“... unless you change and become like little children ..." (Matthew 18:3-4)

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 18:1-4)

What does Jesus mean by, 'become like little children'?

A young child is not in control and tends to be humbled as a result. An innocent child will typically be completely dependent upon his or her parents. Theoretically, they have yet to be able to truly exercise their desires for control because their bodies are too small. So they are typically somewhat humble, innocent and trusting. Jesus is comparing this to the attitude one must have to become dedicated to God.

The phrase, 'kingdom of heaven' is not describing entering a location. He is describing entering a consciousness. The word "kingdom" is being translated from the Greek word βασιλεία (basileia), which means, according to the lexicon, "royal power, kingship, dominion, rule - not to be confused with an actual kingdom but rather the right or authority to rule over a kingdom."

The word "heaven" is being translated from the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos), which means, according to the lexicon, "where God dwells."

In other words, Jesus is speaking of a person becoming devoted to the Supreme Being.

This is confirmed by the major teaching of Jesus - also taught by John and Jesus told his followers to also teach it:

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. (Matthew 4:17)

As defined with that teaching, Jesus (and John before him) is explaining that God is readily available. It is not a location that we have to wait until our bodies are dead to enter. We can approach the Supreme Being at any time.

This contrasts with the teachings of many institutions that teach that we have to join their sect in order to be saved. Remember that Jesus walked around preaching to people on the streets or hillsides. And John taught from the wilderness. Neither promoted the concept that we have to join a group in order to gain God's mercy.

Many imagine God to be a burning bush, a thunderous voice, or even a void. These are not accurate. Jesus and Moses taught that God is lovable. They taught that the Supreme Being is wonderful and beautiful. 

God is loveable because He is the most loving. He is the most giving. He is the most fun. He is courteous and gracious. He is perfectly worthy of everyone’s praise and attention, because He is in fact, the Supreme Person. He is, in fact, the Greatest.

Therefore, in our pure state of consciousness, our lives become focused on loving and serving the Supreme Being. In the spiritual world, each person is focused upon their specific relationships with God and with God’s other children. These relationships are not void or boring. They are complex and fun, and always blissful. About the closest we can come to in comparison within the physical world would be watching very young children play.

We can enter such a state of consciousness at any time - because as Jesus taught, God is readily available.

What does Jesus mean by 'unless you change'?

It is not surprising that Jesus was asked who was the greatest in heaven. This was a concern among Jesus' disciples, and likewise is a typical concern among those of us in the physical world. 

We all want to be the greatest. We all want to be king. We all want to dominate and rule over others. We all want to be loved by everyone and praised. This, precisely, is our disease: We want to be like God.

Most of us living within temporary physical bodies are doing so because we have this disease. We have the disease of wanting to be God. At some point, each of us became self-centered. This resulted in us desiring what God has.

In other words, we saw God getting all the attention. We saw God in control. We saw that God has the admiration and praise of others. We wanted to have those things.

This is precisely the symbolism of the apple and the tree of knowledge discussed in Genesis. Because we wanted to become like God, we sought God's position. We wanted to be in control. To be master instead of our natural position of loving servant. As stated by the serpent in Genesis:

"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:5)

And later, after Adam ate the fruit, God said:

"The man has now become like one of Us, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:22)

What is 'knowing good and evil'?

This may not be the best translation. The two Hebrew words are טוב (towb) and רע (ra`) - which have a closer meaning of "pleasure" and "pain."

The concept of self-centeredness leads to pleasure and pain because these are related to seeking our own satisfaction - rather than the satisfaction of the Supreme Being - our innate position.

The Supreme Being and His expansions ("Us" above) innately experience pleasure and pain - but those who love and serve Him do not experience this separately because their pleasure is based upon the Supreme Being's pleasure.

Once we became self-centered, we were no longer suitable for the humble loving relationships of the spiritual world. Those relationships belong to those who are, as Jesus describes, "like little children".

Thus we have an apt comparison. There are those who want to be, "like little children," and then there are those of us who want to be, "like God." This is the essence of the contrast between these two types of souls.

For those in the latter type, God gave us this physical body and this physical dimension where we could seek out our self-centered happiness:

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. (Genesis 3:21)

Did the Supreme Being go out and make fur coats for Adam and Eve or something? Don't be ridiculous. This is a symbolic story of how we all fell into the physical world. These "garments of skin" are the physical bodies each of us occupies.

Why can we forget God here?

Some will challenge God's existence (those who are not like little children) suggesting that God cannot exist because we can't see Him with our eyes.

Here in this physical dimension, within these physical bodies, we cannot see God because these physical bodies were designed not to be able to see into the spiritual realm. Why?

So that we can forget the Supreme Being exists. We can go about trying to get pleasure for ourselves. We can try to dominate and rule over others. Here we can find our own little niche and have others praise us as being great.

Here, we can assemble our own little "kingdom" where we rule the roost. This might be our house and family members, or perhaps we are the boss of a little office of people. And if nothing else, we can get a pet or two and be their king.

Or perhaps we even become famous as an actor or politician, and we can rule over many others or have many fans.

In some way, we get to develop our little kingdom where we try to rule over and/or be respected and praised by others. Even unsuccessful people get to find some kind of group we can have the illusion of control over, even if it is simply a couple of pets or some children.

We can go pretty far here pretending that we are the greatest. This, in fact, is what most of the self-help gurus teach us: They want us to think: "I am the greatest. The world revolves around me. I can do whatever I want."

These are all the illusions of someone who is jealous of God’s control. These are the desires of someone that wants to be in God’s position.

The only problem is that we are not in control. We are not in God's position. We do not really rule over others. We might think we are ruling over others or someone, but we can never really control others.

This is because those we are trying to control also want control. They might pretend they respect us, but really they are thinking they are in control, as they manipulate us with their feigned expressions of respect. In other words, we are all in a mutual illusion that we are somehow in control of something.

Aren't we in control?

None of us really has any control. We cannot control the weather. We cannot control our environment. While we try to manipulate others, we cannot really control them, because they will always have the freedom to at least think as they wish. Even oppressive governments cannot totally control their people, though they may try pretty hard. At some point, people begin to get out of hand.

And even if the dictator or emperor remains in power throughout his lifetime of 60-75 years, the dictator will still be subject to disease, old age, and finally death. So even a great ruler such as Caesar or Napoleon never achieved complete control, despite their thirst for it. They could not control time. They could not prevent their own demise.

In other words, they only had a temporary illusion of control.

The only control we have is the freedom to choose our direction in life. We can choose where to focus our attention. We can choose what we aim for. We can choose whether we want to serve God or serve ourselves.

If we choose to serve ourselves, we end up serving the physical body and the forms of the physical world.

Can we humble ourselves like children?

We can not enter into the consciousness that Jesus is teaching with an attitude that we are the greatest. We cannot enter into the world of loving God with an attitude of self-centeredness. Such an attitude is like being a bull in a china shop.

We might compare this to an adult trying to enter into a game that a group of small children is playing. The adult just would not fit in. The adult would be not only too big physically, but they likely could not relate well with the game or the children. The adult would probably over-emphasize the rules and the scoring system to enable someone to win, while the children would likely not care who scored the most points. The children want to just ‘play.’

Jesus' analogy is not perfect. Children often attempt to manipulate their parents to get what they want. Children can be very self-centered. We can also assume that children were probably better mannered during Jesus' day compared to modern children with regards to respecting elders. Therefore, it is safe to say that the child Jesus had stood before the group as he talked was better behaved and humbled than many children in modern society.

While we have this disease of wanting control, each of us is, deep within, naturally meek. This is evidenced by the respect we tend to give to those who act humbly, and the disdain we give those who act proudly. This is because within, we relate with being humble.

The ultimate act of humility is love. This is actually Jesus' primary instruction:

" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)

“You travel over land and sea to win a single convert ..." (Matthew 23:15)

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.” (Matthew 23:15)

Why did Jesus say they 'travel over land and sea'?

Over the centuries, missionaries have traveled by boat and by land, and now by air to distant locations to convert those of other beliefs to their particular doctrine. By Jesus’ statement, we know this was also taking place during his time among the institutional temples.

Historically, Judaism was spread throughout the Middle Eastern region. After the Jerusalem temple was destroyed around 587 BCE, there was a rebuilding of Judaism in the region. This is often referred to as the Second Temple Period, and lasted between about 516 BCE to about 70 CE - after the Jerusalem temple was again destroyed, this time by the Romans.

During that Second Temple Period, Judaism expanded, partly through the missionary activities of temple priests and Pharisees.

During the life of Jesus, these missionary activities focused on the conversion of people into the temple organization and their acceptance of various rituals.

Jesus rejected this focus on rituals by the temple priests, just as Jesus' teacher, John the Baptist did. For example, we find these verses in Matthew:

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." (Matthew 3:7-10)

What about later missionaries?

We can also draw lessons from Jesus' statement with regard to some of the missionary expeditions that have been done in Jesus' name over the centuries, also done "over land and sea."

If we consider these missionary efforts, we find that some incorporated violence and intimidation to convert natives in foreign lands. This was often followed by confiscating lands and commodities from native peoples. As a result, over the centuries, native cultures have been damaged or severely diminished.

For example, we find that in the 15th Century there were several edicts issued by the Roman Catholic Church that encouraged missionary expeditions that confiscated lands and enslaved natives. In 1452 Pope Nicholas V issued the Dum Diversas papal bull that allowed Portugal's mission led by King Afonso V to conquer lands and convert "pagans and any other unbelievers to perpetual slavery."

In 1455, the Romanus Pontifex papal bull authorized Afonso to expand this seizure of land, which encouraged the enslavement of West Africans.

European missions eventually used these kinds of authorizations to conquer lands in the Americas and the Pacific island nations, enslaving many of those peoples.

These activities also provided the foundation for the slave trade from Africa to the Americas and Europe. (Though in fairness, later papal bulls tried to discourage slavery.)

Some of these missionaries apparently did not accept or realize that many native peoples were already worshiping the Supreme Being in their own manner. For example, we find many North American Native tribes honored The Great Spirit.

While some may have sincerely desired to bring Jesus’ teachings to others, there were many others who simply utilized these missions to take advantage of foreign lands and their peoples.

Many of these 'missions' resulted in violence, and the slaughter of thousands of native peoples around the world over the centuries.

Were these 'missions' what Jesus wanted his followers to do? Certainly not. As we can see from Jesus' statement above, there is a wrong way to preach to others. This includes forceable conversion.

What did Jesus mean by 'a son of hell as you are'?

Jesus confirms that these 'missions' of the Pharisees and temple priests were degraded, and their converts were not benefited. This is confirmed by the Greek phrase υἱὸν γεέννης, which has been incorrectly translated to "son of hell."

The more appropriate translation for υἱὸν γεέννης would be a follower of those who will suffer.

The word υἱὸν has been incorrectly translated as son. While υἱὸν can mean 'son' in the context of a father and his physical son, this is not the correct context. This context indicates the translation, as confirmed by the Greek lexicon, υἱὸν should be "used to describe one who depends on another or is his follower." So a person who becomes converted by one of these hypocritical Pharisees becomes one of their followers.

The next word in the phrase is γεέννης. γεέννης has been translated to "hell," and this is not altogether wrong, but Jesus' concept of hell should be clarified.

The Greek word γεέννης, transliterated as 'geenna,' is an allegorical reference to a location south of Jerusalem in the valley of Hinnom, called 'Gehenna.' Here there were ghastly sacrifices of children and animals to an idol called Moloch. The animals and children were thrown into the fire.

This place and its practice were abhorred by the local people, and they used a reference to this as a place of suffering, where people followed a demoniac god and suffered as a result. Therefore, this place (Gehenna) became referred to allegorically as a place of suffering. This has since been expanded to mean some kind of underworld.

Many people have been lulled into a concept prognosticated by sectarian teachers that hell is an underground world where a fiery devil named satan lives and tortures people who are chained up on cavern walls. This imaginative teaching has even been taken to the extent that the entrance to hell is through volcanoes.

This has been proven wrong by those who have explored volcanoes, and by those who have drilled many miles deep into the surface of the earth. There are no caverns where people are being chained to walls and tortured.

So where is hell then?

Depending upon our consciousness, hell can be right here. We can be living in hell right now. The question is to what extent we are suffering in hell. This physical dimension simultaneously supports relative degrees of hell, depending upon our past activities, and our consciousness.

Do we think that a person who is starving is not in hell? Is a woman who is repeatedly raped at gunpoint not in hell? How about a person in the grips of war? Are they not in hell? How about someone being tortured or murdered in a Holocaust? Are they not experiencing hell? Or how about someone in prison, subjected to being beaten or raped? Are these circumstances not hellish enough?

Hell is where fear reigns. Hell is that place where God is forgotten. Hell is that place where people fight over money. Hell is where people become angry and violent because they are afraid others may take what they have. 

This means that hell can reside among those who are violent towards others. Those who harm or abuse others are residing in hell, just as those they harm and abuse.

Hell is a consciousness, but it is also that place where the consciousness of fear, anger, violence and hatred plays out in physical reality.

Is this because of what we have done in a previous lifetime?

The question is whether our life in the physical world is the result of actions taken in a previous lifetime. Consider this question, asked of Jesus by his disciples:

"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John 9:1)

Why did Jesus’ disciples (note multiple disciples) ask this question? This question was very logical because some people are born normal and others with deficiencies. Why is one person born blind they asked? Why is one person born in more fortunate circumstances than another person?

The question arose from an understanding of Jesus’ teachings. At one point Jesus said to someone:

Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” (John 5:14)

In other words, they understood that there were consequences for sinning.

And in this case, Jesus' disciples assumed that before the man was born, he had the ability to sin, and this sin caused his current suffering.

In order to have the ability to sin, the man must have had a previous physical body. Why? Because as Jesus also taught that sinning was an activity executed through the flesh. In other words, the person must have had a prior physical body in order to have sinned before he was born.

Note also that Jesus did not ridicule or criticize this question. He accepted it. He did not say, “that cannot happen.” What he said was:

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me.” (John 9:2)

In other words, Jesus accepted that a person could suffer in his next life from sins of the past life. This means that we do have previous lifetimes.

This is also confirmed here in Matthew 23:15, as Jesus confirms that the Pharisees will suffer, and so will their converts. Jesus is not threatening a fictitious place called hell. He is simply telling them that they and their followers will suffer in the future for what they are doing now.

Does he mean they will suffer during this lifetime? That would be impractical since they were living within a system that continued to support their practices. Therefore, Jesus could only be referring to a future lifetime.

Why are there consequences to our actions?

Jesus is indicating from his teachings that there are consequences to certain actions. Especially bad consequences for harming or misleading others. Why are there consequences?

We can look around us each day and see how in the physical world there serves up a reaction for every action. All of us suffer our particular situations for the activities we did in the past. Consider a person sitting in jail. They are in that hellish situation because of their past activities. Or a person who has lung cancer after smoking for 40 years. Their smoking addiction caused their current suffering.

Or a person who is beaten up by another person after starting a fight.

All of these indicate that the physical world is a place of consequence. Everything we do has a consequence here: Good or bad.

Does this mean that God put us here to suffer? Actually, God set up the physical world as a place of learning. This is a rehabilitation center, where we have the opportunity to grow.

Why? Those of us in this physical world are here because we turned away from our relationship with the Supreme Being. We no longer wanted to be His loving servant. We wanted to enjoy separately from God - rather than love and serve God (our natural constitution).

So we were sent down to this physical world and given virtual temporary physical bodies in order to 1) exercise our right to try to enjoy independently from God and try to pretend to be God, and 2) to learn.

And since these bodies are temporary virtual shells, the miseries they suffer are also virtual. We might compare this with an icon in a video game. The icon may get shot, but we are still sitting there handling the video game controller.

This virtual world has a purpose, however. We have been sent here to take on these virtual physical bodies because God wants us to learn once again how to love. He wants us to return to Him and His loving kingdom because He knows only this will make us happy.

In order to return, however, we must have a change of consciousness. We must be willing to give up the idea that we are going to enjoy ourselves independently of God. We must give up the idea that we are superior to others and the world revolves around us. We must learn what it means to love and care for someone other than ourselves.

Isn't this what the physical world constantly teaches us? That loving and caring for others brings happiness, while self-love and selfish behavior brings us misery? Is this a coincidence? No. It is intentional. God programmed the physical universe to teach us about love.

The ultimate source of pleasure for us is to love and serve the Supreme Being because when we love and serve God, we become truly fulfilled. And when we love the Supreme Being we automatically love all of God's children. These are the real teachings of Jesus:

“ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.” And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)