How the Peace of Jerusalem Will Be Established

As of late, we have seen the world led by the United States seeking to strip from Israel it present day borders and bullying them into a forced agreement with those who absolutely abhor them and seek their utter destruction. Sadly, America (who is governed at the moment by the progressive Left) has always been Israel’s strongest ally but at present has forsaken Israel and thrown them under the Middle East Islamic bus. With an anti-Israeli Europe and now a current anti-Israeli U.S. administration, Israel’s back is totally up against the wall and they know it.

"Sadly, America (who is governed at the moment by the progress Left) - has always been Israel’s strongest ally but at present has seemed to have forsaken Israel and thrown them under the Middle East Islamic bus"

When the present world which we are living in has become hostile and aggressive towards Israel, do not expect to see them idly stand by and let the world decide their fate and eradicate them from off of the face of the earth. Israel is a military might in that region with nukes and is armed to the teeth. As the world continues its anti-Semitic agenda they will one day choose to look the other way and allow Israel’s enemies in that region to grossly cross the line with Israel. It will be then that Israel - in the reaction of self defense and national survival - will finally strike back with great fury and military might. Israel will totally institute the Limbaugh Doctrine and secure their borders. They will obliterate and wipe out their border enemies unto the point that they will achieve finally complete safety and security (Ezek. 38:8, 11-12). Israel will bring about their “own” peace and the world at that time will be forced to recognize it. It will be after this time that a man from Europe will broker a deal and lend his might to a covenant (peace treaty) on behalf of Israel’s greatly defeated enemies. This European leader will enter into a seven year covenant with Israel not from a position of dominance but rather from a position of weakness (Dan. 9:27, Rev. 6:2).

It will be just before these events transpire that the Rapture of the Church will take place in which Almighty God the Son will call out His body (saints and ambassadors). This event (i.e., The Rapture) will be a wondrous sign unto the apostate western “post - Christian” world and have more of an impact on their culture and society than other regions in the world. It will be just after this event takes place that all had better be prepared, for Almighty God's "Day of Wrath" is now at hand (2 Thess. 2:3-12)!

"All these are the beginning of sorrows (birth pangs) Matt. 24:8".. As we are leading up to that time we are constantly seeing Israel’s border enemies being ever more emboldened to stir up strife and lash out against Israel. Just in this last month alone we have seen Israel’s border enemies seeking to bait and provoke Israel to engage them and rally world opinion and its leaders against them. Israel’s border enemies - especially the Palestinian people - sadly are nothing but the pawns and victims of the anti Semitic Arab nations, Iran and Russia. These weaker Islamic nations are more than willing to heed these voices and are rabidly chomping at the bit to destroy Israel and occupy Israel’s land.

Now to put this all together with a last days biblical perspective. The official commencement of the horrific seven year period (i.e., The Day of the Lord) will begin with the breaking of the 1st seal (i.e., the "Confirming of the Covenant" - Dan. 9:27) by Almighty God’s Lamb (i.e., The Lord Jesus Christ) in Heaven (Rev. 6:1). It is at this precise moment that the man of lawlessness (i.e., the anti-Christ) will be revealed unto the entire world (2 Thess. 2: 3-12; Rev. 6:2). This revealing of the Anti-Christ and the commencement of this seven year tribulation period will begin (as was stated prior) when this man (i.e., the Anti-Christ) adding his position of great power and authority to a covenant with Israel on the behalf of Israel’s DEFEATED enemies (Ezek. 38:8,11-12, Dan. 9: 27). Israel will sign this covenant from a position of absolute strength, not weakness. This prophetic position is contrary to that to which many great biblical scholars have held through the years (Ezek 38: 8). When this position (position of strength) is received, all the prophetic pieces come together as we shall see.

"Israel will sign this covenant from a position of absolute strength, not weakness contrary to that which many biblical scholars have believed"

With the complete defeat of Israel's border enemies Israel will then have the rest and peace that they have so long sought and will dwell in their land in complete safety. One event Israel did not anticipate will be the Rapture of the Church of believers (Israel's strongest ally) and the arrival of Almighty God’s Two wondrous Messengers (Ezek. 38:8,11-12, Rev. 11:3-7). Sadly with this newly acquisition and position of power Israel's heart will NOT be right with Almighty God (Rev. 11:8). Tragically, in Israel’s new found security and rest they will only seek to corrupt themselves and find themselves hard against the RIGHTEOUSNESS of Almighty God and His Two Messengers. It will be also during this time that Israel (like it or not) will have the super natural protection of Almighty God’s Two Witnesses who - just coming off of 3000 years in the presence of Almighty God in glory - will possess Almighty God's Divine authority. These Two Men will be extremely more powerful than Satan’s anti - Christ and his global confederacies (Rev. 11:3-6). These Two will be ABSOLUTELY INVINCIBLE during their 1260 days of ministry!

"This revealing of the Anti-Christ and the commencement of this seven year tribulation period will begin when this man (i.e., the Anti-Christ) adds his position of great power and authority to a covenant with Israel on the behalf of Israel’s defeated enemies" ..During this time of ease for the nation Israel these Two Lamp Stands of Almighty God (Moses and Elijah) will preach salvation in Jesus Messiah, re- institute the temple, its sacrifices and its priesthood. They will preach repentance and testify to ALL in the earth that the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. These Two will then prepare the remnant of believing Jews and a chosen 144,000 Jewish men - from the 12 tribes of Israel - (Matt. 24:14, Rev. 7:4-8, 11:13) for their global ministry unto ALL nations of the earth and preach the Messiah’s glorious gospel and imminent return and Kingdom. It will be at this time -the first 3 1/2 years of the tribulation period - that the WORLD will seek any and every opportunity to root out and destroy these two Divinely appointed vessels of Almighty God... all to no avail (Mal. 4:4-6, Rev. 7,14:1-4,11:3-8). . It will be at this time - at the beginning of this seven year period, while Israel dwells in their land in absolute safety - that the WHOLE GENTILE WORLD will be catastrophically trodden down by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Trumpet Judgments of Almighty God and the demonic host of destroyers (Rev. 6-9). These events along with their consequences - including the unopposed preaching of RIGHTEOUSNESS of the Two Witnesses of Almighty God (Mal. 4:4-6, John 3:19-21, Rev. 11:2-4,10) will only stir up the world’s exponential rage and hatred for Israel (Rev. 11:10).

"The Two Witnesses of Almighty God will only stir up the world’s exponential rage and hatred for Israel"

As these 3 ½ years go by, unbelieving Israel will now begin to feel the chastening hand of Almighty God via Gog and Magog (Ezek. 38-39), the global ravishing of Satan’s hatred and the world’s wrath (Rev. 11:8) and the Abomination of Desolation (Matt. 24:15-17, 2 Thess. 2:8-13, Rev 13). As the Second Woe comes near to completion, so also ends the mighty Two Witnesses of Almighty God’s ministry and their protective hand over Israel. As their 1260 days are now fully accomplished, the Anti Christ will NOW own the next remaining 3 ½ years or 1260 days or 42 months of this tribulation period (Rev. 11:3; 13:1-5). As he breaks his covenant with Israel (Dan 9:27), he will violently murder Almighty God’s Two Witnesses. It will be this momentous event (the murder of Almighty God’s Two Witnesses) that a long awaited god hating, anti-Semitic ravished world will then with all their wretched being rejoice exceedingly at the Anti Christ’s victory and confess unto all, “Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him” (Rev. 11:8-10,13)? This one event will solidify the world's allegiance to the beast, to Lucifer and institute the 666 global state.

As the godless and lawless world celebrates with exceeding godless joy, this rejoicing will be short lived. For at the end of 3 ½ days Almighty God’s Two Witnesses will then be resuscitation and ascension into Heaven in front of the world's masses and their newly reigning “ savior” (i.e., Anti Christ) (Matt. 24:15, Rev. 13:1-5). It will be at this moment that all of the air in their lawless bag will be let out. The world’s short lived exceeding joy and rejoicing will be instantly turned into exceeding terror and fear. As REALITY now totally permeates ALL of the world's godless inhabitants, their fear and dread will now turn to uncontrollable rage and they will now seek to go after Israel with ALL of their being. Any who call on the name of the Messiah of Israel will now be in their sights (Rev. 12:6, 12-17, 13, 17:11-14). This "time" (i.e., 42 months ) under the anti Christ has now FULLY begun which is called, “Great Tribulation" or "Jacob’s Trouble”. . "The world’s short lived exceeding joy and rejoicing will be instantly turned into exceeding terror and fear"

It will be now - with the rise of the Anti Christ as chief global autocratic and the establishment and institution of the Abomination of Desolation (Dan. 12, Zech. 11. Matt. 24:15, Rev. 11:1-2, 12:9-17, 13) that Israel’s’ security and safety will now be a thing of the past. No more will they dwell in safety and have the luxury to do as "they" please. For they will now be persecuted to a level unparalleled in the annals of history and suffer greatly under the hand of Lucifer and the godless nations of the world under the anti Christ (Isa. 24:5-6, Zech. 13:8-9, 14:2, Matt. 24:15-51, Rev. 12:9-17).

"The Messiah of Israel will come from Heaven's glory and destroy the armies of the anti Christ which have gathered against Israel and then He will establish His glorious Kingdom reign for a thousand years in Jerusalem"

It will be at the end of all of these events (seven years to the exact day from the strengthening of the covenant) that Almighty God’s Son, the Messiah of Israel will come from Heaven's glory and destroy the armies of the anti Christ which have gathered against Israel and then He will establish His glorious Kingdom reign for a thousand years in Jerusalem (Isa. 11:1-10, Micah 4:1-3, Zech 12:8-14, 13:1, 14:1-4, Rev. 1:7, 20:6). In these brief seven years, Israel will have come full circle. Finally, it will be during this time of great testing and horrific persecution by the gentile nations under the Anti Christ (Isa. 24:5-6, Zech. 13:8-9,12:9-7,13) that Israel will turn from their godless ways and receive their Messiah and Savior, the Lord Yeshua Messiah (Deut. 4:30, Isa.25:9, 45:17, Jer. 33:16, Zech. 12:8-14,13:1,9, Rom. 11:26). It will take the Divine judgment and the natural and super natural ravishing of planet earth and her godless inhabitants (Isa. 24:5-6, Matt. 24, Rev. 13) - which concludes with the final blood bath of the Battle of Armageddon (Zech. 12:2-4, 14:1-4, Rev. 16:13-16, Rev. 19:11-21) - to bring Israel to the place of repentance and deliverance (Isa. 25:9, Zech. 12:8-14, 13:1,9).

It will be the ravishing of Israel under the anti Christ,climaxing with the global bloodbath of Armageddon at Messiah's glorious return in which Jesus Messiah will obliterate the global armies of the Anti Christ which will finally bring about a TRUE and EVERLASTING PEACE to Jerusalem (the City of Peace), to the nation of Israel and to the world (Zech. 12:4,14:2-4, Rev. 19:11-21)!

"It will be the ravishing of Israel under the anti Christ, climaxing with the global bloodbath of Armageddon at Messiah's glorious return that will finally bring about a TRUE and EVERLASTING PEACE to Jerusalem (the City of Peace) and to the nation of Israel!"

What Israel and the nations have attempted for centuries and could NEVER achieve will finally be accomplished at Almighty God the Son’s second coming to earth (Psalm 2, 24:7-10, 110, Isa. 2:3, 9:6-7, 33:22, 51:5,61:1-11, Dan. 2:34-35, 44-45, 7:13-14, Micah 4:1-3, Zech. 14:16-21, Rev. 19:11-21)...

It will be ONLY by the Prince of Peace that TRUE and EVERLASTING PEACE will come to the City of Jerusalem (Isa. 9:6-7, 33:5, 53:5, 62;1, Jer. 33:16, Zech 8:3, Matt. 5:35, Rom. 10:2-4, Eph. 2:12-19, Col. 1:20, Heb. 1:3, 10:7-14). How many in vain through out the ages have sought and prayed in sincerity for the peace of Jerusalem WITHOUT knowledge nor understanding (Isa. 29:13, 58:1-8, Matt. 7:21-23, 15:3, 7-9, Mark 12:24)? Throughout the last 2600 years, how many sons of Abraham have totally missed the reality and truth of the Holy Scriptures of just how this Divine peace MUST be established (Deut. 9:6, 28-30,31:27, Lev. 26, Psalm 78, Isa. 53:5, Ezek. 12:2, Dan 9:26, Matt. 15:3-7-9, Luke 13:34-35, Acts 7, Rom. 9-11, Rev. 1:7)?

"Through out the last 2600 years, how many sons of Abraham have totally missed the reality and truth of the Holy Scriptures of just how this Divine peace MUST be established"

My dear friend, please try to comprehend that ALL current global events are indeed heading to this destination and EXPONENTIALLY beyond (Rev. 19:11-21)! Remember the words of the Lord Jesus in which He specifically told His disciples to pray, “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:9-10).” Oh my beloved! How many people pray this prayer day after day and are absolutely oblivious to what it is testifying to and stating! “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” .

It will indeed take the horrific seven year tribulation period to wake up the Jew and the gentile nations to this reality (Isa. 24:5-6, Rev. 6:14-17, 17:2).There is absolutely NO hope for Israel and the nations of the world apart for their Creator and Savior, Jesus Messiah (John 3:16-17, Eph. 2:12-16, Heb 1:2-3). It will NOT be until the Jew is reconciled with Jehovah God and receive their Messiah as their sacrificial lamb, propitiation and Savior that the nations WILL BE BLESSED (Isa. 2:1-4, 19:23-25, Micah 4:1-4, Zech. 8:23, Rom. 11:12) and TRUE DIVINE PEACE will go forth out of Jerusalem unto the entire world (Isa. 2:3-4,33:16, 62:1, Jer. 33:5)!

"It will NOT be until the Jew is reconciled with Jehovah God and receive their Messiah as their sacrificial lamb, propitiation and Savior that the nations WILL BE BLESSED and TRUE DIVINE PEACE will go forth out of Jerusalem unto the entire world"

My friend, do you have a saving relationship to Jesus Messiah the Savior of the world (Psalm 110:1, Isa. 43:11,52:13-15, 53)? All depends on this very union. His death, burial and resurrection to the Right Hand of Almighty God is the center piece of all ETERNITY (Gen. 22:8, Psalm 110:1, Isa. 53, 1 Cor. 15:1-4, Rev. 1:18,13:8, 21-22:1-5). He will indeed come back to establish His Kingdom on His earth and the gates of Hell shall not nor NEVER prevent this from happening (Dan. 2:44-45, 7:13-14, Rev. 1:7, 16:13-16, 19:11-21).

As the days grow nearer to the Day of the Lord be sure that you know the Savior and Messiah of Israel as dictated by the Holy Scriptures!

You make an excellent point but it does not negate mine about always being ready and not worrying about it. He is warning non-believers through us while urging us on. That is a point I had not considered. Thanks.

However, I am not sure than redoubling our efforts to convert the lost will produce any better results than before. Certainly warning them that the end is nye is not the best way. That only produces pseudo believers who claim fealty to escape death and damnation. Is that true belief? Would that fool God?

I don’t think that is what “Those who are first will be last, and those who are last will be first.” means.

Perhaps there are a few who, when it is pointed out what the scripture says and comparing that to what has actually happened, may then suddenly believe ALL the scripture, yet, do you think it would convert the multitudes? Do you think they would all be sincere conversions as opposed to “paying the insurance premiums just in case” conversions? Shouldn’t we be trying to spread the gospel to the unbelievers at all times rather than just at the end?

Although I have seen much wisdom in the Bible which affects our everyday lives, messages I think too many Christians gloss over in their determined adherence to the scripture per se, I know there is much there I do not understand. I cannot reconcile the following with the Book of Revelations:

(Mark 13:30-32), “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 31”Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. 32But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone,”

(Matt. 24:36), “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

It's not for us to be concerned about what will fool God. It is our responsibility, as those who know Christ as Savior, to spread the Gospel, even more so as we see the return of Christ at the door. We are never required to make judgments regarding whether or not a person's belief is genuine. It is our job to tell people the fact of Christ's death on the cross as payment for our sin and the fact that the opportunity to accept the free gift of eternal life is coming to a close.

God never said that the multitudes would be converted. Indeed, God says:

"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." (Matthew 7:13, 14)

More people will choose death over the eternal life that Christ offers. No Christian expects to convert the multitudes. It simply will never happen.

Do you think they would all be sincere conversions as opposed to “paying the insurance premiums just in case” conversions? Shouldn’t we be trying to spread the gospel to the unbelievers at all times rather than just at the end?

We should spread the Gospel at all times but the urgency to get the word out grows as the time for getting the word out is running out.

I cannot reconcile the following with the Book of Revelations:

(Matt. 24:36), “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

That Scripture reconciles perfectly with the book of Revelation. Right before Mark 13:30 is Mark 13:29, which says:

“Even so, you too, when you see these things happening, recognize that He is near, right at the door."

What "things" are Christ referring to? The signs of His return that He just gave to the disciples in Mark 13:5-27. These "things" that Christ discussed in those verses are events which will transpire during the Tribulation, which are confirmed in the book of Revelation.

Jesus told His disciples that the generation which lives to see these "things" will not pass until the "things" which He just laid out for them happen. He also told them that no one, not even the angels, will know the day nor the hour which He will physically and literally return to earth. Those verses reconcile beautifully with Revelation. There is no discrepancy whatsoever.

One last thought for the moment, if that is possible for me:

Since becoming a Christian I have viewed Christianity as being for the living, a way of life that is more satisfying than any other. I have never much considered death or the end times and all that they imply for us mortals. I believe what the Bible says about them but they are just an adjunct, a continuation of right-now belief in, and fellowship with, God.

I came to Christ by simply muscling through the alternatives and finally by grace. In retrospect, I wish I had had the information and discussion opportunities I have now by sharing with you guys. It would not have made my belief any stronger but I may have gotten here sooner, or maybe not. Instead I was surrounded by non-questioning “believers” who I think learned the scripture but missed much of the message.

As far as the Tribulation and the Rapture, I think we are tried by tribulation throughout our lives and that the belief in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the ever-present rapture that sees us through the difficulties. I realize I am mixing everyday meanings with Scriptural meanings, much like we sometimes confuse everyday meanings with mathematical terminology, like the word “theory.” However, it does convey what I think. If I am wrong I am sure one of you will guide me back to the path.

Because of the duality of ourselves, being both spirit and natural/physical humans, it is often very difficult to be a Christian, especially when you consider that Jesus told us that just thinking sinful thoughts is as egregious as actually doing sinful things. Accordingly, I see life more as a maze with many dead ends and a confusing path to the goal. Many don’t even know the goal, Peace and Love in Christ, and stay eternally lost seeking other ends. Yet, once you find Christ the goal suddenly appears, bright and shiney, and the path becomes clear.

Simply being a Christian means we accept the fact of Jesus, the purpose of Jesus, and the fact that he died for our sins, relieving us of them forever by just believing and striving for His perfection while knowing we can’t get there.

Similarly, it can put a knot in your brain contemplating infinity concerning time and space. To think of eternal peace and love is beyond my grasp at the moment. In this plane, even the most satisfying and pleasurable activities, thoughts, sights, sounds, etc., soon deaden after repeated exposure. They lose their oomph. I can get lost in the feeling of the presence of God and it is a magnificent feeling, a rapture so to speak, and I try to stay aware of that throughout the day and night, but contemplating that for eternity is still difficult. Surely we become truly transformed into something beyond what we are here on Earth.

I am sure you guys can guide me through that, too.

You wrote: "I can get lost in the feeling of the presence of God and it is a magnificent feeling, a rapture so to speak, and I try to stay aware of that throughout the day and night, but contemplating that for eternity is still difficult. Surely we become truly transformed into something beyond what we are here on Earth."

Monday, June 27, 2011

John Paul II.3: God is a Playwright

Everything is trivial if the universe is not committed to a metaphysical adventure. --Don Colacho's Aphorisms

[snip]

"...Even as a lad, Wojtyla recognized the cosmic significance of language, and was struck by the "intimacy" afforded by words, "between the one who spoke and the one who listened." In a way, this goes to man's ontological status as "priest" or pontifex of the cosmos, the living link between time and eternity, Creator and creation, the medicine of Truth above and its side effects herebelow. One of his literary mentors taught that properly communicated -- and received -- words could "open up, through the materials of this world, the realm of transcendent truth" and universal moral values.

And if the world of the stage "could unveil the deeper dimensions of the truth of things, might there be a dramatic structure to every human life? To the whole of reality?"

In the past we have written of how we are drawn to music because it discloses vital information about the nature of reality. If John Paul is correct, the same could be said of man's universal appreciation of, and need for, drama.

Here is how Cardinal Ratzinger describes the plot line and theme of this cosmic Broadway -- actually, narroway -- production:

"Man can be and should be a synthesis, comprising every floor in the whole building of creation," ending -- and beginning -- in the living God," for "it is in this that the whole thrill of the human adventure resides."

On the one hand, the drama "has a fixed shape -- it is always the same -- and yet it is inexhaustible and is ever new. It always leads us farther on. We are not just chained to a past in which there is nothing more to be discovered; rather, it is a whole country of discoveries, in which each of us can also find himself anew" (ibid.).

In any event, God may be a mathematician, but his major is in drama. ..."

Thanks. That was great and it speaks directly, sort of, to what I was talking about.

One of his literary mentors taught that properly communicated -- and received -- words could "open up, through the materials of this world, the realm of transcendent truth" and universal moral values.

Words are symbols for thought, the way we communicate ideas. However, I am not sure what John Paul means by "drama."

Music I can understand, for music is just a mathematical arrangement of the finite number of notes. Perhaps music is the emotional tie to mathematics, making math more than just dry equations, and maybe drama is the same, connecting emotion and therefore new meaning, to everyday experiences. Both allow us to experience new things vicariously, as do poems and novels.

And if the world of the stage "could unveil the deeper dimensions of the truth of things, might there be a dramatic structure to every human life? To the whole of reality?"

I could continue to do point/counterpoint but I will just say that although this is very informative and helpful it doesn't address my main point, at least that I can see.

However, it does make me think of one of my other beliefs that is not always shared by others - the belief that our minds are more than a genii-in-a-box or an expanded Magic 8 Ball. To me, this ties together the aforementioned interaction with music and drama. We already know that we remember things better that cause our emotional involvement, sometimes inaccurately though, and perhaps that plays into this.

Yet, what I am thinking is that, just as Jesus is our connection to God, that our minds transcend the assumed physical limitations of our brain and allow us to interact with the Holy Spirit and the universe. That ties back into what is above and to the rest of your post but I am not sure it addresses the change from our present selves into the Heavenly Eternal selves. Perhaps this does but I am not certain:

I suppose that unburdened by sin and temptation, we could find continuing adventure in God's Heaven and that if each day produced (are there days in Heaven?) new opportunities that time would pass rapidly. But eternity ....??

You wrote: “I am not sure it addresses the change from our present selves into the Heavenly Eternal selves... I suppose that unburdened by sin and temptation, we could find continuing adventure in God’s Heaven and that if each day produced (are there days in Heaven?) new opportunities that time would pass rapidly. But eternity ....??”

Just Thomism
http://thomism.wordpress.com/2009/02/21/3514/

February 21, 2009 at 5:09 am

St. Thomas claims in his five ways that an infinite regress of causes is impossible. The word “infinite” is unfortunate for us, since we immediately understand it in numerical terms, and no one has denied that there are limitless numbers. Ever.

The sense is that even if moved movers or caused causes are infinite, all causes cannot be such. Now denying that all in a series can “be such” is one way of saying the series is finite, but it certainly isn’t the claim that there must be some precise number that cannot be exceeded. Numbers, taken as such, obviously have no highest or last- and if one thinks of numerals (as most people do) there isn’t even a first.

Gagdad Bob said,
February 21, 2009 at 11:29 am

I think a “bad” or false infinite is to the true infinite as time everlasting is to eternity, i.e., timelessness. The former results in the nameless dread of the “eternal silence of the infinite spaces.”

“Remember, eternity is not time everlasting, but timelessness.”

Saturday, October 21, 2006
Living in the Light of the Absolute, or Time and How it Gets That Way (9.27.08)
http://onecosmos.blogspot.com/2006/10/living-in-light-of-absolute-or-time.html

In any attempt to bridge the domains of experience belonging to the spiritual and physical sides of our nature, time occupies the key position. —A. N. Whitehead

I forget. Have we discussed the nature of time yet, except in passing? .....

“To beat this conundrum, you must understand the distinction between time and eternity. Eternity is not time everlasting, but timelessness. Time and eternity are actually aspects of one another—they are dialectically related. In one sense, time may be thought of as the serial deployment of something that lies outside time. Thus, eternity is not located in the past or future, because no matter how far you go, you are still dealing with chronological time. Rather, the only possible place it could be is now—not in a temporal now, but an eternal now. As it so happens, the mysterious now, so inexplicable in terms of any model physics has ever come up with, is the intersection of time and eternity, and human beings are the self-aware locus where this occurs—where the vertical meets the horizontal.

“So much trouble is caused by our reliance upon language, which, in its superficial sense, is geared to the problems of matter, not consciousness, much less the ground of consciousness. We often mistake a deficiency of language for a key to truth. In order to discuss these deeper ontological questions, language must be deployed in a special, nonlinear, non-dualistic and poetic way. ....

Clearly, time is at the heart of the mystery of existence. In fact, time is indistinguishable from existence, which is one of the things that makes it so difficult to describe. And yet, to a certain extent, you must be outside or “above” time in order to perceive it, which in itself provides a key to the mystery.

After all, animals are just as much entangled in time as we are, except that they don’t know it. Why? Because an animal is incapable of lifting itself above its own subjectivity, while humans are specifically capable of objectivity. We can “see” time “passing” so to speak, just as we can sit here on this bank of sand with Bob Dylan and watch the river flow. Except that we are also floating on the river we observe, and the river doesn’t run in a straight liner but in circles within circles.

As above, so below. Just as the cosmos contains circles within circles—the rotating earth circling around a star inside a galaxy that is also a revolving and rotating spheroid—our lives consist of circular days within weeks within years within a full trip around the block called a natural lifetime. Esoterists believe that our lives consist of fractal time cycles of varying length, each a reflection of the other; thus, a lifetime can also be thought of as a day, with the morning of childhood, the day of youth, the evening of maturity, the twilight of old age, and the night-womb of death. Or our lives can be thought of as a year: spring, summer, autumn and winter.

But the ancients believed only in the closed circle of eternal return, not the line of growth, which is to say the open spiral. Here again, what distinguishes man is not that we are immersed in the cycles of time, but that we may utilize time to experience endless cycles of growth, or what I call inward mobility. Doing so is the whole point of your existence.....

For I actually try, insofar as it is possible, to spend as much timelessness in eternity as I can, given the constraints of worldly existence. I was recently discussing this with a friend in a different context. I was trying to explain to him, without success, that there is no such thing as “quality time” with a child, only quantity time in which you will have randomly magical moments of quality timelessness, which is to say, eternity. ....

Well, it’s the same with the Divine, don’t you know.....

To live “within” religion is to find a way to be, or think, or feel, or act within eternity.

Now, no one has been more shocked than I have about what happens when you begin “thinking” within religion, because to a certain extent, this blog is nothing more or less than that. Like so many people in the modern west, I started off in a place that pretty much equated religion and ignorance. But as it so happens, knowledge of religion is knowledge that is both fruitful and efficacious, not to say transformational. It is nothing at all like “book learning,” or mere mental knowledge. If we grasp religion only with the mind, it is not really “interior” knowledge to which we may validly lay claim.

With the type of thinking I am describing, one is vaulted, so to speak, into a different space, the space from which the primordial mystery perpetually arises. What I have discovered, to my everlasting surprise, is that once in this space, one finds that it actually has its own very real characteristics and attributes. I know this because every day I receive confirmation from fellow explorers who see and experience the same thing. It’s as if we are all setting voyage into an unknown sea but all returning with vaguely similar—sometimes strikingly so—descriptions of the flora and fauna on the other side. I can only reemphasize that this is most mysterious indeed. ....

To summarise: time is not actually possible without eternity......

What is intelligibly diverse must be unified and whole, and only what is whole and unified can be intelligibly diverse. At the same time, only what is diversified can be intelligibly one.... The reality of time, therefore, establishes concurrently the reality of a whole which is nontemporal.... Time without eternity is strictly inconceivable. —Errol Harris

Time is the substance of which I am made. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which mangles me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire. The world, unfortunately, is real; I, unfortunately, am Borges. —Jorge Luis Borges

The mysterious now is the universal ordering principle which embodies the “processual flow” of eternity into serial structure. It is in this sense that human observers give rise to the cosmos that spawned them, and are the irreducible unit of there being a cosmos at all. ...

I previously meant to respond to what you said here, but forgot:

You wrote: "..Music I can understand, for music is just a mathematical arrangement of the finite number of notes. Perhaps music is the emotional tie to mathematics, making math more than just dry equations, and maybe drama is the same, connecting emotion and therefore new meaning, to everyday experiences. Both allow us to experience new things vicariously, as do poems and novels."

"...what eludes both atheists and religious literalists "is that form and meaning are complementary." For example, in order to play music, harmony, melody and rhythm are necessary. In their absence, there is only disorganized noise, not music. But to think that music may be reduced to musical theory is also wrong, for form is simply the vehicle but not the substance of music. ....

"To stop at the literal level of the text as a Rev. Jerry Falwell or Sam Harris would, is to leave most of the meaning out, and [to] deify the Bible itself for their purposes (either pro or con) and to miss out completely on the doing of its meaning being actively threaded through the reader's soul."

"Exactly, for the modern deviation of "fundamentalism" is no less a form of debased materialism than materialism proper. In fact, it represents the reaction of a weak soul to the abnormal conditions of modernity -- an attempt to combat materialism by fully conceding its assumptions.

"Quite obviously, the Bible is not "the word of God." It is not the logos. Rather, it is inspired words -- inspired (or even "authorized") by the Word -- about the Word.

"Once again, this conflation of the Bible and the Word -- or bibliolatry -- is a modern deviation that essentially concedes all ground to the horizontal flatlanders. It is a reduction of that which can only by understood by the nous to that which may be understood by the material ego. ...." ~ Gagdad Bob

HERE

Eternal Now is a very important concept as beautifully described in Matchett-PI's post.

Truly when we think of eternity we usually think of time without limit, infinite future and infinite past. That is a linear concept - the arrow of time.

Indeed, Aristotle used counting to express time passing (1,2,3...) and we experience serial/sequential events, we age, thermodynamic entropy happens (e.g. cars rust) - and so on.

But of a truth, time may not be linear at all. Indeed recent geometric physics theories by Vafa and Wesson both suggest there may be more than one dimension of time. In that case, time would be a plane or volume.

The latter could cause heartburn to many since physical causality (cause>effect) expands in volumetric time, i.e. cause>effect or effect>cause, etc.

When we speak of God and time (or the space/time continuum) we should always remember that space and time are part of the creation and not properties of the Creator of them. Thus the terms "timelessness" and "spacelessness" apply - not 0 dimensions of time (a mathematical point or singularity) but null, no time, void. Mathematical points are not nothing. Ditto for space.

The Jewish mystics use the term Ayn Sof when speaking of God the Creator. The term literally means "no thing" and the point is that any term we mortals would use to describe Him (e.g. time) actually reduces our understanding of Him to whatever term we used.

"Eternal Now" is a good expression of timelessness in my view. In Jewish mysticism, "Eternal Now" means that all of time (past, present, future) is "present" to God.But it must be distinguished from the other uses of the term.

For instance, "Eternal Now" in Zen Buddhism is living in the moment - which the New Agers take up as something akin to "if it feels good, do it."

Also in Jewish mysticism as well as some Christian belief, "Eternal Now" is the awareness of timelessness while yet in the flesh.

To that point, betty boop often quotes T.S. Eliot: "Man lives at the intersection of time and timelessness."

And there are levels of awareness of this being at the intersection between time and timelessness. Some may sense the moment by logic. And some may sense timelessness but secondary to a sense of time passing, an arrow of time.

And still others' sense of timelessness surpasses their sense of time passing. I am one of the latter, I am more aware of being alive in timelessness than I am of being alive in the flesh:

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. - Colossians 3:3

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. - Galatians 2:20

I believe that is what you are experiencing too, dear brother in Christ!

I should also note, at the risk of sounding mystical, that a common testimony of those who have spiritually meaningful dreams or visions is that time is the moment, i.e. the Eternal Now.

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