The Word Cloud

I have to say, there are some topics which i automatically avoid when talking to strangers about myself. There are probably quite a few who will agree when I say the top two are relationships and religion.

I have to start with religion for this blog to make sense. I'm a christian- baptist for those who are interested. I belive in the Big Bang and the cosmology story. I belive that there is an all-loving God who (for reasons i still haven't worked out) loves me completely and utterly, even when I'm getting everything as wrong as I possibly can. I don't understand why non-christains believe that because you're christian, you have all the answers and can do no wrong. I'm still learning myself, I'm still human and humans make mistakes. I don't pretend to be God- I don't have all the answers but I try to help people when I can. I have to admit; I don't actually know the difference between Roman Catholic, Church of England and Catholic- if there is even a difference.

I have always been a christian. I was brought up in a christian family, decided to get baptised at 7 years old and do not regret it.   I am a hardworking, happy- if a little crazy- teenager with a whole future in front of me.  Once, when I was in a very bad place in my life, I saw what I would be without God; I would be a depressed emo, at the bottom of the class, I would hate life and all that my future held would be misery and death.At every step of the way, God has been in my life and has worked miracles on me. One of these miracles I want to share. It was to do with relationships.

I have never been in a relationship. I've never had a boyfriend (or a girlfriend- I'm not batting for that team, though i have nothing against those who are). I have, however, had a broken heart. Two in fact. I always get weird looks when I admit this, even to my closest friends. I don't go searching for guys to throw my heart at, I don't enjoy the feeling, I can't control it.

The first time, I was at a christian summer camp. I had gone with another church as my church's teenagers consisted of me and my sister. There was a gorgeous boy in the group as well who, for this account I will call Jay. Jay was a normal teenage boy with a large ego to go with it. I was increadibly shy and couldn't say anything to him without stammering so I tended not to say anything. I hadn't really realised what was going on as nothing like this had ever happened to me before. One day, my sister came running up to me and told me that she and jay were officially going out. I smiled and congratulated her, then went into my tent and cried. If anyone doesn't know what a broken heart feels like- it's pretty self-explanitory. My heart felt like it had been ripped to shreds in my chest. I kept as quiet as i could because tents aren't soundproof and no one heard me. I dried my face and kept out of everyone's way as much as possible as we ate dinner and went down to the evening service.

During the pray session, the leader asked if anyone needed healing. I certainly did, so I stood up for prayer. As the people around me started praying, I sent up my own prayer begging god to heal my heart for my sister's sake. I didn't want my pain to hurt her. I was beyond caring for myself- the damage was done. Suddenly the pain went and i was able to breath. I started laughing from relief. I laughed and laughed- and then fell over from lack of oxygen. The people left me when i was breathing normally again and then the tears started flowing. I was glad I was left to cry in piece. Healing a broken heart hurts more than breaking it, but it was worth it because I didn't ruin her relationship (he did, but that's beside the point).

I don't mind sharing this now because the scars have healed. I just wanted to reasure people out there that talking is hard, but God can always help even when none of us know much about him at all.

The Lost Gospels

Amarantha and others have been debating early church history on the ‘Science and Religion’ thread which made me think maybe I should resuscitate a blog I’d intended posting some time ago. The situation is that back in September I recorded a ninety minute documentary by (Rev) Peter Owen Jones in which he looked at the things he was never taught in Theological College. He arranged these under various headings, beginning with an overview of what was lost.

Apparently, it was Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria who compiled the ‘canonical’ list of 27 New Testament ‘books’ in the fourth century. A corollary of this was that over fifteen Gospels, about fifty other texts referring to Jesus, and fifty or so Apocalypses became disapproved and, hence, banned. And so they disappeared – until recent times.

Gnostic Texts

In December 1945 a cache of papyrus texts was discovered (and nearly destroyed) by goat herds at Nag Hammadi in Egypt. Amongst these was the Gospel of Thomas, not a biographical text like the canonical gospels but a collection of the sayings of Jesus. These have a Zen-like elusiveness which demands insight (or ‘gnosis’) from the reader and hence makes them inaccessible to some outlooks. For example: ‘If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.’ This elusiveness did not fit with the salvation-for-all message of the early church fathers, so the Gospel of Thomas became lost. (Indeed in A.D. 447 Pope Leo ordered all gnostic texts to be ‘burnt with fire’.)

Mary Magdalene

Another Nag Hammadi text is the Gospel of Philip which gives prominence to Mary Magdalene. For instance; ‘The Saviour loved her more than the other disciples’ – and – ‘He kissed her many times on the...’ The missing word, alas, was eaten by ants during the centuries when the gospel lay hidden in its cave, but the best guess based on analysis of Coptic grammar would be ‘mouth’. Whatever the word, though, we have something pretty explosive here. It would appear that Mary Magdalene was more important to Jesus than was Peter, on whom the whole edifice of male-dominated Christianity became built. This impression is strengthened by looking at another missing gospel. After 1897 British archaeologists, excavating ancient rubbish dumps around the Egyptian town of Oxyrinthus, found portions of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene. In this Mary conveys her understanding of Jesus’s teachings – before and after his death – to the other disciples, which once again emphasises her greater importance. These two gospels suggest a strong role for women in the early church, an impression that Peter Owen Jones bolstered by taking us into the Catacomb of Priscilla beneath Rome, where frescoes in the ‘Greek Chapel’ show women taking prominent parts in Christian rituals.

The Nature of Jesus

Owen Jones then moved on to other Lost Gospels, for instance the Gospel of Peter, found in Egypt in 1886 by French archaeologists. In this Jesus does not actually die on the cross because he is entirely divine and therefore incapable of death – or even of suffering. Hence his passion is an illusion. This outlook contrasts with that found in the Gospel of the Ebionites where Jesus is entirely human and plays host to the divine Christ spirit only after his baptism in the Jordan. This gospel is completely lost and we only know about it because of the vigorous written opposition it aroused.

The Nature of God

The Ebionites emphasised the Jewishness of their faith, whereas Marcion entirely rejected it. In The Antitheses Marcion contrasts Old Testament texts with Jesus texts and decides they are so radically different they must involve different gods. For instance, where Leviticus forbids the touching of lepers, Jesus touches a leper to heal him. Because of examples like this, Marcion decides the god of Jesus was previously unknown to us – ‘a Stranger God’ – who gives love and forgiveness and saves us from the vengeful god of the Old Testament. Following the line of his logic, Marcion drew up a list of texts, entirely excluding the Old Testament and including only the Gospel of Luke and ten letters by Paul. However, the response from his fellow churchmen was to excommunicate him.

Choosing the Canon

Nonetheless, Marcion’s list set a precedent, and eventually we ended up with the canonical list of 27 approved texts. How were they decided upon? Largely in response to Roman policy, is the answer. First of all, the Romans martyred so many Christians that it became logical for Christians to favour those gospels which emphasised Christ’s passion and death. (After all, Gnostic riddles would not give much consolation to the bereaved and the persecuted – which may be why the less persecuted Egyptian Christians retained more loyalty to those texts, burying them when ordered to burn them). Secondly, when Constantine converted in 312 A.D. he wanted a unified Christianity to help unify his fragmented empire. Therefore he and his successors supported those leaders who, like Athanasius, wanted to exclude such controversial texts as the Gospel of Mary Magdalene.

Final thought from Gerry

Early Christianity sounds to me very much like a New Age religion – lots of interesting and exciting ideas, some weird, some fascinating, some challenging, some uplifting. In this respect it sounds a little bit like the present New Age buffet. We don’t have the disadvantage of Romans messing things up nowadays, but give us time. Soon we’ll have some power hungry dictators telling us which ideas we are allowed to accept and practise. And if we go for anything different, well, get ready to be burnt!

 

Hello fellow writers,

Please find my website on following link :
http://www.filedby.com/author/s_p_h_patel/939868/

Also the direct link is www.blacksandcastle.com (Doors to open soon).

S.P.H. Patel.

The WordCloud is not strictly the place for this sort of blog, but in the Science and Religion thread found here:  http://www.thewordcloud.org/magazine/read/science-and-religion_2058.html#comments
Gerry asked me if I could relate something of my experience of God in my life – which I had said helps to prove to me that He exists. It is obviously partly autobiographical, so I suppose it can qualify on that count. I can’t write a whole book here, as many others more able than me have already done. Their works are readily available and make for fascinating reading.  I’ll just jot down some personal notes.

First, some of the evidence that has caused me and millions like me to take that step of faith and so find proof for ourselves.

(1) The universe: unimaginably immense and marvellous; our own solar system, fairly ordinary as solar systems go and yet absolutely amazing in its complexity; our planet, just the right distance from the sun and made up of just the right elements to sustain life; life itself; the wonder and beauty of nature; the intricacy of sub-atomic physics, the enormity of forces that have formed vast mountain ranges and river systems in all their splendour: all there by pure, unguided chance? My faith is nowhere near strong enough to sustain that belief. To me the belief that all this has been designed, created, and sustained by a ‘Being’ who is greater than all of it, is far more logical. In fact, without such a Being, no one - no theory, no explanation - is able to look back before ‘the beginning’ and say, or even suggest what, or Who, caused it all to begin.

(2) The Bible, a library of 66 books whose 40 or so human writers spanned at least 4000 years, consisting mainly of history, law and poetry, has an absolutely amazing cohesion from start to finish, only satisfactorily explained by its own claim to have been inspired throughout by the same God, the Holy Spirit. The oldest manuscripts of much of the Bible date back as far as 400 AD, approximately and are some of the oldest manuscripts of any sort in existence. And unlike some other ancient writings where only one or maybe just a few copies have been preserved, there are literally hundreds of copies of the scriptures extant.  And the amazing accuracy of the translations we have today, after 1600 years of (mostly, until recent times) hand copying of the writings, is itself a testimony to its supernatural preservation. Over 300 prophecies written by Old Testament writers were fulfilled by the life (and death and resurrection) of Jesus Christ. The most recent of those prophesies were written 400 years before Christ’s birth and the oldest were over 3500 years before that. The teaching of Christ, although now almost 2000 years old, are still the best possible set of guidelines for living and provide the best source of absolute values in a world of continuously changing and shifting standards. I, like countless others, can’t help seeing the guiding hand of God in this most amazing of books.

(3) Humankind: the highest, most advanced form of life that we know is demonstrably much more than just that. People the world over from as far back as we have any knowledge of, have shown a desire – a need – to worship a higher Being. Nothing like this is seen elsewhere in the animal kingdom. We are different, not just more developed. (The Bible explains that, unlike the animals, we are created ‘in God’s image’ with a spirit.) This would certainly explain humankind’s constant searching for something or someone beyond themselves, and the emergence of all sorts of what have come to be known as religions to try to meet that need. (I never think of Christianity as a religion: it is simply the way to God; and Jesus said it is the only way.) To me, it is not logical to think that this character trait in humans to worship, which is prevalent in every generation and in every tribe and nation throughout history, is a chance occurrence: ‘Some people need a prop’ is the common dismissive explanation. The logical explanation is the Biblical one: that we are made to be able to commune with our creator, which explains why down through the ages, and more than ever in this current generation, people are looking to the supernatural for explanations.

Faced with all this evidence, and told about how God does, indeed want to have a loving Father/son relationship with me, I took the decision to accept as true, what He has said about me and everyone else: that the wrong in my life has separated me from God. Never mind anything that I might think of as good in me. They don’t cancel each other out. It’s like links in a chain. No matter how many good links there are, if there are any bad, broken ones – even just one – the chain is no use. The Bible says sin is like that; if it’s there at all, the link with God is broken and there is no way any amount of ‘good’ that we may try to do can alter the fact that the link is gone. That’s why God took the momentous decision to bridge the gap Himself by sending his Son, Jesus, who lived among us without sin – the only perfect individual ever to have lived. In dying in our place the Bible says God laid on him all the sin of everyone who had ever lived or ever would live.

A just God must judge justly. He cannot overlook law-breaking – however much He loves the law-breakers and longs to be reconciled with them. If He did, He would immediately cease to be just, no longer perfect – no longer God. So he arranged for the penalty to be paid for us the only other way possible, by allowing that which was perfect to ‘become sin for us’ and to die and be banished from God’s presence (a fate, literally, worse than death) instead of us. The only trouble was, there was no one other than his only Son who was perfect and could fulfil that role. Yet, the Bible says, ‘God so loved the world that He gave his only Son that whoever believed in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.’

It was explained to me from other Bible passages that that expression, ‘believed in Him’ meant to trust in Him, put my faith in Him, rely on Him to guide my life. That I needed to:

(A) admit my wrong-doing – that I am a sinner and need forgiveness
(B) believe that Jesus has done on the cross all that is necessary for God to forgive me
(C) commit my life to Him and give Him control so He can start to change me to become more like Jesus

When I did, I received an assurance within me – like a sort of inner peace – that God had, indeed, forgiven my sin. And, rather more significantly, I received God Himself(!) – the Holy Spirit, to live in me, alongside my own spirit. As I started to learn to yield to Him and ask Him to direct my life, so I believe He does guide my thoughts and decisions.  Not that I stopped forever doing anything wrong! Becoming a Christian isn’t becoming ‘perfect’. It depends who’s in control. When I consciously yield to God and seek his guidance, He gives it (maybe through a passage of scripture, the advice of a Christian friend, or by putting a particular thought in my mind). But if I start doing my own thing and stop paying attention to the Spirit’s prompting, thing can easily go wrong. Even then, though, it’s so good to know my loving heavenly Father, ‘if I confess my sin (am genuinely sorry), is faithful and just to forgive my sin and to cleanse me from unrighteousness.’

Being able to talk to God and knowing He’s there right with me in every situation is a real confidence booster, and a comfort, too, when things don’t go too well – proof to me that He is very real indeed. Auto-suggestion, I can hear someone say. Well, maybe – if it weren’t for the Spiritual gifts He lets us have. There is a string of God-given abilities that He distributes amongst his children. Some quite ‘ordinary’ like the gift of helping others, or the gift of administrating; others, more expected perhaps, like the gift of teaching, or evangelism, and yet others of a more obviously supernatural nature like the gift of prophecy (not normally foretelling future events, but more often speaking into a situation some wisdom or insight from God), the gift of knowledge (becoming aware of something about someone else that you would have no way of knowing), or of healings (being used by God to channel his healing to someone who is sick).

We are encouraged to pray for the sick and I have found, particularly with headaches, God has often healed people in answer to my prayers. Not always – and that’s a whole other topic! – but proof to me that God is there and answers prayer.  Regarding ‘knowledge’ I can tell you, for example, of being given a picture in my mind of a friend sitting at a table with her head in her hands, weeping. I had no idea why this should be so, but with my wife, Anita, I asked her if it meant anything to her. It turned out she was having a very bad time at work and had been in just such a state. Being able to talk about it helped her to begin to see her way through it. Proof to her that God was concerned for her well-being and proof to me that He gives gifts to his children as they need them.

Our second daughter was born with a split lip and cleft palate and I can still remember thanking God that this complication had developed in our little girl and not in the other baby who was born within minutes of her to a mother, who as far as I knew, had not opened up her life to receive God’s help through such a trauma. I knew He would be with us through the difficult times ahead, as indeed He was – right up to the time for her third operation (first, to mend the split lip; second, to join the front palate). She was prayed for at our church before she was due for the third op. to join the back palate. When she went into hospital they found there was no need for an op.; the palate was healed.

God has proved himself to me over and over again. Not always in some spectacular way. More often by that calming inner assurance that He is with me in the mundane, day-to-day things of life. I really couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be without him now. But I know I’ll never have to. That’s another thing He’s promised: that He’ll ‘never leave me or forsake me.’ Bren quoted a couple of days ago, ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’ Just stop for a moment and consider.  

One of God’s best promises, I think, is this: ‘If you seek me you will find me.’ It’s conditional – but it is a promise – which I have proved conclusively to myself, and – more to the point – which anyone who actually wants to, can prove for themselves, too.