus.
AP
Dear Andrew,
ReplyDeleteYou put your finger on a common misunderstanding! If you read the gospels, and nearly all the epistles, it is clear that faith is only genuine when it is conjoined with love and embedded in a life that is fruitful with respect to works. It was never really the case that 'faith alone' is sufficient, whatever Luther may have written.
So the OT God is still the same God in the NT! The difference is that the incarnation allows God to 'reach down to us' in ways that were not previously possible, and so more 'gentle' approaches then became possible. The requirements are still the same, it is just assistance is now available.
Ian
The best description of (Christian) repentance that I know is at http://www.biblemeanings.info/books/tcr/sect-509ff.html
ReplyDeleteIan
I agree with your comments from March 11, but wish more people in churches understood that. It seems to me quite misleading to tell people that all is forgiven if they simply "accept Jesus" verbally and go to church. In a church I attended briefly some years ago, I met a man who was about to go to prison for a theft he had committed. In the Bible study group we were part of, he blamed everyone but himself for his prison sentence, and didn't show any remorse for the victim. Occasionally he would make a comment about being sorry for having committed the theft, alongside a comment why he deserved the money anyway and it should have been given to him.
ReplyDeleteThe point is that it seemed to me that real forgiveness also had to come through genuine remorse, repentance, and restitution. What he was doing instead was complaining about the inconvenience he caused himself. Whenever I hear "faith, not works", I think of this man and wonder if it serves him well to be given that advice.
AP