#gospel shabbat

[narcolepticgnome]

Am I terrible for hating the Gospel Shabbat service that my shul does? It's cool that we're collaborating with a black church and building bridges and whatever, but... IDK, if I wanted to sing songs of worship like a Christian, I'd probably still be Christian.

#jumblr #jewish conversion #gospel shabbat #mine #personal

[jessicalprice]

healers should get weekends too

(Reposted, with additions, from Twitter)

The story of the man with the withered hand (Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11) gets used a lot to make the Pharisees, the ancestors of contemporary Judaism, and by extension and implication, Jews and Judaism more broadly, look monstrous. 

If you’re not familiar with the story, it’s the one in which Jesus goes to the synagogue on Shabbat, and there’s a man with a “withered” hand there, and the Pharisees are watching him to see if he’ll heal on Shabbat. Jesus tells them off, and they decide to plot to kill him. 

This story is actually a prime example of how the gospels demonize--or get used to demonize--completely normal behavior from Jews in order to make Jesus (and Christians) look superior/enlightened/improved. 

The readings of this tend to be either: 

Oh, the Pharisees have a problem with Jesus healing on Shabbat? They value following a meaningless religious law over saving someone's life. Look how rigid they were, following the letter of the law instead of the spirit of the law, willing to let someone die rather than breaking a silly ritual prohibition.

Or, at least, they value following a meaningless religious law over alleviating suffering.

When Jews push back on these readings, we usually focus on pikuach nefesh, the principle that almost any Jewish law can be trumped by the need to save a life. You’re starving and all that’s available is pork? You eat pork. Someone gets a life-threatening injury on Shabbat? You do whatever you need to in order to save them. 

Of course, this has the effect of giving into the tendentious framing the gospels use--the man has a withered hand, not a life-threatening injury--but Jesus responds to the Pharisees by citing life-and-death situations.

It also throws the Pharisees under the bus: Judaism, practiced properly, would side with Jesus. 

But if the man had been dying, there wouldn’t be any disagreement between Jesus and the Pharisees. So I think we can all agree that the first reading of this story--that the Pharisees (and by extension, Jews in general) valued following religious law over saving a life--is nonsensical, and whether it's intended that way or not, antisemitic.

But what about the second reading? Did the Pharisees value following restrictions on activity during Shabbat over alleviating suffering?

There are two ways to look at it:

The Pharisees are just being used in the gospels as stock opponents for Jesus, so we shouldn’t assume it’s actually a historically accurate depiction of positions they held. (This is the easy one.)

The actual historical Pharisees did have an issue with people healing on Shabbat. (This is the more interesting one--why?)

The Christian (practicing or cultural) answer to this always seems to be an unexamined assertion of “religious law.” The Pharisees are either mindlessly following “religious law” and are too rigid to understand when it should be flexible, or they’re maliciously following “religious law” to punish??? people for being sick???

I think a lot of this trend in Christian thinking starts with Paul, and his near-constant assertion that Jewish law is burdensome, unpleasant, and ultimately impossible to follow or satisfy. If you believe that, then I guess it’s easy to imagine Jewish legal experts as superciliously holding people to impossible-to-meet standards that they knew they couldn’t meet themselves, making them both nitpickers and hypocrites.

But that’s not how Jews see Torah.

And I think you can sum up Jewish opposition to the idea of Jesus healing on Shabbat as:

Doctors should get weekends too. 

Let me back up. Again, reading the NT, you get the idea that Shabbat is a day of restriction, this time when we're not allowed to do stuff we want to do, but we have to hold off from doing it because otherwise God will be mad at us.

But in Jewish thought? Shabbat is a gift. 

 Every seven days, we get a holiday. It's an assertion of freedom: we're not slaves anymore. We get to have a day of rest, a day in which commerce is no longer a driving force, a day to not be workers.

So, if it’s a gift, why the harsh penalties in Torah for working on Shabbat? I mean, you can go with "because God said so," but the Torah's laying out rules for a society so usually there are societal reasons too.

And I think the obvious one here is economic competition. We can only all relax and enjoy Shabbat if we're not feeling like we should be working. If someone in our community, possibly a business competitor, is out there working 7 days a week, and we're only working 6, we're suddenly at an economic disadvantage. And the temptation, if one person is cheating, is for everyone else to cheat too, or at least to be worrying all day that they're losing out by not cheating. So what is supposed to be a day of rest and peace and not being ruled by the marketplace becomes a day of restriction and stress and worrying about the marketplace.

So yeah, if you're a first-century Jew, especially given that you're living in times of harsh economic oppression, you're going to disapprove of other Jews working on Shabbat. It's kind of a betrayal of everyone else who's trying to preserve that day of peace even under Rome.

The dude with the withered hand wasn't bleeding to death, and presumably has been living with it for a while. Why does he suddenly have to be healed today, on Shabbat? Again, if he had a life-threatening condition, Jewish law would be very clear: you do what’s necessary to save his life, even on Shabbat. But this isn’t a life-threatening condition. 

The implication is that healers should be available to work at all times, even on what’s supposed to be their day of rest. 

That’s actually really dangerous in a communitarian society, which emphasizes people’s duty to the community over their individual interests. Shabbat restrictions actually function as a check on people getting used up and exhausted by the needs of those around them. Healers have one day a week during which, barring a life-threatening emergency, they are free of demands that they work. 

The NT stacks the deck by having Jesus act like this is a matter of life and death, that if you’re not healing on Shabbat, you’re killing. It sure seems like he’s saying that healers shouldn’t get weekends. 

So yeah, I’m with the Pharisees on this one. If I need non-emergency surgery, I’d be an asshole to demand that the surgeon perform it on her weekend instead of waiting until Monday. 

If I’m trying to be charitable to Jesus, I guess I could assume that he believed the world as everyone around him knew it was about to end, and this was supposed to be a “let’s all pull together” moment. But it’s not sustainable in the long term.

Healers deserve weekends too. 

(Photo credit: Jonathan Borba) 

#judaism #jewish parables #jewish readings of the new testament #look jesus comes across as kind of an asshole sometimes but he's not my god so whatever

[jewish-vents]

i’m honestly pretty upset at the fact that my family hasn’t even mentioned purim this year yet my parents’ll get annoyed at me for not participating in an easter egg hunt. like i know we’re a multifaith household (kinda, my dad’s agnostic but he’s culturally christian) but honestly they’re all so obsessed with the non-jewish holidays we celebrate yet we barely mention half the jewish ones.

like don’t get me wrong i love halloween but i hate that it gets months of preparation for costumes and plans and everything yet no one’s said the word “purim” out loud for over a year. earlier this year on yom kippur i wanted to try fasting (i hadn’t done it before) bcz idk it felt like something i wanted to do but everyone just treated it like a normal day and my mother was confused why i wasn’t eating. and with christmas and easter they plan a huge thing with eggs and presents and going down to my (paternal) grandmother’s house for a day or 4 yet these days chanukah gets a quick lighting the candles then go do whatever, purim gets ignored, and pesach usually gets a good enough celebration (if lacking in a thing or 2) but honestly im worried this year we won’t do much.

other than that the only holiday that even gets a mention is rosh hashanah and all we do is the apples and honey stuff, absolutely nothing else.

between all this and my siblings’ very explicit internalised antisemitism (tiktok performative activist-style) i feel like i’m the only person in my family who isn’t ashamed to be jewish in some way. (i mean the youngest 2 aren’t really but they’re growing up with hardly anything jewish in their lives and idk that’s still really sad to me)

honestly i just hope i can be more jewish ig with my own kids but that’s years away, i don’t want to wait until im an adult with my own family to actually celebrate and observe the holidays in MY religion and not the ones about a guy from a completely separate religion i hold no care for

idk ig all this isn’t as bad as the massive amount of widespread antisemitism we all have to deal with daily but in a way it hurts more that throughout it all i cant even feel properly jewish because my immediate family consists of a cultural christian, a 13yo who sees tiktok as gospel on politics, 2 pre-teen children who know nothing of their culture, and a woman who’s lines of logic i could not figure out if i spent years in a lab studying her.

idk maybe our cat would be interested in observing shabbat with me, she’s probably the most likely to

.

#Jewish vents #jewish holidays

[chicago-geniza]

I was perpetually in trouble in synagogue school but the two incidents I remember most clearly were for refusing to kiss a Torah scroll after dropping it on the floor because it was unhygienic (lol), and as a very very young kid who didn't understand religious difference, enthusiastically belting "Wade In The Water" (gospel spiritual) during kabbalat Shabbat

#Eva Cassidy's WITW came on shuffle and I was like OH NO lmfao #People were SO mad and I didn't understand ??? It was about Gd??? Moses was there

[momentsbeforemass]

The saddest Gospel

In today’s Gospel, the Pharisees are trying to set Jesus up. Again.

Jesus’ response to them? It’s a question, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save a life rather than to destroy it?”

You and I don’t have to know what the Pharisees believe to know the answer. We don’t even have to know anything about God to get this one right.

The Pharisees’ actual beliefs? “All cases of saving a life supersede Shabbat, and he who hurries in these matters is praised.”

Great! Just what we would hope for. No horrible, cruel version of God. No toxic nonsense.

We’re all on the same page here – you, me, Jesus. And even the Pharisees.

Which is what makes their response to Jesus so jaw-dropping.

Instead of owning their beliefs? Instead of admitting that they have some common ground with Jesus?

They say nothing. And start plotting to kill Him.

How does that happen? Hatred. It’s all about hatred.

For the Pharisees, their hatred for Jesus is so great that they would betray their faith before they would ever admit to having anything in common with Him.

Which means that their hatred has pushed God off the throne.

Oh sure, they still use the language of their (now former) faith to talk about their new god.

But what they’re really worshipping is one of the most toxic false gods there ever was. They’re worshipping their own hatred.

It’s one of the saddest scenes in the Gospels.

And it kicks off a series of events that will end with people who truly believe they’re God’s favorites screaming at the top of their lungs for death of God’s Son.

The Pharisees may be gone, but the worship of hatred is alive and well. And not just in the obvious places.

If you’ve ever seen “Catholic” or “Christian” social media (especially clergy) spewing hateful garbage about people they disagree with.

If someone you see in Church has a habit of treating people like things, especially people who sin differently from them.

Then you’ve seen this in action.

Something has crawled onto their throne. They’ve let it get into the place in their heart that’s meant for God alone.

Whether they mean to or not, they let hatred become their god.

Something to think about the next time you and I catch ourselves lashing out – in person or online – at someone or something we don’t agree with.

Today’s Readings

#Hatred #Toxic #God #Jesus #Catholic #Christian #Church #False Gods #Worship #Heart #Lashing Out #Pharisees #Moments Before Mass

[morgen92]

A (probably wrong) theory about Matthew’s sister

So, I recently developed this odd and far-fetched theory after watching the season 3 premier. It’s a real stretch, but I thought I’d unleash it on y’all for funsies. (Sorry for how LONG the post ended up.) 

(Slight spoilers for first two episodes of season 3)

I’m really hoping we see more of her (as is everyone, no doubt). While I loved the scenes between Matthew and his parents in 3:02, I was also a bit disappointed that she didn’t appear or even get mentioned. The only references to her so far are a brief glimpse in ep 1:02 and a couple lines in 1:07. Even the novelization doesn’t really shed much more light on the character. 

In any other show, I’d assume she’d been retconned, but The Chosen is too well-planned in advance for them to give Matthew a sibling and then just act like she never existed. So where is she? She clearly doesn’t live with their parents at this point. 

The most probable explanation is that she’s married, and maybe her husband's trade involves him being out of town for days at a time to explain his absence.

The main problem with this theory is the extreme repercussions Matthew’s career brought on the whole family. In such a strict honor/shame society where the full approval of one’s parents were required for marriage, it would be extremally difficult to find a family willing to let their son marry the sister of a tax collector. 

It almost seems like the writers are keeping most things about her a secret. But if so, why? Is it something that will come into play later? 

So the gears have been turning, and I thought of these two lines  

Obviously the expected question one would ask of a relative they haven’t seen in a long while, and it’s probably just so Matthew can tell Elisheva that he was there earlier. 

And yet, it’s almost put forward in a way implying the sister would have reason to not be well.

And that made me think of another character in need of healing, who’s face and identity have been a closely-guarded secret. 

COULD THEY BE THE SAME PERSON??

Of course this brings up questions, for which I might have possible answers. 

The purity laws (as they were originally written) wouldn’t forbid her from being in her parents’ house and eating the Shabbat meal with them, just as long as they didn’t touch her or her chair (she doesn’t appear to be sharing a seat with anyone). Women being kept entirely secluded from everyone during times of impurity wasn’t really a thing practiced outside the households of priests, religious leaders, or the wealthy.

The bleeding woman’s age is never mentioned in the gospels, only that her condition lasted 12 years. It could’ve started in her teens or early 20′s, and it’s not yet stated which sibling’s the eldest, leaving some wiggle room. 

I can’t really come up with any definitive reason why the family makes no inference to something so important. It feels like the writers would have them maybe hint at it by now. Perhaps they do later in the season, now that Matthew’s staying with their parents when the group’s in Capernaum. Maybe she’s hidden from them just how bad it’s gotten, or has times when it’s a little better.

Again, it seems unlikely. You’d think it would be mentioned in the scriptures if she was a sister of an apostle, since the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law is written. Then again, some historians and scholars believe Jesus and the Sons of Zebedee might’ve been cousins, despite it never being explicitly mentioned. Her relation to Matthew could’ve been omitted for various reasons. 

For one thing, disability or chronic illness was usually seen in that culture as a sign of God’s anger. It’s possible she moved out of the family home partly for practical reasons (staying in a crowded house made it easier to accidentally break purity law), so she wouldn’t trouble them, and to distance her long-suffering parents from the gossip and shame that would accompany her condition. 

If it is her, then anyone who knew about it would probably assume God was punishing the family for Matthew’s betrayal. Especially since it would’ve began just 2-4 years after he became a tax collector (The novel says he’s in his late 20′s at the story’s onset). It’s very possible Matthew partly believes this himself, and guilt’s kept him from asking Jesus to heal her.

As a theory it doesn’t hold much weight. There could be any number of reasons the Bleeding Woman’s appearance has been kept a secret and not much is revealed about Matthew’s sister. She may be someone else farther down the line, perhaps even the Woman Caught in Adultery (the fact John’s is the only gospel that mentions that incident may be significant. Matthew didn’t want to write about such a painful moment for her but trusted John with it, maybe?) 

I’m probably reading way too much into things and making huge leaps in reasoning, but I thought it would be fun to share.

Thoughts?

#The Chosen #the chosen season 3 #the chosen season 1 #matthew the tax collector #fan theory

[yhwhrulz]

Worthy Brief - February 7, 2023

As brothers who are blinded -- open their eyes!

Genesis 42:8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.

2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

When Joseph became ruler over Egypt, his name was changed, and his identity was altered so that he no longer appeared or lived as a shepherd son of Israel from the land of Canaan but as an Egyptian Prime Minister. The transformation was so thorough that when his ten brothers arrived in Egypt, he was totally unrecognizable to them. This true story beautifully illustrates Mashiach ben Yosef (Yeshua/Jesus at His first coming) and contains a prophetic picture pointing to Yeshua and His Jewish people living today as we approach the Second Coming.

Several details elaborate on this amazing parallel. After Joseph was rejected by his brothers and sent to Egypt, his life naturally began to develop in the nation of his exile, including learning its language and culture. Constantly proving his capacity, responsibility, and leadership, Joseph was ultimately embraced by the Egyptians, exalted, and given an Egyptian bride (Asenath, daughter of the priest of On). In like manner, the rejection of Yeshua by the Jews of His day resulted in His becoming a light to the Gentiles, who rightly accepted and exalted Him so that, in many ways, He seemed to take on a Gentile identity and characteristics. As He betrothed Himself to this predominantly Gentile "Church" (with its Jewish roots), He ironically became virtually unrecognizable to His own Jewish people.

To illustrate further, Yeshua and His disciples had lived and worshiped according to the Biblical Jewish calendar: Shabbat, Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot, and Feast of Dedication (Chanukah). The later Christian (largely Gentile) church instead adapted and transformed pagan festivals and used them in their worship calendar, changing the cultural expression of the Jewish Messiah and His original followers to a Gentile expression and even prescribing the use of Jewish festivals in "Christian" worship. All the while, Yeshua's true nature and identity remained, even as Joseph's did.

But through these parallels, we can begin to understand the portent of Joseph's experience with his brothers; weeping bitterly when he first recognized them; then carefully arranging the circumstances which would bring them to repentance, and finally, removing the Egyptians for the dramatic revelation of his true identity to his brothers, the sons of Jacob. Likewise, Yeshua, weeping over His Jewish brothers, finally gathers them back into the Promised Land, and begins to arrange the circumstances which will bring them to repentance so that finally, at some final private revelation, "they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him" in amazed gratitude. [Zechariah 12:10].

God, Himself, working behind the scenes, has allowed Satan to do his blinding work on Israel for a season while gathering the Gentiles into His fold. But this season is ending. The mystery of Israel's blindness is being broadly revealed, prompting the prayers of millions of Gentile believers, and their love for Yeshua and His Jewish brethren is making Israel jealous; so the veil is being removed from Jewish eyes, just as it was from Joseph's brothers.

And what is our part? To understand the times and seasons in which we live, to pray and labor for both the fullness of the Gentiles and the spiritual revival of Israel which will usher in the coming of Messiah and life from the dead! Through the story of Joseph and the prophetic revelation of both Testaments, we know that all Israel will be saved with the fullness of the Gentiles. Since much of the world is still blinded to Messiah, we need to make the most of every opportunity to open blind eyes, Jewish or Gentile.

Let us reveal Yeshua to the entire world, especially reaching those whom the Lord has placed in our lives. Every time Yeshua is truly revealed, another one of "Joseph's brothers" can weep with joy, gratitude, and amazement that a humble Suffering Servant is also a great and glorious King!

Your family in the Lord with much agape love,

George, Baht Rivka, Obadiah and Elianna (Going to Christian College in Dallas, Texas) Daytona Beach, Florida

Registration is closing soon! Join us on an epic, life changing journey through Israel, -https://worthynews.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b94ae97bb66e693a4850359ec&id=947c5a8be1&e=546629276c through the eyes of those who are well acquainted with the culture, the people and the Land. This is not your average Israel tour— bring your family, bring your friends, and experience the REAL ISRAEL with George and Baht Rivka as your personal hosts.

[the-hem]

Jesus and the Jews. From John 7.

Jesus Christ, the Embodied Supreme Being came to institute Shabbat and encourage mankind to envelope all of its citizens in equal rights and the benefits of God's Graces. The Pharisees argued with Him about this, claiming He should nurture His own people first.

Eventually they agreed with Jesus it was in the best interests of the Shule if He did what He came to do. They parted friends, leaving Jesus with some advice: explain yourself in greater detail, which He did during the Sermon on the Mount which follows John 7.

Antisemitism itself is such a strange phenomenon- the Book of John says the Rabbinate summoned Jesus, argued with him then let him go saying they blessed His Mission. The legendary rejection of the Jew that caused all of this trouble is not in the Gospels. It was pure imagination. Silly but true. 

The Rabbis even say "We are not trying to kill you!!!" John even says the Temple Police were impressed with Jesus.

Things do not go well for Jesus later because mankind is savage and wanted to maintain its wicked behavior but the murder of Christ is not premeditated by the Gospels something has to be done to clear the record about the world's remaining Jews and their connection to the Christ which was accepted by the Rabbinate in the Book of John.

JOHN 7

Jesus and His Brothers

1After this, Jesus traveled around the country of Galilee. He did not want to travel in Judea, because the Jewish leaders there wanted to kill him. 2It was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters. 3So his brothers said to him, “You should leave here and go to the festival in Judea. Then your followers there can see the miracles you do. 4If you want to be well known, you must not hide what you do. So, if you can do such amazing things, let the whole world see you do them.” 5Jesus’ brothers said this because even they did not believe in him.

6Jesus said to them, “The right time for me has not yet come, but any time is right for you to go. 7The world cannot hate you. But the world hates me, because I tell the people in the world that they do evil things. 8So you go to the festival. I will not go now, because the right time for me has not yet come.” 9After Jesus said this, he stayed in Galilee.

10So his brothers left to go to the festival. After they left, Jesus went too, but he did not let people see him. 11At the festival the Jewish leaders were looking for him. They said, “Where is that man?”

12There was a large group of people there. Many of them were talking secretly to each other about Jesus. Some people said, “He is a good man.” But others said, “No, he fools the people.” 13But no one was brave enough to talk about him openly. They were afraid of the Jewish leaders.

Jesus Teaches in Jerusalem

14When the festival was about half finished, Jesus went to the Temple area and began to teach. 15The Jewish leaders were amazed and said, “How did this man learn so much? He never had the kind of teaching we had!”

16Jesus answered, “What I teach is not my own. My teaching comes from the one who sent me. 17People who really want to do what God wants will know that my teaching comes from God. They will know that this teaching is not my own. 18If I taught my own ideas, I would just be trying to get honor for myself. But if I am trying to bring honor to the one who sent me, I can be trusted. Anyone doing that is not going to lie. 19Moses gave you the law, right? But you don’t obey that law. If you do, then why are you trying to kill me?”

20The people answered, “A demon is making you crazy! We are not trying to kill you.”

21Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle on a Sabbath day, and you were all surprised. 22But you obey the law Moses gave you about circumcision—and sometimes you do it on a Sabbath day. (Really, Moses is not the one who gave you circumcision. It came from our ancestors who lived before Moses.) Yes, you often circumcise baby boys on a Sabbath day. 23This shows that someone can be circumcised on a Sabbath day to obey the Law of Moses. So why are you angry with me for healing a person’s whole body on the Sabbath day? 24Stop judging by the way things look. Be fair and judge by what is really right.”

People Wonder if Jesus Is the Messiah

25Then some of the people who lived in Jerusalem said, “This is the man they are trying to kill. 26But he is teaching where everyone can see and hear him. And no one is trying to stop him from teaching. Maybe the leaders have decided that he really is the Messiah. 27But when the real Messiah comes, no one will know where he comes from. And we know where this man’s home is.”

28Jesus was still teaching in the Temple area when he said loudly, “Do you really know me and where I am from? I am here, but not by my own decision. I was sent by one who is very real. But you don’t know him. 29I know him because I am from him. He is the one who sent me.”

30When Jesus said this, the people tried to grab him. But no one was able even to touch him, because the right time for him had not yet come. 31But many of the people believed in Jesus. They said, “We are waiting for the Messiah to come. When he comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man has done?”

The Jewish Leaders Try to Arrest Jesus

32The Pharisees heard what the people were saying about Jesus. So the leading priests and the Pharisees sent some Temple police to arrest him. 33Then Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer. Then I will go back to the one who sent me. 34You will look for me, but you will not find me. And you cannot come where I am.”

35These Jews said to each other, “Where will this man go that we cannot find him? Will he go to the Greek cities where our people live? Will he teach the Greek people there? 36He says, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me.’ He also says, ‘You cannot come where I am.’ What does this mean?”

Jesus Talks About the Holy Spirit

37The last day of the festival came. It was the most important day. On that day Jesus stood up and said loudly, “Whoever is thirsty may come to me and drink. 38If anyone believes in me, rivers of living water will flow out from their heart. That is what the Scriptures say.” 39Jesus was talking about the Spirit. The Spirit had not yet been given to people, because Jesus had not yet been raised to glory. But later, those who believed in Jesus would receive the Spirit.

The People Argue About Jesus

40When the people heard the things that Jesus said, some of them said, “This man really is the Prophet.”

41Other people said, “He is the Messiah.”

And others said, “The Messiah will not come from Galilee. 42The Scriptures say that the Messiah will come from the family of David. And they say that he will come from Bethlehem, the town where David lived.” 43So the people did not agree with each other about Jesus. 44Some of the people wanted to arrest him. But no one tried to do it.

The Jewish Leaders Refuse to Believe

45The Temple police went back to the leading priests and the Pharisees. The priests and the Pharisees asked, “Why didn’t you bring Jesus?”

46The Temple police answered, “We have never heard anyone say such amazing things!”

47The Pharisees answered, “So he has fooled you too! 48You don’t see any of the leaders or any of us Pharisees believing in him, do you? 49But those people out there know nothing about the law. They are under God’s curse!”

50But Nicodemus was there in that group. He was the one who had gone to see Jesus before. He said, 51“Our law will not let us judge anyone without first hearing them and finding out what they have done.”

52The Jewish leaders answered, “You must be from Galilee too! Study the Scriptures. You will find nothing about a prophet coming from Galilee.”

Galilee means "cylindric scroll." Probably a reference to the Torah, which finished with references to Jericho not Galilee.

The reason Jesus was questioned about this is it has to do with the Lottery. The Promised Land was deeded in bits and proportions to the 12 tribes and 70 clans meaning, "a good recipe is 10% Reuben, AKA Leadership, 15% Shimon, "a good reputation", etc.

There are no mentions of Messianic personality types called Tribe of Galilee so those Rabbis were trying to tell Jesus a piece of His logic needed further definition. In my opinion, He did it in the Sermon on the Mount which he published right after the scene above. The Sermon on Mount Olivet is simply the most wonderfully blessed speech in the Canon, AKA "the cylinder scroll", or Galilee.

All scripture must follow the model that underpins the Torah, one which follows an upward spiraling staircase. The Gospels and Book of Mormon are not exceptions. The Rabbinate suggested to Jesus without following an upward cylindric structure, His teachings would be incomplete. At the top of every lesson in the West is Shabbat, Holy Communion, unity of sentiment between all men and the Spirit of God.

The Value in Gematria is the conclusion to this frame which takes place in John 8:1: 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

The Number is 3945, גטדה, gathada, "to prepare the wine press."

Perhaps Jesus took them seriously, and instituted the concept of the wine press we know but do not recognize overly much today.

To fabricate reasons to murder Jews based on the false preceptors of this Canon has to be addressed with serious thought and a potent response by the civilized world. 

As a polemic, my argument which states that God, the Christ, the Rab, and the Shule collaborated to improve the chances man would enter more closely into the Presence of Grace confirms Jesus was an instrument of the Synagogue and not the other way around. This closes centuries of debate on this issue.

[bookoformon]

Ether Chapter 3. Part 3. "The Bite."

The world struggles with what is and what is not the Christ. 2024 years ago, we believe God touched a virgin's womb and now all is well. Except it is not well, it never really has been. No matter the medium for this expression of God's Grace mankind has rejected it, the biggest rejection having been the birth of the one we call the Son of God.

Either way, Jesus is dead. Except for the Records, He is gone without a trace. This is a fact. Everything about God and real life can be reduced to facts. The Book of Mormon was written in part to explain who and how Christ is so the world would be better able to accept Him.

We know Jesus was real, He is listed in the birth record as having been born in 5 BCE and died in 30 CE. We know Saint Mark's etc. portrayals of Him, circa 70 CE are fiction as Jerusalem was occupied and destroyed by the Romans at that time.

His portayals of Christ are laced with Gematria, references to the Torah, and contained profound insistance that mankind observe the most important tenets of Judaism, especially Shabbat and preparations for Mashiach, so we know the Holy Spirit alone guided his script.

The Book of Mormon, a contemporary account solidifies these facts and says "All is the Spirit. All is naught but the Spirit of God, the God of Israel." Together, the Gospels and the Book of Mormon give us transparency into a Son of God who is a character in the spiritual drama of mankind whom we must pay homage in real time with our behavior.

So when the Prophet says Jesus showed Himself or as below the "the Lord showed him" it means the Spirit revealed He cannot possibly be a separate being called Jesus that does His own thing or has a separate agenda from the God of Israel.

All Four Gospels of Jesus Christ and the Additional are without precdent or duplicate, and are too competent and elaborate to be the product of anything else. While it must have been a great thrill to think one could meet the Son of God, a miracle worker in the flesh, then beat the shit out of Him till He pissed Himself and then kill Him on a cross, but such things are very unlikely to have actually happend.

One can certainly visit with the meaning of such things by reading the Gospels or this record and attempt to understand the facts as God intended. Thus we continue to read the Book of Ether, "the Record of this place."

18 And he ministered unto him even as he ministered unto the Nephites; and all this, that this man might know that he was God, because of the many great works which the Lord had showed unto him.

19 And because of the knowledge of this man he could not be kept from beholding within the veil; and he saw the finger of Jesus, which, when he saw, he fell with fear; for he knew that it was the finger of the Lord; and he had faith no longer, for he knew, nothing doubting.

20 Wherefore, having this perfect knowledge of God, he could not be kept from within the veil; therefore he saw Jesus; and he did minister unto him.

Perfect knowledge is that which drives ethical behavior. Without knowledge of ethics the world has no way of understanding good and evil, what is pure and what is corrupt. To fail to understand why the crucifixion was not a proper conclusion to the divine birth is a good example. To celebrate the murder of the Son of God is the greatest ethical violation of all time, one that has kept mankind from realizing the fullest potential of a real relationship with the ultimate reality we know as God.

The Values in Gematria for the above verses are:

v. 18: And all this, that this man might know that he was God. The Value in Gematria is 11092, יא‎אֶפֶסטב‎‎, iapestev, "A feast in the House of Israel."

v. 19: He had faith no longer, because he knew. The Value in Gematria is 13862, יג‎חו‎ב "will owe."

v. 20: He could not be kept from the veil. The Value in Gematria is 9472, טדז‎ב‎‎, tadzb, "the cell, then the second."

ta= cell

dz= then

b= beis, the House, "to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."

Also "to take a bite."

What is beyond reach of human experience cannot be bitten. Not because it is difficult to understand but because it is not really there. Knowledge of God can be bitten with proper instruction, follow through, and the most important ingredient, maturity within oneself, ie. ethical self-government.

Who understands all of these things no longer struggles with what is the Christ.

[ancestorsofjudah]

2 Kings 23: 8-11. "The Tambourine."

Josiah "the fire offering" continues his deconstruction of the religious artifacts and rituals in Jerusalem in preparation for Shabbat. For this to happen, he needed to bring down the high places, bring heaven down to earth and give everyone a reality check. Without Shabbat, there is no such thing as God, the angels, heaven, or the Torah.

We engage in religion so we come to learn about and enter into God's Grace. For this to happen the Torah says we must observe certain principals and rules and getting long fine with each other. Each person contributes to how the world works in some way, everyone gets to eat, rest, contemplate and do something personally industrious in the name of the Self. This is the most important Law in the Torah, this means that is also an end.

Our sages were wise and farsighted in their emphasis on Shabbat and this continued from the Torah to the Gospels and eventually, Shabbat became an international legal observance.

But even still, we do not regard Shabbat, a pause from exertion quite the way we should. The following verses from the Melachim tell us what we should do about this.

First, we must understand we don't need to worry about most of the things contained in the Torah all of the time. How many of us worry we are going to lie or steal or murder, or have sex before we are of age? We learn about those things, they help us harden our characters off, and then we deal what whatever reality throws at us next. The term Josiah is related to Manasseh, which means "to sacrifice the sins of the past using the fire of understanding," except Josiah means "to become a man of the earth", i.e. "to become someone's husband."

To husband is the end of the road for religious persons. One who can husband and do it well has fulfilled the scriptures and achieves a lasting state of Shabbat.

This is why Shabbat is called the Bride and the Jew the Husband and why we don't want God the Father or Jesus the Son, we want a partner we can look across the room and see a face we can't bear to turn away from and will never forget.

Once religion completes its course and the animal husbandry phase of human development ends, there is only the Bride, Shabbat, and her mate:

8 Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate. 

9 Although the priests of the high places did not serve at the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.

10 He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molek. 

11 He removed from the entrance to the temple of the Lord the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court[a] near the room of an official named Nathan-Melek. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.

The Values in Gematria are:

v. 8: From Geba to Beersheba:

Geba= the collection of feelings under one's skin.

Beersheba= are the laws we observe in order to control those feelings. All human beings commit to control of their emotions and to get along with the rest. There are laws that require this, but we are also taught by the Religion, this is the right and good thing to do.

The Gate on the Left, belonging to the City Governor=Gates are the the faculties that are used to interact with the rest of the world. The City Governor is the one that protects the City from enemies. If the gate to the entrance of the Governor it means one no longer has enemies- the consquences of one's sinful responses to the world and is competent at self-governance at last.

The Value in Gematria is 10743, יז‎ד‎‎ג, ‎yazdag, "the genitalia should be worshipped. Be daring!"

v. 9: The priests ate unleavened bread. Priests have to continue to train in the proper understanding of the Tanakh lifelong, there is no way around this.

The Values in Gematria are 8612, חואב‎ ‎, huav, "the young shoot."

For the sake of Presentations, clergy must demonstrate the utmost in propriety in full view of the congregation. Leavened bread - one's halo effect per se- must not contain a mix of value systems or the prohibitions against gaven images and other gods for example will be violated.

Where gay clergy are concerned there is more work needed to be done as obviously one cannot explain the quantum mechanics of gay sex to little kids and also explain the Mishpatim on the subject and achieve complete clarity.

v. 10: Topheth and Valley of Ben Hinnom:

The curious verb θαπτω (thapto) means to honor with funeral rites — a broad range of activities including carrying a deceased out of his house and on toward his place of burial. In later writings this verb also, or specifically, denoted cremation.

It's formally a mystery where this verb came from, which makes us here at Abarim Publications privately suspect that it has to do with the Hebrew verb תפף (tapap), to beat a drum or tambourine, and ultimately with the name Topheth, belonging to the fiery device set up in Gehenna, what later became known as hell.

Ben Hinnom= the son of the groaning multitude from the trench, "the mutterers."

Molek=

The noun מלך (melek) means king, and a king is not merely a glorified tribal chief but the alpha of a complex, stratified society, implying a court and a complex government.

The Bible insists that a society must be governed by a triad of anointed sovereigns, namely prophets, priests and the king. A good king causes his people to be prosperous and peaceful whereas a bad one causes poverty and strife.

The difference between the two is dictated by how close to the Law of Nature (a.k.a. the Word of God) the king operates. A kingdom that is wholly in tune with the Law consists of only sovereign individuals and is thus without a physical king.

One would not sacrifice one's future to the King. One is supposed to obtain a chance at a future from the King, not give it up.

The Value in Gematria is 6954, וטהד‎‎, "and echo."

The echo essentially means Ishmael, "to hear, respond and obey." Once one echoes through life without feeling as if one is in submission, Shabbat is nigh.

v. 11: Removed the Horse Entrance/Nathan-Melek= what the King has given by bestowing secular law.

The transformation that takes place during one's life and across the many lifetimes and generations of humanity has taken place because of sound government. Sound government as we know does not include religious principals though their ethics are based on the ones we come to value through faith.

Secular life is the apex pomegranate of religious life and the two meet in the observance of Shabbat, which is best when one is with the best love apple in one's heart.

Faith teaches through rhetorical devices and allegory in order to properly train the mind. The law in contrast is not a training ground. It must be taken literally at a glance and thus secular laws, which are universal and concrete must run the government instead of those composed by religion.

The Value in Gematria is 8725, חזב‎ה‎‎, hezba, "the behavior of an interlinked group unified by the mission of an organization."

"Our noun צבא (saba') is also used to collectively denote the visible celestial bodies (Deuteronomy 4:19, Jeremiah 8:2, Isaiah 34:4). And like angels, planets and stars don't wage war, but (we know since Kepler), they certainly engage each other in a greater, unified gravitational community.

Our word appears in Genesis 2:1 to encompass all of creation. If our word had meant armies, Genesis 2:1 would have read, "Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their armies". It obviously doesn't.

Genesis 2:1 expresses the fundamental way the universe is organized: as a wholly integrated system or many smaller systems that in turn consist of smaller systems, and so forth down to the level of organisms that comprise socio-groups within larger cultures within the biosphere and themselves consist of organs that consist of cells that consist of organelles that consist of molecules that consist of atoms that consist of subatomic particles."

We cannot worship the sun as the Melachim states. If we do anything at all, we must avoid worship and participate heart and soul in the work done within governments and communities to make life as survivable as we can, if not as entertaining as possible for so long as we should all live. And without any church or state interference in our private lives.

[almaqead]

"The Form of a Bird." Conclusion to Surah 5: Al Ma'idah, "The Table Setting."

[The Day] when Allah will say, "O Jesus, Son of Mary, remember My favor upon you and upon your mother when I supported you with the Pure Spirit and you spoke to the people in the cradle and in maturity; and [remember] when I taught you writing and wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel; and when you designed from clay [what was] like the form of a bird with My permission, then you breathed into it, and it became a bird with My permission; and you healed the blind and the leper with My permission; and when you brought forth the dead with My permission; and when I restrained the Children of Israel from [killing] you when you came to them with clear proofs and those who disbelieved among them said, "This is not but obvious magic."

And [remember] when I inspired to the disciples, "Believe in Me and in My messenger Jesus." They said, "We have believed, so bear witness that indeed we are Muslims [in submission to Allah ]."

[And remember] when the disciples said, "O Jesus, Son of Mary, can your Lord send down to us a table [spread with food] from the heaven? [Jesus] said," Fear Allah, if you should be believers."

They said, "We wish to eat from it and let our hearts be reassured and know that you have been truthful to us and be among its witnesses."

Said Jesus, the son of Mary, "O Allah, our Lord, send down to us a table [spread with food] from the heaven to be for us a festival for the first of us and the last of us and a sign from You. And provide for us, and You are the best of providers."

Allah said, "Indeed, I will sent it down to you, but whoever disbelieves afterwards from among you - then indeed will I punish him with a punishment by which I have not punished anyone among the worlds."

And [beware the Day] when Allah will say, "O Jesus, Son of Mary, did you say to the people, 'Take me and my mother as deities besides Allah ?'" He will say, "Exalted are You! It was not for me to say that to which I have no right. If I had said it, You would have known it. You know what is within myself, and I do not know what is within Yourself. Indeed, it is You who is Knower of the unseen.

I said not to them except what You commanded me - to worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. And I was a witness over them as long as I was among them; but when You took me up, You were the Observer over them, and You are, over all things, Witness.

If You should punish them - indeed they are Your servants; but if You forgive them - indeed it is You who is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.

Allah will say, "This is the Day when the truthful will benefit from their truthfulness." For them are gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever, Allah being pleased with them, and they with Him. That is the great attainment.

To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever is within them. And He is over all things competent.

Commentary:

This is the conclusion to the Surah in the Quran called Al Ma'idah, the Table Setting, which in the end alludes to the non-duality of God, and how the finite and the infinite, what is seen and also unseen create the Territory and give it life.

Who prays upon this to God is among the wise:

"You know what is within myself, and I do not know what is within Yourself. Indeed, it is You who is Knower of the unseen."

And who recognizes only God can become an interloper between the worlds and it is only He who can become a man and still be pure. The rest of us need Him dearly, and this is why we perform the Holy Communion, also called Shabbat, or the Festival Feast in Arabic so we do not forget who we are and who He is.

[childofchrist1983]

For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? what shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. - 1 Corinthians 11:19-22 KJV

In the beginning days of Christianity, the people would still gather in the synagogues on Saturday Sabbath, to listen to the reading of the Torah and the prophets. On Sunday, the first day of the week, they would assemble at the homes of the leaders for a celebration of the LORD's Supper and to share the Gospel and parable stories as well as any letter of instruction or other news. Paul is telling the Corinthians that their behavior at the Sunday gathering is inappropriate. They were not supposed to be coming for a free meal, but to break the bread and drink the cup in remembrance of Jesus Christ's command at the Last Supper.

Many denominations have a Eucharistic service either every Sunday or once a month to remember the Last Supper, and to break the bread and drink the wine. This service is very similar to the bread and wine that are blessed at the Friday night Shabbat services in Jewish homes and is also part of the Passover service at the Seder. The Corinthians were abusing this practice and Paul was calling them out. He warned those who were to blame that God would not be happy with their behavior and that if they were eating and drinking in an unworthy manner they were bringing judgment upon themselves. God is offended - and all true Christians should be as well - if someone makes a mockery of a sacred religious rite in our Christian faith. If we are offended, imagine God's affront at those who were making a mockery of Him, of His Holy Word - the Holy Bible, and of the LORD's Supper. We are offended when He is mocked and when we who worship and serve Him are mocked. May we never mock God or anyone who leans on, serves and worships Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ in Truth and love!

Thank God for His strength and guidance when we are faced with sin. Thank Him for His mercy and grace. Through Bible study and prayer, God reveals His wisdom and guides us to see opportunities to grow closer to Him and grow spiritually. He gives us direction to live our lives according to His Holy Word and will. We must make God top priority everyday! May we be motivated to spread God's Holy Word and Gospel Truth to all the Earth, knowing that it is the only hope of all those lost in their sins. Let us not hold out a false hope for men to be saved without the Gospel, but instead, strive to do our part to get the Gospel out to a lost and dying world.

Leaning on Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ through prayer and His Holy Word and Spirit strengthens us and our knowledge and wisdom about God and His Gospel Truth, exposing these imposters. May God help us to seek and lean on Him daily to gain the strength, wisdom and spiritual discernment needed to expose Satan and his imposters who seek to destroy us and God's ultimate Truth. Everyday, we must remember to share Jesus Christ's Gospel Truth with the world and to thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for the grace that He poured out for us on the cross at Calvary. He has freed us from the burdens of sin and from the eternal damnation of Hell. In all we say and do, may all praise, honor and glory always be given to Him and His Kingdom of Heaven.

With renewed minds, hearts and wills, let us serve Him humbly and faithfully out of pure love and grateful rejoicing. May He remind us of His presence and to remain at peace, fully knowing that all will be well because He is always with us. Let us seek Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ today and everyday with all our heart and being, looking for His love, light and will for our lives with each step we take. Let us seek to please Him with our thoughts, words, and deeds and seek to advance His Kingdom of Heaven and His glory with our lives. Let us seek Him from a pure and humble heart, and when we so seek, we believe Him and His promise that we will find. May He help us all to be more sensitive to the teaching ministry of His Holy Word and Spirit, relying on Him and allowing Him to speak to us and guide us every step of our Christian journey.

God gave us the Holy Bible - His living and Holy Word - to let us know of Him and His abiding love and care as well as guide and prepare us for all our lives. May He help us encourage one another as we continue our walk with Him and our duty to Him daily. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for being present for all our new beginnings and all our lives. May He redirect any anxiety we feel as He provides countless opportunities for growth and change. May we humble ourselves before God always, asking Him to forgive our sins and make our hearts and lives anew through His Holy Word and Spirit. May He help us make Him and His Holy Word top priority, so we can grow spiritually and grow in our relationship with Him as we apply it to our daily lives. Thank God that we can focus on Him and everything about Him, for that is what keeps us sane and at peace. May our words and actions always be a reflection of Him and His Holy Word and Spirit and will.

May He help us to always walk in His grace and Holy Spirit, not by our own measure. May He give us the humble humility to know that our freedom and eternal salvation is found only in Him, so that His grace may sustain us, and we may never lose sight of His love and light and mercy. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for calling us to Him and to serve Him. May He equip us to do all that He has called us to do so that as He works through us, He may use us to produce fruit, to reach others, and to encourage all brothers and sisters in Christ. May He work all of these things in us and through us for His Kingdom and His glory. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for all His creation, for His miraculous ways and for everything He does and has done for us! Keep the faith and keep moving forward in your walk with Jesus! He loves us and He knows what is best for us. Seek, follow and trust in Him - Always!

Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for His Holy Word and for sending His Holy Spirit so that we might have His grace, not only to awaken us and transform our hearts in our spiritual rebirth and guarantee our eternity with Him, but to also call upon Him whenever we are in need. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for all the reminders of His love and mercy and faithfulness within His Holy Word. He is bigger than any challenge or circumstance in our lives. Knowing this within our minds and our hearts, nothing can deter our faith in Him and His Truth. May we all accept Him and His eternal gift of salvation and ask that He would transform our hearts and lives according to His will and ways. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for His Holy Spirit who saves, seals and leads us. May we always thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for His almighty power and saving grace. For He is our strength, and He alone is able to save us, forgive our sins and gift us eternal salvation and entry into His Kingdom of Heaven.

May we make sure that we give our hearts and lives to God and take time to seek and praise Him and share His Truth with the world daily. May the LORD our God and Father in Heaven help us to stay diligent and obedient and help us to guard our hearts in Him and His Holy Word daily. May He help us to remain faithful and full of excitement to do our duty to Him and for His glorious return and our reunion in Heaven as well as all that awaits us there. May we never forget to thank the LORD our God and our Creator and Father in Heaven for all this and everything He does and has done for us! May we never forget who He is, nor forget who we are in Christ and that God is always with us! What a mighty God we serve! What a Savior this is! What a wonderful LORD, God, Savior and King we have in Jesus Christ! What a loving Father we have found in Almighty God! What a wonderful God we serve! His will be done!

Thanks and glory be to God! Blessed be the name of the LORD! Hallelujah and Amen!

[jessicalprice]

the adventures of kid jesus, holy terror

(reposted from Twitter)

So I tend to think that the reason the four gospels that made it into the Christian Bible did so was because they were the ones that conflicted least with most of the major schools of early Christianity. Like, they don't preclude gnosticism, they don't really put Jesus in a particular political movement, etc. They're open to mystical interpretation, but they're among the least mystical of the candidates, etc.

They also involve relatively little Asshole Jesus.

But allow me to introduce you to the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.

No, not the Gospel of Thomas, the most famous of the noncanonical gospels.

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas.

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas was written before 185 CE, when Irenaeus was ranting about it, and after 80 CE, since it borrows from Luke and that's probably when Luke was written point being: as these things go, it's pretty old--this isn't medieval fanfic or whatevs. It was also very, very popular.

So.

The first thing baby Jesus does is make some clay sparrows on Shabbat which freaks everyone out in the way that only Jews written by Christians freak out, because he's 5 years old and 5-year-olds playing with mud on Shabbat is not, like, a big deal.

So anyway, Kid Jesus is there with another kid, who takes a stick and stirs a mud pool Kid Jesus made.

so Kid Jesus turns him into a mummy

The now-mummy kid's parents are understandably upset that their toddler got mummified for stirring some water with a stick and they go to complain to Joseph that his little holy terror of a son is desiccating people.

meanwhile, Kid Jesus is running around town

Another kid is running around town and bumps Kid Jesus's shoulder.

so Kid Jesus kills him

Joseph now has TWO sets of angry parents being like "my dude, your son is killing little kids which is profoundly Not Cool" so he goes to have a talk with Kid Jesus about how we don't just straight-up murder toddlers who bump into us.

Joseph sits Kid Jesus down and is like "look, son, we're being persecuted (translation: asked to stop) now because you're murdering children so maybe stop it?" and Kid Jesus says "aw, Dad, I know you don't mean it" and...

...Kid Jesus strikes the parents complaining that he's murdered their kids blind

Joseph twists his ear and Kid Jesus tells him to quit it and leave him alone to do his murdering in peace.

There's this teacher named Zacchaeus who for some reason is IMPRESSED by all this and is like, "your kid is so wise, my dude, let me teach him" and apparently he was okay at teaching the alphabet:

And he told him all the letters from Alpha even to Omega clearly.

Kid Jesus, on the other hand, is the worst student ever and is all:

thou hypocrite, first, if thou knowest it, teach the Alpha, and then will we believe thee concerning the Beta.

It's unclear whether he actually understands the definition of the term "hypocrite."

Zacchaeus, who's clearly a hardcore masochist, is all like:

Woe is me, wretch that I am, I am confounded: I have brought shame to myself by drawing to me this young child

And he's like "this 5-year-old who yelled at me about the order of the letters is CLEARLY an angel or a god."

No, I mean literally:

he is somewhat great, whether god or angel or what I should call him, I know not.

And Kid Jesus is like yup, I'm here to make you all miserable.

No, I mean literally:

I am come from above that I may curse them, and call them to the things that are above, even as he commanded which hath sent me for your sakes.

But Kid Jesus goes ahead and heals everyone he cursed, and after that, everyone's afraid to contradict him, because they are *literally terrified he will maim them.*

No, I mean literally:

And no man after that durst provoke him, lest he should curse him, and he should be maimed.

Then Kid Jesus and some other kids (I'm hesitant to characterize them as his friends) are playing in the upper story of a house and a kid falls out a window and dies so the dead kid's parents are like, "clearly this kid that's already straight-up murdered 2 other kids did it."

So Kid Jesus raises the other kid from the dead not because, you know, he's a little kid who fell out a window and died and that's tragic, or because his parents are grieving or whatever.

no, he raises him from the dead so the dead kid can back him up that he didn't murder him

Then Kid Jesus turns six and for a little while it seems like he's going to be less of a serial killer. He carries some water to his mom after the pitcher breaks, and uses his superpowers to help his dad with carpentry.

But then his dad decides that he's six so it's really time he learned his ABCs and now that he's a little older maybe he won't be so much of an asshole to his teachers so he gets a new teacher, and this one isn't as submissive as the last one.

Kid Jesus is an asshole to this teacher too, but this one smacks him upside the head for mouthing off.

so Kid Jesus kills him (or maybe just puts him in a coma)

Joseph is like maybe we just homeschool him.

But there's a teacher who's like PUT ME IN, COACH. And Joseph is like look my dude my murder-child has a 100% teacher-killing rate, are you sure? And the teacher's like I CAN DO IT.

Oh wait, Teacher #1 lived because he groveled, I forgot. Anyway, Teacher #3 also grovels, which pleases Kid Jesus so much that he heals/resurrects Teacher #2.

So then Kid Jesus's brother James gets bitten by a snake and Jesus heals him which is nice I guess but James best thank him thoroughly or he might get murdered like every other kid in the village.

And then a baby gets sick and dies and Kid Jesus resurrects him and the villagers are like: "Of a truth this young child is either a god or an angel of God; for every word of his is a perfect work."

because they have the world's shortest memories

So a guy dies and Kid Jesus resurrects him and they're all:

This young child is from heaven: for he hath saved many souls from death, and hath power to save them all his life long.

which IGNORES THAT MOST OF THE PEOPLE HE RESURRECTED WERE DEAD IN THE FIRST PLACE BECAUSE HE KILLED THEM

And then there's a paragraph about him teaching in the Temple when he was 12 that's very similar to the one in Luke and that's a wrap.

Behold: the Infancy Gospel of Thomas

and this shit was apparently VERY POPULAR

So yeah, one of the more popular early Christian bestsellers was, just to sum up: Jesus murders a bunch of people, maims anyone who objects, brings them back to life, and everyone who witnesses it thinks that everything he does is perfect after he terrifies them into submission.

#early christianity #infancy gospel of thomas #noncanonical gospels #jesus the serial killer #yes everyone I'm aware this is also the plot of a Twilight Zone episode

[lemonade-squid]

Not a second in my uber and she's making me help uncomfortable playing gospel and yelling at me that I slammed the door I'm gunna leave with a shabbat shalom

[skyvalleyhigherpraise]

Gospels | February 11, 2023

Shabbat Shalom

Fishes and loaves, walking on water. Miracles upon miracles. When we put our trust in Adonai and believe in Yeshua, our resurrected Messiah, things come together, we have hope. Blessings as you continue study in His word.

#bible #fish #bread

[arcsoffaith22reflection]

JEANNE DELA CRUZ

Judaism

The first and oldest of the three great monotheistic faiths that is dating back nearly 4,000 years. It is the religion and way of life Jewish people. The basic laws and tenets of Judaism are derived from the Torah, the first five books of the bible. God first revealed himself to a Hebrew named Abraham, who became known the founder of Judaism. Jews believed that God made a special covenant with Abraham and that he and his decendants were chosen people who would create a great nation. Woship is also important to Jews because it brings the community together. Worship in the synagogue includes daily service, rites of passage and festivals. The worship of Jews people include prayers, Shabbat meals and study.

Christianity

Is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the worlds largest religion with roughly 2.8 billion followers representing one-third of global population. Christianity is a religion founded by Jesus Christ. Their Seven Sacraments are Baptism, Confirmation, The Eucharist, Ordination, Marriage, Reconciliation, and The annointing of the Sick. Christian history is record in the New Testament which is divided into 4 parts and contains 27 books. The Gospels, The Acts of Apostles, The Epistles and The Revelations. Chrisitian beliefs are recorded in creeds, and the common elements is the Holy Trinity- belief in the God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit. The most important among them beliefs and practices are believed to be signs to Gods grace called Sacraments.

Islam Is the second most widespread religion centred primarily around the Quran next to Christianity and those who practice Islam are called Muslims. Islam means submission to the will of God and obedience to His law. Muhammad is the Prophet of Islam and he is often reffered as the Seal of Prophets. The religious obligations of all Muslims are summed up in the Five Pillars of Islam, which include belief in God and his Prophet and obligations of prayer, charity, pilgrimage, and fasting. The fundamental concept of Islam is the Sharīʿāh—its law, which embraces the total way of life commanded by God. Muslims believe that God is the creator of all things, and that God is all-powerful and all-knowing. God has no offspring, no race, no gender, no body, and is unaffected by the characteristics of human life.

Hinduism

Hinduism is the Oldest living religion in the world and world's 3rd largest religion. It has no founder and prophet. Hindu word is originated from the Persian which means "river". The Hindu Trimurti consists of Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer. Most Hindus are principally devoted to the god Vishnu, the god Shiva, or the Goddess. Hinduism embraces many religious ideas. For this reason, it’s sometimes referred to as a “way of life” or a “family of religions,” as opposed to a single, organized religion. Most forms of Hinduism are henotheistic, which means they worship a single deity, known as “Brahman,” but still recognize other gods and goddesses. Followers believe there are multiple paths to reaching their god. Hindus believe in the doctrines of samsara (the continuous cycle of life, death, and reincarnation) and karma (the universal law of cause and effect).

Buddhism

Buddhism is a non-theistic religion (no belief in a creator god), also considered a philosophy and a moral discipline, originating in India in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. Buddhism is a religion that is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha which means the Enlightened One", "the Awakened One" or the " the One who Knows" is a central figure of buddhism The main principles of this belief system are karma, rebirth, and impermanence. Buddhist do not worship Buddha; look to the Buddha's teachings in a order to attain enlightenment.

Daoism

Daoism is a nature-based philosophy. It observes nature, seeing the observer and observed as one entire system.The Daoist community believes that nature, not people, ultimately controls how things change. Therefore, humans and their rules are less important. They also see the Confucianist emphasis on culture and civilized society as unnecessary and rather unnatural. The important Taoist principles are inaction, simplicity and living in harmony with nature. Taoist philosophical principle rested on a belief in the law of unity of the two opposite forces: yin and yang.

Confucianism

Confucianism is an ancient Chinese belief system, which focuses on the importance of personal ethics and morality. Confucianism believes in ancestor worship and human-centered virtues for living a peaceful life. In the Confucian tradition, there are three levels of sacrificial ritual: Great Sacrifice offered by the emperor, Middle Sacrifice offered by court officials, and Minor Sacrifice offered by local officials.

Shintoism

Shinto means the way of the gods. Shintoism is an Ancient religion of Japan. The overriding belief in Shinto is to promotes harmony and purity in all aspects of life. Humans are thought of as being fundamentally good, and evil is caused by evil spirits. The purpose of Shinto, therefore, is to pray and offer to the kami to keep away evil spirits. The followers of Shintoism believe that spiritual powers exist in the natural world. Shinto revolves around supernatural entities called the kami. The kami are believed to inhabit all things, including forces of nature and prominent landscape locations.

Interfaith dialogue

The idea of Interfaith dialogue is like when a group of people talk about their beliefs. l and it is an interaction between people of different religious traditions and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels. Interfaith-based action is when a group of people of different beliefs do something together.