Sermon Notes for June 11th
June 11, 2006
“How can these things be?”
John 3:1-17
1. Here is a story about Lee Marvin which was sent to me on the internet.
Dialog From a Johnny Carson "Tonight" Show. His guest was Lee Marvin. Johnny said, "Lee, I'll bet a lot of people are unaware that you were a Marine in the initial landing at Iwo Jima and that during the course of that action, you earned the Navy Cross and were severely wounded."
Lee Marvin's response was:
"Yeah, yeah ... I got shot and they gave me the Cross for securing a hot spot about halfway up Mount Suribachi. The bad thing about getting shot up on a mountain is guys getting shot hauling you down. But Johnny, at Iwo, I served under the bravest man I ever knew. We both got the Cross the same day, but what he did for his Cross made mine look cheap in comparison. He actually stood up on Red Beach and directed his troops to move forward and get the hell off the beach. That Sergeant and I have been life long friends."
"Johnny, I'm not lying, Sergeant Keeshan was the bravest man I ever knew!" You now know him as Bob Keeshan. You and the world know him as "Captain Kangaroo"."
Sounds like a great story doesn't it? Only one problem. It is a hoax! It is an internet hoax. It had me fooled and a lot of other people at first. But, later, I looked it up on Urban Legends -- a website that debunks a lot of these stories that are going around. Here is what it said...
Comments: Despite sundry grains of truth sprinkled throughout — including the fact that both actor Lee Marvin and Bob "Captain Kangaroo" Keeshan were Marines during World War II (Keeshan a reservist), and that Marvin really was wounded in the buttocks while storming a beachhead (though in Saipan, not Iwo Jima) — the story is fundamentally false. According to their respective biographies, Marvin had already been injured and shipped back to the United States with a Purple Heart by the time Keeshan entered basic training. They could not have encountered one another in combat. Neither was awarded the Navy Cross.
At the age of 20, Lee Marvin was a private in the U.S. Marines 4th Division, part of the Allied landing force that invaded the Japanese-held Pacific island of Saipan on July 15, 1944. He was wounded three days later on July 18, spent the next 13 months in Navy hospitals recovering from a severed sciatic nerve, and was discharged in 1945.
Bob Keeshan signed up for the Marine Corps Reserve shortly before his 18th birthday in 1945. Since the war was all but over by the time he finished basic training, it's unlikely Keeshan ever saw combat before completing his service a year later, let alone attained the rank of sergeant.
Those old enough to remember Lee Marvin's occasional appearances on TV talk shows up until his death in 1987 will find the manner and spirit of the storytelling reminiscent of the man himself, but it seems unlikely he would have trumpeted such blatant lies about another man's service record over national television, nor have I been able to find any evidence in the form of tapes or transcripts that prove he did so.
Update: A version of this message circulating since March 2003 includes an addendum claiming that Fred Rogers, host of public television's "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood," was an ex-Marine sniper (or, in another version, a Navy Seal) with dozens of wartime kills to his credit. This, too, is false.
Isn’t that amazing … we just assume when we read something it must be true … especially when there seems no reason to be untruthful …
There are lots of other hoaxes like that one, too.
2. One of the big ones was the one which went around colleges in 1998 just when my daughter started school. Its was called the “Little Bo Peep” serial murderer hoax.
There are several different versions of the story. One of the most widely heard one goes like this: “A serial killer dressed as Little Bo Peep will appear on a Big Ten campus on Halloween. The killer will murder about 20 people in a dorm located near railroad tracks with a name beginning with an "H." Variations of the story have the serial killer dressed in regular clothes or the crimes being committed in a dorm shaped like an "H" or near a cemetery. This prediction was supposedly made on the Oprah show a couple of weeks ago by the same lady that predicted the OK bombing a couple of years ago.
It was, of course, a hoax.
According to Urban Legends … This story's first known appearance was in the Midwest in 1968, perhaps inspired by Richard Speck's murder of nine nurses in a Chicago rooming house earlier that year. It has seen numerous outbreaks since then, most notably in 1979 (Midwest), 1983 (nationwide), 1986 (Central Pennsylvania), and 1991 (New England).
Now imagine a whole dorm full of teenage girls who are all away from home for the first time … and a planning on going out on Halloween. It’s a recipe for hysteria.
Notice also that both stories have the same line in them:
It was first heard on Johnny Carson or it was first heard on Oprah. That makes it true, right? If it was on TV, especially a popular show, it must be true? WRONG!
2. Now consider this statement which is at the beginning of the world-wide best selling novel, The DaVinci Code:
The Priory of Sion, a secret European society, founded in 1099 – is a real organization. In 1975 Parish Bibliotheque National discovered parchments known as Le Dossiers Secrets – identifying numerous members of the Priory of Sion, including Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and of course Leonardo DaVinci.
It goes on to say that the Opus Dei, a somewhat secretive Catholic organization is also real and factual. And that all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals are accurate.
There is only one problem with that statement: It is based on false information. For if you go to Wikepedia, the online Encyclopedia you will find that
The Priory of Sion is an alleged thousand-year-old cabal featured in various conspiracy theories, as well as being in the bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code.
It has been characterized as anything from the most influential secret society in Western history to a modern Rosicrucian-esque ludibrium, but, ultimately, has been shown to be a hoax created in 1956 by Pierre Plantard, a pretender to the French throne. Most of the evidence presented in support of its historical existence has not been considered authentic or persuasive by established historians, academics, and universities, and the evidence was later discovered to have been forged and then planted in various locations around France by Plantard and his associates. Nevertheless, many conspiracy theorists insist on the truth of the Priory's role as a powerful secret society.
3. In case you are wondering what ludibrium means, in Latin ludibrium is an object at the same time of fun and of scorn and derision and it is also the capricious game itself. And the Rosicrucian Order is a legendary and secretive Order publicly documented in the early 17th century.
There is, and this is a fact, a Rosicrucian Museum and headquarters in San Jose, California. I have actually driven by the building, but have not been inside. According to their web site… The Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, is internationally known as the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis. We are a nonsectarian body of men and women devoted to the investigation, study and practical application of natural and spiritual laws. Our purpose is to further the evolution of humanity through the development of the full potential of each individual. Our goal is to enable everyone to live in harmony with creative, cosmic forces for the attainment of health, happiness, and peace.
Rosicrucian is a combination of two symbols: the Rose and the Cross.
And if you thought the DaVinci Code was rather involved, the Rosicrucian’s are at least as much or more complicated and esoteric.
It all sounds a bit like Scientology, which is also a kind of Hoax – which was developed by a well known Science Fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard, who made millions promoting this pseudo religion and, at this point, who is to say it has not helped some people and hurt others. The well know actor, Tom Cruise seems to be quite involved in it as of late.
4. Well, my point, before I got off the subject, is that it is pretty much agreed that the DaVinci Code turns out to be a pretty clever hoax which made author Dan Brown enormously wealthy, created a great deal of tourism to places mentioned in the book, upset a lot of the people in the Catholic Church and particularly the Opus Dei, although it may end up actually attracting more members to that organization.
Now that the dust has settled a little bit and the movie seems to have turned out to be something less than spectacular (I have not seen it yet – although I have read the book) perhaps it is time to assess what all the hubbub was all about.
For, to tell the truth, people are not often fooled by a hoax unless there is something attractive (or scary) about it. So, what is it that appeals to people?
Let us consider three things. And remember that this book more than likely appeals to people who are outside the church, people who are turn off the church, and those who feel the church is out of date and not relevant to current society.
5. The first is that people love a conspiracy. We love secrets. We are highly suspicious of institutions -- especially institutions that tend to be secretive. This is the bread and butter of all mystery novels.
Enter the Catholic Church – which is a very hierarchical organization … with a great deal of power and authority.
And yet an institution which has suffered greatly from the ongoing scandals which, it turns out, were covered up.
I must say that in defense of the Methodist Church most of our decisions are conducted in public. Day what you want, but the whole debate over homosexuality last week at the Methodist Conference was done right out in the open and reported on by the media. There was nothing secret about it. And, to be fair, the Protestant Churches have had their share of scandals, too. But, in recent years, at least, they have been dealt with as openly as possible as circumstances have allowed.
But what remains in the public’s mind is that the church is often judgmental, hostile, defensive, and unresponsive to change.
Are these ideas true? For some churches more than others I suppose. Most of the time, the Methodist church seems to be in trouble for being too progressive these days … so it is hard to tell.
Anyway, there is much dissatisfaction with religion today in these changing times.
6. The second thing is that there is a great deal of illiteracy when
It comes to understanding the Bible and how it was developed.
For a long time, a lot of people have sort of believed that the Bible just dropped down out of the sky or was written by God.
And this still true for many people who want to believe that the Bible is the literal word of God.
But the facts are otherwise… and almost everyone, except for some Evangelical groups who believe that Peter, Paul and John finalized the New Testament, now agrees that it was the church … which decided which books would make up the 27 books which in the New Testament.
7. How did the church do this? Well, the final decisions were based on at least three things:
Apostolic origin – meaning that they were based on the teaching and preaching of the early disciples or their companions … in other words the earliest accounts of Jesus were the most accurate.
Universal Acceptance - by all major Christian communities in the ancient world by the year 400. In other words, the majority viewpoint on those books which were actually being used in the liturgies of the churches at that time.
And, lastly, Consistent Message – in other words - does the message seem consistent with that in the other books?
In short, the books that make up the Bible were decided on by
various church committees based on whether or not they seemed
to be “divinely inspired.” And, that is the standard view today.
We now know and accept that the books which are in the New Testament were written by men - human beings - who were at the same time divinely inspired.
They were not however, written directly by God and hence are not infallible as some people think. And that is why there are inconsistencies throughout the writings. And that is why they are hard to understand at times (especially Paul), and that is why they must be interpreted by us today.
8. Now in Dan Brown’s book, he claims that the church covered up
the fact that it left out a whole bunch of other letters, Gospels, and writings on purpose to suppress the idea that Jesus was married, fathered a child, and was an ordinary human being not God.
Now, suppose, as most people you are not familiar with the Council of Nicea and all that early Christian History stuff. And here is someone telling you the church covered things up … and furthermore that it appears that the male dominated church wanted to suppress women (including the disciples who were envious of Jesus having included Mary Magdalene in their group) and you have grounds for a lot of questioning and disbelief.
And the truth is that it does not say that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute in the New Testament – contrary to what most people were led to believe because the Catholic Pope in six hundred AD said so. The truth is it says in Luke 8 that:
Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
Notice that it is the women who are buying the groceries!
9. So, we have another question of credibility. No wonder that
People are distrustful.
Not to mention all the other books which seem to have been popping up lately such as the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Judas and all the rest.
So, we have a credibility problem based on the churches not being completely open about how the scriptures came into existence, we have questions raised about the church having been a male dominated institution which tried to suppress women, and all this in the context of a lack of basic biblical understanding on the part of the much of the general public. The result, a guy like Dan Brown can come in an exploit all sorts of things and although it may not have been his intent, it may be a good thing for the church to get some of this out in the open.
And it should provide me with ammunition for more sermons for quite a while. And, it has got people thinking.
10. So, one last thing about the so-called DaVinci code hoax. What it
the story does, of course, is to once again raise the question of Jesus’ humanity.
This is an age-old problem. It was debated as far back as the very
beginning.
And the Council Nicea came together primarily to decide this very question. That was to agree almost unanimously that Jesus was both human and divine.
And yet the church and many people have trouble with this paradox. And yet the tendency in some churches is to exalt the Divinity of Jesus to where it is hard to identify with.
If the DaVinci Code does anything, it is to try to make Jesus seem more human and therefore more believable.
11. So that is why the book became so successful.
First because of the widespread distrust of institutions in our society and the idea that the church has conspired to suppress or withhold information about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, the existence of other gospels in order to maintain it’s power and control.
Secondly, that the church has overemphasized Jesus as God and thereby given us an otherworldly person with whom we cannot connect.
And thirdly, because there is so much illiteracy about the origins
of the Scriptures, people are rather gullible when it comes to anyone making claims about things that they are not familiar
and have no way to substantiate.
Sounds like we have our work cut out for the time being. At least until the next new revelation comes along.
Maybe I should write a book!
Let us pray …
“How can these things be?”
John 3:1-17
1. Here is a story about Lee Marvin which was sent to me on the internet.
Dialog From a Johnny Carson "Tonight" Show. His guest was Lee Marvin. Johnny said, "Lee, I'll bet a lot of people are unaware that you were a Marine in the initial landing at Iwo Jima and that during the course of that action, you earned the Navy Cross and were severely wounded."
Lee Marvin's response was:
"Yeah, yeah ... I got shot and they gave me the Cross for securing a hot spot about halfway up Mount Suribachi. The bad thing about getting shot up on a mountain is guys getting shot hauling you down. But Johnny, at Iwo, I served under the bravest man I ever knew. We both got the Cross the same day, but what he did for his Cross made mine look cheap in comparison. He actually stood up on Red Beach and directed his troops to move forward and get the hell off the beach. That Sergeant and I have been life long friends."
"Johnny, I'm not lying, Sergeant Keeshan was the bravest man I ever knew!" You now know him as Bob Keeshan. You and the world know him as "Captain Kangaroo"."
Sounds like a great story doesn't it? Only one problem. It is a hoax! It is an internet hoax. It had me fooled and a lot of other people at first. But, later, I looked it up on Urban Legends -- a website that debunks a lot of these stories that are going around. Here is what it said...
Comments: Despite sundry grains of truth sprinkled throughout — including the fact that both actor Lee Marvin and Bob "Captain Kangaroo" Keeshan were Marines during World War II (Keeshan a reservist), and that Marvin really was wounded in the buttocks while storming a beachhead (though in Saipan, not Iwo Jima) — the story is fundamentally false. According to their respective biographies, Marvin had already been injured and shipped back to the United States with a Purple Heart by the time Keeshan entered basic training. They could not have encountered one another in combat. Neither was awarded the Navy Cross.
At the age of 20, Lee Marvin was a private in the U.S. Marines 4th Division, part of the Allied landing force that invaded the Japanese-held Pacific island of Saipan on July 15, 1944. He was wounded three days later on July 18, spent the next 13 months in Navy hospitals recovering from a severed sciatic nerve, and was discharged in 1945.
Bob Keeshan signed up for the Marine Corps Reserve shortly before his 18th birthday in 1945. Since the war was all but over by the time he finished basic training, it's unlikely Keeshan ever saw combat before completing his service a year later, let alone attained the rank of sergeant.
Those old enough to remember Lee Marvin's occasional appearances on TV talk shows up until his death in 1987 will find the manner and spirit of the storytelling reminiscent of the man himself, but it seems unlikely he would have trumpeted such blatant lies about another man's service record over national television, nor have I been able to find any evidence in the form of tapes or transcripts that prove he did so.
Update: A version of this message circulating since March 2003 includes an addendum claiming that Fred Rogers, host of public television's "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood," was an ex-Marine sniper (or, in another version, a Navy Seal) with dozens of wartime kills to his credit. This, too, is false.
Isn’t that amazing … we just assume when we read something it must be true … especially when there seems no reason to be untruthful …
There are lots of other hoaxes like that one, too.
2. One of the big ones was the one which went around colleges in 1998 just when my daughter started school. Its was called the “Little Bo Peep” serial murderer hoax.
There are several different versions of the story. One of the most widely heard one goes like this: “A serial killer dressed as Little Bo Peep will appear on a Big Ten campus on Halloween. The killer will murder about 20 people in a dorm located near railroad tracks with a name beginning with an "H." Variations of the story have the serial killer dressed in regular clothes or the crimes being committed in a dorm shaped like an "H" or near a cemetery. This prediction was supposedly made on the Oprah show a couple of weeks ago by the same lady that predicted the OK bombing a couple of years ago.
It was, of course, a hoax.
According to Urban Legends … This story's first known appearance was in the Midwest in 1968, perhaps inspired by Richard Speck's murder of nine nurses in a Chicago rooming house earlier that year. It has seen numerous outbreaks since then, most notably in 1979 (Midwest), 1983 (nationwide), 1986 (Central Pennsylvania), and 1991 (New England).
Now imagine a whole dorm full of teenage girls who are all away from home for the first time … and a planning on going out on Halloween. It’s a recipe for hysteria.
Notice also that both stories have the same line in them:
It was first heard on Johnny Carson or it was first heard on Oprah. That makes it true, right? If it was on TV, especially a popular show, it must be true? WRONG!
2. Now consider this statement which is at the beginning of the world-wide best selling novel, The DaVinci Code:
The Priory of Sion, a secret European society, founded in 1099 – is a real organization. In 1975 Parish Bibliotheque National discovered parchments known as Le Dossiers Secrets – identifying numerous members of the Priory of Sion, including Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and of course Leonardo DaVinci.
It goes on to say that the Opus Dei, a somewhat secretive Catholic organization is also real and factual. And that all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals are accurate.
There is only one problem with that statement: It is based on false information. For if you go to Wikepedia, the online Encyclopedia you will find that
The Priory of Sion is an alleged thousand-year-old cabal featured in various conspiracy theories, as well as being in the bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code.
It has been characterized as anything from the most influential secret society in Western history to a modern Rosicrucian-esque ludibrium, but, ultimately, has been shown to be a hoax created in 1956 by Pierre Plantard, a pretender to the French throne. Most of the evidence presented in support of its historical existence has not been considered authentic or persuasive by established historians, academics, and universities, and the evidence was later discovered to have been forged and then planted in various locations around France by Plantard and his associates. Nevertheless, many conspiracy theorists insist on the truth of the Priory's role as a powerful secret society.
3. In case you are wondering what ludibrium means, in Latin ludibrium is an object at the same time of fun and of scorn and derision and it is also the capricious game itself. And the Rosicrucian Order is a legendary and secretive Order publicly documented in the early 17th century.
There is, and this is a fact, a Rosicrucian Museum and headquarters in San Jose, California. I have actually driven by the building, but have not been inside. According to their web site… The Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, is internationally known as the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis. We are a nonsectarian body of men and women devoted to the investigation, study and practical application of natural and spiritual laws. Our purpose is to further the evolution of humanity through the development of the full potential of each individual. Our goal is to enable everyone to live in harmony with creative, cosmic forces for the attainment of health, happiness, and peace.
Rosicrucian is a combination of two symbols: the Rose and the Cross.
And if you thought the DaVinci Code was rather involved, the Rosicrucian’s are at least as much or more complicated and esoteric.
It all sounds a bit like Scientology, which is also a kind of Hoax – which was developed by a well known Science Fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard, who made millions promoting this pseudo religion and, at this point, who is to say it has not helped some people and hurt others. The well know actor, Tom Cruise seems to be quite involved in it as of late.
4. Well, my point, before I got off the subject, is that it is pretty much agreed that the DaVinci Code turns out to be a pretty clever hoax which made author Dan Brown enormously wealthy, created a great deal of tourism to places mentioned in the book, upset a lot of the people in the Catholic Church and particularly the Opus Dei, although it may end up actually attracting more members to that organization.
Now that the dust has settled a little bit and the movie seems to have turned out to be something less than spectacular (I have not seen it yet – although I have read the book) perhaps it is time to assess what all the hubbub was all about.
For, to tell the truth, people are not often fooled by a hoax unless there is something attractive (or scary) about it. So, what is it that appeals to people?
Let us consider three things. And remember that this book more than likely appeals to people who are outside the church, people who are turn off the church, and those who feel the church is out of date and not relevant to current society.
5. The first is that people love a conspiracy. We love secrets. We are highly suspicious of institutions -- especially institutions that tend to be secretive. This is the bread and butter of all mystery novels.
Enter the Catholic Church – which is a very hierarchical organization … with a great deal of power and authority.
And yet an institution which has suffered greatly from the ongoing scandals which, it turns out, were covered up.
I must say that in defense of the Methodist Church most of our decisions are conducted in public. Day what you want, but the whole debate over homosexuality last week at the Methodist Conference was done right out in the open and reported on by the media. There was nothing secret about it. And, to be fair, the Protestant Churches have had their share of scandals, too. But, in recent years, at least, they have been dealt with as openly as possible as circumstances have allowed.
But what remains in the public’s mind is that the church is often judgmental, hostile, defensive, and unresponsive to change.
Are these ideas true? For some churches more than others I suppose. Most of the time, the Methodist church seems to be in trouble for being too progressive these days … so it is hard to tell.
Anyway, there is much dissatisfaction with religion today in these changing times.
6. The second thing is that there is a great deal of illiteracy when
It comes to understanding the Bible and how it was developed.
For a long time, a lot of people have sort of believed that the Bible just dropped down out of the sky or was written by God.
And this still true for many people who want to believe that the Bible is the literal word of God.
But the facts are otherwise… and almost everyone, except for some Evangelical groups who believe that Peter, Paul and John finalized the New Testament, now agrees that it was the church … which decided which books would make up the 27 books which in the New Testament.
7. How did the church do this? Well, the final decisions were based on at least three things:
Apostolic origin – meaning that they were based on the teaching and preaching of the early disciples or their companions … in other words the earliest accounts of Jesus were the most accurate.
Universal Acceptance - by all major Christian communities in the ancient world by the year 400. In other words, the majority viewpoint on those books which were actually being used in the liturgies of the churches at that time.
And, lastly, Consistent Message – in other words - does the message seem consistent with that in the other books?
In short, the books that make up the Bible were decided on by
various church committees based on whether or not they seemed
to be “divinely inspired.” And, that is the standard view today.
We now know and accept that the books which are in the New Testament were written by men - human beings - who were at the same time divinely inspired.
They were not however, written directly by God and hence are not infallible as some people think. And that is why there are inconsistencies throughout the writings. And that is why they are hard to understand at times (especially Paul), and that is why they must be interpreted by us today.
8. Now in Dan Brown’s book, he claims that the church covered up
the fact that it left out a whole bunch of other letters, Gospels, and writings on purpose to suppress the idea that Jesus was married, fathered a child, and was an ordinary human being not God.
Now, suppose, as most people you are not familiar with the Council of Nicea and all that early Christian History stuff. And here is someone telling you the church covered things up … and furthermore that it appears that the male dominated church wanted to suppress women (including the disciples who were envious of Jesus having included Mary Magdalene in their group) and you have grounds for a lot of questioning and disbelief.
And the truth is that it does not say that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute in the New Testament – contrary to what most people were led to believe because the Catholic Pope in six hundred AD said so. The truth is it says in Luke 8 that:
Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
Notice that it is the women who are buying the groceries!
9. So, we have another question of credibility. No wonder that
People are distrustful.
Not to mention all the other books which seem to have been popping up lately such as the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Judas and all the rest.
So, we have a credibility problem based on the churches not being completely open about how the scriptures came into existence, we have questions raised about the church having been a male dominated institution which tried to suppress women, and all this in the context of a lack of basic biblical understanding on the part of the much of the general public. The result, a guy like Dan Brown can come in an exploit all sorts of things and although it may not have been his intent, it may be a good thing for the church to get some of this out in the open.
And it should provide me with ammunition for more sermons for quite a while. And, it has got people thinking.
10. So, one last thing about the so-called DaVinci code hoax. What it
the story does, of course, is to once again raise the question of Jesus’ humanity.
This is an age-old problem. It was debated as far back as the very
beginning.
And the Council Nicea came together primarily to decide this very question. That was to agree almost unanimously that Jesus was both human and divine.
And yet the church and many people have trouble with this paradox. And yet the tendency in some churches is to exalt the Divinity of Jesus to where it is hard to identify with.
If the DaVinci Code does anything, it is to try to make Jesus seem more human and therefore more believable.
11. So that is why the book became so successful.
First because of the widespread distrust of institutions in our society and the idea that the church has conspired to suppress or withhold information about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, the existence of other gospels in order to maintain it’s power and control.
Secondly, that the church has overemphasized Jesus as God and thereby given us an otherworldly person with whom we cannot connect.
And thirdly, because there is so much illiteracy about the origins
of the Scriptures, people are rather gullible when it comes to anyone making claims about things that they are not familiar
and have no way to substantiate.
Sounds like we have our work cut out for the time being. At least until the next new revelation comes along.
Maybe I should write a book!
Let us pray …
posted by Anonymous at 2:53 PM
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