Primitive Christianity Revived, Again
This quote is most often attributed to Medgar Evers, a civil rights leader who was shot in the back in his own driveway in June of 1963. A variation is “you can kill a protest singer but you can't kill their lyrics.” The point is that what we are witness to is greater than ourselves. The word martyr, martus in biblical Greek, actually means witness. The fact is that early Christians were arrested, imprisoned, tortured and even killed for their testimony. They were killed for witnessing. As such, the term martyr has come to mean just that.
Matthew 10:28
Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
The Gospel is predicated on the fact that the death of Jesus is not the end of the story. The victory that comes after death is essential. The resurrection defeats those who opposed the Gospel message. The idea that humility, generosity and peace will survive boastfulness, greed and war is part and parcel of the resurrection. Only Matthew includes the story of the “slaughter of the innocents” (Matthew 2:16-18) where Herod is threatened by the message of the Magi and, to ensure he retains his throne, orders the killing of all male infants in the vicinity of Bethlehem (commonly understood by historians to number about 20). With this story, Matthew introduces the idea that people believe they can solve problems by killing people. Jesus says a resounding no to such a claim.
Keith, what a beautiful invitation from the Presence itself . . .
So freeing
So fulfilling and encompassing of our very being
So Light-consuming
So truly REAL in the Presence
I have parsed out (below) Keith's words (above) so that I may more deeply contemplate the essence of the message he received and partakes of, himself. For me, this message he offers is the essence of liberal Quaker spirituality as it was first experienced at the very beginning of the Quaker movement before organization and hierarchy and institutionalism took hold. And it is the essence of where liberal Quakerism has been moving in this 21st century where egalitarian spirituality that is open to the inshining Light is being experienced by a number of liberal Quaker meetings (such the meeting I participate in) - meetings where outward prescriptions, traditions, holy books, and notions are not treated as worthy of worshipful reverence.
And I offer Keith's message, in a prose format below:
An Invitation from the ‘Light of the World’
(as provided by Keith Saylor)
Take up habitation in the life itself in itself
and I am discovering to you a new life,
filling your conscious and conscience in all things and circumstances in this world.
Take up your measure of me in you
and live in it without reference or regard for the words and letters of men and women about me.
In me is a coming out of dependency on the outward prescriptions and ideas.
Living in immanent Presence is freedom from the outward constructs that overshadow who I am.
It is in knowing and living the measure of me . . .
within you
that you come into victory over that which destroys the body and soul.
Thanks Howard. I was too tired to give it the attention it deserved. Sometimes it's like reading a legal decision. It's important to know what it says but it requires complete attention and sometimes in my old age that's hard to do.
Thanks you Keith. I'm not criticizing you but would appreciate it if the Spirit would remember us old folks when it speaks to you.
Likewise corporeal humans are not the meme viruses they carry (many of which are beneficial, lets presume). Going after corporeal humans thinking memes live inside physical beings is far less effective than going after the memes, if we think those memes need countering. That's why I think "psychological warfare" to the exclusion of "physiological warfare" (i.e. killing / murdering) is what the Lamb's War is all about. And the main subject to practice on is oneself, what some mean (not all) by Jihad.
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