Hello Everyone - Very interesting discussion! I am new here, but a long-time 'student' and 'interpreter' of Jesus's words/sayings. I personally think that
literal interpretations of them (as well as what others have declared in the Bible) are often ill-logical. Sometimes, as for instance in the saying about 'eating' and 'drinking' Jesus' 'flesh and 'blood', ridiculously so. I have written a treatise, titled "What Did Jesus
Really Mean?", Chapter Two of which goes into the matters being discussed here by interpreting Jeus's statements in non-literal terms. Here is a sampling of quotes from said Chapter (a pdf of which is freely downloadable by clicking
here) which I 'dish up'
as an enticement.:
From page 27 "What else could the truth alluded to by Jesus’ various statements: “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it”, “
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by
me” and “He that believeth on
me hath everlasting life” possibly mean then? This is something you may well ask, especially if you’ve been indoctrinated by
literal interpretations of such sayings. Comprehension in this regard requires that one appreciate what Jesus himself understood the earthly dynamic of our Life-Source and, consequently, what
he grokked the nature of his and everyone else’s personal Life (which are expressions of and so
only exist as a function of said Life Source’s Flow) to transcendentally be. What follows should come as ‘good news’ to anyone who has been
disillusioned by growing awareness of the
many ways in which the ‘app’☺ of
rational logic is making it clear that
literal interpretations of what’s said in
The Bible are actually
nonsensical. This doesn’t mean that
real truth isn’t
figuratively referenced by Jesus’ statements, however."
From pages 55 & 56 "As to the reason for the
extreme emphasis on
believing in ‘
him’ in statements such as “He that
believeth on
me hath everlasting life.” (John 6:47) and “
I am the resurrection, and the life: he that
believeth in
me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and
believeth in
me shall never die.” (John 11:25 26) – again, before I go on, let me once more remind you that his ‘
me’ referenced
the Living Entity of Life
because Jesus personally
completely ‘i’dentified with
It ! – my guess is that he figured that if folks didn’t
at least believe that they had potentially ‘immortal’ (because existentially ‘rooted’ in
said Entity) souls, such that they
could (and
would,
if they lived ‘in accord’ with what he taught)
continue to be functionally operational
as coherent psychospiritual gestalts in the context of the ever-ongoing Flow of Creation
after their physical body ‘died’,
still ‘petty’
self ‘i’dentifying folks (which most of those around him then were) wouldn’t have sufficient ‘reason’ to
choose to make the kinds of
self-subordinating choices that are
necessary for a soul to
psychospiritually transcend the parameters of its ‘natural’ (while
bodily ensconced, that is) constellation of
selfishness. The ‘promise’ that the souls of those who
believe that they have a
Cosmic ‘I’dentity
will (in due course) be ‘freed’ from having to suffer the many kinds of naturally unwanted experiences (such as frustration, pain, loss, and death) which are unavoidably part and parcel of existence in a physiosocial context and live in a state of unadulterated Love and Joy forevermore thereafter
may indeed function
as a
self-transcendence
motivating ‘pitch’ in relation to those who are still myopically entranced, and so essentially ‘enslaved’, by their own
selfishness.
Such kind of
belief is a
double-edged sword, however, because ‘negative’ effects may and often do accrue as a result of the
self reifying motivation which often ‘greedily’, in such regards at least, hitches a ride on it. As many have over the course of time since become aware, it is important that those who presently
aren’t (so aware) be educated to the point where they also appreciate the fact that, notwithstanding the
many ‘positive’ results that are clearly attributable to the kinds of Life embracing attitudes and intentions which logically derive from people embracing said
belief, a whole slew of negatively consequential
errors in judgment and consequent
malfeasance (‘
sins’ if you will) have historically not only gone unrecognized as being such, but even been paraded and lauded as ‘holy’ as a result of over simplistic interpretation and propagandizement of the ‘assurances’ and ‘guarantees’ pertaining to the futures which such kinds of ‘promises’ advertise.
Why? Because
simply ‘thinking the thought’ and ‘talking the talk’, i.e.
just believing and socially affiliating with others who ‘confess’ and ‘proclaim’ their
belief that what Jesus and others have stated in similar regards is
absolutely true,
won’t result in a soul’s psychospiritually
realizing the ‘eternally’ ongoing Life he referenced. One has to
actually ‘walk the walk’ of
self-
transcendence by
really considering and intelligently (one might say,
Solomonically☺)
evaluating what most likely
will and what most likely
won’t serve to
maximize the experience and expression of Love and Joy in
The Flow of Life
and then
really (i.e. conscientiously!)
choosing to
do what(ever!) one consequently thinks and feels has the best chance of so
serving – in other words,
not just for one’s own
self ’s or any other particular
self ’s or set of
selves’ Love and Joy ‘sakes’–
as one goes along, for the
kind of Life Jesus spoke of to be ‘entered into’ and soulfully ‘lived’ thereafter."
Enjoy!
[Note: the link provided above will just lead to the downloading of (66 page) Chapter 2 which begins on page 24 of the treatise. If you'd rather download the full treatise, including Chapter 1 (which deals with issues other than the one's being discussed in this thread, click
here.)