Waiting for Jesus
Upon waiting 2000 years for Apostle Paul’s promise of Jesus’ impending return, it is time to consider other possibilities.
Are We Supposed To Be Waiting for Jesus?
by Arthur Telling
The problem for all religions and disciplines is not obtaining eternal life, but rather of accepting and coming to terms with the notion of living in eternity. We’ve been given the tools; we must learn to use them.
A Promise that Never Came
The Apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Thessalonians: Jesus will return he assured them, it is taking longer than believed because more Pagans need to hear the Word and be saved. The year was about 50 AD. Jesus will come. But Jesus didn’t come, and none in that generation witnessed the promised second coming. And Paul’s churches — in today’s Turkey and Syria – were eventually overrun and conquered by 7h century Muslim invaders. But Paul’s promise still gives hope to Christians today two-thousand years later.
It is time that the Church take a second look at this longstanding promise that has yet to arrive.
Everything’s been tried, but no one has succeeded. From the “new age” until now, and from earlier times of enlightenment and human advancement, Western man has sought to know and understand the mechanics behind life and death and our reason and purpose for being alive. And, despite considerable evidence of activity happening in parallel realities glimpsed in dreams, intuition, and inner forms of communication, we continue to be born and die having none to little knowledge of what we will become, or where we’ll go, or even whether we’ll still exist. It should not be the case.
Eternal Life an Elusive Dream
Those willing to skirt the outside boundaries of acceptable conventional knowledge find a wealth of information answering some of the difficult and mystifying questions. It usually involves communication with beings who reside outside of our physical reality of whom better see the makeup of our world, which seems so solid and real to us. Ample books are there in the metaphysical section of bookstores, also found in Eastern religions, mysticism, new-age spiritualism and developing sciences like biocentrism. But these areas are considered taboo by the majority establishment and working class. In our centers of education, the old Church doctrine continues to prevail, as both accepted and rejected discourse. Atheism, as the West defines, is a mere rejection of salvation through the Lord Jesus and answers no questions. A dogmatic approach, whether the Church or an Atheist reaction, brings just temporal relief, offering pleasant-sounding abstractions or distractions without substance.
Those brave enough to defy the dire warnings of the two-thousand-year-old Church find a wide variety of information on the subject of life and death. An explosion of such information poured into the 1960’s Vietnam War-era societal counterculture, and it must have then seemed that a resolution would be coming. Still, pop-culture events and media like the film “Jesus Christ Superstar” and the many popular songs emerging with countercultural spiritual themes were perhaps more intense and emotive, giving hints as to man’s eternal nature. Peace was right, war wrong, and reincarnation guaranteed us an unending present and continued past — still, no resolution. Wars continue, and we die without knowing what will happen or where we’ll be.
There are answers; we are looking in the wrong places.
Escape from the World the Answer?
Those delving into spiritualism and mystic religions often view the conventional world as ignorant and evil, and simple, methodical answers handed out like candy are presented as the true reality. We must all learn to see what they see: war is wrong, love is right, and we must see the present moment and live in the “now.” But sixty years after the dawning of the new age of enlightenment and harmony, this great new direction has not emerged, nor did any such movement come into clarity in the enlightenment eras in Europe, or anywhere. Shouldn’t we by now have some idea of our continuing future nature or even as to whether such is even in the offering?
We may meditate and focus on living in the present, and on depriving ourselves of material goods, and on taming and quieting the mind, as Buddhists and Hindus and spiritualists do, but in doing so we are not doing so. We are seeking to flee, not see, the moment in front of us. We will not ever see the present until we do see the present. And we really will see the present when we look at and study the diverse variety of forms and sounds and sensations perpetually surrounding us. We will see the present when we make an effort at understanding the “why” of it: Why are all these various colorful shapes and vibrations here in front of us?
While meditation and other methods for taming the mind are useful, they have not answered these questions, nor have they ultimately revealed what life would become after death. It is something that we, ourselves, must do, and those colorful forms and vibrations are just the right vehicle.
The Problem Identifies the Solution
Everything standing before us is language, in both waking and dreams. Here lies our answer. But we must first learn how to use this colorful language that arises from the depths of our very beings: The universe is speaking to us, but we cannot hear until we learn the ancient language; how to read, and how to write the language of the five physical senses: form, sound, feeling. Once accomplished, we will perpetually perform, actors on the grand stage of eternity, death being, at most, inclusive in the actor’s script. We perform; we are the artists. It is our heritage, our futures, our eternal abode. And it is good.
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About the Author
Arthur Telling has written numerous stories and articles on religion, philosophy, and metaphysics. His article, “A Different Jesus Message” appeared in the Nov. 2011 AMORC Rosicrucian Digest. Telling is the author of seven books, including: “The Verbal Truth of Christianity – How the Church Coopted the Jesus Message.” His website: www.arthurtelling.com
