“We are indebted to Jesus Christ and His fearless propagation of Truth… He demonstrated that sin, sickness and death are false quantities and are no part of a correct statement of life.” Those are the words of Mrs. Fillmore, in How to Let God Help You.
According to Mrs. Fillmore, Jesus Christ made a living thing of every statement. What has been called His teaching is not His teaching if it will not heal the sick and feed the poor as He said it would. Jesus Christ declared “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.”
Further, Jesus declares “If a man keep my word, he shall never see death” (Jn. 8:51). However, Jesus is confronted by naysayers who tell him that Abraham and the prophets all died so how can he say that. “Whom makest thou thyself?” (Jn. 53). Jesus responds “It is my Father that glorifieth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God; and ye have not known him: but I know him; and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be like unto you a liar: but I know him, and keep his word …. Before Abraham was born, I am” (Jn. 8:54-55, 58). Here, Jesus is saying “I am.”
Jesus demonstrated that to keep His Father’s commandments was to be saved from sin, sickness, sorrow and death, and that in keeping His Father’s saying all power was given to Him “in heaven and on earth.” Such power included control of the elements, power to turn water into wine, power to increase loaves and fishes, power to make Himself visible or invisible at will, power to command the fish of the sea to yield Him money, power to lay down His life and power to take it up. Jesus clearly states that it was the indwelling Father who “doeth his works.”
According to Mrs. Fillmore, Jesus taught certain great propositions as the law of God and spent much time communing with God. He knew more of God than anyone who ever lived and that “to find out what He taught is to find true life.” Jesus declared: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me …The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me” (Jn. 14:6, 24).
Jesus Christ, as indicated by Mrs. Fillmore, is an authority to bear us out of our conclusions. He declared that the devil is a lie; an unreality. Additionally, Mrs. Fillmore says that Jesus taught in the shining of a perfect life. His denials in the wilderness revealed the glory of His Father’s full light. Jesus commanded, “Call no man your father on the earth,” and then affirmed “for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven.”
Jesus Christ taught distinctly that “one is your Father, even he who is in heaven,” and that “the kingdom of God is within you.” Jesus says “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. (Jn 14:11). Mrs. Fillmore states that Jesus declared that the Scriptures were full of the same teachings He was giving. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me. The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me” (Jn. 14:6, 24). She further states that our salvation is in our living by the Christ pattern not only by the teachings of the man Jesus Christ but by the Christ Mind within us. Jesus Christ is merging His consciousness with the universal race consciousness that we may have His presence and the light, power life and love which are expressing as our pattern and constant quickening help.
According to Mrs. Fillmore, Jesus Christ made a living thing of every statement. What has been called His teaching is not His teaching if it will not heal the sick and feed the poor as He said it would. Jesus Christ declared “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.”
Further, Jesus declares “If a man keep my word, he shall never see death” (Jn. 8:51). However, Jesus is confronted by naysayers who tell him that Abraham and the prophets all died so how can he say that. “Whom makest thou thyself?” (Jn. 53). Jesus responds “It is my Father that glorifieth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God; and ye have not known him: but I know him; and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be like unto you a liar: but I know him, and keep his word …. Before Abraham was born, I am” (Jn. 8:54-55, 58). Here, Jesus is saying “I am.”
Jesus demonstrated that to keep His Father’s commandments was to be saved from sin, sickness, sorrow and death, and that in keeping His Father’s saying all power was given to Him “in heaven and on earth.” Such power included control of the elements, power to turn water into wine, power to increase loaves and fishes, power to make Himself visible or invisible at will, power to command the fish of the sea to yield Him money, power to lay down His life and power to take it up. Jesus clearly states that it was the indwelling Father who “doeth his works.”
According to Mrs. Fillmore, Jesus taught certain great propositions as the law of God and spent much time communing with God. He knew more of God than anyone who ever lived and that “to find out what He taught is to find true life.” Jesus declared: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me …The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me” (Jn. 14:6, 24).
Jesus Christ, as indicated by Mrs. Fillmore, is an authority to bear us out of our conclusions. He declared that the devil is a lie; an unreality. Additionally, Mrs. Fillmore says that Jesus taught in the shining of a perfect life. His denials in the wilderness revealed the glory of His Father’s full light. Jesus commanded, “Call no man your father on the earth,” and then affirmed “for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven.”
Jesus Christ taught distinctly that “one is your Father, even he who is in heaven,” and that “the kingdom of God is within you.” Jesus says “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. (Jn 14:11). Mrs. Fillmore states that Jesus declared that the Scriptures were full of the same teachings He was giving. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me. The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me” (Jn. 14:6, 24). She further states that our salvation is in our living by the Christ pattern not only by the teachings of the man Jesus Christ but by the Christ Mind within us. Jesus Christ is merging His consciousness with the universal race consciousness that we may have His presence and the light, power life and love which are expressing as our pattern and constant quickening help.
Leah-
ReplyDeleteYou recapitulate perfectly what I read Myrtle saying about Jesus. The problem I have with her claims and assumptions is how they leave the heathen still unsaved. The logic she asserted in the previous chapter simply disappears when she gets to how her interpretations might operate. Are we just supposed to accept that they do because Jesus was/is about what her quotes say he is? If I'm not on the same Jesus trip Myrtle is on, how is any of this supposed to work for me? Is that even a question? Myrtle’s assumptions about Jesus by way of select scriptural quotations sounds arbitrary and capricious to me. You restate her rhetoric very well. I can’t do that. Worse yet, I have little desire to try.
Leah, what I liked about the Myrtle Fillmore readings this week was that she concluded that the same power that was in Jesus is in all of us-- even the "heathen" (to borrow a world from Lesley's comments.
ReplyDeleteMyrtle commented, after living in the wild west, that she felt many heathens (Native American) were closer to Spirit than many of the white middle class Christians that she knew.
Leah writes: "She (Myrtle) further states that our salvation is in our living by the Christ pattern not only by the teachings of the man Jesus Christ but by the Christ Mind within us."
ReplyDeleteMy comments: The Christological problem in Unity isn't with the power of Jesus, which virtually all self-designated Christians (and many religions which are Christian-admirers) accept. To take Richard Bach's novel as a metaphor, Jonathan Livingston Seagull's followers from the breakfast flock declare (I am paraphrasing), "Of course He can do all those miraculous things; he is the Son of the Great Gull...!"
Biblically, the problem with Myrtle's assumptions about Christology arise from her apparent acknowledgement of Jesus' superiority to all humans because He is the unique Son of God.
The fourteenth chapter of John often finds its way into the writings of many Unity authors, including Mrs. Fillmore. Read carefully what the NRSV text actually says:
John 14:11-14 (NRSV): "Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it."
This isn't a statement about an in dwelling Christ ubiquitous in humanity, its is about the ultimate power Jesus wielded as God's agent/Son, which allowed Him to do special acts in and through his faithful disciples.
Leah also writes: "She (Myrtle) further states that our salvation is in our living by the Christ pattern not only by the teachings of the man Jesus Christ but by the Christ Mind within us. Jesus Christ is merging His consciousness with the universal race consciousness that we may have His presence and the light, power life and love which are expressing as our pattern and constant quickening help."
My questions: Does Myrtle really acknowledge Jesus is special, while maintaining his life and teachings are typical of divine powers within everyone? If we are divine, why do we need Jesus? And does scripture, which she quotes with abandon, actually support anything like a universal indwelling divinity?
Study the text. Watch your lenses. I am not taking sides, just prodding everybody to think it through.
This discussion leads me to wonder: Who started delineating among the uses of the terms: Jesus (the man), Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus and the Christ? Is it possible that held Jesus in all 4 ways but didn't clearly distinguish the times she was writing the word "Jesus" or Jesus Christ but meant the Christ? I really don't know the answer to this. Unity (L&O) requires that we now make this distinction but I'm not clear that the Fillmores invented this distinction. Does anyone know? If they didn't, then if they had an expanded, 4-prong notion of Jesus that included all these aspects but didn't have words to distinguish them, we're certainly going to be confused about their Christology....
DeleteThis is a great question, Nhien. The same recitation is required of SDS participants. I have researched this specific question and can't find resources outside of Unity. What does it mean to us if it's purely Fillmorean in origin? I use the definitions often, but say that it's from Mr. Fillmore. I do the same thing when talking about personality from a Unity perspective rather than a psychological one.
DeleteNhien, you are raising the same questions I've been wrestling with regarding the terms Jesus, Jesus Christ, etc. You're asking this of Myrtle's beliefs but the question runs deeper than that, it seems to me. What do you suppose Jesus himself thought? (Not that those terms exact terms would have come up in Jesus' time but I hope you understand what I'm getting at.) Back to Myrtle, in my mind it raises the kind of questions Dr. Tom asked in another blog response: "Is this another example of Myrtle seeking authoritative cover from the Bible for ideas which were not considered Christian by the majority of people? And do we persist in that rescue effort today through metaphysical interpretation of the Bible?" I don't pretend to have an answer but the questions sure are tantalizing! -Doug
DeleteLeah,
ReplyDeleteGreat job with finding quality scripture quotes to back up Myrtle's Christology. I find myself looking for Myrtle's ideas but I have not been connecting her Christology to biblical verses. Something I should be considering more often than I do. Thanks for the insight.
Leah - I'm afraid I had a bit of the same problem you may have encountered. With all the quotes and references, what was Myrtle saying for herself? What was HER belief in the nature and person of Jesus? Through my lenses, I am picking out the references which seem to align with my beliefs. That is not the way of the theologian. I need to step back further and try to analyze through clearer lenses what Myrtle is saying. Thank you for your share.
ReplyDeleteDaybree writes: "That is not the way of the theologian. I need to step back further and try to analyze through clearer lenses what Myrtle is saying."
ReplyDeletePraise God from Whom all blessings flow...somebody is getting the methodology! Objects in the back-up mirror are distorted, but knowing that allows for corrective action.