Since I get such a kick out of blathering on about this stuff, I'm beginning another discussion. This time it's about the animation HESUS JOY CHRIST / Matthew's One Too ! , verse 1 (&2) this week. Look at all this wordage ! If you've been following this you can skip the first overview since it is from last Ash Wednesday and has already been posted. But be sure to read the new Overview for Matthew's One Too ! Next week verses 3 & 4, for verse 1.
OVERVIEW from the opening of the discussion of HESUS JOY CHRIST / Matthew's Three Fold
Well here we go ! Try to keep up because there are many angles to this text and it's discussion will cover all the angles I can find in both texts and the relationship between the two texts, which carries a fourth level of meaning. That is – the meaning of each text individually ( 2 meanings ), the meaning when both texts are viewed together ( 3rd meaning ) and the meaning of the relationship ( 3rd meaning ) in the context in which we share – real life ( the 4th meaning ) !
Stepping back a bit, let's acknowledge a few things . We are talking about religion – specifically christianity, which I believe is essentially forgiveness to the ultimate degree . All religions have their strengths, in fact all are valid and relevant . Forgiveness is either a spoken or unspoken element in many religions. I believe forgiveness is essential, and that is why I am christian .
Many religions have elements of Whole and Part . Ying-Yang for example . Other terms are Agency and Communion, Reductionistic and Holistic, one and many, or Male and Female . All that exists has both a wholistic aspect and a partial aspect . Everything that exists is part of a context, and wholly made of parts . To bring something into existence one must address both the whole and the part, both the context and the specific, aspects .
Furthermore, everything that exists has an inclination to either whole or part . The approach to anything assesses the balance of whole and part in that thing . An imbalance is always apparent, and the inclination of any approach is to correct the thing to obtain balance . If it appears too partial it must be corrected . If it appears too wholistic it must be corrected . The fallacy is that anything that exists is not in balance . In other words, if you may approach it then it does exist and if it exists it must already be in balance . Forgiveness allows the balance to exist without correction, and accepts that all things are in balance . This is somewhat a Buddhist opinion or faith . The important thing is to SEE the balance and not be moved to correction by any APPARENT imbalance . Otherwise the urge to correct leads to confrontation and a need to make things unbalanced and favoring whole or part over the other . A key thing about christianity is that it will forgive any apparent imbalance to the extreme of self destruction, but the self destruction is only apparent and not real ! This last idea is explored in the animation entitled HESUS JOY CHRIST / Matthew's Two Four which is a chapter about ends .
If whole and part are termed female and male, then this forgiveness that exists between the sexes will allow marriage, which is capable of creation, if not joy and contentment . The whole of HESUS JOY CHRIST points to marriage as the further salvation of humankind, which is based on the essential character of Jesus that is essential for any successful marriage of any whole and part or female and male .
All people are called to different vocations, whether single celibacy, marriage, or other . Marriage is essential to society as a union of whole and part that creates new meaning and life . Marriage is a resource that produces new understanding and creates far more than just babies . This in no way diminishes christianity, because without ultimate forgiveness and sacrifice no marriage will survive . It will end when a partial or whole attitude fails to forgive a whole or partial attitude . Once one has taken up the challenge of Christ and begun to follow him, some sort of witness of the union of whole and part is where one must head, fully armed with forgiveness .
Moving on, evil is real, and forgiveness is how to deal with it . This third chapter of the Gospel of Matthew is about Jesus' baptism by his cousin, John the Baptist . John the Baptist was not preaching forgiveness, nor rebirth through death from forgiveness, but repentance which is turning from doing evil and trying again . Obedience to the Law, as turning from evil, will make balance apparent and allow the balance to be acknowledged and seen . But no one has ever been able to obey the fullest intent of the Law without the benefit of infinite grace . In other words, no one has ever been able to keep the Law when circumstances were against them . Jesus was able to obey the Law but it lead to his very public death . Many others have died obeying the Law in much less honoured deaths . Death – what is it really ? Death will be discussed elsewhere – perhaps in a further discussion of Matthew's Two Four .
Finally, one may choose to keep the issue of the existence of God out of this discussion . For my part, God is an infinite goal, infinitely present as an infinite goal, colouring our perception of existence . Whether God is a person, male or female, is beyond this immediate discussion, but worth discussing in some other writing . Suffice it to say, for now, that whatever has been created exists within infinity and it is all, entirely, good .
Ash Wednesday, March 9th, 2011
OVERVIEW
This is written after the discussion of Matthew's Two Four and the discussion of Matthew's Three Fold were written, and before the discussion of Matthew's Two and Matthew's Foretold. In a way, Matthew's One Too ! is where the HESUS JOY CHRIST story begins, but really it began with Matthew's Two Four, which is the signs of the end of the age, which I take as the beginning end of this age.
The book of Matthew, Chapter One, from the Bible, is the story of the birth of the Christ, Jesus, and includes the genealogy of Jesus, on his earthly father Joseph's side. This has become, in this animation, the birth of the One, in my life, and into my actual first hand personal awareness. The One is the marriage relationship, or balance of male and female or part and whole. This discussion will be about the coming of the Christ into the world in both history for all the world, and into my awareness and life through the marriage relationship of whole and part, and also through my understanding of christianity. This understanding points in the direction of marriage as the further salvation of humankind.
I find it curious, that if Jesus Christ is the product of a virgin birth, than what does his earthly father, Joseph's, genealogy have to do with Jesus ? If Mary, his mother, was his only blood relative, wouldn't it be good to know her genealogy ? Nevertheless, I have written the “matrigeneosophy of the created”. Matri- for matriarchal, -geneo- for genealogy or origins, and -sophy for love: the matriarchal origination of love of the created. The created is the understanding and faith of marriage, which must be nurtured and cultivated, but otherwise may be considered to exist regardless, so it could be seen as being begotten not made. I am not married to referring to the One as created. Jesus was created as a man, but the Word, or Christ, is begotten not made, being one with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the Trinity.
Friday, June 24th, 2011
As a bit of background to where these ideas of the One and marriage came from, my personal experience is presented in the form of the matrigeneosophy of the created, or the geneology of my personal experience of relationships with women. It can be traced back to my mother, through my childhood, to marriage and beyond, as my marriage failed in 2008. It is by no means an exhaustive and thorough experience, although it has exhausted me, as I write this, now, in my 45th year; but an ordered and known experience under careful and prayerful consideration, as I try to make sense out of my life. Some may think that trying to make sense out of life is fruitless and pointless, but my experience has been otherwise, and just when I think there is not any chance of things making sense, my awareness dies, and is reborn to a new and wider awareness.
Counting Generations
Since there is a long list of patriarchs and a long list of matriarchs, in this discussion, and they are counted up to fourteens, nine, twelve, four and three, let's look at how they add up.
The Genealogy of Jesus
Abraham
Isaac
Jacob
Judah
Perez
Hezron
Ram
Amminadab
Nahshon
Salmon
Boaz
Obed
Jesse
David King David
Solomon
Rehoboam
Abijah
Asa
Jehoshaphat
Jehoram
Uzziah
Jotham
Ahaz
Hezekiah
Manasseh
Amon
Josiah
Jeconiah BABYLON
Jeconiah BABYLON
Shealtiel
Zerubbabel
Abiud
Eliakim
Azor
Zadok
Akim
Eliud
Eleazar
Matthan
Jacob
Joseph
Jesus
So there is a bit of creativity in this count of 14 generations to King David and 14 generations from King David to Babylon, and 14 generations from Babylon to Jesus – Jeconiah has to be counted twice ! This may be due to counting the transitions, or generations, to the exile to Babylon, rather than actual persons.
Another interesting thing I came across is that if you take a generation to be nominally 50 years than 42 generations works out to be about 2100 years. So it is over two thousand years from Abraham to Jesus and it has been over 2000 years from Jesus until now !!
The Genealogy of Abram – Abraham |
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Patriarch / Son | Patriarch age at birth of heir | Years from birth of heir to patriarch's death | Patriarch's age at death |
Adam | 130 | 800 | 930 |
Seth | 105 | 807 | 912 |
Enosh | 90 | 815 | 905 |
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Kenan | 70 | 840 | 910 |
Mahalalel | 65 | 830 | 895 |
Jared | 162 | 800 | 962 |
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Enoch | 65 | 300 | 365 |
Methuselah | 187 | 782 | 969 |
Lamech | 182 | 595 | 777 |
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Noah | 500 | 450 | 950 |
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Shem | 100 | 500 | 600 |
Arpachshad | 35 | 403 | 438 |
Shelah | 30 | 403 | 433 |
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Eber | 34 | 430 | 464 |
Peleg | 30 | 430 | 460 |
Reu | 32 | 207 | 239 |
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Serug | 30 | 430 | 460 |
Nahor | 29 | 119 | 148 |
Terah | 70 | 135 | 205 |
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Abram – Abraham | 100 | 75 | 175 |
Isaac |
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| numbers in italics are calculated |
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Length of genealogy in years | 1946 |
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Furthermore, in the book of Genesis there is enough information to create a genealogy of Abraham right back to Adam, and this genealogy is also about 2000 years !!
So - 2000 years from creation to Abraham; 2000 years from Abraham to Jesus; and 2000 years from Jesus until now ! The time is ripe for the birth of a new awareness !
Sunday, July 3rd, 2011
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Opening Notes
This animation project was completed on July 24th, 2009 and screened on July 30th, 2009 at the Revue Cinema on Roncesvalles Road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Their open screening is called Drop Your Shorts and has been held about every three months since 2008.
DVD copies of the entire HESUS JOY CHRIST series to date, along with the 35mm animated film entitled HYPOTHERMIA / My Kayak Prayer are available from the author. Individual episodes come complete with the discussion as an insert in the DVD case.
The author can be contacted at vid932008@gmail.com, and these discussions are posted verse by verse, week to week, as they are written, on the blog entitled Vid'93 bein' To Wordie. .. … at www.vid93.blogspot.com .
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Verses 1 & 2 Text of the First Chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, New International Version .
The Genealogy of Jesus
1 A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham .
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
Verse 1 the text of the animation - HESUS JOY CHRIST / Matthew's One Too ! , written by R David Foster .
The Matrigeneosophy of the Created
1 A record of the matrigeneosophy of the created, made through David, who I am .
Verse 1 Discussion NIV Bible text verses 1 & 2
Why was this record of the genealogy of Jesus kept throughout the ages? Well, for family reasons, this genealogy was memorized as a personal identification, since written records were uncommon. Then when Jesus became prominent, it became important to record his genealogy, regardless of whether Joseph was his birth father.
The other reason I can think of, is that it establishes that Jesus is the Messiah promised to King David, and Abraham. A genealogy supports this belief that Jesus is the Messiah, in spite of the belief that Joseph was not his birth father. It seems to me that there should be a genealogy of Mary, which I thought there was, in the Bible, but I have not found it. Nevertheless, this genealogy is an attempt to establish Jesus authority, and similarly, I have written the matrigeneosophy of the created, to establish the authority of this idea of a sacred One – a relationship and balance between whole and part, female and male. These genealogies provide a context from which both Jesus' ministry and this animation have originated.
I made up the word “matrigeneosophy”, with an “o” instead of an “a” just for the fun of it. Matri – for matriarchal; geneo – for origins; and sophy – for love; make the matrigeneosophy of the created mean the matriarchal origins of love of the created.
This idea of the importance of the balance and marriage of male and female, part and whole, is not just my idea, entirely out of my own head, but rather found as much in my experience of women and their ideas, as in my own ideas. There are some parts of this idea or faith that have come from my understanding and experience of women, from my mother through my friends and my wife, which when combined with my own ideas, became a new found idea. Then the idea took prominence as my life went on, being confirmed by experience after experience, as well as education and reading.
But first, let's confirm that the infinite purpose of humankind, or God, lives in each one of us, yet no individual is worthy of worship beyond any other individual. There are many references in the Bible to God living in us, from Jesus calling us children of God, in the Book of Matthew, Chapter Five, verse nine, where he says :
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
Furthermore, in Matthew Chapter twelve, verse fifty, Jesus says :
“For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
And again, in First Corinthians, Chapter six, verse fifteen :
“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ ? . . . .”
So not only do I find Christ and the balance of whole and part alive in my mind, but I find it in others that I meet, including women. The church is the body of Christ, and my experience of people has led to my finding marriage and the balance of whole and part of utmost importance.
So this idea was not made by me, David Foster, but made through me, as I have only tried to clarify and draw attention to an idea that I have found. I found it in my christian upbringing, the people around me, and the women I am honoured to call friends. I find this idea is overlooked and misunderstood in our society, and I am trying to illuminate this idea wherever one may find it.
In a sense the idea of the One, the balance of whole and part, and the marriage of female and male, is both created and begotten, as Jesus the man was created in Mary's womb, and begotten as Christ in the world. This is not such a radical idea. A hammer is both created and begotten, as the idea may be begotten, but a hammer may be purchased or made, yet the wood and the steel, or iron, is still begotten.
Finally, I am David, and my infinite purpose is “I am” and is sacred. I will not go around saying “I am this” or “I am that” as that is stupid, obnoxious and vulgar, yet the truth remains that I am. We all are, and each of us can say that “I am”, so again, such a statement is redundant yet eternal. Abraham was a patriarch, where Abram wasn't, since God changed Abram's name to Abraham when he made His covenant with him and promised him his son, Isaac. Abraham's God was a distant “I am”, who Jesus taught us to call “Father” and strive for a loving, intimate relationship with the God who loves each of us dearly.
Sunday, July 3rd, 2011
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