This
essay contains ten 'common sense' interpretations of some of the most
cryptic and provocative sayings attributed to Jesus which exist in
New Testament scripture. These interpretations are
actively suppressed within institutional Christianity in
order to maintain fundamentalist Christian orthodoxy, which in turn
supports oppressive political power world-wide.
Jesus lived in a time and place where speaking truth concerning religion or politics in mixed company was not just 'impolite' but perhaps the best way to ensure an immediate death warrant. Therefore, Jesus hid his most scathing commentary of religion and politics within very carefully crafted allegorical sayings - 'for those with ears to hear'. Jesus described his cryptic teaching as seeds, concise packets of allegorical information which after the metaphorical code is cracked and the sometimes equally mysterious topic of conversation is deduced, then bloom into insightful 'common sense' understandings of the nature of reality - particularly concerning religion and politics. If you have ever read a saying of Jesus that seemed 'out of character' or left you simply scratching your head then chances are you have missed out on some of the most significant and self-empowering teachings of Jesus.
Like
many who have experienced traumatic life-altering spiritual
experiences I once sought to better understand my own experience
through the lens of traditional religious teaching. While
traditional religious institutions provide the invaluable benefit of
a supportive, like-minded community, these same institutions are
often guilty of instilling dogmatic, irrational beliefs in
the minds of young people ill equipped to foresee the grave danger
embracing these beliefs can pose to their future mental health and
their ability to acquire a fully informed, accurate and
self-empowered world-view.
Fundamentalist denominations of Christianity, Islam and Judaism teach their followers to believe everything written in Scripture is truth - completely inspired texts which contain no error, contradiction or falsehood - books which speak as one voice - the voice of God.
This singular religious belief, more than any other religious belief, has the power to transform a person, once endowed with the virtue of common sense, into an irrational and disturbingly delusional individual, susceptible to all manner of psychological manipulation and mental illness. No mind retains the ability to read and judge scripture soberly after embracing as 'insight' the belief that all scripture was inspired by the voice of truth and the voice of falsehood was somehow magically prohibited from the commentary.
Scripture contains wisdom and truth. But scripture also contains contradiction and falsehood (both intentional and unintentional). Those unable or unwilling to attempt to discern the difference and who spend a great deal of time studying scripture develop a distorted understanding of the nature of reality and are in danger of becoming enemies of themselves as well as enemies of truth. Those who lack the benefit of a sound education in the history of world religions and the history of the creation of canonized scripture are at a particular disadvantage.
The
promotion of the belief in scriptural inerrancy has always been
institutional religion's greatest gift to sociopaths, hucksters and
self-serving political manipulators - as well as the lessor
angels of one's own mind. No one who fully
embraces this particular religious belief escapes the negative
consequences and no one abandons this belief later in life
without significant psychological scars.
Insight
- Definition:
A
small piece of information used by the mind to lead one to greater
information and greater understanding.
Delusion
- Definition:
An
altered state of consciousness induced by embracing as 'insight' a
false belief concerning the nature of reality.
Side effects include:
1. Inaccurate perceptions of reality.
2. Diminished ability for sound reasoning.
3. Mistrust / fear of those not holding the false belief.
Side effects include:
1. Inaccurate perceptions of reality.
2. Diminished ability for sound reasoning.
3. Mistrust / fear of those not holding the false belief.
4.
Strong mental bias for thoughts supporting the false belief.
5.
Strong mental bias against thoughts opposing the false
belief.
Below are ten Common Sense Interpretations of some of the more cryptic sayings attributed to Jesus found in the New Testament.
Below are ten Common Sense Interpretations of some of the more cryptic sayings attributed to Jesus found in the New Testament.
These
interpretations have been derived from the following
set of metaphor pairings - (Which can
prove useful when attempting to interpret other
allegorical sayings attributed to Jesus in the New Testament).
1.
Eye: 'One's perception, one's understanding of
something'
2.
Body: 'One's conscious and unconscious mind'
3.
House: 'The beliefs governing one's mind, one's world
view'
4.
Kingdom: 'A philosophy or theology - a collectively held
understanding'
5.
Son of Man: 'The enlightened or evolved
individual, future humanity'
6.
Demon: 'Delusion, Consciousness controlled by falsehood'
7.
Angel: 'Benevolent Consciousness controlled by truth'
8.
Unclean Spirit: 'Consciousness controlled by
evil/unholy beliefs about God'
8.
Devil/Satan: 'Malevolent consciousness controlled by
falsehood'
9.
Hell: 'A delusional state leading to mental and physical
torment'
11.
Heaven: 'The world as it should be, the future perfect
world, the afterlife'
12.
Kingdom of Heaven: 'The philosophy of the perfect
world'
13.
Kingdom of God: 'The philosophy of God, One's awareness of
higher consciousness'
1.
Mark 4:24-25
Be very careful if you attempt to interpret cryptic sayings attributed to me. The reasoning you use will be the measure of your success, and even more. Those who have sound reasoning will embrace rational assumptions and conclusions about me and my teaching, which will lead to deeper understanding. Those who do not use sound reasoning will embrace irrational assumptions and conclusions about me and my cryptic teaching, which will lead to diminished understanding - and even more - will ultimately nullify the value of the teachings of mine they did understand.
Be very careful if you attempt to interpret cryptic sayings attributed to me. The reasoning you use will be the measure of your success, and even more. Those who have sound reasoning will embrace rational assumptions and conclusions about me and my teaching, which will lead to deeper understanding. Those who do not use sound reasoning will embrace irrational assumptions and conclusions about me and my cryptic teaching, which will lead to diminished understanding - and even more - will ultimately nullify the value of the teachings of mine they did understand.
NIV -"Consider carefully what you hear," he continued. "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you--and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them."
2.
Matthew 23:15
Woe
to you who teach that God is the author of scripture, that scripture
is God's Word. You hypocrites. You travel over land and sea to win a
single convert, and when you have finally succeeded, you make them
twice as delusional as you yourselves have become.
NIV
- "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert,
and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of
hell as you are.
3.
Matthew 16:11-12
How
can it be possible that you don't understand I was not talking about
bread when I said, be on your guard against the yeast of
the Pharisees and Sadducees? Then the disciples
understood that Jesus was not telling them to guard against the
yeast used in bread, but instead to guard their minds against the
many falsehoods taught by religious leaders who believe scripture
was authored by God - which gives rise to delusional thinking,
hypocrisy and political oppression.
NIV
- How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you
about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees
and Sadducees." Then they understood that he was not telling
them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the
teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
4. Matthew 6:22-23
How you see the world illuminates your mind. If your perception of reality is correct your whole mind becomes exposed to insights. If your perception of reality is wrong your whole mind becomes exposed to fallacies. Embracing a fallacy as though it is an 'insight' makes the mind delusional.
4. Matthew 6:22-23
How you see the world illuminates your mind. If your perception of reality is correct your whole mind becomes exposed to insights. If your perception of reality is wrong your whole mind becomes exposed to fallacies. Embracing a fallacy as though it is an 'insight' makes the mind delusional.
NIV
- "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,
your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are
unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the
light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
5. Matthew 5:29-30
5. Matthew 5:29-30
If
your spiritual understanding confuses or disturbs you, better to
approach life with a world-view which is void of any settled
spiritual understanding, rather than have your whole mind
thrown into delusion, and torment. If your first hand
spiritual experience confuses or disturbs you, it is better to
reinterpret or ignore that spiritual experience than to have your
whole mind enter a state of delusion and torment.
NIV
- If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and
throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body
than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if
your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your
whole body to go into hell.
6. Mark 3:22-29
6. Mark 3:22-29
Prominent
religious scholars explained, This man dispels demons by Satan's
power. So Jesus called them and answered using symbolic
language: How can a delusion be dispelled by falsehood?
Theology that contradicts itself has no solid foundation. If
your world view contains contradictions your mind becomes unstable.
And if a falsehood is demonstrated to contradict itself this brings
to an end that falsehood's power to delude the mind. The fact is you
can't affect anyone's strongly held religious world view without
first forcing them to examine their current understanding of God,
then you can pick apart the various delusional elements of their
world view. The truth you need to know is this: The
psychological consequences of any sin can be alleviated. But while
one holds a false belief concerning the nature or will of God the
psychological consequences of holding that false belief will
always remain.
NIV
- And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He
is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out
demons." So Jesus called them over to him and began to
speak to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? If
a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If
a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And
if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end
has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house without
first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man's
house. Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their
sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes
against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of
an eternal sin."
7.
Matthew 12:43-45
When
the evil nature of a person's God becomes exposed that person feels
the heat of inner conviction and goes searching for valid evidence
to support their wicked beliefs concerning God, which they do not
find. Because of their lack of intellectual integrity they
soon abandon their self-reflection and evidence seeking, desiring to
return to their old way of thinking about God. A close
examination of their world view reveals their entire mental life has
been consumed by their obsessive thinking about God, because once
you extract their thoughts and beliefs concerning God there is
nothing left, they are empty headed people whose minds are a clean
slate. To distract themselves from their intellectual
dishonesty these individuals double down on their ignorance by
embracing other false beliefs concerning the nature and will of God
- each one more evil than the next. The mental health of these
individuals deteriorates over time as they become more and more
delusional, self-righteous and hypocritical. So it will be
with this generation of intellectually dishonest religious people,
the moral crusaders who embrace false beliefs concerning the nature
and will of God - those who envision God as an instrument of
judgment, oppression and destruction against others and use
scripture as the voice of God to validate their wicked beliefs and
actions.
NIV
- When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid
places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I
will return to the house I left.' on its arrival it finds the house
vacant, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings
with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in
and dwell there; and the final plight of that man is worse than the
first." So will it be with this wicked generation.
8.
Matthew 5:17-20, Matthew 16:19
Don't
just assume that I have come to abolish scripture because you have
heard me contradicting scripture and exposing the delusions and
hypocrisy of those who teach you that God is the author of
scripture. I have not come to abolish scripture but instead to
fulfill scripture's apocalyptic expectations. Because the sad truth
is until there becomes no distinction between heaven and earth in
the minds of those who have become delusional reading scripture
those poor people will continue to live in obedient fear of the
wicked God of scripture, constantly attempting to establish even the
most trivial minutia of scripture as the law here on earth - that is
until they have become convinced that the messiah has come and the
foundations for a new world have been established.
Because
of this sad situation, if an enlightened person attempts to
abolish scripture by setting aside one of the least significant of
the commands existing in scripture and teaches others to do the
same, that person will be labeled by religious zealots as someone
who is an enemy of God, someone who has little understanding of how
God's perfect world should operate. But the person who
practices and teaches all the irrational and burdensome commands of
scripture will be labeled by the same zealots as someone who is a
visionary who has great understanding of God and how to live and act
in a perfect world.
What I have been telling you is this, unless your intellectual integrity surpasses that of those who believe and teach that God is the author of scripture you will certainly not acquire any real understanding of the philosophy of the perfect world.
I will give you the foundational principals of the philosophy that will establish God's government on the earth - the perfect world.
Note: (i.e., Love your fellow man as you love yourself, treat others as you yourself want to be treated, demonstrate your love by doing good for even your enemies, don't fear and envision God as an all-powerful judge but instead envision God as love, the father of benevolent consciousness, capable of only good)
The philosophy that governs human behavior, the laws and institutions that you yourselves establish on earth will determine whether or not heaven is established on the earth.
NIV
- "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the
Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For
truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest
letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear
from the Law until everything is accomplished.
Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
I will give you the keys to the kingdom. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
9. Mark 14:61-62
But
Jesus remained silent and did not answer. Again the high
priest asked him, "Are you the chosen one, the son of the
blessed one? And Jesus said, I am, and you will see other
enlightened individuals securing first hand knowledge of established
power and coming to shine their light on those things that keep
people from understanding the world as it should be.
NIV
- "But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high
priest asked him, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed
One? And Jesus said, "I am, and you will see the Son of Man
seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of
heaven."
10. Matthew 24:27
For
as great flashes of insight become understood around the world, so
will be the evolution of humanity.
NIV
- "For as lightning that comes from the east is visible
even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."
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Final
thoughts:
Peace, prosperity and enlightened democratic government will never be fully realized without meaningful intellectual reform within institutional Christianity, Judaism and Islam. As long as churches, mosques and synagogues continue to promote the belief in scriptural inerrancey institutional religion will continue to unwittingly inspire self-destructive apocalyptic world-views in believers and retard the progress of positive social and economic change. Corrupt political power will continue to utilize scripture and the fear of God as a weapon of choice to maintain control of the political thinking of those who have already been captured by the destructive power of religious fundamentalism.
Author's
notes - for those with ears to hear
Voices
other than the voice attributed to Jesus found in New Testament
scripture teach that we are sinful fallen creatures (rather than
evolving creatures) who must be saved from the coming wrath and
judgment of God. However, Jesus clearly taught in New
Testament scripture that both he and his father (His God) judge
(condemn) no person. A clear contradiction.
For this reason (and others) I believe, as did early Gnostic Christians, that the fundamental 'salvation' teaching of Jesus could be summed up in this way: People do not need to be saved from the wrath of a jealous, judgmental and vengeful God, but instead need to be saved from a perverse understanding of the nature of God - to become self-aware of the destructive psychological consequences of attributing false and negative attributes to one's God. The mind - and by extension your life - manifests and is subject to the God you yourself have envisioned or been taught to believe in.
Fundamentalist Christians who embrace Jesus as a savior (as I once did and do) believe they have been delivered from the wrath and judgment of a wrathful and judgmental God - a round about method for coming into a state of believing God is no longer one's enemy nor one's judge but instead a friend. This is a positive change of mind but not an accurate understanding of the true nature of one's condition.
The convoluted doctrines of fundamentalist Christianity offer only a partial cure for the mental illness that fundamentalism inspires in believers by teaching followers to envision God as an entity with negative and false attributes.
If
God is 'Good' as Jesus declared in New Testament scripture then God
is clearly not all powerful and God is clearly not the creator of
all things. Historically, religions with ties to government have
defined God with false attributes to attempt to control human
behavior - by instilling a fear of God in believers. The question of
whether or not an all powerful God exists is a moot and unproductive
question.
A more productive question is whether or not all our thoughts are our own - and if not what is the significance of that fact? Do all our experiences of consciousness originate from within our own brains or is human consciousness an electromagnetic phenomenon residing at the quantum level and therefore entangled with other consciousness?
In America a majority of those who embrace the God of religious fundamentalism in their youth fall away from fundamentalist faith later in life out of their need to secure and maintain a modicum of intellectual integrity. Most all who leave fundamentalist faith leave confused and alienated and still haunted occasionally by the voice of the God of fundamentalism they have betrayed.
The God of Jesus is perhaps best described in modern terms as 'benevolent consciousness' - traditionally known as the Holy Spirit - a God that Jesus described as a loving father, an observer of mankind, capable of only good - a God which passes no judgment on mankind.
Old Testament scripture makes the claim that the fear of God is the beginning of spiritual wisdom. I myself would say the loss of fear of God is the beginning of spiritual wisdom. Even the atheist greatly benefits psychologically from having no fear of God. The wisdom of Jesus says, those who fear God do not know God and those who do not love God do not know God.
The
God of Jesus described in scripture does not seek fearful servants
bound to obedient belief in scripture. The God of Jesus seeks
like-minded friends to share in the trans-formative experience of
fellowship with benevolent consciousness.