User:NeoOne
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I am The One.
What are we to believe?
[edit]I am interested in religion, in particular Christianity.
The Renaissance, where learning and exposure to Greek philosophy and history once again became available is where I take my que from. Not only could the individual read the Bible themselves, but also became aware of what I just went through. First we have to learn to read the bible in a rational manner. Here is my view on the subject.
Paul never met Jesus so both him and his epistles are useless. He produced his own religion based on Gnosticism and bits and pieces of Eastern Religion and Platonism. He like many Gnostics thought "flesh" was evil and had a very negative view of humanity. He wrote only in Greek and was a product of Greek culture.
Much of John is also a Gnostic/Eastern view and is anti-Semitic. It's late date of writing and heavy use of Greek philosophy makes it certain not to have been authored by a Galilean fisherman named John. I consider it useless.
Of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus' message is in His parables and Sermon on the Mount. His audience was Jewish, but could apply to anyone. He put more emphasis on moral conduct and works than Jewish Law. He never said do away with the Law for Jews and the Law never applied to Gentiles to begin with. For Gentiles, even under Judaism, moral conduct and belief in God is all we need. The story should end with an empty tomb and a mystery just as the writer of Mark left it.
The claims of miracle stories were nonsense produced by the evangelists to promote belief. Magic sells then just as it sells today.
James presents the probable view that Jesus was in the Jewish mainstream. He didn't need to go to India or other nonsense because He could find the basis of his teaching there at home. The Galilee was on the border of Orthodox and Hellenistic Judaism. This India nonsense is the attempt of occultists and New Age types trying to recast a Jew into the form of a New Age Mystic.
Jesus was crucified by the Romans for sedition just like many others were. Crucifixion was reserved for state crimes against Rome and not for common thieves that would have been handled under local laws. The mere claim in any manner of being "King of the Jews" was a death sentence. If Jesus had been guilty of blasphemy, under Jewish law he would have been stoned.
Jesus believed in God the Father and prayed to Him, not to Himself. He was not divine. He believed in a God of love, not the violent tribal god. Be believed in heaven and an afterlife, and in demons and devils just like most people of those times.
Jesus was not perfect, but He showed how to live and that we are all just human. His teaching and Commandments can be summed up in his own words,
And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
"And Jesus said unto him, Why call me good? There is none good but one, that is, God. You know the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lack: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me." (Mark 10:17-21)
Nothing about "faith alone" and He denies being God. Any person that uses their God-given reason can follow this. In Matthew 7:7, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: or every one that ask receive; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened..." You have every right to ask and question.
How does Jesus sum up the whole Bible? "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."