Hogwash. Jesus said, explicitly, no one comes to the FATHER except by me. Jesus IS God, who came in the flesh. Saying that he could not challenge the "patriarchal" society is BS, and shows your lack of faith. Go ALL the way back to genesis, and find out that God did not create woman until Adam had tried darn near everything as a mate. THEN, God made woman.
The "creation story" in the Book of Genesis is total allegory. And it could not hope to be any more than this, when we understand that the writer is trying to present a representation of several billion years worth of both spiritual and physical history in a few hundred words. This creation story is no more valid in literal terms, than the creation stories that you find in every other culture on the face of the planet. They all have one thing in common. They are all structured to fit into the very child-like minds (read narrow and ignorant) of those people who populated those ancient cultures for whom these stories were woven.
And the same thing goes for many of the things that Jesus said. Some things you can take literally. But some things you can't take literally. You have to use the reasoning power of the mind to tell the difference between the two.
The words of Jesus Christ validate this assessment. Remember that in the Book of Matthew 13:43 Jesus said, " ... Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." In this the Master is saying that there is a hidden truth in his words, and there will be some who will be able to understand it, and there will be others who will not be able to understand it. In other words, the meaning is not contained in the surface literal interpretation of the words, which everyone can read and understand.
In regards to the Bible passage you refer to, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6) This is an example of one statement by Jesus Christ, the meaning of which, cannot be taken from the surface literal interpretation.
Actually, this passage has at least three distinct interpretational dimensions.
First, the Master is saying, that he is the example that the Children of God must follow. He is showing the way. He is revealing the truth about the way to go. He is giving the Children of God the example of the life they too can lead. And in as much as that life is a result of his personal communion with the Father, so too will our ability to live that life also be a result of our personal communion with the Father. He is saying, that no one can come into that condition of personal communion with the Father, unless they follow his example, unless they follow his footsteps, unless they honor the truth that he brings, which means conforming the thoughts in our minds, with the truths that he spoke.
All of these ideas came together in a very coherent way, when he said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48) This is one statement that you can take literally. This is the goal that Jesus Christ attained to, and this is the goal that he has set before each one of his followers. And he referred to this goal again in the following passage:
"And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me." (Matthew 19:16-21)
Here the Master is showing us that there are at least two basic stages that a soul goes through on its journey towards perfection. The first is keeping the commandments, which means that the thoughts, and feelings of the soul have been aligned to God's purposes. The second stage, is following the Master in regards to his ministry, which means a life dedicated to the redemption of souls, and not to the enrichment of the self, or the comforting of the self. In other words, the soul must make the transition between that condition of life wherein its actions are totally devoted to feathering its own nest, to a life totally dedicated to feathering, in this case, the spiritual nests, of all souls who the father desires to redeem. In other words, the condition of perfection is not really extent within the fabric of the soul's identity, unless the soul can prove that the thoughts and feelings of God that it contains within its own consciousness (derived from personal communion with the Father), can actually be acted out on the world stage as part of the overall divine plan for the redemption of souls.
The second dimension of meaning contained in the above spiritual passage, has to do with the mediating role that this Master has played, through the Piscean Age, wherein, the actual energies of perfection which the soul anchors within its own awareness, will actually come from the heart of this Master. In other words, as the soul walks the Path of Initiation, desiring to put on the whole fabric of perfection that the Master has in store for the soul, the soul's desiring in this regard is fulfilled by this Master.
For example, lets say that on its journey into that state of perfection, that the soul comes to the realization that it is not grateful to God to the extent that God deserves our gratitude. This point of perfection, as a goal to be achieved, is first revealed to the soul through a direct revelation by this Master to the soul, of how much God deserves our Gratitude. Here, the statement by the Master takes its most literal interpretation. How does the Master reveal to the soul this fact that God deserves our constant and immense Gratitude? He does this, by revealing to the soul, the actuality of what God is actually doing for the soul. In other words, the Master reveals to the soul, an actual point of divine reality, as it pertains to the Father. And you can say, in a manner of speaking, that the Master reveals to the soul, an actual portion of the Father's face. By that vision, the soul comes to understand, instantaneously, how much God our Father deserves our immense and constant gratitude. Now, the soul cannot see this reality on its own. It must have the assistance of the Master in this regard. So, when the Master says that no one will come unto the father except by him, he is exactly right on that score. Once the Master reveals this point of divine reality to the soul, the soul then inventories its thoughts and feelings, and comes to the conclusion, that in fact, the soul is not meeting this standard of perfection. Seeing that the soul desires to meet this standard of perfection, the question is, how does the soul do this? How does the soul accomplish this? How does the soul come to that place where it has the wonder and beauty of God at the center of its attention constantly, whereby its entire identity radiates constantly great waves of gratitude unto God? The answer to this question, is that the soul will first begin making concerted efforts in this regard. It will at least try to think gratitude at all times and under all circumstances. And as the soul makes those efforts, the Master will release into the consciousness of the soul, those elements of spiritual power and vision that will allow the soul to achieve this goal. I am simplifying here. And it should be noted that the soul cannot achieve such a point of perfection overnight. It takes persistent effort, and application to the Master, for the soul to even begin to make progress. But progress can be made. When the Master set forth the admonishment in terms of perfection, he was also setting a promise that he would see to it, that anyone who believes what he says, and makes the effort in that direction, will be given the victory.
The third dimension of meaning, in regards to the above scripture, has to do with the Universal nature of the Christ. Here we are referring to the Biblical principle of the Only Begotten Son of the Father. This Only Begotten Son, is of infinite dimensions. All souls created by God partake of the identity of this One Son. In other words, all of the facilities of consciousness required to place the individual soul into communion with the One Father, are derived from this One Universal Christ. This is the basis of harmony between all citizens of heaven. Jesus' communion with the Father is derived from his unity with the Universal Christ. And his capacity to work with souls individually, to place them into contact with the Father, is also derived from the resources of the Universal Christ. In other words, as he works with individual souls on this planet, placing them individually in contact with the Father, he is transferring to them the facilities of the Universal Christ. So, when he says, " ... I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6), this can be taken as a statement that applies to the Universal Christ, which Jesus has become one with.
There are several important implications to this. The first being, that every being in heaven, communes with God the Father, through the same facilities. And that there are many, who can play the mediating role, that Jesus has played for the evolutions on this planet over the last 2000 years, an opportunity however, that very few have taken advantage of.
Now, in regards to the issue of whether or not God is Father, and God is Mother, let me say, that as the soul walks the Path of Initiation, and the Master Jesus reveals the identity of the Father to the soul, for the purpose of bringing the soul into that aforementioned state of perfection, by and by, the identity of God as Mother will become clear. Jesus Christ himself will reveal to the soul, that God is both Father, and Mother. One cannot advance on the pathway towards the goal of perfection, with anchoring the truth within ones mind, and one of the most important truths that there is, is that God is both Father, and Mother. And as Children of God, that ought to be a very comforting truth to hold onto, even if you have not seen that fact with your own inner vision.
ImaGraftedBranch continues ...
The Bible is timeless, truthful, and the guidline by which we should live our lives. If you want to change the words and meaning to adapt to your "21st century" worldview, go ahead, but you put yourself in grave danger by leading others astray.
No doubt there are timeless truths in the Bible. And it is clear, that on the pathway towards the goal of perfection that Jesus Christ held out before us, we cannot afford to ignore anything in the Bible that is actually true.
But, there are many things in the Bible, as noted above, that require interpretation if one is to come to a true sense of what is being spoken. And there are many many false interpretations masquerading as the gospel truth, being set forth as church doctrine, which are however, absolute falsehoods. Like the idea that Jesus Christ is the ONLY Son of God. Well, in regards to this, I must point out that we are all sons and daughters of God, relating to Jesus Christ in the same way an acorn relates to a full grown oak. God intends every acorn to grow into a full grown oak, and there are no exceptions to this rule.
If you can get your mind around this idea, you will see that this is exactly the actual truth that makes abortion a crime in the sight of God. And it is the basis for this statement by Jesus Christ:
" ... Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (Matthew 25:47)
Therefore, we have a mighty responsibility before us, to use the reasoning power of our own minds, which is a very valuable gift from God, to discriminate between what is true, and what is false, in terms of what this or that person says a particular Bible passage means.
No, GoldenEagles - here is what is clear. What you say above is 100% non-scriptural. There is NO biblical basis from the bible for anything that you say above. What you have been led to believe is gobbledy-gook, probably from a cult.
I urge you now to stop and ask yourself WHY all this stuff that someone taught you is NOT in the bible?
You were led astray, and are attempting to lead others astray. This will be my final post on this topic. Please, for the sake of your salvation, stick to what God gave us as Truth -- and do NOT accept anything other than what is in the book that God gave us. If it is NOT there, it is a lie. PERIOD. That is ALL that you can be sure of on this Earth.
If I were to guess, you were not raised in a Christian family, but were indoctrinated into some following while attending college...am I correct?
Good luck, GoldenEagles, and may God bless you and grant you wisdom.