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Re: The Parable of the Tares (was: Visions of hell and other questions. )


Message written by

Craig
December 30, 2009 at 21:01:31:

In Reply to
Re: The Parable of the Tares (was: Visions of hell and other questions. )
posted by
Ron
December 29, 2009 at 17:32:59:

 
Hello Ron,

You wrote,
"Anyway, I just don't get how you can dismiss all the accounts of Christ casting out demons (demon possession); the demons calling Christ "the Son of God"; demons in general; the existence of the biblical Satan as a "Devil"-like figure; the existence of a place of eternal torment (separate from the issue of the any mistranslations of Gehenna/Hades/Sheol into "hell"); and its sister concept of "judgment" -- calling them all creations of the church or insertions into the Gospels by whomever ... I mean, why not dismiss it all?"

Yes, it would be better to dismiss it all. Yeshua was a wonderful teacher who was misunderstood by those to whom he spoke. They missed the boat. But the boat has sailed. Today, with our understanding of the physical realm, after-death communication, the greater reality, psychic phenomena, and spirituality, we know much more than Yeshua knew. We don’t honestly need to study his teachings. So, yes, it would be better to dismiss it all so we can purge the Western belief systems of the archaic myths like the devil, Armageddon, hell, demons, and all the old primitive baggage.

You wrote,
"If we DON'T know what he actually said, then we CAN'T know what he DIDN'T say. Either way, then, we CAN'T know what his "general message" was, or what his intended "tone" was."

Yes, I’m afraid you’re right. In the end, we must “do no harm.” We can’t know what Yeshua really said, so if we do want to study him and his teachings, we just need to make sure we don’t carry into the twenty-first century all the harmful baggage that came from the first millennium controlling church. We just need to jettison all of the mythology that is judgmental, controlling, and fear-inspiring. And if we can’t do that, jettison the entire New Testament.

Yeshua was not a God. There is only one God, and it is the Higher Power that is the creative force in the universe. It isn't and never was a human being or anything resembling a human being. If we keep holding onto the harmful teachings of the church using the rationale that it somehow came from a human being who was a God, then we really need to leave that period of history behind as an anachronism and go on without regard for it except as an interesting footnote in eternity.

Love and peace, Craig


 



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