I ask you: what becomes, of Genesis 1:26? That being where the Almighty said of his ultimate creation: “Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness….”
By the way: the word ‘likeness’ is a noun. According to Webster’s Dictionary, it means: “Resemblance; a copy.” Or, as is the intended case here according to Genesis 1:26: to be “god-like.” As far as that goes, see I Corinthians 11:3. “I would have you know that, the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.”
Again, the Bible says that man himself is godlike. If you doubt this, see what happens when we read that passage without its inherit confusion. “I would have you know that, the head of every woman is man, and the head of every man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God.”
So yes. The Bible is telling us that mankind is a lot like God. I would ask that you keep this in mind for the foreseeable read. Why? Because it’s integral to the grand mystery as it unfolds, is why. For anyone born with a superfluous ‘X’ chromosome, you are more “god-like” than you know. Ah, but you are. (Just you wait and see.)
However, this is where I must take you on a little detour. The reason I do this is important, if only because I need to show you what I mean about the church saying that Jesus is forced into using parables for the sake of our own ignorance, as hard as that might be to comprehend (self-inflicted oxymoron.)
I once; and yes, a long time ago; had a discussion with a pastor during a “Wednesday Night Youth Bible Study Session” about this very subject. Even after all this time, I still remember it like it was yesterday. After he explained to me that Jesus had to do this in order to shield us from our own ignorance, it occurred to me to ask him the following: “If God isn’t hiding something; and because he’s omnipotent; then why can’t he rephrase his parables in way that we can all better understand them?”
He just stared at me. It was one of those incredulous looks regarding the nerve I had allowing me to even question such a thing. After a bit of awkward silence that made me more than uncomfortable (that’s because, at the time, I was too young and naive to even know that I was actually challenging the establishment of religion,) he told me to only come back when I was ready to exercise my faith in God wholeheartedly, and do it by accepting the Bible as the true and complete word of our Lord and Savior. This incident, ladies and gentlemen, marked the last time I ever attended. It also marked, at age sixteen, the start of my journey outside the accepted box of commercial religion. An act of which, absolutely maddened my God-fearing parents. And all it took to set this whole thing into motion was a phone call from you know who, to my you know what’s. For a time there, you would have thought someone in the family had an unblessed sword of religion rammed through their skull. The tension was that palpable. I mean, the shame of it all: especially that shame I brought upon me madre and me padre.
Be that as it may, there is more. To a truth, there is always more when it comes to the Bible and what “they” want you knowing. Or, more importantly, and now for the more prominent part of the equation: would have you believe. See Mark 4:11 where when Jesus is alone with his twelve apostles he finishes his thought, saying, albeit for edification: “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside [referring to those gentiles as Godless heathen that are left to rot in segregated fields via blood money] everything is in parables. [And what are parables but allegories of misdirection and confusion, as I will now once more demonstrate.] 12 So that they [the Godless heathen] may indeed see, but not perceive, and may indeed hear, but not understand. [Why?] Lest they should turn again and be forgiven.”!
If such a thing weren’t bewildering enough, he follows up with his disciples in Mark 4:13, saying: “Do not you understand, this parable? How then, will you understand all the parables?”
As for trying to decipher “all those parables” that are intentionally double wrapped in multiple layers of purple haze, I give you, wait for it: biblical contradiction. See Isaiah 45:19 where his father said of it: “I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the Earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob to seek me out in vain. I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.”
Allow me to ask, if you have figured it out? If so, then know that you’re well on your way to becoming spiritually enlightened. If not, that’s okay too, because that’s why we’re here. Let us, therefore, break it down so as to put everyone on a level playing field. And, we will accomplish this task by letting Soul Trap do what it does best. How? By allowing the Bible (and this is the beautiful part) to speak for itself.
Believe me when I tell you that what you are about to learn next will be to challenge, if not permanently change, everything about God and the Bible you ever thought you knew to be true. Again, this is what Soul Trap excels at. In Mark 4:11 Jesus leans in close, puts his index finger up to his lips, and with a low voice almost feigning a whisper, tells the disciples that he has a special secret for them. Not just any secret, mind you. No. But one engineered from on high specifically for them.
Jesus then goes on to say that this secret of his is so top-secret, that God wrought code upon it in various layers of confusion so as to keep the common riffraff at bay lest they too, come to know of its inherent power. As for the ruling authority who granted such a thing, see Matthew 10:19. This being where Jesus said of it, as wrought for elucidation: “When they deliver you up, take no thought of how or what you will speak: for it will be given you in that same hour what you should say. 20 For it's not you that speaks, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks through you.”
Are you still with me? That’s good because; and as hard as it might be to accept; now comes the really hard part. After saying all that he does, that is, according to his father’s will, Jesus then tells the apostles in Mark 4:13 that they are just as ignorant as everyone else when it comes to the nature of parables. So much so, he was able to hoodwink them without them realizing he did it—just to prove a point! In fact; and for effect; he taunted them by using their own ignorance against them. Ah, but he did. You can always reread those passages so as to double down on the nature of the truth they bear. (As well you should.)
Knowing that he did this, I ask you: can you hear the otherworldly secret calling out to you, that Jesus says he has for his disciples? If you were to listen carefully, and look more closely, you would see it lurking below the conscious reading level, as if reflected off the distorted mirrors of a carnival funhouse in the form of a visually muted noise.
Shhh…
Can you, hear it?
It’s saying that God and or Jesus take your pick, are not who or what they say they are, and that they have teamed up in order to further divide and muddy up what is already a very distorted and convoluted view of religion. Or, that spiritual credo I intend to amalgamate until rendered with a clarity the world has never seen before. See Matthew 13:19, albeit for edification, where Jesus further said of it: “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom [of heaven] through parables [metaphors as wrought from multiple layers of confusion as disseminated from on-high,] and understands them not, then comes the wicked one [devil] to take away the good that was sown in their heart.”
We know religion to be a convoluted beast by its very nature because; and despite there only being one KJV Bible in existence; everyone’s take on it is somewhat different: ergo it’s many variations and versions. While it may be true that we gather up on the same day and time in one church of the same name under the same roof while singing the same songs of praise in a voice of unison, we walk away from the day’s lesson, taking with us, highly personal if not opposing viewpoints. I know. But we do. You are either an “eye for an eye” kind of person, or one who opts for “turning the other cheek.” And yes. This represents but the tip of the iceberg as to why the world sees the diverse number of religions that it does. After all, the Bible is full of tens of thousands of passages, open to millions of interpretable
