Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Mon, 12 Oct 1992 12:05:12 CDT
From:         Michael Million <MM24681@UAFSYSB.BITNET>
Subject:      Cont. on Teachings of Christ

  >From:         Eric James Ewanco <ewanco@MLO.DEC.COM>
  >If Jesus was God, ...<some text deleted>.... do you not think he
  >would have a vested interest in ensuring that the doctrines he taught
  >were accurately preserved throughout the years?   .......<and>
  >Do you really think that Christ's teachings were irretreivably lost
  >after His ascension into heaven?

 These, of course, are good questions Eric. The answers are Yes, I do
 think that Jesus ensured that his teachings were accurately preserved;
 and No, they have not been irretrievably lost. Without doubt, there are
 hundreds of thousands of people worldwide who have been enjoying the
 fruits of Christ's promise as they are busy studying his teachings in a
 form true to those teachings - a direct revelation which is within easy
 reach of all.

 >From:         Tom Brewer <NOTTMB@LSUVM.BITNET>
 >Subject:      A "Million" Errors
 >Then how can we trust what they <the apostles> teach about salvation?
 >Does this mean what the Apostle John wrote about some are children of
 >God and others are children of the devil is not true?  <text deleted>
 >I'm just hinting at the notion that if Christ called someone a child
 >of the devil, that sounds to me as if that person is going to go to
 >hell for eternity unless he believes what Jesus says about Himself.
 >Tom Brewer

 Tom, you may want to withhold judgment just a bit - hear me out on this
 one OK?  My point is that we cannot trust the apostles to give us a
 flawless presentation of Christ's teachings; lots of good inspiration
 but distorted conceptually.  As to the references to the 'children of
 the devil,' Christ told the apostles of the rebellion and betrayal by
 a few of his divine sons who were charged with administration of our
 portion of the universe, including our planet.  These divine sons were
 responsible for our planet being placed in a spiritual 'quarantine' -
 and they presumed autonomous control of the administration of many
 inhabited worlds, in defiance of the divine plan of ascension.  Some
 rebels also mingled, appeared before and eventually produced offspring
 with mortals in our planet's distant history.  Almost all of Jesus'
 discussions about evil and sin and the default of Adam and Eve (a mis-
 sion the rebels also derailed!) were in the telling of the iniquitous
 betrayal of these divine sons (who also had freewill prerogatives at
 the time).  Christ adjudged all these matters while on earth and for
 evermore no wayward spirit/celestial being can ever again interfere
 with the sovereign freewill of a mortal of normal mind.   Mortals are
 not judged in the same manner as are divinely created beings who should
 know better.

 TO Dan Graham:  I need to respond in general to your questions re:
 Peter and Paul's statements about sacrifice and atonement. Herein I
 want to concentrate on Paul for now.  Paul, not Christ, introduced the
 doctrine of atonement, original sin, hereditary guilt, and innate evil
 and redemption from evil.  One reason for Paul's inclusion of these
 concepts in the so-called Gospel is that he was in competition with the
 Mithraic mystery cult which had earlier spread from the Persian plateau
 to the Levant then thru the Roman Empire - it was very popular then.
 He imported from that prevailing cult, some aspects of their ideas but
 he forsook their ceremonies of initiation, sacraments of worship, secret
 rites and rituals which always promised salvation; but much of their
 notions and beliefs of deliverance from evil, enduring life in blissful
 realms beyond sorrow and slavery were *imported*.  He did improve on
 their version of redemption in that Paul's was based on moral and
 ethical grounds; also, Paul's cult of Christianity was based on the
 _fact_ of the life of Christ and not myths or mysteries.  Paul himself
 had more to do with the introduction of the atonement and original sin
 concepts. Other influences on Paul's composition of a 'Christian' doc-
 trine were the writings of Philo of Alexandria and the combined
 influences of Greek philosophy, Roman Stoicism and Hebrew theology.
 You will find much of this confirmable with an examination of the pre-
 vailing systems of belief during Paul's lifetime.  Direct revelations
 (Christ's life, in this case) always get absorbed into the ideas of the
 surrounding evolutionary religions.
         Thanks for your time.  ... a brother in Christ,   Michael