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A Course in Miracles The Resurrection There is another point which must be perfectly clear before any residual fear which may still be associated with miracles becomes entirely groundless... The
crucifixion did not establish the Atonement;
the resurrection did.
This is a point that many very sincere Christians have misunderstood. If the crucifixion is seen from an upside-down point of view, it does appear as if God permitted, and even encouraged, one of His sons to suffer because he was good.
Many ministers preach this every day. This particularly unfortunate interpretation, which arose out of the combined misprojections of a large number of "would-be" followers, has led many people to be bitterly afraid of God. This particularly anti-religious concept enters into many religions, and this is neither by chance or coincidence. Yet the real Christian would have to pause and ask,
Is it likely that God Himself would be capable of the kind of thinking which His Own Words have clearly stated is unworthy of man? (The Bible teaches "Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful." Luke 6:36) Persecution is a frequent result, undertaken to justify the terrible misperception that God Himself persecuted His Own Son on behalf of salvation. The very words are meaningless. It has been particularly difficult to overcome this (misperception) because, although the error itself is no harder to overcome than any other, men were unwilling to give this one up because of its prominent escape value. In milder forms, a parent says, "This hurts me more than it hurts you," and feels exonerated in beating a child.
It is so essential that all such thinking be dispelled, that we must be very sure that nothing of this kind remains in your mind.
I Was Not Punished I was not punished because you were bad. The wholly benign lesson the Atonement teaches is lost if it is tainted with this kind of distortion in any form.
is a strictly karmic viewpoint. It is a real misperception of truth, by which man assigns his own evil past to God. The evil conscience from the past has nothing to do with God. He did not create it and He does not maintain it. God does not believe in karmic retribution. His Divine Mind does not create that way. He does not hold the evil deeds of a man even against himself. Is it likely, then, that He would hold against anyone the evil that another did? Be very sure that you recognize how utterly impossible this assumption really is, and how entirely it arises from misprojection. This kind of error is responsible for a host of related errors, including the belief that God rejected man and forced him out of the Garden of Eden. I have made every effort to use words that are almost impossible to distort, but man is very inventive when it comes to twisting symbols around. Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God. It arises solely from fear. This is particularly unfortunate because frightened people are apt to be vicious. Sacrificing another in any way is a clear-cut violation of God's own injunction that man should be merciful, even as his Father in Heaven. (Luke 6:36) It has been hard for many Christians to realize that this commandment also applies to themselves. Good teachers never terrorize their students. To terrorize is to attack, and this results in rejection of what the teacher offers. The result is learning failure.
The Lamb of God
Those who represent the lamb as blood-stained, an all-too-widespread error, do not understand the meaning of the (lamb) symbol. Correctly understood, it is a very simple parable which merely speaks of my innocence. The lion and the lamb lying down together refers to the fact that strength (lion) and innocence (lamb) are not in conflict, but naturally live in peace.
is another way of saying the same thing. A pure (sane) mind knows the truth, and this is its strength. It cannot attack the body because it recognizes exactly what the body is. This is what a sane (pure) mind in a sane body really means. It does not confuse destruction with innocence, because it associates innocence with strength, not with weakness. Innocence is incapable of sacrificing anything, because the innocent mind has everything and strives only to protect its wholeness. This is why it cannot misproject. It can only honor man, because honor is the natural greeting of the truly loved to others who are like them. "The lamb taketh away the sins of the world," John 1:29 only in the sense that the state of innocence, or grace, is one in which the meaning of the Atonement is perfectly apparent.
Innocence of God The innocence of God is the true state of the mind of His Son. In this state, man's mind does see God in the sense that he sees Him as He is, and realizes that the Atonement, not sacrifice, is the only appropriate gift to His Own altar, where nothing except true perfection belongs. The understanding of the innocent is truth. That is why their altars are truly radiant! Innocence is wisdom because it is unaware of evil, which does not exist. It is, however, perfectly aware of everything that is true. The Resurrection demonstrated that nothing can destroy truth. Good can withstand any form of evil, as light abolishes forms of darkness. The Atonement is therefore the perfect lesson. It is the final demonstration that all of the other lessons which I taught are true. Man is released from all errors if he believes in this. Nothing can prevail against a Son of God who commends his spirit into the hands of his Father. By doing this, the mind awakens from its sleep and remembers its Creator. |
Was There a Physical Resurrection? My body disappeared because I had no illusion about it. The last one had gone. It was laid in the tomb, but there was nothing left to bury. It did not disintegrate because the unreal cannot die. It merely became what it always was. And that is what "rolling the stone away" means...the body disappears, and no longer hides what lies beyond. It merely ceases to interfere with vision. To roll the stone away is to see beyond the tomb, beyond death, and to understand the body’s nothingness. What is understood as nothing must disappear. I did assume a human form with human attributes afterwards, to speak to those who were to prove the body's worthlessness to the world. This has been much misunderstood. I came to tell them that death is illusion, and the mind that made the body can make another since form itself is an illusion. They did not understand. But now I talk to you and give you the same message: The death of an illusion means nothing. It disappears when you awaken and decide to dream no more. And you still do have the power to make this decision as I did. God holds out His hand to His Son to help him rise and return to Him. I can help because the world is illusion, and I have overcome the world. Look past the tomb, the body, the illusion. Have faith in nothing but the spirit and the guidance God gives you. He could not have created the body because it is a limit. He must have created the spirit because it is immortal. Can those who are created like Him be limited? The body is the symbol of the world. Leave it behind. It cannot enter Heaven. But I can take you there anytime you choose. Together we can watch the world disappear and its symbol vanish as it does so. And then, and then… I cannot speak of that... A body cannot stay
without illusions, and the last one to be over come is death.
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