Jesus and The Magic Slippers
There is no story more controversial than the story of Jesus. This includes The Gospels, as well as the writing of the 1st century intellectual and apologist "The Apostle Paul", whose writings comprise the core of what we call "The New Testament". It is this "New Bible”, nearly two thousand years old, mind you, that casts such a long shadow on all human endeavor—from the beginning of all things till their end. This not a statement of faith, but of fact, regardless of ones personal beliefs. How and why it became so is discussed over and over by scholars from a range of disciplines, each trying to find the essential key that will unlock its meaning and once and for all separate history from religion.
Whether such a separation is possible or not depends on how we understand the meaning of words and the way in which they were used by different people in different times and places. We must also ask "Can facts alone ever get to heart of things"? Or, are they only a reiteration of information representing mechanical processes—like trying to understand the power of love by exploring biological and chemical interaction in the brain.
Scientists increasingly make this kind of mechanistic argument, suggesting that human life can be reduced to a few pennies worth of chemicals. That no scientist has begun to figure out how this combination of a few chemicals creates anything, whether nonliving matter, or life with all its staggering complexity, is often overlooked.
Religion has a similar problem. For many true believers God in his myriad incarnations is the final answer to any and all questions. If God didn't say it through one the various ancient holy books written by different men in the distant past, it's of no consequence. This might indicate that our ancestors possessed a different kind of knowledge, one more intimately connected to the supernatural. As primitive man gave way to enlightened man something beyond facts was lost. We are prompted to choose between ancient cultures that possessed no real knowledge of outer-space; gravity, solar systems, the movement of the earth around the sun, or inner-space; atoms, protons, or the relationship between bacteria and sickness, versus our modern society with its endless benefits. If this seems counterintuitive, it is, but actual knowledge can be difficult to attain, a simplified belief the universe can be reduced to a few basic concepts of good and evil has its appeal.
Clearly, we lose something when we begin to rely on the technological advances that science has made abundant. In the same way we are probably less healthy when we can drive a car as opposed to ride a bike or walk. The advantages, however, produce a radical benefit, even if there are some losses.
There appears to be a desire to return to a world of magic, where demons and angels are the cause of sickness and blessing and God can be conjured by the appropriate prayers. It is more than a desire for simplicity. It's a rejection of rationality, a revolution of intellectual Luddites, eager for a universe with simple solutions--a return to the Dark Ages. Why work your way through demanding concepts when the right prayer will do?
For Christians, Jesus is the timeless God dropped into a temporal world, speaking only eternal truths. Not a teacher, a Rabbi, which is what he was called, even by his own students. He is, in that way, disconnected from history. If God is timeless, Jesus, being God, is timeless as well--meaning that he can never really be understood by looking at the past or by examining his culture, since it's only his culture in a very temporary sense.
This has the unfortunate effect of making Jesus as unknowable as the God he claims to embody. He has the appearance of humanity, but none of its limitations. By elevating Jesus to the status of the "Eternal" God we have given him honor, but we've also rendered him a cipher. This has its appeal and is almost certainly why "Knowing" Jesus has come to mean “Worshiping” Jesus, not actually knowing what he taught, accept as it regards his divinity. His teaching is a good thing, but, it's acknowledging his role as our Messiah, King, Prophet and High Priest that is really important.
There is one glaring problem, however, the Jesus of history was none of these things, held none of these offices, not King, Prophet or High Priest, except metaphorically and symbolically. Neither did he deliver his people from the consequence of their sin, which is what the term "Messiah" means, since they continued to be in literal bondage even after his death. In other words, Jesus embodied these things through his actions and their symbolic meaning only--and the minute we open that Pandora's Box of metaphor and symbolism we are forced to think about things differently. This is where words like "Spiritual" begin to be used in literal, non-symbolic ways, implying an alternate reality, a very real spiritual realm that is comprised of God and his earlier creation; heaven and hell, angels and demons.
Any attempt to read the gospels by reading only the "Red words" in the bible, the "Jesus words", would be no different than recording a conversation between various people and then eliminate all of the voices but one. A disembodied conversation is no conversation at all. A story without context isn't a story, and it certainly isn't history, it's just a reiteration of facts.
Therein is one of the biggest problems. Ask most Christians if the Bible is actually rooted in history and they'll likely say without hesitation, "Yes"! If so, it must be accessible using historical methods, and there will be some kind of paper trail, with words that have meaning in their historical context.
Some form of transcendent literalism has its appeal, since cold, hard facts like numbers can more easily be grasped. There is no need to try and understand the layers of meaning that are inherent in all manner of difficult teaching. "Jesus by the numbers" allows us to eliminate subtlety and complexity and deal strictly with information, providing us with a checklist of actions and rituals that are intended to garner God's favor. It is a return to legalism, with immutable laws and immediate consequences. And when this reality becomes too harsh, we can use God's grace as a kind of spiritual white-out, simply apply a dab of God's grace to sin and he'll do the rest, but only for those who've made the necessary confessions.
This is Christianity reduced to a religion of magic spells and incantations, with God as a genie to be conjured, and if you believe with all your heart, using the correct biblical passages and spoken with lofty sounding rhetoric and deep conviction God is obligated to respond in the affirmative!
Think of Dorothy from the "Wizard of Oz" clicking her heels together, saying "There's no place like home, there's no place like home." The words alone are insufficient, you must truly believe, only then you will be transported home. One can imagine the eternal God of heaven applying something like a supernatural faith-o-meter to detect when our belief has reached sufficient levels.
This same nonsense was also the dogma of Jesus' day. God could be conjured to act on your behalf if you offered up the necessary sacrifices and offerings. A lowly pigeon tended to be the sacrifice of poor people, because it was all they could afford. A dove was a step up, not much of one, mind you, but it was better than nothing or a pigeon. A lamb was better still, preferably an all white spotless lamb, apparently God is a stickler for the power of symbolism. A bull was even better, it was big and indicated prosperity, and if person was so clearly prosperous it would be obvious to all that God must be behind it, the carcass of a massive slaughtered animal and the smell of charred meat was evidence enough of such truths.
And so it goes. No one today offers, bulls or pigeons, they offer money, cold, hard cash, building "God's Kingdom" with hundred dollar bills and the rent money. The Pastor with the nice house and car, the well dressed wife and kids are merely symbols of God's blessing, to be observed as a standard to aspire to for the dispossessed, just as the fine clothing and houses were in Jesus time.
Never has so much nonsense been conjured by so much willful ignorance. Is it any wonder that Christianity is losing ground among the young, especially among the young and educated?
A Jesus disconnected from the "real world" offering only the solace of the afterlife for the widow, poor, orphan and stranger, is a Jesus disconnected from scripture, history and meaning.
Should we be surprised? This is what happens when we read only the "Red words" without any context, selecting only those scriptures that reinforce our personal beliefs. It becomes our personal letter to God, cut out of carefully selected biblical passages and pasted together--a ransom note without fingerprints, with God as the hostage.
Mark Magula
Whether such a separation is possible or not depends on how we understand the meaning of words and the way in which they were used by different people in different times and places. We must also ask "Can facts alone ever get to heart of things"? Or, are they only a reiteration of information representing mechanical processes—like trying to understand the power of love by exploring biological and chemical interaction in the brain.
Scientists increasingly make this kind of mechanistic argument, suggesting that human life can be reduced to a few pennies worth of chemicals. That no scientist has begun to figure out how this combination of a few chemicals creates anything, whether nonliving matter, or life with all its staggering complexity, is often overlooked.
Religion has a similar problem. For many true believers God in his myriad incarnations is the final answer to any and all questions. If God didn't say it through one the various ancient holy books written by different men in the distant past, it's of no consequence. This might indicate that our ancestors possessed a different kind of knowledge, one more intimately connected to the supernatural. As primitive man gave way to enlightened man something beyond facts was lost. We are prompted to choose between ancient cultures that possessed no real knowledge of outer-space; gravity, solar systems, the movement of the earth around the sun, or inner-space; atoms, protons, or the relationship between bacteria and sickness, versus our modern society with its endless benefits. If this seems counterintuitive, it is, but actual knowledge can be difficult to attain, a simplified belief the universe can be reduced to a few basic concepts of good and evil has its appeal.
Clearly, we lose something when we begin to rely on the technological advances that science has made abundant. In the same way we are probably less healthy when we can drive a car as opposed to ride a bike or walk. The advantages, however, produce a radical benefit, even if there are some losses.
There appears to be a desire to return to a world of magic, where demons and angels are the cause of sickness and blessing and God can be conjured by the appropriate prayers. It is more than a desire for simplicity. It's a rejection of rationality, a revolution of intellectual Luddites, eager for a universe with simple solutions--a return to the Dark Ages. Why work your way through demanding concepts when the right prayer will do?
For Christians, Jesus is the timeless God dropped into a temporal world, speaking only eternal truths. Not a teacher, a Rabbi, which is what he was called, even by his own students. He is, in that way, disconnected from history. If God is timeless, Jesus, being God, is timeless as well--meaning that he can never really be understood by looking at the past or by examining his culture, since it's only his culture in a very temporary sense.
This has the unfortunate effect of making Jesus as unknowable as the God he claims to embody. He has the appearance of humanity, but none of its limitations. By elevating Jesus to the status of the "Eternal" God we have given him honor, but we've also rendered him a cipher. This has its appeal and is almost certainly why "Knowing" Jesus has come to mean “Worshiping” Jesus, not actually knowing what he taught, accept as it regards his divinity. His teaching is a good thing, but, it's acknowledging his role as our Messiah, King, Prophet and High Priest that is really important.
There is one glaring problem, however, the Jesus of history was none of these things, held none of these offices, not King, Prophet or High Priest, except metaphorically and symbolically. Neither did he deliver his people from the consequence of their sin, which is what the term "Messiah" means, since they continued to be in literal bondage even after his death. In other words, Jesus embodied these things through his actions and their symbolic meaning only--and the minute we open that Pandora's Box of metaphor and symbolism we are forced to think about things differently. This is where words like "Spiritual" begin to be used in literal, non-symbolic ways, implying an alternate reality, a very real spiritual realm that is comprised of God and his earlier creation; heaven and hell, angels and demons.
Any attempt to read the gospels by reading only the "Red words" in the bible, the "Jesus words", would be no different than recording a conversation between various people and then eliminate all of the voices but one. A disembodied conversation is no conversation at all. A story without context isn't a story, and it certainly isn't history, it's just a reiteration of facts.
Therein is one of the biggest problems. Ask most Christians if the Bible is actually rooted in history and they'll likely say without hesitation, "Yes"! If so, it must be accessible using historical methods, and there will be some kind of paper trail, with words that have meaning in their historical context.
Some form of transcendent literalism has its appeal, since cold, hard facts like numbers can more easily be grasped. There is no need to try and understand the layers of meaning that are inherent in all manner of difficult teaching. "Jesus by the numbers" allows us to eliminate subtlety and complexity and deal strictly with information, providing us with a checklist of actions and rituals that are intended to garner God's favor. It is a return to legalism, with immutable laws and immediate consequences. And when this reality becomes too harsh, we can use God's grace as a kind of spiritual white-out, simply apply a dab of God's grace to sin and he'll do the rest, but only for those who've made the necessary confessions.
This is Christianity reduced to a religion of magic spells and incantations, with God as a genie to be conjured, and if you believe with all your heart, using the correct biblical passages and spoken with lofty sounding rhetoric and deep conviction God is obligated to respond in the affirmative!
Think of Dorothy from the "Wizard of Oz" clicking her heels together, saying "There's no place like home, there's no place like home." The words alone are insufficient, you must truly believe, only then you will be transported home. One can imagine the eternal God of heaven applying something like a supernatural faith-o-meter to detect when our belief has reached sufficient levels.
This same nonsense was also the dogma of Jesus' day. God could be conjured to act on your behalf if you offered up the necessary sacrifices and offerings. A lowly pigeon tended to be the sacrifice of poor people, because it was all they could afford. A dove was a step up, not much of one, mind you, but it was better than nothing or a pigeon. A lamb was better still, preferably an all white spotless lamb, apparently God is a stickler for the power of symbolism. A bull was even better, it was big and indicated prosperity, and if person was so clearly prosperous it would be obvious to all that God must be behind it, the carcass of a massive slaughtered animal and the smell of charred meat was evidence enough of such truths.
And so it goes. No one today offers, bulls or pigeons, they offer money, cold, hard cash, building "God's Kingdom" with hundred dollar bills and the rent money. The Pastor with the nice house and car, the well dressed wife and kids are merely symbols of God's blessing, to be observed as a standard to aspire to for the dispossessed, just as the fine clothing and houses were in Jesus time.
Never has so much nonsense been conjured by so much willful ignorance. Is it any wonder that Christianity is losing ground among the young, especially among the young and educated?
A Jesus disconnected from the "real world" offering only the solace of the afterlife for the widow, poor, orphan and stranger, is a Jesus disconnected from scripture, history and meaning.
Should we be surprised? This is what happens when we read only the "Red words" without any context, selecting only those scriptures that reinforce our personal beliefs. It becomes our personal letter to God, cut out of carefully selected biblical passages and pasted together--a ransom note without fingerprints, with God as the hostage.
Mark Magula