August 27, 2009, 7:18 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 8:11 – 8:41

This chapter is a difficult one to break into smaller sections.  The entire passage is one sermon from Jesus.  There are breaks but they do not lend to separate posts very well.  To begin with Jesus is speaking to a larger crowd; he then spoke directly to Jews that believed him.  It is this section that is the most telling.  Jesus addresses the concept of being a son to YHWH and a son to the devil.  Jesus closes this sermon with more about himself.

In the opening of this passage, Jesus seems to be have been speaking to a large group of people.  He promises that he is the “light of the world”.  We know that he did not mean the literal light from the sun.  This was purely figurative, or if you wish spiritual.  We know this because all of his followers still had to deal with the darkness of night; he also used words like “light of life”.  But he made a bold claim:

John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Notice that he did not say “Those who believe in me”, no, he said those who follow him!  This is a significant point that many modern Christians do not recognize.  Following Jesus is much more difficult than just believing in him. 

Jesus continued this opening claiming that sense he had YHWH on his side he actually had two witnesses (himself and YHWH).  I would truly love to see someone call YHWH to the witness stand!  So no, in a purely legalistic stance this does not hold water. 

Without doubt, Jesus’ life was predestined.  Even he knew what was going to happen to him.  Yet for some reason Christians then believe that the people surrounding Jesus still had freewill.  How can this be?  If someone had to betray Jesus for the crucifixion to take place, if a group of people had to order this crucifixion, if Pilot had to approve this crucifixion, and if Jesus had to raise on the third day, how do any of these people have freewill?  So, at least, when it counts YHWH does take freewill for humanity.

Jesus continues with a lot of spiritual mumbo jumbo.  Most of it was judging the Jews that were listening to him.  Kinda an odd way to win souls, speak harshly to them, when they were interested in what he had to say.  Yes, they questioned him, but he made it clear that they did not understand him because they were not from YHWH.  He even goes so far as to clarify this dilemma:

John 8:28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am, the one I claim to be, and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.

So not only can they not understand him due to their lowly births (on earth), but because they cannot understand him until his crucifixion!

Later he spoke directly to:

John 8:31-32 to the Jews that believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teachings, you are my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

At this very verse Jesus tells people that believe him that belief is not enough.  To be disciples of Jesus one must hold to his teachings.  Paul uses similar language in his ministry:

1^st Cor 15:1-2 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.  By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.  Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

Both men indicate that belief can be useless.  A specific action must follow belief – holding to the teachings of Jesus.  This is an important distinction!  One that is so easily mislead by the masses of Christendom.  But this exact passage (both Jesus’ and Paul’s) show why we have 45,000 denominations of Christians instead of just one!  Only one can be holding to the teachings of Jesus.  But which one is holding to the teachings of Jesus?  In that regard, Jesus may be the light of the world and his followers may have the light, but the rest of us (non-believers) are stuck with 45,000 possible (yes I do mean possible) correct doctrine. 

To the Atheist (and I am sure the Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu as well) it is truly by your actions that we will know that anyone is a follower of Jesus.  The problem is…we see nothing different from those claiming to be Christians and those claiming to be Jews, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or Atheist.  Christians…you do not stand out!  Nothing proves that you are “the light of the world”.  Nothing proves that the world hates you!  In fact, the world may despise you, but that is because of the hypocrisy that we see, not because the message you bring is difficult or painful to us.

Posted in Gospel of John, Personal Responsibility, Disciples, Freewill, Readings | Print | 22 Comments »

August 21, 2009, 7:30 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 4:43 – 5:1 – 15  

The Gospel of John is the only one that records Jesus’ trips to Jerusalem.  All the Synoptic Gospels only describe Jesus’ final “Triumphal” Entry.  In fact, John indicates that Jesus took many trips to Jerusalem.  Why would the other Gospel “forget” these events?  Did the other Gospel writers think that the events that occurred in Jerusalem were not important?  Or, on the other hand, is this a sign that they were not eyewitnesses?  They did not know what happened in Jerusalem because they were not there?

Attempting to find a chronological map of Jesus’ ministry turns up nothing.  Interestingly, most of the links require purchasing the “maps”.  How Christian of these websites!  But the only one that I have found that gives the flow of his travels does not indicate that Jesus went into Jerusalem!  Oddly, finding Paul’s missionary trip is as easy as this!  Why do we not have an exact map of Jesus’ trip…it was only between three and four years long?  We have four Gospels that are supposed to be eyewitness accounts of his life and ministry.  Why are his travels so mysterious that a simple map is unavailable?  Ah, yes, this would explain it; there is little harmony between the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John!  This would certainly explain why making a map of Jesus’ ministry so difficult that people want you to purchase their hard work.  But isn’t odd that the ministry of Paul is so easy to trace?  Is it truly because the Apostles (except Paul) were so unlearned that they never bothered to make significant recording of Jesus’ ministry?  This of course makes no sense, these men knew the territory that Jesus ministry covered, it was their homeland, and all of them were required to travel most of the distance around Galilee and Jerusalem.  Doesn’t this just make the whole issue just a little bit odd?  The Word of God, and especially the ministry of Jesus, was the most important documents of the time!  Yet YHWH didn’t bother to ensure their accuracy?  And I do mean that Jesus’ ministry lacks accuracy because we cannot recreate his footsteps.  Should his footprints not be the easiest thing to recreate from the Bible?  Unless there is no unity between the four Gospels…

Anyways, this section of the Gospel tells of two miracles that Jesus performed that are not recorded in any other Gospel, even though John, Simon, Andrew, Philip and Nathanael were already disciples of Jesus (John 1:31-51).  In fact, a very strange thing occurs when you search for the word Apostle(s) in the NT…the Gospel of John never uses that word!  The author never distinguishes between disciples and Apostles, not one single time.  John does not seem to be concerned with such power struggles.  Yet the Synoptic Gospel and Paul push this topic relentlessly!  Yet again the Gospel of John sets itself apart from the rest of the NT.

Back to the miracles (not recorded in another Gospel).  Now the healing of the official’s son sounds very similar to this one in Matt 8:5-13.  Both men leave Jesus trusting that their son (servant) has been healed.  Both find out that this is the case after the return trip has begun but before reaching their destination.  But these are the only two examples of this type of faith in all the Gospels.  It is interesting here that the Study notes claim that the welcome that Jesus received was hollow.  And even Jesus points to this concept, yet immediately after this:

John 4:48 “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

Yet the man took Jesus at his word and left.  Jesus disparages the man, yet the man trusts Jesus.  Odd isn’t it that Jesus has such a negative attitude towards someone that trusts him?

This miracle brings up another interesting point.  Jesus knows that humans require miracles to believe, yet today none (of this order) can be found to occur!  Sure prayer for finding lost keys works, and prayer for some medicine to be effective works, but nothing such as these miracles are displayed today.  Yet YHWH, this supreme being with omnipotence and omnipresence and omniscience, will not perform what he knows we need to believe!  So it was okey dokey to perform freewill destroying miracles two thousand years ago, but today it is not allowed?  Today we must go on faith, even though those who started the religion did not need to have faith for they saw the miracles themselves. 

The second miracle (that is not recorded in the other Gospels) is that of a blind, lame, and paralyzed man.  Yet even with all three of these maladies he knows when the cleansing pool is being stirred and attempts to enter!  How exactly is one lame and paralyzed?  Does not the paralysis make one lame?  And why would a blind paralyzed man even attempt to enter the pool when by the time he hears that this is occurring someone much more fit would have already entered!  Jesus, without the man knowing who he is, heals him.  So faith is not required for Jesus to work miracles.  Yet today we are told that if we do not have faith, we can never be saved!  I can only tell you that these things are very incongruous to the non-Christian of any faith or no faith. 

But the end of this episode is even more telling:

John 5:14 Later Jesus finds him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again.  Stop sinning or something worse will happen to you.”

How exactly can a man sin when he is blind, lame, and paralyzed for 38 years!  There is only one sin that the man can commit: not loving YHWH.  But can you blame him for not loving YHWH?  And he was at the temple when Jesus found him, looks like the man was attempting to make up for even that sin!  This passage seems very judgmental.  In fact, the entire section I just covered seems just a little to judgmental for one you people claim loves humanity.

Editorial Note (Aug 22, 2009):

Remember this is from the NIV translation of the Word of God.  If another translation disagrees with the NIV one has been translated improperly.  Which one do you end up trusting to teach you the “True” Word of God?
 

Posted in Gospel of John, Disciples, Freewill, Readings | Print | 13 Comments »

August 21, 2009, 7:26 am by dc-agape.

My apologies for not hitting publish yesterday!!!

John Chapter 4:1 – 42

Having read the entire section about the Samaritans, I cannot find a good place to break the posts.  I will attempt to keep this section short but this is a long section with a number of topics of interest.  The first interesting thing is this verse:

John 4:1-2 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.

This simple verse has extreme consequences to modern Christians, which I will attempt to touch upon shortly.  One of the greatest questions is whether the Samaritans are Jews or are they not?  It is quite a complete topic and I will most likely address it in a full post, but for this story, and for Jesus’ ministry in general, was Jesus biased (racist)?  The final topic that I want to bring up is the “harvest”.  For Jesus uses the concept of sowing and reaping to describe what his disciples are to do.

From John 4:1-2 notice that Jesus has followers and all of them are called disciples.  All the disciples were baptized.  And all the disciples were baptizing!  It was not just the Apostles (leaders) that were doing the baptizing.  This leads to a very important question: why, in modern Christianity, do only the religious leaders baptize? And yes, I know that a very small percent of churches allow others to baptize.  How did this Tradition of Man seep into the Church?  And is this Tradition proof that Christianity is now riddled with teachings that are not from Jesus?  How many more Traditions of Men are allowed to remain in the Church, just because “this is how it has always been”?  More importantly, how does this weaken the connection between YHWH and humans, when Traditions of Men interfere with YHWH’s desire and Jesus’ teachings?  To say the least the responsibility of the disciples (not just the Apostles) is worthy of a Biblical Topics post section, and I still plan on getting to it.

The situation with the Samaritans is very intriguing.  In almost every case Jesus is open to the Samaritans (John 4 Luke 9:52, Luke 10:25-37) he treats them just like the Jews of his time!  But for one odd verse:

Matt 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.

Yet we know that the Samaritans were Jews. In fact, they were more Israelite than the Jews.  You see, they were the ones that stayed in Israel (Northern Kingdom – 10 tribes) during the Assyrian Exile.  If intermarrying gentiles disqualifies you from being a Jew, then how can those that were exiled be considered Jews (during their depth of “sin” you know damn well they were intermarrying the Assyrians or later the Babylonians).  The Samaritans separated from the Jews in 880BCE.  Right about the time that all the newer OT books were being written.  So of course the Samaritans did not use the same Books of the OT that the “proper” Israelites used – they didn’t need to!  It would seem that Jesus was not the racist, no it was Matthew (or at least the author of the Gospel of Matthew) that was the racist!  Why else would the author of the Gospel of Matthew include a passage that is in direct opposition to Jesus’ own teachings?  For it certainly seems that Jesus attempted to teach that the Samaritans were equal to the Jews.

I do want to cover the “harvest”.  Jesus has clearly saved an entire Samaritan town (of Sychar) or at least a large number of the inhabitants.  During this episode, Jesus uses it to teach his disciples about what he calls the “harvest”.   He explains to his disciples that they are not just sowing the seeds but at the same time harvesting what others have worked so hard to bring to fruit.  Who exactly did the work that the first disciples will be harvesting?  It certainly cannot be them, for Jesus tells them that the harvest is already ready!  Some say that it was John the Baptist and his disciples, but this is a rather difficult argument.  For John’s ministry did not completely cover all of Israel.  Others claim that it was the work of the earlier prophets, but this is also difficult to interpret as the truth.  If this was the case then the Samaritans would not be ready for “harvest”.  That then leaves only one source: YHWH’s spirit.  If it is the Holy Spirit (I reaaallly need to get to this Biblical Topic) is the source of the sowing for the “harvest”…only one result is possible.  Freewill does not exist, for it takes the Holy Ghost (a supernatural agent) to prepare humans for the “harvest”.

Editorial Note (Aug 22, 2009):

Racism does not have to be directed at all other cultures.  It can be directed at one specific culture.  This is exactly how the Jews directed their racism to the Samaritans.

Posted in Holy Spirit, Gospel of John, Traditions of Men, Disciples, Freewill, Readings | Print | 10 Comments »

August 15, 2009, 10:28 am by dc-agape.

John 1:1 – 34

The Gospel of John starts with the spirituality of Jesus.  Matthew starts with the physical lineage of Jesus.  Mark opens with a portion of who John the Baptist was and Jesus’ spiritual “awaking”.  Luke begins with both the births of John the Baptist and leads into the birth of Jesus.  As a result, the Gospel of John begins from the very beginning to delve into the more mystical attributes of the man history knows as Jesus.  In this way, John is more similar to the Gnostic Gospels than the Synoptic Gospels. 

To say the least John starts off being very mystical.  Traditionally the “Word” that John describes is translated into the spiritual being of Jesus.  This, to an Atheist, immediately brings up the 1^st century through 3^rd century disagreement between the Gnostics and the Pauline Christians.  Even St Valentinus was more a Gnostic than a Pauline Christian!  The readers of the New Testament must always keep in mind that man did not codify the New Testament until the Third Council of Carthage in 397AD.  True some of the Books of the New Testament were accepted earlier than others…but the NT as we know was not accepted until 397AD.  So for John to start his Gospel with the spirituality of Jesus is very interesting!

In fact, John does not mention Jesus’ birth or even much about John the Baptist.  The introduction of John the Baptist was specifically for the purpose of preparation for the baptism of Jesus.  John writes nothing of Jesus prior to “the Holy Spirit came down and remain”.  As far as John is concerned the physical body of Jesus was not as important as the spiritual body of Jesus. 

For me this post seems short.  But I feel that the John’s introduction deserves special recognition.  It is obvious, for the omission of Jesus’ earlier physical existence, that John is not concerned with the body of Jesus.  This is clearly a Gnostic perspective.  He does not attempt to describe the “Virgin Birth”, Mary the mother of Jesus is unimportant, and even the events surrounding Jesus’ physical birth are ignored.  Jesus ministry is of utmost importance to John, who was certainly the only guaranteed eyewitness to Jesus’ existence known to modern humans.  Yet John’s focus is on the teachings and actions of Jesus…where is, and why is it not, apparent in the Church today?  Yes, some focus on Jesus’ teachings, but many more (to an extreme) focus on the physical aspects of what is legal or sinful to perform as a “Christian”.  Oddly, this brings me to the strange concept that the word Christian is only used in the Bible three times!  Where are the disciples of Jesus?  Why has that term been watered down to “Being a Christian”?  Is it because being a disciple means being more like Jesus than merely being a Christian?  I have a strong feeling that this may be the case for a large number of “Christians”.

Posted in Gospel of John, The Nag Hammadi, Disciples | Print | 3 Comments »

April 5, 2009, 9:11 am by dc-agape.

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The Word of God calls for many personal sacrifices.  I have gone through many of them in my recent posts on the Word of God.  But two sacrifices I have not posted on yet, I have mentioned them numerous times: freedom and life itself.  This post will be about losing freedom: being put in chains and in prison.

There is something wrong with the Christian faith today.  The world no longer hates you!  Only in small pockets of the world do Christians get thrown in jail or killed.  In most of Europe and the Americas you live a comfortable life.  Is this how it should be?  Of course not!  You are supposed to bring a message that is despised by the world, yet you “Christians” now control the world.  Even worse is that minorities, like Atheist, scientists, and homosexuals are persecuted by “Christians”.  My how the roles have been reversed! 

How many of you are thrown in jail, not for being bigoted (like killing homosexuals) but thrown in jail because your message is the antithesis of how the world is run?  There is evil corruption in your “Christian” government, yet not a single one of you does anything about it.  What hypocrites!  You are told to turn the other check when someone strikes you, but instead you turn a blind eye from the corruption in your “Christian” nation’s government.  You turn a blind eye from such vile people as Jimmy Swaggart, Fred Phelps, and the child abuse in the Catholic Church.  But you live in such comfort that the thought of doing something about strikes fear in your heart, or you are so fat and lazy from comfort that you will not stand on your morals.  Instead, you attempt to force others to live your sickeningly hypocritical lives.  You are bigots:  women do not have the reproductive rights to control their own bodies, gay people do not have the rights that you enjoy, people suffering from horrible genetic disease do not have the freedom to use cutting edge medical treatment, and you force brain-dead people to stay on machines even when no brain activity is present.

Why are you not like your role models?  Why are you so watered down that you cause nothing but simple disgust?  Atheist don’t hate you, we pity you.  You waste your lives pretending to be good “Christians” when you do nothing.  Take some advice from your own Bible, act like these people: Peter, Paul, Andronicus, Junias, the Church in Smyrna, and all the disciples that Saul through in jail.

We know that Peter and Paul were thrown in jail for their actions.

Acts 12:5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

Acts 22:29 Those who were about to question him withdrew immediately.  The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.

But many more disciples lost their freedom.  Paul knows Andronicus and Junias from prison:

Rom 16:7 Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me.  They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. 

But of course the rational is that “this was the 1^st century” or “these were the apostles”.  But line of crap is just that crap. 

John 15:19 If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own.  As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.  That is why the world hates you.

These sentences were from Jesus and were directed to all his disciples not just the apostles.  Why is this verse ignored by modern Christians?

Before Paul’s conversion:

Acts 8:3 But Saul began to destroy the church.  Going from house to house, he dragged off men and woman and put them in prison.

Paul did not discriminate between “leaders” and general disciples.  He threw all believers in jail.  No persecution like this faces Christians today.  Simply put you do not teach anything new.  Your beliefs do not offend.  Your actions do, but only because it is so hypocritical. 

But maybe you are still have some excuse that these were done only by Paul.  Not so:

Rev 2:10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer, I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days.  Be faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Using John of Patmos, Jesus warns the entire Church of Smyrna about the coming suffering.  Since the Book of Revelations was most likely written in 95 CE, this warning was for the future and directed to all the members of the Church.  Jesus warns about being put in jail, to all believers.  Why does the world love you now?  Why does a corrupt government support you?  Does this not completely nullify John 15:19 and Rev 2:10?  The answer is simple: your religion is so watered down that it is not effective.  And it is you (the TrueChristian™) that is at fault for this failure.

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Posted in Word of God, Disciples | Print | 6 Comments »

March 8, 2009, 12:05 pm by dc-agape.

I want to continue the topic of what the Word of God as to say about its self.  In this case I want to cover what the Word has to say about what must be given up to follow the Word.  Most “Christians” know these things but they do not actually obey the Word of God when it comes to doing it, so it is worth repeating.  The act of not following the Word of God is another proof that these people are not Christians and the fact that no Christian sect actually obeys these commandments means that there is no Church on earth.  As I have pointed out before, if there is no Church, there is no Holy Spirit, and if there is no Holy Spirit then there is no Jesus, and without Jesus there is no YHWH.  Obeying the Word of God is the only proof that YHWH exists and since no one obeys the following verses that is proof that YHWH does not exist!

So what are these all so difficult verses to obey?  They are the ones that tell the disciples of Jesus what they must give up to be his followers.  The message in the Gospel of Matthew is giving up your family.  The message in Gospel of Mark is giving up your wealth and life.  The message in the Book of James is giving up your pride.  Barnabas or Apollos wrote in the Book of Hebrews that one must follow and imitate the leaders who taught the Gospel.  Paul’s message is giving up payment for your services in teaching the Gospel.  But Paul goes even further in his letter to the Philippians, he requires them to act a certain way.

To take a closer look at these verses from the Word of God, the Gospel of Matthew has three verses.  In the first:

Matt 8:21-22 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”  But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Many “Christians” use this verse to say that Jesus was in a hurry to complete his ministry and did not have time to wait.  But that is the lamest excuse possible for not following the commands of the Word of God.  Two reasons can be used to make that distinction.  First, when this story occurred Jesus had barely started his ministry and he knew when it was going to end.  Second, in the story of the Rich Young Man (Matt 19:16-24) Jesus tells the young man to follow all the commandments, including “honor your mother and father”.  In fact, even though it is slightly off topic for what I wanted to cover in the Gospel of Matthew, here are the exact requirements from Jesus:

Matt 19:18-21 “Which ones?” the man inquires.  Jesus replies, “’Do not murder’, ‘do not commit adultery’, ‘do not steal’, ‘do not give false witness’, ‘honor your father and mother’, and ‘love your neighbor as yourself’.”  “All these I have kept,” the young man said.  “What do I still lack?” Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell you possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven.  Then come, follow me.”

You see, to be a disciple of Jesus, you must obey the OT laws, including honoring you parents; but to be perfect you must sell your possession and follow Jesus.  So Jesus would not have commanded the young man to dishonor his father unless he meant that to be a requirement for being a disciple.

And that is exactly the case:

Matt 10:21-22 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.  All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

This did occur in the early Church, but when in the last 1000 years has it happened?  It happened in the US’s civil war (Fredericksburg.com), but not because of religion.  Do all men hate you?  Would your own family betray you?  Of course not, Christianity is the majority in the US and most of Europe.  In fact what is ironic is that the Christian is no longer hated (yes in small pockets of the world they still are).  But Jesus said “All men”, he did not say “a few here and there”.  It is the Atheist, the Muslim, and the gay people that are the ones hated by the world.  Christians have sold out.  Their doctrine so watered down that it cannot fulfill the commandments in the Word of God.

I will finish this post with one last verse from the Gospel of Matthew:

Matt 10:37-39 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Putting these four sets of verses together, it is clear that the Church is not fulfilling the requirements that the Word of God has commanded.  These commandments and prophecies were not just for the early Church!  These are for anyone who would follow Jesus and be his disciple.  These are the directions that must be followed to be saved.  If you cannot obey them, Jesus clearly states in that last set of verses you are not worthy of him! 

The Gospel of Matthew’s message is that to follow Jesus a person must give up their family, their property, their love of this world, and their life.  If a “christian” cannot do this then all the praying and all the church attendance, and all the “good works” are for nothing, they are still “not worthy of Jesus”.  And you all know what that means:

Mark 8:38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my word in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Are you too ashamed of the Son of Man to follow his commandments?

Posted in Word of God, kingdom of God, Disciples | Print | 3 Comments »

February 17, 2009, 7:33 am by dc-agape.

Mark 10:24-52

In Mark this is the beginning of Jesus’ first and only trip to Jerusalem.  I do want to emphasize Jesus’ response to the rich man, I feel I cut it short two days ago in (To Be a “disciple of Jesus”).  Here is also where Jesus repeats his plan to be killed.  Is includes another story of how arrogant the disciples are and ends with a blind man receiving faith healing.

I don’t think I can stress enough what it required to be “saved”.  The watered down crap of Christianity is just that crap.  Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus tell his followers to “pray him into their hearts”.  In contrast he says this:

Mark 10:29-30 “I tell you the truth”, Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mothers or fathers or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields – and with them, persecution) and in the age to come, eternal life.

Read that “I tell you the truth” again…think on it.  This is a promise that you will receive from YHWH these things only if you leave your home, your family, and your job!  Notice that Jesus separates home from family and home from fields.  He is telling his disciples to leave their families, their homes, and their properties, and their income.  Why do I not see any “Christians” do that today?  And no, missionaries don’t count…they return home and they get paid for their services (payment for spreading the word will be an upcoming Biblical Topic). 

At the beginning of the only trip to Jerusalem in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus again warns his disciples about his plans to be killed.  But he promises to rise after three days.  Sometime after that but before reaching Jericho, two of the disciples get a little too big for their britches.  From Perea to Jericho (Wikipedia map) is one of Jesus’ shortest trips, since Perea is an area and not a distinct place.  This trip could have been as short as crossing the Jordan river.  During this trip is when James and John get a little too arrogant.  After all the times that Jesus tells his disciples that the first will be the last, that the first must serve everyone else…still these two request to be given the highest place of honor in heaven.  He repeats this one more time for them:

Mark 10:43 Not so with you.  Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave to all.

This is the root of Christianity; Jesus attempts to convey this message over and over again.  Today “christians” have so watered down this passage that servant and slave mean to be paid speakers and teachers.  Sorry, but that is not Jesus’ concept.  The first part that verse “Not so with you” describes the difference between power hungry authority and what the disciples should be like.  Neither of these concepts are even visible in the Church today.  Why has the Traditions of Man nullified the Word of Jesus?

Finally, the chapter ends with the story of Bartimaeus.  In Jericho a blind man attempts to get Jesus’ attention.  Many people attempted to stop him from getting Jesus’ attention, but this only made him try harder.  Jesus does hear him and calls him over.  Bartimaeus asks for Jesus to heal him, because Jesus asks what the man wants…Jesus does not know that a blind man wants to see.  Odd, the son of Man is not perceptive enough to know what the man wants.  But immediately Bartimaeus can see.  Here we have another faith healing…all it took for Jesus to heal this man was the faith that Bartimaeus had.  Compare that to the blind man in Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26).  Why in Jericho, where Jesus has not been yet, can Jesus heal by a word, yet in the city of Bethsaida, where Jesus travels to and from often, does it take two tries to heal the man?  In fact, there is another difference between the two stories: in Bethsaida he does it in secret while in Jericho he does it in front of a huge crowd.  He is obviously attempting to attract attention at this point.  Why would he be afraid to attract attention earlier (as most Christians assume), he had YHWH protecting him…things will work exactly the way YHWH wants them to.  Unless, Jesus is not 100% certain that this is what YHWH wants.  It in fact, looks more like a normal man making plans and hoping that YHWH will be with him, instead of the Son of God coming to do exactly what YHWH wants.  Remember, YHWH has complete control of any person’s actions that he so desires (freewill).

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February 15, 2009, 1:19 pm by dc-agape.

Chapter 10:13-31

Two stories in this section describe what is required to become a member of the Church.  First, everyone must become like children.  Yeap, everyone must be childlike…moldable, naive, and susceptible to authority.  Second, following all the laws is required and giving up everything that might get in the way of following Jesus.  That’s right, get rid of everything that is a link to this world.

The disciples got high and mighty and started sending children away.  We get to see a not so rare moment:  Jesus gets angry.  In fact:

Mark 10:7 When Jesus saw this he was indignant.  He said to them, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

Indignant (dictionary.com) means feeling wrath.  Why Jesus feel wrath at his disciples…Jesus did not open their minds until after his resurrection:

Luke 24:45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scripture.

So basically Jesus got angry with his disciples because he did not teach them what they need to know.  How “righteous” is that?  It’s his fault that his disciples at in that fashion yet Jesus allows his human emotions to get angry at the wrong people.

But this is the section of the Gospel where we are told that we must be like children to enter the kingdom of God (the Church):

Mark 10:8 I tell you the truth, anyone you will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

To join the church, a person must suspend logic, reason, and wisdom, and relay on a child’s imagination.  That’s right!  To become a Christian one must give up everything that you know.  Well that certainly explains why it is so difficult to communicate logically with many Christians.

The second story is about a rich man who had followed all the Jewish laws.

Mark 10:20-21 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”  Jesus looked at him and loved him.  “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.”

Notice that Jesus did not tell him that following the Jewish law was not required!  What Jesus said was that he lacked one thing…giving up everything he owned in the world.  This is not specific to rich people or to Jesus’ life time.  Take a look at what happened when Jesus called his disciples:

Luke 5:11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

Like I said, it was not just in Jesus’ time.  Look at the first Church in the Book of Acts:

Acts 2:44-45 All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.

No one owned property…is this the first description of Socialism or Communism?  It certainly is not Capitalism!  But it goes further than this read Acts 5:1-11.  This is the story of Ananias and Sapphira.  The Holy Spirit killed two people not just for lying about the amount of money the property was worth (bad enough) but they sold the property to fulfill the requirements of Acts 2:44-45.

So to be a True Christian (or better phrase “disciple of Jesus”) one must be two things: like a child and a socialist.  Being like a child is dangerous because we have seen over and over how the authority of the church leaders has put our children at risk.  Being a socialist is so antithesis to US christians.  Isn’t odd…the very people who should be concerned about other people, like the poor, are united with the Republicans who believe in personal wealth.  Yet, Jesus told people to be “disciples of Jesus” one must be the exact opposite of most of the “Christians” in the US!

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February 10, 2009, 7:12 am by dc-agape.

Mark 8:22-9:1

Three different stories occur in this section of the Gospel of Mark.  First, Jesus attempts to heal a blind man with spit.  I use the word attempts because it takes Jesus two tries, yet he does not blame the man for a lack of faith.  Second, Peter uses the term “Christ” to describe Jesus, yet this is a political title.  Jesus prefers “Son of Man”.  Third, Jesus tells his disciples that he will die. John Mark ends the chapter with one of the most important saying of Jesus.  This teaching of Jesus has been massively watered down by the “christian” of today.

We are given no explanation for why Jesus cannot heal the blind man, or even why he had to spit in the man’s eyes.  Jesus does like to make a show out of it, and then tell the people not to spread the news!  The other odd part of this story is that the man knew what a tree looked like.  I sorry, but how does a blind man know what a tree looks like but not what a person looks like?

In the next section Jesus asked his disciple who they think he was.  Peter spoke up and used the term “Christ”.  This term has a very earthly and political (from New Advent) meaning.  There was little doubt that the Jews of the time believed that the Christ was going to come and rule on earth, in the process saving the Promised People from the oppression of the Romans.  How odd that they are now the oppressors!  Jesus prefers the Son of Man, which is should tell you something about who he was.  Just as using the word “Christian” is one of the major things that is miss leading in the US today’s major religion, so is using the term “Christ” to describe Jesus.  This use of “Christ” alone is a Tradition of Man not one of the YHWH who they claim to worship!  The emerging Church may have it right.  But there is no doubt that Jesus preferred the term “Son of Man (Gospel Mysteries)”.

In the last part of this chapter, Jesus tells his disciples what is going to happen to the Son of Man (not the Christ).  Peter immediately attempts to tell Jesus that he is wrong, because Peter (the Rock of the Church) believes in an earthly messiah…not a spiritual one.  Jesus blames Satan for this and is extremely hard on Peter.  Did Jesus forget that it was his responsibility to teach his disciples the truth?  Why had he not been clearer with them?  Or is it that YHWH was not ready to reveal the truth to even the apostles?

The ending paragraph of this chapter is one of my favorites.  This is because it is so simple, yet our “Christians” today cannot live up to this commandment from Jesus.  It is worth repeating exactly the way John Mark records it:

Mark 8:34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Notice the word “must” this does not mean “try your best” nor does it mean “pray me into your heart”.  This means that anyone who will be saved must give up everything including their life to follow Jesus.  This certainly does not occur today!  This is a strong commandment by Jesus that is completely watered down by “christians”.  And this is why I do not always capitalize the word “chirstian”.  If I ever see a true follower of Jesus I will use the proper capitalization, because that person will have gained the respect of a gay Atheist!

Jesus closed this discussion with the first verse in chapter 9:

Mark 9:1 And he said to them: “I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.

Notice that the word “kingdom” is not capitalized.  Jesus certainly is revering to the Church.  This event occurred on the Day of Pentecost.

People if you believe that you are a “True Christian” this is the chapter that you should follow.  Jesus spells it out for you here.  Take up your cross for real!  Don’t be wimps; be ready to die for your beliefs.  If the Muslims can do it, why can’t you?  Be unified in the one Body! There is only one YHWH, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit…only one religion with no denominations.  Only one of your denominations is right, figure out what is wrong today and become the disciples of Jesus!  Otherwise, your just wasting your life pretending.

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December 28, 2008, 8:43 am by dc-agape.

I am starting the Biblical Topic of what a Disciple of Jesus acts like.  The first part of this topic must include the word “christian”.  The Word only uses this word 3 times, at all other times in the New Testament the word “disciple” is used to describe the followers of Jesus.

The definition of the noun “christian” is a person who exemplifies in life the teachings of Jesus Christ.  The definition of the noun “disciple” is one who is an active adherent and embraces, assists in spreading the teachings of another person.  The first word only serves as an example; the second word is an active adherent.  There is a difference between being a “christian” and being a disciple of Christ.

The first time the word “christian” was used is in the Word is here:

^{Acts 11-25-26} Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch.  So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.  The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

What this verse says to both Atheists and Christians is: the church was already very strong before the words to describe a disciple changed.  The Church in Antioch was already in full steam before the word “christian” was ever used.  This means that Jesus never used the word himself!  What this verse says to an Atheist is that the words “christian” and “disciple” should mean the exact same thing! 

The next use of the word “christian” is also in Acts:

^{Act 26:28} The Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?”

You must read the entire section of Acts 25:23 – 26:32 to fully understand what Agrippa is saying to Paul, but I will put it in a small nutshell.  First, Agrippa’s use of the word “Christian” is not a positive one.  Agrippa, and the other men who were to judge Paul, thought that Paul was crazy with “great learning”.  Christian was not a compliment nor was it a thing that Agrippa was interested in becoming.  It was basically a slur!  But there is another meaning to this verse.  Even Agrippa knew that it was not a short process to become a Christian.   Agrippa knew that it would take great persuasion to make anyone be a Disciple of Jesus. 

In the Word of God the word “Christian” only appears one more time.

^{1Peter 4:16} However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

I, as an Atheist, wish that all Christians would take this verse to heart and follow it!  As an Atheist and a Gay man I relish that I suffer.  It means that I am not like everyone else in the world.  In fact, it means that I have used my brain and made decisions in my life that are significant.  Can most Christian say the same thing?  The little suffering that Christians in the US suffer is minor when compared to that of the Atheist or the Gay person here in the US!   What does that tell you about being a Christian?  The whole concept of being a Christian is so watered down that it is meaningless!  I will explain as continue with the Biblical Topic of Discipleship.

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