JESUS of NAZARETH—Just who was/is Jesus of Nazareth? Does Anyone know? Paul’s sidekick Mark, who wrote the first gospel gives us absolutely no clue except Jesus’ proclamation that he and the Father were one. Years later Matthew and Luke embellished Marks writings on both ends with remarkable contradiction of each other. John’s acolyte(s) some sixty years after Jesus’ death concocted a tale incorporating the notion that God and Jesus coexisted from all eternity, whilst at the same time implying that nothing else coexisted with them. We know from the writings of Professor Garry Wills in his book What Paul Meant, that Luke was a veritable liar and cannot be trusted. So just where does that leave us poor simpletons who are at the mercy of religion to tell us? From my perspective it leaves us in a deep, deep, dark dudgeon of deceit. And you, understandably, would question why I would say such a heretical thing.
When one traces the origins of the ‘one true religion’ of the time, Judaism, it becomes quite obvious that it was developed from multiple preconceived notions of mythology and astrology. The Zodiac developed by the Egyptians some fourteen thousand years ago, had become the foundation for essentially all religious belief. The Egyptians, Greeks and essentially all cultures had gods galore—each with its specific functions. The sun, moon and stars played the biggest role in the imaginative ideas they developed.
When the Jews came with the idea of a singular God who had created the entire universe, they indeed struck a ‘high note’. Not only did they give their God credit for creating everything, they actually developed a time-frame of sorts for its happening. In addition they surmised that in the beginning, all animal life was peaceful and benevolent—-even snakes could talk. They all co-existed in paradise.
However, observing their current plight at the time forced them to explain what happened—where did paradise go? Well, since woman was the ‘scourge’ creation, it became immediately fashionable to put the blame on her. So they conveniently developed the tale of Eve tempting Adam to break God’s rule, that is to sin—the fun was over—how sad.
To the unwary that story may sound like a suitable, appeasing explanation. However there is one little detail that was overlooked. We seem to forget that snakes could ‘talk’ and guess what—it was the snake who was the first sinner—the snake enticed Eve to sin. Where did the serpent come up with such a dastardly idea as to defy its God? Now isn’t that a startling turn of events—it wasn’t Eve’s fault after all. Who planted the ‘seed’ of defiance in the snakes brain—wouldn’t you like to know—I would.
The rather obvious answer to those ridiculous proposals and questions is nobody—none of it ever happened. The fictional Eve became the obvious scapegoat because women were then, and always have been considered something only slightly better than ‘pond scum’. So no one in his ‘right mind’ would question the fact that a woman caused all the trouble. Furthermore, everyone knew that snakes talked perfect Yiddish—didn’t you?
So you may say, what’s that got to do with Jesus of Nazareth? and I would say everything. When Jesus came along, He puzzled, startled, bewildered, and angered people. Everyone who knew him was aware that he was just a poor carpenters son—how could he be making such statements and proclamations. My answer to that very legitimate question stems from my definition of the essence of God. That definition shows clearly that God’s perfection precludes any possibility of physical miracles. Likewise it negates any possibility of Hell. God is Perfect Love and cannot possibly reject any part of his perfect creation. Likewise God’s perfect nature precludes any possibility of change, a necessity for physical miracles.
Jesus was a simple carpenter’s son, However, I am convinced that he was the most brilliant human to ever live. He was born of natural parents but his genius allowed him to see though the folly of the Jewish religion. The Jew’s God was an Overlord with a mighty whip. He sat on his throne and kept a keen eye on his creation which was separate from him—ever-ready to hurl punishment at violators. Jesus saw a completely different God—a God that permeated everything in existence—a God who could not possible be separated from his creation—nothing could ‘be’ without the inner presence of God.
That insight, of course, told Jesus that his own being and the Spirit of the Father were One. Knowing that the universe was universally evil by virtue of its selfishness told Jesus that atonement was mandatory in order for God to be Perfect Love. That realization sent a shock-wave through Jesus—that meant that since he was the only one with that knowledge, he had to be the scape-goat—he was the messiah—he had to pay the price.
The implications from Jesus’ insights were astonishing. Whereas the Jews considered death as the end of everything, Jesus’ realization on the other hand that everything was a mirror image of God meant that everything had an eternal existence just as its creator. After undoubtedly consulting with his cousin, John, he hastily set about attempting to recruit and educate a group to spread that good news (Gospel) to the entire world. Whether or not he was successful in that endeavor, we will never know—so corrupt is the written word we have.
In any event the Jews killed him by hanging him on a tree—-crucifixion which was reserved for traitors. From there we can only guess at what happened. The written word we have was copied from one remaining copy which was a copy of hundreds, maybe thousands of copies—that single copy was made some two hundred years after the original writing. We do know that from that time on dozens of ‘versions’ have appeared over the years. The noted Professor of Bible at North Carolina University, Dr. Bart Ehrman, shows that only %30 of the bible was written by its supposed author. Also as one example, he shows clearly that Jerome, the hermit, who despised women and sex, in the process of translating the bible from Greek to Latin, changed or eliminated any mention of a woman doing or saying anything ‘good’.
It seems clear that Jesus’ basic message was that God is love—his only command was love God with your all and love your neighbor a yourself. My definition of the essence of God (God is a perfect rational being) supports that ideation completely.
Both Jesus and Paul despised religion—they said that love must prevail. But when Constantine gave the ‘Bishops” a mandate to fashion a religion to their liking, they did just that. They fashioned a religion right out of the Jewish play-book—all about power, money and control. We have been shackled with it and its 33,000 variants since. And what has it gotten us—-perpetual turmoil.
So what’s the point?—it makes no difference—God loves us each equally—Jesus died for our iniquity—anything else is fairy tales.
I have written extensively about this subject in my two books Wilderness Cry and Peace in Spirituality—both books published by Covenant Books and available on line and from me if desired. I have attached press releases and short video trailers for each.
906242_Press Release for Wilderness Cry
Press Release for Peace in Spiritiality
WILDERNESS CRY by Hilary L Hunt MD 