A.R.E. Meeting for 12/26/11

Leader: Martinaya
Reader: Greg

In "Edgar Cayce on the Revelation," we read up to the section "A SAMPLE IDEALS LIST" on page 115.

Thanks to John for passing out cookies to everyone present. John will also be our leader in January.

A.R.E. Meeting for 12/12/11

Leader: Martinaya
Reader: Nancy, Marsha, and Greg

In "Edgar Cayce on the Revelation," we made it up to Part 2, "Your Personal Revelation," on page 103.

Thanks to Sylvia for the Christmas cards and to John for providing gifts to the library.

A.R.E. Meeting for 12/05/11

Leader: John (for Martinaya)
Reader: Greg

I don't know if three people make a quorum, but we made progress. In "Edgar Cayce on the Revelation," we read to page 91, where we will start next week on the section "Hallelujah!"

Edgar Cayce on Hating Others

An article by John Schroeder from the Phoenix Religious Issues Examiner on July 2, 2011

It is easy for us to think of one sin as being worse than another, but is the standard we use to judge the hierarchy of sins the same as God would use? For instance, from a traditional Christian perspective is being a homosexual worse than being a gossip? Is cheating on our taxes worse than adultery? According to the Edgar Cayce Readings (ECRs), the answer to each of those questions is more relative than absolute. It all comes down to our intentions. Are we manifesting love or being unloving with the choices we make? Using love as the standard of measuring the correctness of the above choices can leave us in conflict with the common thinking of society.

The ECRs have said that the only sin there is comes down to selfishness. No matter what we do, any thought or act becomes sinful when we would try to profit in some manner at the expense of another person. Thinking we are somehow better than others works in the same way. So it would seem if there is ultimately only one sin, selfishness, then a hierarchy of the various types of sins is moot. That perspective doesn’t feel right to most people though it mirrors the Bible’s admonition that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

So by what standard can we judge the grievousness of our sins? The ECRs indicate that one sin is worse than another to the extent that they keep us from completely accepting God’s loving ways for our own. For example, being addicted to say cigarettes can be called a victimless crime, but choosing to bring damage to ourselves is harming the temple of the living God. Being addicted to narcotics does the same but adding the criminal behaviors of stealing, lying and even violence to obtain more drugs makes it a harder addiction (sin) to overcome in many ways.

But the title of this article’s focus is on hate. Is hating alone a sin? What if the person we hate deserves to be hated? What if their transgressions are so awful that hating them is the only reasonable response? When Jesus was faced with that choice He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Many sins had been made against Jesus. Those sins included being betrayed, tortured, humiliated, treated unjustly and killed. Many hated Jesus but He did not hate them back. Hate was not the choice Jesus made in the toughest of circumstances and He is the role model we should all follow.

So if the emotion of hate (thinking ill of others) is to be avoided, just how bad is hating another person on the ultimate sin scale? The ECRs indicated it was one of the worst, even worse than murder, though they often go hand-in-hand. For once we hate a person; we can no longer see the God in them. We can and should be wise as serpents yet harmless as doves to protect ourselves and our loved ones, but this can be done without hate. If we can always see the God in others, we are able to call out the best from within them to shine. If we only have hate in our hearts, what do we suppose is called out of them instead?

If you desire to read the ECRs for yourself, here’s a quote that supports the views written here:

“... if the entity allows [the relationships with individuals] to produce a hardening of the heart, or of a determination to get even, or of those conditions that hold for discontent, malice, or otherwise, these must surely bring the destructive forces that build that which the entity must meet; for, in truth, that builded in the mental forces of a body is as ACTIVE in the experiences as must come to the entity as were done in the very material act; for, as was given, "It hath been said, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; yet I say unto thee, he that hateth his brother is worse than he that DESTROYETH a body."” (ECR 1234-1)