Welcome to the sixth
weekly guest post
at A Night's Dream of Books,
on the tour for The Door Is Open,
sponsored by
Innovative Online Book Tours!!
Dr. Andrew Cort
Andrew Cort
Paperback, 186 pages
CreateSpace
May 19, 2012
Genre: Religion, Mythology, Spirituality
This is the sixth of several weekly guest posts by Dr. Cort, who is an authority on religion and spirituality, as well as mythology, politics, history, science, education, and healing. He has written several books on these topics. His most recent one, The Door Is Open, deals with the fascinating topic of the steps to spiritual awakening, as presented in world scriptures and mythologies. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Cort to A NIGHT'S DREAM OF BOOKS!
I hope you will find Dr. Cort's sixth post to be as fascinating as I did!
WHAT DOES ‘REPENTANCE’ REALLY MEAN?
Jesus's ministry begins at the Jordan River, where John is preaching Repentance. This also signifies that our own journey of spiritual awakening must begin right here with Repentance. But what exactly is Repentance?
‘Repentance’ is generally understood to mean a sincere feeling of regret and sorrow (not merely a hypocritical claim of regret and sorrow) for a sin against God, as a result of which we hope to procure His forgiveness and avoid punishment for our evil acts.
But actually, the Greek word that is translated in the Gospels as ‘Repentance’ is Metanoia, which really means to change one’s mind, to think in a new way. It implies a manner of thinking that is beyond our usual state of mind.
The Bible consistently teaches that all spiritual attainment begins with thinking in a different way. Unless the Mind changes, unless our attitudes change, nothing in the world will ever change, for we will remain forever exactly as we are.
At an early point in the New Testament, Jesus’ disciples bring up a recent story of some Galileans whom Pilate had viciously murdered. Jesus asks them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all the other Galileans?” He then reminds them of a recent disaster in which a tower had collapsed and killed a number of bystanders. “Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them – do you think they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?” On the contrary, he says, none of this happened to these people because they were evil. They did not ‘deserve’ it.
Then Jesus concluded by telling the disciples, “Unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
What are we to make of this strange warning!? It cannot mean that all the disciples will be murdered by Pontius Pilate or crushed by a falling tower. Nor can it mean that they will all necessarily be punished with a painful death if they do not feel the appropriate amount of guilt for all the dreadful things they have done in life: plenty of sinful people die peacefully in their sleep without ever seeking forgiveness.
What this means is, ‘unless you change the way you think and awaken, you will die in a state of unconscious, meaningless, sleep, exactly as they did, and that means you will disappear forever, just as everyone does who dies unawakened.’
This is what Jesus wants his disciples to concern themselves with. For him, religion is not about social morality – and certainly not a vindictive self-righteous morality or a sentimental need to be ‘good’. Religion is about the perfection and ascension of the soul, and this begins with Metanoia.
Author Bio
Andrew Cort is an expert on the inner message of Spiritual Awakening that is always ready to be found in the wonderful stories of the Bible and Greek Mythology. To receive several FREE GIFTS from Dr. Cort (a copy of Chapter One, ‘Making the Decision’, from his new book, THE DOOR IS OPEN; a copy of his article on RECONCILING SCIENCE AND RELIGION; and a complete version of the Bible’s erotic masterpiece, SONG OF SONGS , adapted as a Poetic Dialogue to be read out loud by lovers; as well as a subscription to his SPIRITUAL GROWTH NEWSLETTER) click here http://www.andrewcort.com/Gifts . You can also learn more on his blog, Spirituality and Religion.
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Great commentary!
ReplyDeleteI think that what Dr. Cort writes here illustrates a great point about the Gospels. I believe that these writings were revolutionary is so many ways. Revolution is about change and what Dr. Cort points out is the revolutionary and even radical advocacy of change in the way that one thinks.
Thank you for Hosting Andrew today
ReplyDeleteHey, Brian!
ReplyDeleteOh, absolutely!! Changing one's way of thinking is the only TRUE revolution there ever has been! If everyone did this, what a different world we would have!! The problem is, it's not an easy thing to do, because one first has to humble oneself, in order to recognize what one needs to change, and how to go about it...
This is a fascinating book, isn't it? Each post is really an excerpt from the book. Can't wait to review it!!
Thanks for visiting and leaving such an interesting comment!! : )
Hey, Vickie!
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome! Thanks for stopping by and commenting!! : )