Sunday, April 16, 2006
and Jesus said...
My favorite quotes from Jesus are ones where I think He sums up how we should behave:
When asked which of the Commandments is the greatest, he sums them up saying "The first is to love God with all your heart, and the second is to love your neighbor as you love yourself."
There is a long passage where He speaks about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, comforting the afflicted-- practical means by which we demonstrate our love for our fellows.
The other is when he saves a woman from execution by stoning: "Whoever is without sin cast the first stone." And when the 'righteous' crowd disperses in shame, He says: "Is there none left to condemn you? Neither do I."
The principles Jesus taught were love and forgiveness, compassion and humility. These are qualities which are simple to understand, yet difficult to practice.
When asked which of the Commandments is the greatest, he sums them up saying "The first is to love God with all your heart, and the second is to love your neighbor as you love yourself."
There is a long passage where He speaks about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, comforting the afflicted-- practical means by which we demonstrate our love for our fellows.
The other is when he saves a woman from execution by stoning: "Whoever is without sin cast the first stone." And when the 'righteous' crowd disperses in shame, He says: "Is there none left to condemn you? Neither do I."
The principles Jesus taught were love and forgiveness, compassion and humility. These are qualities which are simple to understand, yet difficult to practice.
# posted by newbie @ 6:51 AM 
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Hey Dude, some interesting thoughts. I'll have to keep checking in. I'll comment more when I have time.
# posted by 
: 8:36 PM
: 8:36 PM
Let's not forget,"Judge not less ye also shall be judged"
It amazes me how some people can take such a message of love, hope and joy, and twist it to control, suppress, and hate.
It amazes me how some people can take such a message of love, hope and joy, and twist it to control, suppress, and hate.
# posted by : 7:28 PM
: 7:28 PM
Actually ... there's an interesting bit information that I recently heard about regarding a lot of the Bible, including the New Testament.
A fundmentalist Christian named Bart Ehrman has has written a book called "Misquoting Jesus." He's been doing research and translating the ancient texts of the Bible, back before the printing press when each copy of a book had to be written by a scribe.
Well, it turns out that often times the scribes changed information. This is a lot more than accidentally changing a word or two while copying the text. They created new passages that previously didn't exist, and deleted text they didn't like.
Ehrman said that he was unable to find two versions of an ancient Bible that were alike. That's not a huge shock.
What is surprising is that some of the more famous things that Jesus said probably weren't said by Jesus. It's more likely that the scribe thought that it sounded like something Jesus would say, and so added the text.
He suggests that more than likely Jesus never actually said anything like, "He among you whom is without sin may cast the first stone." More than likely that whole episode never happened.
The Catholic Church are the keepers of the Shroud of Turin. It's been proven that the it's not actually Jesus's shroud. Like crop circles, that fact is not in dispute, unless someone is completely ignorant. But ... the Church has never claimed it was the real shroud. They've always said it is merely an inspirational artifact.
As the truth about flaws in Biblical text become more and more well known, I suspect that the Church will say that the books of the New Testament aren't the word for word gospels of Jesus or his disciples. They're merely books inspired by Jesus.
At some point it would be nice if they would just say that dead means dead and neither heaven or hell exist.
A fundmentalist Christian named Bart Ehrman has has written a book called "Misquoting Jesus." He's been doing research and translating the ancient texts of the Bible, back before the printing press when each copy of a book had to be written by a scribe.
Well, it turns out that often times the scribes changed information. This is a lot more than accidentally changing a word or two while copying the text. They created new passages that previously didn't exist, and deleted text they didn't like.
Ehrman said that he was unable to find two versions of an ancient Bible that were alike. That's not a huge shock.
What is surprising is that some of the more famous things that Jesus said probably weren't said by Jesus. It's more likely that the scribe thought that it sounded like something Jesus would say, and so added the text.
He suggests that more than likely Jesus never actually said anything like, "He among you whom is without sin may cast the first stone." More than likely that whole episode never happened.
The Catholic Church are the keepers of the Shroud of Turin. It's been proven that the it's not actually Jesus's shroud. Like crop circles, that fact is not in dispute, unless someone is completely ignorant. But ... the Church has never claimed it was the real shroud. They've always said it is merely an inspirational artifact.
As the truth about flaws in Biblical text become more and more well known, I suspect that the Church will say that the books of the New Testament aren't the word for word gospels of Jesus or his disciples. They're merely books inspired by Jesus.
At some point it would be nice if they would just say that dead means dead and neither heaven or hell exist.
# posted by : 9:06 PM
: 9:06 PM 
The more you study, the harder it is to determine whether we have any authentic record of the historical Jesus. For instance, the letters of Paul do not refer to the Gospels at all, and do not reference the sayings of Jesus even when they'd be the most appropriate and authoritative arguments to be had. The silence is deafening.
But I think in talking to Christians today we have to take the Bible as it is, even if we know it isn't completely trustworthy. Why? Because their belief makes it their reality.
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But I think in talking to Christians today we have to take the Bible as it is, even if we know it isn't completely trustworthy. Why? Because their belief makes it their reality.
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