The Christ and the Power

MagsJ wrote:

Ha…the grandiosity of a narcissist

Stop it, you’re making me blush… :blush:

Is he, The One?

gab.com/MayberrySheriff

Or maybe one of the ones? How many ones are there? Anybody counting?

I’d guess it’s 1 per million people, who have the Holy Spirit, like that.

John 3:8 says "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” So the Spirit is impossible to track empircally to support or falsify your “guess”.

What is this now about Jesus not saying he’s the Son of God??

Ain’t you folks even read the Bible?

Just open the Gospel of John anywhere, in it Jesus practically doesn’t say anything besides he’s the Son of God.

And so on and on and on. The dude in this gospel is like a sort of Terminator, never straying an inch from his course even in his words. Hardheaded sonuvabitch.

Jesus’s personality is significantly different in the Gospel of John than it is in the synoptic Gospels Matthew Mark and Luke. The genealogies and divine birth narratives in Matthew and Luke not withstanding, Jesus seems more human in the synoptics gospels than he does in John. In the synoptics he typically communicates in parables or aphorisms whereas in John’s gospel he speaks in long theological discourses with himself at the center. In John’s gospel it is sometimes not possible to distinguish the difference between Jesus’s monologues and the commentary of the narrator. The Gospel of John can be comprehended as a theological reflection on the significance Jesus as the Logos of God. As such it has fewer probable historical underpinnings than the other Gospels. Curiously the geographical references to Judea are quite historically accurate suggesting that the first century author (John?) was more familiar with the place then in the other Gospels. He was probably a Judean, whereas the others were not.

It is significantly worrying how any forum inviting discussion of religious themes brings people to the fore who have distinct problems. Whether it is a conspiracy theory syndrome or just a drunken rant, we seem to get them all here.

It is also telling that we haven’t progressed very much, except technically, and I have the suspicion that the inability to look at our sources from an open-minded perspective is the same problem that is causing so much disruption in the pandemic crisis. There seems to be few people who are able widen their perspective and process the information they receive without falling into a crisis.

The ability to accept that the Gospels (or the rest of the Bible) are composed with a certain aim in mind, whilst at the same time containing wisdom that is worthy, seems to be a problem that is widespread. Differentiating seems to be an artform.

_
John.

“The Gospel of John is a relatively late theological document containing hardly any accurate historical information that is not found in the three synoptic gospels, which is why most historical studies have been based on the earliest sources Mark and Q”.

John’s Gospel differs greatly from the other three, stating claims on what Jesus said and did, that the prior three do not.

In the three prior Gospels …as Felix has pointed out… Jesus neither spoke at length, nor spoke about himself much at all… yet in John’s Gospel, Jesus speaks much of himself, notably in the “I am” statements.

Felix and MagsJ, absolutely granted. I was just reading John recently, and it struck me how robotic it is. I had some fun comparing the Jesus in it to a Terminator.

I also agree with Felix’ point about the (alleged) words of Jesus sometimes hardly being decipherable from the comments of the author. The author also jumps forward in time with certain “spoilers” to point out the significance of things which the audience might otherwise not take note of. It’s a rather forceful piece of writing.

Bob, Im not sure I understand your attitude here, but hell, who understands anyones attitude these days. What was it that pissed you off?

A problem with reading the Gospel of John historically is that then it becomes a challenge to read it mythologically. There’s no way back to reading it with pre-critical naivete. And given the known unknowns of the origins of the book there are many factual gaps that must be filled theoretically in a probabilistic way. Jesus goes from being a semi-divine man like a Greek demigod in the Gospel of Mark to being the incarnation of God himself in John’s gospel. Contrast Jesus crying out in agony on the cross in Mark with John’s picture of Jesus calmly laying down his life because no one can take it from him.

Thanks Felix.

In the Gospel of John Jesus is the incarnation of the I am that Moses saw in the burning bush. Thus he incarnates Being Itself in humanity. He is the reality of every positive thing. He’s the light, the bread of life, the water of life, the Vine, the healing serpent, the Good Shepherd, the truth, and the bridegroom. In the Gospel of John I see a Platonic theologizing of the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

Next up: the Christ and the Power in Kentucky. [-o<

I think you would have to go to the “wholeness” thread for that, it wouldn’t be fitting to lay it out here again.

Basically that’s nature doing its thing. But, if the climate scientists are right storms like that are going to continue to get stronger and more frequent. The greenhouse gases industrial society is producing are not without consequences. Most Christian literalists expect things to get worse until the parousia.

Where Christ comes in is in acts of kindness toward the people that are suffering there. Jesus said “When you did it to the least of these you did it to me.” Are you doing anything to help them?

With the 24-hour news cycle comes increased awareness of global suffering which can result in compassion fatigue. Thanks for reminding me of the importance of human kindness.

Although there are so many people affected by such catastrophes who can’t be personally blamed for the causes, I can’t help thinking of the children who, although warned by their parent, put their hand on the stove plate and get burned. There are so many things that happen that are a result of misadventure or in spite of knowing better, either by individuals or societies. It is tragic, but it doesn’t work to blame anyone else.

And how is nature not but doing its thing at the behest of the God that created nature itself? Back again to Kushner’s God or God’s mysterious ways.

Or however those like Bob and Ierrellus and others rationalize it.

Either God created planet Earth with all of its built-in “natural disasters” or He didn’t.

Instead, the grim reality for hundreds in Kentucky right now is that they either fall back on their faith in order to at least have something to explain their terrible losses, or they accept that sans God their lives are essentially meaningless and this tragedy is but one more manifestation of the “brute facticity” that is the “human condition” in a No God world.

Again, from the perspective of some: unbelievable!

Christ/God is solely responsible for the very existence of tornadoes. A tornado did its thing in the city of Mayfield. Now those who were devastated by it are asked to choose acts of kindness in responding to others who were devastated by it.

Though again, sure, what else is there?

It’s like this scene from The Thorn Birds: youtu.be/3-uRUTTz0Q0

Again, simply unbelievable!!!

This is what he comes up with in the way of rationalizing this particular “act of God” in Mayfield.

But again: what else is there for him?

And I can only be honest and admit that my reaction to Bob revolves in part around how much I envy what I construe to be his capacity to delude himself like this. As I once did.

All that comfort and consolation in having God there to put these things in.

Thus all the more reason for Bob to keep me out of his head.

Yet me still clinging to the hope that someday someone like Bob might actually nudge me back into the flock.