Quote from Starstud:
Jesus.. I can't believe there are still people that don't realize Paul wove a pagan myth around him to appeal to the Romans
The brother of Jesus (James, head of the Jerusalem church) was appalled at the deification of his ordinary flesh and blood brother
Paul was a Pharisee, by his own account, learned of Gamaliel. He was not interested in pagan myths. However, he was very interested in Hebrew myths. As such, he wove the theme of sacrifice into the crucifixion, as well as rabbinical eschatology.
James was conservative, and managed to stay under priestly radar by keeping with judaic law. This would explain why he was not targeted when Paul was running about harrassing as many of "the Way" as he could get his hands on.
Paul blessed and cursed, alternately. James addresses this kind of incongruency in his epistle. Just because James was a blood brother does not mean he understood me more. It may even qualify him to understand me less.
Given James' conservative bent to keep the law, three of his associates took it upon themselves to record a first hand account...a sayings gospel called "Words of the Master". Stephen was one of those authors, each speaking from memory what they had heard me say. They did this because even though James was my heir apparent, he was conservative, and they did not trust he would transmit purely the message I conveyed...which was by comparison,
radical.
Twenty years after my crucifixion, Stephen had earned some notoriety, drawing the attention of many, including the marauding Paul, then called "Saul". There were three prime teachers of the Way in those days...who taught faithfully. Stephen was one of them. Paul/Saul stood holding the coats of those who stoned him.
Later, years after Paul had grabbed mind-share around the Mediteranean, the synoptic gospels were written, partially borrowing from "Words of the Master", partially borrowing from Paul's neo-pharisaic theology. As the gospel became a popularity contest, it diverged more and more from the original, as reflected in "Words of the Master", as well as the sayings gospel of Thomas. These came under attack as a Pauline-istic church arose to power. "Words of the Master" was wiped out, and a copy of Thomas survived because someone took the initiative to bury it somewhere in Egypt.
After so many years around the Mediteranean, Paul came back to Jerusalem, and paid a visit upon James. James advised Paul to at least make a show of keeping the law while many were coming to town for the rites of purification...and this included many law-keeping "brothers". So Paul shaved his head with three others and bode his time in the temple whereupon he was recognized by some Jews who had heard Paul preach around the Mediteranean. These accused him of preaching against the law and defiling the temple and started beating him up. A roman guard saved him and took him into custody where he was eventually delivered to Rome on charges of disorderly conduct. Two years later he met his end.
The point of this story is that neither James nor Paul understood the gospel. James considered me ordinary, while Paul considered me special. Few, save such as Stephen, considered me an equal
and divine. My truth is everyone's truth. We have all been the prodigal Son of God. We have masked our divinity in "flesh". And when we resurrect - wake up - from this nightmare, our inheritance will be restored to us gladly by our Father. We are all the Son of God, equals to each other, and equals to our Father. There is no heirarchy in the Kingdom. Therefore, there are no bodies in the Kingdom. So there is no bodily resurrection as Paul preached. Resurrection is of the mind, as Thomas reckoned.
Jesus