More esoteric/gnostic early Christian writings such as the Gospel of Thomas are far more clear in their mystical phrasing concerning the "Kingdom of Heaven," though, of course, they aren't considered canon by any modern form of Christianity.
L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <authfriend@...> wrote : P.S.: The complete sentence is, "The Kingdom of God is within/among/in the midst of you"--"you" meaning the Pharisees. You can't leave off the "you" without seriously misrepresenting what Jesus was saying. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <authfriend@...> wrote : Actually, there's major scholarly disagreement with the translation "within." Jesus was directly addressing the Pharisees, after all, not making a general statement; and he'd made it crystal clear that he thought they were corrupt inside and out. Just contextually, it's extremely unlikely he was saying the Kingdom of God was "within" the Pharisees. Most translations other than the KJV have "among" or "in the midst of" or similar, referring to the Pharisees' inability to recognize Jesus as the representative of God's Kingdom. Organized religions don't "talk" much about transcending simply because they lack the methods to achieve it. "The Kingdom of God is within " must the most revolutionary concept in Christianity yet is rarely or even never discussed out of fear the Church would loose it's grip on the people.
