Category: Relationships

Plan of Salvation

Here is a very brief summary what I have learned on this subject. I can back all of this up from the D&C, the temple endowment, the Bible, and church history.

Some of this stuff might sound new to you because it is not taught in Sunday School. But it is a lot simpler and much more fair that than is being taught. The main difference is it is not calculated to install fear, but freedom and personal responsibility.

The reason for this is it comes from the revelations of God, not the teachings of an institution who is only interested in self-preservation and maintaining control over its members.

When Christ established his church, he said the gates of hell would not prevail against it. The gates of hell are meant to keep people IN, not keep people OUT.

Terrestial are the honorable people who were deceived by the craftiness of men.

Telestial are those crafty men who lie in wait to deceive.

Celestial are the people who are honorable who neither deceive, nor are deceived.

It is important to remember that not all the judgments of God are revealed. Also, God wills that all mankind will be saved. Also, Christ saves all the work of the Father’s hands. Also, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ.

The vast majority of Mormons is not good enough for the Celestial Kingdom, and nowhere near bad enough for outer darkness. Read D&C 76, 130, 131.

The bracketed comment in 131:2 was not revealed through Joseph Smith, but was added later by Orson Pratt, under the direction of Brigham Young, in order to support plural marriage.

Even outer darkness is not a final state, but the folks there will have to wait billions of years for another chance.

There are kingdoms above the Celestial Kingdom.

The Telestial Kingdom is hell. It is also the world in which we live. This is a kingdom composed of people of many degrees of glory, as the stars differ in glory. You will run across Celestial, Telestial, and Terrestrial people here. The deceivers, the deceived, and those who are not deceived.

The reason why we have so many different churches and philosophies here is because God is trying to reach out to everyone and speak to them in terms of their own time, culture, language, and understanding.

We progress from kingdom to kingdom as we progress and obey the laws pertaining to that kingdom. Otherwise, we keep returning to the same kingdom until we learn and obey those laws and show that we are ready to move on.

The words damnation, condemnation, and judgment all refer to the state where we are “dammed in our progress”. We are stuck in one place, where we “suffer the wrath of God”, which really means we stay here and face the trials and lessons of mortality until we learn all the lessons we are supposed to learn and prove ourselves ready to move on.

“Eternal punishment” does not refer to the length of the punishment, but to the quality and intensity of the punishment.

By the same token “eternal life” means the kind of life that God lives. We can obtain and enjoy eternal life, even in this life. We not only can, but we must.

“… and you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead…”

We can also volunteer to remain behind and help other struggling souls climb higher. This is why the sacrifice of Christ was so important and significant. Christ said “come follow me”. It is important to understand the full import of what that means, and always be ready to follow Christ, wherever he leads us, or asks us to go.

We are constantly taught, take a covenant at baptism, and renew that covenant every week to take upon ourselves the “name of Christ”. This principle is demonstrated quite literally and visually in the temple. The name of Christ means something and is not just a euphemism.

I don’t believe in being confined to a static destination for all eternity, no matter what that destination is. THAT is the definition of damnation. I expect to keep growing, learning, and progressing, as in the words of the hymn:

The works of God continue,
And worlds and lives abound;
Improvement and progression
Have one eternal round.

So, keeping an eternal perspective i’m focused on the HERE AND NOW, and making the most out of this life, and assisting others to do the same. There is no reason why we can’t create heaven on earth. It will come when we are ready for it.

As the Lord said through the prophet of the Community of Christ:

“Zionic conditions are no further away nor any closer than the spiritual condition of my people justifies.” [D&C 140:5c – Israel A. Smith – April 7, 1947]

Zion is just the start. After Enoch built

Don’t be waiting for God. It’s up to us.

Mysteries

This is the whole crux of the church’s incorrect doctrine enshrined in “The Proclamation on the Family”. It is that in the Celestial Kingdom, exalted males and females produce spirit offspring, and thereby bring new beings into existence.

Joseph Smith NEVER taught this doctrine. He taught that man was in the beginning with God and is co-eternal with God. The idea of producing “spirit children” originated with Brigham Young and Orson Pratt in order to promote and legitimize polygamy, and is false.

Joseph Smith, in one of his final speeches on the resurrection, said that the saints should be constantly be seeking to find out the mysteries. This is in stark contrast to those who would tell us to avoid the mysteries and, thus, remain in darkness.

Here are a few mysteries from the D&C that bear looking into. It is said that the best place to hide a mystery is to put it out in plain sight. These “mysteries” are all out in plain sight in the D&C, for anyone to read.

It may be that when these mysteries are finally “revealed” (and I am providing an “out” for the church), they may well prove that same-sex marriages are not only welcome, but necessary, for the fulfillment of God’s plan, which is the eternal joy, happiness, and progression of ALL of his children.

1. We are told that God has not revealed all his judgments.
2. We are not told the purpose of the lower two degrees of the Celestial Kingdom.
3. There are kingdoms of a higher order than the Celestial Kingdom.
4. Polygamy is not the only new doctrine taught in D&C 132.

These principles are all found in the D&C. Go look for them, and when you find them, go ask the church leaders to explain them to you, if they can.

I must know a couple of dozen people who left the Church, but without the drama, the soul-searching, the gut-wrenching, the torchlight vigils, the parades through the park, whining to the press.

However, did they do it? Answer: they just did it. They followed the best that they knew and just did it.

I did it so I could have the type of relationship I yearned for and believed I could have. I walked through that door and found that the Lord was on the other side of the door waiting for me.

My son did it because he sincerely believes that no other success can compensate for failure in the home. Here’s one parent who put his kids above the church.

I know another man who left because of freedom of conscience and because he felt he had a calling to teach the truth.

I know another man who was being groomed for high positions in the church because of his family connections, but he just didn’t believe it, and had to beg and plead to be excommunicated. He left it all behind.

Why is it so hard for some some people to just leave it all behind. If you really think you are now on the right course, then don’t look back? No man, having put his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom.

Or, on the other hand, do you really know what you want? You just know what you DON’T want? Blind, indecisive, and regretful. That’s no way to go through life.

Too Much Tolerance?

There are many virtues that at times seem contradictory to each other, but in fact, enhance and define one another. What we need to do is to BALANCE one virtue with another virtual, instead of balancing one virtue with its opposite. For example: Justice vs Mercy, Love vs Wisdom, Freedom vs Discipline.

Balance Tolerance with what? IN-tolerance? Would a self-proclaimed “apostle of Jesus Christ”, actually advocate intolerance? This seems to be the message we take away from Boyd K Packer’s recent rantings (http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56116400-78/church-women-lds-mormon.html.csp) given both the context of his previous talks and writings and in the vagueness of his current pronouncements.

We should balance tolerance with discernment and judgment, but not with intolerance.

With apologies to FDR, the only thing worthy of intolerance is intolerance, itself.

Legalized Immorality

Recently, Boyd K Packer, president of the Quorum of the Twelve, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints, in a Conference talk April 2013, warned of the “tolerance trap”. Tolerance is a virtue, but like all virtues, we must not carry it to extremes. I believe this is a fair and correct paraphrase of his remarks. Then he went on to imply that in the context of the pending U.S. Supreme Court’s pending ruling on marriage equality, too much tolerance leads to “serious spiritual consequences” and amounts to “legalizing immorality”

Let’s take a deeper look at whether marriage between two partners of the same gender or sex equals “legalized immorality”. And let’s use the words and doctrines of the LDS Church to do this.

Spoiler alert:

I am going to quote something to you from the LDS Temple Endowment. If this offends you, stop reading now.

However, these are words from a covenant which many of us have taken and are expected to covenant to live by. This is not any big secret, nor should it be. If you have not received your endowments, you have a right to know the nature of the covenants and obligations you will take upon yourself.
The church publicly teaches the Law of Chastity, and most of us understand what this entails. We are also told by church authorities that legalizing same-sex marriage is tantamount to “legalizing immorality”, because it violates the Law of Chastity. However, the true Law of Chastity is taught and explained in the temple endowment, and the specific wording of that Law is what we covenant to obey “before God, angels, and witnesses”.

So, is legalizing same-sex marriage, and thus making it possible for a man or a woman to be faithful to their “legally and lawfully wedded husband (wife)”, in reality legalizing immorality or, in fact, providing a way for people to obey this Law? Let’s examine the wording of the Endowment Ceremony:

Pre 1990
We are instructed to give unto you the law of chastity. This I will explain. To the sisters, it is that no one of you will have sexual intercourse except with your husband to whom you are legally and lawfully wedded. To the brethren it is that no one of you will have sexual intercourse except with your wife to whom you are legally and lawfully wedded.

Post 1990
Footnote: The 1990 revision does not have women and men covenant separately to keep the law of chastity. Instead, women and men simultaneously covenant to have no sexual relations except with their “husband or wife” to whom they are legally and lawfully wedded. This revision was no doubt made to streamline the ceremony. However, the new wording has the presumably unintended consequence of bringing same-sex marriages–if legalized–within the pale of the law of chastity.

Source: http://www.ldsendowment.org/terrestrial.html

Therefore, a person could be legally and lawfully married to a person of the opposite gender, under the laws of New York, Washington, California, or any other jurisdiction that recognizes marriage equality, and live a monogamous and chaste lifestyle with his or her companion, and according to church doctrine, NOT be living in legalized immortality, Boyd K Packer’s absurd rantings notwithstanding.

And what about those who are in such marriages, but were previously prevented from doing so, and were forced out of necessity to live an immoral lifestyle?

For them, there is the principle of repentance. A person can recognize that he has sinned, make restitution, and promise to himself and God, not to repeat the offense. Or, in other words, stop being promiscuous, find a worthy companion, settle down, getting married and be monogamous.

There is also the principle that God has applied to His people in the past, where He commanded His people to do a thing, but were prevented by the legal authorities from doing so. Moses wanted to take the children of Israel out into the wilderness to offer sacrifice and serve God, but the pharaoh of Egypt would not prevent it. A little closer to the modern day was when the Mormons believed that God commanded them to practice polygamy, which they believed was a requirement for entering the highest degree of heaven, but were prevented from doing so by the U.S. government. Now, whether you believe in the story of Moses or that polygamy was divinely inspired, members of the LDS church, and most importantly, its leaders do.

These leaders should be versed enough in the Bible and in their own history and fair-minded enough to recognize the same principle here. But in this particular case, we have uninspired church leaders siding with the extremists in our government to prevent people from fulfilling his commandments.

D&C 121:16 Cursed are all those that shall lift up the heel against mine anointed, saith the Lord, and cry they have sinned when they have not sinned before me, saith the Lord, but have done that which was meet in mine eyes, and which I commanded them.

The Book of Mormon repeatedly references a people having “ripened in iniquity”, but what are the signs that a nation, a people, or a church has “ripened in iniquity”.

We hear these terms a lot in the Book of Mormon, but how do we know what a people or a church is “ripe for destruction”?

What has to happen before the Lord allows destructive forces to come in and effect a long-overdue cleaning?

Samuel the Lamanite has the answer in Helaman 13:14:

“But behold, it is for the righteous’ sake that it is spared.  But behold, the time cometh, saith the Lord, that when ye shall cast out the righteous from among you, then shall ye be ripe for destruction; yea, wo be unto this great city, because of the wickedness and abominations which are in her.”

This defines the point at which a city, a nation, or a church is ripe for destruction — when they cast out the righteous from among them. Could we say that the LDS Church has reached this point where they cast out the righteous from among them – good and faithful members whose only sin is thinking for themselves and questioning the established authorities?

New major writing available

The Foundation of Zion Volume 2

I haven’t been active with this blog because I have been busy for months getting this ready for publication. This is the result. This document gathers together in one place all that I am about. If you don’t read anything else on this website, you should download and read this.

Desire for God

“There is a human desire for God; but there is also a Divine desire for man. God is the supreme idea, the supreme concern and the supreme desire of man. Man is the supreme idea, the supreme concern and the supreme desire of God. The problem of God is a human problem. The problem of man is a Divine problem… Man is the counterpart of God and His beloved from whom He expects the return of love. Man is the other person of the Divine mystery. God needs man. It is God’s will not only that He should Himself exist, but man also, the Lover and beloved.”

– Wrestlers with Christ, by Karl Pfleger, p. 236.

Gathering Chicks

There a lot of parables about gathering that Christ could have used when he stated: “Israel, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings but you would not.” (Matt.  23:37)

He could have spoken of gathering a flock of sheep, or gathering an army as Caesar would have done, or gathering stones as Solomon stated, or gathering the wheat from the tares, as he also spoke of.

But why chickens?

My house mate is an old farm boy and he explained to me that this parable was given in terms people familiar with raising chickens would have understood. When does a hen gather her chickens? When danger is near. Why does she gather them? For safety and protection to ensure their survival, such as when a hawk is circling overhead, or a fox is at the hen house door.

Do the chickens stay gathered under their mother’s wing? No. It is important for the chicks to go about their business of finding food and doing other things that chickens do. If they constantly stayed under their mother’s wing, they would not be free to develop in other ways in which they need to develop. Once the chicks are fully developed many of them will grow up to be hens just like their mother, with chicks of their own to protect. Others will grow up to be roosters, who just go around crowing a lot. But that’s another story.

In what other ways would Christ be like a mother hen to her chicks if only Israel (us) would allow him? The mother hen not only protects her brood, but she loves them and teaches them. The chicks stay near mother, but they are not constantly under her wing.

Christ says “How often would I have gathered your children”. There were many opportunities to gather, not just one. Christ wanted to be their teacher, their protector, and to nurture them as a mother would, but they would not.

Christ is not about to force us to gather unto him. It must be an act of our own free will. It must happen with our full knowledge and agreement and without force or fear. Some political and religious philosophies believe that the end justifies the means. With true followers of Christ, the means is just as important as the end. He said: “I am the WAY.” and “No one comes unto the Father except BY me.”

If we are indeed gathered in the Name of the Lord, He will truly be in our midst. Even now. Even today. Not to discount the evils taking place in the world today, but this is an unconditional promise, and even before the actual appearance of the Christ, we will witness the arising of the Christ Consciousness, and the overshadowing of many disciples.

Collectively, the disciples pray that the door where evil dwells may be sealed. Perhaps they do not realize that they have a hand in accomplishing this. As this Great Invocation states: “From the kingdom known as the race of men, let the Plan of Love and Light work out. And may it seal the door where evil dwells.” That’s us. That’s our part of the plan to work out. And it starts out with letting the Plan work out in our own lives, and sealing our own door where evil dwells.

Moses attempted to gather Israel unto Christ, and he received the following promise:

“For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.” Deut 23:14

However, after the people built the golden calf, Moses was instructed to move the tabernacle OUTSIDE of the camp, so that any time Moses needed to commune with God he was forced to leave the congregation of Israel, and go outside of the camp, and attend to his duties in the tabernacle. Every day the children of Israel watched Moses leave them because the Spirit of God could not abide in the midst of their wickedness.

Christ was still available to all, but he was outside the gathering because of the unrighteousness within.

Simply being a member of a group which professes to honor the name of Christ but does not honer the name of Christ in deed will not be privileged, as a group, to enjoy the benefit of being gathered into his Presence which they might otherwise have enjoyed, and those seeking Him will still find him, according to his promise, even if they must seek Him without the camp.

“For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.

“Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.

“Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.”

Hebrews 13:11-13

Every church that God has ever suffered to exist has had one true purpose in mind, in the mind of God at least, and that was to provide a place for the gathering of the true followers of Christ. Whenever we consider gathering or joining in to Church, we should ask ourselves whether the Christ is there. And as we are reminded in Hebrews, Christ will not always be in the biggest or most popular organization, or what is considered the “camp”. Look for Christ where he is; do not look for him where he is not. Don’t be afraid to look for Him “without the camp”.

Question for contemplation: Why does a chicken coop only have two doors? If it had four, it would be a chicken sedan.

Relationships and Doughnuts

How many of you have seen the statue of Joseph and Emma outside the Visitor’s Center at the LA Temple? How many have seen the statue in the LDS Church Museum in Salt Lake City, of Joseph and Oliver being ordained by Peter, James, and John?

Go see either statue next time you get the chance. Try to notice the looks that pass between “Joseph” and “Emma” in Los Angeles and “Joseph” and “John” in Salt Lake City. Then try to imagine one figure without the other. You can’t.

In both statues the sculptor has shown a special chemistry passing between the two figures. The chemistry is not present with either figure standing alone, but can only been seen when both figures are present.

Another word for this “chemistry” is “relationship”. The essence of this relationship is not something inherent in either figure but is a certain something which passes between them. Therefore, to fully appreciate the full statue, you must not only look at each figure, but also at the air between them. In other words, sometimes we are so busy looking at the doughnut that we forget about the hole, which in reality, is what makes an ordinary bun into a doughnut.

So it is with us as people. When two or more persons are joined together in any kind of relationship (loving relationship, priesthood quorum, Church membership, teacher/student, or business partner), a third entity is created; and that entity is called a relationship.

If you stop and think about it, the Gospel of the Kingdom is really concerned with establishing relationships. We are taught that the “fullness of the Gospel” in contained in the ordinances, which embrace and further the “new and everlasting covenant”. What is a covenant if it is not an agreement or form of relationship between two or more people? For example, there is the “new and everlasting covenant of marriage” mentioned in D&C 132, and the covenant entered into by members of the School of the Prophets (D&C 88:133).

If seen in its proper perspective, the Gospel is nothing more than a system designed to develop and further eternal relationships: between man and God, between man and man, and between gods. This is something we need to teach in this Church. Think about this: the Godhead is composed of three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. If we understand the Gospel correctly, we should not only worship the three Beings and become like Them, but we should also worship the relationship that they have between them and seek to become one with one another even as They are One.

The Holy Relationship

Back in the fall of 1985 I cofounded a group of like-minded individuals who gathered for the purpose of studying religion and worshipping God. We brought our questions to God and fully believed and expected we would receive answers. We did. We were directed to organize our­selves after a certain manner and were given specific duties. One of my duties was to continue to receive revelation from God for the spiritual direction of the organization, to receive specific instructions for individuals who requested it, and to teach others in the group to receive this direction for themselves.

A common recurring question was how the Lord felt about sexual relationships, so I put out this question and waited for an answer. Several weeks later while eating dinner the Voice started speaking to me, and I rushed to find a typewriter and some blank paper. I received a vision, a revelation, and a calling.

The vision showed me the world as a maze with each of us trying to find the way out. The maze was laden with traps, pitfalls, false turns, and false answers. However, the Holy Spirit was there to guide us through. Sometimes we listened and sometimes we did not listen. However, I was impressed with the fact that the only sure way out was to constantly follow the Holy Spirit.

The revelation went far beyond a discussion of sexual relationships. It taught me about human relationships in general. It said that our physical relationships were a mere shadow of the spiritual relationships which we could enjoy now and in the world to come. It taught me that every human relationship ought to take in the Holy Spirit as a third partner. It also taught me about the importance of all relationships – not just sexual relationships. Subsequent revelations taught me more about how holy relationships could change the world, the role of the Holy Spirit in transforming these relationships, and more about the nature of the Holy Spirit itself.

The calling was a charge to teach the others in the group what I had learned about relationships.

At this time, I never heard of A Course in Miracles. I was living in Los Angeles and about a week after the above events, I went up to Salt Lake City for a visit. While there I went to a business establishment I had never been before, met somebody I had not known before, was invited to his home, and there on the coffee table a found a copy of A Course in Miracles. Curious, I picked up the book and began to thumb through it. It claimed to be a book of sacred writing, dictated by the voice of Jesus, Himself. I didn’t have any problem with that, since I was also receiving direction and writing it down.

For those not familiar with the book called A Course in Miracles, it is a book that was dictated (“revealed” in Mormonspeak, “channeled” in New Age-speak) in the 70’s to a Jewish woman in New York City, who was a clinical psychologist with a PhD., and an avowed atheist. Nevertheless, the speaker in the book claims to be Jesus, and he describes the way to return to God and how to forgive our brothers and sisters. I find the language of this book to be most beautiful. This article shows how the some messages in this book confirmed revelations about human relationships, then I had previously received.

As I read in the introduction “only minds can join”, and “whom God has joined no man can put asunder”, and “it is only on the level of the Christ mind that true union is possible”, I was thrilled. This was essentially the same information I was receiving. I immediately recognized it as the truth. I realized that truth is truth and though it flows through different channels, it always comes from the same source. I read more of the book and found that I couldn’t put it down. Back in California, I bought my own copy and spent the next several years studying it.

All these experiences changed my life. I had been running around living quite the wild life, but the knowledge I received convinced me to stop doing this and to settle down. I postulated the goal of having a holy relationship. I can’t say I searched for it, because it found me. A year later I found someone whom I have been with in such a relationship for 10 years.

As I continued with our group for several more years, we began to discover that we had different goals and purposes, and so decided to part company. However, I have never lost the feeling that I had a spiritual calling from God. I have been searching for direction on how to fulfill it. So in the following essay, I would like to teach what God has shown me about relationships, and what I have learned from my own experiences, using the words and conceptual framework of ACIM.

First off, I learned from the Course that what happened to me is in no way special. This knowledge is available to all, and we all have a calling to improve our lives and the world around us. In fact, we are told in the Course to bring our relationships to the Holy Spirit, who will transform them into holy relationships.

The most fundamental thing the Course teaches is that we have to set aside our old experiences, prejudices and consider ourselves fools before God. The goal of the Course is to lead us to new experiences. Sometimes we have to be brought to a crisis in our lives which actually forces us to search for a better way. Wouldn’t it be much better if we just decided that we were going to be teachable? “Those who remember always that they know nothing, and who have become willing to learn everything, will learn it”.

Once we are humbled enough to learn, we learn that there are two types of relationships: special relationships and holy relationships. Special relationships are based on separation, loneliness, mutual weakness, and scarcity. They want to keep the relationship to themselves and shut the world out. They say is effect “I am half a person and I won’t be whole until I find that special person who will make me whole.” This whining sounds like the lyrics to a popular song. Special relationships take place only on the physical level. They are concerned with bodies, with all the attendant issues of sex, gender, and sexuality. The course teaches that a special relationship is not a relationship at all, nor is there any need for such a relationship.

A holy relationship is based on love, mutual strength, mutual wholeness, and abundance. Each partner has looked within and realized that they are whole and complete, and thus enabled they are in a position to grant beingness to their brother on the same basis. Those who share in a holy relationship see no differences and no separation. This relationship takes place on the spiritual level, for only minds, not bodies, can join. This relationship would extend itself to all the world.

In a holy relationship there is total love, total agreement, and total communication. Salvation is communication. The willingness to communicate encourages more communication which encourages greater agreement, greater love, and greater inclusion, and greater completion. God’s only need is to have us be complete. And it is within the holy relationship that we experience this completion.

A relationship is like a miracle. A holy relationship IS a miracle, and like miracles, there is no order in relationships. They either are or they are not. Women like to tell Dr. Laura on the radio that a bad relationship is better than no relationship at all. Dr. Laura and the Author of the Course would be ask “What relationship?” The course says “An unholy relationship is no relationship”.

The greatest thing that can be taught about holy relationships is that you take your special relationship and give it over to God and listen to the Holy Spirit who will “teach you the only meaning of relationships. For God created the only relationship that has meaning, and that is His relationship with you.”

The holy relationship is the host holy function we can enter into in this world. The Sonship must be reunited, and this happens two people at a time. “The holy relationship is the expression of the holy instant in living in this world.” The course calls the Holy Spirit “the Redeemer of relationships.” The holy relationship is the key to peace. If we really want peace, we must join with other minds, for that is how peace is obtained. Your holy brother is holding out a gift to you, and you to him. The gift he offers is himself, unconditionally. The gift you offer is yourself, unconditionally. This is the purpose of holy relationships.

Unlike a special relationship which is exclusive, a holy relationship is inclusive.  Does this mean that we can have more than one holy relationship? I believe the Course teaches that the answer is “yes”.  Every form of human relationship could and should be holy.

How to we create a holy relationship? The answer is so simple most people will scoff and not even try it. The answer is to give the relationship over to the Holy Spirit who will transform the relationship and teach you what to do. So all it takes is a willingness to try a different way. To choose again. Beyond that, you need do nothing.

A holy relationship is a foretaste of the relationship we should have with god.

“Two minds with one intent become so strong that what they will becomes the Will of God. For minds can only join in truth.”

“The light that joins you and your brother shines throughout the universe, and because it joins you and him, so it makes you and him one with your Creator. And in Him is all creation joined.”

A holy relationship will make you holy, or to put it another way, you will not remain unholy. It will change you. How can joining with the mind of another not change you? How can being constantly taught by the Holy Spirit not change you? How can entering into the kind of relationship enjoyed by God not change you?

In all this discussion we have only paid attention to the mind. Only minds can really join, and so the body is irrelevant. Minds don’t need bodies to communicate with other minds. To be clear, communication takes place on many levels: bodies communicating with other bodies in the physical realm; hearts communicating with other hearts in the emotional realm; and spirit-to-spirit communication. But, here we are talking about minds joining minds in the mental realm.

In Sunday School I learned that my body is a temple for the Holy Spirit. The Course teaches that the temple of the Holy Spirit is not a body, but a relationship. Ancient Judaism taught that the Holy Spirit was a female figure and that it was her duty and particular delight to hover near and bless those who had invited Her presence into their marriage. It is said that over the Ark of the Covenant are two golden cherubim, locked in erotic embrace and between them dwells the Holy Spirit.

The holy relationship reaches beyond this world and into eternity because it has a timeless quality about it. Herein lies no separate will, nor the desire that anything be separate. They are one, even as Christ and the Father are one. Christ comes to what is like Himself, and what is more like Christ than a holy relationship? This is the closest we can come to heaven here on earth.

Can you imagine two hearts beating as one, two minds working in unison, communicating without the need for bodies, standing in the holy place, together lifting the veil that hides the face of Christ from them? Then will you not share the vision of Christ, the mind of Christ, and the love of Christ, and will you not share His desire that this relation extend out to all?

Is this pie in the sky? Why wait when the Course says we can have this now. “Those who seek the light are merely covering their eyes. The light is in them now. Enlightenment is but a recognition, not a change at all.” Earnest Holmes stated that the light your are searching for is the light you are searching with.

What do we have to do to achieve heaven on earth? Well, first you have to sacrifice all your earthly possessions and go live on a mountaintop. You have to crawl around on your hands and knees for 7 years observing a strict vow of silence save it be the ceaseless repetition of the 9 billion names of God. Then if you are lucky you might make it. NOT!! Well, actually, some have claimed to have done it that way, and who are we to judge? But the Course says its purpose is to save us time, so lets save some time, get off that mountain, and come down to reality.

First it has to start with us as individuals. We need to become complete, whole, and holy and know that we have no lack. This is more of a realization than a task. But we have to become whole with the Christ in us, or we are not truly whole. The Course says all we need is that “little willingness”.

Then we need to transform our relationships with the help of the Holy Spirit. We both need to be whole, complete people, who have invited the Holy Spirit into the relationship as a third partner, helping one another along road to holiness.