I was raised Christian, so this is where I focus most of my analysis. None of this is meant to offend people, but to expose the yeast of the Pharisees. Therefore, those who are offended by it will most likely be the ones who NEED their symbolism and man-made dogma to stand undisturbed, because it is the power they need to control your minds.
The thing about Jesus is he was a sage. Whether you believe he was born of a virgin and was God-on-earth, or he was just this guy, or you believe something in between, as I do: He may have been a human being with an extraordinary purpose, who fulfilled his purpose, and ascended to Godhood, thus taking over the entire nature of divinity as we don't really understand it. Either way, he made it clear that the way to the Father (our own ascension and eventual Godhood) is by following your path (the way), believing, seeking, and proclaiming truth (the truth), and living life, loving life, respecting life, and giving and promoting life (the life)... all of which he embodied. Also, he was clear that we were the same as him... he was the "firstborn of many brethren," and so we are "Gods and Sons of God." Therefore, he expected us to do "greater things than these," and so he essentially is holding us to the same standards as he held himself. Which would be complete compliance with our calling and purpose, and utter faith and trust in God the Father, as well as worshiping nothing false, making no image of God to worship, and worshiping only God the Father.
Whether you are Christian or not, the teachings of Christ apply to all true faiths, excluding no philosophy of truth. He was a Jew himself, and never said Judaism was obsolete. Therefore, why did we make a new religion? Could we really not believe or follow his message without it? The way I understand Jesus, if he was alive today, he would never adhere to what is now Christianity.
How is it that a man can come that speaks the truth that he did, lives the life that he did, and what we do is ignore the EXAMPLE of his actions, twist his words and their MEANING, subvert the worship of God, and make a religion that worships that man?
Don't take it the wrong way, I'm just calling out Christianity and calling BS on religion.
Sorry buddy.
Anyways. So Jesus meant to lead by example. But Christians fancy themselves humble by calling themselves weak. I prefer to be humble by fancying myself strong in faith and the truth and example of the Sage. That is the only way to live a righteous life, I think. Here's an example. Christians worship the cross. I know, I know... you're going to say "We most certainly do NOT worship it, we only worship Christ and his sacrifice and resurrection in the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord the Son of God made flesh in the Grace of God, and so we build massive temples, in Christ, and decorate them with the cross he was hung on by his grace." ...Or whatever. At least Catholics have that crucifix thing that shows his actual suffering and depicts it in your FACE, in all it's torture. It also hearkens to the serpent on the staff that Moses made. A graphical representation of our corruption lifted up and hung on a tree in a sacrifice of faith. Hmmm... makes more sense, doesn't it, than an image of the device of Jesus' mode of execution? I think it was Jesus who warned against the "brood of vipers, whitewashed tombs..." who clean the outside of the cup and leave the inside filthy.
Here's where it gets interesting. There is a symbol called the cross of St. Peter.
The story goes that when the Romans martyred the Apostle Peter, he requested to be crucified upside down (Crucifixion was a favorite of the Romans), since he did not see himself as worthy of the same death as his brother Jesus, since he was not dying for the sins of humanity. It is interesting to note that this symbol is adopted by atheists because it is the cross upside-down. That seems a bit simple-minded, because the symbol itself is an image of humility to God and towards Jesus Christ. Which is more Christian than the upright cross displayed in the Church, a "holy place," which is an "object of desolation that causes desecration." In short, it's a blasphemy. St. Peter's Cross is more "Christian."
So atheists use a symbol that stands for something they mean it to defy. Whatever.
In reality, true early Christians would have NEVER used the upright cross as a symbol for their faith (as Peter clearly demonstrated). That's why they had the symbol of the fish.
I think the fish reminded them of the good times they had with Jesus. Him cooking them fish, feeding thousands of people with two or three small fish, helping them catch fish in their nets... He was just a fishy guy, you know? He made them fishers of men, after all. One of them found some money in a fish's mouth because of Jesus. It seemed to be the obvious pick for a symbol that they would use to identify themselves as followers of Jesus. The story goes like this:
In the early days of the Jesus movement, the Christians were so persecuted, that they literally had to go underground. Christianity was not yet a religion. Just a true way of life. Hated by powerful men of wickedness and lawlessness.
So they would use the fish when they met someone who they thought could be a brother, as a secret password, or identification method. One would draw the curve for the top half of the fish, and if the other person understood this gesture, they would complete the fish with the bottom curve. Pretty clever. Also, meaningful.
The fish was also an acronym. IXOYE (Greek letters Iota, Chi, Theta, Upsilon, Sigma) is the Greek word ichthus, which means "fish." The letter I is the first letter of the Greek Iousous, meaning "Jesus." X is the first letter of Christos, Greek for "Christ." O is the first letter of Theos, which means "God." Y is the first letter of the Greek word Huios, or "Son." E is for Soter, meaning "Savior." IXOYE is an acronym for "Jesus Christ, God, Son, Savior." Beautiful.
Now what makes a cross more awesome than that?
It's a simple question of which is more important to you, Jesus death, or his life? Or how about his resurrection? Well, you can't have one without the other, and neither is significant without the other two. The key is that the LIFE of Jesus was leadership by example. He said that "even greater things than these will you do." So it's not a matter of us being too "human" to be able to rise from the dead, or heal the sick, or bring people back to life, but rather that we don't have enough faith to do it. Or courage. No balls, basically. SOME people actually followed his example for real.
[50] And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
[51] And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. [52] The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, [53] and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. [54] When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
(Matthew 27:50-54 ESV)
And they had been dead a mite longer, too. So don't tell me that I'm not a god or a son of God. I'm pretty sure that if Christians really believed Jesus and actually did like he did and did what he said, and weren't subversive to his message... if Christianity was not a system of control for people's minds, a drug of propaganda and an anesthetic of the soul; if people would believe the truth, follow the way, and live life... They would be more badass, and they would not be fooled by these symbols of death. They would not wear or worship a cross, as if to say "I approve of this execution, and if I could, I would hang him up there all over again myself!"
Jesus didn't ask us to worship him. Or the "Holy Spirit." His example was to worship God the Father only. To worship him instead, or anything else, is blasphemy to the Lord.
Represent.
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