COMING OF CHRIST-Christmas is rapidly approaching. Of course, it represents Christianity’s selected date for celebrating the birth of Jesus. It is not his actual birthday—rather a day chosen in opposition to a pagan celebration. Jesus real birthday has been suggested by historical ‘experts’ to likely be in April or September. Be that as it may, we know the eventuating story of his birth, childhood, public ministry, crucifixion and ascension, and the prediction of his ‘second coming. However, before we can address the ‘second coming of Christ’ we must understand the ‘first coming’. I can see the quizzical expressions on your faces right now—what on earth does he mean?—we know all about the ‘first coming’—we have the Bible. And I would say to you, “not so fast. Maybe a quick historical brush-up would help”.
As you will recall, somewhere along the line, the Hebrews discovered the ‘one true God’. That God was theirs and theirs alone. Because of the disobedience of the first man, Adam, God had banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden (Paradise) and committed them to a life of toil by the ‘sweat of their brow’. Later on, the Hebrews entered into pacts with God—they actually had conversations with him. In the last pact, (covenant), God swore that never again would he abandon them. Furthermore he would send them the Messiah who would ‘restore the kingdom’ just for them alone—such was their collective imagination.
By the time Jesus appeared, the Jews had already developed a very corrupt, and self serving, scheme of government, which rewarded those in power, and kept the rest at bay, poor, and basically enslaved. Consequently, the masses longed for the Messiah whom they had been promised.
Jesus possessed a genius mind, dramatically superior to all others. He recognized the universal evil of selfishness, but, more importantly, he saw how the dualistic idea, of God being ‘over here’, and his creation being ‘over there‘, was being used to control the peasant masses— all for power and money. He knew instinctively that nothing in existence could be unless the Spirit of God was present within it. Therefore, the concept of a dualistic God, as envisioned by the Israelites, was dramatically incorrect.
Now, lets address the issue of Jesus’ name. His name is Jesus—not Jesus Christ. The word Christ is derived from Latin and Greek, and is interpreted as King, just as is the word messiah. Remember, in the Old Testament, the Hebrews ‘were promised’ a Messiah (King) who would rule over their entire world in a ‘new paradise’.
When Jesus began his public ministry by proclaiming himself to be ‘the Messiah’, and preaching an heretical gospel (good news) of love, it was a ‘tough gristle’ for many to chew and swallow —they were so imbued with the philosophy of ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’, both in their societal government, and in their understandings about God. In fact, the King and High Priest couldn’t, and wouldn’t, even try to chew it—it would have poisoned them, and destroyed their ‘power base’ over society. So, they killed him.
After Jesus’ death, his bewildered followers seemed not to know what to think. There seems to be nothing recorded for fifteen years after Jesus’ death, until Paul began writing letters to his followers. As I have expressed in previous writings, I believe Paul got his understanding about Jesus from the very people he was persecuting. By his own admission, he had some sort of emotional reaction while he was riding to persecute them. Once upon a time, such a reaction might/would have been labeled hysteria , but, today, it is known as somatic symptom disorder. In some of his writings he referred to Jesus as Christ Jesus, which means that he recognized Jesus as a Spiritual King. Therefore, the word Christ is a titular reference, just as King David, or as M.D. following my name. I can find no writing as to when Jesus was first referenced as Jesus Christ, rather than Christ Jesus, as Paul did.
If you have not read the Coptic Gospel of Thomas, I highly recommend it. In that gospel, Jesus keeps saying, over and over and over, the exact same thing while using using different words— it was his desperate attempt to get his apostles to understand his teaching. In the clearest statement of all, when his disciples asked him, “when will the Kingdom come?”, he said to them; “It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying, ‘Here it is’, or ‘There it is.’ Rather, the Kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it.” That statement indicates clearly that Jesus recognized the presence of God’s spirit in everything, including him.
In that same text Jesus told them, “It is I who am the light which is above them all. From me did the All come forth, and unto me did the All extend. Split a piece of wood and I am there. Lift up the stone and you will find me there.”
In proclaiming that he was ‘the light of the world’, Jesus was attempting to dissuade them from their understanding that God was sitting in some palatial heaven in some mysterious whereabouts, while overseeing and over-lording his creation—rather, God is in all creation. That creation, of course, included Jesus, as well as everyone and everything.
Jesus spoke the only ‘truth’— love is all that matters. Jesus certainly had not the foggiest idea of/about Quantum Mechanics (particle physics), which, in my opinion, defines the essence of God, but his genius told him that the Holy Spirit (Will of God, Love of God, Acceptance of God) had to be present in everything or it could not exist.
Jesus readily understood the malicious and cultist nature of religion. He observed how religion was being used by High Priests to bilk the poor peasants of their hard-earned meager existences, under the pretense of ‘appeasing’ an angry God—they were, in fact, appeasing their greed.
Jesus readily recognized that the light of that knowledge must be spread out over the entire world through his apostles. He knew he would be killed for his philosophy, and was hopeful of having them be the ‘spreaders’ of his message. Were they?—not yet, that I can determine. Those who wrote, and re-wrote, and re-wrote, and re-wrote, ad nauseum, the so-called canonical literature we have, the Bible, were not to be dissuaded one bit by Jesus’ heretical teachings. They were, in fact, shocked to learn that Jesus was going to ‘die for them’.
Of, course, as matter of historical fact, the Jews did kill him. The narrative should have ended there, but it didn’t. Those writers were so determined to ‘have it their way’ that they created another narrative—a resurrection, ascension and, above all, a second coming. That wish became so strong that many taught and believed Jesus’s return to be imminent—such was their wishful thinking. It has been only two thousand years or so, and still no coming—so, what’s a few billion years to an eternal God?
Do you think Paul would be surprised to know that?—I suspect he would be flabbergasted. Also, I suspect John Mark, Paul’s side-kick, who wrote the first Gospel would be dismayed also—remember, he quoted Jesus as saying that the end of the world would happen before the current generation (40 years) passed. We will never know what their ‘real’ ideas and understandings were, nor where they came from. Quite obviously, if they came from Jesus’ mouth, he would have to be considered an imposter—I don’t believe that for one second.
If we accept Jesus as real, and I certainly do, then we are forced to accept that his post crucifixion narratives were fabricated by writers biased in their predetermined belief—they simply had to make their longsuffering come to an end. I don’t have the foggiest idea about who the culprits were, and I sincerely doubt that anyone does. It is possible that the answer lies buried in Vatican archives—I have no expectation of us ever being privy to that information.
Seemingly, no one, except possibly John, a little understood and accepted what Jesus told them. It would, in fact, be The Greatest Story Ever Told if we could only hear it straight from Jesus’ mouth.
Based on my definition of the essence of God as ‘a Perfect Rational Being’, coupled with my basic understanding of Particle Physics, the Jesus story as told in the Gospel of Thomas makes perfect sense—it adds absolute clarity to the subject. It also prompted me to write my basic philosophy Book, Wilderness Cry-A Scientific and Philosophical Approach to Understanding God and the Universe. Another book I have written and published is Peace in Spirituality. It represents only one of a myriad of possible extrapolations of that definition. More importantly, it presents an absolute, indisputable, meaning of The Second Coming.
The Second Coming will occur only through the universal awakening of the human consciousness to the presence of the Will Of God, the Holy Spirit, in everything in existence. Then, and only then, will Jesus’ truth, light of the world, shine over all creation—please don’t hold your breath—religion has the human consciousness pinned to the ground.
I continue my call for the recognition and acceptance of, The World-wide Communion of Spirituality, which means that all must understand and accept the concept that the Spirit (Will) of God is necessarily imprinted onto every particle of energy of which everything in existence is made.
Wilderness Cry by Hilary L. Hunt, M.D. – YouTube
Peace in Spirituality by Hilary L. Hunt, M.D. – YouTube
Buddhaism Christianity Eternity Faith Future of Christianity God God's Will gods Hilary L Hunt MD Hinduism HolyGhost Holy Spirit Islam Islam Christianity Jesus Judaism Judaism Buddhism Money Philosophy Power Religion religions salvation Science The Trinity
WILDERNESS CRY by Hilary L Hunt MD 