Teacher-Brother Dave's Compilation of TOPICAL STUDIES from THE NEW EPOCHAL REVELATION OF TRUTH. Topical Study 76 "Infinite and Infinity" [Part 28 of 28] Teacher-Brother Dave's initial comments: I am presenting some of my Topical Studies from the fully public domain, 2097 page, Fifth Epochal Revelation of Truth and with my added comments. The Revealed text is free of copyright, so you may freely share individually these supernal quotes with your friends and relatives. But my order of selections, font types for emphasis and my added comments in square brackets [ ] are Copyright 2012, 2013 and 2014 by Dave@PureChristians.org All Rights Reserved Contact me first about using the whole Study or group of Studies. These will be published here each Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:00 PM CDT. PAPER 155 FLEEING THROUGH NORTHERN GALILEE 5. THE DISCOURSE ON TRUE RELIGION Page-1728 This memorable discourse on religion, summarized and restated in modern phraseology, gave expression to the following truths: While the religions of the world have a double origin -- natural and revelatory -- at any one time and among any one people there are to be found three distinct forms of religious devotion. And these three anifestations of the religious urge are: 1. Primitive religion. The seminatural and instinctive urge to fear mysterious energies and worship superior forces, chiefly a religion of the physical nature, the religion of fear. 2. The religion of civilization. The advancing religious concepts and practices of the civilizing races -- the religion of the mind -- the intellectual theology of the authority of established religious tradition. 3. True religion -- the religion of revelation. The revelation of supernatural values, a partial insight into eternal realities, a glimpse of the goodness and beauty of the infinite character of the Father in heaven -- the religion of the spirit as demonstrated in human experience. Page-1730 And Jesus went on to say: "At Jerusalem the religious leaders have formulated the various doctrines of their traditional teachers and the prophets of other days into an established system of intellectual beliefs, a religion of authority. The appeal of all such religions is largely to the mind. And now are we about to enter upon a deadly conflict with such a religion since we will so shortly begin the bold proclamation of a new religion -- a religion which is not a religion in the present-day meaning of that word, a religion that makes its chief appeal to the divine spirit of my Father which resides in the mind of man; a religion which shall derive its authority from the fruits of its acceptance that will so certainly appear in the personal experience of all who really and truly become believers in the truths of this higher spiritual communion." [the sacred experiences of personal God-consciousness !] Pointing out each of the twenty-four and calling them by name, Jesus said: "And now, which one of you would prefer to take this easy path of conformity to an established and fossilized religion, as defended by the Pharisees at Jerusalem, rather than to suffer the difficulties and persecutions attendant upon the mission of proclaiming a better way of salvation to men while you realize the satisfaction of discovering for yourselves the beauties of the realities of a living and personal experience in the eternal truths and supreme grandeurs of the kingdom of heaven? Are you fearful, soft, and ease-seeking? Are you afraid to trust your future in the hands of the God of truth, whose sons you are? Are you distrustful of the Father, whose children you are? Will you go back to the easy path of the certainty and intellectual settledness of the religion of traditional authority, or will you gird yourselves to go forward with me into that uncertain and troublous future of proclaiming the new truths of the religion of the spirit, the kingdom of heaven in the hearts of men?" All twenty-four of his hearers rose to their feet, intending to signify their united and loyal response to this, one of the few emotional appeals which Jesus ever made to them, but he raised his hand and stopped them, saying: "Go now apart by yourselves, each man alone with the Father, and there find the unemotional answer to my question, and having found such a true and sincere attitude of soul, speak that answer freely and boldly to my Father and your Father, whose infinite life of love is the very spirit of the religion we proclaim." PAPER 159 THE DECAPOLIS TOUR 5. THE POSITIVE NATURE OF JESUS'RELIGION Page-1771 In all his teaching Jesus unfailingly avoided distracting details. He shunned flowery language and avoided the mere poetic imagery of a play upon words. He habitually put large meanings into small expressions. For purposes of illustration Jesus reversed the current meanings of many terms, such as salt, leaven, fishing, and little children. He most effectively employed the antithesis, comparing the minute to the infinite and so on. His pictures were striking, such as, "The blind leading the blind." But the greatest strength to be found in his illustrative teaching was its naturalness. Jesus brought the philosophy of religion from heaven down to earth. He portrayed the elemental needs of the soul with a new insight and a new bestowal of affection. [and Jesus continues today to enter the Truth-seeking human soul to continually elevate and transform each of us ... Amen !] PAPER 168 THE RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS 4. THE ANSWER TO PRAYER Page-1848 Jesus' answers to their many questions may be summarized as follows: 1. Prayer is an expression of the finite mind in an effort to approach the Infinite. The making of a prayer must, therefore, be limited by the knowledge, wisdom, and attributes of the finite; likewise must the answer be conditioned by the vision, aims, ideals, and prerogatives of the Infinite. There never can be observed an unbroken continuity of material phenomena between the making of a prayer and the reception of the full spiritual answer thereto. 3. The prayers of time, when indited by the spirit and expressed in faith, are often so vast and all-encompassing that they can be answered only in eternity; the finite petition is sometimes so fraught with the grasp of the Infinite that the answer must long be postponed to await the creation of adequate capacity for receptivity; the prayer of faith may be so all-embracing that the answer can be received only on Paradise. [! Trial trips to Paradise are possible, even to some sincere, lowly humans here on earth ! But human comprehension of same will be limited, of course.] PAPER 169 LAST TEACHING AT PELLA 4. THE FATHER AND HIS KINGDOM Page-1856 You learn about God from Jesus by observing the divinity of his life, not by depending on his teachings. From the life of the Master you may each assimilate that concept of God which represents the measure of your capacity to perceive realities spiritual and divine, truths real and eternal. The finite [each of us] can never hope to comprehend the Infinite [Universal, Eternal Paradise FATHER GOD I AM] except as the Infinite was focalized in the time-space personality of the finite experience of the human life of Jesus of Nazareth. [Deep !] Jesus employed the word God to designate the idea of Deity and the word Father to designate the experience of knowing God. When the word Father is employed to denote God, it should be understood in its largest possible meaning. The word God cannot be defined and therefore stands for the infinite concept of the Father, while the term Father, being capable of partial definition, may be employed to represent the human concept of the divine Father as he is associated with man during the course of mortal existence. [We should conceive-realize The Father of all Reality as both Transcendent in Eternal, Infinite Paradise, our future Home, and his pure spirit Essence now dwells within us -- the small, still Voice of God -- His perfect and Absolute will ...] Page-1857 [Very important !!] Jesus is the spiritual lens in human likeness which makes visible to the material creature Him who is invisible. He is your elder brother who, in the flesh, makes known to you a Being of infinite attributes whom not even the celestial hosts can presume fully to understand. But all of this must consist in the personal experience of the individual believer. God who is spirit can be known only as a spiritual experience. God can be revealed to the finite sons of the material worlds, by the divine Son of the spiritual realms, only as a Father. You can know the Eternal as a Father; you can worship him as the God of universes, the infinite Creator of all existences. [Yes, come and experience in Spirit our loving and merciful Father-Son here in Spirit upon all humans and within all Truth-lovers ! Amen !] PAPER 174 TUESDAY MORNING IN THE TEMPLE 1. DIVINE FORGIVENESS Page-1898 [Jesus:] "A part of every father lives in the child. The father enjoys priority and superiority of understanding in all matters connected with the child-parent relationship. The parent is able to view the immaturity of the child in the light of the more advanced parental maturity, the riper experience of the older partner. With the earthly child and the heavenly Father, the divine parent possesses infinity and divinity of sympathy and capacity for loving understanding. [Infinite Divine love and all-wise and infinite mercy !!] Divine forgiveness is inevitable; it is inherent and inalienable in God's infinite understanding, in his perfect knowledge of all that concerns the mistaken judgment and erroneous choosing of the child. Divine justice is so eternally fair that it unfailingly embodies understanding mercy. [God is infinitely unified in Personality ; He needs no "blood sacrifice" to allow Himself to be loving and merciful ! His judgment always includes His infinite love and mercy !] PAPER 176 TUESDAY EVENING ON MOUNT OLIVET 2. THE MASTER'S SECOND COMING Page-1915 [Jesus:] "But what is the significance of this teaching having to do with the coming of the Sons of God? Do you not perceive that, when each of you is called to lay down his life struggle and pass through the portal of death, you stand in the immediate presence of [loving ! and merciful !] judgment, and that you are face to face with the facts of a new dispensation of service [in God's grace !] in the eternal plan of the infinite Father? What the whole world must face as a literal fact at the end of an age, you, as individuals, must each most certainly face as a personal experience when you reach the end of your natural life and thereby pass on to be confronted with the conditions and demands inherent in the next revelation of the eternal progression [of you and other humans also !] of the Father's kingdom." [I know in the Spirit of our Father God that I am allowed to so explain and amplify Jesus' words in his Spirit and in the Light of the whole Fifth Epochal Revelation which I know well in Spirit and in Truth also. Don't just believe me; ask Jesus if this is True or not ! He is The Only Authority and as One with the spirit Essence of God within you !] 4. THE RETURN OF [JESUS CHRIST] MICHAEL Page-1918 Of all the Master's teachings no one phase has been so misunderstood as his promise sometime to come back in person to this world. It is not strange that [Jesus Christ] Michael should be interested in sometime returning to the planet whereon he experienced his seventh and last bestowal as a mortal of the realm. It is only natural to believe that Jesus of Nazareth, now sovereign ruler of a vast universe, would be interested in coming back, not only once but even many times, [!!] to the world whereon he lived such a unique life and finally won for himself the Father's unlimited bestowal of universe power and authority. [All the power and Presence of God is in Jesus to all of us in his universe !] Earth will eternally be one of the seven nativity spheres of [Jesus Christ] Michael in the winning of universe sovereignty. PAPER 180 THE FAREWELL DISCOURSE 5. THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH Page-1950 This same philosophy of the living flexibility and cosmic adaptability of divine truth to the individual requirements and capacity of every son of God, must be perceived before you can hope adequately to understand the Master's teaching and practice of nonresistance to evil. The Master's teaching is basically a spiritual pronouncement. Even the material implications of his philosophy cannot be helpfully considered apart from their spiritual correlations. The spirit of the Master's injunction consists in the nonresistance of all selfish reaction to the universe, coupled with the aggressive and progressive attainment of righteous levels of true spirit values: divine beauty, infinite goodness, and eternal truth -- to know God and to become increasingly like him. [Beautiful !] PAPER 181 FINAL ADMONITIONS AND WARNINGS 2. FAREWELL PERSONAL ADMONITIONS [from Jesus to his eleven loyal apostles.] Page-1961 And then the Master, turning to all of them, said: "Be not dismayed that you fail to grasp the full meaning of the gospel. You are but finite, mortal men, and that which I have taught you is infinite, divine, and eternal. Be patient and of good courage since you have the eternal ages [in the Eternity of Eternities !] before you in which to continue your progressive attainment of the experience of becoming perfect, even as your Father in Paradise is perfect." PAPER 182 IN GETHSEMANE 1. THE LAST GROUP PRAYER Page-1965 The Master, during the course of this final prayer with his apostles, alluded to the fact that he had manifested the Father's name to the world. And that is truly what he did by the revelation of God through his perfected life in the flesh. The Father in heaven had sought to reveal himself to Moses, but he could proceed no further than to cause it to be said, "I AM." And when pressed for further revelation of himself, it was only disclosed, "I AM that I AM." But when Jesus had finished his earth life, this name of the Father had been so revealed that the Master, who was the Father incarnate, [and now here with us in Spirit !] could truly say: I am the bread of life. I am the living water. I am the light of the world. I am the desire of all ages. I am the open door to eternal salvation. I am the reality of endless life. I am the good shepherd. I am the pathway of infinite perfection. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the secret of eternal survival. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the infinite Father of my finite children. I am the true vine; you are the branches. I am the hope of all who know the living truth. I am the living bridge from one world to another. I am the living link between time and eternity. Thus did Jesus enlarge the living revelation of the name of God to all generations. As divine love reveals the nature of God, eternal truth discloses his name in ever-enlarging proportions. PAPER 186 JUST BEFORE THE CRUCIFIXION 5. JESUS' DEATH IN RELATION TO THE PASSOVER Page-2002 [Important !] All that the Son of Man said or did on earth greatly embellished the doctrines of sonship with God and of the brotherhood of men, but these essential relationships of God and men are inherent in the universe acts of God's love for his creatures and the innate mercy of the divine Sons. These touching and divinely beautiful relations between man and his Maker on this world and on all others throughout the universe of universes have existed from eternity; and they are not in any sense dependent on these periodic bestowal enactments of the Creator Sons of God, who thus assume the nature and likeness of their created intelligences as a part of the price which they must pay for the final acquirement of unlimited sovereignty over their respective local universes. [Please read this again carefully !] The Father in heaven loved mortal man on earth just as much before the life and death of Jesus on earth as he did after this transcendent exhibition of the copartnership of man and God. This mighty transaction of the incarnation of the God of Nebadon [our local universe made and ruled by Jesus Christ Michael] as a man on earth could not augment the attributes of the eternal, infinite, and universal Father, but it did enrich and enlighten all other administrators and creatures of the universe of Nebadon. While the Father in heaven loves us no more because of this bestowal of [Jesus Christ] Michael, all other celestial intelligences do. And this is because Jesus not only made a revelation of God to man, but he also likewise made a new revelation of man to the Gods [God the Supreme, God the Ultimate, God the Absolute and God the Father-Infinite I AM, God the Eternal Son and God the Infinite Spirit on Paradise] and to the celestial intelligences of the universe of universes. PAPER 188 THE TIME OF THE TOMB 4. MEANING OF THE DEATH ON THE CROSS Page-2017 When once you grasp the idea of God as a true and loving Father, the only concept which Jesus ever taught, you must forthwith, in all consistency, utterly abandon all those primitive notions about God as an offended monarch, a stern and all-powerful ruler whose chief delight is to detect his subjects in wrongdoing and to see that they are adequately punished, unless some being almost equal to himself should volunteer to suffer for them, to die as a substitute and in their stead. [Those barbaric Old Testament doctrines, made up my some humans of old, are false and unspiritual.] The whole idea of ransom and atonement is incompatible with the concept of God as it was taught and exemplified by Jesus of Nazareth. The infinite love of God is not secondary to anything in the divine nature. PAPER 195 AFTER PENTECOST 7. THE VULNERABILITY OF MATERIALISM Page-2078 Paradise values of eternity and infinity, of truth, beauty, and goodness, are concealed within the facts of the phenomena of the universes of time and space. But it requires the eye of faith in a spirit-born mortal to detect and discern these spiritual values. The realities and values of spiritual progress are not a “psychologic projection” — a mere glorified daydream of the material mind. Such things are the spiritual forecasts of the indwelling Adjuster, the spirit of God living in the mind of man. And let not your dabblings with the faintly glimpsed findings of “relativity” disturb your concepts of the eternity and infinity of God. And in all your solicitation concerning the necessity for self-expression do not make the mistake of failing to provide for Adjuster-expression, the manifestation of your real and better self. [The Divine Thought Adjuster is God's will within you ! and destined to eventually fuse with and Be You !! What a wonderful Gift from God !] Page-2080 Any scientific interpretation of the material universe is valueless unless it provides due recognition for the scientist. No appreciation of art is genuine unless it accords recognition to the artist. No evaluation of morals is worth while unless it includes the moralist. No recognition of philosophy is edifying if it ignores the philosopher, and religion cannot exist without the real experience of the religionist who, in and through this very experience, is seeking to find God and to know him. Likewise is the universe of universes without significance apart from the I AM, the infinite God who made it and unceasingly manages it. [Thank You our True and Wonderful Father God !] Science lives by the mathematics of the mind; music expresses the tempo of the emotions. Religion is the spiritual rhythm of the soul in time-space harmony with the higher and eternal melody measurements of Infinity. [Beautiful and profoundly spiritual !] Religious experience is something in human life which is truly supermathematical. PAPER 196 THE FAITH OF JESUS 1. JESUS --THE MAN Page-2091 7. The final embrace of the Paradise Father, conferring unlimited sovereignty of his universe. [!!!] 2. THE RELIGION OF JESUS Page-2093 He [Jesus] taught men to place a high value upon themselves in time and in eternity. Because of this high estimate which Jesus placed upon men, he was willing to spend himself in the unremitting service of humankind. And it was this infinite worth of the finite [!!!] that made the golden rule a vital factor in his religion. What mortal can fail to be uplifted by the extraordinary faith Jesus has in him? [Tremendous !!! The higher "golden rule" upstepped by Jesus is to try to love and serve all humans as you believe that Jesus would do ! Fatherly love is much more high and real than just human brotherly love !] 3. THE SUPREMACY OF RELIGION Page-2094 Unless a divine lover lived in man, he could not unselfishly and spiritually love. Unless an interpreter lived in the mind, man could not truly realize the unity of the universe. Unless an evaluator dwelt with man, he could not possibly appraise moral values and recognize spiritual meanings. And this lover hails from the very source of infinite love; this interpreter is a part of Universal Unity; this evaluator is the child of the Center and Source of all absolute values of divine and eternal reality. [We have the Thought Adjuster, Jesus the Father-Son Spirit of Truth and the Holy Spirit of the Infinite Spirit ! Three in Two as One to ever love, guide and serve us in Combined Divine Ministry !] [A new Study will be published here at 8:00 PM CDT Monday, March 10, 2014 (new Study material here each Mon. Wed. and Fri. at 8:00 PM CST)] Past TOPICAL STUDIES Spiritual High-Lights of Jesus Christ Spiritual High-Lights of the Fifth Epochal Revelation FIFTH EPOCHAL REVELATION (full text and my added comments) INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES (shorter, with some FER)