Of course. And I have seen the pattern for many years. My belief in Christ helps me understand the darkness of the selfish aims of men, especially in religious leaders.
When you see the tendency to discount the effect of centuries of ideas & thoughts coming out of those schools of philosophy (centuries before Jesus) because they are not sanctioned by the popularly held religious beliefs dressed up with all the miracles halelujahs & hosiahs , it does not change an iota of the importance that these men strived to fashion & offer new models probing depth & understanding of that interior space of themselves. A way of better living , a concept the Greeks explored well delving into the realm of the human psyche , and just the recognition of the concept behind the word itself "Psyche" is a huge new direction of human thought . They developed a vast wealth of new concepts and the words by which to express them unparalleled in that era . The Bible takes shape & real depth when its first translated into Greek , and given its first "body" . That depth of expression and coherency of ideas is directly tied to the amount of flourishing of human conception and evolution of expression contained within the lexicon of Greek vocabulary . That one thought alone would indicate to me more divinity than many of the other "claims" made by religions in their myths, that this one people did creat such an incredible expanded language/vocabulary itself adressing so many more subtle distinctions of every facet of human involvement and interaction .
For it to be maintained "that he who shall believeth in me , shall have everlasting life" , should be an invitation to live and explore exactly that discipline of the mind and growing the values that these men had sought after before , and does not set up any one individual or "last prophet" as the last word . One does receive in fact that most special perspective of the nature our own humanity in affairs both internal and external , and to the world & universe at large to a greater extent than ever imagined before . This when we know the truth of History as it really is , those remarkable human beings that lended their lives and devoted their thoughts to a deepening understanding of reality . Were some philosophers driven by the need just to expound and put on clever arguments just to impress and capture the fascination of audiences for gain or prestige , surely . But this kind of investigation into "Life" was not just the Greek way , and down in the "Holy Land" youd find the equivilents of mythologic prophets , rabbis & magicians & messianic martyrs for this was the Jewish way . Over in China you have another way of approach into "order & harmony" and social responsibility , and they had their "great thinkers" and that was their way . Over in India there was another ...on and on , yet all expressing some facet of human attempts to come to terms with its own nature and the economy of living better lives not just materially but internally in the life of the "Psyche" which is more unique and developed in man .
Religions by their very populous nature always tend to claim , capitalize , syncretise, dominate, capture and preserve to some extent , this perennial philosophy that had been growing in the minds of good men from the dawning of civilization and before ...to encapsulate & preserve thru building idols & temples and written down scriptures and created a priestly caste devoted just for that purpose of maintaining that order of beliefs as it was perceived by that tribe or society of men , which in the world 2000yrs ago was a mass of trade routes and overlapping cultures with mystical cults & phiosophies abounding . Whe Saul goes to Tarsus , that city was already 2000yrs old at that time .
If it were proven tomorrow that Jesus did not die on the cross or rise from the tomb , or that Mohammed (PBUH) did not truely convey the last word on earth regarding God's mind , once again it would not change one iota or grain of sand of the need for ongoing exploration of ourselves and in what ways we are to conduct ourselves together while we spend this time on earth in these bodies . Already in the last century pretty much the Genesis has changed form as new information has come to light that can be fit into the still fragile mosaic of even our present human understanding . But it is only thru some effort towards striving for "rational understanding " of our place as a part of a greater whole , which is the truth of the world . No man is an island . |
