Okay. I am going to regret this, and be blamed for your lack of sleep. So be it.

Okay. I am going to regret this, and be blamed for your lack of sleep. So be it.

 

The article, I was talking about Friday is an essay in the December edition of Harper’s.

 

You might be able to find the article, Jesus Without the Miracles by Erik Reece, sooner or later at http://www.harpers.org/Newsstand200512.html .

 

For some stuff on Reece take a look at http://alterdestiny.blogspot.com/2005/03/mountaintop-removal.html.

 

He is kind of a do-do disturber.

 

Anyways the recent essay in Harpers is about comparing Thomas Jefferson’s Bible and writings on religion, and the Gospel of Thomas. Apparently Jefferson took the King James Bible, cut out the story of the virgin birth, all of the miracles, especially the Resurrection, and pasted together a version of the Bible. He called it the Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth. This was done 200 years ago, and by a lapsed son of a Baptist preacher father.

 

Jefferson was president of the US of A in the early 1800’s, so it is even more interesting to see this story, considering how much reference to God the current President uses, as do many of the Republicans.

 

This Jefferson believed that the ‘Christian Church,’ had hijacked Christianity. I don’t think he is referring to the Catholic Church specifically, but I am sure they are in that group. The belief in most who have studied the Gospel of Thomas, the Q Gospel, and other historical religious documents that the ‘Christian Church,’ had put the Nicene Creed ahead of the Sermon of the Mount as the center that teachings of the ‘Christian Church.’

 

Jefferson believed that when he had cut away the miracles that he believes were constructed or created by the ‘Christian Church,’ along with the ‘Christian Church’s,’ claim that Jesus was the divine son of God, all you had left were the true teachings of Jesus. It was his contention that this was in fact what was the true code of morals that Jesus was offering to man.

 

Epicurus a philosopher about 200 years ago, taught that life would be much easier to endure if we stopped fearing God and death, and followed instead a program of prudent self-sufficiency. “Everything easy to procure is natural.” “Everything difficult to obtain is superfluous.” Keep in mind this comes from a philosopher deeply engrained in an agrarian society. A society that knew nothing of processed foods, 7/11’s, or a microwave. All Jefferson was saying was that Jesus was talking or teaching about a supplement of the duties and charities we owe to others. The word charities or charity as it was used, might have a little different meaning than we think of it now. It might have meant a disposition to think kindly of others. Sort of like the ‘do unto others, as you would have them do unto you,’ kind of thing.

 

To Jefferson and me, the life of Jesus, which can be compared to a itinerant preacher, was much less important, than what he taught.

 

As you will notice is you go into any ‘Christian Church,’ you will see the cross. This is either empty in churches that celebrate the resurrection, or in the Catholic Church where the cross has Jesus on it, who celebrate or base their rites and rituals on the lead up to the crucifixion.  The case Jefferson makes is that this is way too much emphasis placed on the Jesus’ life and death, instead of his teachings.

 

To me, too many Christians walk around working towards eternal salvation or the promise of whatever that will bring, and little on the desire to practice the teachings of Jesus, which in the end were taken from the Jewish Bible, and probably Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Islam, and probably paganism of the day.

 

The essay is exceptionally deep with out being too scholarly. It cites passages in the bible without hitting you over the head with the bible. The essayist sticks with one bible as Jefferson did, so that you are not confused.

 

He also explains the origins and reasons for the disappearance of the Gospel of Thomas and Q Gospel.

 

What it all comes down to, is that we should be, righteous as Jesus taught, instead of preaching or talking about being righteous. Jefferson also wanted to stop the move to the city and industrialization, and stay on the farm. Maybe we would be better off, or maybe he was fighting progress.

 

It is a good essay. One worth the dough to buy or go down to the Library and copy.