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[OM] Re: Unitarians, was: OT event photos

Subject: [OM] Re: Unitarians, was: OT event photos
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 22:21:34 -0700
Leandro DUTRA wrote:
> 2008/5/27 Andrew Fildes <afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>   
> ...
>> and Jesus has just too much baggage. (Someone once told me that he pinched 
>> his ideas from Hillel anyway).
>>     
>
> >From the Old Testament, Hillel being a derivative.  Which is as it should be.
I'm no Christian, but obviously better read in this area than Andrew. 
"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not 
come to abolish but to fulfill."

Not long after that, of course, he goes right on to preach against 
certain common practices and beliefs that he believed were not 
consistent with the Law, as he really was a radical teacher. (Remember, 
"radical" refers to the root.)

He did a lot of reframing. He didn't try to throw out the 10 
commandments. He did point out vigorously that they are presented in 
order of importance, that #1 is really the biggie, #2 pretty darn 
important, and the rest laws, but not the LAW.

His reframing is quite interesting. First he says the biggie is to love 
God with all your heart, soul, understanding and strength. Then he says 
"And the second is like to it, You shall love your neighbor as 
yourself." He makes a direct connection here, saying that loving your 
self and your neighbor IS loving God. Goes right back to Master Dogon's 
formulation. He also is careful to define who is one's neighbor and what 
loving him/her means. It's a tough definition, too.

There's a wonderful Swedenborgian (at least that's where I heard it) 
take on the commandments. It suggests Moses either didn't quite get it 
right, or perhaps simplified things for his troublesome flock. It says 
that Commandment One is the only commandment. The rest are a promise of 
how a person fulling the first one will find him or herself living, 
without effort.

In any case, his apostles and followers referred to him sometimes as 
Rabbi, which, given the customs and laws of the times, I think means he 
was actually a Rabbi, and deeply steeped in the Pentateuch  and the 
Prophets. Although sometimes against common practice, his teachings were 
rooted in the Jewish scriptures.

It's also clear that the writers of the Gospels were deeply 
knowledgeable in both the words of what we call the Old Testament, and 
in their meaning and significance in Jewish religious tradition and 
thought of the time. His life and work are carefully placed in a context 
of what came before.

So no, he didn't "pinch" his ideas; the very concept is alien to the 
religious and cultural setting in which he lived. Had he brought forth a 
bunch of ideas not rooted in the tradition, he would have had no effect 
and probably been run out of town as a gentile.

Moose

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