THE DECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
Before I go to John’s Gospel, there is one more thing I want to say about Luke because it shows he broke from the pack. When Jesus was put on the cross, he said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Matthew also makes a break when one of the criminals crucified with Jesus asked him if he could be brought into his kingdom. When Jesus died, he died a dignified death, saying in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” I say good for Luke!
These gospels, according to Erhman, are not meant to be historically accurate. So what conclusions can we draw about all these discrepancies? The inerrancy of the Bible just isn’t true, but Christians have often been aware of this, been unfazed by it and still cherished their Bibles. For example, it’s of no importance to me that things in the Bible just ain’t true. Now scholars are saying that Moses never existed. Second, it is important that each author be allowed to speak for himself rather than be forced into a mode that he shares with the others. Each author must be read on his own terms because he usually has a reason for what he says. Third, you can’t read these books as historical accounts. You must be a detective (Erhman), work at it, filter out information, find the commonalities, connect the dots to find the truth.
The Gospel of John is unique in many ways. He had a sign placed on the cross that said “Jesus the Nazorean, King of the Jews” in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. I’m sure he did that to aggravate the Jews. If so, he was successful. Pilate asked the Jews if he should crucify their King and they yelled, “We have no King but Caesar!” At that Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified. Pilate was sorry to see him go. They had long discussions and he knew Jesus was innocent. John’s Gospel is unique too because Jesus carries his own cross. John’s Jesus is no weakling! At the foot of the cross there were several women, most of them named Mary, and John Zebedee. Jesus put his mother in John’s care. John had followed Jesus through all his arrests. he had been the ‘fly on the wall’ in every situation, and apparently no one noticed him. That’s why I think John’s Gospel is by an eyewitness. Jesus was fully conscious when he died. He merely said, “It is finished.” And vacated his body.
Now the Urantia Book gives us the real version. Angels and other beings recorded all of Jesus’ actions and the events he took part in. Each “chapter” is called a Paper and is has several subdivisions, and the sentences are numbered. You can go to the index and look for an item and find it by Paper, subdivision and sentence number. Jesus was a Creator Son of the universe of Nebadon. His name was Michael. He and all the other Michaels were created when the Father and the Mother aspect of the Eternal Son had the same idea at the same time. These Creator Sons were created to rule the local universes. Michael created this universe and everything in it. There are 7 superuniverses with 100,000 local universes in each one. Paradise occupies the Center around which the superuniverses revolve. Christ Michael, as he is known now, built his artificial headquarters planet Salvington himself with the help of huge living machines. All of the artificial planets and satellites are landscaped in ways we can only imagine. People who have NDEs describe plants that seem conscious, Jesus really does have a horse, and the colors are impossible to replicate. There is great technical wizardly in keeping the planets moist, dimming the sky for the hours of rest and supplying energy for light and heat.
There are forces and currents circulating around space that humans have no awareness of. For example, gravity is a gift that comes from the nether side of Paradise (under). Scientists are mystified by the huge dark areas out in space, whether it’s matter or energy or neither. The UB says these dark islands of space are “dead suns and other aggragations of matter devoid of light and heat…this islands sometimes enormous in mass…exert a powerful influence on universe equilibrium and energy manipulation…density unbelievable…these massive islands function as powerful balance wheels, holding large neighboring systems in place. They hold the gravity balance of power in many constellations…many systems which would dive to destruction into a nearby sun are held securely in the gravity grasp if these guardian dark islands.” I wonder how many astrophysicists suspect something like this working in the universe.
