 My
painting titled That They Also May Be One In Us
is based on the prayer of the Christ as written in the
Gospel of John.This is a powerful prayer which expresses the marvelous, deep meaning of the mission of the Christ in the world. I selected part of verse 21 to use in the painting because for me, these words jump out as having astounding significance. The verse in its entirety describes a unique relationship among God, Jesus the Christ, and all humankind. Indeed, these words are saying that we are all one – God, Christ, and us. How it is that we are all interconnected as one is yet a mystery. I anticipate that one day science will be able to explain the biological/psychological system involved in our oneness. However, we don’t need to know how it is that we are one, in order for us to think and act with the knowledge that our oneness is the supreme reality of our being. I believe our absolute, eternal oneness is what Jesus referred to as the kingdom of God. When Jesus talked about being born again, I have the idea that his meaning may have been that we must live a new life based not on the belief of the old life that we were born separate but we are born into the Kingdom of God. In addition to Jesus's prayer in the Garden (John 17:1-26), the New Testament scripture selections which speak of the oneness of all people and God are: John 14:20, Acts 17:28, Romans 12:5, Galatians 3:28, 1 Corinthians 8:6 and 12:12 – 27. The way I read and interpret these scriptures, our oneness is not something we need to accept as a reward for our belief. I have come to the conclusion that our inclusion in the kingdom of God is a reality even if we don't accept it.  CREATE A FREE ONLINE JOURNAL -- CLICK HERE or HERE  
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Copyright, James Bennett 2021