YOU ARE MORE THAN WHAT YOU DO

Thoughts on Justification upon reading The Letter of James. 

What is required of you for Salvation (i.e. Enlightenment): Faith or Works?  Which is more important?  

Martin Luther was not wrong and neither was St. Paul.  They were each merely speaking to their intended audience.  Paul was arguing against the worship of Mosaic Law that was rampant in the Jewish community.  He stated that we cannot “earn the favor of God” by certain acts, a behavior that was commonplace at the time just as future wealthy Medieval Christians would eventually pay for ablutions.  The statement in the Letter of James that “Faith without Works is Dead” has been debated over the years and Martin Luther was opposed to this idea to the point where he referred to The Letter of James as “an epistle of Straw.” 

Know this:  There is no favor to be earned of God.  You are the master of your body on this earth.  What you do with it is of no consequence to God.  Your body is nothing.  It is not real.   Pain is an attribute of the body and suffering is an attribute of the ego – the level of that suffering depends on the level of faith in and association with the body.  The same is true of the physical world.  God has no agenda for you in the world.  This is something of your own creation.  God is not fearful for you anymore than you should be fearful for you.  God misses you and wishes for you to bridge the gap you have created – to reject the separation you embrace.  You are His prodigal son.  He cheerfully awaits your return and is intent on lavishing His Kingdom upon you. 

Jesus Christ sought to teach you compassion.  This is the lesson of Christ’s death and resurrection.  Being alive as you are alive Jesus saw needless suffering in the world resulting from separation from His Father, who is Your Father, who art in heaven, the kingdom which is within you.  Christ healed others because he felt compassion for their suffering.  But he only healed those who came to Him and asked to be healed (except for Lazarus and the child of the Centurion who could not ask for themselves).  It was Faith that healed them, through the Holy Spirit, which is within you, who bridges the gap between God and his children, the Sons of God.  This state of Oneness, this connection to God via the Holy Spirit, also known as The Atonement, is the realm of miracles.

Faith without works is not dead – but works are the visible manifestation of faith in the world.  Your works reveal God to all those blinded by attachment to the ego – including yourself.  So do as Jesus told Simon Peter to do and “Feed my lambs.”