In one of my posts from yesterday, One Savings Account, several commenters made some remarks about the true identity of Jesus, the Jewish carpenter. Most of them can be summed up by the comment left by Shinzen, in which he stated "we need to save Jesus from the Christians." I certainly understand the sentiment because it's one I held for many, many years.
However, I was taken to task more than once by a former reader (and fantastic fellow), Forest Wisdom. He pointed out again and again that few people know much of anything about the person of Jesus because the Bible -- the chief source -- has been so twisted and adulterated through the centuries that no one can know for sure precisely what Jesus actually said and what words and thoughts have been placed on his lips.
After giving the matter a great deal of thought, I realized Forest Wisdom was on to something!! I've come to agree with him that Jesus is nothing more than a blank canvas that we can attach our own feelings and beliefs to. The guy is sort of like a Barbie doll; we can dress him up any way we want and change his wardrobe at will.
If a person is a proponent of war, then Jesus becomes GI-Joe. If a person believes that homosexuality is immoral, then Jesus can be made to look like Pat Robertson! If a person believes that Jesus came to serve the downtrodden, then his accessories can be switched for the Mother Teresa look. And if you believe Jesus was a peace-loving hippie, you can tweak his appearance to look more like a Teddy Bear.
However you choose to outfit him, it's easy to marshal the needed citations to back up your position. If someone disagrees with you, all you have to do is castigate them for not reading the scriptures correctly. It's a marvelous game and millions upon millions of people play it, Christians and non-Christians alike.
The reality of the situation is that we know there are a few reports of a Jewish holy person named Jesus and he played an indirect role in the formation of a new religion. Beyond that, almost everything else about this individual is open to conjecture.
For my part, I believe that Jesus probably existed in the flesh and blood, but the true Jesus can't stand up to tell us who and what he really was because he died nearly 2,000 years ago.
However, I was taken to task more than once by a former reader (and fantastic fellow), Forest Wisdom. He pointed out again and again that few people know much of anything about the person of Jesus because the Bible -- the chief source -- has been so twisted and adulterated through the centuries that no one can know for sure precisely what Jesus actually said and what words and thoughts have been placed on his lips.
After giving the matter a great deal of thought, I realized Forest Wisdom was on to something!! I've come to agree with him that Jesus is nothing more than a blank canvas that we can attach our own feelings and beliefs to. The guy is sort of like a Barbie doll; we can dress him up any way we want and change his wardrobe at will.
If a person is a proponent of war, then Jesus becomes GI-Joe. If a person believes that homosexuality is immoral, then Jesus can be made to look like Pat Robertson! If a person believes that Jesus came to serve the downtrodden, then his accessories can be switched for the Mother Teresa look. And if you believe Jesus was a peace-loving hippie, you can tweak his appearance to look more like a Teddy Bear.
However you choose to outfit him, it's easy to marshal the needed citations to back up your position. If someone disagrees with you, all you have to do is castigate them for not reading the scriptures correctly. It's a marvelous game and millions upon millions of people play it, Christians and non-Christians alike.
The reality of the situation is that we know there are a few reports of a Jewish holy person named Jesus and he played an indirect role in the formation of a new religion. Beyond that, almost everything else about this individual is open to conjecture.
For my part, I believe that Jesus probably existed in the flesh and blood, but the true Jesus can't stand up to tell us who and what he really was because he died nearly 2,000 years ago.
Good post. I would like to add we also need to save Buddha from the Buddhists and all 'holy' people religion has put on a pedestal.
ReplyDeleteWho cares 'what would Jesus or Buddha do?' What do you say you need to do...what speaks from deep within yourself.
Now I know why a lot of old Zen stories surround burning of scriptures and telling people to kill the Buddha. It is important, and this comes from inside of me...(and what Jesus and Buddha are purported to have said) ...be a light unto yourself!
As we all know, Jesus was not a Christian and Buddha was not a Buddhist.
I think it was Josephus who asked Pontius Pilate if he remembered the crucifixion. "No" he said, "there were so many."
ReplyDelete..or.. The son of god is the sun of all of space which is god.
ReplyDeleteThe crucifixion was where the sun sits on the cross North South East West and the 3 day death was the solstice.
The 12 disciples were the 12 portions of the zodiac that the sun passed through. And the bible contains astrological data hidden in a story...
Fish. Pisces.
Love it!
ReplyDeleteHe still has to be saved from the Christians, though.
Great!!! We find it comfortable to possess an arrogance to speak in a manner of facts, what figures did thousands of years ago. Nevertheless, surprisingly we fail a elementary school history exam routinely.
ReplyDeleteEveryone has their own Jesus. Often Jesus eerily sounds and acts like us. He agrees with us.
ReplyDeleteThe Bible is all we have when it comes to knowing the historical Jesus. I doubt we can extract the historic Jesus from the Bible. What's true? What's false? What was original? What was added? Corrected?
2000 years have passed. Lots of time for corruption and distortion. (if Jesus actually existed at all)
Bruce