Saturday, May 23, 2015

Christ Or Antichrist

A while back, I compared the messianic figures of the three religions associated with the G-d of Abraham (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam):

http://sainthoward.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-abomination-of-desolation.html


http://sainthoward.blogspot.com/2013/08/how-can-jesus-be-his-own-antichrist.html


While making this comparison I came to the paradoxical conclusion that Jesus appeared to be His own Antichrist. This is because Jesus will do two things which normally are attributed to the Antichrist and which constitute "the abomination of desolation":

  • He will halt the daily temple sacrifices, and
  • He will reveal Himself to be G-d.

In a subsequent post, I mentioned that the concept of two separate covenants, one for Jews and one for Gentiles, makes no sense. This is because such an arrangement would mean that the messiah for G-d's "chosen people" (who is just a man) would be inferior to the Messiah for the rest of humanity (who is G-d incarnate - Jesus Christ). How can that be?


http://sainthoward.blogspot.com/2014/01/unifying-rabbinate.html


Now, none of this is of any consequence to the rabbis, because they do not believe in Jesus or His gospel. But it should be of interest to Christians, because it calls into question the very basis for our religion.


I recently read the book Christ's Ventriloquists by Eric Zuesse. What I perceived this author to be saying is that Saul of Tarsus (Saint Paul) "invented" Christianity and introduced the concept of two covenants (one for Jews and one for Christians). Saul also allegedly introduced the concept that one earned G-d's blessing not by following G-d's laws but through faith in Jesus.


The author also maintains that the Gospels were written by Saul's disciples (not those of Jesus) and that Saul's disciples put words into Jesus's mouth (which is why he called them "ventriloquists").


Throughout his book Zuesse uses legal and rational arguments to make his points, and he appears to believe that since (as far as he is concerned) the "resurrection" is physically impossible Christianity must be a hoax.


Allow me to make clear that I do believe in the resurrection. And like Carl Jung, I don't "believe" that G-d exists ... I know He exists:


https://youtu.be/WJ25Ai__FYU


So please take what I am about to say within that context.


I don't know if Saul was a hoaxer or not. What I do know is that much of what he taught contradicts what Jesus taught. And anything which contradicts Jesus should be regarded with suspicion.


These contradictions lead to the following possibility - that Saul, the writers of the gospels, and the author of the Book of Revelation describe a different Jesus than the person who existed two thousand years ago. And perhaps that is why Jesus appears to be His own Antichrist - because those who came after Him and claimed to be His followers so distorted His message that we no longer can tell exactly what it was.

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