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SPIRIT: The Added Dimension We're told that we're composed of a body and a soul. Then we wonder if the soul is immortal. In personal terms, this becomes, "Will I live forever?" Maybe we're selling ourselves short. That may be the wrong question, wrong because it...

But what if the rejected writings Ruby referred to included the Gospel of Thomas, or that of the Ebionites?

Well, both stories narrate the creation of humans.

The point is, the passage distinguishes between biological relatives, such as a mother and brother, and those brought together in the Kingdom of God, who were spiritually brothers and sisters. Bioligically speaking, Jesus was a pretty poor example of family values.

Best wishes to you. BTW, if you move toward Christianity, I see no need for you to abandon at least some of the practices and idea of Buddhism.

We don't know how or when the writings started. Presuming the existence of "Q"', it could have been as early as the 30s. Luke says there were many accounts. Sure there's a lot of fiction in the gospels--the birth accounts in Matt and Luke, for example. That's the problem, the ficton is mixed...

The Uniqueness of Jesus I maintain that the Jesus depicted in the Synoptic gospels is a sharply etched personality, and is unlikely to be some imagined amalgam of existing deities or myths, tho there are certainly mythic elements in the accounts. One reason I am a (sometimes) fan of the Jesus...

Sorry, Juantoo, I didn't find your response till a couple of weeks later, and at that time, the string appeared to be dead. Let me here just say that I don't reject Paul--I meant it when I said that that post was glib. ("a poor thing, but my own') There is much of value in Paul--in fact, most...

Interesting speculations, Taijasi. Yes, Jesus does seem to indicate a belief in reincarnation, at least in the case of Elijah. Also, you raise the issue of the "missing years" of Jesus' life. The Gospels are not really biographies because they really deal only with Jesus' last year (or was it...

At the other end of the spectrum from the Gnostics were the Ebionites, who rejected Paul as being too Gnostic.

On a side issue, that of language-- Jesus (as we call him) evidently spoke Aramaic, his primary language. Yet his story, as we have it, is told in Greek. Even Paul, writing in the 40s and 50s, writes in Greek. There is thus a rather rapid transition from a Mideastern language to one in use...

Okay. But today we use Hebrew and Jew interchangeably.

I would only add to what Aletheia said that the Greek is really Xristos (X = the Green letter chi). Xristos means "anointed," and was applied to the kings of Israel--and also to Cyrus the Persian king. Yes, Jesus was what we call a Jew. I think you mean that he was not a Judean. For even...

Hi, Luna, You make some good points, most of which I agree with. But I didn't say that the gospels "were writen to accomodate Paul." What I said was they showed Pauline influence, which you say yourself. So why construct a disagreement where there is none? What did Paul mean by "the gospel"...

The following is one view, and is hardly meant to say the last word: Rome Has anyone wondered why the supposed center of Christianity, from the fourth century to the sixteenth, has been in Rome, of all places? The "Roman Catholic" church is a contradiction in terms. What else was both...

JESUS My basic position is that "Jesus" – or someone very like him – existed. But his name was not Jesus Christ. This name came later after a lot of politicization. His name was Joshua (or Yeshua) Bar Yusif (Joshua, son of Joseph). I think that those who say that the truth...

Bar Abbas may have been a nom de guerre taken by an insurrectionist. Pilate didn't refer to Jesus as the son of Man, but as "king of the Jews."

What's interesting is how they lost him in the first place. I can relate, since I've been on multi-car convoys, where the kids were changing cars at every stop.

It's been said that God is utter simplicity, and at the same time, infinite variety.

I agree. One can always pray the interior prayer of the heart, no matter what one is doing. Or at least be aware of the presence of God (the Shekinah) in everything.