The Cross of Jesus - There's nowhere else to go!

Nowhere else to go, nowhere left to run..

For me, I've discovered that nowhere else can I find the utter simplicity on the far side of complexity, than in the cross and the death and evolutionary resurrection principal of Jesus Christ as son of God.

Nowhere else can I find or go, spiritually (psychologically) to face the truth and reality as it is, while laying down all my sins and everything that is absurd, ridiculous, nonsensical and, in the final analysis, without any value or substance, at all.

To me, it's the only thing that makes any sense and is entirely rational and reasonable, where the absurd and ridiculous is seen for what it is - along with it's resolution in time and history made known and recognized for what IT really is and symbolizes, by compare, as a formative and functional or practical solution/resolution.

Where else can I go, where else is there to turn after I've already discovered in my search and quest, and folly, that quintessential love and compassion and tender mercy by which all my tears are wiped away from my eyes, and my own good-willed, good-natured humor and charm, fully restored at last?


NAM

You have found your Peal of Great Price.

reply to post by NewAgeMan


Thank you for this post, you have made my heart warm and renewed my spirit with your humble words and sincerity.

NAM, why did you feel the need to post this thread when there's already five dozen more just like it sitting around the archives? Does it need attention so badly that it bears repeating again and again and again? If you're going to do copypasta, at least make it interesting and informative next time.

reply to post by AfterInfinity


A spark here, a spark there, now we have a fire.

Originally posted by AfterInfinity
NAM, why did you feel the need to post this thread when there's already five dozen more just like it sitting around the archives? Does it need attention so badly that it bears repeating again and again and again? If you're going to do copypasta, at least make it interesting and informative next time.

edit on 1-8-2013 by AfterInfinity because: (no reason given)

Romans 10:10

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth [or Distal Phalanges] that you profess your faith and are saved.

reply to post by backcase


Perfect for ghost stories! I particularly enjoy the one about Jesus getting crucified...not a really scary one, but it's great for relaxation. I doze off every time I listen to it.

reply to post by NewAgeMan


It is amazing how powerful it is in our lives, yet completely unseen. It's hard to express to anyone how it is known as a type of metacongnition and nothing more.

Originally posted by NewAgeMan

Where else can I go, where else is there to turn after I've already discovered in my search and quest, and folly, that quintessential love and compassion and tender mercy by which all my tears are wiped away from my eyes, and my own good-willed, good-natured humor and charm, fully restored at last?

Where else? Well, there's the Cradle of Baby Jesus. There's the Tao of Jesus. The Wedding Feast of Jesus. The yoga of Jesus. The party of Jesus. I hear he likes to party.

Originally posted by EnochWasRight
reply to post by NewAgeMan

 

It is amazing how powerful it is in our lives, yet completely unseen. It's hard to express to anyone how it is known as a type of metacongnition and nothing more.

It's both revolutionary and rather funny I think and intuit. It's only gravely serious, at first, but the humor and joy on the other side of that, is absolutely priceless. Oh to be punk'd by God for all the right reasons!

Originally posted by Lazarus Short
You have found your Peal of Great Price.

You mean Pearl right? I think I've been pealed enough already and it's much better to be clothed in Christ.

We do have to take off the "old man" and put Christ on through, so maybe "Peal of Great Price" is only appropriate!

Guilt and shame - that definitely goes to the cross as well, for getting clean and clear.

A type of spiritual washing machine of sorts comes to mind here as an allegory.

Edit: Then again, peal isn't the same as peel so looks like we both might have slipped, but who cares, yes, the Pearl of Great Price, is mine.

Originally posted by AfterInfinity
NAM, why did you feel the need to post this thread when there's already five dozen more just like it sitting around the archives? Does it need attention so badly that it bears repeating again and again and again? If you're going to do copypasta, at least make it interesting and informative next time.

Don't be so quick to judge and assume because you just never know what we might end up discussing here in this thread. It's just started..

reply to post by NewAgeMan


I appreciate how Jesus, a convicted criminal, brought about the fall of the religious status quo. That in itself needs to happen again and again.

reply to post by LesMisanthrope

He felled the evil empire itself by optimizing the downtrodden and the outcast! Even to the degree that that same Empire had to wrap itself in his own garb just to live to see another day! (I told you it was funny!)

Now that's power, and influence, and in light of the present historical context, where things keep on repeating due in part to an ignorance of real history, worthy of careful re-evaluation and yes, where appropriate, re-deployment and by that I'm not referring to some sort of "revolution in military affairs" (PNAC) but as a revolution in human affairs, and that doesn't mean simply "preaching the gospel to the four corners of the earth", but somehow living out of it relative to a domain of new possibility or novelty for the human being whereby "the kingdom of heaven is like a storekeeper who brings forth from his storehouse both something old and something new" or whereby those who hear the Shepherd's voice go through the gate to find/discover new pasture (domain of freedom and new possibility), from which they are free to freely come and go as they please.

Coming from you LesMisanthrope, your appreciation and admiration for Jesus is, well, admirable. Just remember that his is an all-or-nothing proposition that isn't prepared to make any compromises.. and if this furrows your brow, oh well, because it will nevertheless make you smile a big smile, at some point eventually, because once it begins to grasp the meaning and significance, and the import and export of it, the philosophical mind cannot let this one go. Jesus himself designed it that way, as what I would call a "double-bind" on the pride and ego of man which is at the root of all sin and evil.

Let he who has understanding understand. (ears to hear, hear).

Best regards,

NAM

I think the key to understanding the cross and it's true nature, is that it contains already embedded within itself the hope and promise of the resurrection life as a new domain of bright new possibility for the human being to live out of as a transcendent principal of radical, transformative forgiveness, if we have but the courage to follow him who blazed the trail, and then some..

The cross then I guess is where we can leave all our baggage and unnecessary suffering, behind, so that we might travel light in the new life on the other side of the cross and tomb.

"Pick up your cross (of necessary or meaningful suffering) and follow me."

In other words, the joy and the triumph of the resurrected life transcends whatever sorrows and heartache's there are to bear, you see. It was the same for Jesus, at the most intense level imaginable. Therefore, how hard can it really be, for us.

This is why I say that whoever embraces and picks up their cross to follow him, will end up laughing with him in paradise such that things can only keep on getting better and better, even as an evil empire (with which we've been participating either knowingly or unwittingly) crumbles and falls in our wake, it's machinations clearly and blatantly seen by one and all for what they are and represent, which in the final analysis is anti-Christ in it's in-Civility.

This requires a major shift however in our focal point of awareness where, sadly, most do not have the presence of mind, the courage, foresight and the audacity, to really imagine and live into and out of a new world for ourselves and for our fellow man. Most, unfortunately, would rather whine, bitch, moan and complain about everything they believe themselves powerless to effect or change, but that's not the Christian way, nor the way of courage inspired and motivated by love. There's a much higher path we could take if/when we look to Jesus as a model.

The Christ-mind and heart, come of age, this is what the elite's truly fear, you see, and that's of immense humor as well. I am their terror, I am "the smoking gun" in my case as nothing but an addicted smoker, and not a "WMD".

But if at some level I am "at cause" then I am also prepared to take responsibility for generating a better world both for myself and by extension everyone else, in and through the power and wisdom of Jesus Christ, amen.


"There is nothing the universe loves more, than courage."
~ Terrance McKenna

To better understand what I'm talking about here, and the real meaning of "NewAgeMan" (as my sincere hope and prayer for myself and others) read this

Eco-Doom or Redemption: The Mad Movement and the Sixties' Counter-Culture Project.

Best regards,

NAM

"Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried."

~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

Read more at www.brainyquote.com...

reply to post by NewAgeMan

Coming from you LesMisanthrope, your appreciation and admiration for Jesus is, well, admirable. Just remember that his is an all-or-nothing proposition that isn't prepared to make any compromises.. and if this furrows your brow, oh well, because it will nevertheless make you smile a big smile, at some point eventually, because once it begins to grasp the meaning and significance, and the import and export of it, the philosophical mind cannot let this one go. Jesus himself designed it that way, as what I would call a "double-bind" on the pride and ego of man which is at the root of all sin and evil.

I also admire and appreciate Hamlet, L'Ingénu and Faust; although I would argue the authors of these characters were better writers.

reply to post by LesMisanthrope

I take it that you haven't discerned the underlying philosophy and character of Jesus himself via a fresh reading of the gospels, which btw can be read in one sitting, the Jesus portion covering no more than a small chapter (or less) of the average book.

I read it again, straight through with a new mind, with an inquisitive, open mind, and what I discovered in the process still resonates and accentuates my thinking to this day, and I haven't read it in quite a while of late.

reply to post by NewAgeMan

Nowhere else to go, nowhere left to run.

Hi NAM! I'm going to tell it to you straight. You get your peace and sense of wholeness from the civilized country you live in. Is it the U.S., the U.K. or someplace where religion doesn't run the government? You have food in your tummy, and warmth in the cold weather because of the economic system you live in. Sure, these systems aren't perfect, but these are the secular systems that gave you your rights and your freedoms. Not religion. Not from believing in Jesus.

If you want somewhere to go, if you want somewhere to run to, then go right back to the cradle of your beliefs and see if you feel full and free and warm and safe. See if you don't ask a hundred times a day, "Why, God?" Or, you can run to places like Egypt and get your head blown off, to places like Somalia and Ethiopia where food is only a dream, and where the word 'hope' should be stricken from the dictionary.

reply to post by NewAgeMan


The Gospel of Philip

“When the pearl is cast down into the mud, it becomes greatly despised, nor if it is anointed with balsam oil will it become more precious. But it always has value in the eyes of its owner. Compare the Sons of God: wherever they may be, they still have value in the eyes of their Father.”