StephentheHeathen's Blog

Although you're correct on the fact there is no account for the 18 yr gap between the 12 y/o Jesus at the Temple and the 30 y/o teacher/Rabbi, I've never heard he roamed around India, etc. Since he was known as a carpenter, I would assume he spent time helping Joseph in his trade. Jesus was well known in his community so I would think he didn't do much traveling outside his home base until he began preaching. I don't think that's something we're going to know in the here and now. But, we really don't know anything of his childhood either other than the event at the Temple. It's just my thought he was just like any other Jewish man of his time.

I meant who Jesus visited.

Or who budda visited for that matter.

If you see buddha on the road, kill him.

Stephen; just sitting here thinking about something on your last post...."influence of Buddism on Jesus' teachings". It is my belief that what Jesus taught was learned from his 'human upbringing' (so to speak)which would have been from the Hebrew Bible or the first 5 books of what we refer to as the Old Testament. The majority of both the Sermon on the Mount and the Lord's Prayer are taken from that scripture as well as from the Psalms. So in that sense, wouldn't his goodness and forgiveness teachings, (especially the Beatitudes), mean that David, Solomon, Moses, etc. had all traveled through India, Nepal and Tibet to become influenced by Budda as well? Not trying to be a smart-aleck here, but truly, his teachings were straight out of the "Hebrew" bible. They are there if we take the time to look. As I mentioned before, the makings of the Lord's Prayer and the Beatitudes were actually not original with Jesus. This was pointed out to me by a very cool Jewish professor. We can learn something every day!

Hey Stephen....I've been thinking again (uh-oh) about your last paragraph about Indian influence on Judaism. This might be a little out there; but my bible reading tells me that the sons of Noah populated the earth after the flood. Unless I misread, his sons must have had skin shade variations as Ham is described as being quite dark in colour. These sons and their families moved to different parts of the earth, so why not to the areas we call Nepal, India, etc.? Also, biblical writings tell us that without a strong king/priest, the Israelites habitually fell back into idolatry or non-Jewish practices. That doesn't always mean violent hedonistic behaviour IMO. So perhaps the families of the sons of Noah became gentle Hindus or Buddhists, or at least created those religions?
Good point about the 3 wise men. They certainly weren't Jews! Most likely Indian and/or Asian with a degree in either astronomy or astrology! ;) How else would they have known about that star?
Lastly, I do think Jesus did have that pipeline opened up to his Father and the info was coming right from the source. I think all the points he made were what had been written in scripture. I think instead of just reading the dry "written" word, he was good at preaching and was able to show people how to put it into practice using everyday examples. (that would be the parables, I guess!) Anyway, you are a very interesting fellow Stephen and I enjoy thinking about your points of view!

I will be the best Christian I can be if you'll be the best pagan you can be! :) I am flattered that you think I've been sandbagging you! I'm just a good reader is all and have always been able to retain much of what I read. I'm also one of those people who will re-read books to make sure I haven't missed anything the first go around! I digress, though.
You and the missus must have some interesting conversations! At least you're keeping them civil! I did check out the website you suggested. There are some interesting theories and then there are some way-out theories. Among others, I did enjoy the article on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the "supposed" ossuary of Jesus. Oddly enough I did watch a program just last night on that very thing. It seems the same man is always "discovering" these antiquities, but authorities also discovered in his home, engraving chisels, etc. with which he was "adding" inscriptions to some of these artifacts. And, actually, Jesus and Mary (or Yeshua & Miriam) were quite common names for that time. People will believe what they want, and "faith" is sometimes a hard thing to explain anyway.
And, lastly, that cool Jewish prof. I spoke of earlier will have a website up very soon called AbrahamicBeliefs.Com which will explore Jewish biblical roots of Christian and Muslim teachings. I know you're Pagan, but since you still like to explore, it might be interesting for you to visit once in a while. Hey, don't cringe, I bookmarked the viewzone!

Thanks for the advice Stephen. However, I already pretty much know how the Prof feels about Jesus; precocious at 12 y/o in the Temple with the rabbis but otherwise, simply a good Jewish fellow who went to Temple, knew his scripture and oddly enough, put it into practice. The Prof is a good guy and loves interfaith discussions. My Episcopal church is pretty open about that stuff so I think that's why he likes to have the opportunity to speak there!

Happy studying and when you have more good questions in or out of the Faith blog, know I'll be there once I give it some thought! (of course, Wingman will be there too I imagine...but he's a nice chap)

Stephen, to quote yoda, who actually promoted many Zen beliefs:

"There is no why"

jp, thanks for the reply, like I said I ask to learn not for argument on this subject.

I fully understand what you mean by "to be wholly present in whatever you're doing, regardless of what that may be" and "truly living in the present, the here and now". I believe that is one of the fundamental practices or attitudes to have. But doesn't it also mean that another fundamental practice or attitude is to get to what the truth of what the "real" world really is - suffering and the cause of suffering?

I have finished reading 'Buddhism for Dummies' and I know that it isn't THE complete study on the subject. Right now I'm reading a book titled 'Dharma Rain' and it's about engaged Buddhism in ecology. I have read about a half dozen websites and the best so far are these;

http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/where_beginner_study_
practice_meditation.html and,

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/basic-guide.htm


One more question, do you meditate and if you do do you have any tips?

Rabid, and you're a Star Wars fan too? If we keep meeting like this people will start to talk! LOL