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The major sticking point for the early fathers was how to explain the nature of Jesus. How could Jesus who had lived on earth also be God? How could He be regarded as being of the same nature as God? If He was the same nature as God, how come He appeared so naturally just like any other human being? Why was there no difference in his appearance for example? All these were perplexing questions that needed to be answered. The threat of a schism in the church was growing and something had to be done. How was the nature of Jesus to be explained? He had even affirmed that He was the Son of God.
The question, however, is to find out whether until the present day this issue has really been resolved, whether in the Christian mind an answer has really been found as to how a God would descend upon this earth and actually walk among humanity. Many of us to be sure would find this happening baffling and would probably conclude by saying that the ways of God are mysterious and leave it at that. But are the ways of God really meant to be mysterious? Only a happening that goes beyond the origin of the human spirit can remain a mystery but never a happening at his level or below him.
An incarnation out of the Light i.e. a coming of a Part of God to this earth need not lead to a change in the Laws of God already operating, otherwise a change would indicate an imperfection not only in the Laws themselves but an imperfect God. Since we all agree that God is perfect, this Perfection which is an attribute of His is what should be used as a yardstick in all our investigations. If we agree that God is perfect, then the Laws which issue from Him are also perfect, and perfection simply means immutability, unchanging into all eternity. If therefore, a Part of God is to come to this earth, a change in the Laws of God in regard to the processes involved would not be necessary for this to be accomplished.
The Laws issuing as they are from the perfection of God must also bear within them the qualities of their producer, which is perfection. One characteristic of these Laws is comprehensiveness. This quality means that they accommodate all happenings and every new happening. These Laws have already taken all happenings into consideration and provided for them, including all new happenings. No new laws need be created to specially accommodate or deal with a particular happening. This is very much unlike we human beings, whereby we continually fashion new laws to deal with unfamiliar events. New laws are constantly been passed by our legislators. This is a consequence of our imperfection whereby we are not able to view matters comprehensibly enough and as such pass laws beforehand to deal with any situation that might present itself. This quality the Creator possesses, consequently He does not need to pass new laws when an event like the birth of the Son of God was to take place on earth. The Laws are adequate for all happenings and no change is necessary in the processes that regulate an earthly birth.
The processes or laws which govern every earthly birth were not placed by human beings but by God Himself and these processes include: procreation, pregnancy, incarnation and birth. These processes being placed by God Himself must bear within them the perfection which is God’s and not one of these processes can be eliminated if the desired result is to be expected. If there is no procreation, there can be no pregnancy and if there is no pregnancy there can be no earthly birth. Nothing can be missing in this chain of events. The difficulty we have is that we place too much emphasis on the physical body and most of us do not know the difference between the physical body and the essence, the core which is the spirit. If we could differentiate between these two, then it would not be difficult for us to understand the processes that governed the earthly birth of Jesus and also how these processes govern the earthly birth of all human beings.
The physical body is a tool, an instrument that any soul wishing to live on earth is obliged to put on or acquire through the process of an earthly birth if he or she wishes to live on earth in an effective manner. It is nothing but a covering, a cloak and has nothing to do with his essence, his spirit which is the real human being. All human beings have their origin in the same realm called the Spiritual realm and as such we all bear within ourselves the same core or essence which is spirit. There are other beings however, which God has created who are higher than human beings or shall we say whose origin lie at a higher level. When these incarnate on earth, there would be no outward difference between them and human beings. The difference however lies in the core of such people. Their understanding of life and their conduct will be different since this is a manifestation of the inner core, but no physical difference. Everyone coming to the earth therefore is obliged to use the same form of body no matter his origin. Through this it can be seen that the physical body is really nothing but a tool needed only for earthly existence. Everyone coming to this earth will however have to go through the normal process of an earthly birth preceded by procreation, pregnancy and incarnation.
How the different human beings on earth are conceived is an important issue and this is not meant personally. Human beings are conceived through the process of a meeting between a man and a woman. Now the basis for this meeting is a most important process and can have a direct bearing on the kind of soul that would incarnate into the developing body in the womb. Generally a man and a woman meet for two reasons: either a love of the soul for each other with the effect of the sensual instinct being minimal or they meet out of sensual lust for each other with love of the soul being eliminated. For the former reason, we have to grade into whether there is a pure complete love of the soul or just a partial one. All these are important matters in all cases of conception.
We must realise that Mary was prenatally chosen to be the earthly mother of Jesus and already brought with her all the qualities that would help her in fulfilling her role. When the time drew near for her to conceive, she experienced the Annunciation. From that moment onwards her life changed and it was only concentrated in one direction: “to be allowed to experience a Divine Grace.” Mary therefore had an immaculate physical conception because all base instincts were removed from her. A condition assured through the Annunciation. This event had the effect that whatever Mary was doing was completely out of pure love of soul because her intuitions were completely pure. Her joys after the Annunciation can be gleaned from the Bible in the Magnificat Luke 2:46-55. The developing body in her womb therefore was conceived out of pure love of soul. This made her conception physically immaculate. With purity of thought reigning, nothing else could have been the result.
If two people of opposite sex come together with the purest love of the heart for each other and with purity of thoughts on both sides, then the product of their coming together or rather the process of their coming together is immaculate. Surely it cannot occur to us that the coming together of every woman and man is a sin and as such is dirty. If two people of opposite sex come together with the purest love of the heart for each other surely that cannot be a sin and everyone should consider it and judge whether this is a sin or not, otherwise every motherhood would have to be considered sinful and every meeting between two people of opposite sex, even if these two have the purest love for each other would also be a sin.
Mary’s immaculate physical conception provided the basis for an immaculate spiritual conception. Before going further however, the concept of incarnation must be explained. It goes beyond the scope of this book to fully consider this concept but it suffices to say that it has been with us for a long time. Incarnation simply means the entrance of a soul into a body. The soul enters into a body meant for it and takes full possession. For those who believe in the after-life and in the existence of a soul this should not be difficult to understand. Incarnation occurs in the middle of pregnancy and this corresponds to the first movements of the developing body in the womb. Before the soul incarnates, the developing body in the womb does not move and most mothers know that in the first few months there is indeed no movement at all but that suddenly after a few of months into the pregnancy which roughly corresponds to about the 4th month, the developing baby begins to show signs of life and in some attentive mothers it could also correspond to a change in their feelings at this time, a feeling of happiness, bliss or that of depression or oppression depending on the kind of soul that has incarnated. In the case of the human soul, the latter stays in the vicinity of the expectant mother and at the appropriate time it enters into the developing child’s body and this process gives the first shocks to the baby’s body which makes it move and which the mother can feel. This movement continues from this moment onwards until the child is born unless at some point the baby dies in the womb, whereby movement stops and by which time the soul that had previously occupied the body would have departed.
The Incarnation of Jesus was an Immaculate Spiritual one because it was an incarnation from out of the Light, out of God, not just any incarnation. Jesus therefore went through a normal process of birth. It was therefore not necessary to change any of the Laws. His physical growth was normal, His appearance and everything else was normal. The nature of Jesus therefore, should not have been a matter for much debate. His nature did not lie in His physical body which was just a tool He needed but in His essence, His core which He had derived from God. This was what allowed Him to do all He did though He did not look different from any other man. He had even said that He had not come to overthrow the Laws but to fulfil them which meant that He had come to adjust Himself to the existing Laws in Creation (Matt. 5:17). If the Laws of God stipulated a normal process of birth and development then He was ready to adjust Himself to that.