Reading the posts in a chronological order is recommended.

martes, 10 de noviembre de 2015

WHAT MATTERS IS...

What matters about the enigma in Saint Matthew is not that it tells us that Mary had Jesus from her father-in-law. Since we do not have the bodies of Jesus and Joseph, we cannot not make DNA tests to see whether they indeed had the same father. What matters is that many centuries ago this enigma made the religious authorities believe that it says that Jesus was born of a virgin and that because of that misinterpretation today more than half of the world population – Christians and Muslims – today assumes that Jesus was born of a virgin.
What matters is that this enigma clearly demonstrates that we must question religious authorities. This enigma not only embarrasses the authorities of Christianity, but also those of Islam and of Judaism. Those of Christianity because they have studied the New Testament for centuries without noticing that its first chapter holds an enigma; those of  Islam because Mohammed said that Jesus was a prophet who was born of a virgin; and those of Judaism because an exhaustive study of the genealogies demonstrates that the person who created the genealogies in the gospels discovered the secrets in the genealogies in Genesis*, which is something they still ignore today. They still do not realize that the genealogy of Cain and the genealogy of Seth refer to the same family tree and that by processing all the information in Genesis regarding family ties one can discover several cases of incest, endogamy and extramaritual relations. A good example is Isaac’s wife Rebekah**, whose mother was Milcah, Lot’s sister, and whose father was Bethuel, Milcah’s son.
What matters is that this enigma teaches us to be critical with prophets and their revelations. Mohammed definitely made a mistake when he assumed that Jesus was a prophet who was born of a virgin. Therefore, we must question the nature of his revelations. However, to be critical with prophets does not mean to consider them imposers who invent their revelations. There is no reason for assuming that it is impossible to receive a revelation. It is not because some people are colorblind that colors don’t exist. It is not because most people have never had a revelation that it is impossible to have a revelation. There is, however, a good reason for investigating what happens when someone thinks that God or an archangel or the universe has talked to him and also for investigating revelations. When someone, for instance, hears a voice that says that people must sacrifice their firstborn son, how do we know it is God or the devil who demands people to do so?***
What matters about this enigma is that when we investigate the nature of a prophet we eventually learn to associate revelations with communications that come from the subconscious. Our subconscious functions like an enormous database. When all the information one ever learned or observed, consciously or not, suddenly gets processed, by looking for all kind of similarities, one can reach so many conclusions that one finally obtains a perfect understanding of oneself and the universe. That nobody obtains such a good comprehension is because:
a) few people receive messages from their subconscious.
b) not all information is right – Jesus, for instance, was not born of a virgin – and therefore one always has to question the messages that come from one’s subconscious.
c) someone who receives a message from his subconcious does not know what happens and can therefore assume that these new insights can only come from God, so that he doesn’t question them.
d) traumas make that our subconcious doesn’t process information right.
What matters about this enigma is that when we question prophets (Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, etcetera) we can bring people together who are now divided because their religions interprete the forces that govern the universe different. What matters is that by associating the forces that govern the universe – God – with the principle of cause and effect we can bring believers and non-believers together.
What matters about this enigma is that it demonstrates that also those famous agnostics and atheists who studied the Bible have not processed all the information regarding the genealogies right. Also they have ignored that the most important characteristic of lineages is that because of extramarital affairs some are real while others are supposed. Whereas one can be sure of a female lineage, always from mother to daughter, to be sure of the male lineage, always from father to son, one indeed has to do a DNA test for every generation one goes back in time. Official documents do not demonstrate who was the father of a child, but only indicate who was the husband of his mother.
What matters about this enigma is that a study of the genealogies shows that whenever the Bible ommits certain information or seems to contradicts itself, there is something that we still ignore. An example: Genesis does not tell us who was Haran’s wife, because he begot Lot and Milcah from one of the wives of his father Terah. Another example. Saint Matthew and Saint Luke offer different genealogies for Jesus because the former offers the real and the latter the supposed genealogy.
What matters about this enigma is that it shows that both the gospel of Saint Matthew, the first book of the New Testament, and Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, hold secrets. This demonstrates that calling a book ‘sacred’ originally meant to recognize that it holds secrets and that the word ‘religion’ once referred to the ‘rereading’ of a sacred book in order to discover its secrets. What matters is that this must make us wonder whether all the books that form part of the Bible hold secrets or only the first book of the OT and the first book of the NT. What matters is that we now have to ask what made the authorities – believers and non-believers – ignore these secrets. What matters is that when we question how authorities interprete our sacred books, we learn to investigate them ourselves. What matters is that when we stop to believe in authorities we start to believe in ourselves. What matters is that we now have to ask who created our sacred books and why they preferred to keep certain information secret for such a long time. What matters is that we have to ask who created this enigma and why he wanted to embarras the authorities at a given time. What matters is that we have to ask what is so special about this particular moment in time that, after almost two thousand years, the enigma in Saint Matthew suddenly reveals its secrets….

*The genealogies for Jesus in the Gospels of Saint Matthew and Saint Luke have the same dynamic as the genealogies of Seth and of Cain in Genesis. The former offer the real genealogy which is based on the ‘father begot son’ principle. The latter offer the supposed genealogy: whereas Saint Luke says Jesus was believed to be the son of Joseph, the genealogy of Cain starts with, “Cain knew his wife and she became pregnant and gave birth to.”
**The first mention of a virgin in the Bible is in reference to Rebekah.
*** Buddha once said: “We should not believe in something merely because we have heard it; nor in traditions because of their antiquity; nor in rumors spread by gossips, nor in words because they were written by wise men, nor in fantasies inspired by a Deva (and assumed to be derived from spiritual inspiration); nor in what appears to be logically necessary; nor in the sole authority of our teachers and masters; but we should consider all oral and written teachings that corroborate our reasons and conscience.

viernes, 6 de noviembre de 2015

EARLY CHRISTIANITY AND REINCARNATION

The early Christians were familiar with the principle of reincarnation. Before forming part of the Roman Empire, the Palestine had belonged to the Greeks. It was Alexander the Great who united a huge empire that brought the followers of different religions in contact with each other. This, for instance, enabled Buddhist monks to proselytize as far as Greece and Egypt. Therefore, the Jews and later also the first Christians were without any doubt familiar with the principle of reincarnation.
The fact that Jesus associates John the Baptist with Elijah demonstrates that He considered that John the Baptist was the reincarnation of Eliah.(Mt17:11-13) That Jesus believed in reincarnation becomes also obvious by the story of the man who had been blind from birth.(Jn9:1-3) This story clearly demonstrates that the disciples tried to get familiar with how the principle of karma works.
The Christian belief in heaven, purgatory and hell has a lot in common with the belief in reincarnation. Catholics believe that those who behave well go to heaven; that those who behave evil go to hell; and that those who either don’t behave completely well or bad go to purgatory where they receive a new opportunity. Therefore, they as well clearly associate how we behave in this life with what happens after our death.
The concept of a purgatory has a lot in common with how our karma works. What happens after purgatory? When we have neither behaved completely well nor completely bad during this new opportunity that we got, do we then afterwards go to yet another purgatory? If so, there must then be a lot of purgatories. History teaches us that mankind tends to make the same mistakes again and again. Where are all those purgatories supposed to be? When we reflect upon these questions we see that it’s more likely that we always return to the same world.
Most Protestants don’t believe in purgatory. They believe that people either go to heaven or hell. When we study history – or simply observe our society – we however see that most people neither behave completely well nor completely bad. How can Protestants then believe that after death people either go to heaven or to hell? Why should one get rewarded forever if he hasn’t completely behaved well during his life? And why should one get doomed forever if he hasn’t completely behaved bad during his life? Protestants are therefore not clear about what happens to the vast majority of people who neither behaved completely well nor completely bad.
Christians consider that heaven is a pleasant place and hell a terrible place. But what makes heaven pleasant and hell terrible isn’t the place itself, but the people that we encounter there. Whereas in heaven we only find those who have learned to live in harmony with the other people and with their environment, in hell we find those who haven’t yet done so.
The concept of hell has a lot in common with that of purgatory: whereas those who have learned to respect the others and their environment are ready for a harmonious society, all the others aren’t. They still have to learn how important it is to live in harmony by suffering the consequences of not doing so.

jueves, 5 de noviembre de 2015

PILATE AND JESUS’ KINGDOM

Jesus’ words, “My kingdom is not of this world” have been terribly misinterpreted. It is because of this that today Christians assume paradise on earth is impossible, even though Jesus was a Jew and believed it is possible.
The story about Jesus being led to Pilate give us the impression that the Roman governor, was a righteous man who, seeing no reason to accuse Jesus, tried to release him by taking advantage of the custom of setting a prisoner free during the Easter festival.
To understand Jesus’ words we however have to take into acount the historical context. At that time the Romans feared a rebellion. It is logical that Pilate was vexed by the fact that Jesus Christ was called the Messiah and the King of the Jews. He knew that many Jews expected the Messiah to liberate them from the Romans. And he also knew that someone who was referred to as the King of the Jews – Jesus was a direct descendant of King David following the paternal lineage – could unite all the different Jewish sects in a war against the Romans.
It is in response to Pilate’s question “Are you the king of the Jews?” that Jesus says “My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. As it is, my kingdom does not belong here.”(Jn18:36) It is therefore quite evident that Jesus sought to reassure Pilate by trying to make him understand that he had nothing to fear. Jesus considered himself a spiritual leader and not a worldly leader. The fact that he was called the King of the Jews had to do with him being a descendant of King David following a paternal lineage.

We thus see that these stories about Pilate and Barabbas conceal a complex reality: we must bear in mind that the New Testament aspired to help Christianity become the official religion of the Roman Empire and therefore could not allow criticism of the Romans.

miércoles, 4 de noviembre de 2015

BARABBAS

The gospels say that Pilate lets the Jews decide whether he should free Jesus or Barabbas. Whereas Saint Matthew only says of Barabbas that he was a notorious prisoner (Mt27:16), according to Saint John he was a thief (Jn18:40), while Saint Mark and Saint Luke tell us that he was in jail with the rebels who had committed murder during the uprising (Mc15:7/Lc23:19). However, ‘bar’ and ‘abba’ are Aramaic (the language spoken at that time in those territories) and mean ‘son’ and ‘father’, respectively. Therefore, ‘Barabbas’ literally means ‘son of the father’.
The fact that Pilate lets the people choose between Jesus and someone called ‘the son of the father’ suggests that he had arrested Jesus’ son*. This means that Pilate gave the Jews no real choice. If they chose Jesus, he would feel guilty about the death of his son. By choosing Barabbas, the Jews opted for that particular male lineage that many generations would lead to Jesus’ Second Coming.
Because of the traditional interpretation of this story, many Christians used to regard the Jews as the people who took Jesus away from them, instead of those who gave him to the world. The accusation of being Jesus’ murderers has been responsible for a lot of hatred and has led to several genocides during which Christians killed many Jews.


*Traditionally Jesus was believed to be 33 years old at the time of his crucifixion, but today even the Vatican assumes he was about 40 years old. This is also the age the prophet Mohamed had when he received his enlightenment, and is also the age at which people suffer a crisis that makes them reflect upon their life and the meaning of it all. This explains why Cabbalists (Jewish mystics) believe that one has to be over 40 in order to understand the Holy Scriptures.

martes, 3 de noviembre de 2015

JESUS: THE MESSIAH?

Christians say Jesus was the Messiah.* Jews say he was not. When we consider the principle of reincarnation, we can understand how the first Christians may have considered that Jesus was the Messiah, even though he did not restore harmony, which is what the Jews expect of the Messiah. They may have been convinced that one of Jesus’ reincarnations Jesus’ Second Coming would restore harmony on earth. Therefore, the Messiah that the Jews are awaiting may be the same person as the Second Coming of Jesus that the Christians are awaiting.
Since God has something in common with Enoch, and Enoch has something in common with Abraham, David, Josías and Jesus, we can wonder whether first every 8 later every 14 generations, this special male lineage, going from Adam to Jesus, attracted a very special spirit after crossing itself again with the same special female lineage.
In case that Abraham created the mystery on which the Old Testament is based – later we will see that there is a good reason for assuming this was so –, it should not surprise us that Jesus, a reincarnation of Abraham, discovered its secrets.
Christians assume that Jesus had no descendants. However, it makes little sense to assume that this special male lineage ends with Jesus. When one studies the genealogies in the Bible one can indeed assume that Jesus’ Second Coming will not only be a reincarnation of Jesus, but also a descendant of Jesus. The fact there are fourteen Stations of the Cross, just like there are fourteen generations from Abraham to David, from David to Josiah and from Josiah to Jesus, suggests that Jesus’ male lineage continued.


*Christian authorities claim that Jesus was the Messiah because he saved the world by dying on the Cross, but they ignore the symbolism of the crucifixion and what is expected of the Messiah. Would Jesus have saved the world if he had been decapitated?

domingo, 1 de noviembre de 2015

THE BIBLE & REINCARNATION

Reincarnation and karma are ideas that are closely related.The principle of karma is that whatever harm we cause to others, will be caused to us in our next lives.
Hillel, a famous Jewish religious leader of the first century BC, said that the Bible teaches us not do to others what is hateful to us. He thus clearly associated the Bible with the principle of karma.
The Ten Commandments are based on this principle. It is not because God forbids to kill, to commit adultery, to steal, to give false testimony against a neighbor or to long for things that belong to a neighbor, that we should not do so, but because we hate it when others do that to us.
The principle of karma does not take into account what is legally allowed are forbidden – there is a lot of legal theft and a lot of legal killing – but takes into account the bad vibrations that people feel when someone harms them. Those who think that they can get away with bad behavior will learn from ‘suffering’ the consequences.

People who realize that the ‘eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ law refers to how one’s karma works no longer look for revenge – they realize that doing so creates a vicious circle of violence leading to more violence – but protect themselves against other people’s violence by studying what circumstances lead to violence and how they can alter those circumstances.