I was going to move on to another topic but have since learnt more so wanted to share. (My blog theme is ‘The Whole News’…)
To recap, the message of these three blogs (based on a great deal of research others have conducted), is that Jesus the Christ was not a historical figure but a symbolic, literary figure. He represents spiritual truth rather than being an actual man – miracle child, carpenter, healer, miracle-worker, ‘victim’.
Jason Breshears of Archaix.com sat down with Grok, Elon Musk’s ‘AI’ chatbot, and asked a series of questions. (Many computer experts deny that AI yet exists but Grok is, at least, a demonstration of highly advanced processing of information, drawing upon everything that has been uploaded to the internet.) By all means watch Jason’s interaction yourself; I’ve summarised the key points here:
There are two main sets of texts: the Four Gospels of the New Testament and the Nag Hammadi texts. Both refer to Jesus, but the Nag Hammadi texts and other Gnostic texts view him as a spiritual, mystical symbol rather than a physical historical figure.
The Nag Hammadi texts, which were buried some 1700 years ago to hide them from Christian persecution and are older than the Four Gospels, do not refer to:
- the turning of water into wine
- the Crucifixion event with earthquake, sun darkening and dead rising from their graves
- hellfire or eternal damnation
- the apostle Paul
- the gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
- the Book of Acts
- the Book of Revelation
- any of the Apostolic Fathers (Irenaeus, Jerome, Polycarp, Justin Martyr or Ignatius).
Christianity’s oldest surviving manuscript (140-150 AD) is a small fragment referred to as P52. It is said to be the Gospel of John, chapter 18. This Gospel is not part of the Synoptic Gospels. It is the only gospel that calls Christ ‘The Word’. (I.e. symbolic representation, not a man.) The Word was a gnostic concept also referred to as ‘The Logos’.
The second oldest Christian texts (175-225 AD) are referred to as P46 and are of the epistles of Paul. Both P46 and P52 date to 50 years+ after the crucifixion event. Neither one refers to the crucifixion or earthquake, dead rising, etc.
The American Civil War occurred about 160 years ago. Imagine, Jason says, that nothing was published about that event until today. What are our chances of getting the details right?
Extremely poor due to:
- A lack of primary sources
- Any oral history would be unreliable
- The nuances of historical context would be lacking
- Archaeological artefacts on their own do not tell the full story
- Accounts would be speculative and biased
- Over time memory fades and it would be difficult to distinguish fact from myth.
The Apostle Paul, who did not live in Jesus’ time or meet any of the original 12 apostles, did not mention:
- Jesus’ virgin birth
- the three Magi
- the star of Bethlehem
- John the Baptist
- Matthew, Mark, Luke or John
- any of Jesus’ miracles
- any of Jesus’ parables
- the earthquake, crucifixion, dead rising, sun darkening
- Judas’ betrayal and death;
- nor did he ever directly quote Jesus
- or claim to have read an account of Jesus’ life
- or mention a single person healed or resurrected by Jesus
- or mention the earliest Church Fathers, Justin Martyr, Clement, Ignatius or Polycarp.
On the other hand, Pliny the Elder, Seneca, Tacitus, Philo Judaeus and Flavius Josephus were all alive in the first century AD and none of them mentioned
- the crucifixion, the dead rising, the earthquake or sun darkening
or
- Jesus being the Son of God who resurrected from the dead
Ditto these first-century writers: Ovid, Cornelius Valerianus, Lucan, Martial, Pomphilus Mela, Statius, Chaeremon, Pliny the Younger, Suetonius. (i.e. nothing about the crucifixion in 33 A.D., etc.)
One Church authority who did refer to these events, Eusebius, is now considered unreliable by scholars. Eusebius, who wrote a history of the Church, also said that ‘it may be lawful and fitting to use falsehood as medicine, and for the benefit of those who want to be deceived’…
Scholars have dismissed entire Christian manuscripts as forgeries. Perhaps all the subterfuge explains why the term ‘apologetics’ comes from early Christian writers who were defensive of their new faith…?
It is also true that:
- There is no physical description of Jesus given anywhere in the New Testament
- Not one coin from the entire world in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd centuries commemorates any of the events in the New Testament (though they may commemorate other figures of the era such as Pilate).
- Of the four gospel writers, only Matthew and John knew Jesus, and their accounts are quite different from each other.
- The Mishnah, the Jewish text that is the foundation of Talmudic writings and dated to about 200 A.D. makes no mention of Jesus or the crucifixion or resurrection.
- The phrase ‘the Second Coming of Christ’ is found nowhere in Scripture.
- Judas is described as hanging himself in Matthew 273-10 and ‘falling headlong’ into a field he bought with his silver reward and his ‘bowels gushed out’ inActs 1:18.
- The Virgin who gave birth to the Divine Child is depicted in ancient Egyptian texts and other historic faiths as Maria, Mari, Myrrha, Mary, Maia, Maya and Meri. (In other words, the same story recurs over and over.)
- The Quran refers to Jesus, but not as the son of God, and not crucified or resurrected.
Prior to 325 A.D. hundreds of Christian manuscripts, epistles and gospels were not included in the New Testament. One wonders why… Is it because their messages conflicted with the message that the Church wanted to broadcast of the historical Jesus?
Resurrection refers to a spiritual awakening in the Nag Hammadi texts and other spiritual/mystical literature. (See the two previous blogs on this.) It seems to me that Jesus the Christed represents the spiritual journey we are all invited to embark upon of conquering our own lower natures and fully expressing our divine nature.
The red-letter Bibles are the ones that contain the true spiritual teachings that were being conveyed. In those passages when someone who was healed tries to thank Jesus for healing them, Jesus replied: “It was your faith that made you whole.”
Our faith / belief / vision contains the healing power, not any external other man or woman or charm. The journey is to embody that knowledge ourselves.
Namaste, as our Hindu friends say; or: ‘I salute the Divinity within you.’
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