WARNING: IF YOU ARE A BELIEVER, YOU WILL NOT ENJOY READING THIS!
The Legendary Triumph
In the year 312 AD, a fiery and unscrupulous but vigorous and ambitious man named Constantine was leading a great army across Italy to meet his rival for the emperorship of the world, Maxentius. Suddenly, just after noon, he saw, flaming on the heavens, the Greek monogram, the Labarum or Chi-Rho symbol of Christ, together with the words:
In this sign, conquer.The sign cannot have been startling or obviously miraculous and Constantine did not fall on his knees. He merely wondered what the sign meant. No ecclesiastical historian today believes the vision as miraculous. The cross, if it ever existed at all, might have been the phenomenon of sun-dogs, caused by ice crystals in the stratosphere.
During the night, a second vision informed him that this monogram referred to the same Christ whose religion and followers he had been familiar with for ten years at least. After consultation with Christian clergy, he declared that the Sun-God had been created by the Christian God, removed the eagles from his standards and put in their place the Chi-Ro symbol of the failed Jewish Messiah. The following day, he marched on, crossed the Milvian bridge and did conquer. He won the battle of the Milvian Bridge and so supremacy over the whole Roman Empire. Later he converted, but a good many of his family and the Roman ruling class already had. With an emperor’s authority, Christianity was now secure.
I believe that the only way to get back to the original beleif of the followers of Ieshua is to strip away all Roman influence.
I may be a bit too hard on Paul because I like many of the Apostles believe him to be an interloper. He’s the Bill Gates of Christianity.
If you know the Nazarene as Jesus Christ, it is my belief that you know not the man at all. If you see “Jesus Christ” as a White European, you know not the man. If you preach hell, punishment, division, hatred for this or that group, and the whole host of other trash that is preached/taught by the Christian Church and has been part of the Christian Church for ages, you do not know the man.
Hell Fire and Brimstone is not the message of the Man from Nazareth.
I see hate in the Church. All of the Churches. Including and sometimes even more so from the post Protestant Reformation Churches.
Where did Jesus preach that Homosexuals or Jews were going to hell?
He didn’t.
Where did Jesus preach to judge everyone and condemn them all to hell or to run around saying that non-believers were going to hell?
Where did Jesus preach “God helps those who help themselves?”
I suppose I am too harsh on Paul. That’s probably because I think he is too GREATLY worshiped by the masses for whom he should be a conduit to the Nazarene. Instead, Paul is akin to the Islamic Mullah who tells the illiterate masses how to believe, how to perceive, how to feel about the teachings of the Nazarene.
If I take a lie and split it into two pieces, do those two pieces then become truths. No. Such is the case with the Protestant Reformation. If there is a centigram of Rome in your beliefs, you have strayed from the message of the Nazarene.
The only way to get back to the Nazarene and his message is to go directly to him. It’s difficult as we know very little about who he was or what he actually stated. Unless the Vatican has his words hidden away from the world in their vast dungeons and libraries.
If Genghis Khan had conquered Europe and had taken Christianity and co-opted it into a tool of his Empire, Jesus would have become Asian. This did not happen. Yet, it did.
Constantine used Christianity to re-conquer/re-unite the Empire. Then he decreed it the religion of the Empire.
Is that not ironic? “Jesus” said that his is the Kingdom of Heaven. God did not send his “only begotten son” to conquer. Yet, we are led to believe by the Roman Church that God changed his mind and decided to send Constantine to conquer in his name.
I do not believe the story as it comes down to us through the Vatican. I believe that Ieshua (Jesus) was a prophet, a speaker of truths.
I believe that he died and in a sense, yes, he did die for our sins. He did not die to atone for “original sin.” He died to bring us a message of Love. However, humanity was too proud of itself to inculcate his teachings. I compare Ieshua to the Buddha. He learned, he gained wisdom and he passed on his wisdom to the masses. I do not believe that Ieshua was God or that he was or is the only way to Eternity. I believe that he taught a way. Much like Buddha. He taught love for our fellow man. He taught compassion. He taught faith and hope. He taught us to be good and kind to one another. I believe that when he stated “I am the way. No man gets to heaven before me.” that he was saying that we should follow his example. “I am the way.” The Nazarene is bidding us follow his example. He’s not asking us to “glorify” him. That is mere paganistic Sun God worship syncretically transmogrified into Christian Imperialistic idolatry.
I do not believe that he was saying that we should all gather in some mega-church and scream in ecstasy that we “love Jesus.” I think Jesus would be appalled by such behavior. Instead of building multimillion dollar institutions with glamorous edifices to “Christ the Savior,” I believe that Ieshua would want that money to go towards edifying the poor. Christianity is appalling. Christians spend millions a year on Theme Park Christianity. Show places of humility and piety. Ieshua instructed his disciples to go into their rooms or a dark place and to pray alone. He did not teach his disciples to gather in orgiastic congegations of worldly excess.
Christians do not listen. They want the magnificent. They want the show. They want to show.
Give to the poor. Give to the needy. Pick up your neighbor. Help a stranger.
The billions of untold wealth held by the Churchs of the world could alleviate much suffering. Instead, it is gathered and maintained as a show of the “Glory of God.” This is not what Christ taught. This is what Rome taught.
Christians are not so dissimilar from Muslims in this regard. They make fantastic show of faith and devotion to religion but live out a life that is the exact opposite of the supposed tenets of their faith.
Faith, Hope and Love ~ This is the true message of the Nazarene.
One blogger likes this post.
