OTHER TEACHINGS FROM the NEW TESTAMENT
Ernest Holmes
Evil is Created by Man (James 1:13)
"Very emphatically the writer tells us that God never tempts any man. He says that God cannot be tempted and that all temptation is from our own minds. It could not be stated more plainly. Evil is man created, while God - the Eternal Goodness - knows nothing about it. He is too pure to behold evil and cannot look upon it. Evil is the direct and suppositional opposite to good, and has no reality behind it, or actual law to come to its support. GOD TEMPTS NO MAN. It is a mistake to say that God tries us to see if we are fit to enter the kingdom of heaven. God tries no man.
We make our own mistakes, suffer from our own foolishness and we must also make our own return journey into righteousness. God was, is and will remain, the Essence of Life, Truth and Purity. Let us enter this Essence in belief and be freed from our unbelief and human mistakes.
All goodness and every good gift cometh from the Father of light. Darkness has no father, but is an illegitimate child of superstition and unbelief, having no parentage in Reality. The Universe is not divided against Itself. The good teacher said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
There is no shadow or turning in the Truth. It is just what It is, and there can be nothing either added to or taken from It. It is One and never two. We enter the One through a consciousness of unity with It.
Doers of the Word (James 1:22, 27)
"Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." This should teach us not to make idle talk about our understanding. What we know, we can do. What we cannot do, we only suppose...we only think we know. Unused knowledge is suppositional and unreal; it is an assumption and as such, never produced anything. Not everyone who says Lord, Lord, but those who do the will of Truth, enter in.
But we deceive ourselves when we boast about our understanding, and are unable to prove that we possess any! A silent conviction is worth more than the loudest proclamation from the housetops of those who shout affirmations to the great nowhere. An ounce of conviction is worth many pounds of affirmation.
Pure religion manifests itself through acts of kindness and mercy. It is not arrogant - claiming a front seat in heaven - but it is humble before the great Whole. It unifies with all humanity and finds no great difference between saint and sinner. Such a religion as this, the world of today needs, for it is sick of pretense and would like a practical demonstration of a belief in God, made manifest through good works.
The Law Is No Respecter of Persons (James 2:1-11)
James speaks of being convinced of the law as transgressors. He does not say that God is convinced we are transgressors, but that the law is convinced. This passage is filled with meaning. God is natural Goodness, Eternal Freedom, and pure Loving-kindness. But the Law is a cold, hard fact, returning to each the result of his own acts, be they false or true. The Law is a neutral, but an intelligent, force - a doer and not a knower. All law is of the same nature.
When we do wrong, the law punishes When we do right, it rewards. Everything is according to law and order; this is the only way the universe could function. If our thought is of God, or Good, we shall be using the Law in the right way. When our thoughts and acts are opposed to God, or Good, we transgress and are punished. "There is no sin but a mistake and no punishment but a consequence." In like manner, Emerson tells us "there is no sin but ignorance," and this is true, for if we knew the Truth, we should not misuse the law.
The law is no respecter of persons and will bring good or evil to any, according to his use or misuse of it. It will be a law of freedom to the righteous and one of bondage to those who misuse it. We cannot escape from the creative power of our thought and there is no use in trying to do so. All we need to do is to use the law from the right motive, then we shall be made free."
Ernest Holmes
Evil is Created by Man (James 1:13)
"Very emphatically the writer tells us that God never tempts any man. He says that God cannot be tempted and that all temptation is from our own minds. It could not be stated more plainly. Evil is man created, while God - the Eternal Goodness - knows nothing about it. He is too pure to behold evil and cannot look upon it. Evil is the direct and suppositional opposite to good, and has no reality behind it, or actual law to come to its support. GOD TEMPTS NO MAN. It is a mistake to say that God tries us to see if we are fit to enter the kingdom of heaven. God tries no man.
We make our own mistakes, suffer from our own foolishness and we must also make our own return journey into righteousness. God was, is and will remain, the Essence of Life, Truth and Purity. Let us enter this Essence in belief and be freed from our unbelief and human mistakes.
All goodness and every good gift cometh from the Father of light. Darkness has no father, but is an illegitimate child of superstition and unbelief, having no parentage in Reality. The Universe is not divided against Itself. The good teacher said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
There is no shadow or turning in the Truth. It is just what It is, and there can be nothing either added to or taken from It. It is One and never two. We enter the One through a consciousness of unity with It.
Doers of the Word (James 1:22, 27)
"Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." This should teach us not to make idle talk about our understanding. What we know, we can do. What we cannot do, we only suppose...we only think we know. Unused knowledge is suppositional and unreal; it is an assumption and as such, never produced anything. Not everyone who says Lord, Lord, but those who do the will of Truth, enter in.
But we deceive ourselves when we boast about our understanding, and are unable to prove that we possess any! A silent conviction is worth more than the loudest proclamation from the housetops of those who shout affirmations to the great nowhere. An ounce of conviction is worth many pounds of affirmation.
Pure religion manifests itself through acts of kindness and mercy. It is not arrogant - claiming a front seat in heaven - but it is humble before the great Whole. It unifies with all humanity and finds no great difference between saint and sinner. Such a religion as this, the world of today needs, for it is sick of pretense and would like a practical demonstration of a belief in God, made manifest through good works.
The Law Is No Respecter of Persons (James 2:1-11)
James speaks of being convinced of the law as transgressors. He does not say that God is convinced we are transgressors, but that the law is convinced. This passage is filled with meaning. God is natural Goodness, Eternal Freedom, and pure Loving-kindness. But the Law is a cold, hard fact, returning to each the result of his own acts, be they false or true. The Law is a neutral, but an intelligent, force - a doer and not a knower. All law is of the same nature.
When we do wrong, the law punishes When we do right, it rewards. Everything is according to law and order; this is the only way the universe could function. If our thought is of God, or Good, we shall be using the Law in the right way. When our thoughts and acts are opposed to God, or Good, we transgress and are punished. "There is no sin but a mistake and no punishment but a consequence." In like manner, Emerson tells us "there is no sin but ignorance," and this is true, for if we knew the Truth, we should not misuse the law.
The law is no respecter of persons and will bring good or evil to any, according to his use or misuse of it. It will be a law of freedom to the righteous and one of bondage to those who misuse it. We cannot escape from the creative power of our thought and there is no use in trying to do so. All we need to do is to use the law from the right motive, then we shall be made free."
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