Guru Jesus My Foot 10
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Words by Paul: "I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others - [2 Cor 13:2]"
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Pigs and Jesus
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The guru Yogananda (1893-1952) dolls up the blasphemy-convicted Jesus of the New Testament and has got hundreds of thousands of US Christians in his guru net. Alternatives to fawning for acceptance need to be probed. A boon of such an approach is avoiding misunderstanding.
The Evil Spirits Recognised Jesus
It is written: "Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was. [Mark 3:11-12]"It takes one to know one" is a proverb. How could evil spirits recognise God and the Jewish leaders condemn him to death as a blasphemer, after calling him the Son of the Devil and insane? You probably do not know that, do you?
Some things are better left unsaid. One should consider these words by Confucius, though:
Tsze-kung asked, saying, "What do you say of a man who is loved by all the people of his neighborhood?"It is better to be liked by the good than hated by all. And if you are hated by someone, one or many, proper precautions are fit as well, but not placing yourself in harm's way to be slaughtered by them. Martyrs did that. Why, if the saying of Jesus of surpassing Jesus in John 14:12 holds any water? To be wiped out by evil-minded ones means leaving the way open for criminals and worsening conditions too if things go far.
The Master replied, "We may not for that accord our approval of him."
"And what do you say of him who is hated by all the people of his neighborhood?"
The Master said, "We may not for that conclude that he is bad. It is better than either of these cases that the good in the neighborhood love him, and the bad hate him." [Analects 13:24]
The Cause of Death for Many, Many Millions
Do not let things get out of hands. As Jack Welch says, "Control your destiny or someone else will." [Cdew]Jesus took part in massive killings of pigs - those highly intelligent, emotionally sensitive animals. Nowadays 'pig' is used for a repulsive person and immoral woman too. But he also caused the death of millions of martyrs who "died for him" against the common belief that he died for all.
Poor, misguided simpletons thought the end of all time was at hand, for so they had been informed, and the "big end" never came as said and expected. You may say these people were misled into embracing death. In some recent sects members still do.
Oddly enough, Jesus said, "All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." [Mark 13:13; Matthew 10:22]. That is a notorious persecutional scenario - found in sects. If you consider that all men seldom or never have heard of any one man yet, not even Jesus, how can "all men" hate unmet ones? They do not, and that is the fact. Another fact is that this teaching of Jesus are false: It is possible to exaggerate so greatly that it makes an untruth out of a thing. Just ignore untruths that prevent you from gathering wisdom and other treasures to carry with you.
Associate in Brutish Pig Murders
But now for the quite mysterious-looking drowning of an innocent herd of pigs. Pigs cannot fly, but they can swim. Here is the story:When [Jesus] arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that none could pass that way.In this story of canonical pig murder, there are some particular features. One is that of demon-possession. We will not go into that here. Another is if pigs can swim? They can; in fact, they are excellent swimmers. Most animals are; yet these pigs drowned. It means somebody drowned them - killed them all. The story tell Jesus permitted trespassing that resulted in mass murder - violations of the rights of the animals. Did he not have anything better to do than overstepping the natural rights of the animals against being victims of demons they hardly deserved? What happened to them was worse than castration: one may say they were murdered, and Jesus was an accomplice in it.
"What do you want with us?" they shouted. "Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?" Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs."
He said to them, "Go!" So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. Those tending the pigs ran off. [Matthew 8:28-33]
Should he not be keen on "Thou shalt not steal?" There were probably no insurance companies in those days, so Jesus took part in "robbing" the pig owners too. In another place he trespasses too, by telling followers take a colt without the owner's permission [Mark 11:1-6] - which may be punished. He got away with it that time, but such actions go clearly against counsels of Buddha of showing mercy to animals in the first place and not take what has not been given in the second place, one may add.
The very bad "business" of letting innocent animals suffer for others is what Hebrews justified by calling it righteousness and of the Law of Moses. It is vicarious sacrifice - it is sinning against innocents to further the lives of wrong-doers over and over. It means helping wrong-doers to go on by sacrifices of others. By calling a ruthless doing good, some hope to get away with it. And some do, in fact. Demagoguery and propaganda are in part for that.
Plumb "The Four Pillars of Christianity"
You can find better teachings than mere preachings of the "original Christianity of Jesus". For there was no Christianity at the time of Jesus, you see. Consider what it may mean to yourself that all the apostles and the Holy Ghost decided to wipe away nearly all the sayings of Jesus and ask that just "the four pillars of Christianity" were required of Gentile believers? [Acts 15; 21:25] No to blood food and Biblical adultery are two of the four pillars. Blood food includes black pudding and many a Wurst. Let us put things straight: There are many unrecognised culprits in Christianity.This action is supported by much of the New Testament, but not supported in other places. For example in a late addition to the gospel of Matthew these words are put in the mouth of Jesus: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." [Matthew 28:18-20] The words quoted are late additions to the gospel. The snag (concealed or unexpected difficulty or obstacle) here is that those late-added words go against the main trend of what actually happened. One thing is that Gentile Christians were not necessarily required to learn anything by Jesus. [Acts 15; 21:25]. A story about the apostle Philip seems to confirm it too, adding flesh to the bones of the principle that is dug up for you here.
Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many. So there was great joy.Here you get an inkling of what Christianity was about: receiving the Right Spirit. Another thing is that Gentile followers were supposed to be "taught from within" by Reminding Spirit of Truth, and just testify about Jesus. It does not say quote verbatim. [John 15:26]. Early Christians did not have any written-down canon. What they had, was what Jesus called "the Spirit of truth", who would "guide you into all truth". [John 16:13].
When they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized. And some witnessed astonishing great signs and miracles. Peter and John came to and placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
When they had testified and proclaimed the word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel [= the good news]. Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road - the desert road - that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza."
So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. Philip ran up to the chariot and asked him, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
"How can I," he said, and was reading this: "Who can speak of his descendants?" [It is understandable if eunuchs have problems there.]
Philip told him about Jesus and soon the two of them went down into water where Philip baptized the eunuch. [And Ethiopia became Christian too - later.] [Acts 8:5-39, passim]
But that did not actually happen. The apostles argued among themselves to the point that some of them would not co-operate (Paul). They did not show the concord of "one flock" either. There were many fractions; some of them actually threatened the early church (Gnosticism).
Apostles with a certain lack of unity made a mishmash out of things. For example, the New Testament versions of how Judas died is a disgrace: there are too different versions of it to be reconciled. New Testament writers have proved to us they could not get that big incident right, so what did they get right?
You may think they agreed on how Jesus was resurrected. The scene is described in all four gospels. If the versions are treated as evidence from truthful witnesses, you may insist firmly that the witness versions stand up to the standards in a normal court of law. different witness give different accounts. Who is not wrong? That is the problem to find out of. Train yourself, it is not hard. Sort out what all the versions agree on, and you can conclude that by plucking the feathers of differences off, what remains is the body of the bird - in this case what all agree on, the very few common elements. Instead of massing different versions of the resurrection in consecutive years, you have found something simpler and hopefully better to do than the groggy vicar: You find that the key elements in the tales are that someone was executed by the Romans and buried, and that followers and friends visited the grave a few days later, to find it empty. If that is The Thing to build a faith on, as Paul says, it is not very much. The faith depends considerably on sprawling tales. Admit that.
Let us start somewhere during the crucifixion. Matthew tells that the robbers that were crucified along with him, heaped insults on him. But Luke says only one of them did, and John does not mention anything of the kind. The versions do not agree on that point; that is fair to say. And thus, if you like, "The Bible is far from true in all cases." [Matthew 27:44 - 28:8; Mark 15:28 - Mark 16:11; Luke 23:39 - Luke 24:12; John 19:18 - John 20:18].
To make an old story short, in considering what a Christian is to conform to and abide by, mishmash and distorted, and conflicting evidence has to be handled and weighed. One conclusion is that sayings of that co-murderer of pigs - Jesus - are unnecessary.
But stop a second - is it that simple? There are pros and cons that need to be taken into account too, before weighing or giving charge to each of these points. One point is: Why did they write gospels brimming with sayings of his? An answer stands out: They thought that they would convert Jews! Their target group was Jew. The Man himself said, when he walked about, that he came only for Jews and that his words were for Jews only - or mainly. The Jews rejected him and had him killed. Why he thought he had fulfilled a mission when that mission failed utterly, is another snag, or trick, if you like. That is it.
The other apostles had problems with the apostle Paul and his mission to the Gentiles, his attitudes and ways of dealing with Gentile believers. Peter too, even though he was the first to reach out to them after a vision in Jaffa (Haifa).
Still this holds good: What marks the first church is that in New Testament letters and the Acts the apostles hardly quote Jesus. They talk about him, but rarely quote him. You probably do not have to either. But decide yourself - At any rate, gospels were added later, it seems true to add.
In weighing a whole chapter and very much else in the New Testament against a few inserted, later-added passages - and the confusing gospels - consider what all the apostles and the Holy Ghost did, and that the Letters and Acts testify to. Depending on how you consider, the outcome may be:
Christianity is all right without any saying of Jesus of his failed, original mission of saving Jews only. All his apostles and the Holy Ghost rather soon decided on a better way than "original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ": they dispensed with much of it in Acts 15 and 21:25. See for yourself.Still, other conclusions are possible too, depending on how you weigh different parts of the New Testament in the Light you have got. Hypocrites were condemned by Jesus. Do not become one of them for your own good. [Cf. Matthew 23]. It is good to bear that in mind, and also to select the translations of highest repute to save yourself embarrassments.
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| Literature | SECTION | First Page |
Cdew: Tichy, Noen M., and Stratford Sherman. Control Your Destiny or Someone Else Will: Lessons in Mastering Change - from the Principles Jack Welch Is Using to Revolutionize GE. New York: Harper Business, 1994.
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