Jesus The Violent or Jesus The Peacemaker
What if the various stories in the bible represent an evolution in the way in which an ancient people came to understand God? A story of how their vision of a God that was the Father of all things, became the God of the whole world? From Nomadic tribal hunter gatherers, to farmers (the stories of Cain and Able, Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael and Esau and Jacob). From Jacob who was named Israel by God, because he was tenacious in his struggle with God, came twelve sons who became twelve separate tribes—and ultimately, a powerful nation.
It isn’t history the way a modern people would write it, but, the history of an ancient Middle Eastern people, written the way they would write it. If modern methods were used, it would be the surest evidence that it was a much later forgery and not a genuine historic document.
That doesn’t mean that the history being reported is actually being written at the time of the events. The first language sophisticated enough to preserve complex historic details wasn’t in wide spread use until about 700 years before Christ. That’s why allegory and myth were used by ancient people to tell their stories. There was no one around with a recording device, preserving extended conversations. And oral traditions tend to be simplified, easy to remember phrases like “Columbus sailed the ocean blue, in 1492”.
Understood correctly, the bible is the history of how a small tribal people went from tribal nomads, to an agrarian culture and then became slaves. From slaves they were transformed into a warrior society, and then a fledgling monarchy. From Bronze Age “Kingdom warriors” they became an Iron Age super power—and eventually, slaves once again. It was a very literal notion of salvation, from a very literal bondage that was their concern, not heaven or hell.
The bible tells the story of their rise to power and their fall from grace, like a Quentin Tarantino movie—told out of context and looking back. Genesis provides the origin myth and the metaphor—and Jesus provides the fulfilled vision, the living embodiment of Israel’s God, offering the way of peace to Israel first, and then, to the whole world.
It isn’t history the way a modern people would write it, but, the history of an ancient Middle Eastern people, written the way they would write it. If modern methods were used, it would be the surest evidence that it was a much later forgery and not a genuine historic document.
That doesn’t mean that the history being reported is actually being written at the time of the events. The first language sophisticated enough to preserve complex historic details wasn’t in wide spread use until about 700 years before Christ. That’s why allegory and myth were used by ancient people to tell their stories. There was no one around with a recording device, preserving extended conversations. And oral traditions tend to be simplified, easy to remember phrases like “Columbus sailed the ocean blue, in 1492”.
Understood correctly, the bible is the history of how a small tribal people went from tribal nomads, to an agrarian culture and then became slaves. From slaves they were transformed into a warrior society, and then a fledgling monarchy. From Bronze Age “Kingdom warriors” they became an Iron Age super power—and eventually, slaves once again. It was a very literal notion of salvation, from a very literal bondage that was their concern, not heaven or hell.
The bible tells the story of their rise to power and their fall from grace, like a Quentin Tarantino movie—told out of context and looking back. Genesis provides the origin myth and the metaphor—and Jesus provides the fulfilled vision, the living embodiment of Israel’s God, offering the way of peace to Israel first, and then, to the whole world.
That is “Jesus the Peacenik” the “Anti-misogynist” in a world of misogyny. Jesus, the defender of women, the poor, widow, orphan and stranger in a deeply patriarchal society divided by great wealth for the few, and great poverty for the many. That is the Jesus of history, sitting just beneath all the faith based preaching and symbolism that was the preferred method used by ancient people to explain the meaning of things. How do we know this? Because it is the genuine historical backdrop that the story takes place in. And, more importantly, it can be known and verified.
There will be folk who will argue “All things are possible with God”! They’re right, of course. So, maybe God, through his supernatural power, called all things into remembrance when writing scripture. If he did, using supernatural methods, instead of human methods, there would be no “real” evidence to speak of. Why? Because evidence means: actual footprints in the sand, pottery, architecture, vestiges of real, discernable, people, places and things, interpreted using genuine historical methods. The supernatural, by definition, exists outside of nature—and therefore, can’t be proven or offered as evidence. What seems reasonable at first, may be, anything but!
This may make the process of getting at the truth, or something close to it, difficult, but it’s absolutely necessary. With it, our blessed assurances may seem less sure—our simple theology of eternal life, reward and punishment less obvious. Should we expect it to be otherwise? Let me quote Jesus “Sell everything you own, and come follow me”! “Love the Lord your God with all your heart—and then, love your enemy as you love yourself! Then, you will have treasure in heaven”!
If that sounds hard, that appears to be his intention. This was his general response to the oft asked questions about eternal rewards, asked in the face of genuine suffering and misery that was observable everywhere. Jesus seems to be saying “You want to talk about eternal life, but, you ignore the suffering all around you”! “Get a life, a real life”! That seems to be Jesus idea of eternal life, things that won’t rust and decay, but eternal truths. Not just in his time, but, for all time.
Mark Magula
There will be folk who will argue “All things are possible with God”! They’re right, of course. So, maybe God, through his supernatural power, called all things into remembrance when writing scripture. If he did, using supernatural methods, instead of human methods, there would be no “real” evidence to speak of. Why? Because evidence means: actual footprints in the sand, pottery, architecture, vestiges of real, discernable, people, places and things, interpreted using genuine historical methods. The supernatural, by definition, exists outside of nature—and therefore, can’t be proven or offered as evidence. What seems reasonable at first, may be, anything but!
This may make the process of getting at the truth, or something close to it, difficult, but it’s absolutely necessary. With it, our blessed assurances may seem less sure—our simple theology of eternal life, reward and punishment less obvious. Should we expect it to be otherwise? Let me quote Jesus “Sell everything you own, and come follow me”! “Love the Lord your God with all your heart—and then, love your enemy as you love yourself! Then, you will have treasure in heaven”!
If that sounds hard, that appears to be his intention. This was his general response to the oft asked questions about eternal rewards, asked in the face of genuine suffering and misery that was observable everywhere. Jesus seems to be saying “You want to talk about eternal life, but, you ignore the suffering all around you”! “Get a life, a real life”! That seems to be Jesus idea of eternal life, things that won’t rust and decay, but eternal truths. Not just in his time, but, for all time.
Mark Magula