Thursday, August 30, 2007

Redemption And Salvation - 4

Paul and Christianity

If you are familiar with the New Testament of the Bible, you will realize that most of the books of the New Testament are dedicated to Paul the apostle. Only the four gospels are dedicated to the life and work of Jesus. In the Acts, although some of the other Apostles are mentioned, the major portion of the book is dedicated to the history, message and acts of Paul the Apostle. Now the question arises why this importance to Paul, who was not one of the original disciples of Jesus.

Those who are familiar with the New Testament know who Paul was and what he did to the followers of Jesus. For those who don't here is a brief description. Paul's original name was Saul and he was one of the staunch Jews and well versed in the scriptures of the Jews. It is said of Paul that he learned the scriptures from the great Jewish scholar and Rabbi, Gamaliel. He was also a great oppressor of the followers of Jesus until he was converted.

Ac:22:3: I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.

According to the gospels, it was Peter the disciple on whom the church of Jesus was to be built.

M't:16:18: And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

And yet here in the New Testament it is Paul, who is not one of the original disciples, is exalted and whose messages are considered as the true interpretation of the Messages of Jesus. It must be noted here that Jesus spoke to the people in parables and later explained the true hidden meaning to his disciples in private. Please note Paul was NOT among the privileged disciples who received these detailed messages from Jesus. Yet today’s church, irrespective of the denomination always quotes the words of Paul to justify their doctrines of Christianity.

Even when they strive to explain important messages of Jesus, such as "Being Born again" it is the words of Paul which is quoted to justify their interpretation. The gospels claim Jesus had twelve disciples. But those familiar with the gospels know that Jesus had more than these twelve people as his disciples and most of them followed him every where and some of them were also women. Even in the acts, the women are mentioned to follow the apostles in their journey of preaching Gospel. Yet gospels suggest that Jesus had only twelve disciples. Do you wonder why?

Is not it obvious that the number twelve was chosen later on by the greedy bishops who wanted to equate Christianity with the then extant pagan religions? It is interesting that the Zodiac has twelve signs in it and twelve is a sacred number for the pagans. Of course this is a separate subject and I will not go deeper into this except to mention it here for the readers to consider and think it over.

Now coming back to Paul, let us consider a theory. I repeat this is only a theory.

Paul as Saul hated the followers of Jesus and was known to persecute them wherever he found them. In fact he was journeying from place to place to seek out the followers of Jesus and persecute them. Now this is the man who is now exalted above the original disciples of Jesus and it is on the strength of this man's interpretation of the messages of Jesus that today’s Christianity thrives.

Now let us see this scene of fast growing followers of Jesus in the time of Saul in spite of his persecution and think from Paul's point of view. Here is a religion or doctrine fast growing despite his efforts to destroy it which is contrary to the beliefs of the Jewish people in the very land of the Jews. These people are the followers of the man who claimed he is the son of god and the expected messiah of the Jews, all of which are blasphemy in the eyes of this staunch Jew, Saul. How can he stop the growth of this following of Jesus and save Jewish religion?

The easiest way to destroy any organization is to destroy it from within that organization and what a brilliant idea! Saul becomes Paul and convinces the original Apostle of hsi sincerity which is of course false. The innocent Apostles believe his learned speech and accept him within their circle and even recommend him to the various churches where he goes to preach the gospel of Jesus.

Here is the opportunity to Saul alias Paul to, having infiltrated into the folds of the followers of Jesus, to corrupt the messages of Jesus in such a crafty way using his high scholarly talent to deviate them from the original true messages of Jesus. From the way Christianity has embraced the interpretations of this Paul from his letters to the various churches, it is obvious that he has succeeded in hiding the true messages of Jesus and there by destroying it totally. All the future bishops and preachers of the gospel have eagerly accepted the teachings of Paul since it gave them more leverage to control their respective churches.

Now if you go to many of the Pentecostal churches you will hear them proudly proclaiming "We are following the Apostles". By Apostles they mean Paul and not the others. A deeper analysis of the whole Bible will show us very clearly that the religions based on the Bible are male dominated and has a secret Agenda to totally suppress the females in every way possible. Before the advent of these religions, Goddess worship was the acknowledged and accepted concept. Almost all the cultures of the world had its own goddess or goddesses.

The Catholic Church was intelligent enough to capitalize on this belief of the people and exalted Mary as the mother of Jesus (God) giving divinity to her and yet depriving the women of any freedom in the church or society. If you accept the divinity of Jesus and accept him as the son of God then you also accept the concept of a female Goddess who participated in the birth of the son of God. All these religions suppress the possibility of the existence of Goddess or Goddesses. This last bit of information is for you to think!!!

All feedback welcome

Copyright © 03/15/2007 Joel Raja Kumar J (a k a) Poet Raja


Redemption And Salvation - 3

To be Born Again

We accept that Jesus was a great spiritual master who showed us the way to our spiritual enlightenment. In his various messages he told us the different things required of us to be admitted into the Kingdom of God. A major criteria for admission to the Kingdom of God is to be born again. Refer to

Joh:3:3: Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Joh:3:5: Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Jesus specifically said that unless you are born again you will not enter the Kingdom of God. As mentioned above Christianity who profess to follow Jesus, has thousands of denominations within the one religion and accordingly the concept of "born again" is also explained in thousands of different ways. Once again this controversy needs deep thought and analysis. A man or woman already born can not be born again in flesh. So this concept of being born again preached by Jesus refers to the spiritual birth of a human and not the natural fleshly birth.

How can a human be born again in spirit? A straight forward answer for this which any ordinary human can understand easily is not given in the Bible. The Apostles have tried to explain this concept but have failed to give a simple answer. Instead they make it so complicated that the preachers have been able to interpret their explanations in many different ways to suit their own purpose and doctrine. But we need a simple answer to this question, one that can be understood easily by all humans. This is important because all humans want to enter into the Kingdom of God and NOT only the intelligent or the blind believers of the human species.

Further Being born again is the only way to attain ETERNAL LIFE as professed by the gospels and the other books of the New Testament. So we need to know the true meaning of this concept of being born again. I do not pretend to be a scholar of scripture or a spiritual master. I am a simple ordinary human being in search of the truth about spirituality. Accordingly in my own humble way, I have been searching for an answer to this concept and here I place my own belief of the meaning of "Being Born again" for your consideration. I am open to suggestions on this subject as I do not claim to know all.

When we are born the first time to our parents, we are of flesh (in the womb a child is surrounded by water) and a normal human being does not give any importance to the spirit that resides within and gives life to the body. We assume that we are this body and live accordingly with the permanent fear that some day we will die. In such a state our importance goes to this body and the needs and pleasures/pain concerning this body. We normally do not think of the spirit that resides within us which is our life. I am saying this about a normal human being. It is of course possible that some of us may be aware of our spirit from early age and would know the difference between our bodily existence and the spirit that gives life to us and makes our body a living body.

It is my humble belief that when we realize that we are NOT this body but are really A SPIRIT BEING temporarily residing in this body and that our spirit has no end (death) and has eternal life, it is then that we are born again. Once we realize our spirit existence, it is then that we give more importance to our spirit and know that this body is mortal but not us who are spirit beings. It is then that we realize our ETERNAL EXISTANCE. This is the ETERNAL LIFE all humans are searching for.

As I said earlier this is my humble belief and I am open to suggestions on this subject.

All feedback welcome

Copyright © 03/15/2007 Joel Raja Kumar J (a k a) Poet Raja

Redemption And Salvation - 2

Jesus as Messiah

In the old Testament of the Bible from the first book Genesis to the last book Malachy, it has been prophesied that God will send his messiah to redeem humanity from this original sin. Please refer

Ge:3:15: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Mal:3:1: Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

Isa:7:14: Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isa:9:6: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.


Isa:59:20: And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.


Some of these prophecies are interpreted to say that God will send his only begotten son to redeem humanity. The prophecies also confirm that the messiah will redeem humanity by sacrificing himself and his blood will redeem humanity from the original sin.

The gospels of the New Testament claims Jesus is the messiah and son of God. It also further says that Jesus was born of a virgin and hence pure and devoid of the original sin. Everyone knows the story of crucification and resurrection and so I am not mentioning it.

But here again a thinking man begins to wonder about the Bible prophecies and the advent of Jesus.

The first question is whether Jesus was born of a virgin. The prophecies clearly mention that the messiah will come from the roots of Jessie, in other words in the genealogy of King David who was of the Jewish tribe. Mary, the mother of Jesus, being the cousin of Elizabeth, can not be a Jew. Zacharias, father of John the Baptist is a Rabbi and only the tribe of Levi and descendents of Aaron could become rabbis. It is quite possible that Mary, the mother of Jesus was also a Levite.

As you will all agree, if Jesus was born of Mary alone then he can not be from the root of Jessie, the father of King David. If the people who call themselves believers of Jesus insist upon virgin birth then they are defying the prophecy of the old testament.

Lu:1:36: And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.

In order to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament, it becomes imperative that Jesus is the biological son of Joseph whose lineage is traced back to King David in the gospels. If Jesus was born of Virgin Mary then he is NOT the messiah, the Old Testament has prophesied.

Isa:11:10: And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

Yet Christianity assures us that Jesus is the messiah and goes on to elaborate that Jesus by sacrificing himself on the cross and shedding his blood has redeemed us from the original sin. All one has to do is believe in Jesus as the messiah and you are redeemed from the original sin. Of course various denominations of the Christianity give different definition for redemption by the blood of Jesus and we all know that Christianity has thousands of denominations and in turn has thousands of interpretations for redemption.

It must be stressed here that only those who believe in the Original sin has a need for redemption and a messiah. However logical analysis of the Bible and God clearly shows us that there can not be a original sin and we can not be born sinners. As such the question of redemption by a messiah, be it Jesus or anyone else becomes null and void. Humanity can safely accept Jesus as a great spiritual master and no more.

Further today’s Christianity has exalted Jesus to divinity and claims that he is the son of God and so he is God. Here again one has to think and analyze the facts. If Jesus is the son of God as the gospels of the New Testament claim, then surely he must have a mother. In other words God can not have a son without the aid of a female divinity. Nowhere in the Bible, be it Old Testament or New Testament, the feminine divinity is acknowledged. On the contrary, the scripture tries hard to convince us that there is only one God, the father and no other gods or goddesses. Christians willing to accept Jesus as the son of God are unwilling to admit the possibility of a female deity.

It must be noted that the Bible says that God sent his ONLY BEGOTTEN SON to redeem humanity। The gospels and the subsequent books of the New Testament assures us Jesus is the only begotten son of God and God in his kindness has sent his own son to be sacrificed for our sins. God is the creator of this universe which we all admit. At the same time no creation of God can be called as his only begotten son. To be the only begotten son of God, the son must positively have a mother, a goddess or a human female. Neither is acknowledged by the scripture and those who questioned this shortcoming were persecuted.

All feedback welcome

Copyright © 03/15/2007 Joel Raja Kumar J (a k a) Poet Raja

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Redemption And Salvation

Original Sin

We normal human beings believe that the God we worship is filled with compassion, love and forgiving. Almost all religions of the world also proclaim that their Gods/Goddesses advocate compassion, love and forgiveness. Yet here we are laden with s sin committed by the first man and woman who did not obey the command of God according to the Bible. Three of the major religions of the world, Jewish, Christianity and Islam affirm to their followers that they are born sinners because their first father and mother committed a crime.

This affirmation in turn creates a guilt feeling among the followers of the respective religion and this guilt feeling leads them to fear God because as born sinners we are subject to punishment. The same holy books also suggest or rather gives humanity a promise that a messiah will some day come and redeem us from this original sin. The messianic figure is exalted by these religions as the messenger of Gods or the son of God or the God himself.

For a thinking man or woman this does not sound reasonable or logical because a God portrayed as a compassionate, loving and forgiving God, can not be so cruel as to make all future generation answerable for a sin committed by the first man and woman. We humble humanity in our innocence would believe that a God who is compassionate, loving and forgiving would have long since forgiven this sin of the first man and woman. But the scripture denies this attribute of forgiveness on the part of God and assures us that God is not compassionate, loving and forgiving but is punitive. The same scripture also assures the followers that God is righteous and impartial.

One begins to wonder why this contradiction and comes to the only possible conclusion that the religious elite are using this guilt feeling and the subsequent fear of the innocent followers to control them. They further impose upon the innocent followers more laws from the scripture and scare the innocent followers into submission. The fear of retribution makes the innocent followers of these religions to diligently follow the law of the scripture without questions. Any opposition from the followers who may opt to question the rationality of the doctrine are appropriately dealt with either by severe punishment or by death.

To add to the fear of the innocent followers the concept of heaven and hell are propagated, a promise of heaven to the obedient and hell for the disobedient. Any logical person will naturally assume that a God who is compassionate, loving and forgiving would have forgiven the first couple of their sin, in which case the question of redemption does not arise. When we think deeply on this subject it becomes doubly obvious that the original sin does not exist and that we are NOT born sinners but pans in the hands of the religious leaders.

All feedback welcome

Copyright © 03/15/2007 Joel Raja Kumar J (a k a) Poet Raja


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