The Last Christian: The Story of the Christ

By David S. Gullion

What source material outside of the Bible was used by the authors of the Gospels? How does patch-stitching work? How might religious terminology commonly used in ancient Israel be filtered and given a different meaning by a Gentile, pagan audience? What implications did this hold for the rise of Christianity?

How were the crucifixion scenarios constructed? Were all of the sources used in their construction Biblical? Did the writings of Josephus influence the written Word?

How did Jesus evade arrest? How did he operate a supply and intelligence network which reached into the palace of Herod the tetrarch and into the temple ? Details of its operation such as departmentalization and recognition signals are noted. How did Jesus send a message to Herod along this grapevine?

What were the circumstances of his arrest? What was Judas role? The evidence holds out the intriguing possibility that his role as traitor may not be accurate. What were the charges? Based upon the Gospels, was Jesus sentenced to death for blaspheming?

According to the Gospels, was a terrorists a member of Jesus inner circle? If a criminal profile was put together for Jesus, using the Gospels as our source, what would it look like? What would it tell the law enforcement personnel of his day about him?

What was his mission from God? How did he fulfill his role? Why did he have to die? How has his message and its implications changed the world in positive ways and ways not so positive? How did he radically redefine western culture? How does the world still grapple with the implications of what he said and what he was about?

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 28, 2009
• ISBN: 9781438989303

David S. Gullion

Growing up in a missionary family, it was natural for the author to have both a keen interest in as well as an opportunity to explore the basis of his Christian faith. The Last Christian is the product of his lifelong effort to discover whom Jesus was. The quest was begun with the intent of accepting the Jesus of faith as found in the Bible. Only when or if the investigation and evidence led in some other direction were alternatives proposed and the reasons given for arriving at some other conclusion. The author has written and published two other books, How Would You Like Your Balut? and Telling On Texas. Both books are a thinly disguised autobiographies based on the authors experiences and that of his family. The former is a relating of his familys experiences in the Philippines from 1945 to 2004. The latter is a recounting of high school and college life in north Texas during the turbulent period of the civil rights movement and Vietnam War era. It is a saga of coming of age, of two young men who return to the Texas of their birth, only after having spent their childhood and early teens in Asia. These two works, along with The Last Christian, form a trilogy. They are a quest of discovery. Being the product of a mixed cultural heritage, the author tries to discover who he is. They are the attempt to define major aspects of his environment by noting the effect of the Jesus of faith in shaping him and his world. The Last Christian tries to extend the search further by defining whom the Jesus of faith and history was and is.

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©2009 David S. Gullion. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 5/15/2009

ISBN: 978-1-4389-8237-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4389-8930-3 (e)

Printed in the United States of America

Bloomington, Indiana

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

In Search Of God Jesus

CHAPTER TWO

The Promise Of The Messiah

CHAPTER THREE

Jesus The Magician

CHAPTER FOUR

Adam & Eve I & II

CHAPTER FIVE

The Book Of The Secrets Of Enoch

CHAPTER SIX

The Book Of Tobit

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Book Of Judith

CHAPTER EIGHT

I & II Maccabees

CHAPTER NINE

The Book Of Wisdom

CHAPTER TEN

The Book Of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Book Of Daniel

CHAPTER TWELVE

Esdras I & II

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The Testaments Of The Twelve Patriarchs

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The Coming Of The Messiah, Jesus, And The Old Testament

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Jesus’ Mission To The Jews

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Family, Friends, Disciples, Associates And Contacts

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Why Did Jesus Rub The Authorities The Wrong Way?

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

What Really Happened To Jesus?

This book is dedicated:

To Reverend Elmer R. Gullion, missionary

To the Philippines for more than fifty years.

He spent his whole life looking for Jesus.

He was my father. He is now departed.

May God keep him as one of his own.

THE LAST CHRISTIAN

Preface

Is it actually possible to discover whom Jesus was? Doing so has been a two thousand year quest for much of humanity. What exists is a body of material written by persons who viewed Him through eyes of faith. As far as it is known, He himself wrote nothing. Works written about Him can be found both as a part of the canon of The Holy Bible as well as outside of the canon. Beneath these works, works which were written based on faith and tradition there was once a Personage of flesh and blood who once walked upon the earth. I am on a quest to find the flesh and blood person who once existed on earth beneath these layers of interpretation by others.

I will try to determine what was His view of Himself, whom He told others that He was, what was His historic Mission, and what He believed was the Source of His authority. This is the Jesus whom I hope to meet. I hope that I will not be meeting Him alone. I want the reader to come along with me on my journey. I am hoping that we may make the acquaintance through the careful examination of both canonical as well as non-canonical sources.

I have depended heavily on the scholarship of others, typically professional religious scholars. It is hoped that the reader will take the time to check out the listed sources. If the reader does not investigate for themselves the sources as listed at the end of each chapter, it is feared that the reader might overlook a point of interest, a defining moment, or a linch-pin integral to the achievement of our goal. Thankfully, for the lay person, much of the source material has been translated into English by the professional religious scholars and thus it is possible to check and cross check the material which they have noted in their studies. Even if we do not have the ability to read the original Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic we are able to explore the professional’s dissections of the given material. The reader might find that cross checking references by using more than one version of the Holy Bible to be helpful. An attempt has been made to avoid obscure sources or those sources which might be difficult to access. Hopefully enough material has been included so that as exhaustive of a search may be made as the reader might choose to make. When noting sources from canonical, non-canonical sources, as well as noting what others have done, or what has been included in other sources, I have chosen to paraphrase the material using my words. I have done so to avoid any copyright infringement of noted material and not to copy the material itself.

I have tried to copy the meaning and ideas contained in the following way, unless what is perceived as a good reason can be found by which the Jesus of faith might be discounted, the Jesus of faith, as portrayed in the New Testament, will be accepted as the genuine article, the historical, real Jesus. As a painter might create a likeness of someone on a canvas, one brush stroke at a time, I too have added detail to my account, a dab here, a spackle there, in the hope that the end product will be a reasonable likeness of His image. Assumptions and methodology borrowed from psychology, sociology, criminal profiling, etc. have been used to examine the available material. It could be that by doing so that we might succeed in achieving insights into how He viewed Himself, how His contemporizes viewed Him, how He viewed the world of His day, and how He might view and relate to our world if He were here in the flesh today. It is as true for us as it was for His contemporizes that our attempt to know Him will require us to look at ourselves and our world in a different way if we are to see ourselves and our world through His eyes. We hope to discover Him and ourselves in profound and unanticipated ways. If this were not the case, no need would exist for us to undertake this investigation.

According to the famous biographer and scholar A.N. Wilson, as noted in his biography Jesus A Life, basic ‘Christian’ belief affirms that Jesus was/is God in the flesh, that He came to earth to save sinful humanity from the consequences of their sins. As God incarnate, as God The Father’s sacrificial Son, He was crucified, died, and then rose from the dead on the third day. At the world’s end, He will return for a second time, this time to judge those who are alive and judge those who are dead. Those who have put their trust in Him as their personal Savior will be sent by Him to Heaven. Those who have rejected Him will spend eternity in hell. (1) Support for these Christian beliefs are found throughout The Holy Bible. Yet, just as surely, the Holy Bible lends itself to other interpretations of whom Jesus was and what was His Mission. The implications of these other interpretations are just as profound for the Christian as they are for the non-Christian.

Within the messianic Jewish tradition, the Jewish tradition from which Christianity as we know it came, there is a body of written material which predates the formative period of the New Testament and which was used as a source of its inspiration. This material is not a part of the Protestant’ cannon of the Old Testament but was liberally relied upon by the authors of the New Testament. A portion of this material did make its way into the Roman Catholic canon. The authors of the New Testament relied upon this material just as surely as it can be shown that they relied upon the readily accepted and recognized Old Testament canon. Much of this material existed in time between the Old and New Testaments. If material is found in these works which predate the New Testament , and which is also found in the New Testament, one may assume that it was used as source material by the authors of the New Testament, especially if it is unique material which is shared only by this source and the New Testament. When it is deemed necessary for the exploration of our topic accepted Old Testament roots will also be explored. Traditional source material will make up but one of the contributing streams of our river. Anyone wishing to investigate the development of the Catholic Jesus of Faith need but resort to the cross referencing, introductions and footnotes found throughout authorized Roman Catholic versions of the Holy Bible. In order to investigate the Protestant version of the Jesus of faith one need but resort to the similar notations and indexing found In any number of Protestant versions of The Holy Bible. I am not interested in examining the Jesus of faith except where such beliefs may be reasonably inferred based upon our investigation. At times the Jesus of faith will be examined if it is felt that the Jesus of history might be illuminated to some degree against this background of faith belief. Is it possible for one to sift through the material which is known and readily available and reconstruct the historical Jesus beyond a reasonably doubt? I for one do not think so. However, even if what really happened cannot be re-constructed beyond a reasonable doubt, it is still possible to use at least some of this material to piece together a view or assumptions about the Jesus of history which is as probable, or even more probable, than the Jesus of faith. It may in fact be possible to view in rough outline or relief the outline of the body" which was, and still is, the Jesus of history.

For the better part of two thousand years, Christianity has been the defining cultural force which has shaped Western civilization. It is thus imperative that a person interested in understanding Western culture, its value system, literature, laws, etc., should have at least a basic understanding of Christianity itself. What are the main tenants of the religion? How did it come to be? How did its basic document the Holy Bible come to be? All of these questions are explored here.

There are more than one hundred copyrighted translations of the Holy Bible in the English language. These translations were made using one or more of the manuscripts or portions of the Bible and New Testament which are known to scholarship, which have come down to our age over the expanse of many centuries. No two of these original manuscripts are exactly alike. Except for God’s Word which exists outside of time, through time, before time, and after time is no more, everything else has a changing and transient existence. Thus any effort in the way of human authorship or editing can only be an approximation. Since an object within the universe exists over some period of time, any human creation may be said to not be ultimately identical even with itself. Over time all objects change. Over time, any examiner changes. Over time, the instrument being used to measure or record the dimensions of the given object changes as well. Since the object being examined to determine if it is identical to itself must be tested at least twice, and during the period between these two testing the objects and the tester and testing tool both change, any measure of the object which is accurate enough will show that the object is not identical even with itself. Can one actually step into the same river twice? Is the law of identity actually an approximation, even of itself? This philosophical problem manifests itself in a concrete form when translating.

Under these circumstances, what is hoped for by the translator or paraphraser is an approximation of the given object which falls within a set of parameters acceptable to the translator or paraphraser. This problem of editing’ is made even more difficult if the process occurs in translating or paraphrasing a given document from one language into yet another language or languages. Even if a perfect record of the original existed, and a perfect translator or paraphraser was employed, nuances of meaning would be lost when one moved from one language to another language. The best that can be hoped for is a finished product which approximates the original as far as this is possible. Hopefully such a product will fall within a range of tolerances which is satisfactory to the translator, paraphraser and any viewer. Yet another difficulty is faced when trying to reproduce material from The Holy Bible to some given degree. At least some of the material which is included in the Holy Bible is contradictory, i.e. portion a does not agree with portion b". This is true regardless of what translations are used when making a comparative analysis.

The above are some of the reasons why the reliability, and thus the dependent validity, is deficient as regards the age old claim by some that the Holy Bible is the very Word of God. This is a hurdle which must be surmounted by anyone who wishes to discover the Jesus of faith. It is just as great of a hurdle, or even a greater hurdle, for someone attempting to discover the Jesus of history. This is so because the Jesus of history must be based upon ascertainable facts. Gaps in empirical knowledge can not be made to disappear through an exercise of faith and belief. Thus the Jesus of history cannot be as real for the seeker as the Jesus of faith, unless the historical Jesus seeker also employs faith in such a person’s search as well. If a searcher for the Jesus of history resorts to exercising faith and belief in their construction of Jesus, what consequently exists as the end product is not the Jesus of history but yet another Jesus of faith. All that The historical researcher can do is do their best and state any findings or suggestions that are thus gleaned in such a way as to indicate their reliability and dependent validity. What is hoped is that one might arrive at an approximation which one finds useful and one which approaches The original as far as that is possible. Failing this, it is then hoped that what is uncovered here might serve as a toothing stone and spur Investigation in this area by others on their own.

Much of the material found in the Holy Bible was not written down for centuries after the material was first revealed. When something is not immediately recorded upon reception, the ability to remember accurately what has been received becomes more and more subject to alteration and/or loss. This is what happened to much of the material which is now included in the Holy Bible. This is assumed because much of the material is contradictory and because much of it was not written down until many years after the fact. Much of the Holy Bible was past down as oral history. Much of the Old Testament did not receive its final edited form until the time of Ezra the scribe at around 440 B.C.E. Abraham lived more than one thousand years before the time of Ezra. Moses almost a thousand years. David lived about four hundred years before the final redaction. What was revealed to them consequently went through an extended period, often of centuries, before it was fixed or frozen in a final form. Not just the form but the content can be assumed to have undergone change.

Jesus spoke Aramaic and could read Hebrew. As far as is known, He wrote nothing down at the time that He said it. Neither as far as is known, did any of His followers write anything down at the time that they heard it. What we have are interpretations of things which Jesus may have said. Even if it is assumed that God revealed The Gospel to Jesus, i.e., God gave material which if copied down right then and there could have been compiled into a book or set of books referred to as The Gospel Of Jesus Christ, no such document exists in an extant form today. What we have today is not The Gospel Of Jesus Christ. Instead, what exists are versions or remembrances or compilations put together by a given writer or writers for whom the names of Mathew, Mark and John have been added to their titles. Luke, Paul’s personal physician, could very well have written Luke. The end result is the New Testament. This is an attempt to interpret the world, and Jesus, in light of their understanding of Him based on their personal beliefs. This material is the record of one branch or group of persons or believers who attempted to follow the teachings of Jesus according to their own interpretations. How close or divergent were their beliefs and interpretations is the subject matter of this search. It is highly improbable that any of the authors of the Gospel could speak personally about any of the events which they often narrate as if they did so from a first hand experience. The author of Luke states in the first chapter and first two verses that he is writing from sources brought to him. His is not a first-hand account. It may truthfully be said that no Gospel or Message of Jesus Christ does in fact exist in any extant form. What exists are narrations, mostly in Greek, which were written down for the purpose of supporting and sharing the author’s Jesus of faith. Most of the authors are themselves unknown to our time and place.

I have chosen to use my own translation or paraphrasing of all of the sources available to me, Biblical and non-Biblical. I can truthfully say that I have neither quoted’ any source nor copied any source. Instead, I have chosen to note" sources of interest. Great care has been taken to not change the meaning of any of the noted sources in so far as they are pertinent to this investigation. I have used my words to express what they have said , to recognize the contributors and not to change the thrust and meaning of what they have written. The major inconvenience to the reader may be that my paraphrasing may not be as concise as that of the noted contributors. By noting my sources I have provided the reader with a way to check the accuracy of my notations on their own.

No one may make the claim that their translation or paraphrasing is in fact the Word of God. I make no such claim. What I have tried to do is create an end product whose variance with the original is such that the basic meaning or usefulness of the source has not been compromised in any significant way. One may consider that if it is verifiable that The Holy Bible does contain portions which are in fact God’s Word, than the only One who could hold a copyright to God’s Word would be God Almighty. Everyone else is then but a translator or paraphraser. Consequently, If my effort achieves its purpose in regards to making the sources useful, than I may also make the claim that my translation or paraphrasing is as useful as any other.

In the quest for finding the real Jesus it must be asked, was Jesus God in the flesh? What sources support the development of such a belief on the part of persons contemporary with the writing of the Bible? Do these prophesies fit what the New Testament has to say concerning whom Jesus was? What influence, if any, did the written non-Biblical sources have on the authors of the Bible? Does the Holy Bible itself contain material which may call into question major tenants of orthodox Christianity? What did Jesus Himself believe His mission to be? What were some of His personal religious beliefs? With whom did Jesus choose to associate? How did He support Himself, make a living? Why did He rub the authorities the wrong way? What happened to Him on His last trip to Jerusalem? As a Jew, how might Jesus view His world and ours? Basing myself upon the sources which it seems likely were known to the authors of the Holy Bible, I will attempt to explore these concerns. A whole chapter may be devoted to the exploration of a single one of these topics. Often when a given subject is being investigated information is gleaned which throws light on yet some other concern of interest. Related concerns will come out, noted or not noted. In this way many tenants of faith will be investigated or noted to at least some degree. Virtually no concern will be investigated exhaustively. When all of the pieces are added up the goal is that a broad outline will appear and it will then be possible to understand quite a lot about whom the historic Jesus was, what He did, what He said, and what He was about. If it is true that many distinct features have been lost over time, it is also true that certain features could be rediscovered or indicated at least to some degree of assurance.

It is impossible for a person searching for the historical Jesus to not be influenced by their own prejudices and conditioning. In light of this observation it is only fair that I tell you something about myself. I was born into a family of Baptist missionaries who spent more than fifty years as missionaries to the Philippines. From my youth I was immersed in fundamentalist Christian instruction. As a youth I believed implicitly in what I was taught. I did so not because I had not empirically explored my faith, rather I believed because of my conditioning and because of the emotional impact which believing had on me. As was quite typical of someone with my family setting, I was saved and then baptized into the faith at the age of seven. As I grew older my acceptance of the basic tenants of my Christian faith began to be questioned by me. Even as a thirteen year old I quietly began to wonder, Could a human be God?

Along with doubt based on a mind attempting to make sense of the world logically, there was yet another factor which tended to drive me further and further away from a wholehearted embrace of the very traditional values which I was taught. This was the divergence in practice, in a number of ways, between what Jesus had to say in regards to the poor, downtrodden and outcasts of the world. Traditionally, in a number of ways, followers of the faith have done much good in regards to religious piety as it is in fact expressed in fact through acts of charity. I also noted what to me was an alarming trend which could only serve the purpose of insuring that there would be more poor, downtrodden and outcast than might otherwise be the case.

A quick search of American history quickly reveals that it often was the people of faith in America who in the past had pushed or supported causes on a political level which they felt were mandated by their Christian faith. One need only recall the political activism of William Jennings Bryan or that of the abolitionists who fought for societies’ poor, downtrodden and outcasts. If one read and believed that the New Testament contained the essential Message of Jesus Christ, then one did not have to be a rocket scientist that an implementation of Jesus’ economic and social measures would result in a certain amount of income leveling in order to act in the charitable way towards societies’ less capable, disadvantaged and less desirable members. I quickly noticed that the organized religious elements in whose bosom I was raised and succored did not champion or even quietly support these kind of initiatives. Consequently I began to feel myself pushed away from my traditional religious upbringing based upon my attempts to empirically explore my faith as well as my emotional reaction to what I felt was a rejection on the very important political front of attempts to engage in religious piety by helping the kind of persons whom Jesus indicated should be helped by His followers.

In my environment I was inclined to take what Jesus alleged and taught seriously. In regards to the less fortunate I was always aware of the huge income disparities which existed. Comparing my relatively privileged status to the Third World poverty of many of the persons around me, engendered a certain amount of guilt at my fortune and a desire to try to do something and to be sensitive and sympathetic to the often much less fortunate than myself. What I perceived as a callousness on the part of believers, typically with their either expressed or passive hostility to political initiatives which were designed to alleviate what could only be designated as an injustice from a Christian viewpoint. This was the early sixties. In America president Kennedy had but recently been assassinated. Measures such as the 1964 Civil Rights law were being passed through Congress for the purpose of aiding some of America’s disadvantaged. Almost universally, amongst the missionary community this measure was opposed. I began to suspect that if they could be so divergent in regards to Jesus’ admonitions to help the disadvantaged, might they not also be divergent in other areas of their belief and practice?

On the occasions in which I made my concerns known in Bible class, I did not receive what I considered to be satisfactory answers to my questions. Once a religious instructor intimated to the class and to me that Maybe God had put things out there like that to try our faith. For me, this was an epiphany. I realized at that time that the faith in which I was raised must in the final analysis be based on faith, not on objective attempts to determine verifiable, historical fact. This did not mean that faith and verifiable fact must always be in conflict. It did mean that if the two should ever be at variance, or appear to be at variance, then faith must always triumph, even if empirical reality must be denied or ignored to maintain one’s faith. Faith was the only reality that mattered. My mother confirmed what my instructor had intimated. She informed me that God would answer all of our questions when we got to heaven. She added that Until we got there, there would always be ‘things’ which tried our faith. I did understand where they were coming from. I also realized that God had created both faith as well as the ability to explore and logical deduce explanations for reality. Had not God made both the mind with its capability to explore and a world which followed logical laws created by God? If this is so, then did God wish for us to disown a portion of God’s created universe if it could not be fitted comfortably into one’s faith view?

My father referred me to what the author of Hebrews had said in regards to faith and belief, i.e., Faith is made up of things which are hoped for. Faith itself is the evidence of things which are not otherwise known. (2) I was instructed that I should, as did Paul (the assumed author of Hebrews), be occupied with Blocking out all concepts, blocking out everything and anything that stood as an ‘authority’ in judging our knowing of God. In this context We should put all of our thoughts subject to the orders of Christ. (3) Unlike the august personage or personages to whom I had been referred I was not interested in discovering the Jesus of faith. For starters I seriously doubted that the Jesus of faith which I might discover in this way would in fact be the same Jesus who actually once walked the earth. It was the Jesus of history who once walked the earth, not their Jesus of faith. Certainly the Jesus of history was also a Person with a strong motivating faith. My search was concerned in trying to discover what was His faith. This was the Jesus whom I was seeking. I am still engaged in this quest.

As had been so amply pointed out to me, Faith was itself the proof. For me though, their traditional method of seeking Jesus was not the way that interested me. In other words, as regarded the subject mater at hand, since something was assumed to be so, this assumption, since it was ultimately built on the foundation of faith, the very belief itself made it so or let one become a part of this reality. Whether or not Paul wrote Hebrews, it may be assumed that he certainly viewed faith, reality and history in the traditional Christian terms as did Hebrews. In Galatians, which Paul did author, he declared in regards to how he acquired his Jesus of faith, I declare to you brothers, the good news (gospel) which I have preached to you did not have its origins in humanity. I acquired it not either through any human element nor was I taught it (by some teacher). Instead Jesus Himself revealed it to me. (4) In other words, Paul had dreams or visions in which he believed that Jesus told him things. i.e., the inside skinny in regards to any issue, subject or question related to Jesus. Paul believed this was so, and so his belief, his faith, his very act of faith made it so.

According to the Gospels, Jesus often resorted to parallisms (parables) to demonstrate or highlight some great fact or conclusion. Using this technique I will try to demonstrate the fallacy of using faith alone as a proof. Doing so is important, because in the final analysis, it is only possible to cling to the Jesus of faith when employing the eyes of faith. Empirical analysis does not always lead to results which dovetail with those of faith. If a faith view was by itself sufficient, then this view as expressed by persons holding it, such as the authors of the New Testament who (by and large) held to such an image of Jesus, would have left a written record in the New Testament which does not include errors of fact. Predictions which they made about historical events for example would have also all have been born out in the physical world when they had made predictions (prophecies) in regards to an anticipated, future event or events. During the course of this examination I now predict that the issue of whether the kinds of errors which I have noted are or are not included in the written Word of the New Testament. If no errors can be found in the New Testament as I have indicated do in fact exist in the written Word, then one may assume that the vision of faith which inspired its authors certainly worked in the single context in which they used it. One could, and indeed should, adopt their vision of faith in regards to Jesus since it would have been validated through testing and trial in the world of history, the world of time, the world in which we live. Otherwise, one may assume that the world of faith exists as a reality in the world of the minds of a number of certain individuals but does not in fact exist in a greater world, a more encompassing reality, or by and large in the physical world.

Let’s move on to a parable. The events now to be described happened in a land and place long, long time ago. In this never never land, a beautiful, young maiden had to pass through an enchanted forest whenever she felt the need to see how grandmother was doing. Every time that she went to visit grandma she would pass by an ugly, old frog sitting by the side of the path. Every morning that she went to visit grandma the frog would ask her, Give me a kiss pretty lady. She always felt that this was a bit rude, felt a little intimidated, and would hurry past the frog until he stopped his rude intrusion. One day though, things were different. Instead of hurrying past the frog she stopped for a moment and asked, Why should I give you a kiss? The frog looked at her with a knowing look in his eye and replied, I was once a handsome prince. One day a wicked old witch who was jealous of my good looks and fabulous wealth turned me into the ugly old frog whom you know look at with contempt. Back then though, it was different. All of the sweet young maidens had their eye on me. This might have been why the ugly, old witch was jealous. Who knows? Who can really say? However, the curse she put on me would be broken if a pretty young maiden were to give me a kiss. She said nothing. There was an awkward silence. The frog cleared his throat, and began to speak again, If you give me a kiss and thus turn me into a handsome young prince once again I will marry you and we will live happily ever after. She was impressed. Closing her eyes, and believing what the frog had said, she puckered up her lips and gave the frog a kiss directly on his ugly mouth. She opened her eyes. She was surprised, the frog was still there. Kiss me again the frog ordered. She kissed him again. Still nothing happened. This went on for several times more. Finally with tears in her eyes, and feeling very let down, she looked at the frog and asked, I thought that you were supposed to turn into a rich, handsome prince? Once again the frog looked at her through knowing eyes and replied, You shouldn’t believe everything that you are told.

According to Mathew, Jesus once declared that the two greatest commandments were that One should love God with one’s total being, and then because of this love, one must treat one’s fellow creatures as one would wish to be treated oneself. If it is assumed that Jesus saw these two commands (from God) as being central to what He was about, then our search for the historical Jesus should lead us to explore, and hopefully, find out why and how these two commands served as the basis for His unique, historical Role and how they were central to his unique Mission. It is assumed that Jesus had a unique Role and a unique Mission. Otherwise there would have been no reason for Him to have been special or even needed. Unless one assumes that Jesus was somehow a secularist" in his view and beliefs of the world, then one must also assume that Jesus was also a person with deeply held, strong, religious convictions. Somehow the Jesus of faith and the Jesus of history must melt into one in such a way that their will not be any contradictions or inconsistencies in a single identity for Jesus.

There is yet another reason for our quest. A philosopher once noted, Everything came from something else. Since this is so (and based upon this observation) , Everything must (consequently) return to becoming something else. Since this is so, then there must also be a source from which came the mind (indicating that the mind will somehow return to this source). (6) As the Psalmist noted, I believe that I shall experience God’s favor through existence. (7) I too hold to the belief expressed in these sentiments. God who has once given us our present existence and identity will somehow give us another existence and identity after our physical death has occurred. It will be no more of a miracle for God to create us for a second time than it was for God to have created us for a first time.

For all of these reasons we should search the scriptures. (8) I for one make no claim that I know or understand the dimensions within which God will give us both another existence and thus another universe. I do believe that God will, at the last, raise us to Himself. The search for the historical Jesus will be done by and large made using sources which were written by men of faith whose view of their world was based upon their faith. By and large they did not base their view of objective reality on the same objective" criteria which we use. They were not products of the Enlightenment, the Reformation, a political