We can’t 
know all there is to know about an all-knowing God. Nobody gets downloaded the full package but I think God is big enough to work through all religions. After all, love and peace are pretty basic concepts for those who believe in a Power Higher than themselves.
But it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here…and many will be celebrating the birth of the one who birthed Christianity.
What makes Jesus Christ different from other prophets and holy men of old?
The birth of Jesus is detailed in the Bible and his followers called him the Son of God. Jesus called himself the Son of Man. He seemed to be christened with some kind of supernatural power so he was known as the Christ. What he taught is honoured in the whole western world.
Verses in the Koran also talk about the birth of Jesus by a virgin Mary (Qur’an, Surah 3:38-48). Muslims believe him to be a great prophet and he is highly respected. But how can this be by these two great religions? Because Jesus Christ said some outrageous things!
He said he came down from heaven (outer-space) to give us good news about a kingdom of God .
He said God is his father and that we too can be brothers and sisters (children of God) if we do his will.
He said he forgives our sins, heals our diseases, frees us from oppression.
He said that if we believe in what he says, we’ll have eternal life.
Yes, he did say these things. Click the links above and read them for yourself. Can all this really be true? If his words are not true, then Jesus Christ is a liar.
How can we respect and honour anyone if they aren’t telling us the truth? Why do we celebrate Christmas if we don’t even believe what Christ said? How can Muslims declare him as one of the great prophets if he’s lying?
So, I challenge you…to look closely at the words Jesus spoke to us, wherever we live on this planet, especially in this season when a supernatural star in the heavens appeared announcing some stupendous good news!
What if it was all true and he did come down to humanity as an ambassador from a government in the heavens? And what if he comes again?!
––––––––––––––––––––– ♥ Heart Thoughts ♥–––––––––––––––––
Jesus read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” Luke 4:17-19, Isaiah 61:1,2 (see Septuagint); Isaiah 58:6 NIV Bible
A quote from the book: The Celestial Proposal: Our Invitation to Join the God Kind, Chapter 4,The Fusion of Human and God Being, page 43. "This luminous mass first appeared to be moving, then stopped at a specific time and place. What star does that? History tells us there were Magi, influential learned men who first sighted it and traveled to follow it. ...the star they had seen in the east (or when it rose) went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. (Matthew 2:9) If these men had our vocabulary, perhaps they would have claimed it was a UFO that had come down from the heavens. A host of celestial entities gave them a fantastic message—that the savior of the whole human race had been born (Luke 2:12), a child who was part God, part man and sent to us as a celestial ambassador. This was and is good news because we and our planet still need saving. Praise God that they deem us scrawny human beings worthy enough to be saved!"
Jane Catherine Rozek 
I dunno if this is an ok place to ask this but I thought of it while reading this page so Ill ask here. If it’s not ok to do that jsut delete my comment and email me! 😛
What do you think of the controversy/differences between the current versions of the Gospel of Mark and the original version found in the codex vatincanus and codex Sinaiticus? In case you don’t know about it (and to show why i thought about it here) is that in the two oldest know copies of the bible the book of Mark ends at mark 16:8. With the women fleeing for Jesus’s empty tomb. There is no references to ascendancy, divinity, commissioning of disciples,etc. The Vatican has admitted that Mark 16:9-20 was added by the church centuries later.
Most scholars also believe that Mark was the oldest of the gospels and that Matthew, Luke, and John copied/used it as a reference to some extent.
So while the author of Mark does refer to Jesus as Christos (meaning messiah, or king, or prophet) he doesn’t refer to Jesus as the Son of God or as Divine. The oldest copies specifically have nothing about this.
So.. thoughts ideas? What is your take?
and again I hope this doesn’t sound combative or antagonistic. I respect your view on Christianity and just want to know your ideas.
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I love the book of Mark. Yes, the Vatican added the last 11 verses to the book but the question is why? The author of Mark was a remarkable writer who wrote a dramatic fast-paced documentary worthy of the big screen. He doesn’t refer to Old Testament scriptures like the other gospels do. Maybe he was writing for the non-Jewish Romans in occupation.
Yes, the author of Mark was the first to write about the widespread sensation caused by a man known as The Christ. This man named Jesus swept into the Jewish religious culture with such controversy and he tried to capture the impact of it all. Zooming into the uncanny events Jesus manifested, he simply wrote down the comments that came from the astonished crowds: “Is he the Holy One of God?” “But isn’t he the carpenter’s boy?”
Like any good writer he gives a dramatic end to his manuscript. The angelic young man in white assures the women at the tomb that Jesus had raised. They are to go and tell the disciples that they will see Jesus again in Galilee.
“Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”
The author of this book in the bible leaves the reader to decide the truth for himself. The Vatican added the last verses because they wanted to tell the people what to believe.
Even though the author didn’t call Jesus the Son of God himself, he included the events where others did. Those healed of mental illness (demon possessed) screamed it out loudly to the people standing around watching. And in awe, even the centurion at Jesus crucifixion said, “Surely this man was the Son of God.”
No references to divinity? Jesus Christ “had enough magic” or celestial power, to heal a man with mental illness, a man with leprosy, a deaf-mute man, one demon possessed, one paralyzed, and a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. Jesus calmed a furious storm so his friend’s boat wouldn’t capsize. He fed 5000 people and then another 4000 baskets of food that kept overflowing, he walked on water. He healed a couple blind men. He cursed a fig tree. And even after being laughed at by the neighbours, he brought a dead girl back to life again. Always surrounded by amazed spectators.
And get this. In his hometown he can’t do any miracles. Through out all this mind-blowing action, Jesus shows humour, and he cries with sadness. Sometimes he gets so tired from the crowds pressing in on him he has to find places of solitude to rest. Seven times in the book, he instructs the crowd not to tell others of his power. His heart bleeds for others but yet he doesn’t like being a freak-show. He’s human and yet what else is he?
Note: “Christos” or Christ in the Greek means the Anointed One. The word Messiah in Hebrew means the same. Yes, he was anointed with some kind of paranormal power all right!
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Ya most scholars believe that Mark was written for the gentile population. Matthew was like a rewrite for the jewish population.
I didn’t say that Mark doesn’t talk about miracles or “magic” etc. I said the author never says Jesus was divine or the son of God. The Author never seems to deify Jesus like the other gospels do. Also isn’t it in Mark that Jesus calls himself “the Son of Man” rather than the son of god?
You ask why the Vatican changed the end of the book and added more. Well… this is the main scriptures that make Christ divine and “other”, or greater than humans. It is also the main scriptures that says to “commission disciples” or in other words to recruit, follow, structure and organize. Christ was about a personal relationship with “his Father” wasn’t he? So this ending of Mark seems to go against that and in turn lays a foundation to follow the Church. Isn’t it plausible that the Vatican added the end to Mark in order to give themselves control and power and to distance human kind from Jesus?
Obviously most hardcore christians would disagree with me because they have been told what to think and my view is biased due to my own beliefs and upbringing. But, I think my view and understanding fits this better. Mostly because I don’t see Jesus as other or deity. I see him as an example of what humankind can be. What we are capable of. I don’t see him as something we have to reach outwards to an other to become like. I see him as something we have to reach inwards to become like.
Dunno if I wrote that in a way that is understandable. lol.
Thanks for the reply!
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All the gospels use the terms the Son of God and the Son of Man and Mark is no exception. He called himself that before he performed a miraculous healing saying, “I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So I think he recognized his authority coming from offside earth. I don’t think the question of his divinity rests with the Vatican saying he was divine, but by Jesus’ own integrity when he himself claimed God was his father. To me, the miraculous things he was capable of doing proved his divinity. To be divine, means you have God in you, right? Whether Mary was impregnated supernaturally, or Jesus was filled with God-spirit at birth, he had something different in him.
But just reading the book of Mark and putting yourself into the time and scenes the author describes, will help you decide what to believe. If you think that strange inexplicable things can happen in our world today, then it’s easier to believe it all did happen then. For more quick research, you can type in any term/words you want at BibleGateway.com and see how many in each book and read the verses in context. It’s an easy way to get an overview and see what the Bible really says about things.
Yes, the Vatican probably added the end verses to Mark in order to give themselves leadership and credibility. I don’t know if it was to actually distance humanity from Jesus. But zoom out and look at the big picture. Think on this: Didn’t Jesus circumnavigate all organized religions anyway? He was outside Judaism and their laws. He came to put celestial kind of standards into our hearts not start a new church. And by sending back something called Holy Spirit after he died, he’s doing that. It’s like an evolution of interventions by the Gods. The Law gets established in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ is birthed as an ambassador in the New Testament. Then an intangible something, gets down loaded into our minds today. Sending this Holy Spirit into our world transcends all religions and that’s what really excites me!
So yes I too, see him as something we have to reach inward to become like. Because now for spiritually minded people, he lives in our hearts! Hallelujah!
🙂
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Jesus said “I am the way the truth and the life. No man can come to the father except through me” Powerful words. Thanks again Jane, for a thought provoking post.
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Oh, I do like to provoke new thoughts, yes! It’s true, Jesus Christ lived among us and showed us the truth, the way, and the life.
But when he returned to his home in the sky, he also sent something wonderful back into our world to guide us. His presence now on our planet is Spirit! Our connection to this holy Spirit teaches the way – to truth and life, and comes from within our hearts and conscience. That’s why I think it’s so awesome, that now everybody wants to be Spiritual!
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And these three are one. One in purpose. One in Essence. Yet different roles. “may they be one as we are ONE”!
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Your question at the beginning…”What’s so great about Jesus Christ?”… It’s all about redemption. Without Christ there is none. And yest Holy Spirit does teach us the way.. to truth and life.. and that way is Christ and the way of the cross who paid the full price of redemption.
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That’s true. Without Jesus Christ there would be no Spirit and no redemption. We are loved!
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