Should mention, sumerian (and other contemporary civiliastations) mythology is the subject i referred to, there are probably better sources (books even.....) than wiki, obviously. But when you refer to "intellectual" basis, i figure you actually mean an archeological, or otherwise scientific study of its basis, not theology. You have practically all of the basic plot samples of the bible, lifted or abstractly plagiarised from earlier cultures. Adam and eve? Possibly an abstraction of gilgamesh, (though i gather there are much earlier versions), there cant have been that many pines on cypress, maybe an elaborate (yet primitive) essay on deforestation, who knows. Noah, the flood? Same. Eye for an eye? Lifted directly from hammurabi, though its entirely likely many cultures would have similiar law, due to its being so remarkably stupid. Hebrew jehovah? An amalgamation of numerous other gods, given creedence by the force of Akhenaten's monotheism, though widely unpoular at the time. The sumerians, wore a traditional dress of a sheepskin skirt, and many of their unearthed "spiritual" representations contain-wait for it-horns. Short of the actual cloven feet, you have right there, an image of both the greek pan, and later variations of the devil as a pan like trickster (or similiar) , in various modified versions. They also, according to archeological evidence, were among the very first dam builders, diverting the euphrates to their ends-though its practically a given, the early egyptians attempted much the same thing, but sooner, or later? Either way, they were the first known large scale irrigators, so its entirely plausable either total ignorance or inexperience could have led to various flooding and famine, easily, resulting in any number of extra gods(or even a single god, because some of them didnt do their job) and myths. Its critical, to consider how many people of the time were actually literate,(and in which language) and who exactly was writing these texts.
Plato was penning furiously in this interim. I appreciated his story of The Cave. It is a story about men imprisoned in a cave, chained so tightly they can't move enough to turn their heads or even their eyes. All they can see is the wall of this cave in front of them. They've been there so long it's all they can remember; it's all they know. They can see shadows on the wall in front of them and hear some sound. Because it's all they know, they think that what they're looking at is reality. It's all pretty dismal, but they're so used to it they think it's normal and they become accustomed to it. Finally, one of the prisoners manages to break free, and he's able to turn around and see that he is in a cave. He can also see some light coming from the direction of the entrance. It takes a long time for his eyes to be able to stand the light, but when he makes it to the entrance he can see people walking by the road outside, and it's their shadows that are being cast onto the wall inside the cave. Realizing that the prisoners inside the cave can't see that what they're looking at is untrue, the freed prisoner goes back and tries to share his knowledge with them. They're so used to their own way of thinking that they don't really want to hear what the free one has to say. In fact, it's just the opposite. They want to kill him. For Plato, the free one was his mentor, Socrates, who was executed by being forced to drink poison. Plato was trying to tell the world with that story that your reality is not at all what you think it is. As great as Plato was, he didn't really know where the shadows were coming from. He thought the light was coming from the Good, which is true symbolically. But he also thought that these shadows people see with the bodies eyes all of their lives were being cast by perfect ideas of each thing. That is not true. I learned what was really casting the shadows, and what to do about it. Jesus
Thanks i am (no im not!), for pointing out the clear similarities of pre christian philosophical thought and the resultant resurrection myth. Apochryphal, derivative "thought for the illiterate dummies ", available now on amazon. Oddly, nobody has countered my notion that the great flood actually occured in those intervening years, thus deriving me of a punchline, about which i am greatly saddened. Oh wait, it wasn't a cloud lion casting those shadows? http://www.crazyabouttv.com/Images/renegade.jpg Man, i would hate for a cloud-lion to be doing that. So hard to see...........
The cave is this place you call the universe...all of time, space and form. The forms you see are merely symbols of something else. The forms are cast by thought - ideas - taking the form of energy. The most prevalent theme behind all form is the idea of separation. This is not "the Good". Its a dream of madness. You've been chained to this universe in one form of body or another for what, millions of years? So long you can't remember where you came from or who you are. Your eyeballs tell you the forms are real, but they are not. Resurrection is the freeing of the imprisoned mind that casts the shadows of form such as bodies. Resurrection is the same as waking a sleeping mind. I accomplished this before performing any miracles. The resurrection of my body was symbolic of a mind already awake. You are still sleeping, and enjoy your dreams too much to be bothered right now. But your time will come. "The lion will lay down with the lamb" means that strength is found in innocence and defenselessness. So I, nor my Father attack what seems to be your will to dream of bodies that die. You can keep doing it as many times as you like. But some day you will hear the call to waken. You will look around and see that you are really imprisoned in a cave, and you will desire to be free...awake. Jesus
Before me, there were many fine teachers that challenged others to rise above the world. I benefited from these teachers, especially the one's who taught about forgiveness. The resurrection was the culmination of a fine education. Why do you insist it must be a myth just because I did my homework? I was able to make a demonstration because I did my homework. Is that unusual? What I did with my body was my thesis for a masters degree. It would be sophomoric not to consider the reports of fellow classmates who've graduated. Jesus
Btw, its my humble opinion, that the lion and the lamb aspect, is in fact an almost hidden reference to guerrilla warfare doctrine, practiced by the zionists and maccabees, and pretty much everyone else who came into contact with the roman army. The entire problem, not that i feel its a problem per se, Mr. jesus, is you are basically banging on about resurrectionist concepts, conveniently ignoring the fact, the larger modern cult of stupidity is based on shit you , in your "real "guise as a communist traitor , are entirely opposed to. Your version of "things" is eastern, taoist actually, yet claiming to be jesus is the last thing that might actually convince anyone to do anything particularly peacefull, or otherwise potentially good for mankind, not the wwf wrestler, i gather he passed away.
Before you, after you, your everyone, by your writing.No? And heres a tip, i did more than jc , in a shorter time frame, with more accurate , reliable results. Thats right-more miracles, per capita. Astonishingly, nothing i did produced a result, jesus likewise. Where does that point?
What is your meaning in this sentence? I mean that you will accomplish the same kinds of things I did. Merely beware of any religion that uses my name but maintains a cemetery on the back forty. The resurrection is the complete triumph of the Son of God over the ego, not by attack but by transcendence. The entire Sonship, including you, will eventually rise above the ego and all its works, and ascend to the Father and His Kingdom. I have infinite patience in this process. You will awaken to your own call, for the Call to awake is within you. I simply realized God's Son is saved. Bring only this awareness to the Sonship, and you will have a part in the redemption as valuable as mine. Again, what is your meaning here? There are an unlimited number of miracles you can do once you get the hang of it. Ultimately they are to teach you to disregard the idea that one thing is more difficult than another. They prepare you for reassimilation back into reality. There is no order of difficulty in miracles because all of God's Sons are of equal value, and the equality is their oneness. Jesus
the catholic church and the teachings of jesus are two different things. you are either interested in what einstein said or what people wrote and thought about einstein. though you might find both amusing.