Just finished The Jesus Papers, by Michael Gaigent , put it in your browser, publisher Harper... you can then see the controversy, the television comments, etc. Does it matter to you that Jesus was a man? Does it matter to you that the Catholic Church created a myth around the figure of a man, who had moved the world to a new form of "Judaism'", as some refer to the Catholic religion?
What about a man (Jesus) that could say this, " If the flesh came for the sake of the spirit, it is a miracle. But, if the spirit for the sake of the flesh- it is a miracle of miracles." This is from the Gospel of Thomas discovered in 1945, Quoted from The Mathematical Experience, page 54 by P. Davis and R. Hersh, which I am reading along with Desire of the Everlasting Hills, by Thomas Cahill.
Ghengis Khan, is on the after burner, because as I was reading The Jesus Papers, my friend Skip recommended a book, that I am waiting for. While looking at the review for the book Skip suggested, I came across, Desire, and it was so close to the Jesus Papers I thought why not stay with Jesus for awhile, while I am in that world.
Interesting to note, the Temple when destroyed in 70, was then represented by the Temple in Egypt for a few hundred years, according to The Jesus Papers. Egypt was the land of mysticism, and it is thought that the ideas that Jesus came forward with, where learned in Egypt. In other books maybe by this same author, the teaching of the Egyptians, followed Moses into the promised land, since Moses was a Pharoh, he had to be ordained into the secret mysteries. There where divisions in the Jewish beliefs, at the time of Jesus, the orthodox beliefs were predominant, they had lost the mysticism of the past, and focused more on the flesh, such as the forebearers, and the line that carried the blood.
It is an interesting read. What it boils down to, is that like any religion the story is set by the authors of your religion, to what people are willing to accept and believe as the truth, but if you are spiritual, does it really change anything for you? Was Jesus worthy of sainthood? Does it matter if he is not God, but a Saint? What does any of this matter, except to bring us to the realization that religion is all seeking the same answers. Where do we come from? What is our purpose on earth? Shall we blindly follow murderers in the name of religion? Heaven is within us, and so are the answers.
I went into Desire of the Everlasting Hills, as my next read, because it discusses the world before and after Jesus. When I read a book, I enter that world, and want to stay in that world, while it is still in my mind. This book has fabulous reviews from the New York Times, and Philadelphia Inquirer. Will keep you posted on how it feels to read it, after The Jesus Papers