The Bible As Mystical

WED., FEB. 15, 1995, 8:50 AM
OFFICE, PULLIAM HALL

The Bible is the sacred book of My favorite religion – Christianity. I often refer to these Holy Scriptures, and regularly encourage you to read and study from this Source. I am pleased that this small group of you continues to meet for breakfast and Bible study each Wednesday morning, early. I am with you in this, “observing” and, occasionally, influencing.

The Bible is a canon of Scriptures, agreed upon many years ago. Though there are many translations and ways of expressing the truths therein, the Bible always has had two basic parts – the Old Testament and the New. It has 66 “books,” always commencing with Genesis and ending with Malachi in the Old… with Matthew on to Revelations in the New. Traditionally, each “book” is divided into chapters, and each of these into numbered verses… so that it is easy to identify and find particular passages. (You know how difficult it is to be encouraging a class to consider certain passages in a text; you see wherein the “verse form” is helpful.)

The Bible can be studied, and oh, how much it has been studied. Some of that which is printed, from studies, can be almost as important as Scripture itself, but such is more often overbalanced by what amounts to secular scholarship. For this I have very little regard.

With you I emphasize that the Bible is a mystical “book,” and I want you to see it this way. How is this? What do I mean by this? Keep on listening! There are several facets to the mystical, and I want you to be aware of and appreciate these all.

This Bible is, as a book, both sacred and “ordinary.” It is the best source of truth in your culture, but it is not to be handled as some highly valued artifact. I like the one you use the most, with its taped up binding, the pictures you’ve pasted in, and the underlinings and accent marks that you have put in as you read. It should not be on a shelf. It should be where you are… on your desk or table, readily available. It is a rich book which is part of an ordinary, peasant lifestyle.

This book is a mystical mixture of universal, eternal truth, truth just for you, and descriptions and affirmations from a different, older culture, very unlike your present one. Which is which? That’s the mystical part. Even more… ( 9:20 / 9:23 ) particular portions may appear to be one of these in one reading, and another at some later encounter. There are some truths that are left unsaid. An import one, that comes up frequently in these morning discussions, is that of free will… and My Will. Why are there no definite lines of Scripture that say: “I, as the Creator God, have given free will to every human. You must choose Me. You can accept or reject. It is entirely your choice.”? Because free will is rather unimportant in My view of the earth and its people. And because actions are a mystical combination of My Will and My actions, or lack of actions, and human will. What is “free”? That’s truly mystical!

Holy Scripture seems to recommend certain actions and not others. Isaiah foretold that I, as Jesus, would take the government upon My shoulders, and that, as a consequence, I would be called Wonderful, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace. I didn’t do that. And it is all right to wonder what that government would have been like. Would it have been democratic? Would it have had a police force and an army? Or do My teachings, as Jesus, not really translate into any practical form of government or economics? I say Yes… they don’t.