Jesus Ubstructed
This commentary is to address the dangerous book entitled Jesus Interrupted. This commentary is entitled Jesus Ubstructed. The book being discussed here can only attempt to obstruct Jesus, but cannot actually do so. Thus, the misspelling and upside down U with a line through it. Before the futile points of the book are discussed, you should know the author is a self professed agnostic. I used to think this meant you believed in God, but not in religion. NOT SO! Read below what agnostics believe. Also realize the author is a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute and Wheaton College ( Where Billy Graham Graduated ).
agnostics believe the following ..........
Their Role:
They believe that they alone truly understood Christ's message, and that other streams of thought within Christianity had misinterpreted Jesus' mission and sayings.
Deity:
The Supreme Father God or Supreme God of Truth is remote from human affairs; he is
unknowable and undetectable by human senses. She/he created a series of supernatural but
finite beings called Aeons. One of these was Sophia, a virgin, who in turn gave birth to a
defective, inferior Creator-God, also known as the Demiurge. (Demiurge means "public
craftsman" in Greek.) This lower God is sometimes called Yaldabaoth or Ialdabaoth Jaldabaoth
-- from Aramaic words meaning "begetter of the Heavens." This is Jehovah, the God of the
Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). He is portrayed as the creator of the earth and its life forms.
He is viewed by Gnostics as fundamentally evil, jealous, rigid, lacking in compassion, and prone
to genocide. The Demiurge "thinks that he is supreme. His pride and incompetence have resulted
in the sorry state of the world as we know it, and in the blind and ignorant condition of most of
mankind."
Salvation:
A person attains salvation by learning secret knowledge of their spiritual essence: a
divine spark of light or spirit. They then have the opportunity to escape from the prison of their
bodies at death. Their soul can ascend to be reunited with the Supreme God at the time of their
death.
Evil:
They did not look upon the world as having been created perfectly and then having
degenerated as a result of the sin of Adam and Eve. Rather the world was seen as being evil at
the time of its origin, because it had been created by an inferior God.
Snake:
Some Gnostic sects honored the snake. They did not view the snake as a seducer who
led the first couple into sinful behavior. Rather, they saw him/it as a liberator who brought
knowledge to Adam and Eve by convincing them to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good
and Evil and thus to become fully human.
Christ:
The role of the redeemer in Gnostic belief is heavily debated at this time. Gnostics seem
to have looked upon Christ as a revealer or liberator, rather than a savior or judge. His purpose
was to spread knowledge which would free individuals from the Demiurge's control and allow
them to return to their spiritual home with the Supreme God at death.
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The agnostics were squashed by the heresy hunters in the fifth century. Then in 1940 an entire library of gnostic texts was discovered in Egypt (The Nag Hummadi find). This has led to a resurgence of the movement. Upon reviewing what they believe, it sure seems like a fast track to satanism if it is not satanism is disguise.
See the links below for references to what follows.
The book in question frequently states the premise that it's position is a commonly held position and that it is taught in all seminaries today. NOT SO!. This is a flat out lie. The author's own class mate refutes this vehemently. The author is NOT presenting a common or even a majority view. Most scholars do not share his views and find that they reflect the positions of someone who has NOT fully studied the scriptures.
Update: 03/24/11 Author's latest book entitled Forged. He is continuing to state that almost all bible scholars agree with him. This simply is not true. The author did admit that his bible scholar friends were his best drinking buddies. Perhaps these are the "scholars" he is referring to.
1. the author states that the Gospels differ in the time when Jesus actually died. One Gospel is supposed to have Jesus die on Passover, rather than after it. This simply is NOT SO!. The author also points to many other chronological discrepancies throughout the Bible. However, the author fails to point out that scribes at the time of Jesus were not inclined, nor expected to give accounts of events in chronological order. It was very common for writers to write from a geographical perspective, a theological perspective, and not a chronological perspective. The unsuspecting reader is dealt a heavy blow regarding the accuracy of the Bible if he or she
does not know this. Omitting this FACT is a lie of omission and resembles one of satan's favorite tactics.
2. the author discusses the story of Jesus and the adulteress where Jesus tells the crowd .... "let he who is without sin cast the first stone." John Chapter 8. The author states that this story does not appear in the earlier manuscripts of the Gospel of John and that it was apparently added to the Gospel at a later date. Again, another heavy blow to the unsuspecting reader. But, the author fails to mention that in the earlier manuscripts, there are clear markings that a section of the manuscript has been left out. In other words, the earlier manuscripts are deleting the story for now in order to not interrupt the flow of the text. The problem is NOT that the story was added later. The problem was that the story is more of a side note to the text and it was apparently excluded in some manuscripts to emphasize the text that the story interrupts. Also, realize that we do not have the original copies of any of the gospels, so no one can say for certain where the story of Jesus and the adulteress was supposed to be. We just know by FAITH that it is part of the inspired word of God and no deceitful agnostic should be allowed to tell us otherwise.
3. the author, who is supposed to be so scholarly, only uses his other books as references in this book. This is not entirely the case, but 95% of his references are of books that he wrote.
I pray that the above discussion is enough to cause you to realize that this agnostic is up to a bunch of nasty tricks to subvert your Faith and that it is a futile attempt to ubstruct Jesus, the living SON of the ONE TRUE GOD.