CONTRADICTION: the word itself mean a saying or statement that seems contrary to the reality or truth of another statement. Contradictions are a ‘dime a dozen’ in our everyday lives—may are readily resolved and many go totally unresolved. I want to address what seems to me do be a direct contradiction between Christian prayer and a direct quote from Luke’s Gospel.
The Christian prayer in question is the Apostles Creed which says, ‘Jesus was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. He arose again on the third day—‘ . Luke, in referring to Jesus’ crucifixion with the two insurgents on either side says that one of them rebuked Jesus for not saving them and himself, while the other scolds the first for rebuking Jesus, attesting that Jesus was innocent while they were getting their ‘just due’—he asked Jesus to ‘remember him when he came into his kingdom’. Jesus replied ‘this day thou shalt be with me in paradise’.
This appears to me to be a clear-cut example of ‘direct contradiction’. Some apologists, may attempt to explain it away with some hidden meaning of hell etc. However common folks speaking and hearing common language would definitely have a clear understanding that those two statements are a direct contradiction of one another.
As a matter of factual experience, during my 81 years of regular weekly/daily attendance at Catholic Mass, I have never once heard the issue addressed from the pulpit. I believe I know why—there is no rational explanation.
While I can’t prove either of the statements to be correct/incorrect, my strong suspicion is that neither is correct. In the first instance, no one knows what happened to Jesus’ soul, and in the second instance, we know from History Professor Emiratis, Garry Will, That Luke was a veritable liar. Professor Will, in his book, What Paul Meant, Shows clearly that everything Luke wrote in ‘Acts Of The Apostles’ was a total lie. Paul, you recall was the first writer—he wrote about his activities basically as they occurred. Luke’s writings about Paul’s activities bear no resemblance to Paul’s writings. Luke fashioned a religion the way he wanted it—not according to Jesus’ plan.
So, ‘right off the bat’ we have, contradictions galore and we have unfounded speculations galore all of which set the stage for the birth of more mythology founded religions—33,000 of them to be exact (as of 2014).
Preachers of every ilk have pounded the pages of that ‘holy book’ without the slightest notion of that they are saying—how can they possibly know? They speak incessantly about a god that they don’t know, and they speak incessantly about a Jesus they don’t know. And for what purpose?—money, power control. These same preachers are building empires of structures, wealth an influence. Is That what Jesus supposedly told his apostles?—I don’t think so.
While shaking the dust off my cerebral cortex, I seem to remember Jesus telling his apostles to ‘go into the world and preach the good news that God loves you and that I have come to die for your salvation. Take no provisions; accept that is offered you; If you are not received, shake the dust off your sandals and move on’ (paraphrased). Of all the hundreds of thousands of preachers in the world, what percentage of them are concerned enough about your soul to do as Jesus said?—I suspect extremely few. Do you see the hypocrisy as I do?
More importantly, do you see the lament? While the preachers are amassing wealth, simultaneously they are unwittingly/possibly wittingly spreading hostility among Gods People—‘my preaching(church) is better than your’.
Please read my little books, Wilderness Cry , and Peace in Spirituality. In wilderness Cry I actually define the essence of God, so now you may know explicitly just who your God is. In Peace in Spirituality, I show the absolute only fool-proof pathway to peace. Press Releases and video trailers for both books attached—all comments and questions welcomed.
Press Release for Peace in Spiritialoty
906242_Press Release for Wilderness Cry
So it is evident, the responsibility for Christian baptism lay clearly at the feet of Jesus. However Jesus said, ‘John gave you baptism with water, but I will Baptize you with the Holy Spirit’. Obviously a paradox exist here. Why did God’s voice speak from the heavens and say , ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased . Listen to him’. Who was there to listen and hear? Jesus had not yet chosen his apostles. So who heard that it might be recorded later? I suspect no one. I believe it was absolutely a ‘trumped up’ idea inserted into Bible centuries later to satisfy the figment of someone’s imagination. If the Jews had heard it, they would have been compelled to, obey—direct orders from God?—who would dare ignore?
If we are ever to have peace on this earth, each of us must come out of our ‘badger like’ cocoons, humbly accept that the Spirit of God is in us all, and indeed in all of creation. Not one of us is worthy of God’s Kingdom—it is by his singular acceptance that he has made us, and every grain of sand in the universe worthy. With that understanding, we could finally have peace—not until.
referring to—it was a common practice.
Religion and Politics: It is a universal statement, ‘our constitution demands separation of church and state’. I doubt seriously if many people know what that means. I suspect that the framers of the constitution designed it so that no religion could take over our government and thereby become a Theocracy.
clearly see. That definition leaves nothing to the imagination. Similarly, it abolishes forever all of the mythology, superstition and deceit associated with religions of all kinds. It shows that physical miracles are an impossibility; likewise it proves that any concepts of purgatory or hell are irrational. It shows that the Perfect Love of God pervades all—nothing can be rejected. Only by the prejudiced minds of men are we rejected. It shows how unloving (unjust) our legal system has been from the beginning.
PERFECT-(6) in this installment we will discuss God’s Perfect Love which may be defined as acceptance without conditions. If God’s love required conditions, it would not be perfect—it would be un-filled; an impossibility in the realm of perfection. The entire universe(s) is/are a mirror image of their Generator—that Supreme Being we call Allah, Yahweh. Buddha, God, Zeus, Brahma, etc. So God , himself is intrinsically selfish for a very specific reason—he wants, desires, chooses, loves everything for himself. In order to demonstrate and be perfect love, he chose one of his mirror image representatives to execute the deed—enter Jesus the Christ.
They both knew that they would be killed because of their heretical teaching, but because they recognized that they were mirror images of God, they must persist—Jesus must instruct others to spread the word. It is impossible to determine if he was truly successful because the written word we have has been so terribly corrupted by people with the same attitude as the Jews who killed him. The bible has been written and copied so many times by so many people with an axe to grind that the real truth is impossible to discern—hence the dozens of different versions of his words. I ask you simply. “are different versions of the absolute truth possible?” I think not, but those, who for monetary gain, fame and power, would have you believe so.
Perfect: today, I’m beginning a short series of presentations on the word perfect, it’s implications and applications especially as applied to God and his universe(s). The word itself is defined as absolute; complete; free from faults or defects; lacking in nothing; unchangeable. Throughout all ages, mankind has recognized a “higher power” which has been given many, many names by various societies and cultures—some of the more commonly known include God, Yahweh, Allah, Buddha, Brahma, Venus, Zeus, Aphrodite, Hades, Poseidon, Diana, Mars, Minerva, Ceres, etc. All of these gods have one thing in common—they were considered to be the absolute authority and/or power in their individual domains. During the course of my seventy or so years of serious inquiry and investigation, I gradually concluded that all of these entities had one thing in common—they were absolutely mythical because not one of their subjects could even begin to define their essence. History has shown that many, many great minds, philosophers and theologians of all sorts and descriptions have recognized the miniscule, inept and insufficient understanding of their god. Each, in turn, has made a desperate attempt to add definitive meaning to their deities—each has failed miserably. I am currently following with astonishing amusement the daily writings of one in particular. My favorite saying is “it’s like watching a blind man hunt for the North Star”, or to use a more familiar saying, “It’s like hunting for a needle in a haystack”. My insatiable, unrelenting quest for that definitive answer of “who or what God really is” has caused and allowed my mind to think “outside the box”, and that endeavor has demanded that I connect the dots that I see in creation and link them directly with their creator. Even though I am a physician (orthopedic surgeon), I have had an extreme extracurricular interest in psychology, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and Quantum Mechanics (particle physics). Those two disciplines have given me extreme insight into how both the human personality and everything in the universe are constructed.. Those understandings allowed me to observe that everything in the universe is “perfect” in form and function and, contrarily, everything in the universe is “evil” by virtue of its selfishness. As one observes seeming absolute facts, conclusions are mandated. So, if everything is perfect in form and function, it is therefore logical to assume that a perfect intelligence designed , created, and maintains their perfection. Then, as Irwin Russell, a nineteenth century poet said in his poem The First Banjo, “how wuz he gwine to string it?”, the mighty question rises as to how/why would a perfectly good God create a perfectly evil universe? That question will be answered in a future post. For right now we will concern ourselves with the eternal unanswered question, “what is the essence of God?”. Believe it or not the answer to that question is so obvious. I am literally astonished that no scientist, nor anyone else before me has defined God’s essence. I suspect that most scientists are so directed by stovepipe vision that they can’t let their minds wander to such topics. Ill admit it took me sixty or so years before the “lights came on”. When they did, the brilliance was overwhelming—how could I have been so blind for so long? Just as in Psychoanalytic psychotherapy, when the light comes on the cure is instant, in this case, when the light came on regarding God’s essence, instantly all questions, all mysteries, all dilemmas were resolved. All superstitions were eliminated. No question was left unresolved. What a marvelous, glorious moment—God had been exposed. I was able and mandated to define the essence of God with six, simple, irrefutable words— God is a Perfect Rational Being. In future posts, I will explain in detail the definition and ramifications of each of those word . In the meantime, I would encourage you to read both of my books, 1- Wilderness Cry- a Scientific And Philosophical Approach to Understanding God and the Universe, and 2- Peace in Spirituality. Both books published by Covenant Books and available both from me or on-line at all vendors both hardcopy and e-books. A video trailer and press release for Wilderness Cry is attached–similar media will soon be available for Peace in Spirituality. All comments and/or questions welcomed.