"You Mean THAT'S In The Bible?" by Satyaraja Dasa (Steven J. Rosen)

[jennieblue22]

..........

9) JESUS AND GOD MAY BE ONE--BUT THEY ARE ALSO DIFFERENT

"I do nothing of myself."

John 14:2
________________________________________________

"My Father is greater than I."

John 14:2
________________________________________________

"The Lord our God is one Lord."

Mark 12:29
________________________________________________

My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

Matt. 27:46
________________________________________________

"Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit."

Luke 23:46
________________________________________________

"As You and I are one, let them also be one in Us."

c.f. John 17:21

Thus, Jesus implies that his "oneness" with God is something
that can be achieved by others.
________________________________________________

"But of that day and that hour knowth no man, no, not the
angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father."

Mark 13:32
________________________________________________

It is also written of Jesus: "Behold my servant, whom I have
chosen,"

Matt. 12:18
________________________________________________

"God...glorified His servant, Jesus."

Acts 3:13
________________________________________________

[jennieblue22]

..........

10) MISCELLANEOUS

GOD IS NOT AN OLD MAN WITH A FLOWING WHITE BEARD

10) My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten
thousand.
11) His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and
black as a raven.
12) His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters,
washed with milk, and fitly set.
13) His cheeks are as a bet of spices, as sweet flowers; his
lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.
14) His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl; his belly
is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.
15) His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon socks of fine
gold; his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
16) His mouth is most sweet; yea, he is altogether lovely. This
is my beloved, and this is my friend.

Song of Solomon 5

Compare to Vedic description in Brahma Samhita.
________________________________________________

THE GREATEST COMMANDMENTS: TO LOVE GOD AND ONE'S NEIGHBOR

(It is thus also indicated that to love God and to love one's
neighbor are two separate things)

"'Master, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' He
answered, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, with all your mind." That is the greatest
commandment. It comes first. The second is like it: "Love your
neighbor as yourself." Everything in the Law and the prophets
hangs on these two commandments'"

Matt. 22:36-40
________________________________________________

SELF-SURRENDER

"Father...Thy will be done."

Matt 26:42
________________________________________________

CONTINUAL PRAYER

"Pray without ceasing."

Thess. 5:17
________________________________________________


THE SINFUL PERSON HATES GOD, TRUTH. HONEST PERSON OTHERWISE

"Here lies the test: the light has come into the world,
but men preferred darkness to light because their deeds were
evil. Bad men all hate the light and avoid it, for fear their
practices should be shown up. The honest man comes to the light
so that it may be clearly seen that God is in all he does."

John 3:19-21
________________________________________________

ON THE UNPOPULARITY OF POTENT PREACHERS

"If the world hate you, know that it hated me (Jesus) before it
hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love its
own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you
out of the world, therefore the world hateth you."

John 15:18-19
________________________________________________

ON LISTENING TO GOD FROM WITHIN THE HEART (INSTEAD OF FROM
AUTHORITY)

"Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is not mine, but His
that sent me. If any man will do His (God's) will, he shall
know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak
of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory;
but he that seeketh His (God's) glory that sent him, the same
is true and no unrighteousness is in him. Did not Moses give
you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law?"

John 7:16-19

This clearly says that we must not follow our own ideas, but
just obey the law and try to understand what the authorities
say. This defeats the people who day "Jesus speaks to me in my
heart."
________________________________________________

[jennieblue22]

..........

11) AFTERWORD

The merits of this pamphlet can easily be obscured by the
Christian exclusivity. Dogmatic denial of non-Christian
religions seems to be a tenet of popular Christianity. Such
prejudice is largely based on the following verse from the New
Testament:

ego eimi ha hodos kai ha alatheia kai ha zoa; oudeis
erketia pros ton patera ei ma di emou

"I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to
the Father except through me." )Matt. 14:6)

However, this is a rather slender peg on which to hang
one's religious intolerance. Especially since the original
Greek renders the verse a bit differently than cited above--
although the above translation is the one you would probably
find in your Bible.

The Greek work erketai is extremely present tense. So,
rather than "comes" as the word is rendered above, it would
more accurately be "can presently come." This, of course,
changes the whole meaning. Jesus is actually saying, "I am the
way, the truth, and the life; no one can presently come to the
father except through me." Thus, Christian exclusivity becomes
absurd. Unlike the interpretations pushed upon us by the Bible-
thumpers--who say that surrender to Jesus is the only way, for
all time--Jesus simply said that eh was the way presently, at
that time, in Palestine-- 2,000 years ago. Says Dr. Boyd
Daniels of The American Bible Society, "Oh, yes. The word
erketai is definitely the present tense form of the verb. Jesus
was speaking to his contemporaries." (From a personal
conversation with the author.)
________________________________________________

The Codex Sinaiticus, our earliest existing Greek
m****cript of the New Testament, can presently be found in the
British Museum. Interestingly, this m****cript was written in
the year 331 A.D. - Just six years after the Council of Nicaea.
We have no New Testament m****cripts from before this council.

Why is this interesting? Because history reveals that
everything was rearranged at the council--and at the many
councils that followed. No one knows what Christianity may
have been like before this first ecumenical synod. And no one
is ever likely to find out--for the Christian tradition has not
been preserved. Rather, it has been subject to change and
decay


This pamphlet was keyed by Skosch Penrose.

[Libby]

Hi Jennie! It's nice to see another Hindu, finally, on this thread.

Looks like an interesting book. I've been reading along the same lines, a book written by Yogananda called "The Second Coming of Christ" (which he says is Christ Consciousness or Samadhi). He, basically, goes through the Bible, as your author has done, here, and provides eastern interpretations of some of the more well known verses and stories. It's very interesting.

I will definitely browse through this book! Thank you!

[jennieblue22]

Another fantastic book is "Christ and Krishna: Where the Jordan Meets the Ganges" also by Steven J. Rosen (Satyaraja Dasa) - ISBN: 9780961976385

Read it. It's a real eye-opener!

[Libby]

Thanks, Jennie.