When God was a Woman

[Gandalf]

While agree with you James, that the above was an example of very simple reasoning, there IS actually a valid argument that the whole resurrection idea was NOT part of Jesus' original teachings.
Many bible scholars agree on this (mainly from the 'jesus seminar' camp) while of course others disagree.

However, we have only a little evidence of what Jesus ACTUALLY taught (sermon on the mount, a few parables and that’s about it), while the rest of it is by those who came after him, claiming to be speaking for him, such as his disciples, but we cannot take it for granted that they never injected their own ideas once Jesus was gone, that’s the nature of humanity.
Most of the available evidence suggests that Jesus' early supporters were not concerned with his death, it was what he taught when alive that was important; the resurrection idea was grafted on later, quite early on I might add.
Now, while the resurrection idea is a great ideology, it is not particular to Christianity, you have to remember the cultural context in which Christianity grew up in, esp. once it was exported out of Judea.
The whole death/rebirth concept of a god dying and being reborn to conquer death for his/her followers is a VERY common pagan motif, esp. in eastern religion. cf Baal, Mithras, Isis, Osiris etc
The early Christians felt the need to add a similar element to Christian mythology to give Jesus the same kind of death/rebirth weight that other savior gods already had.
For those familiar with pagan traditions, the pagan influences in Christianity are blatant, however, conservatives do not like to hear this.
Don't get me wrong, the death/rebirth idea is a beautiful piece of ideology/theology and serves as the core of the Christian message, however, it appears likely that it was never part of the *original* Christian message; the reason it is such a nice bit of theology is that it was already tried and tested in other pagan traditions and had long resonated with people, it still does.

You would say 'but this is the very CORE of the Christian message. I would agree with you, it is the very core of Christianity as we understand it today; what I am suggesting is that it was never part of Jesus' teachings and was grafted on soon after his death; the reason this is likely, is that scholars have spotted many other obvious pagan motifs in the rest of the NT which must also have been grafted on in a similar was, as to appeal to a pagan audience: eg, the last supper (Mithras) resurrected after three days (Mithras), 12 'disciples' (Mithras), three wise men (Mithras), healing abilities (esp. particular healing stories in the NT) common to Asklepios, a savior/healing god popular from the 4th century bc, originally human but killed by Zeus for bringing someone back from the dead (Lazarus), later reborn as a god. There are many other examples.
The underlying point is that I believe that we cannot automatically assume that what we read in the bible is what Jesus taught, they are certainly what Christianity teaches, but that may be quite different.

Douglas

[Tisha]

(I found this on another website and thought it might stimulate some discussion! It was written by an archaeologist/historian/linguist/classisist in Athens. enjoy.)

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For thousands of years preceding the current patriarchal age, humankind perceived and revered the Creator of the Universe as a female entity. From possibly more than 25,000 years ago until around 500 C.E. ("Common Era," formerly "A.D."), the Goddess was held in high regard, at first globally and then only where male-god fanatics could not stamp Her out. This, these homoerotic, testosterone-ridden zealots finally did, after millennia of slaughter and oppression. And the story behind this dreadful deed is quite interesting.

From the early days of human existence, the Mother was venerated as the Bringer of Life, as it was She who brought forth human life. Thousands of images were carved and temples erected in Her name, nature was venerated, and in some areas Her followers lived relatively peacefully. She was not alone in the pantheon, however, as there were many other forms of Deity, including male ones. Also, in cultures that had lost the original gnosis or knowledge of what these supernatural entities stood for, there was human sacrifice in the name of both male and female deities. Nevertheless, under the governance of the Goddess and Her consorts, human culture reached an advanced state in Sumeria, Babylon, Egypt, Canaan, Phoenicia and the rest of the Levant and Eastern Mediterranean. Cities sprung up, writing was created, and civilization found its form.

Then, hordes of Indo-European/Aryan invaders descended upon the pastoral cultures from the north, wreaking havoc in waves of invasions over a period of several hundred years. these Aryan invaders subjugated the Semitic peoples from what is now Turkey into Egypt, bringing with them their warrior sky-god, who would tolerate no others before him. These IE invaders established their rule by killing every man, woman and child in numerous towns and villages, saving the virgin girls for themselves, whom they would assimilate into their now-dominant culture by raping. These warrior-invaders spent the next several centuries breaking the "stiff-necked" Semites of their "bad habit" of worshipping the Goddess, as is reflected in the Hebrew scriptures. They did this by continuous slaughter, as is also recorded in these writings. Finally, after many generations, the Semitic peoples were either wiped out, as in the case of the Canaanites and Phoenicians, or they had acquiesced to the worship of the Indo-European sky/volcano god, now called "Yahweh." Under the influence of the invading mentality, these Yahwists continued their notion of supreme dominance over the rest of the human cultures.

And we know the rest of the story. The implications of this history, as presented by Merlin Stone in her book "When God was a Woman," may have struck some readers by now. What this means is that the predominant theological opinion now found in the Western world came not from the Semitic peoples of the Levant, as is assumed, but from the Aryans, who, in more recent times have proved themselves to be the staunch enemies of at least one group of Semites.

Dare we say it? The "God" figure so highly esteemed today appears to be basically a cultural artifact of the "Fatherland." And in her work, Stone goes on to wonder about the fact that it was the Germans who excavated Anatolia, the land of the Hittites, who were one of these subjugating IE tribes. Could this, she asks, be the reason why Hitler changed his name from Schickelgruber? As Stone interprets it, Hitler could mean "teacher of Hit." This is not a far-fetched hypothesis, as it is well known that Hitler was an enthusiast of not only the occult but also of the ancient Middle Eastern and Indo-Aryan/Iranian cultures, from which he took many symbols, such as the swastika, and, it would seem, his "master race" megalomania. During his reign of terror, Hitlerians marched in parades dressed up in ancient Mesopotamian costumes, carrying these various symbols.

So, it would seem that history has repeated itself, and that these various peoples have been in conflict for much longer than we suppose. Of course, it would also seem that it has invariably been the northern tribes who have been the problem - and that, in a way, they won, since they did manage to foist their angry, male war-god on much of the world, however it was done.

Does this imply that we should overthrow this sexist cultural artifact and replace it with the Goddess? Overthrow, yes. Replace, no. What we should do, if we are to straighten out this mad world, is to fully recognize that our interpretations of deity or anything else are very often mere cultural biases and conditioning, and not ultimate truth.

The usurpation of these various peoples by the fanatic male deity-lovers caused an untold amount of trauma and devastation to the ancient world, including the heinous destruction of the Library of Alexandria, which contained an enormous amount of wisdom. Following the intolerant imposition of the "one god" came an unbearable Dark Age that lasted for centuries and that included the unending abuse by the Catholic Church, along with other hideous results, including the apalling sexism that has sprung up from the third monolithic religion, Islam.

The bottom line is that this one male god belief system has not been good for the world. It has created an astrocious amount of bigotry, as well as stupidity. Indeed, the very word "bigot" comes from the pagan German name for Christians: "bei Gott."

Rather than carrying around this cultural baggage, which creates separation and discord, not only between peoples but between human beings and the cosmos itself, it would be best if the world could become awakened to the formless, genderless truth that unites us all.

Credit for this piece - Acharya S, Archaeologist, Historian, Mythologist, Linguist, Member, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Greece - ACHARYA