Presence: A Global Conversation for a New Earth.

Salvation was a journey from Archaic Adam to Christ. The amount of time in this journey points to the nature of evolution. You cannot force it. Why didn't God simply send Jesus after Adam and Eve had their eyes opened? Because they were not ready to comprehend the mind of Christ. Everything that happened in the history of humanity was necessary for incremental growth. Thanks for joining us as we c...

The culmination of universal salvation was revealed historically in the changing of the worlds. The first World or Age had a necessary role and function for teaching Israel (as our model) about the principles of Law. Those principles were just as necessary as the one revealed in the 1st tier of the Spiral. But once that function reached its fulfillment, humanity was ready for its next step in cons...

Well, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. So we discuss this thing called salvation and set the stage for our concluding episodes when we return mid-January. We hope you continue to part of these conversations. We also hope you and your loved ones have a great holiday season!

Our human identity comes from God as source. We are of God, meaning children of God. God is also the source of the space called New Heaven and Earth. It is deliverance into this space that defines salvation. Once again God is the source of deliverance into this space just as God was the source of deliverance for Israel from Egyptian bondage. Being created of God is the "whereby" of our identity. B...

In this episode we discuss the concept of acceptance as salvation. The religion of Christianity has historically stressed pleasing God via obedience to some form of criteria necessary for salvation. But we consider whether acts of pleasing God in order to be accepted really reflect the message of Christ. Isn't the Narrative moving in the opposite direction? Do children need to please their parents...

Salvation has been tied to the evangelical viewpoint starting in the Traditional level. But there has been a mass migration away from fundamentalism over the last 20 years. This reflects a change in the understanding of what it means to be saved. Is salvation for the few who please God through doing? Is salvation universal? What does the Biblical Narrative tell us? We continue our introductory rem...

Doug and Cody begin a series of podcasts on the subject of salvation. This series will be a discussion of salvation history and the various interpretations that have been handed down. Today the discussion begins with the personal views and experiences of Doug and Cody. The series is intended to reframe traditional views of being saved by tracing what the Narrative has to say from Adam to Christ. ...

Cody and Doug host an interview with Joran Oppelt. Joran is author of "Integral Church." He and his wife reside in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area where Joran is the owner of the Metta Center. We talk with him about his integral group and how he sees the future of faith communities. Joran is another example of the evolutionary leap beyond traditional Christianity. Thanks for joining us.

Cody and Doug host an interview with Joran Oppelt. Joran is author of "Integral Church." He and his wife reside in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area where Joran is the owner of the Metta Center. We talk with him about his integral group and how he sees the future of faith communities. Joran is another example of the evolutionary leap beyond traditional Christianity. Thanks for joining us.

We can trace the understanding and interpretation of the Body of Christ from the first century to the present using the Spiral. The first century followers lived in the center of a Blue (Traditional) worldview. They naturally interpreted from an institutional framework. Just as the Roman Empire had a Caesar, Generals, and Centurions so also the Body of Christ became an entity ruled by a Pope, Card...

The role and function of Jesus was transformative. Jesus is the firstborn one from the dead (all in Adam). The body of Christ was also transformative. They were the firstborn ones from the dead. What came after Christ and His body? The resurrection of all the dead. Where do we live today? We live in the space beyond the transformative work of Jesus and His body. We live in a new heaven and earth w...

The body of Christ, as it has been understood for centuries, is a great example of divisiveness. Christianity is an interpretation of Jesus Christ as a new form, displacing the form of Moses. The church became a particularistic, form-based model.  We continue to discuss the enormous ramifications of interpreting Jesus Christ as Trans-Form. This approach frames Jesus and His body as eschatological...

Paul emphasized the necessity of dying to form and form attachment. In 1 Cor. 2:2 he said, "I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified." The followers in Corinth were struggling with their understanding of role and function in the first century transformation of the ages. It is a natural instinct to identify with a spiritual teacher and a particular group. T...

Today we focus on the concept of the cross event with regard to its meaning for the body. This first century collective was to imitate the role and function of the individual Christ. The cross is a symbol of dying to something. The collective body was entering into death with Christ. Paul is emphasizing the importance of dying when he wrote to them, "I determined not to know anything among you exc...

Today we look at Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. He expresses his concerns in chapters 1-3 about their understanding of the Body of Christ. Paul's question was, "Is Christ divided?" This question draws attention to our trajectory of evolutionary consciousness. The end goal of the Narrative was to deliver humanity into a new unified space called a New Heaven and Earth. Unity is a primary th...

Today we wrap up our eschatology overview. We've given this perspective from the insights of integral theory, specifically with regard to the quadrants. Please refer to the book by Ken Wilber, "A Theory of Everything." This is a good starting place to see how an all in all God fits beautifully into an integral framework. Today we conclude with the radical difference in interpretation related to an...

We are bringing the focus on eschatology to a close for now in these last 2 episodes. Our discussion today further looks at the reasons why an integral view of eschatology must include a collective known as the Body of Christ. First we illustrate the 4 quadrants which are an aspect of Integral Theory. The Body is represented in the lower quadrants. Then we use the VENN diagram to illustrate and ma...

We continue our discussion of eschatology and kingdom. Israel represents kingdom in the 1st tier sense of form. The throne of David is a literal throne adjacent to the Temple. The Davidic kings ruled over a geographical territory. This kingdom, in the realm of form, was subjected to other kingdoms and empires such as Assyria, Babylonia and Rome. As Trans-Form, Jesus ascends to the symbolic throne...

This discussion introduces the concept of Kingdom and its role in the Narrative as well as its relationship to eschatology. Kingdom represents the seat of power. The source of power is the subject of the story. In the beginning of human consciousness, the egoic self seeks to grasp power as a means of survival. The story of the Kingdom of Israel has much to teach us about our own journey. We discus...

How do we answer the question, "who am I?" Our existence and our very identity depend on the environment or the space in which we live. Today we discuss this idea of identity and environment/space from the perspective of the initial heavens and earth as a consciousness of form that evolves and transforms into a New Heaven and Earth, meaning a new space. That new space of human identity is God spac...

An integral approach to eschatology includes the 2nd tier space of being, formlessness and spirit. This space is defined in cosmological terms as new heaven and earth and new Jerusalem. The lower right quadrant of an integral interpretation takes into account the cosmology of form and its developmental history through the centuries in the narrative. We propose God space as the realm of our next ev...

Today we continue our discussion on the role and function of the collective (body of Christ) with regard to Trans-Form within the 1st century. The Quadrants model informs us from an integral standpoint that evolution involves both the self as well as the collective. This is why the Narrative says so much about eschatology beyond the Cross. It is also why eschatology has been the 2000 year-old thor...

We continue our discussion of eschatology as it relates to the model of the Quadrants in Integral Theory. We began in the last episode with the UL (upper left) and UR (upper right) quadrants addressing the individual. We discussed these in terms of Jesus of Nazareth and his internal consciousness (UL) and his external biological body (UR). Today we move into the LL (lower left) and LR (lower right...

Eschatology is a transformative movement in salvation history spanning a 40 year period within the first century from the Cross event to the Temple event. In an integral approach, the upper quadrants represent elements of the individual while the lower quadrants deal with the collective. Today we talk about eschatology and the collective. Just as the cross was an external event in history involvin...

Cody and I introduce some basic concepts today including some personal experiences shared by Cody as he grew up in his church. Our discussion of an Integral Theology moves into the realm of Trans-Form or the end of 1st Tier in the Spiral and the beginning of 2nd Tier. **Note again on the Venn Diagram where eschatology is located in the trajectory of the Narrative. Its role and function is both dyi...