This is from a Catholic Bible (The New Jerusalem Bible), all from Revelation chapter 22.

(v3) The curse of destruction will be abolished. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city; his servants will worship him, (v4)they will see him face to face, and his name will be written on their foreheads.

Now, I do not recall properly, but isn't something written on foreheads something to do with some kind of mark of some kind of beast? Something to do with 666? Isn't 666 the number of man in regards to ratios or something and somehow connected with the nautilus? Are we being fooled here? Are people going to use technology (false signs) and religion for some mass genocide/population reduction in the future?

Anyway,

(v5)And night will be abolished; they will not need lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will be shining on them. They will reign for ever and ever. (v6) The angel said to me, 'All that you have written is sure and will come true: the Lord God who inspires the prophets has sent his angel to reveal to his servants what is soon to take place.

Now it looks like Jesus was receiving instruction from an angel, God wouldn't do that (if he was God). He wouldn't need to be told what to do from an angel.

(v7)I am coming soon!' Blessed are those who keep the prophetic message of this book. (v8) I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I had heard and seen them all, I knelt at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me, to worship him; (v9) but he said, 'Do no such thing: I am your fellow-servant and the fellow-servant of your brothers the prophets and those who keep the message of this book, God alone you must worship.'

Ok, a divine being would know not to do that. Who/what was Jesus? Quite clearly not what we are led to believe.

(v10)This, too, he said to me, 'Do not keep the prophecies in this book a secret, because the Time is close. (v11) Meanwhile, let the sinner continue sinning, and the unclean continue to be unclean; let the upright continue in his uprightness, and those who are holy continue to be holy.

Here it says whatever you see tell everyone, and do not bother trying to sway people away from their path, let them continue, let them find their own way, let people be/do bad!

So what's the deal? Clearly Jesus is/was not God. Perhaps an atheist who had a good plan to help humanity (can't fault the love thy neighbour part) and was really smart and pretended to be God in order to try and bring humanity to those who were somewhat barbaric, perhaps mentally unwell, or perhaps he was something else entirely.

What do Christians know about things that try and elevate themselves to the level of God and usurp power? Clearly Jesus is NOT GOD, that is, if Revelation is accurate and has not been toyed with or altered by those with bad intentions.

Jesus said he was the son of MAN and also the son of GOD. We are all God's children though.

Now, who/what has offered, Biblically, in the past to elevate humans to the level of God, make them like a God?

Now, v14 from TNJB reads as:

(v14)Blessed are those who will have washed their robes clean, so that they will have the right to fed on the tree of life and can come through the gates in to the city.

From The New King James Version:

(v14)Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates in to the city.

"Do His commandments" notice it is plural. Jesus only said love thy neighbour didn't he? That is singular. The plural would imply perhaps the original 10 from the OT. Perhaps we have been led astray. Severely. Wash your robes clean (TNJV)? Would that imply returning to the old book? I don't know.

Discuss.

There are many reasons to conclude that Jesus did not consider himself a god (and no devout Jew would have declared himself as such), one being The Agony In The Garden, where in fear for his life, Jesus prayed to God to let “this cup pass me by”. This is hardly an emotion befitting the co-creator of the universe. Had he been a god, or at least considered himself one, he would have known of his immortality, known from the start the insignificance of his death and its circumstances. Why would he need to pray to be spared?

It makes more sense when you reconsider the New Testament account of his entry into Jerusalem at his Davidic coronation and his and the apostles’ firm belief that the ‘end of the world was nigh’. Surely God would restore his holy kingdom before he destroyed the world so that the righteous would be saved, they thought.

The world didn’t end and the self-declared pretender to the throne of David became a wanted fugitive from Roman law… That was the understandable reason for his fear of arrest - the realisation that God was not going to save him and that he risked execution if convicted of insurrection which, as he’d just declared himself a King in the face of a brutal and feared Roman governor, was the most likely upshot.

tallowood wrote on Feb 21^st, 2009 at 7:45am:

Hmm, recursive divine narcissism. god worshipping god worshipping god worshipping god...

When would he get his washing done?

tallowood wrote on Feb 21^st, 2009 at 8:07am:

God does as...
God is pleased to do.... woo woo
But what puzzling us is that
Bearded, long haired Jew.

tallowood wrote on Feb 21^st, 2009 at 8:20am:

whoosh....

Parody.

Sympathy for the Devil.

Yep, sure...



Sympathy for the Devil

Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for long, long years
Stole many man's soul and faith

And I was 'round when Jesus Christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game

I stuck around St. Petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the Czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain

I rode a tank
Held a general's rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
(woo woo, woo woo)

I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
(woo woo, woo woo)

I shouted out,
"Who killed the Kennedys?"
When after all
It was you and me
(who who, who who)

Let me please introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached Bombay
(woo woo, who who)

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
(who who)
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby
(who who, who who)

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
(woo woo, who who)

Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Lucifer
'Cause I'm in need of some restraint
(who who, who who)

So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
(woo woo)
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, um yeah
(woo woo, woo woo)

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah
(who who)
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down
(woo woo, woo woo)

Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!
(woo woo)

Tell me baby, what's my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, what's my name
I tell you one time, you're to blame

Oh, who
woo, woo
Woo, who
Woo, woo
Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Oh, yeah

What's my name
Tell me, baby, what's my name
Tell me, sweetie, what's my name

Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Oh, yeah
Woo woo
Woo woo

tallowood wrote on Feb 21^st, 2009 at 8:38am:

The Greek god Pan, god of pasture and associated with fertility, was adopted as the form of the Christian devil... early Christians despised pleasures of the flesh (including bathing).

tallowood wrote on Feb 21^st, 2009 at 8:59am:

In Greek mythology, the god Pan rooted anything that moved and that he could catch.