chapter 04

One thing don't necessarily mean another thing shall follow. Sometimes it does. It is, however not a given. Because some ancestor said or did something does not mean that it holds relevance many years later. And it may have been nonsense at the time it was spoken and later written. For those unaware of stories from the past. They were often passed from generation to generation by storytellers long before they made it to paper or whatever the story was written on. And this always means that the story has been embellished and distorted. Even from the written Torah to the written New Testament, the stories are embellished and distorted. This doesn’t mean one must disregard them. It simply means they must be taken as stories and not literal historic events.

Vs. 3: In the same way, we too were slaves of the ruling spirits of the universe before we reached spiritual maturity. EQ.

Now what Paul is likely writing about is instinct. And it is true that before we became mentally mature, if we can go so far as to propose such a claim, we were slaves to our instinct. Now that we can think, which doesn’t mean believe and have faith, we are not slaves to our instinct. However, this does not mean we are free from our instinct and it shouldn’t suggest we would want to be. Instinct is still very much what we are. It isn’t that we have discarded it, though many attempt to, it is simply that we also have awareness added to it. Instinct is a beautiful thing. Choice is also a grand gift of evolution.

vs. 8: In the past you did not know God, and so you were slaves of beings who are not gods. 9. ... how is it that you want to turn back to those weak and pitiful ruling spirits? Why do you want to become their slaves all over again? 10. You pay special attention to certain days, months, seasons, and years. 11. I am worried about you! EQ.

This, though written long ago is still a good question. It is what your narrator likes to refer to as being Jewish. Not to be mean, in this case, but the idea of making special days out of events and celebrating them every year. Building grand monuments to not so grand events. We tend to hold to tradition without question.

“It’s your sister’s birthday today.”

vs. 13: ... it was because I was ill. EQ.

Paul may have had physical disability beyond impotence. And it is often hinted at that he may have had a speech impediment. He may have had a life of pain. This does not make a difference to his relevance but it does help us understand why he is bitter towards sex.

Vs. 22: It says that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman, the other by a free woman. 23. His son by the slave-woman was born in the usual way, but his son by the free woman was born as a result of God’s promise. EQ.

Now if we didn’t know the Torah this could be very confusing. The normal way for the slave woman was that Sarah was too young at the time to bare children so Abraham took her handmaid and had sex with her. Technically speaking, it was likely rape, for a slave is a slave normally not of free will. Anyhow, Abraham had a son by Hagar.

Now the not normal way as a result of God’s promise needs a little clarifying. This is also rape. Not by Abraham and not by God. And in the story it was also not God but a Lord. And what is special about a Lord making Sarah pregnant is that it wins favour with the Lord who is much wealthier than Abraham and can give some of his wealth so that his son, the Lord’s son, Isaac, can live in relative luxury.

“Most believers would say you are crazy.”

“Most believers are virtually illiterate. And those that aren’t haven’t read the story.”

Vs. 30: But what does the scripture say? It says, “Send the slave-woman and her son away; for the son of the slave-woman will not have a part of the father’s property along with the son of the free woman.” EQ.

Now Paul would have us be happy that we are sons of the free woman. Most of us, however, aren’t.

So we will clarify that in the scripture, the old fairy tale, it is Sarah, the woman with a child from a Lord, and not Abraham, that tells Abraham to send her maid and his son away. They take a loaf of bread and a skin of water as payment for 12 or so years of work. The story tells us Hagar left her son under a bush when the water was gone because she didn’t want to hear it cry to death. The kid was a teenager. And Hagar found water after a Lord told here where to look and Hagar grew up to be a hunter. Or something. And had many children.

Abraham wanted to kill Isaac one day, blame it on God of course, but a Lord told him not to.

“Why would Abraham want to kill Isaac, surely not because he wasn’t of his sperm. He raised him as his own son.”

“I think father’s get frustrated sometimes and want to kill their sons. Maybe because their son’s mothers love their sons too much and neglect their husbands.”


chapter 05

vs. 1: - Christ has set us free! Stand, then, as free people, and do not allow yourselves to become slaves again. EQ.

Let us allow that Christ is a way of perceiving. Not that one must accept him but learn to awaken to the here and now.

Then Paul warns against getting circumcised. Circumcision is meant to show that one obeys the Laws of Moses.

vs. 6: For when we are in union with Christ Jesus, neither circumcision or the lack of it makes any difference at all; what matters is faith that works through love. EQ.

No one needs to believe in Jesus Christ. One needs to know that there is something when one drops one’s belief. It is not an easy ride to leave a grand fairy tale to enter into the real. Hostile as it can sometimes be. But the angels are there waiting. And they are real. Just other people that know what they are and where they are. Non-believers are often very reasonable and friendly people. We are more than just dust in the wind.

vs. 12: I wish that the people who are upsetting you would go all the way; let them go on and castrate themselves! EQ.

Jesus laughed.

There were those teaching that Christians had to be circumcised. Not just the act of cutting of the foreskin but the commitment to the obeying of the Laws of Moses. And we are trying to stop being slaves to Law.

vs. 14: For the whole Law is summed up in one commandment: “Love your neighbour as you love yourself.” EQ.

When this is the case, law will become obsolete. Many think it is a crazy notion to live without law. It will one day seem a crazy notion that most everyone on the planet, the very rich excluded, lived under the law.

Other animals do it already. And most with very little violence among themselves. And the law has not helped us much when it comes to violence.

Now it is necessary to disagree with Paul once more.

“Once more.”

“Okay, we will disagree with him often.”

Vs. 16: What I say is this: let the Spirit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature. 17: For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do. 18. If the Spirit leads you, then you are not subject to the Law. EQ.

Saying it several times in both directions does not make it true. Human nature is not as vile as religious leaders would have us believe. And if there is a thing we call Spirit it is also part of our nature. It might be referred to as common sense. Common sense is not a common thing but it could be. It can be learned. And as George Bernard Shaw and a few others said: ‘Common sense is instinct. Enough of it is genius.’

vs. 22: But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23. humility and self-control. EQ.

Paul would have us believe the Spirit comes from Christ. It is almost true. Depending on our definition of Christ. It comes from the life in us. It is in our nature. And not at all opposed to it.

vs. 25: The spirit has given us life, he must also control our lives. EQ.

No. It is the other way around. Life has given us spirit. Or spirit is what life is. It is not a thing that comes from beyond. Everything that is of us is in us.


chapter 06

Paul talks a bit about silly pride and why not just do your thing.

vs. 4: ... without having to compare it with what someone else has done. 5. For everyone has to carry his own load. EQ.

And one also has to set it down when the journey has been made. Now a load can be anything. For your narrator, it is this book. And though it was written by your narrator, it was hardly done alone. And it has brought with it many rewards. It is the same for someone who learns to be a doctor or a musician. To be what you want you must also do what you want. And the more you do what you want the more you will find support from others and the more joy it will bring you.

vs. 8: if he sows in the field of the Spirit, from the Spirit he will gather the harvest of eternal life. EQ.

vs. 13: Even those who practice circumcision do not obey the Law; they want you to be circumcised so that they can boast that you submitted to this physical ceremony. EQ.

True dat.

vs. 15: ... what does matter is being a new creature. EQ.

We are evolving, people. Cockroaches might be done. We aren’t. We are evolving physically. And our language, thus our spirit and wakefulness, is evolving. We are becoming new creatures. We are becoming the gods. And it is real.

And if anyone wants to hang onto Law and not evolve, well, like my friend Paul says. “let them go on and castrate themselves!” EQ.


ephesians chapters 01 - 03