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Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (kbin.earth)
submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/open_christian
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In the fifth chapter of Matthew, Yeshua gave the Sermon on the Mount, the verse quoted is the third. I always had trouble with that, and a YT channel I recently watched said that it means when we realize how little we know, let alone fully comprehend, we are humble before God, and while we fall short, we stay humble. That makes sense to me, and as I learn more about my faith, I realize how many layers of kenning there are to single words of the Rabbai, let alone entire sentences and whole teachings.

I've been thinking a lot the last couple of days about the spiritually curious or spiritual babes. Jesus demonstrates a special soft spot for these, the outcasts, and those dwellers outside of Israel. Not a single miracle I can name was performed in Israel, and Jesus himself was born in Palestine.

Jesus told the story of religious clergy passing by a man beaten, robbed, and left for dead, in their way to Temple, and of the good Samaritan. He asked who among the crowd that would lure him into speaking in favor of breaking the law would leave a lamb that in the well on the Sabbath, demonstrating that legal and moral/Godly aren't necessarily the same. Questioning, seeking, not being hell-bound on moral relativism is a good thing

I don't remember which movie it was in a couple of decades or so ago, when an archangel assured a sinner that is when you feel most lost is when you're closest to being found. Indeed. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven, that isn't lo, here, or lo there, but within you.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Jesus is an ahistorical figure who was originally crucified in the firmament above the earth. Notice no mention of an earthly ministry in the epistles. In them, he is still to be revealed. Only decades later did the stories about a man on earth get written.

The Didache was most likely the letter written by the pillars in Jerusalem after the meeting with Paul. It contains many of the tenets later ascribed to Jesus. The reason the earthly story was embraced by the church was to stop people like Paul having visions of Christ that the church couldn’t control. By pointing to a real guy on earth, they could control the message.

Marcion was the first to create a collection of writings about Jesus. He had Paul’s letters and a version of Luke (as testified by Eusebius). Acts was written as a response to Marcion’s scripture. It was written to harmonize Paul’s highjacking of the message from the Jerusalem pillars (James, Peter, John), who are the leaders of the group of Essenes (apocalyptic Jews, Dead Sea Scrolls). John the Baptist was also an Essene, judging by his clothing, diet, and baptisms.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'd be interested in digging into this at my leisure. Do you have any resources to share, so I can? I've often pondered if he was Essenian or Maccabean, but I really don't know enough about either to say.

Thanks for sharing this perspective!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Do you have any resources to share, so I can?

Happily! My journey started with Salvation, a self-published book by Elbe Spurling (known for depicting Bible scenes with legos). It provides a lot of context about the historical events and people involved. I'm re-reading it after spending twenty months reading other sources because now I have a lot of background in the who and what that I previously had to turn to Wikipedia to understand.

Next up was The Jesus Puzzle, by Earl Doherty. He gets criticized because he's not a trained scholar, but his work remains compelling and Robert M Price endorses him. I really enjoyed this one.

Next up was The Amazing Colossal Apostle - The Search for the Historical Paul, by Robert M Price. He's a former Baptist minister with multiple degrees in the field, a true expert. He has a bunch of published YouTube interviews talking about these topics as well.

Quick warning: RMP is a Trump supporter. That makes sense. Ministers are rightwing. Coming from believing to realizing that the Bible is a collection of stories rather than history doesn't necessarily change your politics. He mostly never mentions it, but it's come out a couple of times in videos. Luckily, he doesn't say anything further about it. The book is phenominal.

And, if you still want to consider Jeses to be a historical figure, I loved this controversial piece: The Passover Plot, by Hugh J. Schonfield. This book assumes that Jesus was a real apocalyptic Jew who truly believed that he was the messiah and who brilliantly engineered the conditions to fulfill prophecy. It's a great read. If Jesus was a historical figure, this is the version of him that I think is most likely.

As for Marcion and his being the first scripture, I am currently reading Marcion and the Dating of the Synoptic Gospels, by Markus Vinzent. I'm enjoying it a lot. Marcion was the first "heretic" for his view that Paul was the only apostle who understood the true message: that the creator god of the Jews was a lesser god, which is why there is evil in the world, and Jesus was preaching about a higher god who would adopt us to a better heaven.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

Thanks so much, bookmarked.