186. Jesus Christ in the eyes of a non-Christian. Part two

For those persons who wanted to follow him, physically, from place to place, Jesus Christ set an extremely high standard, which was impossible to adopt by ordinary people. The message was that it is not enough to lead a sinless life, but one has to give up everything. Here is what he said to a man who asked him that what he should do to have an eternal life (Mark, 10:17-19). Jesus replied that he should follow the commandments: 'You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" The man said that he has obeyed all the commandments. Jesus said:

²¹ Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Mark, 10:21)

 A lot has been made about his message of non violence, but it is not found in gospel of Mark. Here is the famous passage from Mathews (5:38-41):³⁸ Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:³⁹ But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.⁴⁰ And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.⁴¹ And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain”.

I don’t know what to make of it. Maybe, Jesus never said it, and that is why it is not in Gospel of Mark; or Jesus said it in an idealistic way for an ideal world. It sure is impractical. If Hitler had not been resisted in Second World War, the world today would be different and evil. Hitler could not have been stopped by passive resistance.

Miracles. A miracle is a manifestation of Divine power and glory. People who perform it do so only by the permission of God, which He has delegated to His deputies or Forces of evil (for some mysterious reason). No man in human history has performed so many, so powerful, and such varieties of miracles as Jesus Christ. He is unique in this respect. Most often some power is given to a person, like speaking in foreign tongues or the ability to prophecy, or healing the sick of some minor disease, or curing mental illnesses, and so on. But it never happens (except in the case of Jesus) that so many powers are given to one person. Imagine how much power of God he had. Let me give you examples from the Gospel of Mark:

1. He cured many persons who were suffering from mental diseases like hysteria, madness and epilepsy.
2. He cured other diseases such as fever ( mother of Simon and Andrew ), leprosy ( an incurable disease at that time ), paralysis ( an incurable disease ), deformity of hand ( an irreversible problem ), near death ( Mark 5:39), bleeding problem for twelve years,  and blindness ( incurable disease ). He healed a deaf and mute person. He cured some other diseases/deformities according to other Gospels. A woman who touched the fringe of his robe got cured. He cured the daughter of a Gentile woman from a distance, just by saying “your daughter is healed”, without seeing or touching her. A man cured mental disease just by using Jesus’ name, although he was not even his follower.
3. He could see things from a distance, like he saw a colt in a distant house ( Mark 11:2)
4. He predicted events which were going to happen in future. He repeatedly predicted his death and resurrection after three days. He predicted that Peter will deny him:                                                          ³⁰ “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice^[a] you yourself will disown me three times. (14:30)”.                                                                                                                                 He foretold the destruction of the Temple: (13:1-2) “As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”  “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be thrown down.” It happened just as he had told.
5. Jesus walked on water
6. Jesus calmed the storm, just by rebuking the wind
7. Jesus fed five thousand people with meager amount of food:                                                    ⁴¹ And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² And they all ate and were satisfied. ⁴³ And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. ⁴⁴ And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. (6; 41-44).  At another time he fed four thousand people with small amount of food.

To be continued.

 

185. Jesus Christ in the eyes of a non-Christian. Part one.

 

This mote is not a Christian, not even a follower of any religion. I am a practicing apprentice mystic. I will try to describe what I think of Jesus Christ and why I think so. Furthermore, in another section, I will narrate my differences from some of the assumptions of Christianity which are contrary to my understanding of God’s system.

Jesus was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, person that walked on this earth. One does not find any imperfections in him. His greatness lies not in the fact that he was sinless (he could have lived in wilderness, in isolation, and be sinless), but that he laid the foundations of a system for others to follow. In order to do that, He had to pay with his life. To me, his greatness lies in the following aspects of his life:

1. His message 
2. His miracles.
3. His death, which he chose as painful
4. His resurrection
5. Power of God manifested in all these activities, and was supporting him through these manifestations

Message. His message had three broad components, amongst others (taken from the Gospel of Marks, the earliest of Gospels, and thus the closest to truth). Love God with all your heart, love your fellow human being as yourself, and live a life of inner purity. There is a fourth message, but it is not found in gospel of Mark, and that is of non violence. For that reason I am not sure about it.

The first two messages were emphasized by Jesus Christ. Here is the excerpt:

“Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

²⁹ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^{[a] 30} Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’^{[b] 31} The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[c] There is no commandment greater than these.”(Mark 12:29-31New International Version; NIV)

Why is love for God so important?

Because, you love something which is bigger than yourself. The more you love God, less you love worldly things. As if, your mind was like a room with limited space. The more you put one kind of furniture, less you can put the other kind of furniture. Selflessness will ennoble your inner life.

If one loves God, God notices that person and rewards that person. This is a law of nature.

Love your neighbor means love humanity. Jesus explained it in a lengthy example (Luke 10:29-37).

“And, who is my neighbor?” the man asked.

Jesus explained with a story. ‘A Jewish man was travelling. He was attacked by bandits and left half dead by the side of the road. A Jewish priest passed by but did not help the wounded person. A temple assistant saw him, but crossed over to the other side of road. Then a despised Samaritan came along, and felt deep pity for the wounded person. He soothed his wounds with medicine and bandaged them. He loaded him on his donkey and took him to an inn and cared for him.

³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii^[a] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

³⁶ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:35-37; New International Version; NIV)

This story illustrated that the Jew and the Samaritan were each other’s neighbors. If they were each other’s neighbor, then law of logic dictates that members of all races should be each other’s neighbor. World becomes a better place if its inhabitants love one another.

Now, let us discuss inner purity. Jesus explained:

“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? ¹⁹ For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)

²⁰ He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. ²¹ For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³ All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”(Mark 7; 18-23)

What was Jesus saying? Keep your thoughts clean, and then your actions will become clean. The world will become a better place if there were no such evil actions such as those he mentioned in the above paragraph.

To be continued

 

169. Jesus Christ seen/heard over centuries. Part one

 

Anything which is quoted from a mystic/yogi/saint/prophet in these blogs must fulfill one of these two requirements:

 1. It should be taken from an autobiography of that mystic. It will be an authentic account because such persons don’t lie. They may, though, misinterpret the event.

2. It should be written by a person of high integrity who heard it himself from the mystic’s mouth.

3. It should not be taken from a religious scripture, except as a brief quotation, such as Bible, Gita, or Koran

 

 All the incidents that I have ever quoted in all of my blogs fulfill one of these conditions, except the first encounter of the holy prophet Muhammad^pbuh with an entity (blog 147). I have included it because the holy prophet^pbuh told it himself to others. Most of the incidents are taken from the following books:

• A search in secret Egypt by Paul Brunton
• .A search in secret India by Paul Brunton
• .Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
• .In Quest of God by Swami Ramdas
• .Living with kundalini by Gopi Krishna
• .Pilgrim of stars by Dilip Kumar Roy and Indra Devi
• .Shahab Nama by Shahab
• .The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Nikhilananda
• .The Hunger of the Soul by Nancy Mayorga
• .The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection. Translated by Salvatore Scurba
• .The life of Teresa of Jesus by Teresa of Avila. Translated by Allison Peers
• Confessions By St Augustine
• Kashaf-ul Mahjoob by Data Gunj Bakhash
• The dark night of the soul, by St John of the cross. Translated by Allison Peers

•  The autobiography of St Therese of Lisieux. Translated by John Beevers
  There are some incidents taken from other books but they pass the same standards. However, in some places, either I or my brother RQ is the witness of the events.
  I have stated these conditions, but I still want to tell you the vision of Jesus by St. Paul, mentioned in the Bible. Why is that? Because it is authentic. St Paul himself mentioned it, or Luke, a disciple and companion of Paul, narrated it, so he must have heard it from Paul himself. Many persons saw Jesus after his death, as mentioned in the Bible, but those persons did not write their account.
  1. I quote from New Testament:
  “As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul (see footnote), Saul, why do you persecute me?”
  “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
  "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
  The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
  —Acts 9:3–9
   
  Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
  —Acts 9:17–19
  Paul, himself, gave the same account with some differences in Acts 22; 6-13, and in Acts 26:12-18
   
  2. Paul received instructions from Jesus some other times too. Here is an incident:
   
  “It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance, and I saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.' "And I said, 'Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in You.’ And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him.'"And He said to me, 'Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles (non-Jews).'"
  ___Acts 22:17-21
   
  3. Here is an account of the conversation between Jesus and a man named Ananias:
   
  Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." And the Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lays his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight." “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
  But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”__Acts (9:10-15)
  To be continued
  _______________________________________________________________________________
  ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Footnote. ST Paul’s original name was Saul