The DaVinci Code , really caused a stir, when the author Dan Brown, built a yarn based on , "Holy Blood, Holy Grail, now people are reviewing art and looking for clues to more mystery. Who knows what will come of the new enthusiastic searches?
Right now I am reading, The Jesus Papers, and what comes to mind is the similarity with our times, and the times of Christ. The Jewish people were in constant revolt, against the Romans. Religion was a major factor in the unrest. Though the Romans sent Legions, the unrest would settle down and arise again. A lesson for us? Does conquering a nation settle what is brewing in the mindset of a people?
Religion and its teachings, seem to be the hotbed of dissension in the world ,as it was over 2000 years ago, and maybe since the beginning of time. Someone person, or people come up with a religious story, and indoctrinate a group of people, who then indoctrinate their children and so on. Maybe this would not be so bad, if suicide, murder, death and wars were not part of what was included in the teachings.
Every religion in ancient times, seems to have required sacrifice, of some kind.
All religions were aggrarian. Religions evolved, as did the people who practiced them. Religions that adhere to the ancient aggrarian beliefs of sacrifice, suicide, and law that is man made, seem to have the hardest time in the world we know now.
When I was a child reading the free encylopedias from the Saturday movies, I decided then and there, that I would not be a St. Bernadette, nor would I be a gladiator in the Roman Colsseum, nor would I be a dead patriot.
What made sense to me, was to live, to carry the message that survived the ignorance of death for a cause.
The Jesus Papers, recants that Jesus, as we know was born a Jew, practiced his religion, and died a Jew. So, in thinking about this, how in the world did the Jewish religion get dropped from the new religion of Christianity.
Well of course you could not preach that you were waiting for a Messiah from the chosen people who had to be a descendant of Aron and David, as was Christ, and that this descendant would lead the Jewish people only, as King of the Jews(from David) and Chief Rabbi( from Aron), if you were going to prosletyze. So there was a period of time before the new testament was formulated from the gospels, and at that time, the new religion, dropped the Jewish heritage of Christ and began a practice of worshipping the Mesiah, that was not inclusive of the ancient religion of the Jews, since that religion was exclusive to people born of Jewish heritage.
Interesting, that man hath his hand in everything of this world. What is not tainted by the hand of man? The quest to prove Jesus a man, after all, remains for those of us that wish to pursue it, unhindered or guided by the hand of man.
What do you believe? Is there a Kingdom of Heaven? Is it within you, as Christ said? What gain was there for the gospels to set forth the parables of Christ, before the advent of the Christian church? Did the parables constitute the man made laws of a religion or did they set forth ideas for us to think about and delve into, as we must delve into our spirit, in our journey through life.
