Summary of the BiblebyJesus of Nazareth | |||||
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Web Publication by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia in the Southern Autumn of 1996
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Introduction |
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I have read the contents of the bible a number of times in entirety, and referred to certain resources within it on many occasions. As the rest of this website will attest, I have also researched at length a number of other religious texts which have been manifest about the terrestrial planetary environment in the last few thousand years.
As everyone is entitled to their own opinion, it has occurred to me to express mine in no uncertain terms concerning the proliferation of western religious knowledge, and the words contained in what is traditionally accepted to be the standard Christian religious text of the traditional Western culture - also known as The Holy Bible.
Perhaps the most daunting task faced by the students of life today, is the tremendous proliferation of information in the world. How may it all be placed into perspective? How may it be structured and indexed, sorted and summarised? This task, however daunting it may seem to be, must be approached - irrespective of the subject matter of the research project.
How does one summarise the contents of this particular ancient compendium of texts? I have often asked myself this question. How may the entire contents of the bible be summarised into a few short phrases? Or, put in another fashion, if you could only retain a fragment of the text - a simple few verses - which fragment would you choose to retain, and who would be the author of those words?
For what it is worth, I have meditated at length upon this particular question, and have gradually - over the years - been convinced that an answer is indeed forthcoming. Therefore, I have decided to publish this Summary of the Entire Contents of the Holy Bible - by Jesus Christ of Nazareth for it is my contention that the nature of this summary is instructive in a number of ways:
Presented for your webulous edification.
Peace.
Summary of the BiblebyJesus of Nazareth | |||||
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"THOU SHALT LOVE | |||||
Further Web References |
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The Sermon on the Mount - The Discourse of Jesus to the multitudes.
Bible Concordance - A Search Engine for the text of the scripture.
King James Bible - just one site containing the full text.
Gospel of Thomas - known as the coptic gospel of Didymos Judas Thomas, this text was probably first written in Greek (or possibly even Syriac or Aramaic) sometime between the mid 1st and 2nd centuries. The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of traditional Sayings (logoi) of Jesus. In form, it is simply a list of 114 Sayings, in no particular order. A selection of these is presented hereunder, and the link above will fetch the complete work. Although it is not possible to attribute this "Gospel of Thomas" to any particular sect or religious group, it is clearly Gnostic in nature. These are supposedly the "secret sayings" of Jesus, and are intended to be esoteric in nature. The Sayings are not intended to be interpreted literally, as their New Testament parallels (written afterwards) often are, but to be interpreted symbolically, as is attested by the first Saying:
(3) Jesus said, "If those who lead you say, 'See, the Kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty."
(22) Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to His disciples, "These infants being suckled are like those who enter the Kingdom." They said to Him, "Shall we then, as children, enter the Kingdom?" ... Jesus said to them, "When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female; and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter [the Kingdom]."
(49) Jesus said, "Blessed are the solitary and elect, for you will find the Kingdom. For you are from it, and to it you will return."
(50) Jesus said, "If they say to you, 'Where did you come from?', say to them, 'We came from the light, the place where the light came into being on its own accord and established [itself] and became manifest through their image.' If they say to you, 'Is it you?', say, 'We are its children, we are the elect of the Living Father.' If they ask you, 'What is the sign of your father in you?', say to them, 'It is movement and repose.'"
(51) "His disciples said to Him, "When will the repose of the dead come about, and when will the new world come?" He said to them, "What you look forward to has already come, but you do not recognize it."
(62) Jesus said, "It is to those [who are worthy of My] mysteries that I tell My mysteries. Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing."
(77) Jesus said, "It is I who am the light which is above them all. It is I who am the All. From Me did the All come forth, and unto Me did the All extend. Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find Me there."
(80) Jesus said, "He who has recognized the world has found the body, but he who has found the body is superior to the world."
(82) Jesus said, "He who is near Me is near the fire, and he who is far from Me is far from the Kingdom."
(83) "Jesus said, "The images are manifest to man, but the light in them remains concealed in the image of the light of the Father. He will become manifest, but his image will remain concealed by his light."
(113) "His disciples said to Him, "When will the Kingdom come?"
Jesus said, "It will not come by waiting for it.
It will not be a matter of saying 'Here it is' or 'There it is.'
Rather, the Kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it."
Noncanonical Homepage - Welsey Center, US: A collection of the non_canonical documents not included in the bible.
Early Church Documents - Ecole Initiative: a repository of translated primary sources for the bible.
The Gnostic Society Virtual Library - An extensive resource of gnostic material, texts and references on the web.
The Gnosis Archive - Another repository of gnostic information ... summaries, current writings and links
The Gospel of Buddha - complied from ancient records by Dr. Paul Carus, USA, 1894.
The Prophet Muhammad - An Outline of the Life of the founder of Islam.
The Soul of the Indian - an interpretation of Dr Charles Eastman, published in 1911.
The Rig Veda - the earliest (3700 BC) of recorded teachings concerning the nature of man.
Summary of the BiblebyJesus of Nazareth | ||||||||
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"THOU SHALT LOVE | ||||||||
Web Publication by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia in the Southern Autumn of 1996 |