Jesus Christ of the Gospels Never Existed. He's a Myth and I Can Prove It (Part 1). (layman, New Testament)
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This is a description of hell written by a spirit who was an alcoholic while on earth:
"That there is a hell, I know to my sorrow and sufferings, for I have been the occupant of one for oh these many years; and it is always the same place of horrors and darkness, except sometime it is lighted by the flame of lurid light that comes from the anger and sufferings of some unfortunate like myself.
In this hell of mine, and there are many like it, instead of beautiful homes, as the other spirits described, we have dirty, rotten hovels all crooked and decayed, with all the foul smells of a charnel house ten times intensified, and instead of beautiful lawns and green meadows and leafy woods filled with musical birds making the echoes ring with their songs, we have barren wastes, and holes of darkness and gloom and the cries and cursings of spirits of damnation without hope; and instead of living, silvery waters, we have stagnant pools filled with all kinds of repulsive reptiles and vermin, and smells of inexpressible, nauseating stinks.
I tell you that these are all real, and not creatures of the imagination or the outflowing of bitter recollections. And as for love, it has never shown its humanizing face in all the years that I have been here - only cursings and hatred and bitter scathings and imprecations, and grinning spirits with their witchlike cacklings. No rest, no hope, no kind words or ministering hand to wipe away the scalding tears, which so often flow in mighty volumes. No, hell is real and hell is here."
I don't believe there is fire and brimstone and a Devil with a pitchfork in Hell. I'm not a Christian trying to scare the hell out of people. I'm a spiritual person who is a realist. After our passing to the next world, after a meet and greet with our family who went before us - we must go to the place of abode that suits our soul's condition.
I do believe the above description and there's no way in hell that I want to have that experience. There are several levels of Hell and it is the closest sphere to earth. What I have also learned is that Hell is not eternal. It's a temporary place for spirits, who didn't have a clue when they were alive what the detrimental things they were doing adversely affected their soul's condition. These "detrimental things" add layers of darkness to a soul and that darkness must come off the soul (called a "soul cleansing") before it can progress out of darkness to the light.
Well, okay I misunderstood. I know of Swedenborg's writings "On Hell" I was into that sort of thing many years ago when I believed in all this. Now my belief is that when you die you're dead. That's the end of everything for you. Nothing survives. I've learned from my nightmare experience with Christianity that if it sounds too good or too bad to be true it probably is.
Well, okay I misunderstood. I know of Swedenborg's writings "On Hell" I was into that sort of thing many years ago when I believed in all this. Now my belief is that when you die you're dead. That's the end of everything for you. Nothing survives. I've learned from my nightmare experience with Christianity that if it sounds too good or too bad to be true it probably is.
Thank you for writing about Swedenborg. I've been trying to remember his name all day.
This is a message from John:
"Swedenborg was the last and nearer perfect instrument for receiving these higher Truths. And yet he, because of his want of soul development, and his being bound more or less by his orthodox beliefs and scientific knowledge (that caused him to coordinate and fit in these Truths with his ideas of correspondence and such like conceptions) was a failure, and he could not be used successfully to transmit these Truths, which we have been communicating through you.
And after him, other gifted and (in some respects) successful mediums were used by spirits of the higher knowledge and progression to convey Truths. But their conditions were such that, under the workings of the laws governing rapport, these mediums could receive only those truths which their conditions of development permitted them to receive. The workings of this limitation were not dependent upon the condition and ability of the spirits to impart these higher Truths, but upon the capacity of the mediums to receive them."
Well, learning about the after life is really challenging when there are so many different religious beliefs. What I love about mine is that it's so simple and makes so much sense. And as I've been posting ad infinitum... receiving God's Divine Love in my soul is the frosting on the cake. It turned me from a skeptic into a believer.
Have you checked out the Urantia Book? It follows a lot of the same concepts as Padgetts writings. for instance, Jesus is not the Fathers only begotten son and the true meaning of the gospel of the kingdom. "the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man"
I read Paper 196 - The Faith of Jesus. Kudos to the writer for such a wonderful description of Jesus. My soul was filling to the brim (expanding) with God's Divine Love while reading it.
Thanks for sharing. I'll read more next week, when I get a chance.
Well, okay I misunderstood. I know of Swedenborg's writings "On Hell" I was into that sort of thing many years ago when I believed in all this. Now my belief is that when you die you're dead. That's the end of everything for you. Nothing survives. I've learned from my nightmare experience with Christianity that if it sounds too good or too bad to be true it probably is.
Maybe a figure upon which the Jesus of the gospels was molded did exist. Who knows? We have no record of such a person. The gospels Jesus, the divine son of god who worked miracles certainly never existed because if he had certainly God the Father as he's known would have left us a mountain of evidence for him so high that nobody in the their right mind would question him. The fact we're even having this discussion is pretty good proof he never existed. The fact there isn't a single secular historian from the first century who mentions him whose entry into the record isn't mired in controversy is pretty much proof the gospels Jesus is just a mythical figure like Hercules and Romulus.
But please note in the opening paragraph: "refers to the reconstruction of the life and teachings of Jesus by critical historical methods, in contrast to religious interpretations".
Harry, it is a good article, and it contains 233 references, 35 sources, and 2 external links.
It's a very good article.
Virtually all scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed.[7][8][30] Historian Michael Grant asserts that if conventional standards of historical criticism are applied to the New Testament, "we can no more reject Jesus' existence than we can reject the existence of a mass of pagan personages whose reality as historical figures is never questioned."[31] There is no indication that writers in antiquity who opposed Christianity questioned the existence of Jesus.[32][33] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Jesus
But please note in the opening paragraph: "refers to the reconstruction of the life and teachings of Jesus by critical historical methods, in contrast to religious interpretations".
Yes.
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