I just finished reading Harper's Magazine current lead story, Jesus Without The Miracles: Thomas Jefferson's Bible and the Gospel of Thomas, penned by Erik Reece. It was an eye-opening, somewhat liberating experience. What did Jesus' teachings really boil down to?
- Be just; justice comes from virtue, which comes from the heart.
- Treat people the way you want them to treat you.
- Always work for peaceful resolutions, even to the point of returning violence with compassion.
- Consider valuable the things that have no material value.
- Do not judge others.
- Do not bear grudges.
- Be modest and unpretentious.
- Give out of true generosity, not because you expect anything in return.
If your budget is a little tight and you can't ante up $7 to buy the magazine, I found another blog that has the entire story ( which has numerous typos, but you can still capture the essence of the piece): http://blindsay.blogspot.com/2005/11/jesus-without-miracles.html
You can do your own comparitive study of 2 primary sources mentioned in this piece:
The Life and Morals of Jesus of NazarethExtracted Textually from the Gospels by
Thomas Jefferson: http://www.angelfire.com/co/JeffersonBible/
The Gospel of Thomas: http://www.misericordia.edu/users/davies/thomas/Trans.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment