Fwd: Platonic Potpourri of Problem Places...

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Subject: Fwd: Platonic Potpourri of Problem Places...

    The Return of  Plato's Man in the Cave Series - Platonic Potpourri of Problem Places

                                      Subtitle: Getting Acquainted with Osiris

                                 by Richard DePersio and Citizen Journalist

     The Other Parts of the Series are located on the Floors Below the One Containing

                the Historic Doyle/DePersio Collaboration and Next Door (Page Two)

 Reminder: Deists with a Splash of Plato; Moral Traditionalists; Respect/See Value in 

Jewish and Christian Faiths, Hindu and Buddhist Beliefs.

Citizen Journalist is a Citizen Journalist and, now, a Citizen Scientist too. He is

a Member of Team USA in SETI@Home - a participant in the search for

extra-terrestrial intelligence.

 

Over the past ten years or so, atheists, evolution, multi-verses, as well as, scientific

explanations for such things as miracles and near-death experiences have

received unprecedented exposure on the Internet, on cable-TV and in the print media.

Individuals and topics which would rarely be covered in the past out of fear of

offending the vast majority religious. Could such boldness be attributed in part to the

weakening of the once powerful Catholic Church in the United States by the child

molestation scandals that came to light about a decade ago?

Could it in part be do to a loss of patience and, therefore, a reconsideration of belief

by the religious due to the failure of the Messiah to return or to make his first

appearance, Christians and Jews, respectively. There is no question but that the

apostles expected Jesus to return within their lifetimes or shortly thereafter.

What will come of this new exposure to what was once perceived as forbidden ideas?

Presently, five percent of Americans identify themselves as atheists and five per

cent agnostic. We predict that those numbers will more than double over the next

decade which isn't necessarily a good thing,

 

The Problem with Religion and Science:

Up first: Religion

We enjoy writing about our Chosen People (www.quasarpolitics.blogspot.com

"...Alexander had tried by conquest to unite the known world. He had brought into

closer touch with each Greece, Egypt, Palestine, Babylonia, Persia, and even a part

of India. He founded Alexandria which grew into a great city where the scholars of

the time mingled. he and his successors overran Palestine and tried to hellenize

Jewish thought. from this time on, the Greek influence is evidenced in Jewish thinking..."

-"Handbook in the History of Philosophy" by Albert e. Avery (Barnes and Noble, 1961)

It isn't until near the end of the Old Testament that the idea of the bodily resurrection

enters the picture. It is in the Book of Daniel. Jews were about to go to war, therefore,

martyrdom for the faith had to be justified. Your body would be resurrected at the Last

Judgement prior to God creating a new Heaven and a new Earth. Also the need to

demonstrate that death wasn't stronger than God. Daniel knew nothing of soul. A

century late, Jews encountered Plato's concept of soul. It exists in Heaven, enters

corrupt body prior to birth, will return to Heaven while unnecessary body decays. They

combined Daniel with Plato in their thinking: body and soul will be resurrected. It is

part of Rabbinic Talmud and not Old Testament per se.

During the Enlightenment, some Jews felt that in order to be taken seriously certain

concepts had to be abandoned. Bodily resurrection of the decayed body seemed

absurd.

Will their be a Messiah and the creation of a new Heaven and Earth? See: "Plato's

Man in the Cave Series: Soul" downstairs and you will also ascertain how  Jewish

denomination of Reconstructionist Jew developed since the Enlightenment.

"This humble and self-sacrificing Jew represents a new vision of the Almighty: no

longer a stern and demanding tyrant intent on punishing even those who cannot help

themselves, but a loving and forgiving  father who offers rest and peace to imperfect

humans who accept his grace. Besides, by transforming this Jesus into a mystic Christ-

Redeemer Paul could become the Apostle-in-Chief of a new program of salvation with a

culture-wide appeal".-"Paul: The Founder of Christianity" by Gerd Ludemann (Prometheus

Books 2002). "Paul's self-reported appointment to be an apostle was also attributed

to the resurrected Jesus---although a number of the original apostles remained

unconvinced."-The Acts of the Apostles: What Really Happened in the Earliest Days of

the Church" by Gerd Lidemann (Prometheus Books, 2005).

Newt Gingrich's "Rediscovering God in America" (Integrity Publishers, 2006): "Historians

have long debated the extent of George Washington's faith. However, as historian

Michael Novak has recently observed, Washington's own step-granddaughter. 'Nelly' Curtis,

thought his words and actions were so plain and obvious that she could not understand

how anybody failed to see that he had always lived as a serious Christian.

You can see a line from Osiris to Hercules to Jesus; You can see how Plato and Philo

influenced Paul nearly as much as Jesus.

The apostles were practicing Jews while Paul, the Founder of Christianity, stopped pract-

icing it, for the most part, after discovering Jesus.

The apostles believed Jesus to be Messiah. Paul believed him to be Messiah and Son

of God. A few Apostles came to agree with Paul, including, Peter; most didn't, including,

Jesus' brother James. James was the first bishop of the Nazarenes (practicing Jews who

believed in Jesus; they can be considered Jewish-Christians) - the Bishop of Jerusalem.

As we stated in earlier installments, Paul's views prevailed. Did he hijack Jesus from the

Apostles (unlike Paul, they actually knew Jesus).

James remains in Jerusalem awaiting Jesis' imminent return and being critical of the

usurper Paul. Paul's assertion that pagans could accept Jesus without obeying the Law

(the Ten Commandments plus the other 603 commandments) was apparently abhorrent

to James. James 2:12 reads, "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point

has become guilty of all of it. The upshot is that the author of James attacks passages

from the Pauline letters and thereby Paul himself. James may be considered an anti-Pauline

 document.

What about the Gospel of Mark? Gerd writes, "And it is the divinization of Jesus (a step that

comports with ---- if it does not derive from ---- Paul) by which Mark steers the gospel

tradition into a path that led inexorably away from the strict monotheism of Judaism."

Each Gospel appears to be written for a different audience. Mark: world is bad and about to end.

Save your soul. Apostolic - end of the world view - Paul's view. Mathew: Jesus is a great

teacher and interpreter of truth. Jewish audience. Luke: Jesus is Savior of all people and all

nations. Gentile audience, Paul's view.  John: more Gnostic, Holy Spirit-oriented.

"Jesus was a first century Palestinian Jew...The theology was Jewish monotheism...Jesus

shared the belief that Israel's god was the only true god...Jesus shared the belief that

Israel had been chosen to be YHWH's special people, through whom the world would be

addressed by its creator."-The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions" by Borg and Wright

(HaperCollins, 1999). The Apostles believed Jesus to be the Messiah - the fulfillment of the

Old Testament promise. Some would come to agree with Paul (the self-appointed 13th

Apostle) that Jesus was the Son of God. James didn't.

 

The Egyptian god Osiris goes back to about 3,000 B.C. Of course, they would have thought

that he always existed. The Egyptians believed that Osiris was of divine origin, that he

suffered death and mutilation at the hands of the powers of evil. After a great struggle with

those powers, he rose again. He became henceforth the king of the underworld and judge

of the dead and because he conquered death the righteous might also conquer death.

In a communion ceremony, the death of the grain and the death of Osiris are one and the

same. The cereal is identified with the god who came from heaven; he is the bread by which

 man lives. The resurrection of the god is symbolized by the rebirth of the grain.

Further, grain becomes beer: sacred to the gods; joy-giving to humans. Give us an hallelujah!

The Coptic (Catholic, Apostolic) Church was founded by the apostle Mark and has its HQ in

 Egpt. In the early Coptic Church (which separated out from the Roman Catholic Church),

Osiris was considered the prototype for Jesus and in the pictures and statues of Isis (Osiris'

wife) suckling her (their) son Horus, they perceived the prototype of Mary and her child.

Hercules in Greek Mythology would come later but before Jesus. We already discussed

the parallel between the lives of Hercules and Jesus.