What Jesus Said

[Yourbaker]

He does seem to have drank the religious kool-aid along with his personal salvation. I wish people would consider all religion as what it is, man's best attempt to reduce divinity to less than man. How could one religion proclaim to understand all aspects of God's consciousness?

I have found my path to God through Jesus, this didn't give me magical judgement. Jesus spoke against judgement. I have learned so much from other religions, all point the same way. Who you believe Jesus to be is really personal. I believe the person of Jesus as the Christ, when stripped of the Christian religion and presented solely as who he is, is a figure outside religion or belonging to all of the religions, really fit him in as you wish. Christianity is a separate religion stapled onto Jesus. It's difficult to separate the two but for me to live inside myself I had to. Christianity has unreal claims, most swirl around the authenticity of the book, some go deeper. Religion will always be that, we really don't need it if we understand it for what it is. The person of Jesus though was outside religion. He just got written in or they wrote a somewhat Jewish version of history and put it around him.

I should be careful my Heresy is showing lol.

 

[Ninae]

Yep. We seem to be on the same page about it. There aren't really many who are open to learning a bit from different traditions. Most are more concerned with taking an emotional stand for or against religion, or a particular religion. The problem with that is you don't learn so much.

I am also very interested in the Christ/Son figure who Jesus channeled and sometimes like to pray to him because I'm convinced he's real.

But it's interesting how a philosophy major and successful New Age writer could end up in that position, knowing as much as he did.

 

[Yourbaker]

It has been a year since I had a shocking spiritual awakening, mid day, at work, mid conversation. It wasn't even a related conversation. When it happens there isn't a lot of room left for hesitation. There is no confusion just action, whatever you need to toss out of your life or drop is minor compared to the call.

I chose wreckless abandon and a complete redirect of my purpose in life. It was followed with me having 3 very distinct spiritual experiences all centered on other religious beliefs. I am going a different direction or path but we both had that moment of salvation and understood it's explicit reality. For me it is looking back almost 40 years to a life I was not living or even remembering.

The New Age beliefs have a degree of freedom that Jesus spoke of but I don't see orbs, feel entities, beyond people, the Spirit of God and occasional emotional energies that seem real momentarily. I don't see lizards or Astral project, I do have lucid dreams, I can control my body in ways I never thought possible, my intuition in moments of need rockets up. Clear thinking and no emotional load regardless of what is happening. These seem like real things to me that religion never mentioned. Despite my belief I can't possibly hold that the Bible is anything beyond a well edited book that contained just enough about Jesus and God to make me look with intention. Having found what I was seeking I've proceeded to read the Bible with a careful eye for rewrites. It appear like a book written carefully to hide the money God while giving a tounge in cheek homily to God the creator and tossing in Jesus's story because without it there is nothing but religion, oppression and fear.

If you take just Jesus ,he is a savior, not a religion. I think there is a lot of room to build your religion your way and still include that act of salvation. Personally I leave as much religion behind as possible and just be me. Religion is like having bad gas, it's always best to share as little as possible.

 

[Ninae]

WHEN Jesus, Peter, James and John were come unto the city's gates a multitude of people thronged the way.
2) The nine apostles who went not with Jesus to the mount, had tried to heal an epileptic child who was obsessed, and they had failed; the people waited for the coming of the Lord.
3) When Jesus came the father of the child knelt down before him and implored his help.
4) He said,
My master, I beseech that you will look in pity on my son, my only child; he is an epileptic child and suffers grievously.
5) Sometimes he falls into the fire and is burned; again he falls into the water and is like to drown; and many times a day he falls, he grinds his teeth, the foam pours from his mouth.
6) I took my child to your disciples, and they failed to give relief.
7) And as he spoke a servant brought the child before the Lord (the child spoke not, for he was dumb), and instantly he fell upon the ground, he foamed, he writhed in agony.
8 ) And Jesus said,
How long has he been troubled thus?
9) The father said,
From infancy; and we have sought in many lands for help, but found it not; but I believe that you can speak the Word and heal my son.
10) And Jesus said,
Faith is the power of God. All things are possible for him who in his heart believes.
11) The father cried, in tears,
Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
12) And Jesus spoke the Word of power; the epileptic child lay in a swoon; he did not breathe, and all the people said,
The child is dead.
13) But Jesus took him by the hand and said:
Arise;
and he arose and spoke.
14) The people were amazed, and many said,
This surely is a man of God, for no such power was ever given to man.
15) Then Jesus and the twelve went to the house, and after they had taken food and been refreshed, the nine disciples said,
16) Lord, why could we not heal this child? We spoke the Word; but even that was powerless.
17) And Jesus said,
Your great success in all your former work has made you careless, and you forgot to recognize the power of God.
18 ) Without the spirit of the Word, the Word is like an idle tale; and you forgot to pray.
19) There is no faith without the prayer of faith. Faith is the wings of prayer; but wings alone fly not.
20) By prayer and faith you can bring down the mountain peaks, and cast them in the sea; the little hills will skip about like lambs at your command.
21) This failure may be well for you. The great lessons that are learned in life come through the failures that are made.
22) As the disciples sat in thoughtful meditation Jesus said,
Let these words sink into your hearts:
23) The time has nearly come when you must bear your load alone; that is, without my presence in the flesh.
24) For I will fall into the hands of wicked men, and they will slay me on a mount beyond Bezetha wall.
25) And men will lay my body in a tomb where, by the sacred Word, it will be guarded and preserved three days; then I will rise again.
26) The twelve were sad; they did not understand, and yet they feared to ask him to reveal the meaning of his word.
27) Next day the Christine master and the twelve began their journey of return, and soon were in Capernaum.

 

[Ninae]

"By prayer and faith you can bring down the mountain peaks, and cast them in the sea; the little hills will skip about like lambs at your command."

Jesus would either have been a trained orator or he was really inspired by holy breath to put words together to the highest effect. I know the Bible is re-written to death, and everything has rhythm and rhyme in an unnatural way. It's better this way when those things are used more sparsely.

 

[Ninae]

8 ) Now Jesus heard the twelve dispute among themselves. The spirit of the carnal self was moving in their hearts, and they were questioning among themselves who was the greatest in the sight of God and man.
9) And Jesus said,
You men, for shame! The greatest is the servant of the rest.
And then he called to him a little child; he took it in his arms and said.
10) The greatest is the little child, and if you would be great at all you must become as is this child in innocence, in truth, in purity in life.
11) Great men scorn not the little things of earth; he who regards and honors such a child, regards and honors me, and he who scorns a child, scorns me.
12) If you would enter through the kingdom gate you must be humble as this little child.
13) Hear me, you men, This child, as every other child, has one to plead its cause before the throne of God.
14) You scorn it at your peril, men, for lo, I say, its counterpart beholds the face of God at every moment, every day.
15) And hear me once again, He who shall cause a little one to stumble and to fall is marked, accursed; and it were better far if he had drowned himself.
16) Behold, offences everywhere! Men find occasions for to sin and fall, and they grow strong by rising when they fall;
17) But woe to him who causes other men to stumble and to fall.
18 ) Be on your guard, you men of God, lest you constrain another man to fall; beware lest you fall into sinful ways yourselves.
19) Now, if your hands cause you to sin, you better cut them off; for it is better far to have no hands and not be guilty in the sight of God and men, than to be perfect in your form and lose your soul.
20) And if your feet should cause offence, you better cut them off; for it is better far to enter into life without your feet than fall beneath the curse.
21) And if your eyes, or ears, cause you to sin, you better lose them all than lose your soul.
22) Your thoughts and words and deeds will all be tried by fire.
23) Remember that you are the salt of earth; but if you lose the virtues of the salt, you are but refuse in the sight of God.
24) Retain the virtues of the salt of life and be at peace among yourselves.
25) The world is full of men who have not in themselves the salt of life, and they are lost. I come to seek and save the lost.
26) How think you? if a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, will he not leave the ninety and the nine,
27) And go out in the desert ways and mountain tops to seek the one that went astray?
28 ) Yes, this you know; and if he finds the one that went astray, lo, he is glad, and he rejoices over it far more than over all the ninety and the nine that did not go astray.
29) And so there is rejoicing in the courts of heaven when one of human birth who has gone forth into the ways of sin is found and brought back to the fold;
30) Yea, there is joy, more joy than over all the righteous men who never went astray.
31) And John said,
Master, who may seek and save the lost? and who may heal the sick, and cast the demons out of those obsessed?
32) When we were on the way we saw a man who was not one of us cast demons out and heal the sick.
33) He did it by the sacred Word and in the name of Christ? but we forbade him, for he did not walk with us.
34) And Jesus said,
You sons of men, do you imagine that you own the powers of God?
35) And do you think that all the world must wait for you to do the works of God?
36) God is not man that he should have a special care for any man, and give him special gifts.
37) Forbid not any man to do the works of God.
38 ) There is no man who can pronounce the sacred Word, and in the name of Christ restore the sick, and cast the unclean spirits out, who is not child of God.
39) The man of whom you speak is one with us. Whoever gathers in the grain of heaven is one with us.
40) Whoever gives a cup of water in the name of Christ is one with us; so God shall judge.

 

[Ninae]

A MULTITUDE of people thronged the streets. The officers were on the way to court with one, a man accused of stealing bread.
2) And in a little while the man was brought before the judge to answer to the charge.
3) And Jesus and the twelve were there. The man showed in his face and hands the hard drawn lines of toil and want.
4) A woman richly clad, the accuser of the man, stood forth and said,
I caught this man myself: I know him well, for yesterday he came to beg for bread.
5) And when I drove him from my door, he should have known that I would harbor not a man like him; and then today he came and took the bread.
6) He is a thief and I demand that he be sent to jail.
7) The servants also testified against the man; he was adjudged a thief, and officers were leading him away.
8 ) But Jesus standing forth exclaimed,
You officers and judge, be not in haste to lead this man away.
9) Is this a land of justice and of right? can you accuse and sentence men to punishment for any crime until they testify themselves?
10) The Roman law will not permit such travesty on right, and I demand that you permit this man to speak.
11) And then the judge recalled the man and said,
If you have any tale to tell, say on.
12) In tears the man stood forth and said,
I have a wife and little ones and they are perishing for bread, and I have told my story oft, and begged for bread; but none would hear.
13) This morning when I left our cheerless hut in search of work my children cried for bread, and I resolved to feed them or to die.
14) I took the bread, and I appeal to God, Was it a crime?
15) This woman snatched the loaf away and threw it to the dogs, and called the officers and I am here.
16) Good people, do with me whate'er you will, but save my wife and little ones from death.
17) Then Jesus said,
Who is the culprit in this case?
18 ) I charge this woman as a felon in the sight of God.
19) I charge this judge as criminal before the bar of human rights.
20) I charge these servants and these officers as parties to the crime.
21) I charge the people of Capernaum with cruelty and theft, because they heeded not the cries of poverty and want, and have withheld from helpless ones that which is theirs by every law of right;
22) And I appeal unto these people here, and ask, Are not my charges based on righteousness and truth?
23) And every man said,
Yes.
24) The accused woman blushed for shame; the judge shrank back in fear; the officers threw off the shackles from the man and ran away.
25) Then Jesus said,
Give this man what he needs and let him go and feed his wife and little ones.
26) The people gave abundantly; the man went on his way.
27) And Jesus said,
There is no standard law to judge of crime. The facts must all be stated e'er a judgment can be rendered in a case.
28 ) You men with hearts; go forth and stand where stood this man and answer me, What would you do?
29) The thief thinks every other man a thief and judges him accordingly.
30) The man who judges harshly is the man whose heart is full of crime.
31) The courtesan who keeps her wickedness concealed by what she calls respectability, has not a word of pity for the honest courtesan who claims to be just what she is.
32) I tell you, men, if you would censure not till you are free from sin, the world would soon forget the meaning of the word, accused.

 

[Ninae]

THE harvest feast drew near; the twelve went to Jerusalem, but Jesus did not go with them; he tarried in Capernaum.
2) Among the multitudes that followed him were many who went not up to the feast; they were not Jews.
3) And Jesus called three-score-and -ten of these disciples unto him and said,
The kingdom of the Christ is not for Jews alone; it is for every man.
4) Lo, I have chosen twelve to preach the gospel, first unto the Jews; and they are Jews.
5) Twelve is the number of the Jew and seven the number of the all, including every man.
6) God is the ten, the holy Jod.
7) When God and man are multiplied we have three-score-and-ten, the number of the brotherhood of man.
8 ) And now I send you forth by twos and twos; not to the Jews alone, but unto every nation under heaven; to Greek and to Assyrian; to the Samaritan; to those beyond the seas; to every man.
9) You need not go afar, for men of every land are here and in Samaria.
10) Arise and go your way; but go in faith; and take no gold nor silver in your purse; no extra coat or shoes.
11) Go in the sacred name; trust God and you will never come to want.
12) And let this be your salutation everywhere, Peace be to all; good will to all.
13) And if the son of peace be in the house, the door will open wide and you will enter in; and then the holy peace will rest upon that house.
14) The seventy in twos went forth; they went into Samaria, and as they went they said,
Peace be to all; good will to all!
15) Repent and turn from sin, and set your house in order, for a son of man who bears the image of the Christ, will come, and you may see his face.
16) They entered every village of Samaria; they preached in Tyre and in Sidon by the sea. Some went to Crete, and others into Greece, and others went to Gilead and taught.
17) And Jesus, all alone, went to the feast by the Samaria way; and as he went through Sychar on the way, the lepers saw him and a company of ten called from afar and said,
18 ) Lord Jesus, stay and speak the Word for us that we may be made clean.
19) And Jesus said,
Go forth and show yourselves unto the priests.
20) They went, and as they went their leprosy was healed. One of the ten, a native of Samaria, returned to thank the master and to praise the Lord.
21) And Jesus said to him,
Lo, ten were cleansed; where are the nine? Arise, and go your way; your faith has made you whole.
22) You have revealed your heart and shown that you are worthy of the power; behold the nine will find again their leprous hands and feet.
23) And Jesus went his way, and while the feast was on he came into Jerusalem, and went into the temple courts.
24) And he rebuked the scribes and Pharisees, the priests and doctors of the law for their hypocrisy and selfishness.
25) The common people were amazed; they said, From whence has come the wisdom of this man? he speaks as speaks a sage.
26) And Jesus said,
I did not learn the wisdom of the Holy One within the schools of men; my teaching is not mine; I speak the words of him who sent me here to do his will.
27) If any man would know whereof I speak, lo, he must do the will of God. No man can know except he enters into life and does the will of God.
28 ) Now, Moses gave the law; but none of you have kept the law; how can you judge the worthiness of any man?
29) Once in these courts I healed a man upon a Sabbath day, and in a rage you sought to take my life; and now because I tell the truth you seek again to take my life.
30) A scribe spoke out and said,
You foolish man, you are obsessed; who wants to take your life?
31) The common people said,
Is this not Jesus whom the rulers long have sought to kill? and now he comes and teaches in the temple courts.
32) If he is guilty of such monstrous crimes, why do they not take him away in chains?
33) And Jesus said,
You all know me, and know from whence I came; but you know not the God who sent me here, whose words I speak.
34) The multitudes again stood forth in his defense; they said,
if this is not the Christ whom God has promised to reveal to men, will he do greater works when he shall come than does this man?
35) The Pharisees and ruling priests were angered and they sent their officers to take him e'er he went away. The officers were filled with fear; they seized him not.
36) And Jesus said,
lo, I am here but for a little time and then I go my way to him who sent me here to do his will.
37) You seek me now and you can find me now; the time will come when you will seek and will not find, for where I go you cannot come.
38 ) The people said,
Where will he go that men can find him not? Will he go forth to Greece and teach the Greeks? or will he go to Egypt or Assyria to teach?
39) But Jesus answered not; unnoticed by the multitudes he left the temple courts and went his way.