Posted by Roberta Grimes • November 28, 2020 • 57 Comments
Human Nature, Jesus, The Teachings of Jesus
I don’t know how to love him.
What to do, how to move him.
I’ve been changed, yes really changed.
In these past few days, when I’ve seen myself,
I seem like someone else.
– Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice, from “Jesus Christ Superstar” (1971)
Animals reshuffle genetic material in the process of producing each new generation. The usual method of mixing genes involves two genders, one of which has a penis that is inserted into the vagina of the other. To make animals want to reproduce, the act itself is pleasurable; and every material body has a powerful drive to do this odd thing at certain times of its life. But that’s it! Sexual intercourse is a minor aspect of the broad scope of human activities, which fact feels confounding when you realize how much of a fuss we have made about it for all of human history.
The divine love that Jesus taught is so different from most of the emotions that we think of as “love” that it is going to take some effort for us to learn to love in the Lord’s Way. And because the act of sexual intercourse is pleasurable and surrounded by rules and taboos, while at the same time it requires our interacting with other people in complex ways, our sex lives can be an excellent place for us to begin to practice the love that Jesus taught.
Nearly all religions are obsessed with controlling our sexual activity. For example, there are strict notions in every Christian denomination about what is and what is not acceptable sexual behavior; and yet, too often Christians will suffer an overpowering need to violate their own religious laws. They will then be harshly judged and disgraced. Meanwhile, we are allowing our children to be sexualized to an appalling extent! These three problems – our struggles with sexual temptation, all the judgmental Christian congregations, and our grotesque worldwide obsession with sex that is deeply harming our next generation – all spring from our historical obsession with treating the sex act as deliciously forbidden and thereby heightened in importance beyond reason. Unless we can get past our negative obsession with our own sexuality, we never will raise this planet’s consciousness vibrations enough to bring the kingdom of God on earth.
The problem is not the act itself. Sexual intercourse is a bodily function that is fully as morally neutral as eating. But with intercourse, what should be a natural act is complicated by a mess of rules and taboos that damage many people’s lives. And our deeply judgmental views on sex are splintering the forty thousand versions of 
Christianity even more! To move all modern societies toward a love-based and not a fear-based view of sexuality, we first must understand the ancient mindset that still underlies all our modern taboos. The two rules that follow are from the Christian Old Testament and based in Hebraic law, and they are typical of the mindset of the ancient world:
*Female Sexual Behavior Must be Strictly Controlled. The ancients wanted paternal certainty, so female extramarital sex was forbidden. If a new bride was found to be not a virgin, “then they shall bring out the girl to the doorway of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death” (Deut 22: 21).
* Male Sexual Behavior Should be Focused. Many children died, which meant there had to be a lot of extra births. This led to a strong cultural preference that all semen emissions be penis-into-vagina. Masturbation was frowned upon, semen emissions were considered unclean (e.g. Lev 15:16-18), and “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death” (Lev 20:13). Female homosexuality is not mentioned, perhaps because it doesn’t interfere with reproduction.
In the Old Testament, every act of sexual intercourse is a matter of public importance. To change that, Jesus had to do away with all the human-made Old Testament laws and replace them with God’s law of love. He reinforced His abolition of all religious laws, but He did it carefully, since for Him to have been heard by the Temple authorities speaking against an Old Testament law would have been a crime punishable by death. Still, He did what He could. For example:
“Now it happened that Jesus was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath, and
His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” And Jesus, answering them, said, ‘Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?’ And He was saying to them, ‘The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath’” (LK 6:1-5). Whether Jesus spoke those last words or they were just implied, it was clear to those who were close to Him that He intentionally defied all the strict Sabbath rules. For example, healing on the Sabbath was forbidden, but apparently He did it often (see LK 6:6-10; LK 13:15-16; JN 5:9-10). His style seems to have been to avoid confrontations, and instead to teach that the old rules were gone by displaying repeated casual violations of them.
Jesus’s treatment of the woman taken in adultery is a clear repudiation of Old Testament laws. And it is quite brilliantly done! The scribes and Pharisees “brought a woman caught in the act of adultery, and after placing her in the center of the courtyard, they said to Him, ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?’ Now they were saying this to test Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. When they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up and said to them, ‘He 
who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Now when they heard this, they began leaving, one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman where she was, in the center of the courtyard. And straightening up, Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on do not sin any longer’” (JN 8:3-12). Jesus is not reported to have specifically denounced the Old Testament law against male homosexuality, but since that law is based in fear and hatred we can take His repudiation of it as a given. And my dear Thomas wants us to mention here the fact that there is evidence in the Gospels that Jesus Himself, who came from the highest aspect of the Godhead, may have been homosexual. I await a more enlightened day when Christian scholars love the Lord enough to openly discuss what many of them also by now surely must have noticed.
Jesus readily pardons violations of the ancient and outmoded sexual laws, but still He considers marriage to be a profound commitment. When He is asked about divorce, He says that when people marry, “they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.” People said to Him, “Why, then, did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?” He said, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery” (MT 19:6-9).
So Jesus repudiates the sexual laws of the Old Testament, but He affirms the love-based importance of marriage. In doing this, He removes sexual behavior from the realm of public criminality and transforms it into a private matter to be lovingly handled within families. Jesus means to move us from a sexual morality rooted in fear-based tribalism to one that is deeply grounded in sexual privacy and familial love. But for two thousand years we have ignored what would have been a profoundly love-based change, and instead Christianity has kept and has enforced the ancient human-made, fear-based laws. Our only change has been to replace stoning sexual violators to death with just the pain of shame and ostracism. None of this is what the Godhead wants! None of it is based in love, and none of it improves anyone’s behavior. Indeed, it has led to a modern culture worldwide that is built around sexual titillation, with predictable bad effects on our personal lives and on the precious lives of our children.
We can begin to live as God wants us to live only when we have banished every fear-based sexual rule and taboo. And we must stop judging others! Jesus said, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned” (LK 6:37). But since Christians seldom listen to Jesus, all those sexual taboos that He outmoded two thousand years ago remain at the center of Christianity, and the busybody judging of others continues to be a horrifying Christian obsession.
As we better learn to live the Lord’s love-based Way, we will need to rethink so many deep-seated aspects of our lives! And to start that process, we will consider next week how our sexual views and practices will change as we begin to live the love that Jesus taught….
Should I bring him down?
Should I scream and shout?
Should I speak of love,
Let my feelings out?
I never thought I’d come to this!
What’s it all about?
– Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice, from “Jesus Christ Superstar” (1971)
Dear Roberta, I think this blog entry embarks on a fundamental exploration of who we are not just in our earthly experience but as differentiated entities within the One Divine Creative Mind. I think it best to go slowly through this topic.
It is nearly impossible to imagine a world in which sex and love are not related. One important feature of sex as you point out is that it is a metabolic function but is also so closely caught up in cultural mores that it is difficult to look at it clearly.
I am sure there will be much to say about this. I am hoping other commenters will want to engage in a conversation. This could be much more than a series of comments. I am looking forward to reading what others think!
Dear Mike, Thomas has been planning this series of posts for a year. But I couldn’t imagine there could be all that much to be said about sexuality, for heaven’s sake! And why was it so important? I had my own strong opinions on topics like abortion, transgender children, and the shameful way that Christians judge homosexuals. But that didn’t seem to be enough for more than maybe one post! It’s only now that I understand that at its base, this is a problem of defective love, it cannot be addressed except in love, and unless we tackle it head-on we likely never can get past it. It’s only now that I am just beginning to get it….
PS-Quote from above: “Unless we can get past our negative obsession with our own sexuality, we never will raise this planet’s consciousness vibrations enough to bring the kingdom of God on earth.”
It is important to remember that people resent and hate themselves and others over this very fundamental identifier.
Oh yes, Mike! And “resent” and “hate” as words are not too strong to describe what we do to ourselves over our fear-based sexual issues. This is such a complex and such a very important area!
Yeah! I’m so glad you’re finally talking about this. You said you would months ago, I’ve been eagerly waiting! I’ve been gay all my life. And through your ministry, I’ve become very comfortable with it. Of course after going through horrible experiences of trying to change! I’m now at peace and give your ministry the credit! Thanks from the bottom of my heart!
Dear Roxanne, you make me giggle when you talk about my “ministry.” I’m not sure I dare to presume to call myself a minister, but I guess perhaps that at this point I’m starting to do that work. And loving it! You give me such joy when you say that I am helping you to find peace in the beautiful truth of who you are. Thank you for that!
Thank you, Roberta, for introducing this topic. Your matter-of-fact approach makes the discussion more comfortable. We as humans, especially those of us who were raised in a church-going society, cringe and are embarrassed when it comes to such a discussion. In my opinion, educating oneself and becoming aware of the why and how of our own feelings is the first step in raising our consciousness in this area. I look forward to the journey.
Dear Janelle, thank you for this – I think you’re perfectly right. The Christian attitude toward sex makes the whole topic feel shameful and taboo to those who were raised in devout families, and that is of course deeply damaging to us spiritually. Well said! I didn’t want to have to deal with this topic at all, and perhaps mostly for this same reason. It was only as we began to dig into it perhaps a week ago that I started to see what a problem it is for all of us with Christian backgrounds. And that’s precisely why we need to talk about it!
Hey Mike,
I tell you Thomas and Roberta are ever a surprise, I never anticipated this particular weekly blog subject! (And maybe that says something about how I perceive this topic.)
Why are human beings so sensitive and emotionally affected by the subject of sex? I know that sex goes right back to the animal part of our brain, being about procreation and all, but why do people get sooo twisted up about it?
As to your point about people resenting themselves and others concerning this aspect of themselves – yes, it is a cause of much personal negativity. And it’s the sort of stuff that makes us feel guilty and not good enough, for our inner selves and for God. This deadly stuff impedes growth; very personally disempowering.
I guess, after not a little angst about sexuality in my earlier years, I now look at it this way: A human being is actually a blended being. We are eternal spirit having life experience in a body of the terrestrial human species. (And it is often the difference between the two that makes life difficult, I reckon.) Our Spirit self is love and knows the archetypes like innocence, faithfulness, compassion, honesty, inner nobility and so on. Our human self responds to the nature of the body and the brain’s chemical directives. Hence, we have physical desire and biological objectives. How then, may we resolve the conflict inherent in being a blend of two very different influencers?
I do it like this: I accept that I’m blended in this life. I’m essentially ‘Spirit’ but I’m living ‘human.’ Hence my inconsistencies in mood or behavior, or scattered attention, need to be treated with patience and much understanding. Self forgiveness underpins patience and I look at life as a learning experience. (Else, why would I be here on Earth in the first place?) The forgiveness of myself, and of course of others, sets love free. When I really love, things that trouble me fall away. Also, I know that I am loved by God, no matter what. This gives me the feeling of being inherently worthy.
BTW: Roberta’s quote that you’ve chosen in your PS seems pivotal. In terms of raising consciousness vibrations, a reset on how we view sex & sexuality is of key importance. If we ‘reset’ now, others will have a practical example of how it can be done and they will find it easier. 🙏🏼🙂🌅
Dear Efrem, the whole history of Christian thought, right from its basis in Christian scripture, teaches that women are lesser than men and that men who are able to resist being involved with women are superior. Men who are “eunuchs,” as the Apostle Paul called them, are the purest people of all. Of course, none of that comes from Jesus! And what may be worse, it reinforces the notion that the sexual act is base and even evil. Worst of all, it is manifestly unloving! So I especially like your saying, “I know that I am loved by God, no matter what. This gives me the feeling of being inherently worthy.” Right on!
Hi Roberta,
As a physician I find several things missing from the discussion. Since you have labeled this “Part One” perhaps I should wait. There are diseases that track with sexual activity (which lead to social, personal and family burdens), there is the potential of conception (committing the woman/ couple to years of attention/ work), and there is the greater strength, aggressiveness, and deceit of the male species (2 Samuel 13, Amon and Tamar).
As a seminary graduate, student of NDEs and ACIM, I agree that the love described in the spiritual realm is both amazing and ineffable, and that we are here to learn love of God, love of neighbor and love of self. I agree that the love of marriage/ commitment deepened by sexual love is close to divine intent. I agree with replacing fear and guilt with love, learning forgiveness that yields unitive thinking, and recognizing that mistakes are not “sin” but only errors. Sin then is alienation from God.
As a husband, father and grandfather I will do my best to protect my wife, my daughter, and my granddaughters from situations that might lead to the problems listed above. As Jesus said, “I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16). Just sayin’ there is more to be said… Looking forward to your continued discussion. Hopefully you can address some of my concerns… and that my comments are helpful in moving the discussion forward.
Dear Dr. Webb, it’s lovely of you to share your thoughts here! Your points about the dangers of sex and sexuality are well taken. I will address them here briefly:
1) Of course, sexually transmitted diseases cannot thrive without promiscuity. They wouldn’t get very far! Yes, they have been a terrible problem, but promiscuity itself is a symptom of deeper distortions in our attitude toward our own sexuality.
2. Unprotected sexual activity does lead to pregnancy. But as every family with two or three children (including my own) can testify, it isn’t hard to limit the size of families.
3. Hey, I’m the female here! Feminists would say that I’m the one who’s supposed to talk about the “strength, aggressiveness, and deceit” of men 😉 But in fact, I love men as people so much that I can’t bring myself to say anything like that. I do get your point, but I think that given the strength of the male sex drive, especially in young men, this problem is more an artifact of the breakdown of our social mores than anything else.
In sum, all of these problems will remain until we can heal them at the level of love. That will work! But nothing else that we might do can make much of a difference. All are problems indeed, but let’s see what love can do.
I do enjoy the line that is MT 10:16! “Shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves” is poetry. That’s why the Gospels feel so intimate and so modern: Jesus speaks like a real person, with thoughts, with an inner life. Beautiful.
Dear Roberta,
I am quoting the following from your blog.
“And my dear Thomas wants us to mention here the fact that there is evidence in the Gospels that Jesus Himself, who came from the highest aspect of the Godhead, may have been homosexual. I await a more enlightened day when Christian scholars love the Lord enough to openly discuss what many of them
also by now surely must have noticed.”
This leaves me somewhat gob-smacked, not because of any horror felt, but because everyone seems to assume that Jesus had a relationship with Mary Magdalene. There is even talk of him being a father. Would you please explain what you mean, or do we have to wait for the second part of this blog?
I always enjoy your writing.
Best wishes,
Penny
Dear Penny, there is a story behind that bit in this post.
Like many others, I have wondered about Jesus’s marriage or lack of a marriage. The Mary Magdalene connection? What are the Gospels not saying? One scholar insists that every observant Jewish man back then (which Jesus certainly was, growing up) would have had to marry in his teens; but then I would read another very convincing scholarly treatise on how we know that Jesus never was married. It’s awkward that we would wonder about details like this, but it’s only human nature.
However, the last thing I wanted to do was write the passage that you quote above! When on Friday Thomas first suggested it, I quickly showed him that there wasn’t room. (We are strict about limiting the length of these articles.) Then later he had me cut something out. I did. Now there was room! But oh, here was something else I needed to add. No room again. Then later, something else got cut. We went through this three times before he simply told me that it was important that I say just that bit. No more. And I would never have to discuss the evidence. Thomas is part of a group that works with Jesus, so I assume this request came from a fairly high level; but he never tells me the inner workings or details, and it is not my place to ask. So I don’t really know why. All I can tell you is that I didn’t want to say it, but he insisted!
Dear Roberta,
I too, was gob-smacked at the suggestion that Yeshua ben Joseph may have been homosexual during his final incarnation. Recently I read a most beautiful book, “Jesus, my Autobiography,” channeled by Him through Tina Spaulding that gives an account of his love relationship with Mary Magdalene, their marriage, the subsequent births of children, and the unbreakable union forged through the difficulties of their lives and chosen ministry. I have love and full acceptance for all my brothers and sisters, heterosexual, homosexual etc., so I’m not recoiling at Thomas’s suggestion at all. I advise Thomas to go ask our brother Jesus before he plants any ideas about His sexual tendencies and identification.
Roberta, I love your blogs!
Kitty
Dear Kitty, thank you for giving me the opportunity to say that there are a surprising number of people over the past century or so who are channeling or have channeled an entity claiming to be Jesus. Thomas won’t let me read these materials, but I assume that some of them may be genuine; I don’t know. He tells me, though, that most or all of them are not direct communications from the Being who came from the highest aspect of the Godhead two thousand years ago as our Teacher, so what they say cannot be given the same credit that we give to the Gospel teachings. I gather from him that this channeling-Jesus trend has a purpose. He just won’t say what it is!
So I’m glad you enjoyed the book you read, and I hope you will take from it what feels right to you. From just what you say, though, it does seem that this wasn’t the genuine Jesus speaking, since – among other things – the one known historical venture of an aspect of the Godhead into a human body was not a shared ministry with anyone.
I have really cared about finding out the truth about this, but apparently we are not supposed to know the truth just now. I gather that we are supposed to see the ambiguity, and to wonder about it, but not to have a certain answer. And that, after quite a lot of digging, is really all that I can tell you! But since Thomas serves and reveres Jesus (I can’t say that he feels that way about anyone else), my suspicion has become that it actually is the Lord’s Own intention that we not know. Not just yet. So leaving it there is good enough for me.
Dear Roberta, Kitty and everybody,
There is so much we don’t know about what we would call Jesus’ personal life. The clues conflict, and many aren’t clues at all but speculation. No doubt Jesus still speaks to us in many ways, often through our guides. However, there us a method and purpose to how they both speak.
My own beloved guide has revealed to me a little of her own experience from her earthly mode of knowing—but only enough to give me context and something I can relate to as a problem-solving process. She says the rest is not relevant and may even get in the way for various reasons.
So it is with Jesus’ time in earth. It is His teachings that we are meant to model our lives on, not his personal life. Christianity and indeed all religions to an extent become a cult of personality. And then the wisdom is lost for worship of the founder.
The point this week is that Jesus did not teach the identity confusion and body shaming, the alienation from the rest of Creation that religious sexual repression and manipulation have passed from generation to generation. We did that to ourselves as more of a rejection of the One Divine Creative Power than an embrace of It.
Dear Mike, speculation about Jesus’s life runs wild, and it has for a long time! There are those who insist that during the “quiet years” of His twenties He traveled to India, for example, and studied Buddhism and Hinduism. There are those who are sure that He married – Mary Magdalene is most commonly mentioned as His bride – and had four children, and that she and the children were whisked away at His death so they wouldn’t be killed as well, and they ended up in Nice or some-such place (so how was she able to go to the Tomb alone three days later?). I used to enjoy some of these ideas. But once Thomas helped me to fully understand that Jesus came literally as an aspect of the Godhead, I understood that no further spiritual learning would have been necessary for Him. And anyway, all these stories were very unlikely. No evidence, and tremendous distances to traverse! As Thomas explains the “lost years,” Jesus was studying what would have been the strangest thing of all to someone who was so spiritually elevated that He would have been out of His last earth-lifetime for eons: He was figuring out the human beings around him, and how best to teach them how to grow spiritually.
Could it be possible that Jesus’ sex orientation is not much discussed because it is irrelevant? There are people even today who would shun his teachings if they found out he was married or was gay, or whatever. It is quite possible that he was not even interested in sex (due to his high evolvement). He may have evolved to the point that many earthly concerns were not a part of his thought process any more.
Oh my dear Lola, you are ever the optimist! I don’t know why neither Jesus’s marital status nor the evidence that He might have been homosexual is mentioned much in Christian literature, but I don’t think the reason is that Christians don’t think it matters. On the contrary, no more judgmental people about other people’s sex lives seem to exist on the face of the earth!
It may indeed be that Jesus didn’t much care about His own sexuality, but we are told that He was entirely human even though He was of course divine. That isn’t just theology, but rather it is evidence-based, and I think it is probably right. And His coming from the highest aspect of the Godhead to enter a human body and live a human life was a gigantic event: Thomas says it was a first in human history. And he says that Jesus did it so the Godhead could understand people more intimately and more completely, which implies that He would have lived a fully human life. I really don’t know! But Thomas says that our wondering about the Lord’s most private life is a conversation for another day and age.
Oh no – I didn’t mean that Christians didn’t think it matters. I meant that overall, it is irrelevant, as his teachings are what is important and not his sexual preferences. Christians are very judgmental about sex, and I think they would prefer Jesus to be asexual so they don’t have to deal with it. Until fairly recently, many Christians believed in having sex for procreation only. How weird is that!
Dear Lola, indeed it is clear that Christians squirm at the thought of Jesus as a sexual being! The notion that our expressing our sexuality is base and evil is rooted deep in Christian theology, right back to Adam’s original sin which made us fall and made Jesus need to redeem us by dying for us. That darn apple! And priestly “celibacy” (which apparently has always been the exception, not the rule) implies that if you are a sexual being you are a spiritually lesser being. It is such a pity that the Council of Nicaea didn’t read the Gospels closely enough to realize that Jesus actually had outmoded the Old Testament during His lifetime!
I don’t think the Council of Nicaea wanted the Old Testament to be outmoded, so even if they suspected Jesus was doing that, they would never admit it, as that would take almost all the fear out of Christianity, and that is the last thing they wanted to do because they would lose control of the followers.
What a big topic – and so important. I find that too many people are damaged and broken over mistruths over sex, and their lives have been filled with much regret and pain.
For instance, I have a gay friend, who is naturally very outspoken and who has lived his whole life as an outcast in his own family. He has no relationship with his brothers, except one and it is strained even after 50 years, and the rest of his family treat him like he does not matter because of who he is. He did not attend his own Mother’s funeral, not because he did not care, but because his family did not want him there. He did have one Aunt who was Christian and while she did not particularly understand his lifestyle or like it, she and he were close. I felt like she really understood the love that Jesus taught. Of course he is an atheist – and he now lives a solitary life with his dog.
Our society is obsessed with sex and physical beauty. And it hurts everyone. Regarding the tragedy of depression and suicide, I have been reading that some young men commit suicide over the size of there penis or lack thereof. I was astonished that was a thing, and women generally fare much worse in our society with body image. Not to mention our obsession with weight. I guess because we are so quick to harshly judge, we allowed our religions to allow a higher being to judge us as well.
I wish we could see each other differently and see the real value in each person. As I understand it, the spiritual realm will be amazing in this manner.
Oh dear Tim, I think your friend’s pain might have been the reason why I was supposed to mention the possible evidence about Jesus! I’m sure it grieves the Lord that the people who claim to be following him treat people so abominably as your friend has been treated. I know some homosexuals of both genders well enough to be confident that nothing about being same-sex-attracted is a matter of choice. And it wouldn’t even matter if it were! For Christians to be judging others, or doing anything other than loving everyone regardless, is a shame and a horror. Jesus weeps.
Tim: What a sad story about your gay friend. Unfortunately, his story is a common one. and I also knew a few people who were shunned by their families and school mates for being gay. This has to take a toll on the victim, and in many cases, it leads to alcohol and drug abuse and, of course, in extreme cases, suicide. It’s really pitiful.
Dearest Roberta,
There is much to reflect on in this quite fascinating blog entry. However a couple of things resonate in this delightful comment section that I’d like to primarily consider.
I’m moved to see that the great Creative Power of all existence is not only conscious and emotional, it is innocent by nature. I get the feeling that – like a small child who has painted a picture on clean paper, in broad, colorful brush strokes and then views the completed painting in sheer delight – so too the Divine Source creates whole dimensions and universes.
There is a freshness, an exuberance and a joy to Creation that can be seen, reflected as it were, in the innocence of a child. Children manifest a sense of pure, unsullied wonderment. (We can feel it at times as adults too, I think.)
And as to the sexuality of Jesus, well, I get the feeling that whatever it was, it was above all things innocent. It too was part of the Godhead who is by nature innocence and wonderment unsullied.🌅
Our Jesus came out of the heart of that very wonderment to take one, brief life on Earth among us. He was love and compassion personified, who walked gently amidst people laboring under the heavy yolk of this world. And His walking here changed things and will yet transform this earth.🌎
Also, I strongly feel that Thomas and your good self are right on a certain point, Roberta. Jesus didn’t come to learn from Hindus or Buddhists about Spirit. He was and is Spirit; it is His very nature. If there are teachings of Spirit in eastern or other religions that are similar to Jesus’ Way, (as is surely the case) then they simply reflect who Jesus authentically is at core. This is why similarities exist as seen by many seekers over the years; philosophies tap into the Source out of which Jesus has emerged.
If Jesus went through the process of learning, it was surely to understand human beings, their mindsets, and how to break through the illusions they had created for themselves. Wherever He went (whether these sojourns were recorded in the N.T. or not) He saw into the nature of people themselves. He must have acquainted Himself closely with their needs, long held ideas and beliefs. In short He got to really know human beings and learn how best to reach them.
My hope, Roberta, is that we humans can get back to the innocence and wonderment of simply living a loving life, just as a child does. Once we enjoy the calm of a society free of the clamor of media-fueled hyper sexuality and the bellicose anger of the aggrieved and unloved, we will finally realize how good life can be. We may even see how important we are to each other.
❣️🙏🏼🕊
Efrem –
Your response to Roberta blog each week are always especially meaningful to me. I do like the child like analogy and I often find childlike wonderment while in nature and that is very healing.
Blessings.
Thank you Timothy. 🙏🏼
Your comments are particularly resonant, I find. For instance, your anecdote about your gay friend floors me! How terribly painful for him to be shunned so very resolutely. Thankfully he has one aunt who loves him. One or two people can make the difference between dealing with deep pain and being totally devastated. (I’m glad he has your friendship too!) Your friend would have to be very strong to survive. It is more than poignant that his dog, who loves him unconditionally, is his only family at home.
Like your good self, I too wish that people would look at each other differently and see the real value in someone. The body image obsession is particularly cruel for everyone. And as you say, it is particularly harsh on women. It is unrelenting. This has got to be changed!
🌅🕊
Dear Efrem, Jesus did say that we enter the kingdom of God with the mindset of children, or we never will enter it at all. I think your characterization of Jesus is lovely! But still, I can’t forget the Presence that was in my mind for two weeks five years ago, as we wrote Liberating Jesus. He was enormous power, the literal opposite of a child! I was nothing in that Presence; I think my own mind shrank into a little corner of itself, to give Him space. He was love, but it was not a cozy, human-like love; rather, it felt like just overwhelming energy. And yet at the same time, eventually I was hearing His thoughts. I can’t remember them anymore – some of them are in the book – but He was saddened by humanity. Aggrieved. At the end of a long patience. I felt empathy for Him. Infinite power but still a human-like disappointment? It really was an amazing experience.
Hi Roberta and Efrem,
It is interesting to note that our contemporary notion of childlike innocence is that it is “meek.” Again, we may need a new word. It is no surprise to hear that Jesus emanated tremendous Power. Indeed the Love we are talking about IS power. “Love” is another word that has been sentimentalized (and/or sexualized) by our language. Pretty soon the only way we will be able to talk about all of this is if we speak a new language!♐️
‘Indeed the Love we are talking about IS power’
That’s true isn’t it !
Great observation. 👍
And boy do we need to renew our language! 😏🙏🏼🌅
Dear Mike and Efrem, I am struggling with this very issue for the sequel to this week’s post. The love that raises our spiritual vibrations is unrelated to what A Course in Miracles calls “special loves” – the love we have for friends and family – and indeed, the Course calls “special loves” as spiritually counterproductive as “special hates”! Jesus tells us in the Gospels, too, that even the tax-collectors love their own. As the Greek language tells us, love comes in many sizes and shapes, so we ought to have many words for it; but even the Greeks don’t have a word for spiritually transformative love!
Roberta, It has been suggested to me by one who is unbelievably good with concepts that we must not think in terms of “emotion” but of “forces of Being.” I know that’s kind of a riddle but she says it helps.🌊♐️ Does it?
Dearest Roberta,
You talk of Jesus in a way I’ve not heard anywhere else. How wonderful to be in His Presence for two whole weeks! It would change a person forever! (And I wouldn’t suggest it was always easy.)
You relay the sense of tremendous power, a vast mind and sheer, overwhelming energy very clearly.
Maybe we who read your experience are perceiving the edges of it somehow. I have felt the sense of His power once, and even then I knew it was mostly veiled out of the kindest mercy. The true meaning of the word ‘awe’ springs to mind here.
Roberta, the way you relate His sadness about humanity! So much patience, so much love and yet He was aggrieved and disappointed – after all that He has invested of Himself in us. You know that is really quite moving. It does make me feel for Him. It is a painful, poignant and even fragile feeling..
Doesn’t it make us want to bring gladness to Him by helping humanity rise? Somehow raising human consciousness must work – our Beloved Lord should find gladness when He thinks of us. Truly, I wish it shall come to pass. 🙏🏼❣️🌅
Thank you Roberta for sharing your experience of Jesus with us.
My dear Efrem, I find it hard to talk about that experience. There really are no words. Thomas told me that Jesus had tamped down His energy by a lot before He entered my mind, but still they were worried that I couldn’t take it. Perhaps it might blow my circuits? I could about take it at that level, but I had to get out of its way as much as possible. I knew that energy was love, and it didn’t feel really harmful, but it did feel like overwhelming power! That must be how it feels in the afterlife, when people try to move higher than their own spiritual development will allow.
And I kept urging myself to appreciate what was happening, and how amazing this all was, and I had to remember it forever. But I knew even then that it was not about me. It was nothing I had merited! It was happening because I had been selected (thanks to Thomas), and I had consented (at night; not consciously), and I had been prepared, and now I was up. Like it or not, I had to get it done!
I wish I could convey to you how intimate it felt, even despite the vast difference between us. It made me feel completely cowed, but at the same time I began to feel very close to Him on a personal level, especially after He let me know a bit of what He was thinking as He was writing (and He did the writing – my fingers moved, but it didn’t feel as if I was doing it).
Yes, it would be beyond wonderful if we all could begin to give Him even just a little bit of what He gives to us. I work to try my best to make that happen, with every minute of the rest of my life.
Has Jesus forgotten how hard it is to be human?
Lola – Yes, and the sadness of it all is that Jesus, the one who can heal the hurt and misunderstandings, is at the center of the religion that refuses to put all things aside and love without judgement.
So true. This is because so many religions are fear based, and people are made to feel unworthy when, in fact, this is a total illusion.
Dear Timothy, I agree with you – Jesus is infinite forgiveness and lack of judgment, and it’s sad that Christianity refuses to follow Him in that. Except that He isn’t at the center of that religion at all, since nothing of His teachings is there! His name and image are being used, and nothing more. How awful for Him.
And to think that this is only Part 1 of this topic, and only Tuesday. I think we’re going to need many more parts!
Quote from above: “… so too the Divine Source creates whole dimensions and universes.
There is a freshness, an exuberance and a joy to Creation that can be seen, reflected as it were, in the innocence …”
Efrem my friend, we think you have nailed it here!☺️♐️
Dear Mike and Efrem, the thing about creation is that it wasn’t once-and-done millions of years ago, but instead apparently the Godhead is forever immersed in the ongoing act of creation. So creation is not only fresh, exuberant, and joyous, but it is truly and deeply forever new!
This is very important for all to acknowledge and strive to comprehend. With such would come an easier understanding of divine Love—and the Love that encompasses sex and goes way beyond (I add this as sex is the topic are focused on!).
Hi Roberta. If the Godhead decided to come to earth, (I have to admit that I squirm a bit with that one. It sounds so Council of Nicea.) would it want to experience and express only one side of the sex equation? I’m not about to try and make Jesus a hermaphrodite. The culture of the time would require that he be male in order to be a teacher or rabbi, but beyond that, as an expression from the highest levels of love, maybe Jesus was a very balanced and blended being, equally able to express both his feminine and masculine sides. Might that have extended to sexually giving that love to members of both sexes. If he was indeed a sexual being (My Boston puritanical side squirms a bit with that too. Thanks for the Thanksgiving “hug” last week, by the way.) Maybe the stories of his being with Mary Magdalene could equally have been true side by side with a relationship with a man. Might that have been the “beloved disciple”? From what I have read, this sort of lifestyle may have been more common in ancient Greece than we realize, but Israel was probably another story entirely with all those Mosaic prohibitions. If he were alive today, would he prefer to be referred to as They, like some people now ask to be called? Maybe Jesus will “come out” and clarify things some day, or maybe it’s irrelevant. It could be part of his teachings to our age I suppose, a part we are only now slowly becomming able to appreciate. This is pure speculation of course, but since you brought us there…. ☺
Scott: It was common in ancient Greece, Scott, and your point about how he could have shown love to both sexes is not only a good one, but it makes a lot of sense, as the manmade taboos about sex were not likely a part of his thinking. A “balanced and blended being” would almost certainly be likely to express love to both genders without feeling any conflict..
Dear Scott, you’ve got me thinking more concretely about this. Do I believe that Jesus expressed His sexuality while on earth with anyone, in any form? Of course, we cannot know for certain, but my best guess now is that He probably did not. He really didn’t have human failings, and He had such a powerful charisma that if He had singled someone out for sexual attention, He would have risked breaking that person’s heart. And He would have known that. Being sexual with someone under those circumstances would have been selfish, and He never would have done anything He saw as selfish! Jesus had a mission, and it was a gigantic one. He would not have let anything mess with that.
On the other hand, of course, I think he was probably very attractive to people of all sexual proclivities. Again, He had such powerful charisma! And I think He was sensitive to His effect on people, and respectful of their feelings. I think the song that frames this week and next week expresses pretty well the effect that He likely had on people!
Of course, there is no way to know for certain. But this is what I presently think.
Hi Roberta. That is very interesting that you are thinking a bit differently on this topic. What you are saying has been my leaning as well. What just came to mind is the general rule that teachers should not have sexual relationships with their students, although that has happened, usually with bad results for one or both. He came to teach us all, so maybe felt a need to keep apart, ar maybe found the whole idea not so interesting. Would this be a possible line of inquiry for a future Mikey Morgan interview?
Dear Scott, I don’t think Mikey would know much about the Lord’s motivations when He was on earth, nor would he be likely to disclose whatever He did know. Like all upper-level beings, He is very respectful of Jesus. Indeed, I think that about the only Being Who impresses my own dear Thomas is the Lord! And now that I have slept on this issue, I think my first instinct was probably right: Jesus likely wouldn’t have had a sexual relationship with anyone, since the spiritual distance between them would have been so great and His plan not to remain on earth into old age would have caused great sorrow for anyone who had grown that close to Him. In everything, He exemplified whatever was the most loving thing to do!
Thanks Lola. I may have gotten a bit out on a limb there, but who knows? It is interesting that little has been said about Jesus’ private life, as far as I know, from the other side. I think that Jesus was mainly about letting the highest unconditional love be the model, modeling that for us in his own life, and included in that love would of course be awareness of how one’s actions affect others, insofar as irresponsible conceptions of babies, cheating, incest, etc go, but otherwise, “Let Love Rule,” as Lenny Kravitz put it. That seems to be what he is teaching in the Bible. Speaking of going out on a limb, but I figured it doesn’t hurt to ask, I tried a dream incubation last night asking Jesus what his teachings on this topic had been, and got a series of boring dreams about utilitarian pickup trucks, some able to carry more cargo than others, no sexy race cars 😄, so who knows where that came from, maybe my guides or just my subconscious, or what exactly it meant, but it was kind of interesting. Perhaps he just looked at the body as something basic and utilitarian, a vehicle for learning and spiritual growth, only able to “carry” the kind of love he knew from the higher levels to a limited degree, but with proper training, like how Roberta teaches in her books, the human could progressively embody or “haul around” more of that Presence? Did he see sex as mainly a practical aspect of making more of these human vehicles for learning, but rather drab otherwise? These bodies must seem very dense and confining to a being of Jesus’ level.
Dear Scott, when we study Jesus we more and more see that He seems to have had a healthier attitude toward His material body than most of us have toward ours. He knew it was a temporary vehicle, yes, but He saw it as a useful and practical one. You get the sense that He took care of His body, fed it properly (but not for pleasure) and didn’t abuse it. His mind was in full control of it: He could walk on water, for example. There was nothing about Him of the physical libertine in any aspect of His life, and His mission was always on His mind. What’s more, He was enormously courteous to and respectful of other people! I do so much wish that we knew more, but we have what we have. The more I think about it, the more I feel confident that He likely was a lifelong celibate.
That’s interesting, especially since some of the trucks were able to carry more cargo than others. Just for fun, I looked up what dreaming of cargo trucks meant, and it said that it represented carrying away old ideas to make room for a new “landscape” that is emerging. I thought that was interesting in light of the question you asked before you went to sleep. I’m sure if he mentioned sex in any kind of way while he was here, it would have been removed from his teachings unless it was something fear based and carried some kind of guilt..
That is interesting Lola. We could certainly use some change to the “landscape” right now. Although these dreams were a bit vague, it was still a fun exercise, and one great thing about dream incubation is that you already know what the dreams are supposed to be about, so sometimes as a result, the symbolism can be so obvious it practically smacks you between the eyes. For that reason I usually don’t look up the cookie cutter interpretations in books, but look at the particular context of my incubation, but it definitely is good to be aware of the common sorts of archetypal symbols that seem to be similar across cultures, and take them into account. As an aside, looking at the ancient gods and mythologies as symbolic expressions of these psychological and spiritual archetypes can be fun too, and then they don’t always seem so nonsensical when interpteted like dreams. They become ways to carry the perennial spiritual principles we discuss here down through centuries and millennia in ways that common peasants who weren’t able to get the deeper initiations could relate to. Jesus’ parables seem to have performed a similar service, and many of them make more sense to us now in light of what we have learned from the other side and from things like quantum mechanics.
Dear Scott, I agree that the Lord’s parables carry added meaning for us now – I have thought the same thing myself. And now we can better understand His teachings, too, which His disciples thought they understood but in fact those teachings were incomprehensible beyond a basic meaning to unlettered first-century common folk. It is part of His divine genius that He could speak to them, and then in the same words speak to us two thousand years later, and each generation hears Him as if He were speaking to us alone!
Dear Lola, you’re right about the Gospels-editing risk. The four canonical Gospels were in the continuous custody of the Roman church for the past seventeen hundred years, from Nicaea in 325 until now, and for at least the first thousand years they were in Greek or Latin. It would have been so easy for the church to tweak them! But still, according to the not-really-dead, so much of what He said survives. Nicaea did do some editing, but their version seems to be the one that we inherit today. I consider that to be a literal miracle!
Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, so they kissed each other.
I really like (Love as a state of being), to me it is like a family love, Jesus made a the statement that this is my Mother, brothers and sisters when his own personal family wanted Him.
We are the children and we are one big family.
I do have question about Love being a state of being. Does that mean that other emotions are states of being as well? Am I a multi-being?
Dear Rocky, thank you for pointing out the way the Lord minimized His own family connections and instead called everyone His family! I had forgotten about that, but indeed it was yet another way that He pointed out our need to get beyond “special loves” and embrace our natural universal love for all of humankind!
To answer your question, all that exists is consciousness, and consciousness exists in a range of vibrations from the lowest and slowest (fear, hatred, and all the other ishy emotions) to the highest and most rapid (perfect divine love). Each of our individual consciousnesses is an indivisible but nevertheless distinct aspect of that vast eternal consciousness, and our natural state seems to be toward the higher end of the vibrational spectrum. We lower our vibrations when we enter material bodies, and while we are here we too often allow the negative emotions to take over our minds; but once we get past and banish them and we begin to cultivate universal love, we naturally assume our higher vibrational state. I’m not sure what you mean by “a state of being,” but universal love is indeed what we naturally are!