In regards to eating meat

[Tenet Nosce]

:exclamation: Great quotes!

Jesus

"What are the sins we must shun, that we may never more see disease?" And Jesus answered, "It was said to them of old time "Thou shalt not kill", for life is given to all by God, and that which God has given, let not man take away. For I tell you truly, he who kills, kills his brother. And from him will the Earthly Mother turn away and Satan will have his dwelling in his body. And the flesh of slain beasts in his body will become his own tomb. He who kills, kills himself and who eats the flesh of slain beasts, eats the body of death".

full text: Essene Gospel of Peace

The Essenes were a certain reclusive sect of Christianity that was still very much steeped in the dualistic thinking of Zoroastrianism ("wickedness" and "righteousness") and the absolutism of the Jainists ("always" and "never"). This makes the text more than a little suspect to me about these being the true words of Jesus. I think he was probably a little more evolved than that?

Though I see your point... this is actually the first I have read of Jesus advocating for vegetarianism...

So eat always from the table of God: the fruits of the trees, the grain and grasses of the field, the milk of beasts, and the honey of bees.

... but apparently not veganism.

I have cast it out of you and killed it that it may never again torment you.

So killing worms (which are animals) does not appear to violate the Law. Whew! That's a relief! I thought perhaps I should allow worms to grow in my digestive tract, so as not to harm them or cut their lives short.

It is the fire which blazes outside your body, which is hotter than your blood. With that fire of death you cook your foods in your homes and in your fields. I tell you truly, it is the same fire which destroys your foods and your bodies, even as the fire of malice, which ravages your thoughts, ravages your spirits. For your body is that which you eat, and your spirit is that which you think. Eat nothing, therefore, which a stronger fire than the fire of life has killed. Wherefore, prepare and eat all fruits of trees, and all grasses of the fields, and afl milk of beasts good for eating. For all these are fed and ripened by the fire of life; all are the gift of the angels of our Earthly Mother. But eat nothing to which only the fire of death gives savor, for such is of Satan.

Wow! I guess Jesus was also a raw foodist! So not only will chicken soup kill me, but any soup will kill me! *shock and amazement* And to think all this time I thought it was about serving my fellow man... turns out it was all about soup!

I dare say, the sub-Logos sure seems to be trying to trick us or something, what with giving us fire to cook our food with and making our taste buds work the way they do. I will let the Eskimo know they should only be eating raw foods from now on, so that they may partake of Eternal Life. (Wait, don't they already have Eternal Life?)

From the coming of the month of Ijar, eat barley; from the month of Sivan, eat wheat, the most perfect among all seed-bearing herbs. And let your daily bread be made of wheat, that the Lord may take care of your bodies.

Shucks I guess gluten-sensitive people will never get to see the Kingdom of God... and Jesus' advice for the diet is to eat more wheat?! Hasn't it been scientifically demonstrated that a grain-based diet contributes to all manner of health problems?

And Jesus answered: "It was said to them of old time: "All beasts that move upon the earth, all the fish of the sea, and all the fowl of the air are given into thy power." I tell you truly, of all creatures living upon the earth, God created only man after his image. Wherefore beasts are for man, and not man for beasts. You do not, therefore, transgress the law if you kill the wild beast to save your brother's life. For I tell you truly, man is more than the beast. But he who kills the beast without a cause, though the beast attack him not, through lust for slaughter, or for its flesh, or for its hide, or yet for its tusks, evil is the deed which he does, for he is turned into a wild beast himself. Wherefore is his end also as the end of the wild beasts."

Well there is no room for interpretation here. In this quote Jesus is definitely suggesting to not eat meat. Although, killing in and of itself, doesn't appear to constitute a transgression.

But then there is this:

Cook not, neither mix all things one with another, lest your bowels become as steaming bogs. For I tell you truly, this is abominable in the eyes of the Lord.

Really? Abominable? According to Leviticus, homosexuality is also an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. This text appears to be taking a similar tone.

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.

... but anyhow back to this "Gospel of Peace"...

For I tell you truly, if you mix together all sorts of food in your body, then the peace of your body will cease, and endless war will rage in you.

I guess Jesus would be against juicing as well? :-/ Quick! Somebody tell Joe Cross he has been "raging endless war" in his body by mixing his juices together!

Looks like we need to slap a Q'uo disclaimer at the beginning of this text so that way we can just cherry-pick the parts which suit our beliefs, and discard the rest.

Or... maybe Jesus was a seeker just like the rest of us? Probably earlier on he loudly preached about certain ideas, but later learned the folly of absolutism, dualistic thinking, and prematurely flapping one's jaws. I would imagine a mature Jesus to take more of a tone from some of the Gnostic writings. Maybe Jesus just changed his mind? Either that or somebody is deliberately distorting his words.

Over the course of my life, I have similarly found my belief system to evolve from more like the Jesus of the Essenes, to more like the Jesus of the Gnostics. Now, you don't suppose I have been actually spiritually regressing this whole time, do you? (That is a rhetorical question)

I graciously offer these quotes from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, which opens with:

"Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death."

His disciples questioned Him and said to Him, "Do you want us to fast? How shall we pray? Shall we give alms? What diet shall we observe?"

Jesus said, "Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate, for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain without being uncovered."

Nothing about diet despite a direct question. :-/ In fact, later on Jesus speaks against fasting, prayer, and almsgiving altogether.

Jesus said, "Blessed is the lion which becomes man when consumed by man; and cursed is the man whom the lion consumes, and the lion becomes man."

And He said, "The Kingdom is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of small fish. Among them the wise fisherman found a fine large fish. He threw all the small fish back into the sea and chose the large fish without difficulty. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear."

Apparently fishing is "OK".

Jesus said, "This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away. The dead are not alive, and the living will not die. In the days when you consumed what is dead, you made it what is alive. When you come to dwell in the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?"

Jesus said to them, "If you fast, you will give rise to sin for yourselves; and if you pray, you will be condemned; and if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits. When you go into any land and walk about in the districts, if they receive you, eat what they will set before you, and heal the sick among them. For what goes into your mouth will not defile you, but that which issues from your mouth - it is that which will defile you."

:idea: Quite a profound statement there, I believe.

Jesus said, "If the flesh came into being because of spirit, it is a wonder. But if spirit came into being because of the body, it is a wonder of wonders. Indeed, I am amazed at how this great wealth has made its home in this poverty."

Jesus said, "If they say to you, 'Where did you come from?', say to them, 'We came from the light, the place where the light came into being on its own accord and established [itself] and became manifest through their image.' If they say to you, 'Is it you?', say, 'We are its children, we are the elect of the Living Father.' If they ask you, 'What is the sign of your father in you?', say to them, 'It is movement and repose.'"

His disciples said to Him, "When will the repose of the dead come about, and when will the new world come?"

He said to them, "What you look forward to has already come, but you do not recognize it."

Jesus said, "Whoever has come to understand the world has found (only) a corpse, and whoever has found a corpse is superior to the world."

Jesus said, "He who has recognized the world has found the body, but he who has found the body is superior to the world."

Jesus said, "Wretched is the body that is dependent upon a body, and wretched is the soul that is dependent on these two."

Jesus said, "Woe to the flesh that depends on the soul; woe to the soul that depends on the flesh."

Now, I anticipate some will come back and try to turn a few of these quotes on their head and apply alternate definitions of words to suit their personal beliefs. I will preemptively respond to this by pointing to the overall context of the entire work. Just like with the L/L Transcripts.

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LoL, I was about to ask him to record himself walking on water for us, being 6D and all. Maybe levitate?

The manifestation of "miracles" is not an indication of higher consciousness. Though many would be deceived by such feats. Others appear obsessed with developing these powers. Some just like dabbling with magic and using metaphysical powers to influence and manipulate others- "for their own good" of course.

In the Hindu belief system these are known as siddhis, and through the ascetic practices of the Jains has become to be associated with concepts like harmlessness (ahimsa) and vegetarianism. Round about this same time is when the flip-flop occurred between the ahuras and daevas.

Under the Zoroastrian system... the ahuras were the good spirits, who followed the path of the Father (Ahura Mazda) while the daevas were the fallen angels, who succumbed to the trickery and deceit of the corrupted demiurge Ahriman (who later became Ba'al, the false "Yahweh", and Satan).

During the rise of Jainism in the 7th - 6th century BC, the roles of these gods in the Hindu belief system became inverted where the daevas were seen as the good spirits, and the ahuras the fallen ones. Paradoxically, while the daevas are portrayed in extravagance and all the material accoutrements of narcissism (including open use of the siddhis), according to Jainists strict ascetic practices are required to attain this state of consciousness.

Later on, as early Christianity developed, this inverted line of thought became embraced by a reclusive sect known as the Essenes.

In other spiritual belief systems, these types of supernatural powers are seen as a distraction from the true spiritual path, and dangerous to develop before one is reborn with true spiritual awareness. Otherwise, such powers might be put to use to elevate the flesh over the spirit, and so perpetuate the fallen state of humanity to the shackles of "spiritual" materialism through the false doctrine of liberation by means of supernatural powers and the allure of physical immortality, as depicted here in Major Arcana XV:

Hexagram 36 from the I Ching, called Darkening of the Light, also offers the image of earth (flesh) over fire (spirit):

Here the sun has sunk under the earth and is therefore darkened. The name of the hexagram means literally “wounding of the bright”; hence the individual lines contain frequent references to wounding. The situation is the exact opposite of that in the foregoing hexagram In the latter a wise man at the head of affairs has able helpers, and in company with them makes progress; here a man of dark nature is in a position of authority and brings harm to the wise and able man.