***** pic. Ignorance of Ebola is not a ‘defense.’ Ignorance of the Creator’s Law, the Law of Unceasing Loving... is not a ‘defense.’ This has never been about the Creator punishing you. It has always and only been about keeping you from punishing yourself, and, yourselves. ‘I didn’t know she was being abused,’ ‘I didn’t know the homeless were being criminalized,’ ‘I didn’t know how to make it stop,’ ‘I didn’t know the Truth about Israel,’ ‘I didn’t know ... ‘ ’I didn’t know...’ IS your SELF INFLICTED KILLER. “You didn’t know...” is your moment by moment choice. You think it protects your selfishness. What it actually does is destroy your Heart, your Soul, Your True Joy and Happiness, and those of your dearest ones as you lead them to the same pit of emptiness, meaninglessness, depression, individual and collective self-destruction. You can’t go back, but you can repent, and move Forward, and maybe others....

***** pic. For Christ’s sake, ‘see’ with your Soul - I am only happy when... I am ALWAYS HAPPY WHEN... I am PERSONALLY PAYING THE PRICE for less suffering, more Joy, in the world. And so it is with you, too. The Practice of this is my entire Gospel for you. Until you ‘see’ this, you cannot Follow me, you DO Not Follow me.

For Christ’s sake, ‘see’ with your Soul - I am only happy when...
I am ALWAYS HAPPY WHEN... I am
PERSONALLY PAYING THE PRICE for less
suffering, more Joy, in the world.  And so it is with you, too.  The Practice of this is my entire Gospel for you.  Until you ‘see’ this,
you cannot Follow me, you DO Not Follow me.

Abe Lincolon: "When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion." (me too)

Being Liberal

(M) A great quote.

pic. Jesus Teaching: Don’t, at any moment, at any price, for any cost, sacrifice your humanity, Heart, conscience, universal loving, agape. Yes, it will cost you dearly, everything that is not essential, not divine, not Joy. Yes, it is opposite of everything you’ve been taught in this sickest of all times. And all else is the path away from Joy, Life, Peace on Earth... the very survival of Creation.

My Teaching:

Don’t, at any moment, at any price, for any cost, sacrifice your humanity, Heart, conscience, universal loving, agape.

Yes, it will cost you dearly, everything that is not essential, not divine, not Joy.

Yes, it is opposite of everything you’ve been taught in this sickest of all times.

And all else is the path away from Joy, Life, Peace on Earth... the very
survival of Creation.

nd. Jesus = Christ = Christ-like = Loving

nd. Jesus = Christ = Christ-like = Loving

***** I'm 62 nxt mo. Only twice in my life have I heard a Pure Profession of Jesus' Faith: Abe Lincoln, JW Joe... (DETAIL)

 Only twice in my life have I heard a Pure Profession of Jesus' Faith: Abe Lincoln, and this morning... from JW Joe..

Abe Lincoln was eternally challenged by the media over his faith - he rarely if ever attended church and declared none his own.

'Mr. Lincoln, why don't you have a church?'

'When there is a church that has only two things written over the door -

Love God, Love your neighbor as yourself, -

 then, then, I will have a Church.' Paraphrase.

... AND NOW, THIS MORNING.............

From my now 5 year friend, Brother, JW Joe (Jehovah's Witness), of North America, and now, serving the destitute, the suffering, abroad, with his wife:

As I've written before, next to Bev and Ger, he is my oldest, and one of my only, very few, Friends.  He and I have had many, many, many deep, and for me, immensely stimulating, dialogs.

Our words, our stated 'beliefs,' have near zero, NEAR ZERO, in common, if one carefully examines the thousands of words we've exchanged.  Within the last month, he, with pained, troubled Heart, compassionately warned me that I was "Blaspheming." 

Yet, he Tenaciously has maintained our dialog, and I, Blessed each time by his Friendship, and Love of the Truth, and Loving for me, have each time, Humbly, Amazedly, Joyfully, Worriedly (I don't ever, EVER, mean to offend)... replied. 

We NEVER try to convince each other. We share our views, passionately, clearly, courageously, Honestly, Truthfully.... And we try, hard, to Hear each other.

Several days ago, prompted in part by the recent tribulation in the Middle East, and around the world, my Brother Joe sent me these two links from JW, what they would focus on the the next 2 Sundays around the world.  I read everything he sends, everything he shares, because I find our relationship Sacred (see below).

Here is our most recent dialog, in which, I find only the 2nd Pure, Christ-ian Profession of Faith that I recall ever reading or hearing from another person, besides Jesus.  [That it has anything to do with me personally, in its reference, is of ZERO consequence.]...

Joe - Mon, Sept 9:  "Good morning
I thought that it was ironic that we had a discussion regarding prophecies lately as this past Sunday and this coming Sunday, every congregation around the world of JW has had/will be having a discussion of this as part of our usual weekly program.
Here are the links to the articles that we will be reviewing.  They are not written as a philosophical debate, but rather a humble look at what the Bible actually says will be happening in the near future.  If you wish to read them, I trust that at the very least you will find them interesting.

http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20130715/jesus-prophecy-last-days/
http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20130715/jesus-parable-wheat-and-weeds/

I guess that people can debate this (or anything else they wish to) but time will tell whether it is true or not.  But as I have said many many times over, so far, no one has ever given me a better theory/explanation to even consider."

... ALSO, he had sent me some links on how JW is moving from Brooklyn to Upstate NY in a hugely environmntally respectful way:

"Loving, as you know,
When you respect the creator, you respect creation.

You might find these interesting.
http://www.jw.org/en/news/by-region/americas/mexico/jehovahs-witnesses-protect-environment/
http://www.jw.org/en/news/by-region/americas/united-states/world-headquarters-relocating/
http://www.jw.org/en/news/by-region/americas/united-states/jehovahs-witnesses-warwick-ny-construction/"

.... to which I replied:

"Brought tears of Joy to my eyes."

... to which JOE replied:

"Just imagine if every "corporation/religion/organization etc" that purchased 253 acres, developed only 45 acres of it and left the rest natural.  And then took the extra precaution of protecting the natural areas, used geothermal, grass roofing etc..   Just imagine.
Humans have the abilities, but unfortunately, we do not seem to have the desire.
Some day soon, my friend.........
Hang in there!! XO"

  ..... TO WHICH I REPLIED (((REMEMBER THE FIRST JW LINKS ABOVE, ABOUT THE END COMING, WHEAT BEING BURNED, GNASHING OF TEETH, 'GOATS' IN TROUBLE)))... all of which I RESPECT, coming from Joe, because operating under these Beliefs, he is a RARE man of Truth, Loving... SERVING FROM THE SOUL IN SOLIDARITY... Christ-likeness....

MY REPLY to Joe....

!!!!! "What are ya talkin about, 'someday soon.'  

I'M A 'GOAT!'  

I'M WEEDS.  MY TEETH GUNNA BE GNASHING!'  

I read the links!  I'm toast!!!

(((((HUGS))))

xxoo Loving u both


....!!!!!! TO WHICH JOE SENT ONLY THE 2ND, TRUE, CHRIST-LIKE, CHRIST-IAN... PURE, CLEAR... PROFESSION OF FAITH I RECALL HEARING FROM ANY MAN CEPT JESUS (THO I SEE IT WEEKLY FROM MY 4:18 SIS AND BROTHERS, AND A FEW OTHERS)... !!!!!....

[[[ I'M FILLED WITH TEARS OF JOY, WONDER, AWE... AS I TYPE THIS, NOW... ]]]

from JW JOE, 09.12.13 

"""" are you kidding me??  Despite what your "religious" thoughts are, you are probably one of the most "christian" persons I have ever met.
Don't you think that you fall into the following category??
Math 5
When he (JC) saw the crowds he went up into the mountain; and after he sat down his disciples came to him; 2 and he opened his mouth and began teaching them, saying:
3 “Happy are those conscious of their spiritual need, since the kingdom of the heavens belongs to them.
4 “Happy are those who mourn, since they will be comforted.
5 “Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth.
6 “Happy are those hungering and thirsting for righteousness, since they will be filled.
7 “Happy are the merciful, since they will be shown mercy.
8 “Happy are the pure in heart, since they will see God.
9 “Happy are the peaceable, since they will be called ‘sons of God.’
10 “Happy are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, since the kingdom of the heavens belongs to them.
11 “Happy are YOU when people reproach YOU and persecute YOU and lyingly say every sort of wicked thing against YOU for my sake. 12 Rejoice and leap for joy, since YOUR reward is great in the heavens; for in that way they persecuted the prophets prior to YOU.
13 “YOU are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its strength, how will its saltness be restored? It is no longer usable for anything but to be thrown outside to be trampled on by men.
14 “YOU are the light of the world. A city cannot be hid when situated upon a mountain. 15 People light a lamp and set it, not under the measuring basket, but upon the lampstand, and it shines upon all those in the house. 16 Likewise let YOUR light shine before men, that they may see YOUR fine works and give glory to YOUR Father who is in the heavens.

No where does that say you HAVE to belong to a certain religion.  It would help but, Jehovah certainly knows your thoughts, intentions and motives.  I do not know about you but I will leave that goat/sheep thing to him.  I have no doubts that you and I will "some day soon" be enjoying the very conditions that you and I are working so hard for.  Hang in there!!!
XO

""""" 

***** "Loving, what is your religion?" I'm asked now and then. "Same as Jesus, Loving. "No, no disrespect, not christianity, that 'religion' made up AFTER his death, made up under his brand, put in his mouth, in his name, because we HATED, and HATE his ACTUAL Religion, that he lived and died to return us to - Loving." Yup, me too. "Loving, the only True Religion. The Religion of near all of the 'founders' of ALL religions."

"Loving, what is your religion?"  I'm asked now and then.  "Same as Jesus, Loving."

"No, no disrespect, not christianity, that 'religion' made up AFTER his death, made up under his brand, put in his mouth, in his name, because we HATED, and HATE his ACTUAL Religion, that he lived and died to return us to - Loving."

Yup, me too. "Loving, the only True Religion. The Religion of near all of the 'founders' of ALL religions."

“Some day, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love. Then for the second time in the history of the world, we will have discovered fire.”

― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

***** vid log: Loving has cancer, all alone. (I worked on this all day. It's worth it. I hope you watch, carefully.)

***** Loving has cancer, all alone. (I worked on this all day, AND MY WHOLE LIFE BEFORE. It's worth it.  I hope you watch, carefully.)   VIDEO, BELOW.

NOTICE. IMPORTANT:

1. This vid contains monumentally important information for me. For us all.

2. SO IMPORTANT that I Transcribed it.Took ALL DAY! Argh.  UPDATES in the transcription, sooooo

3. Read the SUBTITLES, and use the video ONLY to check my demeanor.  PAUSE, when needed.

4. I love you, forever, no matter what (no, there is nothing sinister or spooky in that, or cryptic, tho I'm sure it may seem otherwise.)    Remember that. NO MATTER WHAT.

5. Do I claim, feel, embrace "perfect" knowledge in any of this?  NO. Clarity, YES.

6.  THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU, OR ME.  SOMETHING MUCH, MUCH, MUCH BIGGER.  WE ARE JUST PLAYING PARTS IN IT.

7. IF you watch it, watch TO THE END. Or don't watch. OK?

I am in a world of my own, well, the world that Jesus inhabited, and a few others.  I am, so I am in a different World than you. You've known this all along, more and more as time went on.  Jesus Died to get us all into that world.  Me too, however long I have.

Why?  Because I don't love those in the other world?  Because I Love those stuck in the other world more than I love my own avatar. That's why.

But it will often, usually, near always seem otherwise.  That I disparage, look down on, dismiss, disrespect, reject.... Oh well.

--------TRANSCRIPT---------

As is almost always the case, the extensive reading that I do does not change me, in the sense that it does not send me in a new direction, though in a sense I'm yearning to be sent in a different direction, because that would suggest I've been on the wrong track and that there's a right track to be found, and that could bring the hope of me becoming more impactful, because so far I'm not impactful at all. 

But no, when I read the greatest minds in history that I can find, those that have shown the most promise of causing the revolution away from ecocide, away from insanity, away from affloholism, away from walking death, when I read those great minds I find only affirmation; and this is true of the tremendously long book that I've been studying for the last couple of weeks, because that's how long it is taking get through.  (Argh).

I find it, I find it exhausting.  I find it exhausting in significant part because it's so exhaustive. 

Dominic Crossan  is considered by many to be the preeminent Biblical scholar to date on the subject of the historical Jesus. I read one of his books a dozen years ago the title being The Historical Jesus, something like that, and the one I'm reading now is called the Birth of Christianity. It is his attempt to understand what happened in the first 20 or 30 years after jesus' death. 

His methodology pretty well starts with historical anthropology. Not with Jesus, but with historical anthropology.  What  was going on in the day? What were the political  issues, what were the forces acting on people, what was their Life like? If you want to understand what Gandhi thought, what he thought was the greatest revolutionary in the history of humankind, the man Jesus, you better read this book.

 Now as always I am inspired by such a book, not to take it as dogma, or doctrine, but to see the direction that  the author is looking; and I often find my eyes gazing further than even the author did. So I take some license here but I don't apologize for my farsightedness, for my vision has been the basis of any success I've had in life; and by objective measures I've had quite a bit of success. 

Jesus was a primordial scream, against the status quo of the day. He pitted his entire being to be a different way, to be a gateway to a different way To be a different way for everyone? Immediately? Never was his thought it would be for everyone. It seems that early on it was his thought that it (the Father's Kingdom) would come in a flash, in an instant, He believed that john the Baptist was announcing that. But when john was killed, instead of (John) ushering in an age, Jesus saw that the only way that the kingdom was going to come was in the way that people LIVED; in the way that they were, in the TYPE of Being that they were, in the worldview that they had and lived; and the essence of that view was Family, Universal Family, my term.

The abomination, the abortion, that is the token,  fig leaf, that today's church uses, the the eucharist, the bread and wine, that was, in Jesus' acts, in his central teaching; that was the family meal!!!!!! (The full meal for everyone!) Yes, that was the Family meal, the non-biological family meal.  (That was, WAS, the Revolution – THAT ALL WERE FAMILY, NOT COMMERCIAL (ROMAN) ENTITIES TO BE COMMERCIALIZED.  FAMILY).

I'm not yet clear, I have some pages left on the book, I'm not yet clear whether the historical record says that that was a daily meal, a weekly meal, but it, for the destitute (WAS THEIR MAJOR MEAL, WHICH, WITHOUT A FAMILY, THEY’D NOT GET), and Jesus was among them, destitute, not poor, destitute, that's the history; Jesus was not some “middle class” carpenter; he was lower than the tenant farmers, socially and economically; carpenters were those that couldn't get jobs as tenant farmers, let alone farmers.

And this was an ever evolving phenomenon, (THE CENTRAL PHENOMENON),  that people were being forced off their generational Land by the ROMAN form of capitalism, commercialization! 

Jesus' life and teachings were centrally a revolutionary stand, a revolutionary cry, against the inhumanity of that; no we are family, we are all family(!!!); and what family owns, all in the family are entitled to, IF they work, if they do their part. He had 12 that he barely considered part of his Family. He was family TO everyone, but he considered only 12 to be on the same, approaching the same planet, the same world that he was in. His family. 

“Who are my brothers and who my mother? Those who revere and obey the will of my father, conscience, Heart, Soul. My family are those for whom the world, is that. 

I'm dying of cancer and unless they can cure me.  There's a chance that the tumors have actually grown (during the chemo a) they sometimes do on chemo, in which case what I have will be inoperable. I'll know in a couple three weeks. There's a chance the tumors will have stayed the same size and shrunk, in which case they'll still be operable. 

There is zero complaint, or rebuke, in what I'm sharing here. There was no complaint, or rebuke, when Jesus indicated - My only family are ones that are on the same planet I'm on, (in the same World).  He was stating a fact, not a rebuke. Not a dissing, not condemnation; a fact! How can your Family be people that live in a different world? 

I'm dying of cancer and no one except for Bruce has been in my life for weeks. It's really stunning! (LOL!) I'm trying to remember if I sent an e-mail saying that, to those that were in my life - I think you're all dog dirt! I hate you, I never want to hear from you again! LOL!  But I don't remember sending an e-mail like that! :-) Those were in my life in one way or another, what they're realizing consciously or unconsciously is what I'm saying. I'm in a different world, I'm on a different planet; I'm on a different wave length; because I've worked really hard to get here; it's heaven. 

And offends them, (bores them),  it worries them, it threatens them, (insults them), it makes them fearful, it  makes them feel offended, (alienated from me, disinterested...). This is understandable!

This is how people reacted to Jesus (mostly many of those closest to him). And I'm walking the path that He walked. It couldn't be any other way. 

Well, let's see, it is almost 9am and I'm not asleep; and the last to 11 days I'd get up at six when they serve a decent breakfast (in the homeless Infirmary) where I am (dinner is tragically inedible), and think, 'oh boy, I'm ready for the day, and within half and hour I'm asleep for another 4 hours having slept all night.  :-( So it's possible that after 11 days I'm coming out from underneath these deadly chemicals that they feed me, that just... take away all my strength; I guess they put all my  strength into trying to survive the chemicals. Too early to tell but it might be I'll have two more normal days and then on August 15 I get more chemicals.

 One kind soul, not Family, but a nice fellow, the other day I think, got the idea that he was worried about me being ‘down,’ that I was in a bad place, or a dangerous place. Anyone that has looked in my posts knows that I'm in a desperately unhappy place, for the world, my grief, my sorrow, my despair, my pain. 

In Hunger Games, when Rue was killed, everyone could watch her being killed, everyone on that planet, in that time, could watch her being killed. One set of people watched that as morbid entertainment. A small set of people watched that in utter horror,  her family, her town, her district. Some would say, the people  in the city in Hunger Games would say, they(the observers in the city),  were the lucky ones, they didn't feel so bad. 

I don't, I don't view it that way. I would want to feel like the people in her district did. I would want that pain. I would want that outrage. They (in the district) were the ones that were alive, the people in the city were dead. 

We Americans are the people of that city. I work, to be alive in that way, which is the only way to be alive. I work to be alive. There's nothing morbid in that; there's nothing masochistic in that. I prefer absence of pain for me, but more than that I prefer being aLive. 

So this kind fellow that reached out (seeing posts that worried him I was 'down'), 'where are you,’ (he's from the DC area?) I told him very honestly, 'you misunderstand. I'm not in a bad place; I'm in an extremely good place, I'm learning, it's extremely painful, but I'm learning. I'm putting myself here, (in this place, (  :-( , with the help of the cancer), because I need to learn; I'm not yet what the world needs from me. 

So the people, of the few that have been wonderful in my life, they have been absent at such an odd time, LOL, when I'm going thru chemo!  (LOL).  

This is not some veiled outcry, that I need you, that you should feel bad. No. Truth, is God. God is Truth. God is how things are.  God is the foundation on which we can stand!!! Truth. 

This is wonderful to see the clarity (for us to see that we are NOT Family); that I am on a planet, (in a world...), of one (or, a miniscule few).  Jesus was only a planet of 12, and I'm certainly no Jesus, LOL, as someone told me recently (to be nasty); but his (Jesus') path is the one that I walk. I'm on a planet, (in a World,) of one. 

Of course there are a few exceptions! I think often of Lucas 4:q8, (that Alexandria VA) group that feeds (we homeless) on weekends. They seem so close to Universal Family. Universal Family is my Family.

Others that have been close to me, do I now feel distant from you?   Oh my goodness no! but it's such a wonderful opportunity (for us all) to see the clarity (with those who have been close totally dropping me at this time.  LOL); of what different worlds we're in.

 And if I'm in the Correct World, if I'm in the world of joy; the world that saves the individual and could have saved the planet, and I am, in that world, then the clarity that I stand alone, (apart), there, presents the possibility of others recognizing that world, and making a choice. 

"I came not to bring peace, Jesus said, " but to divide with a sword. A surgeon divides with a sword, hopefully will divide  me with a sword! (LOL), to separate what is cancerous from that which is healthy. I try to be a sword to myself, with great success, cutting out  the cancerous self-centeredness that I hate, leaving the healthy tissue of unity, of  Universal Family, that I  crave, that you crave, but you've forgotten (if the shoe does not fit, NEVER WEAR IT.)  

 

If from a scholarly standpoint one looks at the early Christians, one would have to concede that they'd find infinitely more in common with, infinitely more that they could approve and identify with Within, today's Muslims than with today's US Christians, or today's Jews. Infinitely.

If from a scholarly standpoint one looks at the early Christians, one would have to concede that they'd find infinitely more in common with, infinitely more that they could approve and identify with Within, today's Muslims than with today's US Christians, or today's Jews. Infinitely.

posted from Bloggeroid

***** I believe, I hope, that what Jesus was about, what Jesus was onto was infinitely more radical then what I see any group understanding or attempting ... Read on

I believe, I hope, that what Jesus was about, what Jesus was onto was infinitely more radical then what I see any group understanding or attempting. no discredit or disrespect to them.

For certain I believe that something infinitely more radical is needed, and is possible. I believed this since I was a child, tho only acted on it radically in the last 13 years or so.

Everyday I become more convinced that the kingdom of infinite joy regardless of external circumstance is right before everyone of us, because I live it, primarily, & I study it secondarily.

I also am becoming more convinced everyday that our addictive pursuit of pleasure will distract practically everyone of us, blind practically everyone of us, to that heaven until it is too late and all of creation is destroyed.

Believing that, maybe you can imagine how driven I am.

I see that the individual and collective solution is right in front of us. And I see defenses honed over thousands of years that dwarf any defenses that the Pentagon could dream of in power.

I detest what we've made of this world and will be happy to be gone from it. But I love all of creation and find infinite joy in trying to make things right.

posted from Bloggeroid

Who are the most absolutely giving people you know of? They are also the only Christian people you know, by whatever Creed or none.

Who are the most absolutely giving people you know? They are also the only Christ-ian people you know, by whatever Creed, or none.

posted from Bloggeroid

The more I study theology and so called Christianity the more I see a profound, total, massive distraction from and replacement of what Jesus lived and died to teach us. I wish it would all disappear. I wish it had never grown up like I wish the cancers in my liver had never grown up. The body is infinitely healthier without it.

The more I study theology and so called Christianity the more I see a profound, total, massive distraction from and replacement of what Jesus lived and died to teach us. I wish it would all disappear. I wish it had never grown up like I wish the cancers in my liver had never grown up. The body is infinitely healthier without it.

posted from Bloggeroid

vlog 'Loving, the Christ Spirit, is that which Saves. Has Saved me, many, many times now.' Loving

***** nd 'LEAVE CHRISTIANITY; GO TO JESUS' RELIGION - LOVING.' Loving

***** nd 'LEAVE CHRISTIANITY; GO TO JESUS' RELIGION - LOVING.' Loving

Francis: "Following Jesus means going out of ourselves and making our lives not something we ‘possess,’ but a gift to him and to others.” (detail)

Catholic News Service

'Our lives don't belong to us,' Pope Francis says on Feast of Corpus Christi Catholic Herald Online

***** Thomas Jefferson: "... I am a REAL CHRISTIAN....", "...To the corruptions of christianity I am indeed opposed (detail)..." MUST READ. MUST. READ - Thomas Jefferson's Religions Views.

 From "The Jefferson Bible."  See Library Tab this site.

From the letter, below, Jefferson to Mr. Charles Thompson:

"...I am a REAL CHRISTIAN, that is to say, a
disciple of the doctrines of Jesus, very different from the Platonists, who
call ME infidel and THEMSELVES Christians and preachers of the
Gospel, while they draw all their characteristic dogmas from what its
author never said nor saw. They have compounded from the heathen
mysteries a system beyond the comprehension of man, of which the great
reformer of the vicious ethics and deism of the Jews, were he to return on
earth, would not recognize one feature."

From the following letter from Jefferson to Dr. Priestly, a friend:

"...To the corruptions of christianity
I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine
precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian in the only sense in which he
wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to
all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence, and believing he
never claimed any other."

Religious Views of Thomas Jefferson

IN a letter to his daughter, written in 1803, Mr. Jefferson said: “A promise
made to a friend some years ago, but executed only lately, has placed my
religious creed on paper. I have thought it just that my family, by
possessing this, should be enabled to estimate the libels published against
me on this, as on every other possible subject.” The “religious creed” to
which he referred was a comparison of the doctrines of Jesus with those
of others, prepared in fulfillment of a promise made to Dr. Benjamin
Rush. This paper, with the letter to Dr. Rush which accompanied it. is a fit
introduction to the “Jefferson Bible.”


Washington, April 21, 1803.

Dear Sir: In some of the delightful conversations with you, in the
evenings of 1798-99, and which served as an anodyne to the afflictions
of the crisis through which our country was then laboring, the Christian
religion was sometimes our topic; and I then promised you that one day
or other, I would give you my views of it. They are the result of a life of
inquiry and reflection, and very different from that Anti-Christian system
imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the
corruptions of christianity I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine
precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian in the only sense in which he
wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to
all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence, and believing he
never claimed any other.
At the short intervals since these conversations, when I could justifiably
abstract my mind from public affairs, this subject has been under my
contemplation; but the more I considered it, the more it expanded beyond
the measure of either my time or Information. In the moment of my late
departure from Monticello, I received from Dr. Priestly his little treatise
6
of “Socrates and Jesus Compared.” This being a section of the general
view I had taken of the field, it became a subject of reflection while on
the road, and unoccupied otherwise. The result was to arrange in my
mind a syllabus, or outline, of such an estimate of the comparative merits
of Christianity, as I wished to see executed by some one of more leisure
and information for the task than myself. This I now send you, as the
only discharge of my promise I can probably ever execute. And in confiding
it to you, I know it will not be exposed to the malignant perversions of
those who make every word from me a text for new misrepresentations
and calumnies.
I am moreover averse to the communication of my religious tenets to
the public; because it would countenance the presumption of those who
have endeavored to draw them before that tribunal, and to seduce public
opinion to erect itself into that inquisition over the rights of conscience
which the laws have so justly proscribed. It behooves every man who
values liberty of conscience for himself to resist invasions of it in the
case of others, or their case may, by change of circumstances, become
his own. It behooves him, too, in his own case, to give no example of
concession, betraying the right of independent opinion by answering
questions of faith, which the laws have left between God and himself.
Accept my affectionate salutations.

Syllabus of an Estimate of the Doctrines of Jesus,
Compared With Those of Others:

In a comparative view of the ethics of the enlightened nations of
antiquity, of the Jews, and of Jesus, no notice should be taken of the
corruptions of reason among the ancients, to wit, the idolatry and superstitionof
the:; vulgar, nor of 'the corruptions ofChristianity by the learned
among its professors. Let a just view be taken of the moral principles
inculcated by the most esteemed of the sects of ancient philosophy, or of
their individuals; particularly Pythagoras, Socrates, Epicurus, Cicero,
Epictetus, Seneca, Antoninus.
7
I. PHILOSOPHERS
1. Their precepts related chiefly to ourselves, and the government of
those passions which, unrestrained, would disturb our tranquility of
mind. In this branch of philosophy they were really great.
2. In developing our duties to others, they were short and defective.
They embraced indeed the circles of kindred and friends, and inculcated
patriotism, or the love of country in the aggregate, as a primary obligation:
towards our neighbors and countrymen they taught justice, but scarcely
viewed them as within the circle of benevolence. Still less have they
inculcated peace, charity, and love to our fellow-men, or embraced with
benevolence the whole family of mankind.
II. JEWS
1. Their system was Deism, that is, the belief in one only God; but
their ideas of him and of his attributes were degrading and injurious.
2. Their ethics were not only imperfect, but often irreconcilable with
the sound dictates of reason and morality, as they respect intercourse
with those around us; and repulsive and anti-social as respecting other
nations. They needed reformation, therefore, in an eminent degree.
III. JESUS
In this state of things among the Jews, Jesus appeared. His parentage
was obscure; his condition poor; his education null; his natural endowments
great; his life correct and innocent. He was meek, benevolent, patient,
firm, disinterested, and of the sublimest eloquence. The disadvantages
under which his doctrines appear are remarkable.
1. LikeSocrates and Epictetus, hewrote nothing himself.
2. But he had not, like them, a Xenophon or an Arrian to write for
him. I name not Plato, who only used the name of Socrates to cover the
whimsies of his own brain.
On the contrary, all the learned of his country, entrenched in its
power and riches, were opposed to him, lest his labors should undermine
their advantages; and the committing to writing of his life and doctrines
8
fell on unlettered and ignorant men; who wrote, too, from memory, and
not till long after the transactions had passed.
3. According to the ordinary fate of those who attempt to enlighten and
reform mankind, he fell an early victim to the jealousy and combination of
the altar and the throne, at about 33 years of age, his reason having not
yet attained the maximum of its energy, nor the course of his preaching,
which was but of three years at most, presented occasions for developing
a complete system of morals.
4. Hence the doctrines which he really delivered were defective, as
a whole, and fragments only of what he did deliver have come to us
mutilated, misstated, and often unintelligible.
5. They have been still more disfigured by the corruptions of
schismatizing followers, who have found an interest in sophisticating and
perverting the simple doctrines he taught, by engrafting on them the
mysticisms of a Grecian Sophist (Plato), frittering them into subtilties
and obscuring them with jargon, until they have caused good men to
reject the whole in disgust, and to view Jesus himself as an impostor.
Notwithstanding these disadvantages, a system of morals is presented to
us which, if filled up in the true style and spirit of the rich fragments he
left us, would be the most perfect and sublime that has ever been taught
by man. The question of his being a member of the Godhead, or in direct
communication with it, claimed for him by some of his followers, and
denied by others, is foreign to the present view, which is merely an
estimate of the intrinsic merits of his doctrines.
1. He corrected the Deism of the Jews, confirming them in their
belief of one only god, and giving them juster notions of his attributes
and government.
2. His moral doctrines, relating to kindred and friends, were more
pure and perfect than those of the most correct of the philosophers, and
greatly more so than 'those of the Jews; and they went far beyond both
in inculcating universal philanthrophy, not only to kindred and friends,
to neighbors and countrymen, but to all mankind, gathering all into one
family, under the bonds of love, charity, peace, common wants and
common aids. A development of this head will evince the peculiar
superiority of the system of Jesus over all others.
3. The precepts of philosophy and of the Hebrew code laid hold of
9
action only. He pushed his scrutinies into the heart of man; erected his
tribunal in the region of his thought, and purified the waters at the
fountain head.
4. He taught emphatically the doctrine of a future state, which was
either doubted or disbelieved by the Jews; and wielded it with efficacy as
an important incentive, supplementary to the other motives to moral
conduct.
I, too, have made a wee-little book from the same materials (The
Gospels) which I call the Philosophy of Jesus. It is a paradigma of his
doctrines, made by cutting the texts out of the book and arranging them
on the pages of a blank book, in a certain order of time or subject. A
more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen. It is a
document in proof that I am a REAL CHRISTIAN, that is to say, a
disciple of the doctrines of Jesus, very different from the Platonists, who
call ME infidel and THEMSELVES Christians and preachers of the
Gospel, while they draw all their characteristic dogmas from what its
author never said nor saw. They have compounded from the heathen
mysteries a system beyond the comprehension of man, of which the great
reformer of the vicious ethics and deism of the Jews, were he to return on
earth, would not recognize one feature.
—Jefferson to Mr. Charles Thompson.

Our religion is loving. No, I am NOT a Christian, and neither was Jesus.

Our religion is loving. No, I am NOT a Christian, and neither was Jesus.

Final vlog [going Internet Dark today] When Understood - ULTIMATE Compass - Lord's Prayer

***** nd 'WE FLOCK TO CHURCH WHY? SO THEY WILL CONVINCE US TO NOT BELIEVE OUR OWN EYES, HEARTS AND SOULS ABOUT JESUS, BUT RATHER THEIR INFINITE VARIETY OF CLEVER LIES - THAT JESUS DID NOT MEAN WHAT HIS WORDS AND LIFE SAID; TO BUFFER HIM, WATER HIM DOWN, MAKE HIM EASY, 'REASONABLE,' 'CONVENIENT,' SAFE - A SERVANT OF OUR FLESH. LIES. ALL LIES. THE REAL CRUCIFIXION, THE ONE THAT HURTS HIM THE MOST. DON'T YOU HAVE YOUR OWN EYES? CAN'T YOU READ? DON'T YOU HAVE A HEART, AND SOUL, CREATED TO ENABLE YOU TO 'SEE' THE TRUTH?!?!?!??! YES. YOU DO. FOR CREATION'S SAKE, USE THEM. JESUS, THE MOST PERFECT YET 'SON OF GOD,' COULD SPEAK FOR HIMSELF. READ HIM. HEAR HIM! LISTEN TO HIM!!!!! STOP LISTENING TO THE HYPOCRITES, (THE ACTORS), IN THE CHURCHES.' Loving

***** 'WE FLOCK TO CHURCH WHY? SO THEY WILL CONVINCE US TO NOT BELIEVE OUR OWN EYES, HEARTS AND SOULS ABOUT JESUS, BUT RATHER THEIR INFINITE VARIETY OF CLEVER LIES -

THAT JESUS DID NOT MEAN WHAT HIS WORDS AND LIFE SAID;

TO BUFFER HIM, WATER HIM DOWN, MAKE HIM EASY, 'REASONABLE,' 'CONVENIENT,' SAFE - A SERVANT OF OUR FLESH.

LIES.  ALL LIES.  THE REAL CRUCIFIXION, THE ONE THAT HURTS HIM THE MOST.

DON'T YOU HAVE YOUR OWN EYES?  CAN'T YOU READ?  DON'T YOU HAVE A HEART, AND SOUL, CREATED TO ENABLE YOU TO 'SEE' THE TRUTH?!?!?!??!

YES.  YOU DO.  FOR CREATION'S SAKE, USE THEM.

JESUS, THE MOST PERFECT YET 'SON OF GOD,' COULD SPEAK FOR HIMSELF.  READ HIM. HEAR HIM! LISTEN TO HIM!!!!! STOP LISTENING TO THE HYPOCRITES, (THE ACTORS), IN THE CHURCHES.'

Loving

>>>>>>>>>>>> ***** nd 'YOU CAN ONLY UNDERSTAND JESUS IF YOU FACE THAT - (DETAIL)

vlog EDF. Good Friday, 6am. The Final, Cruelest, DEADLIEST Nail in...