What
Does ACIM Say About The Bible?
You
have surely begun to realize that this is a very practical
course, which means exactly what it says. So does
the Bible, if it is properly understood.
What
you do not understand is that the two voices (ego
& Holy Spirit) speak for different interpretations
of the same thing simultaneously, or almost simultaneously,
for the ego always speaks first. The
ego speaks in judgment and the Holy Spirit reverses
its decision, much as the Supreme Court has the power
to reverse the lower courts' decisions about the laws
of this world.
The
ego's decisions are always wrong, because they are
based on a complete fallacy (about what you are) which
they were made to uphold. Nothing the ego perceives
is interpreted correctly. Not only does it cite Scripture
for its purpose, but it even interprets Scripture
as a witness for itself.
The
Bible is a fearful thing to the ego because of its
prejudiced judgment. Perceiving it as fearful, it
interprets it fearfully. Having made you afraid, you
do not appeal to the Higher Court, because you believe
its judgment would be against you.
We
need cite only a few examples to see how the ego's interpretations
have misled you.
A
favorite ego quotation is "As ye sow, so shall
ye reap. "
Another is
"Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord."
Still another
is "I will visit the sins of the father unto
the third and fourth generation."
And also,
"The wicked shall perish."
There
are many others, but if you will let the Holy Spirit
re-interpret these in His own light, they will suffice.
"As
ye sow, so shall ye reap" Galatians
6:7
merely means that what you believe to be worth cultivating
you will cultivate in yourself. Your judgment of
what is worthy makes it worthy for you.
"Vengeance
is mine, sayeth the Lord" Romans
12:19; Proverbs
20:22 is
easily explained if you remember that ideas increase
only by being shared. This quotation therefore emphasizes
the fact that vengeance cannot be shared. Give it
therefore to the Holy Spirit, Who will undo it in
you because it does not belong in your mind, which
is part of God.
"I
will visit the sins of the fathers unto the third
and fourth generation," Exodus
34:7 as
interpreted by the ego, is particularly vicious.
It is used, in fact, as an attempt to guarantee
its survival beyond itself. Actually, all the quotation
means is that the Holy Spirit, in later generations,
retains the power to interpret correctly what former
generations have thought, and thus release their
thoughts from the ability to produce fear anywhere
in the Sonship.
"The
wicked shall perish" Psalm
37:20 is
merely a statement of fact, if the word "perish"
is properly understood. Every loveless thought must
be undone. Even the word "undone" is fearful to
the ego, which interprets "I am undone" as "I am
destroyed." The ego will not be destroyed because
it is part of your thought, but because it is uncreative,
and therefore unsharing, it will be re-interpreted
entirely, to release you from fear. The part of
your thought which you have given to the ego will
merely return to the Kingdom where your whole mind
belongs.
The
ego is a form of arrest, but arrest is merely delay.
It does not involve the concept of punishment, although
the ego welcomes that interpretation. You can delay
the completion of the Kingdom, but you cannot introduce
the concept of assault into it.
When
I said,"I am come as a light
into the world" John
12:46, I surely came to share the light
with you.
Remember
the symbolic reference we made before to the ego's dark
glass, and remember also that we said, "Do not look
there" 1
Corinthians 13:12. It is still true that
where you look to find yourself is up to you.
The Higher Court
will not condemn you.
It will merely
dismiss the case against you. There can be no case
against a Child of God, and every witness to guilt
in God's creations is bearing false witness to God
Himself.
Appeal
everything you believe gladly to God's own Higher Court
because it speaks for Him, and therefore speaks truly.
It will dismiss the case against you however carefully
you have built it. The case may be foolproof, but it
is not God-proof. The
Voice for God will not hear it at all because He can
only witness truly.
His
verdict will always be
because He was
given you to remind you of what you are.
“And
God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son
that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but
have eternal life.” John
3:16
This
needs only one slight correction
to be entirely meaningful in this context. It should
read:
He
gave it (the real world)
TO His only begotten
Son.
God
does love the real
world...God
gave you the real world
in exchange for the one you made out of your split mind,
and which is the symbol of death. For if you could really
separate yourselves from the Mind of God you would die...
You
were willing to accept even death to deny your Father.
Yet He would not have it so, and so it is not so.
NOTE:
It should especially be noted that God has only
one Son...If
all the Souls God created are His Sons, then every Soul
must be an integral
part of the whole Sonship.
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There
has been a marked tendency of the Bible’s
followers... to be entirely literal about fear and
its effects, but not about love and its results.
Thus, “hellfire” means “burning,”
but raising the dead becomes allegorical. Actually,
it is the... references to the outcomes of love
which should be taken literally because the Bible
is about love, being about God.
Chap 8 Healing as Corrected Perception
The
Garden of Eden, which is described as a literal
garden in the Bible, was not an actual garden at
all. It was merely a mental state of complete need-lack.
Even in the literal account..the pre-separation
state was essentially one in which man needed nothing.
Chap
2 Illusion of Separation
When
you are afraid of anything, you are acknowledging
its power to hurt you. That is why the Bible speaks
of “The peace of God which passeth (human
ego) understanding.”
This peace is totally incapable of being shaken
by human (ego) errors of any kind. It denies the
ability of anything which is not of God to affect
you in any way. Chap
2
Reinterpretation of Defenses
When
the Bible says “Judge not that
ye be not judged” it merely means that if
you judge the reality of others at all, you will
be unable to avoid judging your own.
Chap 3 Judgment and the Authority Problem
For
I testify to every man that hears the words of the
prophecy of this book, If any man shall add to these
things, God shall add to
him the plagues that are written in this book...Revelation
22:18
I
am very grateful to the Apostles for their teaching,
and fully aware of the extent of their devotion
to me. Nevertheless, as you read the teachings of
the Apostles, remember that I told them myself that
here was much they would understand later, because
they were not wholly ready to follow me at the time.Chap
6 Message of the Crucifixion
I
came to fulfill the law by re-interpreting it. The
law itself, if properly understood, offers only
protection to man. It is those who have not yet
“changed their minds” who entered the
“hellfire” concept into it.
Chap
1 Miracle Prin #42

Emmet Fox was one of the outstanding spiritual teachers
of his time. While he lived he addressed some of the largest
audiences ever gathered to hear one man's thoughts on the
spiritual meaning of life.
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