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September 29 & October 7th, 2006
Santa Cruz, California
Received by FAB.
I am here, Jesus.
The atmosphere in which I lived was saturated with the
concept of the soul, and how it is that part of humanity
that comes from God. It is because of the soul that we
must be careful in the things we do and say. This latter
concept was deeply embedded in my culture. I felt that it
was because of this idea that I felt it was important not
to antagonize our Roman occupiers.
Now, there were many who were not educated in the Torah,
who felt that violence was appropriate. But those who were
wise in our tradition felt as I did, that violence would
only produce more violence. So you see, I saw myself as
upholding a tradition that was already in place.
I know this clashes with the widespread view that my
insights originated directly from God. Well, yes, some of
my insights, such as the New Birth, did. But generally, I
was a "mainline" Jew, in that I simply expanded on the
prevalent notion that the soul must be nurtured, and that
we are responsible to God for our behavior.
I now want to discuss the afterlife, and how the Talmudic
thinkers influenced my way of thinking.
My study of the Torah was amplified by the increased
wisdom of the centuries. That is, as time wore on, there
was an advance over the more primitive views that
prevailed in past centuries.
The concept of the afterlife was refined and amplified. So
that when I was ready to go out into the world, my
intuitive perception of the cause and effect between
righteous living and happiness in the life to come, and
conversely, sinful conduct, followed by suffering and
darkness in the next life, had become greatly expanded and
reinforced by many elements and factors that simply
confirmed my belief.
Of course, in my case, these insights amounted to a
certainty, whereas in many cases, my contemporaries had
knowledge more through reasoning, speculation, and hope.
But notwithstanding this, I took from them all I could.
Some things the Talmudic thinkers presented were true and
others false, but I simply discarded these false notions,
and rejoiced that I was in a culture that supported my
views. This caused a happiness in me, and it was also one
of the reasons I was so popular.
The New Testament often presents my audience as not
comprehending my message, and indeed, this is quite true.
My disciples could not understand my idea that my kingdom
would not be of this world, but in the Celestial Heavens
(since I knew that Celestial soul condition could not
prevail on Earth in my times), and Nicodemus could not
understand the New Birth. But at least part of my appeal
arose because in other ways, I said things that they had
heard others saying, only in an amplified way.
By the time of my ministry, Judaism had evolved to a
rather sophisticated concept of the afterlife. It was
already a given that goodness would be rewarded. I knew
that God does not punish. But we all, no matter what our
beliefs were, knew, simply knew, that if we did evil that
was unrepented, we would suffer in the next life. That is
why I, and others like me, out of pure love tried to show
our erring fellow Jews a better way.
Judaism teaches Purgatory (Gehinnom) rather than the
eternal hell of Orthodox Christianity. The concept is one
of purification rather than total condemnation. This is
much closer to the truth than the unreasonable teachings
of the Orthodox Christians.
The rabbis also taught that the pain of Gehinnom was more
mental than physical. This is also closer to the truth,
since the suffering of spirits is the direct result of the
workings of conscience, and not the physical torment that
would be impossible without the physical body, left behind
at death.
It will be a surprise to many that the Talmud actually
endorses a form of reincarnation, which does not exist.
And it will be a bigger surprise to many devout Jews that
a principal tenet of Judaism, the resurrection of the
body, will never occur.
But even with all these untrue teachings considered, the
Talmudic rabbis had a remarkable grasp of these matters.
Humanity now awaits the blossoming of spiritualism, which
has spirits communicating directly to the Earth. And
crowning everything else will be the New Birth of the
soul, wherein Immortality is assured.
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