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AardigeAfrikaner, this is why I don't follow Apostles.
I believe our own hearts can interpret the messages of Jesus as well as any 1st Century fisherman, orator, tax-collector, or other human being who was inescapably a product of his culture and times. Likewise, later medieval interpreters who are even further from the source!
posted by
Ciel
on September 16, 2008 at 9:42 AM
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Yip
I was going to put a link to a poem of mine that is about this very issue here but I can't find it now. The poem was about a pathfinder who finds a powerspot in a forrest and then some people follow him and start demolishing the natural structures and replacing it with buildings and eventually they argue about who is the rightful owner of the place etc. Meanwhile the pathfinder has left to find another powerspot and this time he won't let them know were it is. I agree with your view as expressed here. Throughout history we find a person with a wonderfully freeing and uplifting message that gets bogged down with crap as time goes on. Then another finds the original intent and "reforms" or starts a new tradition and the same thing happens again. This is why Buddha and others could predict the degeneration of their teachings as time goes by. This is what happens in human affairs over and over again. Power-hungry (and usually stubbornly stupid) people take what was meant as a cure for mental and spiritual problems and turn it into a disease used for control. The contemporaries of the originators usually don't appreciate the full implications of the teaching and ad their personal biases "on the fly". Paul is a prime example of this. His letters are full of his own cultural biases and it sometimes overpowers the rest of his writings that are truly meaningful. Another thing that happens is the deification of the originators. I'm certain that Buddha (an Indian) would think it very funny and sad if he saw the myriads of chinese looking statues that are attended by droves of people who regard him as a god. In Christianity it is sometimes even worse, people forget the message completely and completely identify Jesus with His God based on a handful of wrongly translated and wrongly interpreted scriptures. As long as the original teachings are followed this is not too much of a problem but it usually obscures the best part of the message.
posted by
AardigeAfrikaner
on September 16, 2008 at 4:10 AM
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Wow! I need to visit here more often.
This is very well written.
posted by
strat
on February 6, 2008 at 6:36 AM
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Ciel
Your comment really deserves a post in response, and I shall try and work on that over the next few days...
posted by
Nautikos
on February 4, 2008 at 7:40 PM
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We buy the sizzle and don't notice there's no steak.
A rose
and a smile
and another
From me and Bo =^. .^= the wonder dog!
posted by
Whacky
on January 28, 2008 at 8:41 PM
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