Customer Reviews

Jesus Mysteries

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While all religions start out as being man's interpretation of the visible and invisible world around him, all result in being not only corrupt and controlling, but actually leading that same man not to a place of fulfillment, but one of dogmatic emptiness. "The Jesus Mysteries" explores how this was done to the Christian religion.

Be prepared to think the unthinkable thought that the Bible is not the word of God. Instead it is a compilation of tribal histories whereby the men who wrote it, namely the Jews, proclaim themselves to be God's 'favored race'. This, in itself, should cancel the validity of the Old Testament; What type of God would choose a certain people as being His 'favorite' while the rest are to be subjected to His wrath? The second unthinkable thought is that the New Testament is as fanciful and deceitful as the "Old". Its contents are filled with duplicated stories taken from other 'pagan' religions of the time, scriptural rewrites such that a standard Catholic dogma can be enforced or actual forgeries were made to appear as if they reinforced "God's truths' and then passed off as being written under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

As this book so clearly points out, the truth of all that is visible and invisible around us lies within each of us. No, none of us needs a congregation of worshipers or a ego-driven pastor to tell us what 'their truth' is. It is already there lying quietly inside each of us simply waiting for its discovery. I strongly advise all persons who feel that fundamentalism or literalism is the 'path to the truth' to read and reread this text. Yes, this book has a few historical errors in it, but the thrust of the book is to inspire its readers to only accept fact over fiction and reality over faith. For that is deserves 5 Stars!

This book is not an attack on Christ, it is rather an exaltation of the universal Christ principle.

I found that everything that ever disturbed me, or rang false, about the gospels was washed away by the authors' Jesus Mysteries Thesis. I also realised why I have been so strongly drawn to Gnosticism over the years- it was the original faith, a faith hyjacked and perverted by an authoritarian, worldly, imperial, bureaucracy.

There have been many Christs in many cultures: Osiris, Dionysis, Attis, Adonis, Bacchus, Mithras.... The central theme to all their stories was a son of God coming to earth, to learn, teach, and grow before being crucified on a cross of matter, and returning to the place from whence he came. This was also the central mystery in all cases: we are to realise that we too descended from another place and that we are to learn, grow and teach before we return there. This is the great truth to the Christ principle.

How could this truth be a threat to anyone with a spark of spiritual insight?

One main problem i had with this book is its simplistic view of the Gospels in Chapter 4.
If you really understand the Gospels, you'll understand that it is not just a copy of Platonism.. and this is coming from a big Plato fan.

I don't recall Plato or the Greeks suggesting we should devote our life to the poor and outcasts of society. Conviniently, this message (although in my opinion the most important) of the Gospels is not addressed in the chapter.

Don't let any sort of historical information discredit the message of the Gospels and Jesus' life changing philosophy.

Also take note of the time line of the similarties between Christianity and the Mystery religions,
he does say that Mystery Religions commonly integrated other religions into their own. Think of the opposing arguments to this book as well before coming to a conclusion.

Read skeptically.

I highly recommend this book, espcialy for people with classical histroy knowledge who are trying to fill the gaps of the transition from the pagan world to the dominance of western christianity. This book tied everything together for me that I had always known to be true, and made it clear, and easy to understand.

Mystery rites and religion have existed since the earliest times in history; their history being longer than Christianity itself.

A fascinating read!