Some further clarification on some of the provocative statements I made in the last post are in order. First off, I want to experience ultimate personal fulfillment. I believe the best way of doing that is attaining, and thus living for, total health and consciousness forever. I realize I am mortal and will die. Therefore, I need a hope outside of myself to pursue eternity. The hope I have now is found in Yehoshua (Jesus) the Christ, His resurrection, and His promise of eternal life to those who believe in Him.

The question now though is, should I only seek to do what is expressly His will in my life? Now this would be a simpler question if His will for me personally was spelled out in black and white for every activity in my life. However, this is not the case. Many Christians agree that the Bible is the only written revelation from the Almighty. According to World Christian Encyclopedia, there are over 30,000 denominations of Christianity. This number is staggering! If this is any indication, it shows that the Bible can be interpreted in many different ways on many different topics and beliefs.

Here are some common answers people give to correct this problem:

1. The Holy Spirit leads us to do His will. Unless you are prepared to say that all the other denominations of Christianity except your own are not “really” Christian or are not seeking to follow the Spirit, this solution has some problems.
2. We should at least have the desire to follow His will in everything. This one I can sympathize with more, because this is the position I held for several years. However, this introduces all sorts of possible misplaced convictions. For example, take the command of Paul in I Corinthians to “glorify Elohim (God) in your body.” Because I had the desire to follow His will in everything, I used this verse as my motivation to do major internal cleanses and detoxing, radically change my diet, and disassociate myself from polluting environments. I also did a 40-day fast on top of that. Now, none of these things are bad, but are they necessary? I think you could Biblically argue that they are, if you really want to follow all of Scripture (I am being a little sarcastic here, though not much). And this is just one command of the hundreds (perhaps thousands) in Scripture.

Now the question could be asked, would I have the desire to follow the Father’s will in everything if it was clear and I believed doing so would procure for me the greatest level of health and consciousness in eternity. And the answer would be yes! However, although I do currently believe following His will would result in the greatest level of health and consciousness in eternity, His will is not clear to me at all.

So, my current paradigm is to keep a 50-50 split of personal and Scriptural (or spiritual) motivations. Thus, roughly half of the things I do in life are motivated by a desire to follow the Father’s will, and the other half are motivated by personal desires. Keep in mind that there is overlap between these two sectors and the more there is the better I like it. However, the root motivations remain different.

So, for example, one of the things I am focusing on in my life right now is redeeming the time. The base motivation for this is Scriptural. I also like doing this for personal reasons. However, the principal motivating factor remains rooted in Scripture.

On the other hand, I am putting a decent amount of effort into writing this blog and this is motivated by personal desires. Could it be used to honor my savior? Sure, but that would still not be the principal reason I am doing it at this time.

This post is becoming lengthy, so I will end here. These thoughts will definitely be continued in future posts.

How does my purpose of living for total health and consciousness square with Christianity? Let me be clear about this. I am not, on a fundamental level, living to serve the Creator or the Messiah. And, if you are honest with yourself, I believe you will realize that you aren’t either. I have yet to find a person who is not living for personal fulfillment. In my case, I believe this will come through living for total health and consciousness forever, and I am seeking to do this now by living in appointed times by faith. I would bet that your picture of ultimate fulfillment also includes health and consciousness, though you may define these slightly differently than I do.

So, you may be thinking I am a heretic. But stop a moment and ask yourself a question: why do you follow the religion that you do? Is it not your hope of attaining ultimate personal fulfillment and does this fulfillment not include a higher order of health and consciousness than what you currently enjoy?

With all that being said, I am a passionate follower of Y’shua (Jesus) the Christ. I have radically altered my life many times as a result of trying to love my Messiah with all my heart. I study the Bible every day, witness in prayer or in person every week, have an active prayer life, give thanks regularly, and meditate on Scripture throughout the day. When I read a passage of Scripture, I seek to do something personal and practical with it in my life.

I don’t say any of this to impress anybody, only to establish that I am a dedicated Christian and not some liberal critic trying to tear down Christianity. However, the reason I believe and act as I do is not for many of the reasons others do. Some of these include:

1. Following inherited traditions. While following family or community traditions can keep the peace and allow for better relationships with close kin, this is not a compelling enough reason for me to pattern my life after these traditions.
2. Believing fundamentalist rhetoric. There were many things I grew up hearing and never thought to challenge. These included the existence of a divine being who created the universe, the inerrancy of Scripture, the young earth hypothesis, and the resurrection of Y’shua (Jesus). Though I still believe in some of these, I definitely can understand that there are valid reasons to believe otherwise.
3. Presupposing certain truths or doctrines. I don’t just assume the Bible is true and relevant for my life; I start with reason and logic to form my understanding of the Bible’s veracity and relevance. I don’t assume something is correct just because I want it to be or because that is the way I am currently living.
4. Living solely for the Father’s glory. The important word here is solely. I am living to glorify the Father, but this is not my only motivation in life, at least at this time. In addition, the reason I am living with this purpose is to achieve a greater purpose: personal fulfillment.

While saying all this, I am cognizant that professing the Christ entails me to surrender my own will and follow His even if this causes some pain and hardship in the present. As the apostle Paul said in II Corinthians 4:17, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

However, does this mean that every action I take and every thought I think must be directly linked to what He wants for me? This would include the clothing I wear, the food I eat, the places I frequent, the conversations I have, the books I read, the jobs I work, the exercise I do, etc. etc. etc. Be very careful how you answer this. If you say yes, be prepared to be consistent and live out what you believe.

Are you willing to totally lose the ability to think for yourself? Are you willing to give up your own will entirely? Is it your desire to turn into a glorified robot controlled by someone else? In the next post, I will share why this is not my desire, at least at this time.

However, if this is your conviction, then consider the following questions. Is it His desire to turn you into a glorified robot? Couldn’t he have just created man that way in the beginning and forgotten all the fuss of dying for us?

The Almighty purposely gave the pinnacle of His creation free will, undoubtedly knowing we would stray from worshiping Him. I believe one of His goals was to create conscious followers and not robots. So, whether from a personal perspective or a divine perspective, I encourage you to embrace your free will and consciousness. These are the Father’s most precious gifts to you.

What motivation then should drive our thinking and behavior as conscious Christians? In the next post I will give my tentative solution to this question.

Condemning people’s motives, labeling them hypocrites, and declaring some of their beliefs and actions to be wrong are all examples of judging others.

In Matthew 7:1, Y’shua (Jesus) commanded his followers, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” Some are quick to lessen the scope of this command by pointing out what the Messiah said in John 7:24, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”

However, I still believe that Matthew 7:1 can be followed at face value for the most part. Before you ever judge others, you must first:

1. Judge yourself. Usually the urge to judge others is an indication of a similar failure in your own life that needs to be corrected, i.e. removing the beam from your own eye before commenting on the moat in your brother’s eye.
2. Think righteously. In order to judge righteously, you must be thinking that way. This, to me, is a tall order. What this means is that any time you judge others, you are inviting people to scour your own life to see if you are capable of giving judgment.

What this means, for me at least, is to generally avoid all forms of judging others. Instead, I try to reflect the judgment back on myself and correct my own failures. I believe this is a necessary prerequisite to fulfilling the next condition to think righteously. If I am ever in doubt as to whether I have fulfilled the two conditions for judging others, I err on the side of not judging.

On the occasions that I do feel qualified to judge someone, I try to do two things.

1. Go to them personally. I wouldn’t want someone telling the world all of my failures, and I try to extend the same courtesy to others.
2. Agree with their own judgment. Sometimes people will confide openly that they know they shouldn’t do something as much as they do (e.g. watch TV, oversleep, eat unhealthy food, etc.), but they are not doing anything to change themselves (James 4:17). If I tell them that they are not living consciously and offer some possible solutions, I am only agreeing with the judgment that they have already made of their situation.

Instead of resorting to judgment and condemnation of others, notice the amazing qualities that they do possess, and praise them for those. When you think positively and speak positively, you will generally feel more positive and upbeat about life.

It is nice to say that you follow the Bible, but what does that mean? Think about all the different commands. There are many categories of them:

1. Commands to Israel in the Old Testament. These are found primarily in the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), otherwise known as the Torah or the Pentateuch, and are given by YHVH through Moses.
2. Commands to the disciples and multitudes following the Christ. These are found in the four New Testament Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), and are given by Y’shua (Jesus) the Christ.
3. Commands to various regional churches. These are found mainly in Paul’s letters (Romans, I & II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and I & II Thessalonians)  but are also seen in the second and third chapters of Revelation, and are given by Paul and the Christ respectively.
4. Commands to specific individuals. I & II Timothy, Titus, and Philemon contain instructions specifically for them and are given by Paul. III John was written to Gaius.
5. Commands to Israel in the New Testament. Hebrews, James, and I Peter contain commands either to Hebrews, the twelve tribes, or those living in the diaspora, all of which are probably Israelites. These are written by various human authors.
6. Commands to “Christians” in general. II Peter, II John, and Jude are written to them that have obtained like precious faith, the elect lady and her children, and them that are sanctified, preserved, and called, respectively. These are probably all designations for “Christians” in general and are written by the respective authors of the books.
7. General Principles found in Proverbs and other places. The rest of the Bible can be mined for general principles of living on various subjects. These are especially prevalent in Proverbs, which is primarily the writing of Solomon.

What categories of commands should Christians follow and how thoroughly or academically should this be done? My proposal is to start with the commands of the Christ to His disciples and the multitudes interpreted in harmony with the Torah. Why? Well, the Christ told His disciples in Matthew 28:19-20 to teach the people they converted all the things that He had commanded them. Christians today are a product of their evangelistic efforts.

Also, the words of the Messiah must be interpreted in light of the Torah. Why is this? Well, one of the reasons Y’shua (Jesus) came was to fulfill the law (see Matthew 5:17). While there is disagreement on exactly what this means, I believe it certainly means He did not disobey any aspect of the law or teach contrary to it during His ministry (Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 12:32; 13:1-5).

After studying the commands of the Christ found in the four gospels in harmony with the Torah, we can then cautiously start approaching the rest of the Torah using the Christ’s implicit instructions through His actions as a guide to try and correctly understand it. Other sections of Scripture may be approached and integrated after this, such as the letters of Paul and the Proverbs of Solomon. Realization must be made that these passages were not commands written for individual Christians. The Torah was a legal code for the nation of Israel. The Book of Proverbs are not absolute commands or truisms, but rather general principles. Paul’s letters are written to specific churches that may or may not apply to Christians in general today. Also, in his second Epistle, Peter warns us that Paul is hard to understand.

II Peter, II John, and Jude (I John could probably be included as well) may be good books to study in conjunction with the gospels, since they almost certainly were written to Christians in general. However, to do this, you must believe that the words these men wrote are exactly what the Christ intended to be communicated.

Before tackling the question that Pilate asked the Messiah, “What is truth?” on any particular subject, one needs to first address the question of “Why does this matter?” or “How important is this?” Questions about eschatology, histology, chronology, the route of the Exodus, Noah’s flood, etc. are all different aspects of Scripture that can be mined for truth. But before doing so, it is critical to ask, “Why do I care about this?” and “How will this at all affect my life?” If you cannot give very good answers to either of these fundamental questions, the subject is probably better left untouched, at least for the present time.

My study of theology starts with the question “How is this important in my life?” I am not inferring by stating this that the pursuit of truth proper is not a worthy enterprise or that it will not inform me of what really is important. The question of “What is truth?” will be tackled later; it is just not what I am choosing to start with since I believe it is too vast.

So before you try to figure whether Genesis 1-11 is literal or poetic, what the proper mode of baptism is, or where Cain got his wife, first ask yourself why you should care about any of this and how important or relevant it is for your life. Theology becomes much less cluttered when we focus on this basic principle. After all, this is probably why we are interested in theology in the first place.