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An Atheist’s Reflections on Jesus Christ
by sybil Wednesday, Mar 6 2019, 12:19am
international / prose / post

Now, isn’t the title surprising, how could a non-believer involve themselves in Jesus? Easy, due to the large influence Christianity has had on the world. I have read the New Testament four times and studied it, furthermore, I have also studied the major belief systems of the East, for the very same reasons, and how very sweet they ALL are if one approaches them as pedagogic texts, not fogged out fantasies in the belief of an unattainable God, magic (the implausible, flying etc) and supra-normal.

The similarities in all great religions are plentiful and useful to all large societies which required some ideological cohesion and unifying organisational structures with a firm base, which purpose the early religions fulfilled admirably.

Moral lessons are not lost on anyone regardless of faith, when asked by a disciple, what the essence of Gautama’s teaching was, the recorded reply from Buddha was, “good fellowship” which is reflected in Jesus’ teaching to love brothers and sisters as thyself. Now imagine if all the hypocritical believers of today were to follow this one teaching from both religious leaders, there would be no wars, conflict, greed or selfishness and disrespect for the planet/nature as part of the perfection of creation -- but the hypocrites fail as they put their trust in a phantom God not the simple but TRUE teachings; the person (teacher) overrides the message and becomes something other and unattainable even though both Buddha and Christ considered themselves examples for others to follow, and it should be noted that the message was all important to these two men, not the person as both leaders adopted a humble approach and disposition, not self-glorification, which came later with the formation of political churches/temples.

Of course Christian believers would dispute the above primarily due to the extant politically edited Christian texts, though I suspect that the over 150 gospels burned by Constantine’s Nicean Council would have accounted for the humanity of Jesus as a social reformer and mystic.

Now consider the fierce and socially ‘rebellious’ nature of both the Buddha and Christ within the context of their own cultures, and the insipid nature of Christians and Buddhists today, I need not make the stark contrast. When fighting corruption neither leader held back, in fact Jesus whipped the bankers at the temple for good reason, who wouldn’t take to thieving deceitful bankers with a whip? It should also be noted that it takes courage to oppose the power elites of the day, and both the Buddha and Jesus had ample, now compare with the gutless, shit-eating subjects living in today’s elite ruled corrupt societies; Americans are obliged by their founding documents to remove all governments that threaten the freedom and liberties of the people, BUT what does the WORLD witness, a bunch of surveilled, gutless wonders, eating shit while elites ride high on their STOLEN wealth, remember what Satan owns and rules, money and political power! It’s enough to make you spit.

Now here’s another huge similarity, these major religious leaders wished to reform their corrupt and unfair societies and eliminate hierarchical power structures, both Jesus and Buddha took to this task with a vengeance. The Buddha who turned his back on wealth and power to find truth and Jesus who despised the rich for their selfishness and corruption, abhorred money and its thoroughly corrupting influence, which corruption is clearly evident today, simply because people prefer to believe in magic, fantasy and hope rather than themselves and the teachings of great men.

The entire world today and in the past is rotten to the core and we should remember the temptation of Christ in this respect. When the adversary wished to corrupt the better nature of humanity, he offered all the wealth and power of the world to Jesus and what was Jesus’, who is not recorded to ever have touched money, response, stick it up your arse, Satan, my words of course, but the sentiment is the same as Buddha’s?

All true religious leaders wish only for humanity to better themselves and live peaceful, cooperative and mutually beneficial lives for the greater good of ALL. It really is that simple. So, gutless HYPOCRITES, what are YOU going to do about it??

Given, I have made this discourse rather short and selective because most people today do not read more than what’s on a postage stamp, I would refer sincere seekers of Truth to my favourite text, the Tao De Ching, written purportedly by one Lao Tzu. Though it took me over 20 years to get my mind around Chinese cultural metaphors and approaches, I can honestly say this short work is unparalleled in our short human history, it drips the sublime TRUTH of existence on every page. Following are two only quotes from this treasure house:

“The Way that can be described is not the enduring (infinite) Way
The name that can be named is not the eternal Name
The path that can be trodden (mapped) is not the infinite path ...”

"If not for the notion of beauty there would be no ugliness.
If not for the notion of good there would be no evil.
Polarities alternate one with the other and are mutually bound in opposition/conflict.
The wise man (Sage) therefore achieves action through non-action and imparts
his teaching silently as the Way imparts all things that can be known, naturally and easily."