Christianity -101

Unity through Diversity, with mutual respect for all, will produce greater results than absolute obedience to absolute authority the far right would impose.

Courtesy: gospeldoctrineplus.blogspot.com

(PASO ROBLES, CA) - Sixty to 100 years after Isaiah’s Prophecy The Gospels were written to promote Jesus as the visible Son of Jehovah, an invisible God. Jesus, as Christ, provided a visible and spiritual - after his death - spokesman for the Fathers of Christianity made permanent by the magic of the Eucharist.

The designers of Christianity evolved into the Vatican in Rome which selects popes as surrogates for Jesus. Priests are called “Father” to promote the circle of Catholic authority which, with the Holy Spirit - members of the Church - completes the structure of the Church which the Gospel renditions built upon (below).

After his sermon on the mount, Jesus supposedly asked his disciples, “who do the people say that I am?” Each, except Peter, proffered suggestions, none of them correct; so Jesus asked, “but who do you say that I am?” and Peter alone identified Jesus as the Christ (Mark: 7; 2-30). But Jesus was not named Christ until later when he was in Jerusalem, as will be seen.

Jesus entered Jerusalem riding an untamed ass as humbly he received the accolades of Christian cultists who spread palm fronds before him in a planned celebration that today is referred to as Palm Sunday. Jesus was crucified the Friday following - Good Friday - and was resurrected in spirit on Easter Sunday which follows the first full moon after the vernal equinox - which explains why Easter falls at a different time every year; a time consistent with a new planting season, and the start of a new beginning, a metaphor suitable to Christian pretensions of the time both then and now.

But in Jerusalem, Jesus’ humanity failed him, and on the Mount of Olives he prayed to an angel of the Lord - a cult-member, one of whom was always with him at this crucial time - that his cup of death be removed; but the angel reassured Jesus who recommitted to his obligation to die according to plan. The scene has been portrayed in painting and verbally as Jesus’ Transfiguration from his human to a spiritual being; a rendition not mentioned by Isaiah, as is true of most, if not all, of what follows:

Afterward, in Bethany, while Jesus sat at table, a woman anointed him with oil for burial that earned for him the title of the “Christ” from the Greek; Khristos: christen; to install somebody ceremonially, and give him a new name - “Christ”. Perhaps also on the Mt. of Olives, or at Bethany, the title of “King of the Jews” was bestowed on him, as was mentioned by Isaiah in his prophecy, an essential part of the symbolism consistent with Isaiah to bring Christianity to fruition. The next act involved Judas Iscariot and his purported betrayal.

Judas’ name is similar to Judaism, Judaic, and Judaize - to conform to doctrines, observances, or methods of the Jews - and suggests that his name was intended to promote an idea that painted him as a traitor to Christianity, but who seems to have been a member of the cast devoted to its fulfillment. The recent discovery of the Judas Gospel confirms what should have been known when Jesus, during The Last Supper, told Judas to “go and do what you must,” the object of which seems not to have been in doubt.

When Judas was gone, and in apparent anticipation of the expected, Jesus as Christ, awaited the next scene at Gethsemane where he was identified by Judas, and a disciple is said to have used a sword to cut off the ear of the slave of the high priest; Isaiah describes the tongue as the "sword of the mouth," an instrument of persuasion, not of steel. Jesus admonished his disciple to put away his sword, was promptly arrested, and soon after was presented before Pilate. The plot was advancing as planned.

Pilate asked Jesus about his title, “King of the Jews,” and Jesus responded obliquely saying, "My kingdom is not of this world," a line likely given him to recite by the Cult. Pilate could find no fault with Jesus, washed his hands of responsibility, and turned Jesus over to the Jews for disposition. But the scene makes sense only if the proceedings were orchestrated by the Cult whose object was that Jesus must die, as he did in the company of two transgressors - thieves - who were crucified at the same time.

If Jesus' Kingdom was not of the Jewish Community, why would he have been branded "King of the Jews," by Jews?" Why, once it was determined he should be crucified, was he crowned with thorns, and by whom? Isaiah's definition of the wilderness was the Jewish community, a wasteland of mental-infertility overgrown with weeds, briars, thorns, and decay. Jesus was committed fully to the Christian cause and his role in it as “King of the Jews” with its crown of thorns.

His crucifixion and death, symbolically represented the end of the Old and the beginning of a New Order within which, metaphorically speaking, Immortality reigns supreme via the mystery of the seed - Christ - which Christianity claimed as its own in a deviation of the general law of Nature where every seed has the potential to renew itself.

Accordingly, the seed of Christ is presumed to be the One God of all Nations, and the Church renews itself by the births - normal or born again - and baptism of new members, and by insisting Immortal life is impossible beyond the Christian Community.

The power of the Roman Church expanded by keeping its members ignorant: a fact Evangelists take to heart today by preaching that true Christians do not question what they are taught, as intellectuals do; an anti-logic tactic that robs believers of their reason and self determination.

The plot, as in any good play, ends by wrapping up all the loose ends. Those who established the Catholic Church - the presumed Resurrected Body of Christ - built on the Rock of St. Peter’s Faith, and using Jesus’ title of Christ to identify their new religion of One God for All Nations, had finally brought their plan to fruition.

“The Blood of Christ” is resolved in the understanding that it was shed for, and holds the promise of Life-everlasting to, those who partake of the Eucharist which of His Grace is offered to the elect, but is denied reprobates; the damned who refuse to abide by Catholic authority; namely, anyone outside the Church. What an incredible scheme!

The Protestant Reformation was successful in the 18th Century when the Counter Reformation of The Roman See finally admitted defeat. Today the American Religious Right,” the Evangelical Holy See” of the Republican Party of God, has adopted, and is guided by, the Catholic script of old, which it intends to force on us all. Birth control is a no-no because it avoids the renewal of the Holy Ghost which is essential to the Trinity through which the Vatican’s of Rome and the Republican Party exert their power.

Unity through Diversity, with mutual respect for all, will produce greater results than absolute obedience to absolute authority the far right would impose on all at the expense of logic and reason. This is why our Founding Fathers created a Secular Government. And why the Catholic and Republican Holy Sees don’t want reason and logic to flourish.

Afterthought

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, according to the Gospels, the ass he rode was unaware of the supposed Divinity it bore: Those who believe without verifying, accept as gospel the false preachments of mega-church Evangelists, the Republican hierarchy and the Catholics Church, are no more aware - or prefer not to see - that their faith is just as misguided as that of the ass Jesus rode.

Kenneth G. Ramey, Salem-News.com's Religion and Philosophy Writer, confronts the hard issues of politics and religion from a logical point of view that combines interesting insight with history into the truth, or lack thereof, that underlies the strengths and weaknesses of the Religious Right’s determination to use American politics for its own misguided, or selfish, interest. It’s rare for a writer to balance his writing between religious values and the secular guarantees of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights with the knowledge that Ken possesses, and to do it so effectively.

Ken was born in Minnesota but was raised in California since 1932. He is the youngest of four boys raised by his mother alone during the dark years of the Great Depression. He Graduated from SFSU in the 1970s when in his mid-forties, majoring in Spanish North American History, and added three years of post-graduate study, much of it in Philosophy and Religion. We live at a critical time in history and believe Ken's views represent the view of many who are tired of the commercialism and false interpretations about religion today. Watch for Ken's articles on religion, philosophy, politics and history. View articles written by Kenneth G. Ramey You can email Ken at: darken1@sbcglobal.net