A bible about 1500 to 2000 years old, written in Syriac alphabet (a dialect of the Aramaic - the native language of Jesus) was found in Ankara, Turkey in 2000 CE. This Bible discards the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. With several carbon dating tests, researchers have found out that, this Bible was at least 1500 years old when it was discovered. This Bible holds the gospel of Barnabas, and is referred to as the ‘Gospel of Barnabas’ Bible. This Bible resides in the Ethnography Museum of Ankara. According to the gospel of Barnabas, which is the gospel of one of the disciples of Jesus Christ (Barnabas is mentioned in Acts 14:14), Christ was never crucified. Moreover, according to this Bible, Christ was just a prophet who spoke the word of God and not the Son of God. The Apostle Paul is referred to as "The Impostor".
Some religious experts and specialists think that, this is an original Bible. It is written in Aramaic (using Syriac alphabet) in gold letters on loosely bound blackened leather. It is believed that, the Church chose some Gospels and tossed many others which do not appear in the regular Bible. Among those rejected gospels is the Gospel of Barnabas.
As far as we know, Mark and Luke were not among the 12 Apostles of Jesus but their gospels are selected. Thomas was a very loyal Apostle of Jesus, yet gospel in his name was excluded. There also exist gospel of Philip, Judas and Mary all were disciples of Jesus, but their gospels are also excluded from regular Bible. The Secret Book of John, also called the Apocryphon of John is also not included in the regular bible. The “Dead Sea Scrolls", which were written between 150 BCE and 70 CE obtained from Qumran Caves in 20th and 21st century, say a lot about the world in which Jesus was lived. The Qumran Caves are in Judaean Desert - the Wilderness - which is mentioned several times in the regular Bible.
The Jews, long before the time of Jesus, were divided into three sects, the Sadducees, the Pharisees and the Essenes. The Essenes were different from strict Hebrew regime of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Essenes were practising vegetarianism and were against animal sacrifices (“Thou shalt not take the life from any living thing. Life comes only from God, who giveth it and taketh it away”. – Essene book of Moses). Essenes were opposed to taking oaths, they simply said “yes” or “no” in common conversations and were carrying swords only for protection against robbers. Essenes were representing an esoteric aspect of Judaism, or Jewish mysticism known as Kabbalah. Kabbalah teaches belief in reincarnation (Cycles of the soul), astrology, channelling, prophecy, soul travel, angels and organizes itself around the Tree of Life. Essenes had very strict Community Rules. Blind, deaf, lame, leper and sick were excluded from the Essene community. Some say those were jargon words used to represent "sinners", like we call our top entertainers “stars” for example. They were practicing the ritual of excommunication in their society by declaring spiritual death to someone. In their community, wine, in some feasts, was only available to an “upper class” and the rest were allowed only water in those fests.
It is said that, Essenes were owning no property in their own name and had all things in common. They gave up their personal wealth to share with those who are in need, whoever joins them must sell their wealth and the proceeds must be handed over to the common stock. So, there were no rich or poor among them and it is presumed that, Essenes had enormous amount of common wealth in this fashion and many say, some of them found mention in Copper Scroll (The Copper Scroll is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Cave 3 near Khirbet Qumran, written on metal, copper mixed with about 1 percent tin and is a list of locations at which various items of gold and silver are buried or hidden).
Another theory about Essenes suggests that, Essenes were called "The Healers, The Doctors", who were using natural herbs, minerals, oils and special diets for healing. Purity and cleanliness were so important to Essenes and part of their activities included purification by water rituals. They chose not to possess slaves, they were working for the communal good and they considered poor and rich, Jew and gentile alike. They were known for their talent as healers and prophets.
Essenes were travelling a lot even if they had many “Wilderness camps”. Many Essenes were studious and were travelling around the world to gain more knowledge. They had their own "Schools" and sometimes they were called "The School of Prophets".
Acts 23:8 mentions the differences between Sadducees and Pharisees as we read, "The Sadducees say that the dead won't come back to life and that angels and spirits don't exist. The Pharisees believe in all these things". Essenes stood "outside" the convictions represented by either Pharisees or Sadducees. Essenes had no "church" of their own and probably an old Essene movement dramatically ended up in a religion which is widely practiced nowadays.
There were two branches of Essenes - the Nazareans and the Ossaeans. The Nazareans were a liberal Jewish sect, for example, who were supporting the concept of equal opportunity for men and women and were encouraging marriage. It is said that, Jesus was a Nazarene, someone who belonged to Nazareans sect and “Jesus the Nazarene" was misinterpreted as "Jesus of Nazareth". As of today, there is no historical or archaeological evidence that, a town named Nazareth existed in Israel during that time. John the Baptist, Saul (Saint Paul) and some Apostles like John were also Nazarenes according to this tradition.
Jesus was born to a "Young woman (Virgo in Latin)”, Jesus’s mother was not married when she was pregnant with Jesus, but later her fiancé accepted her with Jesus even if he thought of leaving her at first. Matthew 1:24-25 say, "...her fiancé married her and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS". The exact circumstances, how Jesus was conceived is not known to us even if a handful depict Jesus as the result of an affair of his mother before her marriage.
When Jesus's mother was found pregnant before her marriage, that was a clear case of "adultery" in that time, but instead of prosecution, her marriage took place as planned. Probably there was a powerful factor or person which/who was influencing the situation and the same might have helped Jesus to escape from crucifixion later.
As far as we know, Jesus never lived with his biological father and probably that "vacuum" persuaded him to accept and depict God as "Father" always.
According to Luke 2:41-48, by the age of twelve, Jesus had mastered all the Jewish scriptures. Then Bible says, Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men, except this, Bible mentions nothing about the next 18 years of Jesus.
Many believe, Jesus when he was thirteen left for India and has reached India when he was fourteen. India that time includes the current Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Tibet. Jesus received spiritual training in India and spent very long time there. It is said that, this training in India reaffirmed his belief in non-violence and encouraged him to change the doctrines from “eye for an eye” ideology to “love thy neighbour” ideology. It is also said that, Jesus became a well-known Guru in the north-eastern region of ancient India where Buddhism was prominent in that time and when Jesus said, "...no prophet is accepted in his own hometown" (Luke 4:24), probably Jesus was referring to his acceptance in India. At the same time, Jesus was against caste system, supremacy of priests and exploitation of "lower" classes. So, he might not have got acceptance in all parts of India in that time but it is assumed that, Jesus learned lot of Buddhist ideologies from India which were later reflected in his public teachings.
Jesus went back to Israel when he was twenty-nine. Israel was under the Roman empire during that time. Many Jews were cooperating with Roman empire, however many others wanted independence from Roman occupation. Jesus started his mission in Israel after a “baptism” in River Jordan. This also indicates that, Jesus was “out of religion” and is the reason Jesus was required a baptism. He was baptised by his cousin John who is said to be a Master of the Essenes. Jesus was a great teacher and was popular among all levels of society.
Jesus who had liberal views, was a political and social reformer and was against oppression. He questioned religious authorities (Matthew 21:12-15, Matthew 23:1-36) and Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 16:5-12, Luke 18:9-14). To many, Jesus appeared as a king who unite the people of the era against the oppression of the Roman Empire (John 6:15). He stood up for women (Mark 14:3-9, Luke 7:36-50, Luke 8:1-3, John 4:4-41, John 8:1-11, Matthew 19:3-12) and for the poor (Luke 14:12-14, Luke 16:19-31). Jesus dared to lift the ban of excommunication of Lazarus (John 11:1-44), Jesus gave wine to unsanctified in Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11 instead of water, wine for all guests), He flouted the convention about enemies and retaliation (Matthew 5:38-48), about Sabbath (Matthew 12:1-14), was breaking traditions (Matthew 15:1-9), declared all foods are clean (Mark 7:19, 1 Corinthians 10:25-27), confronted with wealthy (Matthew 19:24) and was accepting the blind, deaf, lame, leper and sick who were excluded from the community.
During that time, belief in reincarnation (John 9:2 for example) and a “Guru concept” was not uncommon among Essenes. According to “Guru concept”, a soul can find a teacher or saviour to guide it to eternal home (According to Secret Book of John, "The soul should be guided by another within whom is the Spirit of Life. It will be saved by that means and accordingly will not have to enter a body again."). Jesus was a great teacher and also wanted to guide people who are ready to follow, so through the teacher followers are saved. Jesus made many statements like “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" to declare himself a Guru who is capable of guiding followers to eternity. But later, such statements were used to declare Jesus as God.
In the ancient Jewish spiritual text Zohar, a chapter called "The secret of the servant and the secret of the son” exists in the portion “Behar”, which is one of if its Torah (Five Books of Moses) portions. This chapter teaches that, there are two grades for man, son and servant. Anyone who strives to know God in a particular way (within the secret of Chochmah) is called “The Son of the Holy One” (The Son of God). Also, the son should try to know his Father's secrets and all the mysteries like an ONLY child whose father gave him authority over all his secrets. Anyone who can perform the "many kinds of works required" is in the grade of the servant and is called a "Master".
Zohar, Behar 81 (zohar.com translation) says, “son is who strive to know his Father's secrets and all the mysteries of His house, like an only child whose father gave him authority over all his secrets”, “He who strives in the Torah to know the Holy One, blessed be He, and His mysteries is ' the son of the Holy One blessed be He' ” ,“Therefore, he who strives to know his Father in a particular way, within the secret of Chochmah, is called 'a son' ”.
Zohar, Behar 80 (zohar.com translation) says, "one should be in the grade of the servant in order to perform the many kinds of works required...and is also called ' master' ".
According to the same portion of Zohar, a son is always bound to his father without any separation at all, no one can ever stop him from entering his Father's presence at any time. Son has power over everything and son is always happy in all worlds. A servant does God's work and corrects the constructions of the worlds. If someone become both a servant and a son, then he has all mysteries of God in his hands and is trusted by kings. He is happy in this world and also in the world to come. From that day onward, that man is known and recorded in all those worlds. He gets support in his times of need and he supports all the worlds. God needs nothing but him alone. God is in him and he is in God.
During that time, those who follow Zohar teachings believed that, anyone who "strives to know God in a particular way" can be elevated as 'son of God', 'son of Man (God's human son)'...etc. He should try to know God like the Only Son of God. It was also believed that, through a "Soul with wisdom", another "souls" can find/reach God.
According to Zohar, these (son, servant or both) are probably different statuses a soul can achieve. We don’t know the authenticity or holiness of Zohar teachings. But one can say that, principles of Zohar had an influence on Jesus Christ. When Jesus was mentioning terms like "Son of man, Son of God, ONLY son of God", probably they were in the context of Zohar teachings.
The prayer of Jesus at Gethsemane - "Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine"" (Matthew 26:39) - and his prayer at Golgotha - "Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?", which means "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"" (Matthew 27:46) - reveals the normal human nature of Jesus.
There are also similarities between teachings of Jesus and what was written in Indian scriptures.
For example, the opening verse of the Gospel of John [In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God], which has been used as an evidence of Godly nature of Jesus, is a Vedic verse, " 'Prajapati vai idam agra asit. Tasya vak dvitiya asit. Vag vai Paramam Brahma' meaning 'In the beginning was Prajapati (God), with Him was the Word and Word was really the God' ”.
In Bible, 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, "...your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit...", John 2:21 says, "But the temple Jesus had spoken of was his body". Yajurveda [Katha Upanishad] says, “This body of ours is a temple of the Divine”.
Also, there are striking similarities (which are not listed here) between some teachings of Jesus and Gautama Buddha who lived in India around 500 years before Jesus's birth. Even if Gautama Buddha did not claim any divinity or saviour status rather wished to only be a guide for those who ready to follow, Jesus and Gautama Buddha, both were advocating equality in society and were against the discrimination based on caste or gender or nationality. The concept of "Ascension" in the New Testament of Bible is similar to the concept of "Nirvana" in Buddhism.
Jesus was also talking about reincarnation (Matthew 17:12-13), immediate life after death (Luke 23:43, Luke 16:19-31), communication among deceased (Luke 16:19-31) and communication between deceased and alive (Mark 9:4), all are similar to Indian spiritual or Jewish mystical concepts.
One can argue that, "Preachings of Jesus" were based on teachings found in both Jewish and Indian scriptures.
Those who were cooperating with Roman empire in Israel realised that, Jesus is a threat to their power and so do the Romans. They feared that, Jesus has the charisma to lead an uprising against Imperial Rome. They made a plot to kill Jesus. Then they crucified Jesus. Many experts believe that, everything Jesus did before his crucifixion was planned and that he knew exactly what the consequences would be. One theory suggests that, crucifixion of Jesus was a plot organised by some Jews together with Jesus against Romans in order to establish a Jewish nation, to bring the scattered Jews together and to make them one. John 11:49-52 can be cited to support this theory. But the irony is that, after three centuries, Romans used Jesus and these incidents to bring people together under Byzantine Empire.
Matthew 27:60 says, "...Joseph of Arimathea rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb of Jesus and went away". Then when Jesus "resurrected", Luke 24:2-3 say, "They found the stone rolled away from the tomb but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus". John 20:19 says, "On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"". Why the stone in front of the entrance to the tomb has to be rolled away for resurrection, if Jesus is capable of appearing even when "the doors are locked"?
In Luke 24:41-43 we read that, Jesus is explicitly asking for food after the "resurrection", disciples gave him a piece of broiled fish (broiled fish and a honeycomb according to some translations) and he ate that broiled fish in the presence of disciples to convince them that, he is not a ghost.
Jesus himself declares after "resurrection" in Luke 24:37-39, "Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have". When Apostle Thomas doubted, Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe” (John 20:27).
According to Bible, the "resurrected" Jesus was able to eat and also had flesh and bones like humans. Jesus very much wanted to show that, he is still a human and not a ghost or spirit. Also, surprisingly, Mary Magdalene and disciples had trouble recognizing Jesus when he appeared to them after his "resurrection", even if they were with Jesus until the day when he was crucified. Perhaps, Jesus might have veiled his identity with a different outfit to avoid further problems with authorities. It is also remarkable that Saint Matthew and Saint John (Apostles of Jesus) say nothing about the Ascension of Jesus into heaven in their Gospel. These all suggest that, Jesus didn't die on the cross, but survived the crucifixion somehow or in other words, Jesus raised from the death sentence of Roman empire. This has been interpreted as resurrection.
It is argued that, Jesus returned to India after surviving the crucifixion. According to this tradition, Apostle Thomas also departed to India with Jesus. Thomas accompanied Jesus to Kashmir, via Damascus and Nisbis. Then probably Thomas has gone back to Israel and later in 52 CE, Thomas arrived in Kerala with a group of Jews. There were many Jewish villages in Kerala during that time. According to this tradition, Jesus occasionally came down from his Himalayan abode to visit Thomas and Jesus was seen with Thomas in Southern India too. Jesus lived in Northern India for long time and was a great teacher and reformer. Jesus was called by a different name and was honoured and accepted in India. Jesus died at the age of eighty and was buried in a tomb in Kashmir itself. Thomas was martyred in 72 CE by a fanatic at Parangi Malai (Presently St. Thomas Mount in Chennai) and his body was brought to Mylapore (in Chennai) and was buried there. A church was built over the tomb of Thomas and the area near the church is known as Santhome Church. The word Santhome is derived from Saint Thomas. Santhome Cathedral Basilica is one among the three churches that built over the tomb of an Apostle.
People who claim the disciples of Thomas - Saint Thomas Christians, commonly called in India as Syrian Christians or Nasranis - are a significant community in Kerala at present. Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala includes, believers of Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Chaldean Syrian Church, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Mar Thoma Syrian Church and Malabar Independent Syrian Church. A dialect of Malayalam (language of Kerala) is written using Syriac alphabet and is called Suriyani Malayalam. At present, all these churches are modernised with Christianity of Apostle Peter and Paul.
Actually, Jesus didn't establish any religion in India or elsewhere. Some time after the crucifixion, Apostle Peter and Paul went to Rome and they began a movement which became Christianity later. Early Christians were persecuted for almost three centuries and 300 years later, the Roman Church was formed. Church transformed Jesus to a religion. Today an "Israelite" religion (Christianity) is dominating the Roman empire, those who ordered the execution of Jesus somehow started praying to him after three centuries. This is still a mystery, even Jews do not accept Jesus as God. Perhaps, Roman empire was using Christianity as a tool to unite people under a common notion to protect and perpetuate their governance. In older times, Roman Church was the Church of the Emperors and the Popes. Today Christianity gets widespread acceptance in the world, as it uses several high-quality principles taught by Jesus. Church also uses the scriptures of Jewish people as "old Testament" and is a fundamental part of its doctrines.
Jesus has been adored as the only begotten son of God in Christianity. At present (when I write this), Christianity is the most populous religion in the world. Since no one in the Nazarene movement was thinking about a “new religion”, that movement didn’t establish any religion.
In Mark 12:29 Jesus himself says, "... the Lord our God is the one and only Lord". Jesus Christ was a great teacher and a reformer. Because of his quality teachings, lifestyle and leadership, our limited knowledge makes us think that Jesus is God. People were so delighted with the "charisma of Jesus" that, they thought he must be God, but they should have realized that he has a master and that master is much greater than him, for God is the creator of Jesus. When we realize how vast and beautiful the creation is, we are learning about the Creator at the same time. It is fair to show reverence to Jesus Christ but remember his first and most important Commandment,
The Most Important Commandment
Mark 12:28-30 (New Living Translation (NLT))
One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this, ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength’”
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