Saturday, October 31, 2020
HAPPY HALLOWEEN - With Tom & Mary!
10/31/2020
Happy Halloween, Everyone! Let’s TREAT each other with Kindness on this “day of treats”! Agree?
It’s not so much a “Tom & Jerry” cartoon time for me, but consider it a “Tom & Mary” perspective kind of Halloween. I am talking about the Tom who allegedly wrote THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS and the Mary (Magdalene) who allegedly wrote THE GOSPEL OF MARY. This is not intended to be a “trick” measure, but rather a “treat” measure. Some might consider it a “trick” kind of thing anyway, but it is intended to be a treat, not a trick.
Nancy and I do have some chocolate kisses at hand if we do get some trick or treaters tonight, but for the last several years, only a few acquaintances have stopped by. So, we do not expect any little kids we do not already know – or even big kids tonight. Halloween was always a big night for me and my siblings when I was growing up, in the '40s and '50s, though. How about you?
Hey, earlier I “treated” you to two chapters from my book I call EXPLORING THE SOUL – AND BROTHER JESUS. I featured one called Brother Jesus and another called Child of Humanity. I suppose some of you found them interesting and others of you did not; but for those of you who may have found them interesting, today, I was going to share the final chapter (chapter 9) of what I call my CHILD OF HUMANITY SERIES, but have decided to keep that conclusion till later and go back to the front of the CHILD OF HUMANITY SERIES part of the book and feature the initial chapter that kind of introduces that work – which I wrote in 2005 and only published in 2015.
I won’t go into further detail. I did edit what is below a little to reduce it in size a bit for fitting into an email, but it is pretty much what is found in my book EXPLORING THE SOUL – AND BROTHER JESUS. That book features two earlier works combined into one book – an essay series called UNMASKING THE SOUL and one called CHILD OF HUMANITY SERIES. The feature below begins the CHILD OF HUMANITY SERIES. If any of this interests you, just go to my writings website and link to the entire book called EXPLORING THE SOUL – AND BROTHER JESUS. That website is una-bella-vita.com. Scroll to the bottom and link away; or enter my name, Francis Bessler, in an Amazon search bar and search away.
Enough! Read on if you like – and treat anyone who might come by tonight. OK? As always, feel Welcome to pass this on to anyone you think might find it interesting. I do not know if I can “resurrect” any of the Jesus that may have inspired some of my fellow Christians before some books about Jesus were banned in the 4th Century, but I think it’s worth the effort – simply because personally I would have been a big fan of the Jesus of Tom & Mary.
Thanks, Tom, and Thanks, Mary!
And Thanks to all of you for listening! Again, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Like I am “treating” you without trickery, why not do the same for those you know and love? Let us treat each other with Kindness! We are all the same. Let us Act like it!
Bye for now!
Be in touch!
Gently,
Francis William Bessler (Frank, Will) and
Supportive wife, Nancy Shaw
Email: willieb@wyoming.com
1.
Returning to a
Circular Christianity
1/2/2005
Imagine, if you will, a round table with four legs holding up the middle and making a bit of a square in the center of the round table. Now, imagine that some carpenter arrives at the scene and decides to make the round table a square table and cuts off everything exceeding the square in the middle of the table, including an extra four legs stationed underneath the borders of the round table top. Instead of seating twelve people around the table, the new table only seats four.
Now, imagine that the table top represents Jesus; and the legs represent the various visions or interpretations of Jesus. With the carpenter making a much smaller square where previously a larger circle existed, the table of Jesus takes on a completely different look and a completely narrowed vision. Only the visions of Jesus represented by the square in the middle remain; and with the restriction of visions or interpretations of Jesus to just four, Jesus himself takes on a new look in general.
In my opinion, this is what happened to the table of Jesus and Christianity in the 4th Century when only four gospel books offering an interpretation were selected. By restricting any vision of Jesus to just the four seemingly in the middle of the former circle of Jesus, we – the world – lost a lot of table space and a whole lot of the full picture of Jesus. Those in the middle, of course, hold that the extended visions or versions of Jesus were not acceptable to them; and, thus, they do not miss them; but what about all of those who represented what might be called an “extended” vision of Jesus? They were dismissed to the cold and told they did not matter. Most importantly, however, by cutting off the legs of some of the former circular table, Jesus himself became like a body amputated of some of his limbs. The result is we have suffered a kind of corruption of Jesus in terms of some of the visions and interpretations that once existed were suspended.
In a rather figurative fashion, I think this is what happened in the 4th Century. Previous to Emperor Constantine deciding to make Christianity a state religion, it was a circle with lots of different visions of Jesus allowed to sit around the table. When Emperor Constantine and the bishops of the time decided to reduce the table in order to make it more manageable from a ruler’s standpoint, at least half of the total makeup of a former Christianity was lost. Under the guidance and directive of Constantine, various interpretations of Jesus were outlawed. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – the alleged four pillars in the middle – were retained; and many legs like those of Thomas, Mary Magdalene, Philip, and various others were lopped off.
When I was growing up, I had no idea that more than four versions of Jesus had ever existed. I belonged quite cuddly to that four square thing in the middle of a former circular table. Not knowing there were any additional versions, I was wonderfully happy dealing with the Jesus who was taught to me by my church – Catholicism. Later in life, I discovered a great truth. Originally, the table of Jesus had been much larger than anything I could have imagined. That table of Jesus was so large as to even allow the unthinkable to a four square gospel person such as me. Some who had known Jesus actually found him not to be the redeemer I had been told he had to be. Some who had known Jesus – like the Apostles, Thomas and Mary (Magdalene) - actually challenged the concept of what is called in traditional Christianity, original sin – the very center of the Christianity that was allowed to survive.
Many might say – that’s preposterous! Surely, you can’t possibly claim that something as fundamental to Christian thought as original sin might not be true. How could a Christian possibly believe in the lack of original sin? Did not Jesus come to expose and dispose of original sin? Well, that is one version of him, yes, that belonging to the four square proposition in the middle of a former circular table. But, yes, it is actually true that some who believed themselves to be as Christian as the four square people in the middle actually took issue with original sin – the very heart beat of traditional Christianity. At least, such is implied, if not expressed, to me in one of the gospels, commended to the trash heap by Constantine and his “disciples.”
In the forbidden GOSPEL OF MARY, Jesus is asked about sin. To clarify Mary, it is widely believed that this Mary is none other than Mary Magdalene. My, My! If the author of THE GOSPEL OF MARY is really Mary Magdalene, one of those declared by Constantine and his “disciples” to be a heretic is none other than perhaps one of Jesus’ best friends. Anyway, in THE GOSPEL OF MARY, Jesus is asked about sin. His response: There is no such thing as sin, except that you create it, as in adultery. You may think of that as a rather flippant and irrelevant claim, but imagine the consequences if it is actually true.
What now happens to the favored idea of Jesus being some kind of needed redeemer to save us from a terrible sin that, in fact, we do not have? That rather upends the whole notion of Jesus. Doesn’t it? If I am to believe that a gospel of Mary actually existed, however, that is entirely a possibility. If it is true, would you not agree that such a thought could have an unbelievable impact on Christianity? Think of all the souls – like myself now – who could actually go with that program rather than the issued program of original sin we have all inherited.
If Mary really got Jesus right - though others are free to interpret her gospel differently - Jesus probably believed that inherited sin is nonsense. He probably believed that sin exists alright, but as products of our own creation, having no essential dependence on being inherited. If Mary is right, for instance, Paul is wrong. Paul says that we are all born in sin and inherit it and only Jesus can expel it from us. Then Mary, sitting at the edge of the table, says, in paraphrase: I disagree. My master never believed we are all born in sin and are in an inherited state of sin. He believed that sin is not an inheritance, but rather a creation of ourselves.
Down through history, however, the various churches of Christianity have dictated that no one has a right to not believe in original sin. It has been considered the very center of Christianity and Christian thought. Until I discovered that other gospels about Jesus existed that were banned and damned by 4th Century rulers, I had no idea that it could be possible. Now, the cat is out of the bag. Call it a product of our “information age." Now we know the truth. Originally, before the amputation process of Constantine and his “disciples,” Christianity contained vastly more interpretations of life than was allowed to pass into the 5thCentury.
Somehow, not all the versions of Jesus that were banned, however, were actually destroyed. In 1945, some ignorant peasant stumbled, completely by accident, on some jars hidden in a cave off the Nile River in Egypt. These jars contained many ancient manuscripts written in Coptic, an Egyptian language – including the gospels of Thomas and Philip. That is supposedly Thomas & Philip, Apostles of Jesus. And with the new unearthing of Thomas & Philip and many other interpretations of Jesus, the once circular table of Christianity can now go back to its size, prior to Constantine and his “disciples.”
Where will we go with a restored Circular Christianity? Eventually, everywhere perhaps. I do not know. All that I know now is that with the loss of what might be termed the gospels of an extended Christianity, we have probably been missing Jesus for a long, long time. In the debate over who the real Jesus was, it was arbitrarily decided that Jesus should be defined as necessary redeemer, the fulfillment of a promised Jewish Messiah. It was one of the views of Jesus, but it was not the only one. I think it would be extremely useful to restore the full discussion - welcoming Thomas and Mary and Philip and others around the table - and let those of the current age debate the issue once again.
Note:
Chapters 2 through 9 follow in my book:
EXPLORING THE SOUL – AND BROTHER JESUS.
Also, the long delayed Gospel of Thomas and
Gospel of Mary Magdalene
are featured in my book
JESUS – ACCORDING TO THOMAS & MARY – AND ME.
See those books for greater detail;
however later, perhaps soon,
I will try to supply the final chapter (Chapter 9)
of my book –
EXPLORING THE SOUL – AND BROTHER JESUS
to this list of recipients.
Standby – if you wish!
Thanks!
FWB