An Alternate view of Christianity directly form the Bible

Chapter 53

Possibilities

T.L.C. So tell me again, why you're giving me this information.

Big D Because the vast majority of human problems stem from people living as though dozens of illusions were factual truths -- because false, religious beliefs are at the core of these illusions -- and because false, religious beliefs produce the bulk of human problems.

As you probably already know, humanity is at a critical juncture in its evolution. If you don't solve the Global Climate Change Problem very soon and if you don't put an end to Global Terrorism, then humanity will almost certainly follow the dinosaurs and become extinct.***ps-52-12a

T.L.C. That's a pretty heavy assessment.

Big D I know, and because that assessment is negative, people refuse to hear it.

T.L.C. But to see the truth, all they have to do is look at the evidence.

Big D Yes, I know the evidence is now overwhelming, but that's another story for another time. For the moment, let's get back to the topic at hand. Now that we have examined the carved-in-stone theology based upon the inherently evil story and the crucifixion story (chapters 51-52) let's look for some other possibilities.

T.L.C. OK.

Big D Here are some of the possibilities:

** Fundamental Christianity describes God as an angry, vindictive, fickle, needy, brooding, mass-murder-minded, super-human-being living above the clouds. Is it possible that the nature of God as described and believed by the ultra-conservative, fundamentalist Christian leaders is not an accurate description of "The Unknown and Unknowable Source of All Creation?"***ps-53-1

** Is it possible that humans are inherently good and not inherently Evil?

** Is it possible that Jesus was simply demonstrating that the death of the physical body is no big deal?***ps-53-2

** Is it possible that the events, as they actually occurred, are significantly different from the accounts of those events that are written in the Christian Bible?

** Is it possible that the meanings given to these two stories by Christian theology [original sin & the crucifixion] may be more than slightly off the mark?

** Is it possible that the people who put these stories into the Bible and then declared what they mean were less than objective reporters and that they had a vested interest in franchising [selling] their religion?

Dumping the Middlemen:

** When Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life," [John 14:6]. Is it possible that he was NOT referring to himself as a personality, but rather, He was saying: What I teach you is the way, the truth, and the light. What I teach you is your pathway to God/heaven.***ps-53-3

T.L.C. Your interpretation of John 14:6 does seem to be more realistic than the interpretation that the Christian leaders are teaching.

Big D Stoney, obviously you're thinking for yourself. Good job. I guess I'm getting through to you after all. Tell me how you came to that conclusion.

T.L.C. With a bit of deductive reasoning.

Big D You mean like Sherlock Holmes?

T.L.C. Yes.

Big D Then may I hear your deductive reasoning?

T.L.C. All of the other major teachers who have come to earth have taught people with the intention of the people becoming free. It would seem reasonable to assume that Jesus would have done likewise. According to the Fundamentalist Christian interpretation of John 14:6, Jesus is teaching dependency. The interpretation you just gave, teaches freedom.

Are there other Biblical passages that relate to John 14:6

Big D Jesus also said: "I and my Father are one." (John 10:30) Thus one could read John 14:6 as "God is the way, the truth, and the life" And because Luke 17:21 tells us: “Behold, the kingdom of God is within you," one could also read John 14:6 as "The God within you is the way, the truth, and the life."

T.L.C. So the Christian Bible actually supports Spirituality and not religion.***ps-53-4

Big D Yes. The Bible teaches people how to go directly to their internal God-Self and thereby eliminate the church leaders as middlemen.***ps-53-4a You might also note that Matthew 6:5-6 tells people to go into their closets and pray privately and God will answer their prayers publicly. Thus, the Bible, itself, tells people that, although churches may be excellent for creating mutual support communities,***ps-53-5 they are unnecessary when it comes to connecting to God.***ps-53-6

T.L.C. So this is why the spiritual movement is growing so fast.

Big D There is probably no measurable, cause-and-effect relationship, but the Christian Bible certainly supports the spiritual movement.

T.L.C. It supports a personal relationship between humans and that source called God -- a relationship in which the church plays a secondary role -- a role that is neither the primary nor essential.

Big D If you think this is eye-opening, wait until you read some of the other biblical passages.

T.L.C. You mean like John 8:32 -- "Know the truth and the truth will set you free."

Big D Yes, but that's a well known passage. There are several others that are not so well known because they are intentionally ignored by the fundamentalist Christian leaders.

T.L.C. Is there any Biblical support for the inherently evil story?
[original sin]

Big D No, as I already told you, it's a belief of Saint Augustine which became Christian theology.***ps-53-7

T.L.C. So the inherently-evil story is just an interpretation of scripture. I take it that there are no statements in the Bible which say human inherently evil.

Big D Correct. There are warnings for people to be careful because they have the potential to do bad things, but there is no direct Biblical support of humans having been intentionally created evil. I invite you to read the passages related to the Eve and Adam an the forbidden tree story. See if you can find any passages that say you are inherently evil.

T.L.C. I've already read it, and I didn't find anything there about my being evil. Isn't there a Biblical passage that warns of dire punishment for deceiving people?

Big D Yes, Mark 9:42 “. . . And whoever shall cause one of these little ones who believes in me to stumble, it is better for him that an ass’s millstone were hanged on his neck, and that he were thrown into the sea.”

T.L.C. Then, for real Bible-believing Christians, it's time to stop destroying our children's self image by telling them they are inherently evil. Please explain how that creates problems.

Big D It destroys a child's self-image. It destroys his/her self-confidence. It reduces his/her capacity to function effectively in the world. It creates adults who are afraid of God and who are mindless regarding their religion. It creates adults who are heavily dependent upon and tied to a religious structure that still insists upon teaching archaic, dysfunctional, unprovable beliefs about what God is and isn't.

It denies the God-self within. It denies the truth that comes from the God self within. It destroys a person's capacity to think for him/her self. It stops people from listening to others who have broken the ties of dependency and see life outside the confines of religiosity. It . . .

T.L.C. Ok that's enough. I've got your message.

Big D There's more.

T.L.C. Later.

Big D You don't want to know how this tool generates vast amounts of money for church leaders.

T.L.C. Later. Right now, I'd like to know about the list of other Biblical passages you said you'd share with me.

Passages Passages ...

Big D Ok. What if the fundamentalist Christians interpreted some of the other Biblical passages with the same zeal and intensity that they use to interpret their version of the crucifixion story?

T.L.C. What Scriptures?

Big D Scriptures such as:

John 14:12

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father."

Commonly Paraphrased as:
" Anything I can do, you can do and more."

Luke 17:21

“Behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

John 10:34, 35

"Jesus said to them, is it not so written in your law you are gods? If he called them gods because the word of God was with them and the scripture cannot be broken."

Isaiah 41:23

"Shew [show] the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye [are] gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold [it] together."

Psalms 82:6

"I have said, Ye [are] gods; and all of you [are] children of the most High."

Matthew 25:40

"What you do onto the least of mine, you do onto me."

In this passage, where is God?

Mark 10:27

"...with God all things are possible."

Ecclesiastes 3:19

"For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even one thing befalls them: as the one does, so does the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all [is] vanity."

Genesis 1:26-27 (Paraphrased)

And God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness and let them have dominion over all the Earth and over everything upon the Earth. God created man in his [own] image. . .

Several biblical passages, such as John 14:12, (" Anything I can do, you can do and more.") and The Universal Law of Thought indicate that it's far more likely that God created man with the capacity to be God-like in behavior and in ability and not (as our distant ancestors believed) to be God-like in physical form.

Matthew 18:20

"When two or more are gathered in my name, I am there also."

Matthew 6:5-6 (Paraphrased)

When you pray, go into your closet and pray privately, and God will reward you openly.

Matthew 7:15-16

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.”

John8:32

“Know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

Genesis 11:6

"And the Lord said, 'Behold the people are one, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do: and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have determined to do."

Genesis 2:7

"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

Job 33:4

"The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty has given me life."

Job 33:4 John 3:13 ...

"And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that [has not first] descended out of heaven, [even] the Son of man, who is [now] in heaven.

Ecclesiastes 11:5

"As you do not know how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of the woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.”

Big D Stoney, what do Genesis 2:7, Job 33:4, Job 33:4 and Ecclesiastes 11:5 tell you about your relationship to your physical body?

T.L.C. That there is a difference between what a human being is and his/her physical body -- that I am NOT my physical body. (Reference: Physical Versus Spirit)²

Big D Now please read the Genesis 11:6 passage several times and then say it out loud in your own words. (i.e. We are all one people. By working together we can accomplish absolutely anything.) Then add the words of Jesus from John 14:12 " Anything I [God/Jesus] can do, you can do and more." and from Luke 17:21 “Behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

Next, add the messages in John 10:34, 35 and Isaiah 41:23 to the mix: "I, and all other human beings, are Gods in a physical form." And then throw in Genesis 1:26-27 "God created man in his own image." And top it off with Ecclesiastes 3:19 "Man and Nature are intimately interconnected." And there you are holding that delightful and powerful mix while enfolded in the arms of none other than God, himself. Matthew 18:20 "When two or more are gathered in my name, I am there also."

Sit quietly for a few minutes and think about your intimate relationship to God, to Sacred Mother Earth, and to your fellow travelers on space ship Earth. Look into a mirror and say. "I am a God in a physical form. I know this is true because the Bible tells me so." Say it again. Say it with feeling. Say it as if you meant it.

Stay with this idea for at least three minutes. Resist the temptation to discount what the Christian Bible tells you you are. When you are finished, ask yourself: Who am I? What Am I? If I cooperate with others, what can we accomplish? Now, please take the Biblical scriptures and re-state them in your own words.

T.L.C. Restating the Biblical scriptures in my own words, I say:

I am a God in a physical form.

I am a spirit being and not a physical body.

I can personally contact The Creator of All That Is at any time.

I can find both God and Jesus within myself.

I can do anything Jesus did and more.

God, nature, and I are intimately inter-connected.

I can recognize the liars and the thieves by what they produce.

The truth brings freedom. Secrecy and lies (including lies of omission) bring slavery.

All humans are all one people. We are all God's Children. We are all Gods is physical form. We are all one. Being separate from God is an illusion.

By working together, God, my fellow humans, and I can accomplish absolutely anything.

I know this is true because the Bible tells me so.

Big D Thank you, Stoney, I couldn't have said it better, myself. Now I have three important questions for you.

T.L.C. Then please ask.

Big D    Does any of what you've just paraphrased directly out of the Christian Bible sound, look or make you feel as if you are:
      separate-from-God,
      separate-from-nature,
      or a groveling-in-the-mud, inherently-evil sinner
who's destiny is to burn in hell forever unless you are obedient to an angry, intolerant, violent, vengeful, easily-displeased, super-human-being sitting on a throne somewhere above the clouds?

T.L.C. Definitely not.

Big D Did anything you just said indicate that you must belong to a church to find God?

T.L.C. No.

Big D Did anything you just said indicate that you are inherently evil?

T.L.C. No.

Big D As a reporter who writes human interest stories you talk rather intimately with hundreds of people from all walks of life. Is that true?

T.L.C. Yes.

Big D Then, you must know that the inherently evil story just doesn't match common human behavior.

T.L.C. You are correct. It doesn't.

Big D Of course, there are ignorant, mentally- dysfunctional and/or desperate people who do evil things, but what about the average person?

T.L.C. They are kind, loving, and generous.

Big D How many times have you heard about people risking their lives to save someone else's life? How many times have you heard people say something like, "I want to make the world a better place." "How can I help?" "I want to make a contribution to society."?

T.L.C. Too many times to even count.

Big D Then why do most Christians perceive themselves as church-dependent, groveling-in-the-mud, inherently-evil sinners?

T.L.C. Because they have been sold a bill of goods by those who have a vested interest in keeping them in the role of servants and cash cows.

Big D And the sheep, with mindless obedience, have accepted the fundamentalist Christian illusion as if it were the "Absolute Truth."

I rest my case. Amen!

T.L.C. As one of my former girlfriends used to say; Ahh. . . Men!

Big D There's more. Shall we move on?

T.L.C. You didn't rest for very long.

Big D Stoney, you weren't listening to what I said. Let me say it again, I rest my case.

T.L.C. So it was your case you were resting and not you, yourself.

Big D Correct and the resting isn't like taking a nap. Rest-my- case means I have concluded offering information on this topic of discussion.

T.L.C. Why are you making a big deal of this?

Big D Because my job is to wake you up so that you see the subtle things that many people miss, and so that you see the fine distinctions that completely change the meaning of the messages you are sending or receiving.

T.L.C. Then, thank you.