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Universal ethical truths are at the core of Jewish High Holy Days theconversation.com/universal-ethi… via @ConversationUS
Hidden beneath the gross mistranslations of the biblical Gospels (all English versions are terrible), they, too, are an urge for personal transformation.
What is mistranslated as “be” instead of “become”. The Greek word is ginomai, not einai (“to be”). It is an action verb. The biblical Jesus tells us that we must “become” wise but innocent (Mt 10:16, Lk 10:3, become like our teacher (Mt 10:25),
become as little children (Mt 18:3, Lk 18:17, Thomas 22), become like a servant (Mt 20:26), become compassionate like a father (Lk 6:36)), act like a neighbor (Lk 10:36), become faithful with that which is ours and with little things (Lk 16:12, 19:17),
become like the youngest and a servant (Lk 22:26), become whole (Jn 5:6), and become one with the flock (Jn 10:16).
The Beatitudes (Mt 5) are about this spiritual transformation. Become merciful, meek, humble in spirit, and simple in heart; bring calmness; hunger for God’s goodness; and grow through pain.
Each is a part of the death of the old self and re-conception in Joshua’s God. Conversion to True Christianity (not the church kind) is a whole-body, whole-mind, whole-soul, whole-value, and whole-life process.
The Beatitudes are highly ironic. Meekness makes us fearless, and thus strong, and thus heirs of the land. Purity of heart allows us to be simple enough to see a small piece of God. Poverty of spirit gives us the simplicity and humility to become “rich in God"
Our compassion for others provides us with mercy. Hunger and thirst for righteousness open us to be filled with spirituality.
In contrast, the gospel offered by most churches requires nothing from us except tithes, platitudes, and sitting in the pews on Sunday, hearing nothing but vain and empty sermons. We must obey the Ten Commandments and numerous manmade rules and “repent” our sins,
we are told. But what we hear is neutral, neutered, impotent & numb – Karl Marx’s “opium of the people.” It is pasteurized, so we will not have to do anything to follow Joshua (the real name of the one they call ‘Jesus’), except to “believe” in him. We get nothing from it except
self-righteousness and a feeling of entitlement (salvation by attending church alone). It requires no change, growth, or sacrifice from us. It is spiritually empty and useless. It has nothing to do with re-conception, nor Joshua, nor the biblical Jesus, nor God.
In modern psychological terminology, the Gospel is about becoming self-actualized.
“the far goal of education- as of psychotherapy, of family life, of work, of society, of life itself-is to aid the person to grow to fullest humanness, to the greatest fulfillment & actualization of highest potentials, to his greatest possible stature.”Psychologist Abraham Maslow
Yes, after twenty centuries, psychology has finally caught up with Joshua.
