Артур Задикян – Jesus and Christ (страница 35)

Nomor stopped talking for some reason, looking around at his listeners again.

– By the way, why don't we talk about other religions?

– So what was the most important thing you wanted to say? – came from a stately man of rather aristocratic appearance, with a high forehead, which seemed even larger because of an island of bald spots and slicked-back, thinning hair.

Rutra gave him the codename Uranus – he had a cold and menacing stare. In the world, he was an expert on antiquities in the Guggenheim network of museums.

– Ahh…I was going to say holy relics, or rather, relics of saints.

The minister was silent again, apparently wanting to find out whether he was satisfied with the questioner's answer. Whether he did or not we do not know (Rangit did not include anything on this occasion in his report), but apparently his holiness decided that he was not satisfied. This was clear from his subsequent statement.

– You may think otherwise… or you may not be very pleased to hear what I have to say…" he paused again, looking at Uranus.

– And yet? – Realizing the expectation of his approval, the antiquity specialist asked.

– There is such a relic as the circumcised foreskin of Jesus.

– I know, I'd like to see her," he said mischievously, to everyone's surprise.

– We'll talk about that later," said Nomor, embarrassed. – I would like to exhaust the subject of the birth of the Holy Spirit. This myth – we can call it the myth of the birth of the Holy Spirit – is found not only in popular articles by theologians, but also by serious scholars. And this is understandable – the Immaculate Conception is a miracle, a supernatural intervention, and if one holds to a worldview in which there is no place for God or any of his actions in the world, he will inevitably reject any evidence of such supernatural intervention. He will simply be forced to look for any explanation for the available evidence other than the most direct one – a miracle. Let me try to explain who benefits from this myth.

– And why do you think that your worldview is the right one? – Uranus asked, raising his hand tentatively. – Why do you think that billions of people are wrong? I believe that it is you who are wrong, and you need to be saved.

Ffitnop reacted to such an accusation as a man of his vocation should – calmly. Or rather, he responded in the same manner, ignoring the remarks and simply continuing his narrative:

–Liberal Protestantism played a major role in the development of myth: faced with an increasingly skeptical, materialistic cultural milieu in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, some theologians decided that it was a good idea to begin to accommodate and somehow obscure some of the biblical miracles that drew particular ridicule from unbelievers. For that matter, they caused ridicule in ancient times as well. However, no matter how you look at it, the fact that materialism may have been popular in no way proves it true. The thesis "there can be no miracles, because there can never be any" is just a statement of worldview preference with no evidence behind it. A simple example, the very fact of the possibility of the mission in which we all take part: conversion of human consciousness, sending it by means of the paradox of quantum entanglement, finding a homogeneous environment for oneself, implantation in the brain – is it not a miracle? After all, all these phenomena exist to some extent in the world without any secret program. Think about it, don't we convert our consciousness by expressing our thoughts in speech and in all derivatives – songs, poems, scientific discoveries… even in an ordinary conversation. We can thus send our converted thoughts by writing on paper, by radio waves, even by light signals. What's so surprising about finding a medium that is homogeneous to ourselves? After all, ideas born of thought, expressed by speech, find a home in the brain for which they are a homogeneous medium in terms of unanimity. We hear, we agree, we act. A kind of conversion of your desire to do the action. Your thought has entered someone else's brain and caused that body to do what you intended. The technology created by Master Rutra does the same thing, only on an unconscious level. And worlds, many worlds, the existence of which some people doubt, are in all religious doctrines and in the faith of atheists. To be more exact, atheists do not believe in the existence of God as an intelligent Creator, but believe in another Creator – the general nature of metaphysics, so they believe that in the vast expanses of the universe more than one our world was formed. And if we believe in God and believe in the resurrection of Christ from the dead – an event, undoubtedly, supernatural, – we should not question other miracles not connected with Christ, Christianity and religion in general. This is faith, after all. If you selflessly believe in your miracle, then the rest of us have the same right. Everyone – in his miracle. I will note: atheists – in quantum miracle, cloning, transfer of mind into a new body and in general into a machine, and most importantly – transfer with the help of quantum entanglement to unimaginable distances, inclusion into another living being. Yes, yes, I see your surprised faces, I believe in the technology invented by Mr. Rutra and his team. You can wonder further: for example, in Catholicism, the Virgin Mary is also born immaculate. By the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary is meant the Catholic teaching that the Virgin Mary was born without original sin, that is, she was absolutely sinless. Though it is not clear, in what sin. In fact the original sin first of all concerned disobedience not to eat from a tree of knowledge of good and evil. The question of sex was not mentioned. Though from this also follows the conclusion – childlessness is considered holy. Because Adam and Eve made children after expulsion from paradise. Their sinlessness in paradise consisted, among other things, in the absence of sexual intercourse between them. And what about the first commandment given by God to Adam and Eve – be fruitful and multiply… Here and in similar places there is a typical inconsistency of logical inferences. Because the sin on the issue of sex appeared in the doctrine in later times. Based on utilitarian principles. Sexual contacts became tabooed, regulated purely because of attractiveness in the narcotic sense and problematic in physiological, biological and social sense. Yes, also on the question of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The Orthodox Church does not hold this view… Jesus Christ is the central figure not only in Christianity. The central idea in Christianity is his atoning sacrifice for the sins of men. However, we must recognize: there are virtually no sources of information about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ other than the Gospels. Whether you like it or not, I must go over your memory, for it is likely that many elements of the narrative are familiar to you. So, an informational excursion through the pages of theological literature. Let's talk about such an institutional subject as the body of Christian perceptions and concepts associated with the name of Christ. What do we actually know about it? How do the ministers of cults present it to us? It would be more correct to say – cults. So, versions…

The theology professor began to speak faster in the format of a report, repeated many times, learned by heart:

– According to the Christian Nicene-Tsaregrad Creed, Christ is the Son of God, consubstantial (i.e., of the same nature) with the Father, God incarnate in human flesh. Also, the Nicene-Tsaregrad Creed affirms that Christ died to atone for human sins and then rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and will come a second time to judge the living and the dead. According to the Athanasian Creed, Jesus Christ is the second person (hypostasis) of the Trinity. Other Christian beliefs include the Immaculate Conception of Jesus, the working of miracles, and more. Although the dogma of the Trinity is accepted by most Christian denominations, some groups reject it in whole or in part, deeming it unbiblical. The person of Christ causes a great deal of controversy on both academic and domestic levels. There are debates over the very fact of Jesus' existence, the chronology of his life, his social status and cultural milieu, the ideas he preached and their significance for humanity. Orthodox Judaism does not recognize Jesus as a prophet or Messiah. According to Islam, Jesus is considered to be one of God's important prophets, the bringer of Scripture, and a miracle worker. Jesus is also called the Messiah, but Islam does not teach that he was divine. Islam teaches that Jesus bodily ascended to heaven, without any crucifixion and resurrection, unlike the traditional Christian belief of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let's analyze the origin and meaning of the name. Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Yeshua, which consists of the roots of the words "Yahweh", the name of God in the Old Testament, and "Shu'ah" – salvation. Before the church reform of Patriarch Nikon, the name of Jesus was written and pronounced with one letter "i" – Isus. Patriarch Nikon changed the spelling and pronunciation – Iisus – in order to bring them closer to the Greek version. The spelling of the name Jesus with one "i" remained unchanged in Ukrainian, Belarusian, Croatian, Ruthenian, Macedonian, Serbian and Bulgarian. Christ is not a first or last name, as many people think. It is in the traditions of religion, exactly in the tradition of the Jewish religion, there was no Christianity at that time, the designation of his mission, the word is Greek, in Hebrew mashiach – messiah, that is savior. The epithet "anointed one" was used in ancient Israel in relation to kings and priests. Putting kings on the throne and priests to serve in Israel through the solemn anointing with oil. Initially priests were called "anointed", and after the establishment of the monarchy in Israel the word "anointed" began to be used in relation to kings. Accordingly, the Jewish prophets heralded the coming of a king from the line of David, an "anointed one" who, being both priest and king, would fulfill all that Israel expected of the true King of Peace.