Jesus and The Red Words
"Jesus & The Red Words"
There may be no story more controversial than the story of Jesus. This includes The Gospels, as well as the writing of the 1st-century intellectual Jewish 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, which casts such a long shadow on human endeavor—from the beginning of all things, till their end. This is not a statement of faith, but of fact, regardless of one's personal beliefs. How and why it became so, is discussed endlessly 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 should also ask, "Can facts alone ever get to the heart of things?" Or, are facts, as we understand them, just another way of restating information that is produced by poorly understood, biological and mechanistic processes. Not unlike trying to understand the power of love by exploring chemical interaction in the brain. It seems obvious enough, to me, at least, that mechanical processes are a means to an end and not the endgame. In that way, science may reveal the mechanistic process, but its meaning eludes science, almost completely. That is the difference between literalism and symbolism. It’s also the place where the two things, the literal and the symbolic, trade places.
A good example of this is the way science has dealt with the idea that animals have a rich emotional life, very similar to humans. Scientists have treated this idea as though it might be nothing more than wishful thinking on the part of humans, who want to see their pets as like themselves. Only very recently, have scientists on a wide scale, come to acknowledge that animals do indeed have a rich emotional life and needs. Not merely similar to humans, but damned-near identical. Which the rest of us humans have known, probably, for as long as modern or primitive humans have existed.
When a squirrel intuitively understands, what even the brightest scientists don’t, science as the new god, is a damned poor substitute for the old one.
Scientists frequently make the argument that human life can be reduced to a few pennies worth of chemicals, thereby reducing the miracle of life to meaningless circumstance. That no scientist has begun to figure out how this combination of a few cents worth of chemicals creates anything, even regarding nonliving-matter, to say nothing of life in all its staggering complexity, tends to get left out of their simple analogy. I suspect because it makes the miracle of existence, even more miraculous.
Religion has a similar problem. For some believers, God is the answer to any and all questions. If God didn't say it through one of 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. Or, to put it another way, as primitive man became “Enlightened Man,” something was lost. Are we prompted, then, to choose between an ancient culture that possessed no real knowledge of outer-space; gravity, solar systems, the movement of the earth around the sun—or inner-space; atoms, protons, the relationship between bacteria and sickness, or, a modern society with its endless benefits. If this seems counter intuitive, it is, but real knowledge can be difficult to attain. Meaning, a simplified belief that the universe can be reduced to a few basic concepts of good and evil has its appeal, much in the way that a few cents worth of chemicals, somehow, represents the sum total of human existence. Both ideas smack of political and ideological bias.
For some, there appears to be a desire to return to a world of magic, where demons and angels cause 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 difficult 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 temporal 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 few 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, except 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 literal 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. The minute we open this 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.
Similarly, 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. Simply put, 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 words.
Therein is one of the biggest problems, as I see it. 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 basic 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 delete button. 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 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, will you be transported home. One can imagine the eternal God of heaven applying something like a supernatural faith-meter to detect when our belief has reached sufficient levels to grant our wish.
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, but it was better than nothing or a lowly pigeon. A lamb was better still—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 a person was so prosperous, it would be obvious to all, that God must be the cause, The carcass of a massive slaughtered animal and the smell of charred meat, was evidence 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 an aspirational standard for the dispossessed, just as fine clothing and houses were symbols of godliness in Jesus time. 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 context, selecting only those scriptures that reinforce our personal beliefs. It becomes "Our" personal letter from God, cut out of carefully selected biblical passages and pasted together, like a ransom note with no fingerprints—and God as our hostage.
Mark Magula
There may be no story more controversial than the story of Jesus. This includes The Gospels, as well as the writing of the 1st-century intellectual Jewish 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, which casts such a long shadow on human endeavor—from the beginning of all things, till their end. This is not a statement of faith, but of fact, regardless of one's personal beliefs. How and why it became so, is discussed endlessly 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 should also ask, "Can facts alone ever get to the heart of things?" Or, are facts, as we understand them, just another way of restating information that is produced by poorly understood, biological and mechanistic processes. Not unlike trying to understand the power of love by exploring chemical interaction in the brain. It seems obvious enough, to me, at least, that mechanical processes are a means to an end and not the endgame. In that way, science may reveal the mechanistic process, but its meaning eludes science, almost completely. That is the difference between literalism and symbolism. It’s also the place where the two things, the literal and the symbolic, trade places.
A good example of this is the way science has dealt with the idea that animals have a rich emotional life, very similar to humans. Scientists have treated this idea as though it might be nothing more than wishful thinking on the part of humans, who want to see their pets as like themselves. Only very recently, have scientists on a wide scale, come to acknowledge that animals do indeed have a rich emotional life and needs. Not merely similar to humans, but damned-near identical. Which the rest of us humans have known, probably, for as long as modern or primitive humans have existed.
When a squirrel intuitively understands, what even the brightest scientists don’t, science as the new god, is a damned poor substitute for the old one.
Scientists frequently make the argument that human life can be reduced to a few pennies worth of chemicals, thereby reducing the miracle of life to meaningless circumstance. That no scientist has begun to figure out how this combination of a few cents worth of chemicals creates anything, even regarding nonliving-matter, to say nothing of life in all its staggering complexity, tends to get left out of their simple analogy. I suspect because it makes the miracle of existence, even more miraculous.
Religion has a similar problem. For some believers, God is the answer to any and all questions. If God didn't say it through one of 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. Or, to put it another way, as primitive man became “Enlightened Man,” something was lost. Are we prompted, then, to choose between an ancient culture that possessed no real knowledge of outer-space; gravity, solar systems, the movement of the earth around the sun—or inner-space; atoms, protons, the relationship between bacteria and sickness, or, a modern society with its endless benefits. If this seems counter intuitive, it is, but real knowledge can be difficult to attain. Meaning, a simplified belief that the universe can be reduced to a few basic concepts of good and evil has its appeal, much in the way that a few cents worth of chemicals, somehow, represents the sum total of human existence. Both ideas smack of political and ideological bias.
For some, there appears to be a desire to return to a world of magic, where demons and angels cause 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 difficult 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 temporal 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 few 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, except 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 literal 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. The minute we open this 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.
Similarly, 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. Simply put, 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 words.
Therein is one of the biggest problems, as I see it. 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 basic 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 delete button. 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 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, will you be transported home. One can imagine the eternal God of heaven applying something like a supernatural faith-meter to detect when our belief has reached sufficient levels to grant our wish.
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, but it was better than nothing or a lowly pigeon. A lamb was better still—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 a person was so prosperous, it would be obvious to all, that God must be the cause, The carcass of a massive slaughtered animal and the smell of charred meat, was evidence 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 an aspirational standard for the dispossessed, just as fine clothing and houses were symbols of godliness in Jesus time. 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 context, selecting only those scriptures that reinforce our personal beliefs. It becomes "Our" personal letter from God, cut out of carefully selected biblical passages and pasted together, like a ransom note with no fingerprints—and God as our hostage.
Mark Magula