{"id":7709,"date":"2012-03-20T15:42:54","date_gmt":"2012-03-20T21:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/?p=7709"},"modified":"2012-03-20T15:42:54","modified_gmt":"2012-03-20T21:42:54","slug":"being-born-again-thomas-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/03\/20\/being-born-again-thomas-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Being Born Again, Thomas Style"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"
Mural by David Bjorngen from John the Baptist Church at the Jordan River (Wikimedia Commons image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Today we have Part 3 of Bob\u2019s reflections on the Gospel of Thomas:<\/em><\/p>\n

Being \u201cborn again\u201d is a popular term in some Christian denominations, but it is generally not so popular among many mainline Christians. In the Gospel of Thomas <\/a>\"\"I learned of a new way of understanding this phrase, one that is quite radical and subversive.<\/p>\n

In saying 3 Jesus says, \u201cIf your leaders say to you, \u2018Look! The Kingdom is in the sky!\u2019 Then the birds will be there before you are. If they say that the Kingdom is in the sea, then the fish will be there before you are. Rather the Kingdom is within you and it is outside of you. When you understand yourselves you will be understood\u2026.If you do not know yourselves, then you exist in poverty and you are that poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew Harvey says this about the significance of this saying: \u201cJesus is, consciously and with the most subversive imaginable scorn, mocking all versions of the spiritual journey that place the ultimate experience beyond this world, in some transcendent \u2018otherwhere.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

I mentioned earlier that the so-called gnostic heresy is condemned, rightly I believe, because it denigrates the world and creates all sorts of metaphysical flights-of-fancy that take us astray. In this saying, Jesus is claiming that the otherworldly perspectives of most Christian orthodoxies ultimately are guilty of the same heresy: when the Kingdom is transcendent and the world is an illusion, the status quo is kept intact with all its misery, horror, and injustice. In this framework, God does all the work\u2014all we must do is believe\u2014and the good stuff will be given to us in the future, otherworldly Kingdom.<\/p>\n

Thus far we have explored mainly what the Kingdom is not<\/em> for Thomas, with a metaphor of light<\/em> for what we will experience if we achieve Jesus\u2019 Kingdom-consciousness. But what is involved in taking this path? Perhaps the most revelatory saying is number 22:<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples: These infants taking milk are like those who enter the Kingdom. His disciples asked him: If we are infants will we enter the Kingdom? Jesus responded: When you make the two into one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the upper like the lower and the lower like the upper, and thus make the male and female the same, so that the male isn\u2019t male and the female isn\u2019t female. When you make an eye to replace an eye, and a hand to replace a hand, and a foot to replace a foot, and an image to replace an image, then you will enter the Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n

There you go\u2014that seems easy enough! Riddles indeed\u2026 Tomorrow I\u2019ll have a go at unpacking this key passage, using not only other sayings in Thomas, but also what we now know about Ken Wilber\u2019s higher consciousness from his studies of gurus such as Sri Aurobindo from India.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we have Part 3 of Bob\u2019s reflections on the Gospel of Thomas: Being \u201cborn again\u201d is a popular term in some Christian denominations, but it is generally not so popular among many mainline Christians. In the Gospel of Thomas I learned of a new way of understanding this phrase, one that is quite radical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2582,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[387,833],"class_list":["post-7709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-gospel-of-thomas","tag-jesus"],"yoast_head":"\nBeing Born Again, Thomas Style<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today we have Part 3 of Bob\u2019s reflections on the Gospel of Thomas: Being \u201cborn again\u201d is a popular term in some Christian denominations, but it is\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/03\/20\/being-born-again-thomas-style\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Being Born Again, Thomas Style\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today we have Part 3 of Bob\u2019s reflections on the Gospel of Thomas: Being \u201cborn again\u201d is a popular term in some Christian denominations, but it is\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/03\/20\/being-born-again-thomas-style\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Holy Rover\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-20T21:42:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/files\/2012\/03\/Mural_-_Jesus_Baptism-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lori Erickson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lori Erickson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/03\/20\/being-born-again-thomas-style\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/03\/20\/being-born-again-thomas-style\/\",\"name\":\"Being Born Again, Thomas Style\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-03-20T21:42:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-03-20T21:42:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/66e798593cfa9b70fcd5c97aa9ca7933\"},\"description\":\"Today we have Part 3 of Bob\u2019s reflections on the Gospel of Thomas: Being \u201cborn again\u201d is a popular term in some Christian denominations, but it is\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/03\/20\/being-born-again-thomas-style\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/03\/20\/being-born-again-thomas-style\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/03\/20\/being-born-again-thomas-style\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Being Born Again, Thomas Style\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/\",\"name\":\"Holy Rover\",\"description\":\"Practical Advice for Spiritual Travels\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/66e798593cfa9b70fcd5c97aa9ca7933\",\"name\":\"Lori Erickson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eccf48891e91c03ddbb504238ae4c524?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eccf48891e91c03ddbb504238ae4c524?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lori Erickson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/author\/lerickson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Being Born Again, Thomas Style","description":"Today we have Part 3 of Bob\u2019s reflections on the Gospel of Thomas: Being \u201cborn again\u201d is a popular term in some Christian denominations, but it is","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/03\/20\/being-born-again-thomas-style\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Being Born Again, Thomas Style","og_description":"Today we have Part 3 of Bob\u2019s reflections on the Gospel of Thomas: Being \u201cborn again\u201d is a popular term in some Christian denominations, but it is","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/03\/20\/being-born-again-thomas-style\/","og_site_name":"Holy Rover","article_published_time":"2012-03-20T21:42:54+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/files\/2012\/03\/Mural_-_Jesus_Baptism-300x200.jpg"}],"author":"Lori Erickson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lori Erickson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/03\/20\/being-born-again-thomas-style\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/03\/20\/being-born-again-thomas-style\/","name":"Being Born Again, Thomas Style","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-03-20T21:42:54+00:00","dateModified":"2012-03-20T21:42:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/66e798593cfa9b70fcd5c97aa9ca7933"},"description":"Today we have Part 3 of Bob\u2019s reflections on the Gospel of Thomas: Being \u201cborn again\u201d is a popular term in some Christian denominations, but it is","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/03\/20\/being-born-again-thomas-style\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/03\/20\/being-born-again-thomas-style\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/03\/20\/being-born-again-thomas-style\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Being Born Again, Thomas Style"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/","name":"Holy Rover","description":"Practical Advice for Spiritual Travels","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/66e798593cfa9b70fcd5c97aa9ca7933","name":"Lori Erickson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eccf48891e91c03ddbb504238ae4c524?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eccf48891e91c03ddbb504238ae4c524?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Lori Erickson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/author\/lerickson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2582"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7709\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}