A group of christian movie-goers leaving the theatre were asked their reaction to "The Passion of the Christ". The number one description in their answers was 'love'.
It was a torture movie.
It was a torture movie.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever shall believeth in him shall have eternal life.
And what is to be believed?
His name is Jesus (the) Christ;
He is the Messiah of the Holy Bible;
His father is God;
His mother is Mary, a divinely impregnated virgin;
He was a traveling rabbi for 3 years;
He was crucified dead under Roman law;
He came back to life 3 days afterward;
He dematerialized 40 days later after promising to return.
Tackling this from a practical standpoint is a method developed when my children were young. Children's biblical questions are very matter of fact. Pat answers and seat-of-the-pants interpretations did not sit right with my firstborn and once the next one started asking questions, I decided to just say "I don't know" whenever I didn't. The children are grown. When it comes to the question of Jesus, I still don't know.
How can one know the truth of the matter? For all the bibles printed these days, not a one of them replicates the original documents. Pertinent documents are in the possession of public and private authorities, along with miles of relevant manuscripts and engravings. Every few years they throw out a new gospel or artifact. We should be convinced by the evidence?
Christians believe that Jesus is the New Testament and the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Christian clergy teach of extra-biblical proof of Jesus' existence but there are few among them that provide replicated original evidence. Church fliers do not reprint copies of original Josephus writings. Most (if not all) of the professional print-outs are an invitation to worship or a call to hear holy words. The worship aspect can run the gamut from dignified ritual to mass hysteria and requires little mental engagement. Unfortunately mental engagement also is not required to hear holy words - except if one is memorizing the material. Faith engagement is the what the clergy seek. Faith requires one to trust the findings of religious authorities.
A quick look at the historical record or a newspaper proves that religious authorities can not be relied upon. They are much more in tune with non-religious authorities than they are with the masses. The clergy are positioned between the authorities and the masses and can not be clergy unless they have pledged to "submit to authority". In turn, they are granted measured authority over their congregants. Congregants are permitted limited authority over their families. One can split authority until blue in the face but the bottom line is the official story.
God so loved the world that he stood by and watched his half-human son be humiliated, tortured and killed. This makes no sense. No loving parent can conceive of such thinking and behavior. That the plan was conceived by God "in the beginning" is frightening enough. Add to this the ensuing centuries of rape, torture, destruction and annihilation of billions of human beings. God still did not modify the plan. The horror of the Abraham and Isaac episode did not persuade God to reconsider. The wiping out of the family and treasurers of the good man Job did not move Him. Jesus' begging to be released from the plan was ignored.
It had to be done, they insist. It was the only way mankind would be permitted to live after dying. Yet the authorities offer no proof of life after death. For 2000 years, the majority of the earth's population has lived and died poor, hungry, overworked, and abused. No one has returned to say it was worth it.
Jesus wasn't poor, hungry or overworked and the abuse-to-death he suffered was apparently a choice. His grave report to the twelve (plus a few others) contained little information about his three-day trip. No post-ascension report was filed. Obviously he's been in no hurry to return, despite what he led his followers to think. What if Sir Laurence's scholarly studies are correct? If Jesus did survive the crucifixion, then his three-day report is moot. There is nothing left to 'prove' the theory of resurrection from the dead.
The folks who suffer the most from the withholding of evidence are the clergy of good intentions. If at any point they stumble upon facts which do not correlate with the official story, the weight of many human lives comes crashing down upon them.
As generations pass, the official story is adapted to meet current political agendas. Where blame must be assigned to accommodate change, dead men receive the glory. Men who were ill-advised or possessed of the devil or plagued by sin or fell victim to human weakness. The very men who gathered the evidence and hoarded the wealth that rightfully belongs to all of mankind. Two centuries after Jesus, all the monuments, manuscripts, artifacts, jewels, and objects d'art are under the control of authorities. Authorities with numerous palaces and lands built, tended to, and under guard by, humans who rarely ever own a home free and clear.
As the new world order takes shape, the Jesus story is taking a cosmic turn. Where it will stop nobody knows, not even the authorities who order the spinning. Maybe we should petition the pope to unseal John Paul, hook 'em up to an automated self-whipping post and see if we get any answers. Sounds cruel, but cruelty is essential. Just ask the authorities - the very ones who let the John-Paul's self-flagellation story "leak" out - without proof - and be quickly withdrawn.
Way back when the authorities were compiling the official story, they put these words in Jesus' mouth:
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men.
According to the research of layman author Steve Allen, who contacted the Morton Salt company, salt never looses its saltiness. As a homemaker, I concur.
If Jesus said those words, then he is the man I believe him to be. Human.
