The intention is to read more about Yeshua/Jeshua ben/bar Joseph/Yehosef, too. So thank you for the sharp bird’s cry (Jeshua ben Joseph) in the middle of the night.

Admittedly it is difficult to imagine Jesus being afraid when he displayed anger in the temple. In fact I have always thought it liberating to know that he did get angry like the rest of us. I was referring to our everyday (often politically driven emotional reactions, especially in Africa). I like what you have written re dogma and creating the need for a savior. I also like your thought-provoking ideas about the role played by women in the life of Jesus. And Jeshua ben Joseph deals with the idea of a savior, clearly but kindly putting the idea down. Thanks for your efforts and I too hope that Richard Foley [yes this is my full name] takes the time to read what you have written.

Many of us were Baptised because we are taught that children are born of Original Sin.

But – what if this is merely a Dogma of Manipulation and Control based on mistranslation of Assyrian practice of 2500 years BCE – where “sin” was merely the word of the time which translates now into the English words “female or feminine”.

Of course you would be born of sin. There aren’t too many alive now who were not born of female. This is the Original Birth of the Physical Body.

You can learn more here- http://www.transpersonal.com.au/journal/bastard.htm

This opens up a whole realm of possibilities as to the whys and wherefores of dogma, and ‘creating’ the need for a savior. It’s a study in- Empire Building. Call it negative if you wish, but we have to wake up to the ‘possibility’ that not everything is at it ‘appears’ to be.

I’m not trying to say here that the whole of the Bible has been defiled. There are truths which resonate, and many, many inconsistencies which beg for discernment. Especially with regard to women.

For instance. When Yeshua (Jesus) first called his disciples, where did he put them, at the periphery or at the center of his plans? Most theologians, clerics, scholars, and believers would answer- at the center. Without even questioning their answer. This is nothing but a bunch of hubris, completely lacking any semblance of understanding. From the beginning of Yeshua’s life, women were at the center. God didn’t choose a caste of Pharisees, Greek philosophers, or priests to raise the young Jesus. The chosen was a woman, an adolescent “uncontaminated” by the ruling class (power-brokering politicians posing as religious leaders). She was someone outside the “system.”

The first person who talked about Jesus was a female, too. The Samaritan woman. Although she had lived a promiscuous life, and been with many men, his words were enough to satiate her hunger for ‘change’. She was the one who gathered her people and spoke of the one who had moved her. I believe his response to her words that day were something like- A prostitute was more noble than the religious leaders of his time.

When Yeshua was on the cross, as the life force was escaping his body, and his heart weakened as a result, where were the men- at the center, or the periphery? They were nowhere to be found. They were “heroes” when his word and deeds were shaking the world, but they were cowards when the world came crashing down on him. They kept quiet, fled, denied they knew him, and even betrayed him.

And the women- at the center, or the periphery? They were near the cross. I’d have to conclude they were at the epicenter of his life’s work, the focal point of a radical rabbi’s discerning intention for re-balancing the misrepresentation of truth’s innocent simplicity through the Dogma of Lies, Manipulation, and Control.

The feeling here is that this would be the reason for Yeshua (Jesus) to be in, Libya, and other countries in the Middle-East in this moment. He would most definitely be an activist for women’s rights in the region. He was always about empowerment, from within. Where else would the kingdom be in a conscious universe?

Question everything.

peace

(Thanks to Augusto Cury for other insights with regard to questioning the ‘Truth.’)

I’d like to start by sharing that those who were considered the disciples of the man called Jesus were mostly fisherman, farmers, and laborers. It’s important to remember most people could not read or write. Very very few could read or write even as late as the time in which the man called Jesus (Yeshua) lived. Writing was done by scribes under the direction of the Emperor, Governors, or High Priests, who ordered the scribes to write in a way that would support
their particular agendas. It was all politics, but for the masses who could not read or write, it was emotional manipulation. We may have to make an exception here. The one called Mathew, who was a tax collector. But it was not even necessary for him to write, he only had to be able to count in what was then called a Counting House. I understand Luke was a physician of sorts, so he might have been educated enough to write. But we all know what a physician’s handwriting, or scrawl looks like today, so we would have to account for that by saying his writings, if he did write, were more than likely illegible, and therefore indiscernible (kidding). As a physician, he also could identify the sources for the drugs of the day. Illegibly phantasmagorical writing is a possibility. (kidding, again. Kinda…)

The man called Jesus never heard the name Jesus or Christ. Research has shown that his name was Yeshua, a Hebrew/Aramaic derivative. But the Roman soldiers who carried out his execution only knew Latin. The phonetics of Yeshua translates out to Jesu in Latin, so that is what was placed on the cross. Later when the Romans took over his followers, Jesu, became his standard name. When the Empire moved to Greece, the “s” was added to Jesu in the Greek linguistic tradition, and the title “Christ” was added. It is important to note here, that at this time, the Pope was not the head of the movement; the Emperor was. It became a constant political battle over who was lawfully the leader- Emperor or Pope. So, I suppose we could say that the religions of that era were the politics of its time, too, if not more so. Not much different from today. (More on this later)

In order to establish historical precedent for the “one true church” various councils were called to establish what is known as “the deposit of faith”. This was a phrase used to describe the times in which the apostles were still alive, when all the tenets of the Christian religion were allegedly formulated. Also important to note, the word Christian was never used by immediate followers of Yeshua (Jesus). It would be sometime before that title would be given to him. These councils threw out all the writings except four whose authors remain unknown, perhaps early monks or paid scribes. These four however were “attributed” to Mark, Mathew, Luke and John, so the people would accept them as authority. They later added letters (epistles), revelations, etc. anything that sounded good, or bad, for that matter, and could be used to keep control over the people.

Traditional orthodox Christian belief – and “orthodox” just means “correct,” as in, correct according to “official” church interpretation – holds that Yeshua (Jesus) was the climax and culmination of the old Jewish system of sacrificing animals to atone for human sin. The Jews weren’t alone in this practice, of course. Most peoples and cultures on planet earth have practiced animal sacrifice, and sometimes human sacrifice, at some point in their history. The idea is that sin, evil, wrongdoing, must be atoned for by a death, so the practice arose of killing something else to substitute for the person whose death would otherwise be required. Yeshua (Jesus) told them that he had come to fullfil the old law, and to bring a new law, the law of love, “the whole of the law”.

A large part of the modern Christian task has been to wake up and realize that this whole idea of Jesus as the “Lamb of God,” as he’s commonly called in Christian theology, was actually added onto and interpreted into the actual life of the real historical, flesh-and-blood Jesus of Nazareth. And yet it’s been so throughly and utterly associated with the idea of Jesus from so early on in Christian history that most people assume it’s simply Christianity, plain and simple. They assume that the idea, literally interpreted, of Jesus as the one and only Son of God whose main purpose was to serve as the ultimate sacrificial lamb by dying to atone for the sins of the human race, is the Christian religion. They assume that this is what Jesus himself taught.

Unfortunately, it appears very few people who call themselves “Christians” know the truth of the history. And the Pope, and priests, and other ministers and pastors are not about to tell the truth, even to this day- as they know that if they can find a “cause” to emotionally irritate their following, they can control them all the way into the ballot box. They do it because they have to protect their tax exempt status as a church, while they go about their “real church” business of shaping politics, government, and public policy. After all, they have their wealthy, powerful, evangelistic empires to protect. Which is why we find such a wide variety of writings and renditions and revisions through the centuries. Politics and money, manipulation and control. It’s a story as old as time. But don’t take my word for it. One only has to ask why someone like the Pope travels to third-world countries where a family might have 5 or 6 kids, earning a dollar a day in wages (or less), and tells them it is against God’s will to practice birth control. Or why Billy Graham, in a time of war drums beating, could always be found on the front page of any newspaper with a hand on a president’s shoulder whispering words of support, or courage into their ear. Quite unlike what I feel Yeshua (Jesus) would have come forth with in either situation. And let’s not forget about George W. Bush speaking at a National Prayer Breakfast, a consortium of clerics, fundie-mentalists, and rabbis, to advance his “cause” to kill one’s fellow man? If one can get quiet enough, you might actually “see” Yeshua turning over a few tables and throwing a few chairs at that gathering…

So, the fact is this. Joshua Ben Joseph was actually Yeshua Bar Yehosef.

Having said all that, the real question is this-

Was Yeshua (Jesus) actually killed for being a radical rabbi, the likes of which upset the delicate balance of power, and control?

It was difficult to tell who the post was addressing. I’m addressing those who feel war and oppression is good business, and, that Yeshua bar Yehosef was always an activist during his adult life on earth.

Do you feel Yeshua’s anger in the temple was fear-based?

Speaking to things is an exercise in awareness. Which has nothing to do with fear. To be complacent with regard to our fellow man is a powerless aberration of understanding, a breeding ground for fear.

Exactly. In our country, it appears the Christians are the ones who refuse to wake up to this. The sense here is they are TOO heavily invested in the metaphysics of the military industrial complex (gunsights on weaponry with biblical references is a tipoff).

It needs a lot of oil to metaphysically function.

Jesus is God, that rose again from the Dead after 3 days, no other Prophet did that, and God created all living people and living things. God gave us the 10 Commandments, just obey it. Man created other Religions and manupilated it. Grow up. Read more with depth. Meditate more with earnest and God may one day speak to you to enlighten you.

Frankly, there was not enough media coverage or rhetoric about either.

PEACE!

Jesus would not be invading Libya.

Until now I have been very pro-Obama.

When I see all the humanitarian places around the world we could justifiably march in (but don’t) and then listen to the dishonest reasons why we say we chose yet another middle eastern country, Obama now isn’t any different than any other western military leader over the last two thousand years that marches into the middle east for primarily self-serving reasons.

Obama certainly must hold the record for the only peace prize winner to be leading the most number of wars simultaneously.

This is saddening for everyone, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Arabs, and even perhaps the people dying.