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 12, 2009, 9:06 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.  My last posts covered some issues with the prophecies about Jesus; death, events that occurred before the Sanhedrin and before Pilate.  This post will be an introduction to the problems in the records of the four Gospels about Jesus’ death and burial.

I will start in the Gospel of John, for obvious reasons:

John 19:35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true.  He knows that you tells the truth, and testifies so that you may also believe.

So we have one man’s testimony that proves these events occurred.  As of I pointed out before the Gospel of Luke is at least a third hand record of the events (the disciples → Paul → Luke).  I’ve also pointed out that the Gospel of Mark and the second hand (Peter → John Mark).  The Gospel of Matthew is a little more complex but there is no record of Matthew being at the events described in chapter 19 of the Gospel of John.  In fact, Matthew would seem to have been one the deserted Jesus at the rest:

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

Even looking at all four gospels we see that only the number of people witnessed the crucifixion.  In the Gospel of Matthew it was only Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James Joses, and mother of Zebedee’s sons.  In the Gospel of Mark it is the same Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, but this time the only other name mentioned is a woman named Solome (possibly the wife of Zebedee).  In the Gospel of Luke no actual names are mentioned:

Luke 23:49 But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these events.

If we want to be generous we can claim that all the apostles for their based on this verse.  But is that true?  No other gospel records it this way; in fact, the others mention names and do not make it apparent that anyone else witnessed the death of Jesus.  In the Gospel of John the only people mentioned are Jesus’ mother, her sister Clopas, Mary Magdalene, and we assumed the Apostle John.  From reading these four gospels, we have no idea who was actually witness to the crucifixion!  The only one we can be certain of is Mary Magdalene.  Yet we have no record of these events from Mary Magdalene’s perspective.  Worse, is that we have only one Gospel that could be held up as a true eyewitness, the Gospel of John.  As a result, in actuality we do not have two eyewitness accounts of the events occurring during the crucifixion.

So what about the burial of Jesus?  That one seems to be more accurate.  Starting with the Gospel of John we see that .Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were responsible for the burial of Jesus’ body. They even brought 75 pounds of spices to prepare the body for burial.  In the Gospel of Matthew again it is Joseph of Arimathea, but Nicodemus seems to not be present.  Instead, Mary Magdalene and another Mary were present.  In the Gospel of Mark, it is even more confusing.  Again, Joseph of Arimathea was involved, Nicodemus is again missing, Mary Magdalene is prominent, and this time we understand that the other Mary was the mother of Joses.  For some reason, even though in the Gospel of John, Joseph had already prepared the body, both of the Marys and Solome came after the Sabbath to repeat the preparations for burial.  In the Gospel of Luke, we are told that only “the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee” followed Joseph of Arimathea to the tomb.  Again, they left to prepare spices and perfumes for the burial of the body.  Wouldn’t be pretty obvious to anyone following Joseph and Nicodemus carrying both a dead body and 75 pounds of spices that the body of Jesus had been prepared for burial?  Would not the odor of 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes be obvious to the women?  Why in the Synoptic Gospels would there be this tremendous difference from the only eyewitness account.

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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 7, 2009, 9:05 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 19

I am going to split this chapter into two separate posts.  One will be about the “prophecies” that where fulfilled in Jesus’ death.  The second post will describe some of the issues with John’s account verse the Synoptic Gospels and the Traditions of Men.  Four prophecies were fulfilled in the Gospel of John.  Yet once again, for prophecy to be accurate…freewill must be suspended.  Or Scripture must be taken out of context to make it fit the circumstances. Let us see which is more likely.

The first prophecy is this one:

John 18:24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another.  “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”  This happened that the scriptures might be fulfilled which said, “They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.” So this is what the soldiers did.

This passage is supposed to come from the Book of Psalms 22:18.  Surprisingly this is exactly what that verse says.  But if one reads the entire Psalm one sees that this was not about Jesus.  Take a look at this beginning:

Psalms 22:2 Oh my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, but night, and am not silent.

Psalms 22: 20-21 Deliver my life from the sword, the precious life from the power of the dogs.  Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

Only by taking this Psalms out of context can one apply specific verses of this Psalms to the death of Jesus.  Verses 20-21 specifically indicate that King David was concerned about evil men, while dogs, lions, and wild oxen.  Obviously, Jesus was not exposed to dogs, lions, or oxen.  So grabbing one verse in claiming that it is prophecy is only taking that verse out of context.  But even if we give the benefit of the doubt to this being a prophecy a bigger problem occurs.  This particular prophecy relates to how the soldiers treat Jesus’ clothing.  Is there obeying prophecy they have no freewill.  They did not get to choice to fulfill this prophecy.  As a result, YHWH at any time can suspend freewill.  Hence, we can never tell if we are acting under freewill or under YHWH suspension of freewill.

Another possible prophecy fulfilled in this chapter is this one:

John 18:28 later, knowing that all was now complete, and so that the scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I’m thirsty.”

This supposed prophecy comes from Psalms 69:21 which says:

Psalms 69:21 they put gall inlet food and gave the vinegar for my first.

But let’s take a look at the following verse is in this Psalms:

Psalms 69:22-25 Let the table set before them become a snare; may become a retribution and a trap.  Many there eyes the darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.  Pour out your wrath on them; let your fierce anger over take them.  May their place the deserted, that there be no one to dwell in their tents.

Is this the loving Jesus?  This is a direct combination to the “prophecy” verse.  Should we believe that in the last moments of Jesus’ life he became as vindictive as the most vile human nature can provide?  Or should we realize that this verse was taken out of context.  Again, the other possibility is that the guards had no freewill.  They had to obey the prophecy.  Once again this would indicate that YHWH can and does suspend freewill arbitrarily.  Hence, we can never tell if we are acting under freewill or under YHWH suspension of that freewill.

The third prophecy is found in this verse in John:

John 19:34 instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bring a sudden flow of blood and water.

Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication.  They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grief bitterly for him as one grieves for firstborn son.

Again, this “prophecy” has been taken out of context.  This verse talks about the people who have pierced Jesus as the ones who mourn.  No indication that the Romans mourned Jesus’ death.  They certainly did not mourn with the bitterness of the loss of a firstborn son.  Again, if we give the benefit of the doubt to this being a fulfill prophecy we end up with freewill being arbitrarily denied.  Hence, we can never tell if we are acting under freewill or under YHWH suspension of that freewill.

The final supposed prophecy is here:

John 19: 36 these things happen so the scriptures would be fulfilled: (delete that “not one of his bones will be broken,”

This prophecy comes from the book of Exodus 12:46:

Exodus 12:46 “It must be eaten in one house; take none of the meat outside of the house.  Do not break any of the bones.  The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.

The crucifixion occurred outside so the beginning of the verse has already been compromised.  The last sentence of the verse has also been compromised, the whole community did not celebrate this event.  So once again a “prophecy” has been taken out of context.  Again, if we give the benefit of the doubt to this being a fulfill prophecy we end Up with freewill being arbitrarily denied.  Hence, we can never tell if we are acting under freewill or under YHWH suspension of that freewill.   

To the non-believer, these so called “prophecies” are very suspicious.  There without doubt taken out of context, and as a result, are questionable at best.  Worst though, is the concept that they are true prophecy.  If they really are prophecy, and numerous people during the crucifixion of Jesus had their freewill removed.  Even if this removal was only temporary, this indicates that YHWH can do so at any time, for any reason, and we (puny humans) are completely helpless in these cases.   The whole argument of freewill becomes a mute topic with this understanding.    If humans can be manipulated as play toys to a supreme being at any arbitrary moment freewill does not exist.  The concept of prophecy only strengthens this concept.  For prophecy indicates that the future has already been recorded.  Prophecy also indicates that the outcome of our choices have already been recorded.  Hence, it may feel like we have freewill, but in the end we are just actors on a stage as indicated by Shakespeare:

Jaques:

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

As You Like It Act 2, scene 7, 139–143

Posted in Gospel of John, Contradictions, Freewill, Readings | Print | 1 Comment »

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 »

October 2, 2009, 10:09 pm by dc-agape.

John Chapter 16:5 – 33

Unlike the previous chapter, this one is solely for the believer, specifically the Apostles and the followers of Jesus during the 30’s AD.  The only thing related to the modern Church is the joy that followed (and should still be present) in the Church.  This joy is based on the presence of the Councilor (Holy Spirit) which would not appear until after Jesus’ death on the cross. 

The concept and the purpose of the Holy Spirit are outlined in this chapter, even though the purpose of the Holy Spirit is only briefly mentioned.  The first purpose of the Spirit is to convict the entire world.  I wonder when this will happen.  It certainly did not happen until after the European nations began the colonization of the Americas or Eastern Asia.  It certainly did not happen during the Crusades!  Supposedly, the Spirit brought the knowledge of humanities sin, Jesus’ righteousness, and the judgment of Satan (the prince of the world).  The concept of Satan is new to the world at this point.  The OT does not refer to Satan or the prince of the world, at any time or any place.  Jesus introduces this concept, even though it was not new to the Romans or the Greeks.   And please do not bring up Isaiah 14:12-15!  This entire passage starting in Isaiah 13:1-14:23 is one single oracle.  It is taken out of context if one uses it to describe Satan.  Read the whole passage not the single short fragment!  And don’t even try the Ezekiel 28:12-19 either.  This passage again has been taken out of context, read the whole passage: Ezekiel 28:1-19.  And make sure you understand the meaning of “son of man”.  In the Book of Ezekiel this term is describing Ezekiel…not Jesus (Ezekiel 2:1).

But an evil spiritual ruler of the world was not new to the Greeks or Romans.  Agra Mainyu is the evil side of Zoroastrianism – Babylonian religion during the period that the Jews were in exile in…Babylonia!  One must remember that in the 6^th century BC Cyrus the Great controlled most of “the known world”.  By the 2nd century BC, Greek and Zoroastrianism had combined into the now fully familiar Greek mythology.

But what was the joy that the Holy Spirit would bring to the followers of Jesus?  It is the relationship that Christians will have directly with YHWH.  Since the Holy Spirit is YHWH and was brought to humans after Jesus’ death, Jesus’ followers could know what Jesus knew and that was a relationship with YHWH.  Through the Holy Spirit and Jesus this relationship with YHWH provided security from the evils of the world.  This also provided direct communication with YHWH:

John 16:23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything.  I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

Simply put, the joy that the Holy Spirit brought was having a Councilor to provide all the security, knowledge, and relationships that Jesus had.

To the non-believer (sinner) looking at this chapter brings one thing to the forefront.  Neither the concepts of the virgin birth nor the savior nor the devil were new (all were part of Zoroastrianism.  But all three were new to Judaism…and brought to a forefront by Jesus.  No wonder the Jews despised Jesus!  He was corrupting their religion with the religion of their captors during the Babylonian Exile.  This was worse than Hellenization of the Israeli religion!  It also indicates that Jesus was not teaching anything that was new.  He required following the OT and added components of both Greek and Babylonian religions to form a new religion: Christianity.  To be certain, this new religion was better than any of the three old religions…but it is was just that: a new religion.  It is truly amazing when the entire history of the world is combined and compared to specific national histories!  New knowledge, new understandings, and new perspectives are introduced.  One cannot live in isolation and one cannot make assumptions based on that isolation of events, histories, or interpretations.  The whole picture must be seen and accepted, you cannot disregard the pieces that do not fit your personal desires or beliefs.

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October 1, 2009, 8:37 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 15 – 16:4

In my last two posts I wrote about being fruitful and the meaning of love and obedience knowing Jesus’ purpose, the greatest love, and being chosen.  In this post I want to write about the about being hated, having hatred, 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.

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.

From this verse it is clear that a difference exists between Christians and the world.  This difference is so great, that hatred is the only word that can describe the difference.  The world’s hatred of Christians was quite obvious up until the reign of Constantine (320 AD).  At this point in time the persecution of Christians nearly ended.  They may not have been like, but there were no longer being killed for their faith.  This would pretty much indicate that slowly Christianity and the world are becoming one.  In modern times, most of Europe and all of the Americas are Christianized.  So how is it that the world now loves Christians?  One must also remember that almost all of Africa has also been Christianized.  Only in the Middle East and some parts of Asia are Christians still hated.  Reading John 15:19 again, “if you belong to the world, it would love you as its own.” Guess what?  The world loves Christians!  And from Jesus’ own words that means that Christians belong to the world.  The spiritual implication of this concept is straightforward.  Christianity no longer teaches something contrary to the sinful world.  Does this mean the world is no longer full of sin?  Or does this mean that Christianity is now full of sin?  If Christianity truly taught something that was contrary to the world, this verse (John 15:19) would mean something.  Instead, at least in the United States, two groups of people are hated: Atheists and homosexuals.

To the non-believer it is very odd that those that were hated are now the ones who hate!  Nowhere in Jesus’ teachings did he require hatred.  There is one verse:

Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple.

Two things about this verse should be taken into account.  First it is considered a hyperbole, the feelings the disciples should have forged worldly relationships compare to the relationship with Jesus should be as great as hating one and loving the other.  The other thing that should be considered is that in no way can this verse be linked to hating sin.  In fact, one other verse describes one a disciple will hate:

Matt 6:24 “No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and Money.”

This is as close to teaching hatred as Jesus gets.  But neither of these verses teaches the disciple to hate the non-believer (sinner).  Yet that is exactly what occurs in the modern Church.  Neither Atheists nor homosexuals are openly accepted in any but a few non-traditional Churches.  Very odd for religion based on love, don’t you think?

In fact, Jesus warns about hatred and killing done in the name of YHWH:

John 16:2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.

Matt 24:9-11 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated but all nations because of me.  At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betrayed and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.

Today, both of these verses can be clearly seen actually happening.  Christians have been known to put people out of their church and to kill in the name of YHWH.  At the same time, many false prophets have risen up and have deceived the masses.  At this point in time, the haters and deceivers cannot be separated from the disciple of Jesus.  The combination of these two verses and the fact that these warnings have occurred leads the non-believer to one conclusion: will the true disciple of Jesus please stand up!  The non-believer can certainly not tell the difference between the hater, the deceiver, and the disciple.

All in all, this chapter in the Gospel of John has been unique for this experiment.  It may be having worked through four different books in the Bible I am beginning to see something that is not visible to most readers of the Word of God.  On the other hand, focusing on the positive teachings of Jesus, instead of the vitriol taught in the Church, may be influencing my perspective.  Many of the positive things that Jesus taught were not new, but the way he combined the different aspects of love, hope, and spirituality was certainly different from the old religions and from the Old Testament.  It is truly a shame that modern Christians have lost the focus on Jesus.  Instead, some focus on Paul’s teachings and others attempt to justify the Old Testament with the teachings of Jesus.  I guess this should not be unexpected, out of the Christian Bible only 10% of the Word of God is directly from Jesus.  And even that in 10%, half of it is mostly repetitive.

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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.

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September 28, 2009, 8:15 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 15 – 16:4

There are so many things that need to be said about this chapter.  Being fruitful, love and obedience, answered prayers, knowing Jesus’ purpose, the greatest love, being chosen, being 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.

Being fruitful is part of being a follower of Jesus.  This does not mean just the bringing of souls to YHWH!  It means living a godly life and having a virtuous character.  This does not mean sometimes being fruitful!  We think of seasonal fruiting plants and believe that bearing fruit can be sporadic, but this is not Jesus’ intent.  The “true vine” never goes dormant; it has the light of YHWH always making it grow.  Even the pruning is to make it have more virtue and more proof of a godly life.  Here is the first proof that non-believers have where Christians ≠ followers of Jesus.  In the modern world both “Christians” and non-believers both live virtuous lives.  I can say this because the word “virtue” is not linked to YHWH or even Christianity!  It is defined as living life in conformity to moral or ethical principles.  And YHWH does not have a strangle hold on ethic…it was perfectly fine to own slaves and to be polygamous in the OT, by Jesus’ time polygamy was out of fashion (unethical) yet slavery was still acceptable (ethical).  100 years ago it was unethical to marry inter-racially, but today we see that as common (and ethical) as treating each human as an equal.  Equality was certainly not ethical until the very most recent times, yet we still have issues with this concept!  So if ethics (virtue) change over the millennia, how exactly are we to tell who is a Christian?  We cannot unless they set themselves apart.  The only way Christians have set themselves apart from non-believers is to make false accusations against science, equality (slavery and equal rights), demanding constitutional amendments dictating their particular morality, and vandalizing of family planning clinics.  Are these truly godly life or virtuous character?  Worse is the cyclical nature of Christian’s virtue.  None become more virtuous with age!  No what the non-believer sees is that with age the skeletons in the closet are exposed, proving that the “spiritual” leaders are bogus.  The biggest sign of this is looking at the children of these leaders.  Billy Graham’s son Franklin Graham is a hatemonger, as was Jerry Falwell son Jonathan, and Pat Robertson (Timothy Brian).  Are these truly “godly”, are the actions of these men virtuous (both the father and the son)?  The biggest skeleton in each of these fathers’ closet is what the son does!  For it is from the parents that the child learns hatred and corruption.  Isn’t it always said that being the preacher’s kid is the worst, they even have a name for it Preacher’s Kid Syndrome?  If a preacher cannot bring their own child up to exemplify Jesus, that is one huge skeleton in the closet.

The Gospel of John returns to the concept of love and obedience being linked.  One cannot love Jesus without obey his teachings.  Not the teachings of Paul, Luther, John Smith, or John Calvin.  One must follow and obey the actually teachings of Jesus to love Jesus.  Yet only 66.6% of the NT does not deal with the teachings of Jesus.  Where is the focus on the important teachings that the followers of Jesus must obey?  Why have they been superseded by the teachings of Paul?  How can one obey and love Jesus when so little of his teachings remain?  Only two documents (the Gospels of Matthew or Mark and John) remain of the closest thing we have to the teaching of Jesus.  Even the Book of Acts is suspect, it was most likely written by a follower of Paul!  What happened to the documents that were written by the actually followers of Jesus?  Why were they not canonized?  What teachings did they invoke that the Orthodox Church found inappropriate?  Jesus had many disciples (more than the twelve) shouldn’t we have more copies of what the individual disciples had to say?  With the overwhelming focus on the teachings of Paul verse the teaching of Jesus, does not the NT come under a cloud of questionability?  Did none of the original disciples make records of their gnosis, their logos from Jesus?  Why did the followers of these men not record the sermons these men taught?  Or did these recording get written, but the Orthodox Church deemed them unacceptable?  Could the Christianity that “won” actually be a false teaching of Jesus?  It certainly is not based on obey Jesus; instead it is based on obeying men…especially Paul.  With so little of the Christian doctrine based directly on Jesus teachings one must wonder.  The Beatitudes are held as models to aspire to, instead of ways to actually live life.  But shouldn’t they be obeyed (not just used as an unreachable goal) if one loves Jesus?  As I have said before, Atheist do not hate YHWH nor Christians because of the hard teachings…no it is because of the hypocrisy in the lives of Christians that Atheist despise.  And the lame excuse of “we are only sinful human” does not cut it.  Being “born of the Spirit” and “guided by the Spirit” and “born of God” and this one specifically:

1^st John 3:9-10 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.  This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

This verse puts to death the lame excuse of we continue to sin after “loving Jesus”.  If you follow Jesus you no longer sin!  And if you claim to be a Christian and you continue to sin, you make this verse a lie.  By making this verse a lie, you invalidate the entire Bible…since this is the Word of God.  Loving Jesus means obeying Jesus, it also means living a righteous life without sin.  Otherwise, you make a mockery of the teachings of Jesus and will not be pruned, you will be thrown away to be burned.  Get it right “Christians” is all I can have to say!

Well since I have at least seven more topics from this chapter, this might go on for some time.  By far, the Gospel of John has got to be the most important source of the teachings of Jesus.  The Synoptic Gospels were written to collaborate with each other.  The Gospel of John was written to teach Jesus’ followers how to love and obey Jesus.

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