DICTIONARY & ANECDOTES
BAD CHECKS: I've been
writing bad checks to God. There's nothing in my account. And what do
you know, in my time of need, not a single one bounced. I signed the name
of Jesus Christ, who paid all of my debts. Thank you Lord for saving me,
for he saves everyone who repents.
BAPTISM: Baptism is a cleansing ceremony performed
as a result of being forgiven for ones sins. In this ceremony, a person
is usually sprinkled or dipped in water. Water used in baptism is only
symbolic of the living water of God and the real baptism which is by the
Holy Spirit. Living water is a metaphor for spiritual life. Living water
is the ever flowing life which flows from the throne of God. Just as regular
water washes the dirt from ones body to make it clean, living water washes
ones spirit making ones spirit clean. Spiritual life is also often associated
with the cleanliness of one's blood. Blood, is after all, mostly water.
One is not truly baptized, and thus saved, unless one has accepted Christ
as paying the ransom for ones sins, this allows one to be truly cleansed
with living water and filled with the Holy Spirit of God.
What is alive that is not made mostly of water? Without water a person
will die of thirst. There is salvation available for ones freeze dried,
dehydrated soul- just add living water. Living water is for thirsty souls,
and if water will not satisfy ones thirst, what will? All one has to do
to receive the ever overflowing ladle of living water is to ask God for
it with a truly repenting heart. Living water is pure and ever quenching.
After all, how can water be watered down? If one accepts the living water
which is Christ, one will never thirst. The concept of baptism is similar
to a lost and dirty sheep finding its true shepherd, who then cleanses
that sheep, and guides that sheep into his flock.
BATTERY OF ETERNAL BLISS: The spiritual aspirant
asks, "Teacher, you have said that contentment is already within
me. How then is it I do not feel it inside myself?." The teacher
responds, "Truly, the contentment of God is indeed already inside
of you. It is like a battery of never-ending charge. However, if you have
corroded the terminals to this battery in your sinful ways and evil desires,
then surely you will only get a small charge or perhaps no charge at all.
What then? Do you say there is no battery? Do you say the battery is no
good and throw it away? Of course not. To find this eternal power clean
your terminals so that the connection is made clean and true."
Such it is with God. Through the Process of Illumination, one may "clean"
ones spiritual "terminals" and make a connection with God which
is already waiting there.
BEAUTY, WHAT IS? Physical beauty is largely something
learned, often from the media telling one what is, and is not, beautiful.
However, true beauty is goodness and the truly beautiful are those who
do good. The love of the flesh is the love of the Devil. The biggest error
of ignorant people is their failure to separate the spirit from the flesh.
Beauty comes from within oneself and the designation "beautiful"
is hopefully given by others who find this beauty. A new bottle of wine
could be elaborately decorated and made of the finest glass with the finest
cork and label, and yet still be filled with vinegar. Another bottle,
may be old and dusty, with its label torn and yellow, but would be cherished
by all who enjoyed the wonderful wine it contained. It is what is inside
that counts. It is inside were true beauty may be found. When one develops
a relationship with God one may find that God is the only beauty in ones
life. Even the flesh cannot disguise the beauty of God which lies within.
BEGGAR'S LESSON, THE: A rich man sent his servant
to the marketplace and there the servant came upon a beggar. The beggar
fell to his knees and cried out, "Please sir, might you spare some
of your master's money so that I might get a bite to eat?" The servant
of the rich man replied "What have you done for my master that you
should be given some of my master's money? Is there no good that you can
do in the world that you must grovel at my feet and beg?" The servant
walked away giving the beggar nothing, for the servant had nothing of
his own to give. The beggar followed the servant to the rich man's home
and began working in his master's fields for free. He weeded the rich
man's fields. He planted the rich man's seed. He watered and pruned the
rich man's vines. He gathered the rich man's grapes at harvest time. He
pressed the rich man's grapes into wine. When the rich man heard of the
things the beggar had done, he sent his servant to fetch the beggar. "What
shall I do with the beggar?" the servant asked. The rich man replied,
"He is no longer a beggar, he is my son. Bring him into my home,
he shall feast with me."
BEHAVIOR, WHAT IS? Behavior is when one acts on
ones beliefs against ones environment using force. Behavior and movement
are intimately related as there is no behavior without a corresponding
and direct result on movement. Behavior affects the speed and direction
of objects in ones environment, either speeding something up, or slowing
something down. From the perspective of belief, behavior is an attempt
at changing ones environment by acting on a belief to achieve the goal
the belief demands. All behavior, no matter how small, no matter how wrong
or misguided, is done in an attempt to find peace, contentment, and thus
ultimately, God. Do you know how important this is? This applies not only
to the individual, but to any group, government, nation, and the world
as a whole. This means that if you find God you have what everyone wants,
namely: peace, joy, and contentment! Look around, and in observing the
behavior of others alone one can see how many people do not know God.
They might not even know that God is what they are really looking for.
The ignorant prostitute themselves to delusionary "gods", such
as pleasure and wealth, and are never satisfied. They do not know where
the peace they seek can be found, inside themselves. Observe how much
behavior, and thus movement in this world, is in vain. Vain behavior is
a symptom of aberrant beliefs.
Monitor ones behavior. "Be still and know that I am God."-Psalm
46:10 Make sure one is behaving in accordance with God's will, for eternal
gain, and not behaving in vain for temporary gain. As Jesus said, "Labour
not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto
everlasting life..."-John 6:27.
BELIEFS VS. KNOWLEDGE: Knowledge is the sum of ones
sensory receptions and observations stored in ones memory. Beliefs are
groupings of ones knowledge which are the result of decisions one has
made based on ones observations. A belief is an association wherein one
piece of knowledge is equated with another. A belief is like a computer
program run again and again instead of making a new decision based on
ones knowledge. What one knows and what one believes may be two different
things. One acts on ones beliefs, not on ones knowledge. For example,
everyone knows smoking is bad, and yet many people still smoke. They know
smoking is bad, but they must somehow believe that the "benefits"
outweigh the dangers or they wouldn't smoke. One may also have beliefs
in things one has little or no knowledge about. A belief in something
that cannot be proved for sure at the present time is called a faith belief.
The knowledge in ones memory is connected by associations one has made
through ones observations. Ones beliefs control ones observations and
ones observations control ones beliefs. If one had a map of ones knowledge,
the roads on the map would be similar to ones beliefs. We take the roads
to the places we go and the places we go make the roads.
Many people have accepted conclusions without understanding or even knowing
the premises which infer such conclusions. For example, many people know
E=MC˛, but not many people know why E=MC˛ or what it really means. Many
people just trust Einstein.
Ones beliefs are more important than ones knowledge because ones beliefs
are what one is going to do with ones knowledge. One operates according
to ones beliefs, not according to ones knowledge. One may know full well
how to do all kinds of things that would improve oneself, but one may
not do any of them. If knowledge is power, than lack of knowledge is lack
of power. However, since one has the knowledge required, it is simply
the lack of confidence that keep one from the joy and contentment one
seeks. In other words, belief in truth is power, and failure to believe
in truth is lack of power.
