October 25, 2009, 1:20 pm by dc-agape.

I have a new post up at my back-up blog entitled “The End is Near!!!“

Posted in Dead Sea Scroll, Traditions of Men, Readings | Print | 31 Comments »

October 14, 2009, 9:59 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 21

This post will be the final post from the Gospel of John.  John does not write about the ascension of Jesus.  I will say more about this in the next paragraph.  He also writes a prophecy of Jesus that took place in his own lifetime…and just happens to have taken place before he wrote this Gospel.  That will be one of the major topics of this post.  The third most interesting thing that occurs in this Gospel is the number and locations of Jesus’ appearances after his crucifixion.  John, the only Apostle to be an eyewitness to everything that happened to Jesus, only records three visits. 

John ends his Gospel having left out the ascension of Jesus.  As far as John is concerned, this event, if it happened, was not import enough to record.  The other possibility is a John was not present at the ascension.  But it seems difficult to believe, since our only sources come from two men: John Mark (a follower of Peter while in Rome) and Luke (a follower of Paul).  In both these reports the ascension of Jesus is recorded as having happened in the presence of all the believers.  So what is John not include this very important Christian concept?  Why is it not important?  Of all the miracles, attributed to Jesus, is not the ascension of Jesus by far the most important?  It almost seems as if, the apostles themselves, either did not experience witnessing this, or but nothing about it!  It is only the followers of the original disciples that record this event.  Even the Gospel of Matthew does not record the event.  Relying on secondhand (or third hand) records seems very dangerous to the non-believer.  Stories always get manipulated, distorted, or exaggerated with extended retelling.  This seems to be the same case.

In the Gospel of John the prophecy and the death of Peter is record.  Unless, the death of Peter is a later addition, the date of writing this gospel can be insured to have occurred after Peter’s death in 67 AD.  As a result, recording a prophecy after the prophecy has occurred weakens the power of the prophecy.  Adding that this book was recorded some 35 to 40 years after the prophecy, the memory of the specific words Jesus used should be taken into account.  To make matters worse, our records of how and when Peter died are sketchy at best.  The truly are Traditions of Men and not sanctified holy script.

John ends his gospel with an interesting twist:

John 21:25 Jesus did many of the things as well.  If every one  of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

This most certainly is an exaggeration.  Recording the events of a ministry that lasted less than four years would not create that many books.  But we are told:

John 21:24 This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down.  We know that his testimony is true.

This is a very odd addition to a personally written document.  Basically he is saying, since I wrote these down they must be true.  To  the non-believer, this is arrogant, this does not prove the trustworthiness of the document, and adds nothing to validate the testimony given in this Gospel.

To the non-believer these issues are not solved by faith.  They only add more confusion, lack of unity in the Gospels, and create more questions that cannot be answered.  If these Gospels were inspired by an all-powerful Holy Spirit it would seem that these problems would not have occurred.  If these Gospels were inspired by the loving YHWH, who wants everyone to believe, these problems would not occur.  Instead, we have different stories (not different perspectives), Tall Tales, differing accounts, disorganized chronology, and difficulty tracing Jesus’ actual route used in his ministries.  I do hope that I get the chance to make a full scale map showing an organized chronological description of Jesus’ ministries.  Unfortunately, it will be very difficult since only the Gospel of John describes the additional trips to Jerusalem.

This is my last post from the New Testament for the time being.  My next posts will be from the Dead Sea Scrolls.  I have still not decided which order I will present the scrolls that I want to focus on.  But They Will Include: the Book of Secrets, Charter of a Jewish Sectarian Association, Charter for Israel in the Last Days, the Book of Jubilees, Work with the citation of Jubilees, the Secret of the Way Things Are, and the Temple Scroll.  This may seem like a large number of documents to cover before I start back into the Nag Hammadi Library.  But no actuality, many of these scrolls are either very short or very fragmented.  The total number of pages covered in the seven scrolls is actually only 105 pages.  Many of the pages are introduction to the scrolls.  Since the meaning of the scrolls are not as complex as the gospels, and that print type is much larger than in the New Testament, the pages should not take that long.  In actuality, only the Charter of a Jewish Sectarian Association, the Book of Jubilees, Secret of the Way Things Are, and the Temple Scroll have any length to them at all. 

Posted in Contradictions, Gospel of John, Dead Sea Scroll, Traditions of Men, Tall Tales, Readings | Print | No Comments »

October 9, 2009, 5:38 pm by dc-agape.

John Chapter 19

This post will describe some of the issues with John’s account verse the Synoptic Gospels and the Traditions of Men.  My last post covered some issues with the events before the Sanhedrin.  In this post I want to introduce some questions about the events before Pilate and Herod.  I will have to leave the events of Jesus’ death and burial till the next post. 

Since only four Gospels have been canonized since 320 AD, we have four “eye-witnesses” to the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion. But as it turns out some issues do crop up with this Traditional view of events.  Some “eye-witness” accounts add things that the other “reports” leave out, others suggest unforgettable events that are eliminated from all the other reports.  In the events with Pilate and Herod just such things occur.

In the Gospel of John (the only eyewitness to the “trial”) there is not a single mention of Herod!  Without the non-eyewitness accounts of the trial we would not believe today that Herod was involved or that he was even in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ death.  In fact, only the Gospel of Luke (recorded by a follower of Paul) was Herod even mentioned at all.  Neither the Gospels of Matthew (another “actual” witness) or Mark (the most likely first gospel recorded) describe Herod’s involvement in the trial of Jesus.  Why would John, Mark, and Matthew leave out such an event?  Herod was the second most important person in the Roman occupation of Israel…leaving him out would be like leaving out the Ambassador to Iraq when describing the formation of the Iraqi constitution!  More importantly, why would Paul (through Luke) add something that Matthew, Mark, and John left out?  To believe that Paul was at the trial would again attempt to make the lifespan of the occupied Israeli longer than the average lifespan of a Roman Citizen (40 years).  For Paul to have died in ~60 AD he would have had to be less than 15 years old or have been much older than the average person when he died.  Since we are told that the Sanhedrin was made up of elders and chief priest, a young Paul would not have been in attendance.  So the Gospel of Luke is actually third-hand knowledge at best, not the most authoritative source! So actually for the events of the trial we have only one actual source…the Gospel of John.  The other three Gospels are merely Traditions of Men recorded as Authority.

So what does this mean for Christians?  It is actually very simple:

John 19:36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.  If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews.  But my kingdom is from another place.”

The Kingdom of God (Jesus) is not of this world…Christian have no say in the governance of the world’s nations!  There cannot be a Christian Nation here on this planet, for Jesus himself, told Pilate that his kingdom did not exist on Earth.

There are two other troubling issues with the Gospel account of Jesus’ trial.  That would be of the “custom” to release a prisoner on the Passover holiday.  Two problems exist with this “custom”: first, no record of such a custom exists in Roman or Jewish histories of the time, and second, Barabbas (a known rebel) would not have had the option of parole!  Why is it that neither the Roman nor the Jewish histories tell us about this custom?  Were all the records from both nations destroyed or tampered with?  There aren’t any!  Not a single one records this custom.  The historical accuracy of the Gospels is questionable at best, but when they cannot be verified by outside sources, it certainly begins to look a lot like a mythology.  The concept that a known traitor to Rome would be released by a Roman overseer of Israel seems unlikely.  The Roman Empire looked very unfavorably on political enemies.  In fact, crucifixion was the choice way to eliminate the slaves, pirates, and the enemies of the State.  As a result of this information, Jesus would not have been crucified; he was not an enemy of the State as Pilate decreed.  But Barabbas would not have been freed, either, for he was an enemy of the State!

To the non-believer the accuracy of these Gospels is highly unlikely.  With John being the only source of information about these events, the missing verification, and the contradictory evidence John does provide, it was highly unlikely to have taken place the way it is recorded in the Gospels.  When you add the unlikely lifespan of these “authors” to the mix the tales become even bigger – they become Tall Tales from a superstitious group of religious hopefuls.  The only person who knew the truth about this part of Jesus’ life and recorded these events – died as an old man in Ephesus.  But even the events of the crucifixion are to be questioned.  I will do exactly that in the next post.

Posted in Important Questions, Contradictions, Traditions of Men, Gospel of Mark, Readings | Print | 1 Comment »

October 8, 2009, 8:14 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 19

This post will describe some of the issues with John’s account verse the Synoptic Gospels and the Traditions of Men.  Since only four Gospels have been canonized since 320 AD, we have four “eye-witnesses” to the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion. But as it turns out some issues do crop up with this Traditional view of events.  Events before the Sanhedrin, Pilate, Herod, his death, and burial are a jumble of different “points-of-view”.  Some add things that the other “reports” leave out, others suggest unforgettable events that are eliminated from all the other reports. 

Let’s start with the Sanhedrin. The Synoptic Gospels tell us that Peter followed Jesus into the Sanhedrin.  Only the Gospel of John tells us that John was the one who got Peter in!  The Synoptic Gospels forget that John was even there.  If the Gospel of John did not exist, we would believe that Peter (by himself) just strolled right on in behind Jesus…but this is not what happened.  Why would all three of the Synoptic Gospels leave out such a detail?  We are told in the Gospel of John that Peter need special permission to enter!  We know that only Peter (and John) followed Jesus to the Sanhedrin:

Matt 26:56 But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.  Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

So from the beginning of the Sanhedrin trial the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew and Luke are just hearsay.  At least the Gospel of Mark is recorded by a close friend of Peter, while the Gospel of John is as close as we can get to a first-person eyewitness account (recorded 20 -50 years after the events).  That would certainly explain why John is suspiciously left out of the Synoptic Gospel.  The Synoptic Gospels were not written by men who were actually at the scene of the events.

On the topic of recording these Gospels, one must remember the life expectancy of citizens of the Roman Empire was less than 40 years and may have been as low as 25 years!  Even for John (or Peter to transcribe to John Mark) to have written this Gospel the date of the 50 is pushing the limits of sanitary conditions.  For John (or Peter) to still be alive in the 50’s he would have had to be between 15 – 18 years of age when he began to follow Jesus.  For John to have written his Gospel in the 80’s and to have died 68 years after the crucifixion John would have lived twice as long (possibly up to 4 times as long) as the average citizen of Roman and he was not even a Citizen!  A modern example of this is not someone living to be 120 years old, no it would be living to the age of between 140 – 280 years of age. 

Well it doesn’t look like I will reach the other questions about these events in this post.  But just bringing these two perspectives up I think initial the reason that most non-believers have difficulty believing the written word of the only source material we have about the life and times of Jesus.  It certainly leads to a suspicion of the trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. Now of course the True Believer, will say that there was nothing wrong with a 15 year old following Jesus, and becoming the most important man in the early Church (Peter or John).  But claiming that these men lived into their 60’s is pushing the limits of credibility.  And as to my first point, about eyewitnesses, the True Believer would only say that they were told how the events occurred by Peter and John.  But if that were the case, why record hearsay as authoritative documentation?  Should not the Gospels explain that only two of the Apostles actually witness the events leading up to the crucifixion (and the crucifixion itself)? 

Posted in Gospel of John, Contradictions, Traditions of Men, Inerrancy - My Ass, Readings | Print | 3 Comments »

October 5, 2009, 7:05 pm by dc-agape.

John Chapter 18

This is the chapter where Jesus is “betrayed”, Peter denies knowing Jesus, and Barabbas (an Israeli freedom fighter/terrorist) was set free.  Obviously, some of these things are questionable at best.  All three are veiled in Christian mysticism.  Of course, to the common believer all three of these events are completely logical, completely under YHWH control, and completely without question having occurred.  But is this true?

Let’s start with a “betrayal”.  Was it truly betrayal?  Jesus was certainly prepared for it.  Does that mean that there was a supernatural power behind the events?  Or does Occam’s razor come into play?  For Jesus to know what was going to happen the easiest and simplest explanation was that Judas and Jesus had easily planned this.  The olive garden (”because Jesus had often met there with his disciples”) was actually not used very often.  Using all four Gospels, Jesus was rarely in Jerusalem.  Only the Gospel of John does Jesus into Jerusalem more than once.  His last stay only lasted six day (John 12:1).  And not once did the disciples go to the Mount of Olives during this period of time.  So the verse that says:

John 18:2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had also met there with his disciples.

Nowhere in the Gospels does it describe Jesus using the Mount of Olives as a common location for Jesus’ teachings.  Adding to that six days does not single out a single location, unmentioned in the gospels, as a place where Judas could be certain that Jesus would be.  The only way Judas could know this was if Jesus had told him to meet him there.  Jesus certainly had everything under control, because he planned it that way.  No supernatural control was needed.  The other option is that Judas had no freewill.

More interestingly, is the case of Peter fulfilling Jesus’ prophecy of his denial.  For Jesus to get that right down to the exact moment:

John 18:27 Again he denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to grow.

This would imply that Jesus certainly knew to the finest detail what Peter would do (the rooster crowing as Peter denied knowing Jesus).  If we take this passage literally, then as I’ve said before, Peter did not have freewill.  This would mean that YHWH can and does remove freewill arbitrarily.  As a result, we pour humans can never tell whether we’re acting under our own freewill or being forced by a supreme being.  Anything that I do, saying, or believe is subjects to the arbitrary decision of YHWH to interfere.  Saying that YHWH can but doesn’t, does not solve the fact that at any arbitrary moment YHWH to interfere at his whim.

The story of Barabbas adds another interesting twist to this chapter.  No other document, Roman or Israeli, mentions the name Barabbas.  To make matters worse, no documents, Roman or Israeli, even mentions that Pilate ever offered the Jews the opportunity to release a prisoner at the Passover.  Both of these cases make the story of the release of Barabbas questionable.  Was even more detrimental to this story is what the Gospels claim about Barabbas.  If he truly was an instigator and a murderer, he was certainly a Zionist.  Pilate, as the highest ranking Roman in Jerusalem, would never free such a man.  When you add all these historical perspectives, this passage (recorded in all four Gospels) begins to look very pale to say the least.  The other option is that Pilate had no freewill.

To the non-believer, this chapter implies three things: a different relationship between Jesus and Judas that the Traditions of Men have implied, the lack of freewill that the Traditions of Men imply, and the questionability of the legitimacy of the Gospels.  Again, I will last a simple question: why are there so many Traditions of Men included into the Word of God?  These incidences of questionable interpretation put a cloud of doubt over the entire Bible.

Posted in Gospel of John, Traditions of Men, Freewill, Readings | Print | 6 Comments »

October 3, 2009, 11:47 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 17

Every once in a while a chapter in the Gospel of John is packed with amazing quotes from the teaching of Jesus.  In this particular chapter, even though Jesus is praying to YHWH, he brings up six important concepts that relate to being a true follower of Jesus.  Some of these concepts are: the meeting of eternal life, freewill (again!), prophecy, separation from the world, unity, and YHWH’s love.

The meaning of eternal life is described in Jesus’ opening to YHWH:

John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

It’s very interesting that to Jesus eternal life has nothing to do with what happens after death.  Eternal life, in Jesus’ description here, is entirely based on knowing spiritual knowledge.  It is true in other parts that Jesus describes an afterlife.  But here Jesus is describing the eternal life and knowledge is the main component of this concept.  This is very different from modern Christian theology on eternal life.  “Praying Jesus into your heart” that is not knowledge of Jesus or YHWH, it is something much more complex.  As a result would cannot “pray Jesus into your heart”, for that is obviously a Tradition of Man.  Any person who preaches this concept is a faults teacher at should not be listened to.  Even more TrueChirstians™ should be extremely vocal about the evils of this false teaching.

Jesus again focuses on freewill.  In this prayer he does not do it once, but numerous times:

John 17:2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.

John 17:6 I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.  They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 

John 17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and two see my glory, the glory you get have given me because you love to be before the creation of the world.

Three different times in this chapter Jesus uses the phrase “those you have given me”.  This is not directed towards the apostles, nor the disciples of Jesus’ time, it is directed towards those who believe in him.  From this chapter, it is quite clear, that YHWH chooses who will believe.  As a result freewill does not exist!  How many times does Jesus have to repeat this concept before Christians understand it?  Freewill is a concept brought about by the Traditions of Men.  To make this very clear, and in the debate, search the New Testament for the word freewill.  Nowhere will you find a signal author mention the word “freewill”. TrueChirstians™ should be extremely vocal about the evils of this false teaching.

For another example of how freewill does not exist we only have to look at Judas Iscariot.  Jesus uses an obscure verse from the Old Testament to claim that Judas was fulfilling prophecy:

John 17:12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by the name you gave me.  None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that scripture would be fulfilled.

For the entire Christian religion is based on the fulfillment of scriptural prophecy.  Without Judas fulfilling this prophecy Christianity would not exist, for Jesus would not have died.  As a result, the false doctrine that Judas betrayed Jesus is in error.  It is a Tradition of Man.  Judas was forced, by prophecy, to act exactly the way he did.  He had no choice, as a result, he had no freewill.

Another important topic that Jesus brings up is being separate from the world.  He prays that the apostles, the disciples, and all believers will be “sanctified by the truth”.  This means that they are protected from the evil in the world.  Here again, Jesus is describing how Christians did not belong to the world.  The world should hate them for their message not their hypocrisy.  The world should hate them for worshiping YHWH, not the Traditions of Men.  The world should hate them for the love they have, not for the bigotry and hatred that they espouse. TrueChirstians™ should be extremely vocal about the evils of this false teaching.

One of my most important understandings of the bible and Jesus’ is teachings is the unity of YHWH, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Church.  It is something we certainly do not see today.  With 46,000 denominations you can certainly say that Christianity is diverse, but you certainly cannot saying that it is in unity.  Again the traditions of men have taught that this disunity is acceptable.  Again, TrueChirstians™ should be extremely vocal about the evils of this false teaching. 

The final thing I find interesting about this prayer is the relationship that slain YHWH’s love and humanity.  YHWH’s love is for Jesus not humanity…only by being one with Jesus does one receive YHWH’s love:

John 17:26 I have made you know the to them, and we’ll continue to make you know in order that their love you have for me maybe in them and that I myself maybe in them.

If the only way humanity can experience this “loving” relationship is through obeying Jesus’ teachings.  Otherwise, YHWH has no love for his creation.  Clearly, he only loves his son.  The concept of a loving YHWH is mistaken, just look at the Old Testament.  He may have protected the Israelites when they obeyed him, but more often than not be punished them harshly at every minor infraction.  That certainly is not love, it is not even fatherly love.  Now we know, that Yahweh his son not humanity.  Only by being a follower of Jesus will YHWH exhibit this “loving” personality.

To the unbeliever, this chapter is packed with proofs that Christianity has become a Tradition of Man. It is obvious that Christians do not obey (love) Jesus, instead they love the comfort, the security, and the traditions that they experience in the modern churches.  No wonder Christianity seems to be in its death throes.  But to remove the Traditions of Men from the words of Jesus may be impossible.  For even the canonization of the holy bible may be suspect.  When did traditions of men get introduced into the teachings of Christianity.  One thing we know for sure is that the world stopped hating Christians and even began aiding Christianity as early as 320 BC.  I say this because the Roman Empire began to spread Christianity across the node world instead of persecuting the believers of Jesus.  Yet some believers were still persecuted and these were the Gnostic Christians, who just happen to focus on Jesus’ teachings instead of the teachings of Paul

Posted in Gospel of John, Contradictions, Personal Responsibility, Traditions of Men, Readings | Print | 3 Comments »

September 29, 2009, 9:19 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 15 – 16:4

In my last post I wrote about being fruitful and the meaning of love and obedience.  In this post I want to write about the greatest love, Jesus’ purpose, and being chosen.  I will have one final post on this chapter writing about hatred, hatred without reason, and killing in the name of YHWH.

This chapter is packed with good examples of what a follower of Jesus is supposed to do to the world, experience in the world, and display to the world.  But this chapter does one other thing…it makes it obvious to the non-believer that Christian ≠ follower of Jesus.  I will discuss each one, and let you decide.

Christians today its claim to not know YHWH’s purpose, but this should not be the case:

John 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business.  Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 

Jesus again describes one of his most important commands.  That command, we know is the second greatest command, is to love one another.  But in this description of the command to love one another Jesus adds a more stringent component.  “To love one another” means to be willing to sacrifice your life for the one you love.  It is very easy to say you’re willing; it is a completely different thing to actually mean it.   In the United States, and most likely most of Europe, the non-believer never gets to see this type of love.  Since Christianity is majority, or least accepted in these countries, there are few opportunities to lay down once alive for love.  Oddly, what the non-believer has been able to see, are people laying down their lives for equal rights, to save the environment, or to fight tyranny.  This type of love is not limited to Christianity; as a result, the non-believer sees no difference between a Christian and the non-Christian.

Now unless Jesus was only speaking about his Apostles, which seems odd, for even though this speech occurred at the Last Supper, is clear that everything Jesus said was about all his disciples.  So to claim “YHWH works in mysterious ways” or “no one knows YHWH’s plans” is actually saying that these people are not friends but are servants.  This would also indicate that these people, that say these things, are not part of the true vine…they have already been cut off.   If Jesus knows his Father’s business and his friends know Jesus’ business, Christians (who are friends of Jesus) should know YHWH’s business.  The fact that Christians do not know YHWH’s business proves that they are not followers of Jesus.

Once more Jesus brings up the topic of being chosen:

John 15:16 you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.  Then the Father will give you would ever you ask in my name.

Again, one can argue that this statement was only directed at the Twelve.   But that would be taking this out of context, for many other parts of this conversation relate to all disciples.  Even if you were to take this to only apply to those in the room, then there would be no more fruit after they died.  The fruit that lasts are those people who obey (love) Jesus and his teachings.  So once more, it is clear, that Jesus chooses who will be his disciples.  Freewill does not exist, because it is Jesus who controls who will love and obey him. 

To the non-believer, these three topics continue to prove that something is terribly wrong with Christianity today.  If there were any disciples of Jesus left on earth, we (the non-believer) would see these three things very clearly.  What we do not see is the love Jesus describes here in the Gospel of John and elsewhere, that Christians know (as friends) Jesus’ and YHWH’s business, or Christians recognizing that not everyone can be saved.  Christians in the U.S. claim that this is a Christian nation.  But we do not see the form of love that Jesus taught his disciples.  We also do not see Christians who understand and know YHWH’s business, in fact, it is the exact opposite – Christians have no clue what YHWH’s business/plans are.  Finally, the US Christians cannot or will not recognize that it is Jesus who chooses who will follow him.    It is odd to say, and I’m sure most people will disagree, but what Jesus said in this chapter of the Gospel of John is at the heart of being a disciple of Jesus.  Ignoring or rationalizing away the implications of this chapter only weakens the religion.  And a weaken religion does not fulfill the purpose of that religion; it is only a Tradition of Man.

Posted in Love, Gospel of John, Traditions of Men, Freewill, Readings | Print | 2 Comments »

September 25, 2009, 8:21 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 14

This chapter stresses two things: love and obedience.  Jesus continually repeats that YHWH and he are inseparable, and indicates that once someone becomes a Christian (disciple of Jesus) they too are inseparable from YHWH and Jesus.  Jesus even promises a Spirit of truth to help his future disciples to follow his commandments.  And he makes one guarantee that has rarely been proven:

John 14:13-14 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Odd how this guarantee is that any pray (that glorifies the Father) will be answered!  Yet how often do prayers get a “No” as an answer.  It is pretty clear that Jesus had just promised that there would be no answers of “No”.  Yet today, Christians assume that this is a valid response from YHWH.  But this Tradition of Man is not valid and it is not within the teachings or commandments of Jesus!

And what is this chapter’s major theme?  This is that those who love Jesus will obey everything that Jesus taught (not Paul, not James, not Luther, and definitely not the Pope).  And we only have four surviving documents of these teachings, of which the Synoptic Gospels are almost complete duplicates.  I find it very suspicious that we only have 2 documents, as a result, that describe Jesus’ actual words…were there not at least 11 Apostles and untold number of disciples?  Why do we not hear what they have to say about their personal experience with Jesus?  Has not Jesus’ teachings been tampered with (destroyed) by the canonization of only the Synoptic Gospels and John’s Gospel?  The Book of Acts is the only other book that comes close to directly describing the teachings of Jesus.  Why is 66.6% of the NT written by the “Apostle” Paul?  Why is it that the rest of the NT does not quote Jesus?  Yet to love Jesus is to obey Jesus…which means focusing on what Jesus taught!  Why do today’s Christians not focus on what Jesus taught?  This was his last desire to his disciples that they would love and obey his teachings…should not the modern disciples of Jesus also obey this desire?  Would not Christendom be one unified Church if this was the case?  Wouldn’t the non-believer know that YHWH existed if the Church actually loved (and obeyed) Jesus’ teachings? 

Do notice right away that the words “way”, “truth” and “life” were not capitalized.  This tells us something as well.  What this tells us is that Jesus is not the “Truth” nor the “Way” nor even the “Life”.  The traditions of men have changed the meanings of Jesus’ words from words that mean something spiritual to words that must be taken literally.  These three words (way, truth, and life) only apply to the disciples of Jesus, not to the world in general.  I know that my “Christian” readers will not grasp the difference, but the un-capitalized word is meaningful only to the followers of Jesus, while the Capitalized words are imperatives (related to all humankind and the universe).  Jesus did not use the word as capitals and they are not imperatives, they are specific to his followers and only his followers.

But what should we make of this Spirit of truth?  Other places it is referred to as the Holy Spirit.  Jesus here teaches the meaning of this concept.  This Spirit will:

John 14:26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

This Counselor will only be sent to those who love Jesus, which implies those who obey Jesus.  So this crap about “praying Jesus into your heart” and being saved is only a Tradition of Men.  It does not save your soul!  Only by loving Jesus and obeying his teachings can one be truly a follower of Jesus (a Christian) – Jesus own words.

To the non-believer this begins to make sense out of the chaos that Christianity presents.  It is obvious that only one Church exists (not 45,000).  It is becomes obvious why it is hard to tell the difference between disciples of Jesus and Christians.  It becomes clear that today’s Christian has elected to follow the Traditions of Men instead of the teaching of Jesus (66.6% of the NT being written by Paul).  And, finally, it becomes all too clear why prayers can be answered with “No”, because they are not prays of the faithful!  Christianity is just a religion, being a disciple of Jesus is something completely different.

Posted in Love, Gospel of John, Holy Spirit, Traditions of Men, Readings | Print | 3 Comments »

September 23, 2009, 8:14 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 12:20 – 50

This section has three interesting concepts that I believe most (if not all) Christians overlook, ignore, or rationalize.  The first one is who Jesus is speaking to about his death.  Unless there has been some heavy editing he is speaking to the Greeks who came up to worship at the Feast.  The second interesting thing about this section is that Jesus promises that the prince of the world would be driven out…now!  Of course, that was over 1,900 years ago and still has not happened.  Finally, we have another proof of how YHWH keeps some (if not most) people from turning to him.  This of course, is where the rationalization occurs.

The opening of this section goes like this:

John 12:20-23 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast.   They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request, “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.  Jesus replied, “This hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

The word “replied” in this sentence indicates that Jesus was talking to the Greeks.  These Greeks were Jewish and there may have been some actual Israelites in the crowd.  But whenever the Greeks want to talk to Jesus about obviously started this conversation.  I bring this topic up because the NIV it claims that these Greeks were not actual believers.   So what we have here is a Tradition of Man superseding the Word of God.  I will continue to point out where it is obvious to the non-believer that the traditional interpretation of the Bible is not what the Word of God actually says.  For this everything written in this book is truly Word secondary translations and interpretations based on other humans are the basis for Traditions of Men.   

One more place that Christians like to ignore or rationalize is this verse:

John 12:30-31 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine now is the time the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.

Jesus mentions two things in this verse that are supposed to happen “Now!”. One is and the judgment of the world began almost 2000 years ago.  And secondly, that the devil would be true that helped almost 2000 years ago.  Obviously neither of these two things occurred then or is occurring now.  This is just one of the places in the Word of God that Christians must rationalize to make it fit their Traditions of Men.   The other option, is that heavy editing of what Jesus actually said has occurred.  In either case, the validity  of this passage (and possibly the Bible itself) is brought to view.  Basically, either Jesus did not know what he was talking about or men have changed what was said.

Finally we reach another quote used by Jesus that indicates YHWH chooses who will hear his message and who will not.  The passage quoted comes from Isaiah 6:10 and says this:

John 12:40 “He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn – and I would heal them.”

Christian rationalization and the traditions of men claim that sin comes first and then YHWH fulfills this verse.  But when you look at Isaiah this is not the case.  The full passage that is quoted is actually this:

Isaiah 6:9-12  He said, “Go until the people this: Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be  ever seeing, but never perceiving, make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with the eyes, understand what their hearts, and turn and be healed.  Then I said, “For how long, O Lord?” “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.

Sorry for the long quote, but it is important to show that either Jesus twisted the old testament, man has twisted Jesus’ words, or humankind is a play rag doll for YHWH’s pleasure.  In the book of Isaiah the people they have sinned, but it is YHWH who has chosen to punish without reprieve.  In both the gospel of john and in the book of Isaiah it is clear that it is YHWH who controls whether humankind sees, hears, and understands the message.

To the non-believer these three things indicate that the Word of God is questionable at best.  It is becoming clear to me that reading the Word of God does not build faith, instead it shows how Traditions of Men have twisted the bible to say what they wanted to say.  This is taken place either by mistranslation, twisting of the verses, or rationalization.  For whatever reason, the original intent of Jesus’ message has been garbled.  One of the most obvious signs Is That the Kingdom of God is divided.  And we all know what Jesus says about that:

Luke 11:17 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. 

Posted in Contradictions, Gospel of John, Traditions of Men, Inerrancy - My Ass, Freewill, Readings | Print | 6 Comments »

September 21, 2009, 8:46 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 11

 In this chapter Jesus brings Lazarus back from the dead.  This entire story must be taken completely on faith.  This is complicated by the fact that only the Gospel of John records this story.  Neither the Synoptic Gospels nor historical documents, from the Jewish or the Roman Empire, record this story.   It is extremely odd that the Synoptic Gospels do not record the story.  For John claims that Lazarus’ entire family is very significant to Jesus.  In the gospel of John it is recorded that this incident has a very specific meaning, for the synoptic gospels to omit this story is very strange.   In the Synoptic Gospels Lazarus is not even mention when we hear about Martha and Mary space.   Since this story takes place at the end of Jesus’ ministries, all of the Disciples should have remembered the importance of this story.  So even if this story is taken to be accurate, it adds weight to the fact that the Gospel of John is truly independent of the Synoptic Gospels.

The story itself, since it must be taken on faith, cannot be disputed.  That does not mean that parts of the story should not be question.  The significant questions include: why did the synoptic gospels ignore this incident, certain statements attributed to Jesus, and the concept that Caiaphas had actually prophesied.

I have already mentioned that it is odd that the Synoptic Gospels do not record this incident.  I’ve also mentioned there are two reasons why this is odd: the importance of Lazarus’ family to Jesus and the importance of the story to glorify YHWH.  Since many men were claiming to be the Messiah at this time, both the Romans and the Jewish nation would not have recorded this story.  One of the reasons that they would not have recorded this story would have been that it was hearsay, but another reason is that the source was questionable.  Even if this incident was spread amongst the Jewish leaders of the time, most of them would believe that this story was fictional because it would incite rebellion against a powerful force, the Roman Empire.   The Romans, on the other hand, would have ignored this story because they had heard it before.  Many of the roman mythology include returning from the dead.  But the Synoptic Gospels do not have these rationalizations.  Why did the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke ignore this story?  If this story had occurred, the authors of these Gospels would have been present.  We can be certain that all of Jesus is disciples followed him because of this verse:

John 11:7 Then he said to his disciples,”Let us go back to Judea”.

It is quite clear that no one stayed behind.  This can be qualified by this verse:

John 11: 16 Then Thomas (called capital Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “let us also go, that we may die with him.”

So basically, the Synoptic Gospels ignored this story.  The Gospel of john claims that this incident was very important.  Yet it was obviously not important enough to the authors of the Synoptic Gospels.  Does this not seem strange?  Jesus only raised a dead person one other time, at that time the Synoptic Gospels did record the incident, yet the Gospel of john did not record that incident.  To the non-believer these variations indicate that the Gospels are less than truthful.  To claim that each of these Gospels was an eyewitness account would require some similarity in this incident.  Since all witnessed it, but did not record it, a question of authenticity is introduced.

Two statements by Jesus are questionable.  The first one, is here:

John 11: 4  When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death.  No, it is for God’s glory and so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

By the time Jesus said this Jesus knew that Lazarus’ was dead.  In fact, this one incident only added to the supposed glorification of Jesus.  Oddly the sickness did and in Lazarus’ death, whether or not Lazarus was raised from the dead.  The sickness did end when he died.  So both sentences in this verse are meaningless.  The first one is wrong, the second one is superfluous.  The second statement from Jesus that is questionable is here:

John 11:9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight?  A man who walks but they will not stumble, for he sees by this world’s light.”

Jesus was being very silly to claim that there are twelve hours of daylight.  This only occurs twice in a calendar year: the Vernal equinox and Autumnal equinox.  Why bother including how many hours of daylight in this comment?  This is another question that Jesus asks that does not represent either a spiritual or physical fact.  For the Son of the almighty YHWH, this seems very strange.  In fact, this seeming generalization only indicates that the author of this Gospel did not know that the number of lighted hours in the day changes continually.

Finally, the supposed prophecy of Caiaphas is very questionable.  It is obvious from reading this section that Caiaphas was not attempting to prophesy, he was attempting to save his power and possibly his nation.  There was no supernatural agent involved.  The prophecy also was not fulfilled.  Within 40 years of this supposed prophecy the nation of Israel was destroyed.  In actuality what Caiaphas said had no spiritual nature to it.  As with most prophecy hindsight is 20/20.  We can now claim that Caiaphas was prophesied only because we can fit the results to the statement.  This is called self-fulfilling prophecy.  As a result this section does not mean what the Traditions of Men claim it to indicate.  This is just one more incident that strengthens a story of mythology.

As a non-believer, this entire chapter does nothing to prove the glorification of Jesus or the prophecies of YHWH.   In fact, the stories from this chapter only weaken any proof of supernatural incident.  Too many questions are brought up, none are answered.  As I started this post, this entire chapter must be taken on faith.  Since the non-believer has no faith this chapter does not glorify YHWH or Jesus.  The only thing this chapter does is satisfy the believer’s desire to believe.

Posted in Gospel of John, Traditions of Men, Readings | Print | 2 Comments »