70. A RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT ... 11

 

MYSTERIOUS   PERIOD IN  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS

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Nothing is known about most part of Jesus' life. At age of twelve he was missed by his parents during the Passover festival in Jerusalem. They later found him in the temple talking or discussing things with the teachers there. After this age he comes again at the age of 30 to start and continue his religious work or ministry.

Umpteen number of theories about this missed time of his life and also for life "after crucifixion". They are so many and also so much unbelievable. Some of them are as follows:

In the late medieval period, there appeared Arthurian legends that the young Jesus had been in Britain. Arthurian legends hold that Jesus travelled to Britain as a boy, lived at Priddy in the Mendips.

 In the 19th and 20th centuries theories began to emerge that between the ages of 12 and 29 Jesus had visited Kashmir, or had studied with the Essenes in the Judea desert. Modern mainstream Christian scholarship has generally rejected these theories and holds that nothing is known about this time period in the life of Jesus.^[

Jesus survived his crucifixion and continued his life, instead of what was stated in the New Testament that he ascended into Heaven with two angels

Jacolliot compared the accounts of the life of Bhagavan Krishna with that of Jesus Christ in the gospels and concluded that it could not have been a coincidence that the two stories have so many similarities in many of the finer details. 

According to the scrolls, Jesus abandoned Jerusalem at the age of 13 and set out towards Sind, “intending to improve and perfect himself in the divine understanding and to studying the laws of the great Buddha”. He crossed Punjab and reached Puri Jagannath where he studied the Vedas under Brahmin priests. He spent six years in Puri and Rajgirh, near Nalanda, the ancient seat of Hindu learning. Then he went to the Himalayas, and spent time in Tibetan monasteries, studying Buddhism, and through Persia, returned to Jerusalem at the age of 29.

Modern mainstream Christian scholarship has generally rejected any travels by Jesus to India, Tibet or surrounding areas as without historical basis:

Evidences of Christ in the Americas are claimed in the Book of Mormon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unknown_years_of_Jesus#New_Testament_gap

69. A RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT

 

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Almost all religions , especially the organized religions, had been and are still holding strongly the view of Creationism.  Even after one and a half centuries after Darwinism still people rush madly to the justice system to stop teaching Evolution in schools. However, probably after learning lessons from the bitter experience with Galileo, Christian religion is trying to wriggle out from Darwinian onslaught.  The catholic Church has almost accepted or at least not objected to evolutionary concepts. Some earlier popes like Pope Pius XII (1950) and Pope John Paul II  (1996) tried to give space for the theory of evolution. But Pope Francis publically announced that evolution is compatible with church teachings. But Islamic religion is still trying to hold on to creation theory as such. Evolution is an anathema to them.

 

Mutation,which is the raw material for evolution is a proved scientific fact. But believers question that. At the same time, they are ready to believe that one of the ribs of Adam is enough to make Eve! It is also quite interesting to find evangelists very boldly giving messages that all males have one rib less, since it was plucked out to make Eve. I have personally found even biology teachers and physiotherapists fully believing one-rib-less-man! So strong are the THE  words! But in the words of Genesis I have my own questions.

Genesis 2:18  -- The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Genesis  1:27  --  So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Genesis 2:21  --  "So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and then closed up the place with flesh."

 

Genesis 2:18  So god did not think of creating man and woman; he made man; then on second thoughts created a "helper" to him!

In Genesis 1:27 god created man and woman in his image. But in Genesis 2:21 creation of man and woman was in a different process! Two versions of Bible give such varied mode of creation.

 

There is no explanation for a few questions like presence of fossils, extinction of some species (dinosaurs), geological strata, mutations and so on. What could be the explanation for some animals becoming extinct? God created and some of them in the course of time became extinct! Didn’t God  know at the time of creation that some of his creations would disappear from this earth at a certain time. Moreover, Christian believers calculate the genealogy of Christ from Adam and say the world is just 6000 years old while the scientists have calculated the age of earth to 4.6 billion years. When the age of fossils have been calculated scientifically by carbon dating believers are never willing to accept even these proved results.

 

Another interesting question is how come the Almighty God should take six days to create all those in the earth. Then a day to rest! There is even a dispute whether that 'sabbath day' was a Saturday and Sunday!! The whole story of creation in the Bible looks more like a kid story, and nothing less. Genesis 2:3 : -- God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.  Is god so tired? Is creation such an arduous and hard work for god? Does he need a 'rest day' after six day's work? Looks too humanish!! One another explanation the believers keep giving is 'a day' for us need not be a 24-hour day for god!

 

"…. developments in astronomy and geology had made the genesis story of the seven  days of creation seem like a fairy tale, that modern views of the spatiotemporal universe had made the doctrines of 'heaven above and hell below' and Christ's ascension into heaven unacceptable to the modern mind". -- A Common Faith by John Dewey (1859 - 1952)

 

In spite of some hard core believers still sticking to the Biblical story of creation, Christianity as such has very much mellowed down and they try to accept changes in their faith. Unlike in Islam, faith is not a straitjacket in Christianity.  Such  mellowing down has happened in some religious Christian faiths. Let me take just two examples.

 

The first is one of the Sacraments  - confession, among Catholics. When I was a kid we were taught to have weekly confessions. This ritual lasted for long. Even when I was a college student this was practiced by most of the regular church goers. But then there was a great decline. From being a regular Saturday feature it then became a thing for the Christmas festivals like Easter, Christmas etc.. But it has lost its importance and nowadays people have to go for confession only either before their communion or marriage. There ends the matter. What was a weekly feature when I was a kid, has now faded. Confession has become a non-functioning sacrament now.

 

Another feature is the concept on birth-control. Even when I was doing my elementary classes, we were taught in our catechism classes that any mode of birth control was against Christianity. We were taught that coitus was only a procreative act and it has to be so always. Conception should not be wantonly stopped. The Government was then insisting on birth control. I remember in my high school days our catechism teachers used to give a simpe analogy: god has given us two hands - to work for our bread; but only one mouth to feed! It sounded so good then. Only after a few years, it dawned on me that to earn bread with two hands would take two decades while the feeding should start from the first minute after  birth. Of course, these ideas were strictly among catholics. Not sure about Prostestants. I feel that protesstants never openly come out for or against birth control. But Catholics were so serious about it. When I grew up I used to feel that having more number of children was a 'Christian disease'! But these strict ideas and taboos were lost in the course of time. Nowadays Christians finally have understood the positive side of coitus and all restrictions have gone off with the modern wind. I am happy that the 'faith' gave space to the changing social views, without being adamant with some blind ideas and concepts.

 

=============

Ref:

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/30/5-facts-about-evolution-and-religion

68. A RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT

 

*

Mostly in all mythologies, animals would come and 'talk' to humans in understandable human language. Such a case happens in Bible too! In Genesis, a serpent comes and talks to Eve. I don’t know in what language! Who or what is this serpent? Is it any allegory, a  serpent representing the devil? But whatever it could be, it was quite efficient and very tricky.( I wonder how do you believe this story, a kid stuff, just like that. God's word??)

Genesis 2:9,: "And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil."

So there were two types of trees in the midst of the garden; one was good and the other was a tree of knowledge of good and evil. If fruits of the latter tree were eaten, they would leave behind their blissful state of innocence.

God forbids  Adam and Eve to eat the 'fruit' of the second tree. But everything goes awry!  God becomes  very angry and goes in search of Adam. Genesis 3:8 "… Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” So the almighty god could not even find him in the garden of Eden! Another part of the kid stuff!!  Then god's curse is followed. So god did not know earlier that Adam would disobey his orders.

"… Adam's decision to disobey God originated with Adam and not with God eluded by the claim that God foreknew from eternity that just that eternity that decision would bemade. The ruse here is the insistence that God foreknew from eternity that Adam would freely choose to disoney God. But the very notion of freedom as originative casualty loses loses its meaning in such an interpretation".  -- Reason and religion: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion by Rem B. Edwards (pp180)

******

Why is god against knowledge?

• ·         Proverbs 1:7: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." 
• ·         Proverbs 9:10  -- The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,…
• ·         Corinthians 1:19  -- “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;   the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.
• ·         Corinthians 3:20  --  “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.

Have two doubts on the above quotes. Firstly, why should god be so against knowledge, wisdom, intelligence? Does it now show my contention - that no religion can stand against rationality - is quite correct? Faith, if rationally questioned, might develop a week knee.

Secondly, christianiy is always proclaimed by the believers that it is a religion of love. They say their god is so merciful and their god loves us all. But this quote - Proverbs 1:7 -- " The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. -- says that "fear"  is the essential and only from fear knowledge grows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

67. A RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT

 

*

Almost all religions , especially the organized religions, had been and are still holding strongly the view of Creationism.  Even after one and a half centuries after Darwinism still people rush madly to the justice system to stop teaching Evolution in schools. However, probably after learning lessons from the bitter experience with Galileo, Christian religion is trying to wriggle out from Darwinian onslaught.  The catholic Church has almost accepted or at least not objected to evolutionary concepts. Some earlier popes like Pope Pius XII (1950) and Pope John Paul II  (1996) tried to give space for the theory of evolution. But Pope Francis publically announced that evolution is compatible with church teachings. But Islamic religion is still trying to hold on to creation theory as such. Evolution is an anathema to them.

Mutation,which is the raw material for evolution is a proved scientific fact. But believers question that. At the same time, they are ready to believe that one of the ribs of Adam is enough to make Eve! It is also quite interesting to find evangelists very boldly giving messages that all males have one rib less, since it was plucked out to make Eve. I have personally found even biology teachers and physiotherapists fully believing one-rib-less-man! So strong are the THE  words! But in the words of Genesis I have my own questions.

Genesis 2:18  -- The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Genesis  1:27  --  So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Genesis 2:21  --  "So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and then closed up the place with flesh." 

Genesis 2:18  So god did not think of creating man and woman; he made man; then on second thoughts created a "helper" to him!

In Genesis 1:27 god created man and woman in his image. But in Genesis 2:21 creation of man and woman was in a different process! Two versions of Bible give such varied mode of creation. 

There is no explanation for a few questions like presence of fossils, extinction of some species (dinosaurs), geological strata, mutations and so on. What could be the explanation for some animals becoming extinct? God created and some of them in the course of time became extinct! Didn’t God  know at the time of creation that some of his creations would disappear from this earth at a certain time. Moreover, Christian believers calculate the genealogy of Christ from Adam and say the world is just 6000 years old while the scientists have calculated the age of earth to 4.6 billion years. When the age of fossils have been calculated scientifically by carbon dating believers are never willing to accept even these proved results. 

Another interesting question is how come the Almighty God should take six days to create all those in the earth. Then a day to rest! There is even a dispute whether that 'sabbath day' was a Saturday and Sunday!! The whole story of creation in the Bible looks more like a kid story, and nothing less. Genesis 2:3 : -- God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.  Is god so tired? Is creation such an arduous and hard work for god? Does he need a 'rest day' after six day's work? Looks too humanish!! One another explanation the believers keep giving is 'a day' for us need not be a 24-hour day for god! 

"…. developments in astronomy and geology had made the genesis story of the seven  days of creation seem like a fairy tale, that modern views of the spatiotemporal universe had made the doctrines of 'heaven above and hell below' and Christ's ascension into heaven unacceptable to the modern mind". -- A Common Faith by John Dewey (1859 - 1952) 

In spite of some hard core believers still sticking to the Biblical story of creation, Christianity as such has very much mellowed down and they try to accept changes in their faith. Unlike in Islam, faith is not a straitjacket in Christianity.  Such  mellowing down has happened in some religious Christian faiths. Let me take just two examples. 

The first is one of the Sacraments  - confession, among Catholics. When I was a kid we were taught to have weekly confessions. This ritual lasted for long. Even when I was a college student this was practiced by most of the regular church goers. But then there was a great decline. From being a regular Saturday feature it then became a thing for the Christmas festivals like Easter, Christmas etc.. But it has lost its importance and nowadays people have to go for confession only either before their communion or marriage. There ends the matter. What was a weekly feature when I was a kid, has now faded. Confession has become a non-functioning sacrament now. 

Another feature is the concept on birth-control. Even when I was doing my elementary classes, we were taught in our catechism classes that any mode of birth control was against Christianity. We were taught that coitus was only a procreative act and it has to be so always. Conception should not be wantonly stopped. The Government was then insisting on birth control. I remember in my high school days our catechism teachers used to give a simpe analogy: god has given us two hands - to work for our bread; but only one mouth to feed! It sounded so good then. Only after a few years, it dawned on me that to earn bread with two hands would take two decades while the feeding should start from the first minute after  birth. Of course, these ideas were strictly among catholics. Not sure about Prostestants. I feel that protesstants never openly come out for or against birth control. But Catholics were so serious about it. When I grew up I used to feel that having more number of children was a 'Christian disease'! But these strict ideas and taboos were lost in the course of time. Nowadays Christians finally have understood the positive side of coitus and all restrictions have gone off with the modern wind. I am happy that the 'faith' gave space to the changing social views, without being adamant with some blind ideas and concepts.

 

=============

Ref:

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/30/5-facts-about-evolution-and-religion

66. IS JESUS GOD? NO … so says Bible! ... 7

IS JESUS GOD?

NO … so say Biblical verses!

 

 

Holy Trinity is a mystic dogma of Christianity. None knows the meaning; none should even try to find its meaning; at least that is what every Christian child is taught. Even when I was a believer one question used to lurk at the back of my mind. They say Three Gods .. but all in one …but always the Father is being forgotten. But for the Lord's prayer, all other prayers always end up either with Jesus or Holy Spirit. When my faith started shaking I tried to delve into this. Surprisingly and luckily I got a book in Tamil with the title "Jesus of Jews and Christ of ST. Paul" (யூதர்களின் இயேசுவும் பவுலின் கிறிஸ்துவும்). I found this book very extensive and it elaborately deals with both the Old and New Testaments. St. Paul, who became the follower of Jesus after his crucifixion, says that god had sent Jesus, the messiah to 'liberate' the Israelites from their bondage in the O.T. very clearly. Jesus calls himself as the son of god, messenger from god, the way to reach Father, and so on.  But never proclaims that he is 'the god'!  After Paul came into Christian faith he wants to expand the religion far and wide, while it had been a religion for Jews alone initially. Many verses in the testaments stand a witness to that. Paul wants to break this bondage between Jesus and Israelites and wants to make the religion open to all, Jews  and  the 'gentiles'. He comes out with concessions for these new converts, like freeing them from circumcision, which was considered ' a must' for earlier Christians.

Evidences for the above are only from the two testaments. The list is as follows:

Exodus 3:15   --   "God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.' "This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation."

God proclaims that he is the god of the Israelites

Exodus 5:2    --    Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”  So, Pharaoh did not know about the god of Israelites.

Exodus 29:45

 Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.  - So god of O.T. is the god only for Israelites. 

Exodus 34:15,16; Deuteronomy 7:1-5; Lavier 25:42-45; Ezra 9:11-15

All these verses command that gentiles had to be treated as untouchables or as enemies, or as slaves  by the Jews.

The land of Israelites was of two different regions; the northern side was called Israel and the southern side was called Judea. In 596 B.C. a gentile king, Nebuchadnezzar went to war against Judea and won. Israelites felt bad that their god had been defeated.

Jeremiah 51:34    --  "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us, he has thrown us into confusion, he has made us an empty jar. Like a serpent he has swallowed us and filled his stomach with our delicacies, and then has spewed us out. 

Jeremiah 25:6-9  -- god orders them "go not after other gods to serve them'. Jeremiah accused the Israelites worshipping other gods and god had forsaken them because of that. 

Ezra 9:12 -- give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: " Ezra  said that god had forsaken them since they went against the orders of the god. 

Messiah as a savior of Israelite

Jeremiah 23:3-6

³ And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.

⁴ And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.

⁵ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

⁶ In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness. 

Based on the above verses, Messiah, as the Saviour was expected to achieve  good things for Jews. 

Ezekiel 36:24, 28

²⁴ For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. 

Ezekiel 37:28

 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. 

Zephaniah 3:15

Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, 

¹⁵ The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. 

Jeremiah 51:24

²⁴ And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the Lord. 

Jeremiah 51:36

³⁶ Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry. 

Thus O.T. explicitly shows that Jesus was more a rebellious messiah to bring freedom to Israelites. Never was he given the status of a god. 

NEW TESTAMENT

Matthew 1:1-16;  Luke 3:23-34    -  Both give the genealogy of Jesus but both vary so much. Even the father of Joseph, father of Jesus, were of two different persons in the two gospels. In Matthew the number of generations between Abraham and Jesus is 41 but in Luke it is 56. 

Luke 1:1-4  -- Luke claims that he went through the two earlier gospels of Matthew  and Mark written before his time and then wrote his gospel. But he had changed some incidents narrated in the other two gospels which show that Jesus was in support of only the Israelites. For instance Matthew and Mark quote an example of a dialogue between Jesus and an expert in the law. But Luke extends the incident and gives the story of good Samaritan. This story actually gives great credit to Jesus, as it shows that though Jews are expected to keep off Samaritans, Jesus shows his love to them.  While Luke is extrapolating the above incident , he just avoids the questionable story of a Canaanite woman pleading to help her daughter. This story tells the hatred of Jews on gentiles. Luke conveniently skips this story. Instead, Luke writes elaborately  on the love and support Jesus showed to gentiles, putting Jesus in different brighter light. 

Jews and specifically the chosen apostles who are all Jews expect that Messiah would come and liberate them from all their social and political bondages. However, when Jesus does not do what they expected, most of the Jews startthinking that Messiah would come later. These are the non-believing Jews and their religion is Judaism. With these confusing state of affairs as the backdrop, Paul comes into the scene and he starts working on Christianity-For-All, and not for Israelites alone. Only in A.D.36 Paul gets introduced in Bible and  because of his efforts only after A.D. 49 the terms "Christ" and "Chrisitians" come into being. It is Paul who wants to introduce Jesus to gentiles too. There are some changes and additions to Bible because of this. One big controversy is about the verses " He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation”. (Mark 16:15)  Till now that controversy exists. According to one school of thought the verses Mark 16:9-20 are considered as inclusions at a later period. The two copies of Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus do not contain these verses. 

Around B.C.36, biblically Paul first gets introduced as an enemy against Jesus. Then he gets converted and accepts Jesus as the Messiah. But he is not happy with his work since many Jews remained as non-believers.  So Paul wants to broaden his work to bring all the people into faith. But to transform a regional or tribal leader to a higher status is s not that easy. Paul, of the 27 books in N.T. writes14 letters to many different people. Another 2 books are written by Luke; of these the first one is the gospel and other was Acts of the Apostles. In all these 16 books efforts are made to liberate Jesus from all regional or tribal or racial boundaries. These two people are also unknown to each other and only after the death of Jesus, they meet and take united efforts to achieve their common goal. Their intended plan can be proved by two verses from Bible. 

Acts of Apos 13:46  Then Paul And Barnabas Answered Them Boldly: "We Had To Speak The Word Of God To You First. Since You Reject It And Do Not Consider Yourselves Worthy Of Eternal Life, We Now Turn To The Gentiles. 

Galatians 1:15,16

¹⁵ But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased

¹⁶ to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being.

This second set of verses are highly questionable. Paul says that he was selected by God even before his birth. If so, how come he is against Jesus till A.D.36 ? 

Efforts of Paul are not successful in the beginning. Paul and his new concepts are sidelined by all since people do not believe what he said. Biblical verses are also against what Paul  preaches.

Genesis 17:11

¹¹ You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

This verse very clearly indicates the covenant between Jehova  and mankind. But Paul goes against  this with a new verse.

Romans 2:26-31

Verse 29:  --  Rather, one is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not the letter; his praise is not from human beings but from God. 

Galatians 5:2  --  ² Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.

Then  Paul even goes one step further:

Galatians 5:2:  -- ² Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 

Paul startsed opposing the age old laws of Moses and circumcision but the apostles oppose the concepts of him. (Act 15:23,24).  Paul and his associates like Barnaba wanted to have a discussion with the apostles and Elders. (Act 15:1-3) Group of Paul wanted to have an exemption with their two demands on Laws of Moses and circumcision. The Council of Jerusalem is convened in A.D.49. In the discussion Peter supportsed Paul. Jacob, brother of Jesus is also pulled in by Paul. (Galatians 1:18,19) After this many a time Paul sends donations to Jerusalem.(1 Corinthians 16:2-4,  2 Corinthians 9:5 & 8: 10,20; 4:16-19 Roamer 15:26,27; Philippians 4:16,19)   

When Jacob talks in support of gentiles, he cannot quote any incident wherein Jesus serves gentiles in any way. If at all there are some incidents they could only be the handiwork of Luke or translators at later period. In spite of all these things the Jerusalem council gives Paul the right to work with gentiles. Council exempts new gentile converts from the laws of Moses and circumcision. It is a concession extended to them. But later Paul takes a view that O.T. could be discarded totally. (Act 21.20,21) 

In spite of all these, the true apostles are against taking Jesus out of Jewish boundary. But Paul steadily undoes the Jewish boundary of Jesus.  Unlike many of the chosen illiterate apostles, Paul is a great scholar in Greek and he takes up that language to give a new status to Jesus. The term "Christos" in  Greek means 'god acceptable to all'. Based on this term  Jesus is introduced by him as "Christ". He goes with this in spite of the objection from some apostles.  (Roamer 1:2-5) 

Roamer 1:2-5:  --  "..the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures ³ regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, ⁴ and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. ⁵ Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. 

Thus both historically and biblically, Paul is able to bring greater changes in the course of Christianity. A religion which is meant to be for a small sect of people gets wider to embrace all those in this world. But over and above, he is able to make a "man" into a "GOD". So says the history. Wonder how many Christians know this sea change in their faith!

 

 

 

 

 

65. A RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT ... 6

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ஏனைய பதிவுகள்:

1. https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html

2. https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html

3. https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html

4. https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html

5. https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html

6. https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/06/65-religious-turning-point-6.html

HOW DO I LOOK AT BIBLICAL PARABLES

HOW DO I LOOK AT BIBLICAL PARABLES

”Our Lord made ready use of the parabolic method of teaching to the extent that Mark comments "but without a parable spake he not unto them" (4:34)”.

So goes the story about our biblical parables. Jesus on his preaching line took up so many parables - some understandable, some are not; some at par with humane justice and some are not. But since it was all from the mouth of God each one is always praised and complied with by the believers. But for one who went out of faith like me, so many questions on the rightness of the parables and their intended objectives may arise. Simple acceptance of all the words in Bible is meant only for the believers.

I quote some parables here and give my perception of them, which are, as far as I am concerned, very humane in nature.

PRODIGAL SON

The story of the prodigal son,(Luke 15:11-32), a very famous and well known biblical parable, stands as a good example for me. No need to elaborate the story; everyone knows it. Normally we accept the end of the story, even praising the all-forgiving-dad. But for me there is a question. Had I been the father, I would have asked my prodigal son to be under the tutelage of my elder son till he proves his repentance. That would correct my younger son and honour my elder. But what the father of the story did actually provoked his ever dependable and sincere elder son.

//“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’//

This is what the elder son felt. None knows what happened when father justified his celebration for his prodigal son. I personally feel the unreasonable father would lose both his sons soon. A very bad managerial error, the dad had made. Reward should go to the right person and punishment should go to wrong character. Only that would infuse real justice in the minds of both the sons.

VINEYARD PARABLE

Almost this same type of judgment happens in another vineyard parable.  Matthew 20:1-16. Master fixes up salary and asks labourers at the early hours of the day with specific wages. Then he employs labourers till evening at various different times. At the end of the day he pays them equally. Very natural for the early comers to murmur. But the boss defends his choice of paying equal amounts: " ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you.  Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’.

My contention is, if the boss wants to be this generous, he could have extended more generosity to the early workers, paying them more than a denarius. He could have made all happier. I had been professionally a teacher and so my judgment is based on how a teacher should evaluate his students. I should give them marks according to their efforts and results. I should not give centum to all my students, irrespective of their achievements. This would hurt a real sincere worker and all his motivation would be thoroughly spoiled. The following interpretation for this parable does not cut ice for me: "Some who are faithful with the small opportunities that God gives them, now “last” in the eyes of people, might receive more reward than one who is “first” in the eyes of people but who is unfaithful with the bigger opportunities God has given him".

WHEAT AND WEEDS

The sower has sown good seed in his field for a healthy wheat harvest. But in the dark of night an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat. "So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well" (13:24-26).

It is interpreted that the good seeds are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age. Jesus says that the reapers -- not the slaves -- will take care of this at harvest time. "The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

So god allows wantonly the evil to grow among the good ones and then punishes. Poor logic. God allows the bad to exist, allows them grow, but then at the end throw them into an eternal fire! I don’t find evn human justice in this.

 PARABLE OF NET

Matthew 13:47  ⁴⁷ “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸ When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. ⁴⁹ This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous ⁵⁰ and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

It just shows explicitly how and what a MERCIFUL god he is! Why are bad fishes bad and how? Who made them bad? At least in human beings one can keep talking about 'free will' and say that a man has to choose the right thing and all that logic. But in fishes how come some are good and some are bad. Did they sin and become bad?! My question:  How come a merciful god could create an eternal blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (I have been having this question as my STANDARD QUESTION since I feel creation of an eternal hell fire to punish short lived men sounds not only logical but also humanly irrational.)  And how bad fishes or bad men came into being. As in the previous parable of Wheats and Weeds, the weed is ALLOWED to grow and finally is thrown into everlasting hell. Are the weeds so sinful? Weeds are not useful 'directly' for man; that's all. Not 'sinful' anyway!  

SEEDS & SOIL

Of course some parables would be so nice and meaningful and simply straight.  Math 13:18-23 - It is about sowing seeds.  Seeds fallen on right soil would grow well unlike those fallen on hard rocks.

So simple, straight and clean.

CORRECT FIRST THYSELF

There is one other parable, again a simple and effective, statement: . “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? (Math 7:1-5)

LAMP ON THE HILL

 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

But most of the parables are not like this. Jesus has to give some interpreation for such difficult parables.

Mat 13:10-12

Matthew 13:9-15 

⁹ Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

¹⁰ And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?

¹¹ He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

¹² For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

This 12th verse is still a mystery for me. I really don’t get the meaning of it. It also sounds to me bad since whoever has, would be given more; and whatsoever does not have, shall be taken away. It sounds almost like: make rich richer; make poor poorer!! Is it right? Does the parable mean this?

RICH MAN AND LAZARUS

Luke 16:19-31

 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

//remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things,// what does bible say? No rich man can enter heaven. Does the bible say poverty is the ladder to heaven.. leave alone things they had done on earth. I really don’t know why all religions keep poverty always on a high pedestal'? Is it for attracting even the poor people to become the believers of gods, as Osho suggested. Here the Lazarus did not go to the lap of Abraham not for any good deeds he did; just because he was poor (who knows how he became a poor!) The rich man, it seems, sinned by wearing a finely stitched suit, driving in his Rolls Royce! So he goes to hell, not for doing sinful things but living a luxurious life (who knows how hard he had to work to reach that level?)

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64.. MY RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT .... 5

ஏனைய பதிவுகள்:

1. https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html

2. https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html

3. https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html

4. https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html

5. https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html

6. https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/06/65-religious-turning-point-6.html

DISTANCING  FROM  CHRISTIANITY

LINKS TO  POSTS ON - MY RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT

 1.  https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html

2.  https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html

3. https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html

4. https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html

5. https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html

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RED COLOURED PARTS are of  my personal opinions....

My school and church were in the same campus and I grew up as a campus kid. Most of my activities were in the campus. Early morning appa woke me up and I had to attend the second mass at 5.30 am. After the service it was my duty to get daily milk from the farm in the Jesuits house behind the church.  This life continued mostly all through my school and college days.

During schooling for catholic students,  we used to have catechism classes where we were taught the 'history of church' and all that. Many stories were taught in our catechism classes. I remember most of them very well. I would give just two examples: It was the 'story' about the communion. In catholic faith the ' consecrated host' changes into the 'flesh of Jesus' during the mass. A nun had a doubt on this and one day she bit the host, which is a very thin bread made of wheat. She had the doubt whether it had really become the flesh of Jesus. When she bit it, blood started flowing from the host in her mouth. Only after great repentance and weeping of the nun it stopped. This story was to make our faith stronger. This story was routinely given to kids just before they went for receiving the holy sacrament of communion for the first time. Later, this story faded from catechism classes.

 The second teaching was about  birth control. In those story days Catholic Church  very strongly condemned any method of family control. Even following the safe days of ovulation was considered a sin. To convince us, another story was given. A new child is born with one mouth to feed and two hands to work for the bread. This was to convince us against birth control. It took us more than twenty to thirty years to understand that the 'two hands' would take at least a quarter century to earn bread. This story is also lost in the course of time. Nowadays they don’t teach these 'kid stories' to children. A sign of modernization! Nowadays no church is against birth control. It has been sidelined now.

Another interesting thing of my school days was the annual religious retreats organized by our school. It would normally start on a Friday evening. There would be a sort of hourly sermons. Normally the first sermon would be about the rules and regulation of the retreat and about what to do and what not to do. And then would come the serious sermons. The very second sermon on the Friday evening after supper would invariably revolve around "HELL"! It would be terribly threatening.  Elaborate description of an eternal hell and the terrific satanic tortures there.  This would terrify us so much that a cloud of fear would follow us to our bed. So normally on that night there would not be any catcalls or other pranks by us. Since this used to be a rare occasion for us to be with our friends normally we would be tempted to play pranks in our gang. This might happen in the next Saturday night and not on Friday night, since we would still hear the tik-tok sound of the "eternal clock" of the Hell! No nerve to play games then! Of course within one day this would slowly fade away and in the next night the supervisors would face hard time to keep us well behaved!

Another important thing of those days, we used to be regular in attending masses everyday in the church. So next best thing for the 'pious' boys like us was to be altar boys. In sacristy, there would be a spacious room with the red-white robes in all sizes. The altar boys first had to memorise Latin prayers. Well, in those days mass was done in Latin. Over the course of time it switched over to mother tongues. If we were able to render the Latin prayers to the person  in charge of sacristy - nearly four pages of Latin in Tamil script - we would be eligible as altar boys. We, then could choose the loose red-white robe and be with the priest in the altar during the mass. I too was an altar boy.  It was then considered a very big privilege for us. Such altar boys used to say that they would all become priests later in their lives. I too had that resolve for some years.

When I started distancing from my faith, among the many questions I raised, one was on Hell and Heaven. Hell seemed very illogical. Hell is considered eternal. On  one hand, Christianity claims at high pitch that their god is merciful. On the other hand it talks about an eternal hell, punishment for the sins of a man in his life time. There is not even any 'human justice' in that. Man for his sins in his short life had to be in the eternal hell, suffering. They also keep saying that Jesus came to redeem us for our sins. Incongruity at its height! It was simply an arrangement - man has to be cautioned - so hell is there. Man has to be made to feel good - so heaven is there! Some hope has to be given - so the merciful messiah is there. Even the Hindu concept of many births before Mukti at least has some human reasoning. In Christianity, there is no such thing. For the sin of a man, he should be in the painful hell for ETERNITY.  People have been arguing for long to do away with capital punishment. By Bible,  a merciful god has a hell made ready for sinners.

Many a time I have found Christians relinquish the Old Testament when I asked some pointed questions about the ridiculous and sensual stories from it. They would say adamantly that the New Testament is their book and we have to go by that. Naturally at such junctures my question would be: why then have the Old Testament as your religious book?  The same escapism they adopt when questions on Hell are raised. They will try to make it light and wriggle out from such a question. My question is so simple: HOW A MERCIFUL GOD CAN CREATE AN ETERNAL HELL. No meaning in denying hell because there are many very clear verses about hell in the Bible.

Not only Christianity, all the three Abrahmic religions also talk about "Seven Heavens"! This concept might have been derived from the ancient Mesopotamian religions. This concept is also found in Hinduism and Jainism. The 'seven' may correspond to the seven planets known to antiquity.

BIBLICAL HEAVEN:

Matthew 13:42 

And throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 25:46 

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

John 14:2 

In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  (Does this not sound so funny ? Almost like a ordinary human vision .. big mansion .. so many rooms. Even preacher Dinakaran - who visited heaven weekly for Sunday breakfast with Jesus, never revealed anything like this!! please have a look at :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8InbUvICDs  )

Luke 16:23 

And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.

John 5:28-29  

Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

A PARTIALITY

Matthew 12:32 

 ³² Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (What a partiality in the Trinity! Why one member of the trinity - the Holy Spirit - should be valued more than Jesus - the Son of Man??)

Revelation 20:14-15   

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire .

Revelation 21:8

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Revelation 21: describes the City of Heaven -  that the height, length, and width of the walls are of equal dimensions – as it was with the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and First Temple – and they measure 12,000 furlongs (which is approximately 1500.3 miles, or 1 furlong = approx 220 yards)  (This "data" also very much stands like a human imagination / invention! Anyway I fear / wonder - this Heaven is so tiny and small comparing the human populations of present, past and future. Can we - I mean the believers - all get some accommodation there? It is really a Hellish problem!)

Since the concept of hell and heaven were so much discussed from the beginning of the Church, lately some attempts were made  to distance Christianity from this hellish or heavenly problem!  (Like me,)  the conscience of some Christians was there from the beginning of Chrisitianity, who find it difficult to reconcile the existence of a just, loving God with a doctrine that dooms billions of people to eternal punishment.

In theological circles this doctrine is known as Eternal Conscious Torment (ECT).  Critics fault it for its lack of proportion. Why would a loving God punish a single lifetime of sin with endless lifetimes of torture? And, among sinners, does an adulterer merit the same punishment as a murderer? And what about the billions of people whose only sin was to follow a different faith?  

In its earliest years, Christianity didn’t have a consensus on the nature of hell.  Earliest theologians were on two sides: one is UNIVERSALISM (Hell and the punishment there is NOT eternal.) and second is ANNIHILATIONISM (The 'mortal soul' will die and fade away.)

These two views are quoted here:

Origen Adamantius, a third-century theologian, believed the wicked were punished after death, but only long enough for their souls to repent and be restored to their original state of purity. This doctrine, known as universalism, envisioned that everyone—including Satan—would eventually be redeemed and reunited with God.

Contemporary theologians generally credit Irenaeus of Lyons, a second-century bishop, as the intellectual forefather of annihilationism. In his seminal five-volume work, Against Heresies, he emphasized that the soul is not inherently immortal—eternal life would be bestowed upon the good with the resurrection of Christ, while the wicked would be left to die and fade from existence.

Augustine of Hippo and his book, City of God, published in A.D. 426, that set the tone for official doctrine over the next 1,500 years. Hell existed not to reform or deter sinners, he argued. Its primary purpose was to satisfy the demands of justice. Augustine believed in the literal existence of a lake of fire, where “by a miracle of their most omnipotent Creator, can burn without being consumed, and suffer without dying.”  

"Everlasting torment is intolerable from a moral point of view because it makes God into a bloodthirsty monster who maintains an everlasting Auschwitz for victims whom he does not even allow to die," wrote the late Clark Pinnock, an influential evangelical theologian.  

 Edward Fudge, whose 1982 book, The Fire That Consumes, is widely regarded as the scholarly work that jump-started the current debate.  A new generation of evangelical scholars are challenging the idea that sinners are doomed to eternal torment— and traditionalists are pushing back.

POPE FRANCIS (ALLEGED) STATEMENT ON HELL

Eugenio Scalfari — a longtime friend and intellectual sparring partner of Pope Francis and an atheist.

Speaking to this newspaper’s founder, journalist and atheist Scalfari, Francis was quoted as saying of those who die in a state of mortal sin: “They are not punished. Those who repent obtain God’s forgiveness and take their place among the ranks of those who contemplate him, yhose who do not repent and cannot be forgiven disappear. A hell doesn’t exist, the disappearance of sinning souls exists.”

However Vatican became serious after this statement of Pope got published. The chief communications secretary, Dario Vigano, resigned under pressure.

In short, whether people say yes or no to hell, still such things  exist in the Bible. Theologians, because of their conscience cannot ignore what is said in the Bible.

In addition to hell and heaven, Roman Catholic Christians  believe in purgatory. It is mostly by their own Biblical interpretations. (In my childhood,  purgatory was given importance in our prayers too. Now I have found that Catholics had dropped this concept, like what they did to family planning. There is also another mystic thing in catholic church. it is "limbo" - a place for unbaptised infant souls. This has also  lost its importance in due course of time in catholic teaching.

P.S.

In Christianity more discussions are on hell. While in Islam it is their heaven or Jannah which is much talked about subject - especially  between the believers (mumins) and non-believers (kafirs).  

Al-Qur'an 44:51-57

"Verily, the muttaqun (the pious), will be in place of security (Jannah). Among Gardens and springs dressed in fine silk and (also) in thick silk, facing each other. So (it will be). And We shall marry them to hur (fair females) with wide, lovely eyes. 

Al-Qur'an 83:22-28

They will be given to drink of pure sealed wine.

Of course, more that the wine in golden cups, getting a share of 72 ever-virginal houris (fair females with large eyes) is more tempting ..!

References:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-WUBu4iDiY&t=377s

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/05/160513-theology-hell-history-christianity/

https://www.vox.com/2018/3/30/17179952/pope-francis-hell-vatican-interview-scalfari-italian