The Flimsy Veil?

And what about that flimsy veil?

Well it is not a concept that is exclusively Christian. Other cultures and religions have their references to the veil…..

Eckhart says it this way:

The first part of this truth is the realizaiton that the normal state of mind of most human beings contains a strong element of what we might call dysfunction or even madness. Certain teachings at the heart of Hinuism perhaps come clsest to seeing the dysfunction as a form of collective mental illness. They call it maya, the veil of delusion. Christianity calls it original sin, Buddhism refers to it as dukkha which can be defined as suffering, unsatisfactoriness, or just plain suffering.

But scripture does, indeed, talk about it frequently in both the Old and New Testament….blaming the veil on the god of this world….(aka the egoic mind)

2 Corinthians 3:14-15 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament; which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.

2 Corinthians 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

And those blind eyes and deaf ears? The following verses address that….

Isaiah 6:9

And he said, "Go, and say to this people:

"'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing,but do not perceive.'

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Isaiah 42:18

Hear, you deaf,

and look, you blind, that you may see!

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Matthew 13:13

This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

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Ezekiel 12:2

"Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house.

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Jeremiah 5:21

"Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,

who have eyes, but see not,

who have ears, but hear not

Sheep gone astray

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Isaiah 53:6

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

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Natural minds discern the natural. Spiritual minds discern the things of the Spirit. Natural minds cannot discern the things of the Spirit because they each belong to distinctly different realms. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (I Cor. 2:14).

 

Eby goes on to say:

For natural minds to comprehend the spiritual is equally as impossible as for a creature of the animal kingdom to comprehend things human.

And so—until men are quickened by God's Spirit, until they are born again, born from above, born of the Spirit. and made alive to the realm of the Kingdom of Heaven, and are translated into it, it is impossible for them to have any understanding, either of God, or His ways, or of His realm.

Oh Lord…give us ears to hear and eyes to see……