What disease did Lou Gehrig's doctors say he had? “Mr. Gehrig, I’m afraid you have ‘Lou Gehrig’s Disease’. “Huh? Say what, Doc?” By the same token, Jesus was not a
Christian. There were no Christians at the time.
Only “The Disciples of Jesus the Christ”. Later shortened
to just plain “Christians”. By the same token Abraham was
not a Jew. ![]() Constantine did this when he instigated the “heaven or hell” model that Pagans so soundly disagree with. The problem was that once Constantine insisted that he was “voice of god” and that everyone without exception must do and think exactly what he commanded or burn in hell forever, he had to abolish reincarnation. You can’t very well be burning in hell or receiving your eternal reward and show up alive again in a new body. It was also Constantine who vilified our Horned God as the devil. Jesus, on the other hand, upheld humanity in all its myriad forms and denied the central dogma of Christianity: eternal damnation if you don’t do what the church commands. (see the Gospel of Thomas) In addition, Jesus worked magyc, though Christians prefer the term “miracle” to set him above the other Magi of the age. Many of his spells can be found in The Greek Magical Papyri as detailed in Morton Smith’s book: Jesus the Magician. Professor Smith (1915-1991) was no fool but a highly respected academian and translator of numerous ancient texts. Nor are his views in contrary to the writings of Jesus' own disciples who considered him a magician (magi) in the style of the time. ![]() ![]() And while this may have mainly been a Roman Catholic thing, the self appointed evangelicals are not far behind. Only their contemporary inhumanity is more commonplace in its shunning of those not in total agreement that Jesus is everyone’s personal savior. Anyone that believes otherwise is going to hell. Just ask them. However it comes out this is not Jesus’ way. Not really. Jesus was about love and these people are about hate. We, as Pagans are Jesus’ way. As such, we should honor him as a deity. ![]() The only problem I see is that it’s possible that Jesus was a real person. I say “possible” because there isn’t a shred of evidence that Jesus actually existed as a citizen of Judea. All the same, I suspect he lived. I say this because his exploits are far too tame for a created deity. Who knows, perhaps all of our Pagan deities had origins in flesh and blood heroes that became gods as their legend grew. Certainly Jesus is usually revered as a god. And what a perfect deity Jesus is to inspire us: someone we can look up to as a great magycian, healer, and as a God of Love in the Pagan pantheon. We should consider invoking him in our spells. This need take nothing from Christianity. In fact, the whole point of including Jesus as a Pagan deity is to bridge what seems an unfathomable chasm between Paganism and Christianity. Love is the message of Jesus. Finally, in Jesus' own words: "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all." (see Gospel of Thomas) As in Adam, all are bound to cycles of rebirth, so in the Lord shall all be made eternal. Blessed are those who are made perfect .. for... their works do follow them." in addition passages from the Gospel of Thomas affirms His vision of resurrection as an ongoing event: "His followers said to him, 'When will the rest for the dead take place, and when will the new world come?' He said to them, 'What you look for has come, but you do not know it.'" (Gospel of Thomas, saying 51) In this verse, Jesus says the resurrection and the kingdom are already here. In Gnostic terms, the passage refers to a person's past resurrection (physical rebirth or reincarnation) and the presumption that we are already living in the kingdom of God which exists within us. From The Apocalypse of Paul we learn of his sufferings and how he was once stoned and left for dead. The letter goes on to say: "I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know - God knows. And I know that this person - whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows - was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that humans are not permitted to tell." (2 Cor. 12:1-4) " Paul continues his vision and revelations he had received from the Lord. The identity of the person referred to as "I know a person in Christ" means that he was speaking about himself. He explained that he didn't know if he was taken up in his body or in his spirit, but he was in paradise ("the third heaven"). He tells how each soul must rise as best it can after death through a hierarchy of heavens and face the increasingly difficult challenges posed by the guardian angels of each heaven. The journey begins with Paul meeting a child on the mountain of Jericho on the way to heaven (symbolized by Jerusalem). This child turns out to be the Holy Spirit, who takes Paul first to the third heaven. The Holy Spirit warns Paul to keep his wits about him for they are about to enter the realm of "principalities ... archangels and powers and the whole race of demons." The Holy Spirit also mentions that they will pass "one that reveals bodies to a soul-seed," that is, the being that takes souls and plants them in new bodies for reincarnation.
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