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Christian Roots - III |
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Karen Armstrong wrote another useful book called A History of God: The 4000 year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, which fleshes out the picture of the early days of Christianity further and traces the parallel development of the three religions. It is comforting to know that the most troubling doctrines of Christianity, such as 'original sin' were very late additions, hundreds of years into the present era. For a taste of the unpolluted teachings of 'Yeshua' the gnostic Gospel According to Thomas has been a favorite inspirational text of mine for years. This was found in Nag Hamadi in 1945, at the site of an ancient Essene community in Egypt, and scholars believe it was a seed text for the four Biblical gospels, written much earlier. The voice of Jesus here is much different than anything found in the Bible, it is a compelling and mystic voice: "Jesus said, 'If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you, If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.'" "jesus said, 'Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over all things.'" "...the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, then you dwell in poverty, and you are poverty." "Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples,'Thes infants being suckled are like those who enter the Kingdom." They said to him, 'Shall we, as children then, enter the Kingdom?" Jesus said to them, when you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same...then you will enter.'" "His disciples questioned him and said to him,'Do you want us to fast? How shall we pray? Shall we give alms? What diet shall we observe?' Jesus said,'Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate...'" Ones more widely read than me will surely be able to see the ancient African seeds of this mystic teaching. Discovering the gnostic gospels gave me a way to embrace the tradition I was born into. These are mystic teachings with the sweet aroma of Truth. They speak of self-knowledge, self-development, of the Kingdom of God as a process which proceeds from the inside out. And what is this Jesus we see in these texts? Why he is an example life for us, and all that came to him can come to us through honest spiritual work, the weeding out of oneself over the years of all that does not express the divine. They point in very concrete ways the way to knowledge and understanding, and in time to wisdom. The gnostic gospels flesh out further this Wisdom, this Sophia Great Goddess who we only see hints of in the accepted Christian canon. Here the woman is adored. In the gnostic Gospel of Phillip and other similar texts it is made clear that Mary Magdalene, Jesus relationship to her, hismost intimate companion and helpmeet, mirrors the relationship of Jahweh and Wisdom in the Old Testament: "...the companion of the Savior is Mary Magdalene. But Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples were offended by it...They said to him, 'Why do you love her more than all of us?' The Savior answered and said to them,'Why do I not love you as I love her.?'" In the Dialogue of the Savior it says "...she [Mary] spoke as a woman who knew the All." As a woman approaching the Christian teachings, this is so healing! When I was very young I felt that Jesus himself was the feminine aspect, but he was an integrated being who expressed both make and female, as did Mary. The corruption of these teachings has been one of the great tragedies of the last 2000 years. To Be continued   Copyright © 2003 rootsie.com |
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