***Who Is The Son Of God?

We are all familiar with the idea of the “Son of God.” This is the Christian notion that Jesus of Nazareth was God the Father’s only begotte Son. Even without hearing a theological explanation, we know what this means. A father looks upon his son as an extension of his own nature, a carbon copy of him, “a chip off the old block.” This makes the son the father’s pride and joy. It entitles the son to everything the father has, including his estate, his name, and his place in the world. And this is how tradition has viewed Jesus, as enjoying a special relationship with God, as the bearer of God’s divinity and heir to His throne. Unfortunately, to place Jesus in such an exalted position has an automatic downside. It suggests that other great sages, such as Buddha or Lao Tzu, were beneath Jesus. In fact, it suggests that all of us are at least a step removed from the inner circle of God’s Love. And it also implies that Heaven is a male monopoly between a Father and a Son, and that women are consequently further from the Divine than men.nnA Course in Miracles* has an interesting approach to this dilemma. It uses the term Son of God, but to symbolize a truth that transcends Christian theology and that even transcends gender. This truth is that we all enjoy the most total and intimate relatedness to God, analogous to the total relatedness between an earthly father and his son—or betwee God and Jesus. The Course teaches that we are all Sons of God. As such, we are every bit the equal of Jesus in God’s eyes. The only difference is that we are asleep to the inconceivable exaltedness of our nature, while Jesus is awake. This is a stupendous notion, if you think about it. There is a passage in the Course (Workbook, p. 486) that can help us grasp its implications. It says that we thought we sinned and so have feared God’s wrath, but our “sins” were merely innocent mistakes; we simply did not understand. “And is a father angry at his son because he failed to understand the truth?” Therefore, we can come to God in honesty and say, “I didn’t understand, Father. Teach me.” Rather than responding with anger, God will rush to answer us, and say, “This is My Son, and all I have is his.” On the lips of an earthly father, these words mean a great deal. But coming from God, their meaning exceeds the scope of our comprehension. Please take a moment and imagine God saying to you personally, “You, [fill in your name], are My Son, and all I have is yours.” The Course encourages this, saying “for these are His Own words to you.” If you really treat them as that, you will understand exactly why the next line says, “And more than that can no one ever have, for in these words is all there is, and all that there will be throughout all time and in ete ity.”nnn*A Course in Miracles is a modern spiritual classic. It is aimed at training our minds to shift our perception from resentment to forgiveness, which it sees as the gateway to enlightenment. Its teachings blend Christianity, Eastern wisdom, and modern psychology with its own original themes.