Was Jesus Really God?
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Ashima CL Sharma | Oct 27, 2009
“May those who have eyes, see; and those who have ears, hear.” Jesus may have forgotten to include, “May those who can reason, have the courage to accept their wrongs.” Being seen and heard as ‘different’ became the reason for Jesus of Nazareth’s execution. It is a travesty of justice that malevolent criminals stroll free or at the most, spend their life locked in the prisons but, compassionate, authentic and wise men are almost always killed brutally. From Jesus to Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther King, almost all good and influential people are executed by inferior men with herd-like instincts of preservation.
Man is born with an inherent capability to distinguish between good and bad. No law can match the reasoning of an evolved being. Each of us has a clear understanding of where we stand, what we do and what should be done. But we all differ in our capacity to accept it, so we keep ignoring it to a much or less extent. These few great men were the ones who had the total capacity and courage to accept and change themselves for the better. And then they dared to ask humanity to do the same!
Jesus, Gandhi and King, were authentic men, as Man was meant to be. They were a yardstick for human existence; a challenge to the baseness of mankind; an Everest to hills. But, they reminded fellow men of their pettiness and shadow energies that hide inside undetected and unprocessed. There is a very ancient saying that if you want to make one stick look small, place a bigger stick adjacent to it.
Executing those like Jesus, Gandhi and King was an effort to re-establish our self-granted “superiority” in some way. But when one brutally murders someone utterly innocent, the collective guilt remains and stains the landscape of humanity forever. It can never be washed away with platitudes and conscience-prompted deification. Calling them “god” or “godlike” is a subtle way to cover up the guilt of all wrongs that we did to them.
It is also an excuse for us to stay the way we are as “ordinary” human beings. Our excuse is that only gods can aspire to greatness. We want to remain at the lowest rung of existence because being base needs no effort. It is an easy path. All good men are made into “gods” and “mahatmas” and all the bad ones remain as mere humans. Adolf Hitler was a human, so was Joseph Stalin and Mao-Tse Tung and every other brutal dictator and murderer who ever walked this earth.
Disturbing little insight into the human psyche isn’t it?
Filed Under: Miscellaneous
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It really depends on how you define ‘god’. Everyone has their own opinion on who or what is a god. Personally I don’t believe in a creator god. Whatever you call ‘god’ is, for me, part of this universe. I see two ‘aspects’ of ‘god’. One is cosmological and the other psychological. ‘God’ is the ‘power of the universe’ – you could say it’s the energy of the big bang that started it all – so maybe some might say that is a ‘creator god’, however, it’s an impersonal force, an energy. The other is the ‘self’, not the ego, but the self in a ‘Jungian’ sense.
This way of thinking has been influenced by my studies in physics, psychology and mysticism. And in turn these studies have been provoked by memories of past lives and experiences during episodes of lucid dreaming.
These memories and dreams are spontaneous in me – I’ve always been a sceptic, but I believe what I see, what I experience and can’t explain in any other way.
My slogan has often been “there is no god but your own free will” and I still believe it. If you open your hearts and minds to truth, it will manifest itself to you in amazing ways. We live in a wonderful universe. We ourselves are wondrous beings. Jesus or Hitler, Gandhi or Bin Laden are all just as wondrous as we. It’s our human judgement and opinions that say that one is “better” than the other.
In geological terms humans arrived on this planet at half a second to midnight. It’s taken us so long to get here, we’ll stay for a few fleeting moments then we’ll disappear into the void.
Let’s make the most of it.
Thanks Lol for the wonderful insight. But I disagree that Jesus,Hitler, Gandhi or Bin Laden share the same platform.If one happens to read Hitler’s autobiography he comes out as equally strong, intelligent and reasonable person.But Hitler and Jesus are two opposite poles of existence. There is a huge wall of consciousness between them. Intelligence and sensitivity should go hand in hand. If one considers only intelligence then robots and computers are any day better than human beings.
That was a good one.. equally wise and apt was your comment in reply to the comparison of Jesus with Hitler…
Thanks for the insight….
I think you have misunderstood my use of the words “wonderful” and “wondrous” – my fault. In my Collins Dictionary “wonderful” is defined as something very good, “wondrous” is something that inspires wonder. I think everyone would wonder at how or why people like Hitler and Jesus managed to achieve so much in such a short time from such humble beginnings. Both have changed the world. In that sense I have put them on the ‘same platform’.
As to your comment about intelligence, robots and computers have yet to catch up with earthworms. A computer is clever in that it can hold and manipulate lots of data, but that is nothing compared to even the ‘dumbest’ of animals. If you are interested in the field of AI (Artificial Intelligence) then you might like to visit this link: http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n07/opiniao/minsky/minsky_i.htm
Prof. Marvin Minsky is one of the foremost researches in the field of AI.
Lol
I apologize again for my use of language.
Allow me to share this anecdote I got from somewhere:
An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty. He asks one of his new Christian students to stand and…..:
Professor: You are a Christian, aren’t you, son?
Student: Yes, sir.
Professor: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.
Professor: Is God good?
Student: Sure.
Professor: Is God all-powerful?
Student: Yes.
Professor: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn’t. How is this God good then? Hmm? (Student is silent.)
Professor: You can’t answer, can you? Let’s start again, young fellow. Is God good?
Student: Yes.
Professor: Is Satan good?
Student: No.
Professor: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From…God…
Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.
Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.
Professor: So who created evil? (Student does not answer.)
Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?
Student: Yes, sir.
Professor: So, who created them? (Student has no answer.)
Professor: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son…Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.
Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student: No , sir
Professor: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.
Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?
Professor: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.
Professor: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.
Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Professor: Yes.
Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Professor: Yes.
Student: No sir. There isn’t. (The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)
Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega-heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it. (There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)
Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?
Student: You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light….But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it’s called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?
Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed
Professor: Flawed? Can you explain how?
Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?
Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.
Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir? (The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)
Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher? (The class is in uproar.)
Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain? (The class breaks out into laughter.)
Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir? (The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)
Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.
Student: That is it sir.. The link between man & God is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive.
Thanks James,Nice anecdote indeed.But, as far as I think FAITH is another word for accepted ignorance.Do you have faith in sun, moon, stars, flowers or human beings? No you don’t because you know they are. When one knows things are, we don’t need to believe in them.
In earlier days when a man was sick, it was accepted as a punishment from God.Science has changed life and altered its span: a capacity only thought to be of ancient Gods.
Galileo Galilei was punished for bringing the fact that earth is moving and it is not the center of universe, the concept contradictory to the faith of Church.But, believing in things doesn’t change the facts. At the most it stops our inquisition and our development.Science is very young as compared to religion but, it has progressed and helped mankind hundred fold.Because it is based on facts, it is open and believes in learning.Yes, I agree that there are questions unanswered but, there are answers we are arriving at.It is any day better to accept ignorance and start somewhere rather than accepting it and not trying.
Had I been in the place of professor, I would have asked the student ” Where will you go when you fall sick?”Had the student replied the doctor then obviously the students believes in science more than God otherwise he would have accepted God’s wish.And I don’t call it student’s faith in the teacher. They are with the teacher because he knows something more than them. Not all but, more. The student talks about teacher’s brain. Now how does he know there exist a thing called a brain. Its science.
Ashima, you are a very polite and tolerant person!
James’ anecdote is nonsense. There are many stupid statements in this anecdote but I will comment on just one of them:
Student: “…Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?”
Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.
Evolution does not say that man evolved from a monkey. It says that we have a common ancestor.