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.
I am convinced that Jesus was the most brilliant human to ever live. In spite of being illiterate, He recognized many important clues about God. He saw that everything in this universe was evil by virtue of its selfishness. Without any scientific knowledge at all, to say nothing of ‘particle physics’, Jesus reasoned that the spirit of God was in everything. Yet everything was made perfect, and maintained perfect by a Perfect God.
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.