Preaching The Gospel

In teaching the Bible my Grandfather used to hammer home a very important point, usage determines meaning. This simply means that regardless of the word or phrase, what the author meant at the time the words were spoken or written determine what the meaning of the word or phrases were.

You can no more automatically attribute modern meaning to ancient words than you can attribute modern social norms to those of the past. Just as social norms and traditions evolve and change so too do words.

In understanding the Bible you must not only know what was meant by the author when it was written, you must also realize that it has gone through numerous translations. Most people know that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek, but that is just the beginning of the Bible's confusing journey.

For one, these two ancient languages besides changing as all languages do over time, were translated to other languages most notably and at first mainly to Latin.

When thinking about the Bible that has reached us you must remember that for literally hundreds of years very few people actually had a Bible to read. The Bible was controlled by the educated and elite and used and abused not only to evangelize but to control people.

During most of the time that the Bible has been with us, the idea of translating it for the common man was not only an extremely difficult task, to do so was considered heretical. Even when the Bible began to be translated to different  languages, it was done more for the convenience of kings as a means to bolster their claims than as a way to enlighten the masses to the Grace of God and the truth of Christ.

This is not to say that there were not leaders that truly "believed" in God and Christ and did good, but a history of even the modern Christian church is filled with "good" Christian leaders brought low by the desires and temptations of this world.

The Bible may be the Word of God, but it has been in the hands of men since the beginning. Perhaps this is why the Bible warns us that  "the letter kills but the spirit gives life."

All of this is easily identifiable by a simple fact which even the most fervent Christian cannot deny. There is no one single "theology" which all Christians follow and believe to be the "truth."

The multitude of denominations and now "non-denominations" exist due to the myriad of differences that exist within the over all Christian church. All of this diversity of beliefs is a direct result of the many interpretations of the meaning of words. Words which not only have been used to subjugate peoples over the centuries but to indoctrinate them to beliefs that may benefit princes and potentates but may not necessarily get us to a closer understanding of God.

That is briefly how we got to where we are now. Now we are lost in the wilderness of a forest of beliefs and dogma beyond any one persons ability to comprehend.

If you wish to understand where this strange yet obviously God inspired evolution of Christian thought and theology has taken us  and what has caused it, you need only visit a Bible aggregate service like Bible Gateway and look up a Bible verse.  Then look up the different translations. Last I looked there were over sixty different translations of the Bible available for your viewing and theological preference-in English language versions only.

Literally you cannot see the forest for the trees.

To show how far afield words can take you, let us look at the word gospel itself. The first thing we need to understand is that the word gospel is now a noun regardless of its original use. If you look it up you will find it to mean one of the following.  In the religious context, either one of the first four books of the New Testament, or the teachings of Jesus Christ. In a less religious context the definition say that it means that it is an expression of absolute truth or a set of principles or beliefs applied to a particular field. Then, of course, it can also denote a particular form of music.

As we said at the beginning, words change, usage determines meaning. The authors of  "The Gospels" did not label their writings. As time has passed we have just come to refer to their writings as "The Gospels" So what does the word gospel actually mean?

 How many times does the word gospel actually appear in the New Testament? Which version? Without going through every version I found as many as 138 uses (King James Version) and as few as 0 (Names of God Bible) uses of the word gospel in the Bible. In case you think I was looking up strange off the wall bibles to come up with this, I admit I had never heard of the Names of God Bible either, but there are multiple Bibles where the word gospel only appears once. Interesting enough not all of them are the same verse either.

The word gospel is used in some places by some Bible translations and not in others. Did the original writers actually write something or didn't they?

How can this be? How can sixty different Bible versions have the same word in them anywhere between 0 and 138 times?  Well for one thing usage determines meaning. Once you change the usage of a word, the translation of that word becomes acceptable. Even if what was originally intended is, forgive the pun, lost in translation. It almost seems as if rather than trying to faithfully "scribe" the "Word Of God", translation are done to further some particular belief or doctrine.

I will fairly quickly explain what the word gospel actually meant when originally written and what happened.

The word gospel comes from the original Greek word euganelion which means good news. This was translated to Latin and later to old English. When it was translated from Latin to English a vowel was inadvertently dropped and instead "good" spel (news) it was changed to "god" spel (news). Regardless of this mistake in translation from good news to god's news the actual Greek word written meant good news.

Again it must be noted that if you look up the word gospel in a regular dictionary the definition is not "good news " as was originally written.

Usage determines meaning.

 For most people, religious or not, the word gospel now means truth or a message or if you like a message of truth. Now you may believe that it is a message of truth but the word itself has come to mean something that is not truthfully what it was intended to mean. 

Is this important? Well consider over a thousand years of doctrine built around the belief in a true message versus a belief in one of good news.  Consider also that the word (gospel) that has come to mean truth and message does not really mean that at all, at least it didn't to the people we revere for having written the "Gospels" to begin with.

This is just one small example of how translations and words have shaped peoples beliefs. I know many will think that it doesn't really matter, we know the basics. Well what could be more basic to Christians than the Gospel(s)? Besides what are those basics and what is the foundation for those basics? The words in your Bible? Which Bible, which words, which translation?

 And how can someone tell them if he is not sent? The Holy Writings say, “The feet of those who bring the Good News are beautiful.”

That's biblical by the way.

"if Christ has not risen, then your faith is vain."

I have noted before that in reality, this is Christmas. What we celebrate as Easter is in fact the day that Christ was born.

Prior to this day Jesus was just a man, a man with a truly profound philosophy, but a man just the same. It is only through the Resurrection that Jesus the man, the Jew, becomes The Christ, the Savoir.

Had it not been for the events of this day his disciples might have continued to espouse and spread  the teachings of Jesus, but to what end?

Given the historical times in which God chose to bring forth His Son into the world, it is doubtful that the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth would have had much impact on the world.

The chances are pretty good that without the Resurrection, Jesus and his teachings would not even be a footnote in history. As the Apostle Paul noted to the early church, "if Christ has not risen then your faith is vain."

Without a risen Christ there is no Christianity. Period.

Without the Resurrection there is just another charismatic man who led on those seeking some greater truth until the establishment reminded them of their truth.

Without the Resurrection, Christianity would have died with Jesus.

So Easter is far more than a Holy Day, it is in fact "The Holy Day."  There is no more sacred day in Christianity, and if we truly do believe in the promise of Christ and the Resurrection, there is no more sacred day in human history.

This, after all, is the day when man(kind) became eternal. This is the day where life ever after began, but will never end.

This day, some two millennium ago, was the day that God chose to reveal Himself to us in a way that could leave no doubt that there is a God. Only an eternal God could bring forth eternity to a temporal man.

With this day, God proved beyond doubt that there is a God. Not through an act of subjugation or force, but with truest act of Godliness there could ever be, an act of love.

God through Christ was telling us, His creation, be not afraid, for I am with you and you are with Me always. Be not afraid there is no end.

Easter is the end of the end. God through Christ was telling us that there is no end.

God through the most sinful of his servants, David, reminds us over and over in the Psalms, "His Mercy endures forever" and "His love endures forever."

If His mercy endures forever, and His love endures forever, where is the end?

"Let every man be a liar, but God is true."

If nothing else remember this. For us lowly humans forever began on Easter with the birth of Christ two thousand years ago and will never end.

Paul

8 And last of all, he was seen also by me, as if I were someone born at the wrong time.
9 For I am the least of the Apostles. I am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God.
10 But, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace in me has not been empty, since I have labored more abundantly than all of them. Yet it is not I, but the grace of God within me.
11 For whether it is I or they: so we preach, and so you have believed.
12 Now if Christ is preached, that he rose again from the dead, how is it that some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not risen.
14 And if Christ has not risen, then our preaching is useless, and your faith is also useless.
15 Then, too, we would be found to be false witnesses of God, because we would have given testimony against God, saying that he had raised up Christ, when he had not raised him up, if, indeed, the dead do not rise again.
16 For if the dead do not rise again, then neither has Christ risen again.
17 But if Christ has not risen, then your faith is vain; for you would still be in your sins.
18 Then, too, those who have fallen asleep in Christ would have perished.
19 If we have hope in Christ for this life only, then we are more miserable than all men.
20 But now Christ has risen again from the dead, as the first-fruits of those who sleep.

1 Corinthians 15:8-20

Sunday School-Absolving God

Via-Jer's Notes

Most Christians live in a fairy tale world where God is the good father who sits idly by watching his children hoping that they will make the right choices. They believe this despite the fact that scriptures in their Bibles tell an entirely different story of what God's role is in the affairs of men.

One of the foundational stories of the Bible is the story of Mosses and the Exodus. That is the one where God sends Charlton Heston who is living the good life in exile back to Egypt to free the enslaved Israelites. Consider this passage from when God gives him the assignment.

The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.(Exodus 4:21)

And as we all know from the movie that is exactly what Mosses did, he performed all sorts of wonders (that God gave Charlton the power to do) and every time that Yul Brynner (Pharaoh) was about to relent, God hardened Pharaoh's heart.

But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said to Moses. (Exodus 9:12)

Even after God lays waist to Egypt, virtually destroying it with hail and rain and even after Pharaoh repents

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. "This time I have sinned," he said to them. "The LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.(Exodus 9:27)

Even after this and a few passages where it is made to look like Pharaoh backslides, God through His Holy scripture let's everyone know, that it was He (God) who is responsible for what has happened and what will happen:

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of mine among them (Exodus 10:1)

Why would God do this?

Sunday School-Hell No (Part Two)

Via-Jer's Notes

It is one thing to wish death to a wicked or evil person, it is quite another thing to wish eternal torment on them.People who live with this as a foundation for their spiritual life ought to take some prayerful time to consider what is truly evil, those they condemn or themselves.

The spiritual belief that the wicked must suffer eternally for their Earthly deeds would be horrendous in and of itself but Christians are actually taught, believe and spread the idea that even the innocent must suffer such an eternal fate for the crime of not accepting Christ as their savior.

What sort of savior is this that Christians have created for themselves that would demand such allegiance under penalty of everlasting pain? Christ, based on most Christian doctrine , is by far the most evil entity that ever existed in human history. Most Christian theology is nothing more than a masochistic philosophy which makes the likes of Hitler or Stalin look like choir boys compared to the Christ that most Christians believe in.  "Believe in me or suffer forever." 

Bible Study -Judged, Condemned, Damned

I was going to do something on the word damned but in starting to research it I came across this article and web site which explains it very well, so I'll just re-post it here. God works in mysterious ways.

Jer

Etymology of the Word "Damn"

By Gary Amirault

The words "damn" and "Hell" are among favorite words spoken by theologians of the "hell-fire" type, that is, as long as they are used in church. These same words used in the local bar or on the athletic field would constitute "cussing" which would not be considered proper. If you are a little uncomfortable even reading about the word "damn" just remember the "Authorized" King James Bible uses it quite frequently. Let us look into the etymology of this word "damn." We may find some interesting surprises.

The Dictionary of Word Origins written by John Ayto and published in 1990 states the following about the word "damn":

Damn: Damn comes via Old French "damner" from Latin "damnare," a derivative of the noun "damnum." This originally meant 'loss, harm' (it is the source of the English 'damage'), but the verb damnare soon spread its application to 'pronounce judgment upon,' in both the legal and the theological sense. These meanings (reflected also in the derived 'condemn') followed the verb through Old French into English, which dropped the strict legal sense around the 16th century but has persisted with the theological one and its more profane offshoots. Condemn, damage, indemnity.

As we can see, originally the word was neither a "cuss" word nor did it have theological significance. It was a perfectly good word with which to translate the Biblical Greek words "apollumi," "krino," and "apolleia." But when theologians twisted this word out of its original meaning, it became a word which would smear the character of our Father. The world followed the church and used it as a "cuss" word, but it should be noted, that it was the church that turned it into its present meaning, not unbelievers.

Sunday School- Hell No (Part One)

Via-Jer's Notes

In these modern days of instant communications and a virtual non-stop news and information, a false story can become a fact almost instantly. Fortunately with the proliferation of this same information technology the truth can also be quickly disseminated leaving the public with competing versions of reality.

At this point it comes down to what it always comes down to, which story do you choose to believe. Faced with conflicting information usually a person will simply choose the version which fits closest to his beliefs or preconceptions and fail to deep investigation into the truth.

Despite this information overload, which at times can be burdening, at least in today's world we have the resources to seek out facts and the truth...if we want to. For most of human history this was not the case.

Living under kings and other such despots men were not as free to seek out the truth as they are today, they lived in societies where only the "elite" were literate and told "the people" only what they, the elite, wanted them to hear or believe.  Historically the "common man" has been predominately dependent upon their "betters" for information beyond  their immediate sphere of common knowledge.

Sunday School-Jump to the moon

Via-Jer's Notes

Can you jump to the moon? How about just to the roof of your house?

Until our God given intelligence developed to the point where we could create machines which allowed us to overcome the laws of gravity and maintain life in the vacuum of space these  things were not possible. Galileo could envision manned flight but he could not just jump from a tower and fly.

Why?

Sunday School-God Knows

Via-Jer's Notes

And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, See you do it not: I am your fellow servant, and of your brothers that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.(Revelations 19:10)

God Knows

One of our greatest gifts from God is our ability to critically think, so let's do a bit. When thinking about God. I suspect that most people pretty much assume that the "great thinkers" over the centuries have probably  thought the God subject pretty much out. I have little doubt the subject of God is probably the most thought about subject in mankind's history, well maybe not so much as sex but God I'm sure comes in a close second.

When thinking about God we are often left with a dilemma, actually several, but some of the big ones can leave a person pretty confused. For example, and I inadequately addressed this last I wrote on the subject, how is it that God can know what is going to happen, doesn't want it to happen, yet it happens anyway?

Wednesday Bible Study: God Wants

God wants....

Have you ever heard those words? You know like, "God wants us to be good", or
"God wants us to believe in Him". Then there is also the even more used, God doesn't want. such as "God doesn't want us to suffer", or "God doesn't want us to lust, smoke, lie,"  you fill in the blank. I hear tell that there is as much that God doesn't want as God wants.

I have heard those words about or against one thing or another thousands of times in my life, usually from the pulpit. Nearly every time I hear that expression in almost every form, to be blunt, it makes me want to puke. Especially when it is coming from "a man of God"

Excuse me Mr Minister, if God wants something and he can't have it, why do you worship Him? I mean He is the Creator of a billion galaxies of trillions of stars and everything in them visible and invisible. He is the author of the laws of physics and nature and every other law that controls everything in existence both seen and unseen both known by us and far more that we do not know.

And yet God wants?

Is He going to cry if He doesn't get it?

Remember this, fix it in your mind, take it to heart you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like me. I declare the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand and I will do all that I please,  (Isaiah 46: 8-20)

Well it seems that God, speaking through His prophet Isaiah knows precisely what he wants and He is fully capable of getting it. It is not like the omnipotence (Almighty) nature of God is hidden in the scriptures, it is like...well...everywhere.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1: 17-18)

A poetic way of saying that God doesn't change his mind. But the part that has caused Christians to go through theological gyrations for centuries is "his own will begat he us," or in plain English, God is responsible for spiritual birth. . That too is all throughout the Bible, not hidden at all. Or as Jesus said "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him..." or one that really befudles the theologians and those who just can't let God be in charge.

We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30)

Well Paul's "We know" was obviously premature since there are not too many Christian ministers, preachers, pastors or teachers who seem to know what Paul said in plain English. Well actually it was in Greek but he obviously had a different view of God's plans for salvation than most of Christianity that has followed him.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.Then comes the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.For he must reign, till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. (1 Corinthians: 22-26)

What God doesn't just want us all to be reunited with Him, He has a plan? Hey, don't tell the Christians this, it might turn their world upside down.

Wherefore the Lord said, Foreasmuch as this people draw near to me with their mouth, and with their lips they do honor me, but have removed their heart from me, and their fear of me is taught by the  precepts of men: Therefore I will do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work among this people: for the wisdom of their wisemen shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who sees us? and who knows us? Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as a potters clay: for shall the work say of the one that made it , He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? (Isaiah 29:13-16)

You see God is not one of want for anything, even a plan for us. Each of us. We don't change ourselves, He changes us,  for His purpose then being human we take the credit. But like all else humanity is just a temporary condition, eternity is our destiny.

For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephisians 2:8-10)

Always a plan. That is what the Bible is, God's Plan, God's Gospel.

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, Which he had promised before by his prophets in the holy scriptures, Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the descendants of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. (Romans 1: 1-4)

Or as Peter explained and prophesied:

And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable twist, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

The Bible is not about what God wants or doesn't want as modern Christianity has marginalized it into,.It is actually nothing less than a very detailed explanation  of God's plan, God's Gospel (good news) for us.

All of us

If you sin, how does that affect him? If your sins are many what does that do to him? If you are righteous, what do you give to him or what does he receive from your hand? (Job 35: 6-7)

God wants....nothing, He is everything.

For in him we live and move and have our being.’

Sunday School-The Word Of God or "words just words"

Via-Jer's Notes

Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15

How many times have you heard that the Bible is the "Word of God"?  I suspect that if you are a Christian you have heard it your entire life. Depending on your  denomination and the teachings of your particular denomination the Bible is the core of your faith and regardless of of how much emphasis your particular denomination puts on the Bible there is no doubt that the Christian Bible is the foundation of all Christian theology and the underpinning for all its teachings about man's relationship with God.

As I have written before this unwavering belief in the Bible as the literal words of God has wreaked havoc on the Christian church.

The idea that scriptures are the Word of God and to be taken literally and without dispute has turned many an inquiring and I might say logical mind away from the faith.

It has led to hostilities against Christians by those whose only crime is common sense. It has attempted to defeat logic and science instead of embracing them for the glory of God.

Simple common sense would show that the Bible, though much of it is inspired by God can not be viewed as either infallible or completely literal. Even those parts of the Bible that a spiritual person might recognize as truly inspired have been so corrupted by man's hand as to be  of little actual spiritual value.

To put it simply, you can not know the truth that will set you free, if the truth has been edited out.

Take the passage at the top of the page as an example. There was an Apostle named Paul who in the first century actually did write a letter to a man named Timothy. All that is necessary to know what Paul wrote is to translate the letter  from its original Greek to English, or whatever language you speak. It is true that translating languages can sometimes be more an art than a science but for the most part the general  meaning of what someone says or writes in one language can be conveyed in another.

Currently there are at least 40 different translations of the Bible into the English language-why? The sources from which the translations, both Hebrew and Greek have not changed so why are there so many different translations into English? If all these various translations were the same or very similar you would say it is just a matter of the various publishers wanting to get in on the Bible market. To some extent this is true, but the fact is that all these various translations are not the same, in fact they can be very different even changing the entire meaning of what is said.

Christians use the Bible as teaching tools so a passage such as the one at the top of the page would be used to teach the proper way to approach the study of scripture, "the word of truth". In fact that is precisely what Paul was instructing Timothy, his follower and an early Christian pastor, in this portion of the letter. So today a Christian would read this passage or a minister would quote this passage for guidance on how to approach the study of the Bible. Pretty straight forward right?

If you go here you will see all the English translations of 2 Timothy 2:15. If the Bible is "The Word Of God" why are there so many versions of it and why are they so different? Let's just take one small segment of the above verse "rightly dividing the word" as an example. A list of the different translations for this short phrase leaving out obvious duplications and very similar translations

• rightly dividing the word
• handling aright the word
• interprets the message
• correctly analyzing and accurately dividing the Word of Truth.
• deals straightforwardly with the Word
• teaches only the true message
• cutting in a straight line the word
• applies the true teaching in the right way
• use the word of truth to the best advantage.
• guiding the word of truth along a straight path.
• laying out the truth plain and simple
• uses the true teaching in the right way.
• correctly explains the word
• Tell the true message in the right way.
• treating the word of truth.

As I said there really was a Paul who really did write a letter to Timothy. Now to "rightly divide" or "correctly analyze" scriptures is nothing at all like "teaching", "explaining" or "laying out" scriptures and certainly is not the same  as , "deals straightforwardly",or " use the word of truth to the best advantage". 

All of the above purported instructions from Paul to Timothy might be good advice, depending on your view it might even be better advice than Paul actually gave, but the purpose of a Biblical translation is not to improve on the "Word of God" or change it is it?

Taking such liberties with  translations is nothing new, in fact it is as old as the Bible itself. From the dawn of  Christianity, men  have "interpreted" scriptures for their purpose. Unfortunately these mistranslated or misrepresented verses combined with fallible or even corrupt humans have distorted the truth rather than reveal it.

I did not choose the above scripture at random, though I probably could have and gotten similar results, modern Christianity being basically a seeker of narratives rather than of truth.  If within the Bible there are God inspired words then we must know what the actual words are, not what some ecclesiastical leader or scholars preferred words or doctrine are. As the man Jesus said (New International Version) when he walked the Earth, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to."

If you do believe that God is speaking to us through Paul through his letter to Timothy, don't you think it is important to know what Paul actually instructed Timothy? If anyone can just insert what they think he should have said rather than what he did say, why bother reading the Bible at all.

Well not surprisingly the most accurate translation is the one you will find the least in the dozens of various Bible translations available to the public. Paul used the Greek word orthotomeo which means dividing or more accurately dissecting or to be even more accurate "cutting in a straight line" Obviously when referring to the scriptures a Greek word  that translates into something akin to cutting straight is more accurately defined as dividing rather than handling or teaching.

This "dividing" translation, which is how the King James version has translated the passage for centuries now, creates a problem for the common Christian narrative. If in fact Paul is instructing Timothy to rightly divide the word of truth that presupposes that scriptures must be dissected in order to find the truth. Remember Paul instructed Timothy to be a workman in pursuit of this important knowledge.

Some people reading this may think that this is way out there, that the Bible is the Word of God and that's that. Well I would just point to the the single verse we have just dissected and the fact that we have multiple translations that  greatly vary the meaning of the verse.  Is that any way to treat the supposed irrefutable Holy Word of God? Knowing that men are not only fallible but prone to corruption is it not possible that the "devils had his due" when it comes to our understanding of scriptures? I would say the chances are pretty good, actually knowing what I know there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind or more importantly in my spirit that most of Christian doctrine and teachings are to put it mildly, unGodly.

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He takes the wise in their own craftiness. 20 And again, The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. 21 Therefore let no man glory in men. 

Over the coming Sundays I will be making posts on the Bible and Christianity. For those who visit Jer's Place, don't worry I'll still be posting on politics etc. but I feel led to unleash  a lifetime of Christian study and knowledge on the world :) Feel free to ignore the posts if you wish though if you read them with an open mind you may begin to see God and Christianity in an entirely different light over time. My purpose is only to plant seeds, God will give the increase if it be  His will. Truth be told I need this more than anyone who may actually read it.

I will be setting up a new Tab at the top of the page called Bible Study where these posts will be available along with any other spiritual or religious items I wish to save and share, I recommend that you read the post I linked above which is sort of a companion piece to this one.

God Blesses Us All
Jer

Shaking the hand of God?

The Book of Revelation in the Bible is one of the most studied and discussed pieces of written words in human history. Most Christian place a great deal of faith in the idea that it foretells the coming days, whenever those days may be, and that it foretells the end of the world and the beginning of a new spiritual world (or age, depending upon your particular translation).

While taking great care to properly interpret the meaning of Revelations which has been the fodder for much written and cinematic fiction, Christians have pretty much settled on a theme which they agree upon. The key components are well known, in no particular order; "The sign of the Beast", "Armageddon", "The anti-Christ", "The Rapture", "the Second Coming of Christ" and other elements which have evolved over the ages to create a well understood and accepted Christian narrative which foretells the "End Times".

There is an often quoted yet obviously much ignored verse in Revelations which has little to do with this narrative but in my view of things is far more important since it has to do with what Christians are supposed to be seeking, the nature of God. I know that is not nearly as satisfying to human nature as evangelizing but it is far more important. The verse is found in the twenty second chapter, thirteenth verse and says simply:

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

Like most of the Book of Revelations indeed much of the New Testament this verse is just an updating of Old Testament words and prophecy to the new audience and the new beginning brought into the equation by the entrance of Christ, The Old Testament version of this would be found in several places such as Isaiah 41:4:

Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD--with the first of them and with the last--I am he."

or Isaiah 46:10

I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

There are more, but you get the idea, or do you? I say that these much quoted verses are ignored but in reality they are just "explained" away. You see these verses and others state rather clearly that God has known the end from the beginning. The reason they have to be explained away is simple, if God has known the end from the beginning then where does that leave man's precious free will in the grand scheme of things ?

Since man's alleged free will is not the topic I wish to pursue here I'll just say that in order to explain this seeming contradiction Christianity has theologically created what I like to call GOD THE GREAT FORTUNE TELLER theory. The God who created everything knows how everything is going to end but apparently has very little input into how it gets there. Well except when He works through people, but people make their own choices, but in the end they are going to make choices that will lead to the end that God has determined from the beginning. Got it?

I know, I know it is all very confusing, well at least it is if you don't want to believe that God is in charge of everything form beginning to end and everything in between which Christian Bibles plainly state but which Christians are not quite ready to accept. But that as I said is for another day...or is it?

Charles Krauthhammer has written a wonderful article on the recent potentially Universe changing scientific discovery. He writes:

I am talking about something far more important. Which is why it made only the back pages of your newspaper, if it made it at all. Scientists at CERN, the European high-energy physics consortium, have announced the discovery of a particle that can travel faster than light.

Neutrinos fired 454 miles from a supercollider outside Geneva to an underground laboratory in Gran Sasso, Italy, took less time (60 nanoseconds less) than light to get there. Or so the physicists think. Or so they measured. Or so they have concluded after checking for every possible artifact and experimental error.

If verified the significance of this will be beyond big, it will be, excuse the pun, a quantum leap in our understanding, or rather, our lack of understanding of how the universe works. As Krauthammer puts it:

And that’s the problem. It has to be impossible because, if not, if that did happen on this Orient Express hurtling between Switzerland and Italy, then everything we know about the universe is wrong.

The fundamental axiom of Einstein’s theory of relativity is the absolute prohibition on speed faster than light. Einstein’s predictions about how time slows and mass increases as one approaches the speed of light have been verified by a mountain of experimental evidence. As velocity increases, mass approaches infinity and time dilates, making it progressively and, ultimately, infinitely difficult to achieve light speed. Which is why nothing does. And nothing ever has.

Yet this is precisely what this group of scientist have potentially done, they have defied the speed of light and all the theories tied to it. What really caught my attention in the article was his description of what this finding would mean as a practical (?) matter. He explained it this way:

To oversimplify grossly: If the Gran Sasso scientists had a plate to record the arrival of the neutrinos and a super-powerful telescope to peer (through the Alps!) directly into the lab in Geneva from which they were being fired, the Gran Sasso guys would have “heard” the neutrinos clanging against the plate before they observed the Geneva guys squeeze the trigger on the neutrino gun.

Think about that, we may have found something which redefines what we know as time. If such physical mechanics actually are at work within the dynamics of the universe then it is possible that an effect could be know prior to its cause. Which would be a very good definition for "knowing the end from the beginning."

One of the most amazing facts that I have ever read, is that just over a century ago scientist believed that the universe was comprised of about a million stars. Today's best estimate is that the universe is comprised of a billion galaxies each containing about a billion stars. I do not even know how to calculate the factor of the increase of  how much larger creation (God) is than what we believed just a century ago.

Was God (creation) smaller a century ago? Of course not, man's ability to see the universe he lived in was just inadequate to see that creation. But those countless billions of stars were there all the time, give or a take a few million due to the ever expanding universe we now know we live in. It is not God and His/Her laws and creation which changes, it is our understanding and cognizance of them that does.

If those neutrinos actually do travel faster than the speed of light, then they always have. The way God's creation works is still a mystery to us, perhaps a bigger mystery than we ever imagined because there is something out there in the physical realm which can call forth the end from the beginning and time as we know it is irrelevant which when you are talking about infinity makes sense.... if only in the Spirit.

Those flabbergasted scientist in Europe may have reason to be, they may have just shaken hands with God.

Problems with creation

Over the past century and intensifying over the past couple of decades, the progressive left has gained control of important societal institutions, most notably education and the media. Having this control over these two important communication centers in society allows them to create narratives in order to advance their agendas. It does not matter that often times the "spin" of these narratives does not quite line up with reality, reality is not all that important to progressives, power is their goal.

One narrative that has grown more and more prevalent in this new progressive driven propaganda infected society has to do with "creationist". The spin goes something like this, if you believe in creation or intelligent design you are some sort of ignorant Neanderthal. The mere belief in Divine creation makes a person's intelligence not only suspect but open to public ridicule and derision.

Part of the problem is due to a doctrinaire belief in creation by "fundamentalist" religious adherents in all faiths but is especially directed at Christian fundamentalist. A God given common sense defying and unyielding doctrine of belief in a literal interpretation of scriptures (and we are talking Old Testament here) is easily mocked in the face of overwhelming proof that the story of creation as portrayed in scripture can not and probably never was intended to taken as a literal time line for creation.

This disconnect from reality is easily pointed out by snarky detractors "where are the dinosaurs in the Bible...huh?" Well Christians, where are the dinosaurs in the bible? The truth is that they are not there but they certainly were here. The story of creation as we read it in the Bible can not possibly be the "Word" of God in a literal sense but rather analogical. This rigid adherence to a doctrine not born out by truth is not only easily mocked, it is understandably so. The dinosaurs are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a disconnect from reality with a strict interpretation of the scriptures. The truth is that most of this confusion could easily be rectified with a proper reading and correct translation of the "Word". But that is for another day.

Putting aside that much of the scorn towards the "religious" view of creation is self inflected due to doctrinaire rigidity on the part of believers, what about the now popular portrayal of "creationist" as fringe nut jobs?

This is a perfect illustration of where the progressive narrative is not only not born out by reality, it is so far from reality as to be fringe itself. Gallup just released a poll which reinforces polling data going back decades, The poll finds that 92% of Americans believe in God. Do you think that the vast majority of these people who believe in God, do not believe in Divine Creation? That somehow they believe in a God that did not create the Universe? To put it another way do you believe that all of these "Believers" do not believe in evolution or dinosaurs? The truth is that despite the progressive narrative, the majority of people (I raise my hand)  believe  both in Divine creation and dinosaurs and some form of evolution.

The vast majority of Americans and a sizable majority of the world's population belong to three religious faiths, Christianity, Islam and Judaism. All three of these religions along with other less well known faiths unapologetically believe in "intelligent design", the majority of all people in the world are ignorant "creationist". But listening to popular media and academic elitist you would be left with the impression that anyone who believes that God, Allah, Jehovah created the universe was some fringe cultist sect of humanity worthy the contempt that they vilely spew on the majority of the human race and their fellow citizens,

As to the intelligence of believers, I would only point out that for centuries the great advances in the sciences, engineering, philosophy, the arts, politics and indeed all mankind has been led by those who believe in intelligent design, Divine creation. It is only recently, with the advent of Progressive ideology that would make man God, that man's hubris would claim to know "In the Beginning"

But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God 

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Is this the first ever portrait of Jesus?

The incredible story of 70 ancient books hidden in a cave for nearly 2,000 years

UK MAIL

By Nick Pryer

The image is eerily familiar: a bearded young man with flowing curly hair. After lying for nearly 2,000 years hidden in a cave in the Holy Land, the fine detail is difficult to determine. But in a certain light it is not difficult to interpret the marks around the figure’s brow as a crown of thorns.

The extraordinary picture of one of the recently discovered hoard of up to 70 lead codices – booklets – found in a cave in the hills overlooking the Sea of Galilee is one reason Bible historians are clamouring to get their hands on the ancient artefacts.

If genuine, this could be the first-ever portrait of Jesus Christ, possibly even created in the lifetime of those who knew him.

The tiny booklet, a little smaller than a modern credit card, is sealed on all sides and has a three-dimensional representation of a human head on both the front and the back. One appears to have a beard and the other is without. Even the maker’s fingerprint can be seen in the lead impression. Beneath both figures is a line of as-yet undeciphered text in an ancient Hebrew script.

Astonishingly, one of the booklets appears to bear the words ‘Saviour of Israel’ – one of the few phrases so far translated.

The owner of the cache is Bedouin trucker Hassan Saida who lives in the Arab village of Umm al-Ghanim, Shibli. He has refused to sell the booklets but two samples were sent to England and Switzerland for testing.

A Mail on Sunday investigation has revealed that the artefacts were originally found in a cave in the village of Saham in Jordan, close to where Israel, Jordan and Syria’s Golan Heights converge – and within three miles of the Israeli spa and hot springs of Hamat Gader, a religious site for thousands of years.

According to sources in Saham, they were discovered five years ago after a flash flood scoured away the dusty mountain soil to reveal what looked like a large capstone. When this was levered aside, a cave was discovered with a large number of small niches set into the walls. Each of these niches contained a booklet. There were also other objects, including some metal plates and rolled lead scrolls.

The area is renowned as an age-old refuge for ancient Jews fleeing the bloody aftermath of a series of revolts against the Roman empire in the First and early Second Century AD.

The cave is less than 100 miles from Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, and around 60 miles from Masada, scene of the last stand and mass suicide of an extremist Zealot sect in the face of a Roman Army siege in 72AD – two years after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

It is also close to caves that have been used as sanctuaries by refugees from the Bar Kokhba revolt, the third and final Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire in 132AD.

The era is of critical importance to Biblical scholars because it encompasses the political, social and religious upheavals that led to the split between Judaism and Christianity.

It ended with the triumph of Christianity over its rivals as the dominant new religion first for dissident Jews and then for Gentiles.

In this context, it is important that while the Dead Sea Scrolls are rolled pieces of parchment or papyrus containing the earliest-known versions of books of the Hebrew Bible and other texts – the traditional Jewish format for written work – these lead discoveries are in book, or codex, form which has long been associated with the rise of Christianity.

The codices seen by The Mail on Sunday range in size from smaller than 3in x 2in to around 10in x 8in. They each contain an average of eight or nine pages and appear to be cast, rather than inscribed, with images on both sides and bound with lead-ring bindings. Many of them were severely corroded when they were first discovered, although it has been possible to open them with care.

The codex showing what may be the face of Christ is not thought to have been opened yet. Some codices show signs of having been buried – although this could simply be the detritus resulting from lying in a cave for hundreds of years.

Unlike the Dead Sea Scrolls, the lead codices appear to consist of stylised pictures, rather than text, with a relatively small amount of script that appears to be in a Phoenician language, although the exact dialect is yet to be identified. At the time these codices were created, the Holy Land was populated by different sects, including Essenes, Samaritans, Pharisees, Sadducees, Dositheans and Nazoreans.

There was no common script and considerable intermingling of language and writing systems between groups. Which means it could take years of detailed scholarship to accurately interpret the codices.

Many of the books are sealed on all sides with metal rings, suggesting they were not intended to be opened. This could be because they contained holy words which should never be read. For example, the early Jews fiercely protected the sacred name of God, which was only ever uttered by The High Priest in the Temple in Jerusalem at Yom Kippur.

The original pronunciation has been lost, but has been transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH – known as the Tetragrammaton – and is usually translated either as Yahweh or Jehovah. A sealed book containing sacred information was mentioned in the biblical Book of Revelations.

One plate has been interpreted as a schematic map of Christian Jerusalem showing the Roman crosses outside the city walls. At the top can be seen a ladder-type shape. This is thought to be a balustrade mentioned in a biblical description of the Temple in Jerusalem. Below that are three groups of brickwork, to represent the walls of the city.

A fruiting palm tree suggests the House of David and there are three or four shapes that appear to be horizontal lines intersected by short vertical lines from below. These are the T-shaped crosses believed to have been used in biblical times (the familiar crucifix shape is said to date from the 4th Century). The star shapes in a long line represent the House of Jesse – and then the pattern is repeated.

This interpretation of the books as proto-Christian artefacts is supported by Margaret Barker, former president of the Society for Old Testament Study and one of Britain’s leading experts on early Christianity. The fact that a figure is portrayed would appear to rule out these codices being connected to mainstream Judaism of the time, where portrayal of lifelike figures was strictly forbidden because it was considered idolatry.

If genuine, it seems clear that these books were, in fact, created by an early Messianic Jewish sect, perhaps closely allied to the early Christian church and that these images represent Christ himself. However another theory, put forward by Robert Feather – an authority on The Dead Sea Scrolls and author of The Mystery Of The Copper Scroll Of Qumran – is that these books are connected to the Bar Kokhba Revolt of 132-136AD, the third major rebellion by the Jews of Judea Province and the last of the Jewish-Roman Wars.

The revolt established an independent state of Israel over parts of Judea for two years before the Roman army finally crushed it, with the result that all Jews, including the early Christians, were barred from Jerusalem.

The followers of Simon Bar Kokhba, the commander of the revolt, acclaimed him as a Messiah, a heroic figure who could restore Israel. Although Jewish Christians hailed Jesus as the Messiah and did not support Bar Kokhba, they were barred from Jerusalem along with the rest of the Jews. The war and its aftermath helped differentiate Christianity as a religion distinct from Judaism.

The spiritual leader of the revolt was Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who laid the foundations for a mystical form of Judaism known today as Kabbalah, which is followed by Madonna, Britney Spears and others. Yochai hid in a cave for 13 years and wrote a secret commentary on the Bible, the Zohar, which evolved into the teaching of Kabbalah. Feather is convinced that some of the text on

the codices carry the name of Rabbi Bar Yochai.

Feather says that all known codices prior to around 400AD were made of parchment and that cast lead is unknown. They were clearly designed to exist for ever and never to be opened. The use of metal as a writing material at this time is well documented – however the text was always inscribed, not cast.

The books are currently in the possession of Hassan Saida, in Umm al-Ghanim, Shibli, which is at the foot of Mount Tabor, 18 miles west of the Sea of Galilee.

Saida owns and operates a haulage business consisting of at least nine large flatbed lorries. He is regarded in his village as a wealthy man. His grandfather settled there more than 50 years ago and his mother and four brothers still live there.

Saida, who is in his mid-30s and married with five or six children, claims he inherited the booklets from his grandfather.

However, The Mail on Sunday has learned of claims that they first came to light five years ago when his Bedouin business partner met a villager in Jordan who said he had some ancient artefacts to sell.

The business partner was apparently shown two very small metal books. He brought them back over the border to Israel and Saida became entranced by them, coming to believe they had magical properties and that it was his fate to collect as many as he could.

The arid, mountainous area where they were found is both militarily sensitive and agriculturally poor. The local people have for generations supplemented their income by hoarding and selling archeological artefacts found in caves.

More of the booklets were clandestinely smuggled across the border by drivers working for Saida – the smaller ones were typically worn openly as charms hanging from chains around the drivers’ necks, the larger concealed behind car and lorry dashboards.

In order to finance the purchase of booklets from the Jordanians who had initially discovered them, Saida allegedly went into partnership with a number of other people – including his lawyer from Haifa, Israel.

Saida’s motives are complex. He constantly studies the booklets, but does not take particularly good care of them, opening some and coating them in olive oil in order to ‘preserve’ them.

he artefacts have been seen by multi-millionaire collectors of antiquities in both Israel and Europe – and Saida has been offered tens of millions of pounds for just a few of them, but has declined to sell any.

When he first obtained the booklets, he had no idea what they were or even if they were genuine.

He contacted Sotheby’s in London in 2007 in an attempt to find an expert opinion, but the famous auction house declined to handle them because their provenance was not known.

Soon afterwards, the British author and journalist Nick Fielding was approached by a Palestinian woman who was concerned that the booklets would be sold on the black market. Fielding was asked to approach the British Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and other places.

Fielding travelled to Israel and obtained a letter from the Israeli Antiquities Authority saying it had no objection to their being taken abroad for analysis. It appears the IAA believed the booklets were forgeries on the basis that nothing like them had been discovered before.

None of the museums wanted to get involved, again because of concerns over provenance. Fielding was then asked to approach experts to find out what they were and if they were genuine. David Feather, who is a metallurgist as well as an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls, recommended submitting the samples for metal analysis at Oxford University.

The work was carried out by Dr Peter Northover, head of the Materials Science-based Archaeology Group and a world expert on the analysis of ancient metal materials.

The samples were then sent to the Swiss National Materials Laboratory at Dubendorf, Switzerland. The results show they were consistent with ancient (Roman) period lead production and that the metal was smelted from ore that originated in the Mediterranean. Dr Northover also said that corrosion on the books was unlikely to be modern.

Meanwhile, the politics surrounding the provenance of the books is intensifying. Most professional scholars are cautious pending further research and point to the ongoing forgery trial in Israel over the ancient limestone ossuary purporting to have housed the bones of James, brother of Jesus.

The Israeli archeological establishment has sought to defuse problems of provenance by casting doubt on the authenticity of the codices, but Jordan says it will ‘exert all efforts at every level’ to get the relics repatriated.

The debate over whether these booklets are genuine and, if so, whether they represent the first known artefacts of the early Christian church or the first stirrings of mystical Kabbalah will undoubtedly rage for years to come.

The director of Jordan’s Department of Antiquities, Ziad al-Saad, has few doubts. He believes they may indeed have been made by followers of Jesus in the few decades immediately following his crucifixion.

‘They will really match, and perhaps be more significant than, the Dead Sea Scrolls,’ he says. ‘The initial information is very encouraging and it seems that we are looking at a very important and significant discovery – maybe the most important discovery in the history of archaeology.’

If he is right, then we really may be gazing at the face of Jesus Christ.

Today is The Day

If you are a Christian, today is the day when everything changed. If you were to look at Christianity as a play the first act would begin with the story of the birth of Jesus and would end on Good Friday with His crucifixion on the cross.

This Act is where most Christians as well as most Christian theology concentrates their beliefs and ideology. Truth be told Christianity has pretty much tried to fit the entire Christian experience around Jesus' life on Earth, focusing on the so called Gospels and trying to accommodate everything that happened before and would happen after around the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

But today, what we call Easter, is a far more important day than any day in the life of Jesus. Today is The Day when Jesus began to be born into Christ. Today truly is the birth of Christ. Today was the beginning of the Second Act of God's play, for without today it is doubtful that Jesus the humble Jew despite his miracles and beautiful philosophy would be much more than a footnote in history. After all it is one thing to talk about being born again, it is quite another to in fact do it.

Actually the Christian faith is based, not on the life of Jesus or his teachings, the entire foundation of Christianity rest solely on whether or not what is reported to have occurred on this day in fact happened. If it did, then the human experience and a Christians outlook towards it is totally changed. If today as reported did not occur then as Paul so aptly put it:

'If Christ is not risen, then your faith is in vain'

So all of Christianity rest solely on what happened today, as well it should. For if there truly be a God and He/She should wish to reveal Himself to man then certainly it must be in a way that is both miraculous and inspiring. It would seem that the miracle of creation itself should convince a mortal of the necessity of Intelligent Design but as we know all of creation itself is not proof enough to the unborn.

Most Christians and their multitude of Babelic doctrines (not a word, I made it up-figure it out)have taken upon themselves the impossible task of creating spiritual life both in themselves and a belief that they are responsible to create it in their fellows. At best we can only be agents but the times are in God's hands and the spiritual truth is that: "

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven"

Paul explains:

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ.
When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

Sounds rather simple to me, sounds like God has a plan, is God allowed to have a plan outside of our "free will". Oops I have jumped into the third Act, sorry back to Easter.

Just as Jesus life on Earth was just the prequel to his resurrection, his rising was a prequel to a coming truth. How do we know this? The risen Christ told us or at least he told his disciples.

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you."

While most Christians are walking with Jesus and trying to convince the unborn to be born again and trying to understand His parables, they pretty much ignore the most important aspect of their faith. Seeking the spirit of truth which according to the man they claim to be Lord will do nothing less than "guide you into all truth" . Seems like this would be a pretty cool thing to have around in a pinch, beats trying to convince the drunk neighbor next door to go to church with you and get "saved" while hungover from Saturday night.

Of course it is understandable why this truth thing kind of gets set on the back burner of Christianity since everyone wants to claim they have the truth in order to help you live in moral superiority to your "unsaved" neighbor.

There is also the idea as Jack Nicholson so famously put it on another matter "you can't handle the truth" Why ? Well the truth will set you free and freedom is a scary place for those who have been taught to be servants when they are in fact sons and daughters. And the truth is downright terrifying place when a Christian confronts the very real truth that he is not the source of his own "salvation", but rather it was just his or her time.

How do I know this is the truth? See Paul's words above.

Again Paul:

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth

Interesting advice isn't it? If every last word of the so called Holy Bible (which version?) is the truth why is Paul telling us through his letter to Timothy to "rightly divide the word of truth"?

Jesus:

"Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old."

Back to Easter. So Today is The Day when a man rose from the dead then met with his friends and told them he would send the spirit of truth which would "lead them unto all truth." So where, all these many centuries later, with all these denominations and "authorized versions " do we go to find the truth? Well if you truly are a Christian:

"The Lord knows those that are His"  (And those that ain't -yet)

Then you might consider the words of the Peter:

And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given to him has written to you; As also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction.

Wisdom given to Paul? What's that about? Jesus or rather the risen Christ said he was going to send us the truth-very interesting there huh? Christ says he's going to send some truth our way and Peter tells us to listen to Paul.

Interesting too that the proof of the risen Christ is most validated not by his followers who knew him in the flesh but by his former persecutor who only knew him in the spirit. Truth be told, just as without the resurrection their would be no Christian Faith, without Paul their wouldn't be either.

Christ to Anais about Saul (Paul):

“Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

I might point out that between the gentiles and the Jews that pretty much covers everybody. So where does the third Act of Christianity begin? I guess you could say it began on the road to Damascus, have you traveled it? If not then try this as a new beginning;

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name.

Pretty heady stuff isn't it? The Gospel of God? Let's see Mathew, Mark, Luke, John-The Gospel of God, not exactly your Sunday School Class material is it?

So that is my Easter Sunday sermon . I hope you are confused enough to search for the Spirit Of Truth which is :"Christ in you your hope for glory"

Why did I feel compelled to write this? Well I take these words in my spirit and my heart seriously, which come from God's Gospel via the man who claims to have been separated to give it to us by the Son of God who was risen on this day that we celebrate as the beginning of Christianity-

Paul:

For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially those that believe.

These things command and teach

You ever been taught that? It's in your Bible, to many alls for you all? There's a lot more-ain't that Good News?

Happy Easter or Merry Christmas :)

Jer


More...

Have we found the body of St Paul?

Via-UK Mail

Ruthless, half mad, he stoned Christians to death. He also founded modern civilisation. And until yesterday, his fate was one of history's great mysteries...

Deeply moved, the Pope delivered the news on Sunday that fragments of bones found in the tomb traditionally considered to be that of Saint Paul did indeed date from the first or second century.

Which means that, in all likelihood, they are the bones of the Apostle Paul - bones that have lain there for 1,950 years yet, astonishingly, have only been discovered in our time.

You might say, so what? Aren't Roman Catholics always making claims about bones and relics? Was it not said that if you measured all the bits of the True Cross venerated throughout the world you could build a bridge to the moon? Yes, yes.

But this is slightly different, and it is very exciting. The Pope was not saying that he revered some relics as a matter of faith. He was saying that scientists, by carbon dating, have come as close as possible to identifying the very bones of St Paul himself.

Why is he so convinced? Though the carbon-dating experts knew nothing of their origins, the bone fragments were recovered after a tiny probe was inserted into the tomb which lies in a crypt beneath the Basilica of St Paul outside the Walls in Rome - a church long held to have been built on the site where Paul was buried.

It was only three years ago that the tomb itself was discovered by Vatican archaeologists.

The fact that it was positioned exactly underneath the epigraph Paulo Apostolo Mart (Paul the Apostle and Martyr) at the base of the altar convinced them it was Paul's tomb.

Now backed by the evidence of his carbon-dated bone fragments, the Pope has announced: 'This seems to confirm the unanimous and uncontested tradition that the bone fragments are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul.'

What makes the discovery all the more exciting is that the last days of Saint Paul have always been a bit of an historical puzzle.

To understand why this news is being treated as such a sensation, we have to examine his life - an extraordinary and dramatic life which, it is no exaggeration to say, changed the course of the world.

Paul was almost certainly educated in Jerusalem. He probably began life as a member of a strict Jewish sect, and studied with an insular group of Jews who thought the world was about to end.

Then, around AD30, came the era of a new prophet - Jesus - whose teaching had, in a famous New Testament phrase, turned the world upside down and whose creed was despised by Paul's Jewish sect.


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After Jesus's death by Crucifixion - which was how the Romans dealt with political criminals and other trouble-makers - you might have supposed that 'The Way', as the movement which followed his faith came to be known, would fizzle out.

Not a bit of it. Jesus's formerly cowardly followers - they had, by their own admission, all run away when he was arrested - were prepared to stand up and claim, quite extraordinarily, that he had risen from the dead.

The chief of them, Peter - who had even denied knowing him - testified before the Jewish courts that Jesus had risen again. By this stage, Paul was known as Saul of Tarsus. And he set to work to try to stamp out this nonsense.

He got permission from the Chief Priests to arrest the followers of Jesus and throw them in prison.

It seems as if he was on hand when the first martyr - Stephen - was stoned to death for blasphemy. And then, as we know so famously, Saul of Tarsus had what he called an 'apocalypse' or, literally, a revelation.

Having been a violent persecutor of Jesus's followers, Paul became convinced that he had seen the risen Christ. 'Who are you?' he asked, receiving the mysterious reply: 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.'

In some versions of the story, Paul heard this vision while he was riding to Damascus to persecute Jesus's disciples.

In his own version he simply talks of an apocalypse. Either way, it changed his life. But more importantly, it changed the world. It brought into being the religion we know as Christianity.

So what is the historical significance of Paul, as he became known after his conversion? It is, quite simply, that he decided you did not need to be a Jew to follow Christ. The Chief, or Prince, of the Apostles was regarded as Peter.

But 20 years after Jesus's Empty Tomb had been found and his followers proclaimed his Resurrection, they were still teaching that in order to follow Jesus you must be a Jew.

Paul, on the other hand, began preaching in the parts of the world now known as Lebanon and Syria. In Syrian Antioch, the term Christian was first used of those he converted.

Having travelled all over modern Turkey (Asia Minor) he soon got to Europe: Macedonia, Athens, Corinth, and from there converts went to Rome.

We know that at first Peter was opposed to the idea of Gentile Christians. When these two leading followers of Christ met in Jerusalem, Paul denounced Peter 'to his face' (Galatians 2:11 if you like looking up texts) and said that Christianity was for all - it was a universal, or catholic, faith - whether you were male or female, Jewish or Gentile, a slave or a free person.

Just think of the implications of it historically. If Paul had never had this showdown with Peter, Christianity would have remained a sect within Judaism.

The fact that today billions of non-Jews know the Psalms, or the story of Abraham and Isaac, or the story of King David, or the words of the Prophets - all this is down to Saint Paul.

You can tell from his letters that he is a driven, hyperactive genius of a man - more like a half-mad poet, I have often thought, than a clergyman.

His great flights of beautiful prose-poetry about the nature of love, or about the consolations of faith, echo down the ages to inspire new generations of readers afresh.

'Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword?'

Paul was the first great theologian, insisting that we are forgiven not because of our good deeds, but solely because of God's love for us. He was the prime influence on all the great Christian philosophers and thinkers from Augustine to Luther.

But what happened to him in the end? We never knew. We know from the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible that he was arrested for causing an affray in Jerusalem, when Jews set upon him for preaching Christianity.

We're told that, as a Roman citizen, he made an appeal to Caesar's supreme court in Rome, living for two years under house arrest. But then his story fizzles out.

Now, it appears that the aural tradition, passed on by word of mouth since the second century, that he had suffered martyrdom and was beheaded for his faith, is true.

For this same tradition insists that his tomb is in the church of St Paul outside the Walls - where the bone fragments identified as his have been found. The Roman Church from the very beginnings made a cult of its martyrs and revered both Peter and Paul as the two great leaders of their Church.

Sparring partners in life they might have been. In death they were martyrs - the Greek word means witnesses - for Christ. The fact they had differed so hotly about the admission of non-Jews to the Church makes their union in death - as the two pillars of the Christian tradition - more impressive.

Today's squabbles among the Christians - whether to admit women to the priesthood, for example - seem trivial compared with the great big question: can non-Jews become Catholic Christians? Can you be a Christian and not be circumcised?

Paul said of course, and he eventually persuaded the Jerusalem Church, who included Jesus's own family, St Peter and others, that the unsearchable riches of Christ were not limited to those who abstained from ham sandwiches.

It was much bigger than persuading the other Christians to lift the dietary requirements. It was the whole ethos of Catholicism (catholic literally translates as universal), the whole belief that Christianity was a religion for all the world.

From Saint Paul descends not only the Christian faith as believed by so many billions since he had his apocalypse. As well as the faith - which is not shared by everyone today - there are the 2,000 years of Christian history and culture.

And that is something which we all do share, whether we wish to or not. For this reason, the discovery of his bones is of immense historical significance. We have found the father of our civilisation.

The Vatican archaeologists have also found a very old fresco - dated to three centuries after Paul's death - on the walls of the catacombs, which appears to be a faithful likeness of Paul.

The old icon-painters and makers of frescoes and mosaics did not paint from whim. They saw their task as the keeping alive of a tradition, and accounts of Paul's appearance would have been passed down from generation to generation.

This picture, of a bald Jewish man with a pointed beard, is very likely authentic. Both discoveries - of the bones and of the frescoes - are inspiring new discoveries of the Christian faith's roots in actual history.

Historical research alone will never produce faith. But it has always been part of the Christian claim that it was historically rooted. The ministry of the Church - its bishops and priests - goes back, as far as the West is concerned, in an unbroken line to the martyrs of Rome in the early days of Christianity.

These were men and women who were alive during the lifetime of Jesus, and their lives had been turned around by their beliefs concerning his life, death and resurrection. To all the apostles, therefore, the Church owes an historic debt.

But to none more so than Paul, who opened up to the Gentile world the inexhaustible riches of the Jewish spiritual tradition which culminated in Jesus Christ.

*What's in a word?

What's in a word? Nothing or everything depending on the word, the timing, the context or a hundred different factors.

"Sure thing honey." could be the loving response to a request by a spouse, or the sarcastic rejoinder to a waitress or bank clerk. Remember when Obama called the female reporter sweetie? Was he being a chauvinistic creep or was that just his way of being endearing to a female? So words in context and intent are important, let me give you a rather unknown but monumental example, the word "is".

No not the Clinton "it depends on what your definition of is, is." is. This is another is, a far more important is, and here it is.

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16

Now that is one of the most important Christian scriptures in the Bible. From a theological and doctrine stand point it is near the very top. If a Christian believes that scripture, then he believes the Bible in total and all that is in it is the Holy Word of the God he worships.

As a matter of fact that scripture basically standing alone has led to a closed minded view of God and our religion by Christians for centuries. The idea that scriptures are the Word of God and to be taken literally and without dispute has turned many an inquiring and I might say logical mind away from the faith.

It has led to hostilities against Christians by those whose only crime is common sense. It has attempted to defeat logic and science instead of embracing them for the glory of God. If 2 Timothy 3:16 is true, much of science can not be true. Evolution must be explained away rather than embraced as part of God's plan, lest the story of Adam and Eve be seen as nothing more than a Bible parable. Certain absurd Old Testament Laws are embraced as somehow being God's will and a loving God is turned into a petty vengeful tyrant.

Yes that little verse has Christians in a pickle. This despite the fact Christians are more than willing to translate that verse, like all verses, a hundred different ways depending on the particular needs of the particular denomination publishing any of countless versions of the Bible. The truth is their are literally thousands of versions of The Holy Bible. When you think about it we Christians are pretty loose with the so called inspired Gk (theopneustos -literally God Breathed) word of God.

As you may have noticed I italicized is in the verse above. You probably think I did that to highlight it. Well yes, but the truth is that in most of my Bibles, is, in that verse is also italicized. Now I have not bought a Bible in years, I have dozens, so I really don't need another one, so I do not know if they still do, but why did they italicize it in the first place? Some connection to Bill Clinton?

No, the truth is that they did it to denote that the word was added in translation. Now is that important well let's see, let's remove the is added in translation.

All Scripture is inspired by God .....

All Scripture inspired by God ......

Do you see the difference? Of course to finish the sentence in English we would have to add something for it to be grammatically correct and make sense . So since is was added in translation in order to make it read correctly in English from its original Greek, let's keep the is and put it where it makes just as much sense.


All Scripture inspired by God is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

So what did the insertion of is in the translation do? It changed the entire meaning and relevance of the scripture. Instead of all scriptures being inspired by God, we now have only those which are inspired as being profitable. we have also taken away Christianity's biggest crutch and given it the opportunity to grow into the true church, the body of Christ. Not using the manipulated words of man, but the spirit of God through Christ.

Many Christians reading this are now gnashing their teeth, that's OK God loves you. The question will immediately arise by such so called "true believers". If the entire Bible is not the Word Of God, how are we to know what to do?

How about reading the Bible and figuring out what is inspired by God and what is not? How about living in the spirit rather than the letter?

Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.

Matthew 13:52

That's the King James Version, it's so much more poetic, though probably the worst translation ever, oh well. The Apostle Paul who wrote the letter to Timothy that has caused all this silly confusion, men are confused God isn't, also gave us some real good advice about how to know God.

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, [even] the hidden [wisdom], which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known [it], they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.

But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Pretty heady stuff huh? The mind of Christ? Notice he did not say the mind of Jesus now did he? Probably inspired by God I'd say, but that's just me.

Basically, to put it bluntly, most Christians forget that they are a spiritual religion, not a literal one. They truly have become Scribes and Pharisees, rather than "new creations in Christ"

Oh well it's just words, So Be It, translated Amen.





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