The universe (and the Tree of Life) is composed of creative forces that we associate with the Feminine the Bible with the right hand of God or fallen as Lucifer (the light bearer) or the Hindu with Brahma characterized with unconditional love or degraded as delusional hedonistic chaos and on the other side the Tree has an organizing selective force that we associate with the masculine in the Bible with the left hand of God or as fallen with Satan or Ahriman and the Hindu associate with Shiva characterized by control, righteousness and purification or degraded as destruction. These creative and destructive forces are balanced in the middle way the integration of the masculine and feminine in a non dualistic state which in the Bible is the peace of God and Christ integrating love and righteousness of the Father God corresponding to the Hindu preserver of Vishnu- Peace and order. There are left hand and right hand secret societies and mystery schools like the Freemasons, Rosicrucians Anthroposophist theosophists, jesuits, skull and bone, illuminati and many other orders and cults some that seek to advance humanity and others to enslave humanity. Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life to the Father God. The peace of God that transcends all understanding guards our hearts and minds in Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament the right hand of God is the hand that rescues and saves, the left hand does His “alien work” of punishment. I don’t recall any linking to masculine or feminine; both hands are definitely powerful and the arms are depicted as those of a warrior.
It seems that God embodies all these aspects that we associate with the masculine and Feminine. Masculine aspects are associated with the organizational rational empiric mind that we would see in the law and righteousness and individual identity… Feminine aspects are associated with the heart- love, creativity, empathy, compassion and collective identity. of course This is behavioral (psychological) and not physical and not to say that all humans have both of these aspects within them in some degree.
We know that Jesus sits on the right hand of God
Pe 3:22 Who [ Christ] is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him
Also we know that those that are in Christ are at the right hand freed from the law and those that are are on the left side bound to the law
Mat 25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Adam was made in the image of God but God then made woman (Eve) from the rib or side of Adam. We are not told which side Eve came from Adam? But it would seem that in the Bible the right hand of God is righteousness with love forgiveness and purity that is embodied in Jesus Christ that we would associate with the feminine aspect . The left hand side is more the force of the law righteousness without love and forgiveness that we would associate more with the masculine aspect.
The left hand of God is a 1955 Humphrey Bogart film.
The right hand of God is a 2015 film of a man using a drone to search for the daughter of his ex-wife.
you know I was really struggling to understand the relevance of this entire thread until after a week or so away i came back to this and read your post here again. Now the light bulb moment has energised.
Absolutely love the relationship you have presented between Christ sitting at the right hand of God and freeing us from the wages of sin is death (punishment for disobeying the law)…that text in Matthew 25 is wonderful stuff, I am looking forward to discussing this with my dad (who is a university degree trained church minister) 
Look forward to hearing your dad’s thoughts.
There’s an old Lutheran hymn that has the line (going from my poor memory of the German) “God’s right hand is strong to save”. I was introduced to it as the start of a long word study on the use of the term “right hand of God” through the Old Testament. Three themes go with it – power/might, faithfulness, and salvation/redemption.
These all come together in Romans 8:
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised!—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
> we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When the Sanhedrin freaked out at Jesus’ saying the Son of Man would be sitting at God’s right hand, they didn’t just see a claim to power, they saw Jesus claiming that He would be in charge also of God’s faithfulness plus in charge of redemption!
lol. The transhumanist movement is part of the left hand schools that seek to play God manipulating the human genome and the human mind with AI. Obviously, that doesn’t end well!
That is only playing God if the role you have assigned to God is the one who manipulates the human genome and the human mind. I have not assigned God such a role.
I see the human genome as a product of evolution and it is religion which is most bent upon manipulating the human mind.
Nor do I think AI is about manipulating the human mind either. I think is just a better search engine to find the information we need better and faster. Except it also can teach how to play games like chess better than we have been.
My comment about the “hands of God” was basically that I have difficulty in seeing any theological meaning in such terms.
Well the evolution that I am talking about is the evolution of consciousness, the spirit and the soul to higher levels not some DNA point mutation that leads to an extra eye or finger ond advancing our”intelligence’ by adding an AI neurolink brain chip or whatever things the left hand path transhumanist minions dream about. We are all made in the image of God which is consciousness the Mind, Body (heart) and Spirit combined. Jesus offers everlasting life in the Way, the Truth and the Life returning us to the God the Father. The Bible refers to the Tree of Life representing eternal life that is lost in man’s fall from the Garden of Eden and restored in revelations to the redeemed in Christ.
Ai iwith AGI, ASI and quantum computers coming is advancing eXponentially but still is just mind that has no heart and no spirit…
We have one point of agreement.
I also think the tree of life represents eternal life lost in man’s fall and restored in Jesus by returning us to a relationship with God the Father.
I also believe reality is not limited to the physical only, but that there is a non-physical spiritual reality including a spiritual God who created the physical universe.
But I do not agree…
That our redemption is a matter of revelation of some knowledge like the Gnostics believe. Nor do I believe there is any transhuman conspiracy or even that transhumanism is evil. Sure most technology from the earliest and simplest like fire and drugs are dangerous – capable of misuse or unintended tragedy. All powerful things must be handled with great caution including religion. Radicalized religion using imaginary invisible wars to demonize people who disagree with them are a particularly dangerous thing to watch out for in religion. So while I never before heard of radicalized Hinduism, reading your posts caused me to look this up.
I do not agree with the hostile division you are making between life and consciousness. I think they are the same thing. Thus the evolution of life is the evolution of consciousness and visa versa. Though I would agree that this evolutionary development is not limited to biological evolution nor that life is limited to biological life. I think there is another kind of physical life represented by the human mind – a self-organizing process in the medium of human communication just as biological life is a self-organizing process in the medium of chemistry, with human language to rival DNA in its ability to store and transmit learned information.
I suspect further disagreements regarding the following…
I do not believe in reincarnation and this has always made it difficult for me to take Hindu scriptures very seriously. And this is not because I was raised to believe some other religion like Christianity. I was not. All I had growing up was science and psychology. From there I explored the various religions to see if I could find anything of value to me. I found the best value for me in the Bible and Christianity.
Thank you. There is nothing new under the Sun. Everyone can choose their path but should understand the consequences of their actions. As you say that you are in Christ our disagreement is much less than you think.
Christ came to reclaim all the fallen children of God. There is no other way than Christ back to the Father. There is a price to pay for the left hand transhumanist path. No machine no DNA sequence no AI will save anyone and get anyone near the Kingdom of God. Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Whoever seeks to save their life will lose it and whoever loses their life for Christ will find it.
Bonne Chance.
Congratulations on preaching a selfish and ungodly gospel.
Once Christians start laying down the law and both judging and condemning others they loose sight of both God and Christianity.
Richard
You make accusations without backing them up. Where is your basis for saying such things? He quotes John 10. Is this your reaction to John 10?
John 10 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber; 2 but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens; the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not heed them. 9 I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, 15 as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father.”
or is your problem with Matthew 16?
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?
By making such accusations without explaining what you are talking about, it sounds like you are attacking the Bible. Is that what you intend?
Whether Scripture indicates such thing or not, is not the point. Well , actually it is…
It is the difference between taking what we want from Scripture and understanding God. I could cite you numerous examples of Scripture to back up what he said, and what Christianity often teaches. I will admit, that backing up my iew takes a little loonger, like backing up the Trinity. It is there, but not so obvious.
So, not i did not attempt to back up my assertion, but if you and others wish to place simplistic Scritural understanding as a justification for selfish and judgemental Christianity, go right ahead. I am sure God will understand, even if if it is not what He thought He revealed.
Treating this life as a rite of passage to the next misses the whole meaning of this iife, and demeans both it and God.
Richard
Surely my intent is not to lead people away from Christ but to lead them to Christ as he “is the Way, the Truth and the Life no one comes to the Father God but through Jesus Christ” and that he is the good Shepard for everlasting life. It is funny to say that this is judgmental “as in fact that in Christ we are freed from jsin, death and judgment giving everlasting life.
Judge as you will be judged and measured as you will be measured
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Jesus is the Truth and the Truth sets us Free.
It is by the teachings of Jesus that we can align 'walking by faith" with the Holy Spirit in this life and everlasting life. I do not know where the left hand or right hand path leads those that are not in Christ but it does not lead to the Kingdom of Heaven either on Earth or Heaven.
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
I have no desire to take away from anyone that is already walking with Christ but to affirm and enhance their walk with Jesus Christ. Christ teachings are for both our life here on Earth and for everlasting life in Heaven.
I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
Jesus teachings though the word of God revealing the mysteries of the Spirit are made simple for all to understand and follow.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
But we are told to sow for the spirit that benefits us both in this life and the next. It is walking with the Holy Spirit and with the Holy Spirit in us that we gain in this life and the reward of everlasting life instead of death for sowing for the flesh that reaps eternal death.
Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
Nice sermon. Bit old hat, though.
It is not me who is juging.
Richard
Thank you! I know the author! Yes oldies but eternal goodies!! The Truth never dies!
Shame you put the wrong emphasis onto His words, though.
Still. can’t have everything right, we are human after all.
Justremember that it is God and God alone who makes people worthy.
No human has an enttlement to Heaven.
And the contra is that we cannot veto it either. We cannot frighten or bribe people to love God.
Richard
The right hand of God in the Bible doesn’t have anything to do with oppositions or masculinity. It’s just metonymy for strength and authority. Probably because most people are right-handed and it was common knowledge in the ancient world that people hit harder and swing a sword more powerfully right-handed.