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Title: Jesus - Dissident Teacher
Source:
HARD-BOILED DREAMS OF THE WORLD
URL Source: http://joecrubaugh.com/blog/2007/06 ... of-nazareth-dissident-teacher/
Published: Jun 11, 2007
Author: Joe Crubaugh
Post Date: 2007-06-11 05:55:38 by wudidiz
Keywords: None
Views: 300
Comments: 23
Jesus of Nazareth - Dissident Teacher
Jesus was not a good little boy. By all accounts, the mystic drifter was critical of the government, critical of organized religion, and critical of apathetic souls who complacently sustained the status quo.
Forever the malcontent freethinker, Jesus habitually ignored taboos, unceasingly empowered disrespected riffraff, and wandered from town to town with a hippy gang of penniless communal punks, bringing disorder and chaos wherever he dusted his sandals.
And two thousand years later? The man’s real identity has all but disappeared.
Faux Dead Celebrity Religion
Even as millions worship a faux image in his name, Jesus’ most important messages have been buried beneath a centuries-long torrent of disinformation and superficial distractions.
Only a few years after his execution, channeled scripture and fabricated words were already being stuffed in his mouth. Since then, authentic quotes have been twisted by misguided bourgeois interpretations and institutional creeds — dogma spawned by the same variety of euphonious hypocrites that Jesus spurned with so much turbulent passion in his own lifetime.
And yet, for those who bother to dig deep, at the heart of the bizarre steeped-in-human-sacrifice-and-cannibalism rituals, the intolerant cultish conversion crusades, and the billion-dollar industry built upon macabre first-century dead-celebrity worship, they find the origin: our world’s most famous blasphemer and seditionist, and a mettlesome, hard-boiled, number-one dissident.
The Birth of Jesus
Jesus’ non-Germanized name was probably Yeshua and most historians agree that he was a very real person. Most historians also agree that much of the scriptural Jesus legend is fiction.
For starters, the whole Christmas story is historically flawed. (For those unfamiliar with the Nativity, some scriptures tell how Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Judea, after his parents traveled from their home in Nazareth, Galilee, to take part in a Roman census. This happened while Herod the Great ruled Judea and Quirinius governed Syria.)
First, there was never a Roman census ordered for residents of Nazareth, Galilee. Period.
Second, Quirinius didn’t come to power until a decade after Herod died.
Third, heavily pregnant women don’t set off on four-day, 100-mile jaunts on a donkey.
It’s also worth mentioning that, even though scriptures don’t give a date of birth, Jesus was not born a Capricorn while shepherds tended their flocks in the field. Judean shepherds simply didn’t put their sheep out to pasture during the harsh month of December.
In fact, the first Christians didn’t teach the story of Jesus’ birth from a virgin. The earliest Christian writings — the letters of Paul of Tarsus — make no mention of Jesus having an extraordinary birth at all, and Paul hung out with Jesus’ brother James, so he was in a position to get the real lowdown. Paul just says Jesus was “born of a woman.” (Galatians 4:4)
These, and other indications, suggest that the beautiful, haunting, and wondrous birth fable was an addition of later Christians to make their cult more palatable to pagans.
In part, the Nativity fable borrows from Old Testament stories, and in part it borrows from the narratives of popular Roman gods, like Mithras, who was born of a virgin on December 25, then visited by shepherds and Magi. And shouldn’t we expect mixed allegories from coalescing Jewish and Roman cultures?
So, regarding Jesus’ historical birth, that leaves us with little to nothing, which amounts to only this: about two thousand years ago, a baby boy was born in the backwaters of Palestine. When this kid grew up, he profoundly rocked the course of human history…
The Historical Jesus
Many Biblical scholars have used historical methods to construct the truest biography of Jesus. In addition to books that were included in the New Testament, there are hundreds of early Christian writings providing them clues.
As with most historical detective work, the earliest writings are presumed to paint a more accurate picture than later writings, which undoubtedly include added propaganda that favored particular religious sects emerging by the end of the first century AD.
These scholars have found that the earliest Christians — the Jews who followed Jesus’ brother James immediately after Jesus’ execution — might not even be considered Christian by today’s standards.
President of the Anglican Association of Biblical Scholars, Oregon State University professor Marcus Borg, describes the real Jesus that these early Christians talked and wrote about:
"He was a peasant, which tells us about his social class.
Clearly, he was brilliant. His use of language was remarkable and poetic, filled with images and stories. He had a metaphoric mind. He was not an ascetic, but world-affirming, with a zest for life.
There was a social-political passion to him. Like a Gandhi or a Martin Luther King, he challenged the domination system of his day.
He was a religious ecstatic, a Jewish mystic, if you will, for whom God was an experiential reality. As such, he was also a healer. And there seems to have been a spiritual presence around him, like that reported of St. Francis or the Dalai Lama.
And I suggest that, as a figure of history, he was an ambiguous figure. You could experience him and conclude that he was insane, as his family did, or that he was simply eccentric, or that he was a dangerous threat, or you could conclude that he was filled with the Spirit of God."
The Teachings of Jesus
At a time when the Roman Empire and Jewish elite taught Galileans to look out for number one and avoid unclean outcasts, Jesus preached exactly the opposite. He said that everybody was welcome in the Kingdom of God, and that number one would be last. What’s more, he said the Kingdom of God wasn’t a future reward, but was present in the now if people would only open their eyes and see.
Not only did Jesus teach with words; he lead by example, too.
In a time and place where talking with women in public was taboo, Jesus not only spoke with, but openly defended women. And he touched sick outcasts in a purity-focused society where it was against the law to come into contact with the unclean.
Perhaps his biggest taboo breach of all was insulting the religious elite. After logically proving the absurdity of many of their dogmatic rules, Jesus criticized the wealthy religious authorities for selling deliverance to impoverished peasants.
As is often the case today, the elite largely left the talented dissident alone…until the dissident showcased their unethical, corrupt source of wealth and power. It was ultimately Jesus’ violent explosion at the Jerusalem temple’s money-changing tables that got him swiftly arrested, tortured, and killed.
The Aftermath of Jesus
Some Christians say that Jesus resurrected himself from the grave. Others say he was tossed on a burning garbage heap, as was the practice with most criminals executed by the Roman state. Muslims believe Jesus wasn’t crucified, and the Qur’an says God took him directly up to heaven. Still others believe he survived and had children with Mary Magdalene.
But, whatever happened to Jesus after his crucifixion, it’s his human life that I admire the most.
I most admire those of his actions that I’m capable of practicing myself, not the tales of walking on water or healing the blind. I admire how he loaned his voice and sweat to the weak and oppressed. I admire his unpopular but persistent inclusion of societal rejects. And I admire his courage to tell authorities with distinct and uncompromising language that they are full of bull excrement when they are, in fact, filled to their ears with their own duplicitous waste.
And that’s why, in addition to being an outstanding role model, Jesus is one of my favorite 10 dissidents who changed the world.
“Jesus was a dissident on the fringes of the Empire of his day. He stood with everybody who was nobody. He made a beeline to stand with those on the margins, those whose dignity had been denied, the poor and excluded, the easily despised, the demonized, and those whose burdens were more than they could bear. And they killed him for it.” ~Father Gregory J. Boyle
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#1. To: All (#0)
I meant for the title of this to be "Jesus - Dissident Teacher"
The important thing is never to stop questioning. ~ Albert Einstein
fixed!
Thank You!
I speak truth, not as much as I would, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little the more as I grow older. ~ Montaigne
if that part of the scripture is fiction, what else is? how are we to know what is true and what is false...and further, just who are the authors and what was their agenda?
"They Killed Him" There was a man named Hatma Gandi He would not bow down he would not fight He knew the deal was down and dirty And nothing wrong could make it right away But he knew his duty and the prize he had to pay Just another holy man who tried to be a friend My God, they killed him. Another man from Atlanta, Georgia By name of Martin Luther King He shook the land like the rolling thunder And made the bells of freedom ring today With a dream of beauty that they could not burn away Just another holy man who dared to make a stand The only Son of God Almighty The holy one called Jesus Christ He healed the lame and fed the hungry And for his love they took his life away On the road to glory where the story never ends Just the holy Son of Man we'll never understand My God, they killed him. There was a man named Mahatma Gandi A man named Martin Luther King The only Son of God Almighty The only one called Jesus Christ On the road to glory where the story never ends Just the holy Son of Man we'll never understand My God, they killed him. There was a man named Mahatma Gandi A man named Martin Luther King The only Son of God Almighty The only one called Jesus Christ On the road to glory where the story never ends Just the holy Son of Man we'll never understand My God, they killed him. ~ Bob Dylan
I speak truth, not as much as I would, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little the more as I grow older. ~ Montaigne
I speak truth, not as much as I would, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little the more as I grow older. ~ Montaigne
These are questions we can ask our Creator? I don't believe everything Mr.Crubaugh says here, I just found it interesting and inspiring, especially this part: “Jesus was a dissident on the fringes of the Empire of his day. He stood with everybody who was nobody. He made a beeline to stand with those on the margins, those whose dignity had been denied, the poor and excluded, the easily despised, the demonized, and those whose burdens were more than they could bear. And they killed him for it.” ~Father Gregory J. Boyle
I speak truth, not as much as I would, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little the more as I grow older. ~ Montaigne
IMHO Jesus was only tangentially associated with an Empire which was unconcerned with any religious practices or personal activity of the hinterland barbaric rock pile called Palestine. All the Romans wanted was for the Tribes to stop savaging at will, as they had done for a thousand years,a fact well recorded and known to the Romans, the central valley trade routes intersection leading to Persia to the northeast, the Arabian peninsula and Red Sea to the southeast and the north-south coastal routes to Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt. That, collect a few non-extortionist taxes, build roads and water supplies, baths and amphitheatres and the Temple of Herod for the thoroughly corrupt Herod and his bevy of Sadducees and Pharisees. Jesus philosophy, and a good one it was and is, came from the Greeks to the north and had been espoused in similar vein by predecessors. For this and two other big reasons, to wit: Rome and the regard for individualism developed by Northern European peoples (including the Celts who were the major Portuguese peoples). So this, a philosophy developed largely in Greece and spreading southward along a long-established trade route, the structure and innovation of Rome and the individualism inculcated in the Northern European heritage, makes OUR Western Civilization far more Greco-Roman-European than "Judeo-Christian". This latter myth is one sprung on the children from birth. To explore and reveal the true complexities and beauty and richness of Western Civilization will do nothing to lessen Jesus' Christian religion; but such enlightened presentation will show Western Civilization as a thing of wonder , which it is, and free it from the millstone of Tribal-Judaic-Baal (and cousin islam-like barbarity) Doctrine and and the privileged by race one-up-manship claimed by God's Only Chosen Ones....in their minds, wishes and as far as they can insinuate this insidious and false notion in gullible and trusting Western Minds. This is not an opus but a paragraph...it is not penned to be a ten volume collection. And yes, the Jews killed Jesus, not the Romans....as if it matters.
Correction-Omission For this and two other big reasons, to wit: Rome and the regard for individualism developed by Northern European peoples (including the Celts who were the major Portuguese peoples). For this and two other big reasons, to wit: Rome and the regard for individualism developed by Northern European peoples (including the Celts who were the major Portuguese peoples), Western Civilization owes very little to the Jews except for the physical body of Christ, the man who rejected the hypocritical teachings of the tribal barbarians and maurauders, who held and still hold a self-centered philosophy and value for individual life akin to that held by their first cousins, today's muslims.
IMHO Jesus was only tangentially associated with an Empire which was unconcerned with any religious practices or personal activity of the hinterland barbaric rock pile called Palestine. All the Romans wanted was for the Tribes to stop savaging at will, as they had done for a thousand years,a fact well recorded and known to the Romans, the central valley trade routes intersection leading to Persia to the northeast, the Arabian peninsula and Red Sea to the southeast and the north-south coastal routes to Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt. That, collect a few non-extortionist taxes, build roads and water supplies, baths and amphitheatres and the Temple of Herod for the thoroughly corrupt Herod and his bevy of Sadducees and Pharisees. Jesus philosophy, and a good one it was and is, came from the Greeks to the north and had been espoused in similar vein by predecessors. For this and two other big reasons, to wit: Rome and the regard for individualism developed by Northern European peoples (including the Celts who were the major Portuguese peoples), Western Civilization owes very little to the Jews except for the physical body of Christ, the man who rejected the hypocritical teachings of the tribal barbarians and maurauders, who held and still hold a self-centered philosophy and value for individual life akin to that held by their first cousins, today's muslims, whom the Israeli Tribe despises and demonizes in equal part. So this, a philosophy developed largely in Greece and spreading southward along a long-established trade route, the structure and innovation of Rome and the individualism inculcated in the Northern European heritage, makes OUR Western Civilization far more Greco-Roman-European than "Judeo-Christian". This latter myth is one sprung on the children from birth. To explore and reveal the true complexities and beauty and richness of Western Civilization will do nothing to lessen Jesus' Christian religion; but such enlightened presentation will show Western Civilization as a thing of wonder , which it is, and free it from the millstone of Tribal-Judaic-Baal (and cousin islam-like barbarity) Doctrine and and the privileged by race one-up-manship claimed by God's Only Chosen Ones....in their minds, wishes and as far as they can insinuate this insidious and false notion in gullible and trusting Western Minds. This is not an opus but a paragraph...it is not penned to be a ten volume collection. And yes, the Jews killed Jesus, not the Romans....as if it matters.
Very well done.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Danke vielmals alter Freund ! Du weisst mich. Am gleichen Tag kammen wir LP zusammen an.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Sie sind willkommen. Veränderten Sie Ihren Namen? Waren Sie sobald eine Kreatur mit Pelz?
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Jawohl !! Du bist immer Witzler !
Der Professor von Chemie! Willkommen!
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Danks. und Freund....sei Stille ! LOL
Danke. Ich verstehn mehr als Ich sprechen. ;^)
I speak truth, not as much as I would, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little the more as I grow older. ~ Montaigne
ROTFL Priceless !! You have a fabulous sense of humor....and a subtle wit !
Thank You, I actually meant that in reference to post #10. Did I get the spelling and grammar right?
I speak truth, not as much as I would, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little the more as I grow older. ~ Montaigne
Jesus should not be compared to buffoons like Martin Luther King and Gandhi.
Freeper motto: I read, but do not understand, I write, but make no sense, I think, but nothing happens.
Oh. Why not?
I speak truth, not as much as I would, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little the more as I grow older. ~ Montaigne
LOL Close enough !
#2. To: wudidiz (#1)
#3. To: christine (#2)
#4. To: wudidiz (#0)
Most historians also agree that much of the scriptural Jesus legend is fiction.
#5. To: christine, ALL (#2)
#6. To: All (#5)
#7. To: christine (#4)
...how are we to know what is true and what is false...
#8. To: wudidiz (#7)
“Jesus was a dissident on the fringes of the Empire of his day. He stood with everybody who was nobody. He made a beeline to stand with those on the margins, those whose dignity had been denied, the poor and excluded, the easily despised, the demonized, and those whose burdens were more than they could bear. And they killed him for it.”
#9. To: All (#8)
#10. To: wudidiz, Diana, PercyDoveTonsils, IndieTx, christine, Zipporah, Jethro Tull, cynicom (#8)
Complete....pardon me folks...waiting for the firestorm(-: --ME
#11. To: JCHarris (#10)
And yes, the Jews killed Jesus, not the Romans....
#12. To: IndieTX (#11)
#13. To: redpanther (#0)
One for the professor to digest.
#14. To: JCHarris (#12)
#15. To: IndieTX (#14)
#16. To: JCHarris (#15)
#17. To: IndieTX (#16)
#18. To: JCHarris, IndieTX (#17)
#19. To: wudidiz (#18)
Ich verstehn mehr als Ich sprechen.
#20. To: JCHarris (#19)
#21. To: wudidiz (#5)
#22. To: YertleTurtle (#21)
#23. To: wudidiz (#20)
Did I get the spelling and grammar right?
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