Sunday Thought, March 1, 2015: Easter - Just a Thought

I realize I'm more than a month early for this post, but I wanted everyone to have some time to reflect on your own thoughts about the Easter holy day.  I have included a couple of links to the text which, I hope, will entice you to read further and become more familiar with the hidden religion of Christianity that, I feel, is slowly being accepted as more to the heart of the faith than what we have been forced fed as truth for two thousand years.  The reason it has been hidden and denied by the hierarchy is evident when you read the words.  It isn't about control or fear, and it doesn't read like Biblical text as it hasn't been translated to death by monks with agendas.  I offer the following as translated from the Nag Hamadi Text, commonly referred to as The Gospel of Mary:

"Be on your guard so that no one deceives you by saying, 'Look over here!' or 'Look over there!' For the child of true Humanity exists within you. Follow it! Those who search for it will find it.  Go then, preac[h] the good news about the Realm. [Do] not lay down any rule beyond what I determined for you, nor promulgate law like the lawgiver, or else you might be dominated by it."

-- Jesus, "The Gospel of Mary"

And what have Peter and the Christian churches done since?  They have said, "'Look over here!' or 'Look over there!'" when the true child of humanity does not lie in the church or in the priest, but within us.  They lay down rules beyond what Jesus and God have determined for us and they "promulgate law like the lawgiver," and we are dominated by it!

After the Christ rose from death, the story of Jesus does not end.  It continues through The Gospel of Mary, and reveals much of the struggle between faith and egos, egos which Peter and Andrew would ultimately fall prey to, and which would ultimately shape Christianity as we know it today.  Was this the faith which the Christ intended, or was the meaning of the life he lived, and his death on the cross, mistakenly left in the hands of a total incompetent that would go against everything the savior wished?  Jesus, by his own admission, was just a man.  That he loved Peter so much as to be blinded to Peter's latent sexist attitudes and greed for power is not beyond reason, nor is the possibility that Andrew's ignorance might make him more of a sheep to be led and, perhaps without his realizing it, develop this same taste for power and control.  After all, these were the very same people that Jesus knew would deny him.  

I invite you to follow this link to read "The Gospel of Mary" and decide for yourself.  This gospel  is considered a gnostic text; basically scholars question if it speaks any truth.  A bit of commentary, from James M. Robinson, is found at the top of the translation at www.sol.com.au/kor/7_03.htm. 

I wrote about The Gospel of Mary back in August of 2013 in my post, The Savior Said..., and, instead of going through it all again, I invite you to follow the link and consider these other views I offer.  In short, I find it fascinating that only scripture, "sacred" written word that demands fear and unconditional obedience to an omnipotent being that meads out pity in measure to how much you grovel, were chosen for the Bible of Christianity.  And yet, these lost gospels, which seem to relate a kinder, gentler, and highly intelligent side of the philosophies of the Christ, were left out.

Did Jesus rise?  I don't know, do you?  What if he didn't?  Would it matter?

"A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world.  It was the perfect act."

-- Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), philosopher, leader of Indian independence

Back it the mid-1980s I was afforded the opportunity to accept a special duty assignment with the intelligence detachment at Area 51.  I had top secret security clearances, with caveats, up the wazoo.  Even if I didn't have the required "need to know" for certain information and projects, I had always been able to finagle a way to find out.  I mean, really, if I couldn't do that one simple task there was no reason for me to be with intelligence, right?  Anyway, since I was a kid I had always had an interest in unidentified flying objects, UFOs, flying saucers.  For me, this was the assignment of a lifetime.  I declined the invitation.  This was probably the only chance I would ever have to answer the questions we all have about Area 51, and I didn't take it.  I just didn't want to know.

"Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe."

-- Saint Augustine (354-430)

The risk with having faith is finding out the truth.  What happens if truth flies in the face of faith?  In the case of my assignment, I decided I would rather continue believing, having faith, in the possibility we are being visited by extraterrestrials than risk finding out flying saucers aren't real.  What would be the fun in that?  Did Jesus rise after death?  I would rather have a continuing faith that he did, than to find out he's just a mummified future museum exhibit lost in some forgotten hole in a desert mountainside.

Does it matter?  Our lives are inundated with lies and bullshit.  It is an essential part of marketing, politics, and religion.  We are born to exist as "marks" to be constantly taken advantage of at a moment's notice by the latest snake oil salesman.  I think it matters that our faith isn't based on lies and bullshit.  Personally, I think the Bible is rife with contradictions, and questionable passages, philosophy, and provenance.  Unfortunately it is all we have, until there is something else, like gospels, texts, and libraries of forgotten knowledge buried in desert cashes.

"The great gift of Easter is hope - Christian hope which makes us have confidence in God, in His ultimate triumph, and in His goodness and love, which nothing can shake."

-- Basil Hume (1923-1999), Benedictine monk and Archbishop of Westminster

But, for me, the story of Jesus rising goes to the very heart of faith, a faith that there is something more to look forward to after death.  It was His proof to us of a life in another plane of existence, a "Kingdom of Heaven."  Without faith in this eventual outcome, what were we to be left with, just another crucified prophet?  No proof of a "Son of God."  No physical manifestation presented as the living God on earth.

"Easter is very important to me, it's a second chance."

-- Reba McEntire, country singer, songwriter, actress

I am sixty-one years old.  If Jesus didn't rise, I don't want to know about it.  What possible good would it serve to know, other than to make the day of radical atheists.  The joke would be on them, though.  They'd have to find something else to constantly bitch about, or give up their membership in the League of the Perpetually Offended.  As with Area 51, I just don't want to know.  

I am perfectly content to live, what is left of my life, having faith in little green men and the loving God that made us all.

I offer one version of a typical television news story heard each year on the final Friday of Lent:

"Today is Good Friday, observed by Christians worldwide as a day that commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whose death redeemed the sins of mankind." 

Here is the way it should be written:

"Today is Good Friday, observed worldwide by Jesus buffs as the day on which the popular, bearded cultural figure, sometimes referred to as The Messiah, was allegedly crucified and according to legend died for mankind's so-called sins. Today kicks off a 'holy' weekend that culminates on Easter Sunday, when, it is widely believed, this dead 'savior' who also, by the way, claimed to be the son of a sky-dwelling, invisible being known as God, mysteriously 'rose from the dead.' According to the legend, by volunteering to be killed and actually going through with it, Jesus saved every person who has ever lived and every person who ever will live from an eternity of suffering in a fiery region popularly known as hell, providing so the story goes that the person to be 'saved' firmly believes this rather fanciful tale." 

That would be an example of unbiased news reporting. Don't wait around for it to happen. The aliens will land first." 

"They came from the sky", excerpt from "When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops?" (George Carlin, 2004)

Think about the comedy excerpt of George Carlin this way:  The news story is the party line the church pumps out, every year.  The way it should be written defines why our faith is so strong in the face of all the obstacles put in the way of a possible truth.  Either way, I win.

I also believe strongly in a second chance.  I have faith.



Editor's Note:  

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion.  It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other.  An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion and debate in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth.  After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human.  God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.
  

Pastor Frank Anthony Villari

Pastor Tony is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance

 and author/editor of "The Path," the Congregation's official blogsite.