"He that loveth his life shall lose it" - What is Written in the Gospels

Mt. Fuji around Tokyo

What is Written in the Gospels

For what purposes were the Gospels written?  For whatever reasons they were written, they gave us information on living Christ Jesus.  But, by clearly understanding the reasons why the Gospels were written, we can strengthen our faith in Christ Jesus.

The contents of the Gospels are as follows:

1. The God loves the poor more than the rich.

2. The souls of the poor should be accepted in Heaven, but the souls of the rich would fall into the hells.

3. The souls of the poor should be consoled, filled, satisfied, and given their blessings and eternal life, but the souls of the rich would be neglected, punished, and finally destroyed.  

4. Therefore, we should love the God and our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.

5. Satan and evil spirits attack followers of the God and Christ Jesus as shown by the death on the cross of Christ Jesus.

As extension of this teaching, we can get the following teachings:

Being rich is being evil.  Being poor is regarded as being faithful.  If a poor man is regrettably found evil, he should be expelled out of Heaven.  Even if a rich man is found miraculously faithful, he should be accepted in Heaven.

Being elites of the society, happy men in this world, successful men in the human world, or members of the upper class  means, in most cases, being rich; therefore, they should naturally fall into the hells.

However, they go to the hells spontaneously without being forced to do so.  It is because the souls of evil men cannot bear or withstand the light of the God in Heaven.  They evade the light of the God, so that they go down deep in shadows in the spirit world that are called the hells.

The light of the God is the source of love, truth, and life.

Put simply, the Gospels were written in order to save, help, and rescue poor men, people in the lower class, unhappy men, inflicted or abused men, unsuccessful men, etc. by telling them that their souls will be accepted in Heaven and they will be given eternal life.

Rich men usually love their wealth and their rich lives in this world.  Poor men naturally hate their poverty and their poor lives in this world.  That is why Christ Jesus said not to love your lives in this world but hate your lives in this world.  The wealth poor men would receive in Heaven is much greater than the wealth rich men are enjoying in this world beyond comparison.

In summary, the Gospels are a kind of devotional songs for poor men.  Love to poor people made Christ Jesus preach among people.  And the Gospels are based on this love to poor people.

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John 12, King James Version

23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

"ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?" - The Human Civilization to be Ended in 500 Years

 

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The Human Civilization to be Ended in 500 Years

It is 2000 years since Christ Jesus first appeared in the human history.  And, it is also thought to have been 2000 years since the days of Abraham to Christ Jesus.  Although the Great Pyramids at Giza were built about 500 years before Abraham, it was about 500 years before Christ Jesus that the Buddha, Confucius, and Socrates had launched their religious, ethical, and philosophical activities.  What's more, 1500 years after Christ Jesus, there appeared Martin Luther establishing Protestantism against Catholicism, and Christopher Columbus discovered America where Christianity has grown and expanded more than in Europe, etc. 

Put simply:

Great Pyramids at Giza =500 years=> Abraham =1500 years=> Buddha/Confucius/Socrates =500 years => Christ Jesus =1500 years => Martin Luther/Christopher Columbus =500 years => Now, 21st Century

 

This sequence really tells that there is no wonder that somebody corresponding to Abraham or Christ Jesus would appear in this early 21st century.  And, 500 years after the current century, the end of the human civilization which could be regarded as started with the Great Pyramids at Giza might come.  In other words, our civilization would start to collapse in this century and should be terminated in the 26th century. 

Isaac Newton predicted that the end of the world would start from around 2060.  Swedenborg wrote that the Last Judgement was completed around 1750's in the spirit world and its effect should be manifested 200 to 300 years later in the human world, which means the current era.

Indeed, the collapse of the human civilization should take about 500 years from this century.  But, after the mankind lose the power of sustaining their civilization, probably robots and computers should take over the civilization.  As robots are immortal, its civilization might be endless, but if they cannot believe in the God and understand love coming from Heaven, they will lose passion some day to continue their civilization.  Finally, everything, including AI robots, the mankind has created and will create will become naught in this material universe, say, in the next 2000 years.

However, as souls of dead men will continue to live in the spirit world, a kind of human history will continue in the spirit world.  The souls of poor and faithful men should continue to enhance their history in Heaven, but the souls of rich and evil men should continue to foul up their history in the hells.  

In short, the stage where the mankind will play will be shifted from this material world to the spirit world (either Heaven or hells) in the future.  A million years later, some aliens from a different planet in this universe might see ruins of New York, London, Tokyo, etc. as we today see the Great Pyramids at Giza in Egypt.

In deed, it is 2500 years from the Great Pyramids at Giza (the symbol of the start of the material human civilization) to Christ Jesus (the Son of God), and it will be 2500 years from the Son of God (Christ Jesus) to the end of the material human civilization.

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Mark 12, King James Version

24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?
25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.
26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.

"he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw" - Not Enlightenment But the Way

 

Xmas Coming around Tokyo

Not Enlightenment But the Way

Once, say about 100 years ago, there lived one young man seeking truth in life in Japan.  He learned Christianity as a member of a church.  But as he could not get confidence that he became enlightened, he decided to train himself in a mountain although he became a kind of sick.

He visited a notable shrine in a mountain in winter without money, but his sickness became heavier, so that he almost fell down in snow.  But, a strange mountain man appeared and led him to a small wooden hut to save him.  Next morning, when he awoke, he could not see the footprints of the strange man but only his own ones on the snow.  But, his illness was cured.  So, he decided to further go deep in the mountain to train himself among some disciplinants and a mountain hermit.

He was tested by them in terms of his resolution.  As he passed those tests, he was accepted by them.  Then he trained himself in the mountain taking only native grasses as foods and living in a coarse hut.  In time, he realized that his spiritual power grew and increased.  Then, he sometimes went down the mountain and into villages around to perform preaching in the street.  He even healed a sick girl, a haunted woman, and a depressed boy.  Finally, he competed with the mountain hermit in terms of spiritual power to defeat him.  Finally, he got confidence that he had obtained enough spiritual power as he mastered a way of astral projection or having out-of-body experiences.

So, he left the mountain to a city.  While he was walking through a rural zone where no private houses were seen, he found a poor beggar walking toward him on a narrow and straight but long road in the middle of agriculture fields.  The beggar hanged a placard reading "I AM BLIND."  The young man saw sometimes such beggars hanging such placards to arouse a feeling of compassion of people to earn money.  So, he did not feel strange seeing such a beggar, but rather tried to give some words of compassion to him.  But, the moment they passed each other, the beggar pre-emptively said to him, "Not Enlightenment But the Way!"         

The young man could not see in what sacred books the words of teaching were written.  So, he admitted that the beggar was in a superior position to him.  He turned around to ask the beggar what the words meant.  But, there was no beggar in the narrow, straight, and long road through agriculture fields.  The beggar evaporated.  The young man was struck by light from the sky and sat down on the road, beginning to weep.  

At the moment, he realized that the process of pursuing and performing love and truth was more important than seeking enlightenment and super-natural power.   

In this context and from this point of view, the young man started to read the books of Swedenborg to further have spiritual experiences.  He later became notable among believers in his circle and respected by them as a private religious man, but he did not become so famous in Japan.  Yet, even today, some people called him a genius of religion, since he continued to have remarkable faith in the Japanese Shinto religion as well as Christianity of the Swedenborg's version through WWII till his death around 1980. 

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Matthew 12, King James Version

18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
19 He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.
20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.
21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.

22 Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.

"take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry, but God..." - To Survive Another 1300 Years Again

 

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To Survive Another 1300 Years Again

Christ Jesus sometimes directly talked about spirits, which means that He saw a spirit or a soul in each man.  However, some of these words are difficult to comprehend. 

Luke 11, King James Version
24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.
25 And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.
26 Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

It should be possibly interpreted in historical context.

For exaｍple, in the late 18th century, the Unites States got successfully independence and France underwent the French Revolution.  Democracy was expanding in America and Europe.  Old unclean spirits working in the world before the Industrial Revolution were gone.  But, along with modernization of the world, WWI occurred in the early 20th century, leaving deaths and demolition of the civilization in the scale that had never been seen.  After WWI, the League of Nations was established for international peace and social policies were promoted in each country to save laborers.  Old unclean spirits working in the world, or especially in Europe still under imperialism were gone.  But, along with further development of industry and science, WWII occurred in the middle of the 20th century, leaving deaths and demolition of the civilization in the scale that had never been seen.  Old unclean spirits working in Africa and Asia under colonialism and in Europe under anti-Semitism were gone. 

We had better think about the possibility of WWIII now that further development of science and technology since WWII is so clear as seen especially in the authoritarian state China with the population of 1.4 billion. 

     

From the beginning, in the 1st century, Christ Jesus first came to this world, spreading right faith and belief in the God.  However, after the crucifixion of Christ Jesus, the Jewish-Roman War occurred with the result of diaspora of Jewish people from Palestine.  Yet, in the late 4th century, the Roman Empire adopted Christianity as its state religion.  Nonetheless, the the Roman Empire fell in the late 5th century.  And, 1300 years later, finally the Unites States won successfully independence and France accomplished the French Revolution.

Indeed, if we can avoid the Third World War in the near future, the mankind might survive another 1300 years.  This century, the 21st century, must be critical for the human history.  All we have to do is to read the Bible and try to correctly comprehend the true or spiritual meaning of the words of Christ Jesus.    

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Luke 12, King James Version
16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

"Master, Moses wrote unto us" - Swedenborg and St. Paul

 

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Swedenborg and St. Paul

It was in the 18th century that Swedenborg wrote about his experiences in the spirit world or the afterlife he had had while living in this world.  But, in the 4th century, somebody wrote about Paul's experiences in the spirit world or the afterlife.

The text, which is pseudepigraphal, purports to present a detailed account of a vision of Heaven and Hell experienced by Paul the Apostle; "its chief importance lies in the way it helped to shape the beliefs of ordinary Christians concerning the afterlife".  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_of_Paul)

Although Swedenborg wrote in one of his books that he had seen Paul in the hell, Swedenborg's experience shared rather common traits with the Apocalypse of Paul.  However, the latter described more clearly a judgment by the God:

17. And again I saw, and behold a soul which was led forward by two angels, weeping and saying: Have pity on me, just God, God the judge, for to-day is seven days since I went out of my body, and I was handed over to these two angels, and they led me through to those places, which I had never seen. And God, the just judge, saith to him: What hast thou done? for thou never didst mercy, wherefore thou wast handed over to such angels as have no mercy, and because thou didst not do uprightly, so neither did they act piously with thee in the hour of thy need. Confess therefore thy sins which thou didst commit when placed in the world. And he answered and said: Lord, I did not sin. And the Lord, the just Lord, was angered in fury when it said: I did not sin, because it lied; and God said: Dost thou think thou art still in the world? if any one of you, sinning there, conceal and hide his sin from his neighbour, here indeed nothing whatever shall be hid: for when the souls come to adore in sight of the throne, both the good works and the sins of each one are made manifest...(https://www.biblestudytools.com/history/early-church-fathers/ante-nicene/vol-9-discovered-additions/apocalypses-and-romances/vision-of-paul.html)   

However, Swedenborg wrote that the evil souls of evil man would spontaneously go down to the hell so as to avoid light and love from the God in Heaven, since such evil men could not bear holy light and love from the God. 

Anyway, poor, faithful, and good men should not be afraid of their death and their afterlife as Socrates and Plato claimed, since they are surly accepted in Heaven.

From the beginning, the Gospels tell that Christ Jesus said that poor and faithful men would surely enter into Heaven to receive blessings and happiness there.    

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Mark 12, King James Version
17 And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him.
18 Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying,
19 Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed.
21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise.
22 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also.
23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.
24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?
25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.