As someone with an intense historical interest in the development of the
Christian faith, I'm intrigued by some of the points you've made.
<<
b) while the East has had a long tradition of very pacifistic spiritual
development prior to Buddha, there was none such (except for small groups
like
the Essenes) in the Middle East or Europe at the time of Jesus, he was a
bit of
a pioneer in the region for what he had to say.
>>
Actually, from my reading, I have the impression that almost nothing he
purportedly said or did was original with him. What do you think is unique
about his teaching?
<<
c) keep in mind that the Bible as we know it is only a small part of all of
the
biographical texts, and that the two gospels which were actually written by
actual disciples of Jesus were left out of the Bible because they weren't
conducive to a stern autocratic Church. The four gospels that are in the
Bible
were written 70-150 years after the death of Jesus, and are thus open to
significant debate as to whether the quotes attributed to Jesus are
actually
what he said. The Gospel of Thomas, and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene can be
found in the Nag Hammadi, along with a number of other texts which paint a
much
different picture of Jesus.
>>
I'm with you on this, except I never heard of a Gospel of Mary Magdalene. I
thought I knew of all of the NT apocrypha. Can you point me to a reference?
<<
d) keep in mind also that Jesus was more of a political figure than the
Bible
lets on. Since the marriage of his two parents reunited the two Houses of
David
(and his purported marriage at Cana to Mary Magdalene would have united the
House of David with the House of Saul) he was a royal figure in Isreal,
[...]
>>
What's this about the two Houses of David? I don't find such in my studies
of ancient literature (not that I'm anything like an erudite scholar). And
what's the basis for asserting that Jesus married the Magdalene? I've seen
speculation on this, and it titllates my fancy, but I know of no actual
confirming evidence. I'd be greatly in your debt if you could provide
references for these contentions.
<<
Given all this, I would also put emails from Jesus in my kill file, as I'm
not
in the mood to get strung up and disemboweled, thank you, for associating
with a
known subversive figure who can't seem to pull of a decent revolt, has
little
military inclination, and succeeds in pissing off as many people around him
as
possible....
>>
ROTFL!
Upward,
Dick