Novus Monastica (Weekly Religious News) - 9/3/09

A Look “At Historical Record” Shows Jesus Was a Vegetarian?

Hollywood filmmaker, Kamram Pasha, is writing a fictional work on the origins on Christianity. Nice. He’s concluded -

“... after lengthy research into the historical record, I have become convinced that Jesus Christ himself was in all likelihood a vegetarian, and that vegetarianism was probably a central tenet of the early Christian community founded by his disciples. In fact, there is evidence that Christ's opposition to animal sacrifice at the Jewish Temple may have been the triggering event that led to the Crucifixion.”

Whoa. How many of you knew that Jesus was crucified for being a vegetarian, raise your hand … no one? Honestly? Me neither.

“One of the central themes that set Jewish Christian groups apart from Pauline Christians was their belief that Jesus rejected animal sacrifice and the consumption of meat.”

Yeah, I think that would be “consumption of meat” sacrificed to idols in pagan temple rituals. But you know, I say potato, you say putato.

“According to Church historians like Iraneus (2nd century CE), Origen (3rd century CE), Epiphanius and Eusebius (4th century CE), groups like the Ebionites had their own Gospel written in Hebrew (or possibly Aramaic, the language Jesus actually spoke) … Based on this Gospel, the Ebionites rejected what was becoming mainstream Christianity and denounced the letters of Paul as false teachings. The Ebionites faithfully observed the Law of Moses, claiming that in doing so, they were following the example not only of James, Peter and the disciples, but of Jesus himself. And according to Epiphanius, the Ebionites were vegetarian, rejecting animal sacrifice as immoral, claiming again that they were following the teachings of Jesus himself.”

So assuming (a) Origen & Co. are credible on this one, (b) the Ebionites’ extra gospel is reliable, (c) Paul’s letters were not truly Christian, (d) somehow following the law of Moses AND rejecting all consumption of meat are reconcilable, and (e) this is what Jesus did, then (f) we can come to the conclusion that Jesus was vegetarian! Am I right?

“Hegesippus, a 2nd century orthodox Christian historian, wrote of James the Just, the brother of Jesus: ‘After the apostles, James the brother of the Lord surnamed the Just was made head of the Church at Jerusalem. Many indeed are called James. This one was holy from his mother's womb. He drank neither wine nor strong drink, ate no flesh, never shaved or anointed himself with ointment or bathed’ … According to Epiphanius, the Ebionites also rejected alcohol and used water for communion, further strengthening their claim to be continuing the practice of James, who was the brother of Jesus and his appointed successor … As biblical scholar Robert Eisenman points out in his monumental work James the Brother of Jesus, ‘Who and whatever James was, so was Jesus.’”

Damn, is this guy’s chain of reasoning is incredible or what?

“In Romans 14:1-2, Paul denigrates those Christians who 'eat only vegetables' saying that their "faith is weak." So it is clear that vegetarianism was common among Christians in Paul's day, to the extent that he had to refute their claim that refraining from meat was an act of piety … The fact that Paul has to make this point means that ethical vegetarianism was being presented as a moral requirement to be a Christian!”

Yeah, there were a lot of weird Christians claiming you had to do (or NOT do) legal stuff to “be a Christian” - like never ever have sex. Be circumcised. Follow all the Judaic laws. Never drink alcohol. But never eat steaks? That’s just taking it too far. Keep denigrating away, Paul. We're on your side.

"I came across a remarkable book called The Lost Religion of Jesus: Simple Living and Nonviolence in Early Christianity by Keith Akers, which posits a shocking thesis -- that the central event of the Christian faith, the Crucifixion, was predicated upon Christ's willingness to fight for animal rights."

Truly remarkable all right.

"In the Gospel of John, Jesus physically drives herds of animals out of the Temple courtyard using a whip. It is an incredibly powerful visual image. Yet in all the years of that I have listened to the story of Jesus at the Temple, I have never heard anyone focus on this compelling scene. The overturning of the currency tables seems to be what is stuck in the Christian consciousness, and yet the most dramatic and chaotic event in this incident is clearly the freeing of the animal herds."

Wowzers. Just imagine what would happen if Jesus walked into a poultry farm then. Feathers a-flyin’? Talk about dramatic. Personally, I still prefer the image of Jesus driving out the money changers with a whip.

"… many Islamic legends around Jesus portray him as an ascetic who avoided meat and was deeply concerned for the welfare of animals as well as humans."

And you know, what’s cool about these legends is … they’re ISLAMIC. Oh wait, this is the Huffington Post? Never mind.
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Imminent NFL Season Bringing Back the Bad Football Sermon Analogies

Well it’s started again. And I’m not one to be hating all sports/spiritual life analogies. I’m a big sports fan obviously and so, as it happens, was the apostle Paul. However, unfortunately there are some extremely painful (and kindergarten level) sports examples used in sermons these days. I lose IQ points even thinking about them. Pastor Barrett Vanlandingham, Fort Gibson Church of Christ, takes the top spot for now -

“I know a little about the excitement of football season. All of those things seemed tremendously important at the time. But as we all know, the years go by and a little perspective tends to put life's events in the proper order.”

Wait a second … hold on … is this guy even a football fan or what? That sounds like he’s implying that football isn’t that important in the long scheme of things.

“The apostle Paul, who was growing older, told young Timothy these important words to live by: ‘For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.’” (1 Tim. 4:8)

If you’re a young Christian guy who has spent years listening to sermons, classes, and chapels all aimed at Christian young men, you will learn to hate this verse. Because you will hear it in over 50% of men's sermons ... over and over and over again. Because men like that part about sports being of "some" value.

"Jesus then victoriously sat at the right hand of God in order to encourage us and give us a goal that we can attain. We can make it to heaven by following Christ's example of living a life dedicated to serving and loving God, and serving and loving others. It's only by God's grace that he gives us such a plan to follow."

You know how there are “goals” in football? Well, God has “goals” in your spiritual life too. See how similar Christianity and football are? If you like the NFL, then you should like being a Christian too.

“If you want a real challenge with a real reward, living for God in an increasingly immoral world is the toughest challenge any of us will ever face. But it is also the only challenge that comes with a reward of eternal life in heaven where there are no worries, no pain, no death, only joy and praise of God the Father who makes it all possible. Real victory comes for those who have the choice to live life however they want, but choose to live it for God who in turn gives the richest blessings of all, peace and joy, now and later.”

Living for God in an increasingly immoral world … you see, that’s a challenge that’s similar to trying to score a touchdown, only better.

“Being on God's team can feel lonely, especially when we look at the world's team which has so many members.”

That other bad “worldly” team just doesn’t follow the rules. But we're all in God's football team, isn't that cool?

"But when it's time for God's team to march victoriously into the end zone of heaven, many on the opposing team will want to switch sides. But for them it will be too late. Please pray today that God gives us the wisdom and perseverance to suit up and play for him everyday until the clock on life's scoreboard runs out."

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA …

Sorry, I just … knew it was coming but … Oh man … Heaven is like the end zone you see, and you’ve got to try and reach it to score eternal life, but watch out for the clock on life’s scoreboard ... it could run out before you get the chance to score heaven. Yes, my friends, this is the Gospel. Don’t you just want to come to church and listen to sermons like this, instead of staying home to watch the game?

My IQ just got a minus 20 points writing all this down. That's like a yardage penalty without a first down, except it's like in your brain ... get it?
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Vick & the Eagles are Giving Sportswriters the Opportunity to Wax Deeply on “Forgiveness”

If you like football, I bet you're interested in some shrink's opinion on the sociological psychological cultural impact of our forgiving Michael Vick for being a bad bad man. That's what Dana Scarton thinks anyhow. Because Vick owes all of us, would it be mentally healthy for you to indulge in that thing Christians always talk about called forgiveness?

Scarton writes - “Let's be clear: Michael Vick's involvement in the blood sport of dogfighting was beyond wrong. It was horrifying, senseless and inhumane … This was as brutal as it gets. Still, it's time to consider forgiveness for Michael Vick.”

You, the reader, should be horrified by Michael Vick. Horrified.

"News of Vick's acquisition by the Eagles prompted a harsh reaction from many, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who condemned the signing and questioned what message it sends to young fans. Undoubtedly, the team will face a public-relations nightmare."

Or undoubtedly, the Philadelphia Eagles simply don’t care about PETA and instead care about winning football games. Could be … just a guess.

“Forgiveness is good for our health. Forgiving is defined in a recent Mayo Clinic consumer publication as ‘acknowledging hurt and then letting it go, along with the burden of anger and resentment.’ Once achieved, forgiveness results in a decrease of negative thoughts and feelings toward an offender and an increase in positive thoughts and feelings.”

More positive thoughts and feelings, less negative thoughts and feelings … see where we’re going with this? Do you think it’s a coincidence that forgiveness is a Christian virtue?

"A central message is that harboring a grudge appears to be detrimental to both psychological and physical well-being. 'People who have been able to forgive show clear health benefits,' says Kathleen Lawler-Row, who chairs the psychology department at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., and has published her findings in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine and the Journal of Psychophysiological Research."

Respected psychophysiological scholars have discovered from their studies that harboring a grudge against Michael Vick could be harmful to your health. So we definitely should forgive Michael Vick for what he’s done to us … oh wait.

"Given such reports, deriding Vick the next time he steps out in public might be something you do at your own risk, says Frederic Luskin, a health psychologist and director of the Stanford Forgiveness Project. 'If every time you see Michael Vick take the field you boo and say nasty things at the top of your lungs, you are flooding your system with stress hormones,' he says. 'And just think, you caused all that stress yourself when you could have gone out and enjoyed the game.'"

You see, flooding your system with stress hormones during a football game is bad for you. It’s better to watch a football game with a heart full of feelings of love and goodwill for all the players on the field … the Stanford Forgiveness Project says so. And if there is one thing a football fan should seek to avoid, it's stress hormones.

"By most accounts, forgiveness demands considerable time and effort. There is no single method, although for many the process is intra-psychic rather than interpersonal, meaning it can be accomplished without engaging the offender."

Forgiving Vick will be more intra-psychic than interpersonal … this is something all football fans absolutely give a (expletive) about.

"But not everyone believes forgiveness is the only healthy solution. 'We don't have a word in the language for healthy nonforgiveness,' says Jeanne Safer, a New York psychotherapist and author of 'Forgiving and Not Forgiving: Why Sometimes It's Better NOT to Forgive.' Yet Safer contends there is such a concept."

Uh oh … time to hear from the shrinks on the other point of view. We’ve got to give the ones with memberships in PETA a say too. (And just ignore the fact that Vick just spent 2 years in federal prison for killing dogs.) What matters is your decision whether or not to forgive him.

"Rather than flat-out forgiving, which may trigger guilt and anxiety in someone who is unable or unwilling to release resentment, Safer recommends revisiting the wrong. 'To help yourself feel better you should not have an agenda other than wanting to understand,' Safer says. 'That way, you can't fail.'"

Because all this is about you feeling better and that’s what’s important. Your self-worth is at stake here, in case you didn’t realize it.

"Safer favors second chances but stops short of advocating forgiveness. She doubts that any dog lover will completely forgive Vick and wonders whether the best response might be along the lines of what she terms, 'forgiveness lite,' a more nuanced and neutral reaction."

Do you have problems with forgiveness? Why not try forgiveness lite instead - it’s easier and you can feel better about yourself and still hold a grudge both at the same time. The psychologists say so, and they are more nuanced and neutral than we are.

"She questions those who rush to forgive and maintains that much of the press coverage spouting forgiveness amounts to Christianity disguised as psychology. 'While I say the only way to get out of being a victim is to understand, Christians say the only way to get out of being a victim is to forgive.'"

As a Christian myself, I’d offer the suggestion that one of the best ways of always staying a victim is by imagining all sorts of bad things, that people you don’t know have done, that you need to decide whether to personally forgive or not. Contrary to what most shrinks will tell you, the purpose of forgiveness is not about making yourself have better thoughts and feelings. It's not Christianity disguised as psychology. It's not what you think about different pop culture celebrities. It’s actually something real.

More after the jump -
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Christians Can Be Socialist-Pinko-Commies Too!

Angela Boatright-Spencer of the Charlotte Episcopal Examiner gave us this fun for the week -

“… when most of us think about socialism (and communism), we think about Karl Marx, whose vision was harsh in comparison to these earlier thinkers. Marx believed humanity could flourish only when the basic needs of all were guaranteed. His system set up a central authority (government) that would ensure the distribution of necessary goods to all people. In his view, conflict, rather than brotherly love, was the catalyst for growth; ‘the path to socialism proceeds not through the establishment of model communities that set examples of harmonious cooperation to the world... but through the clash of social classes.’”

Although the main problem with Marx’s ideas wasn’t that they were “harsh” it was that they were just blatantly wrong. They didn’t work. Marx’s socialist economic ideas have been tried over and over again historically and proven to not match up with reality.

“Not everyone with socialist ideas felt that way. Let me introduce you to Frederick Denison Maurice, a Christian Socialist who became a loyal priest in the Anglican Church (The Study of Anglicanism, p. 169), a professor at Cambridge, and is commemorated in the Episcopal Church calendar. He once stated, ‘I seriously believe that Christianity is the only foundation of Socialism, and that a true Socialism is the necessary result of a sound Christianity.’”

So this should help make you feel better about advocating for socialism. I mean, even if socialist ideas ignore fundamental and elementary economic laws, they can be held to in a nice and Christian way instead of in that harsh Karl Marx way. Of course, I could probably think of a few Christians who would disagree with Maurice about Socialism being the logical outcome of Christianity - Adam Smith for one.

“Maurice rejected individualism, with its competition and selfishness, and suggested a socialist alternative to the economic principles of laissez faire. Christian Socialists promoted the cooperative ideas of Robert Owen and suggested profit sharing as a way of improving the status of the working classes and as a means of producing a just, Christian society."

Yes, there have been some Christians in history that liked socialism. In fact, there still are. This, on the other hand, has nothing to do with whether socialist ideas actually work in the real world. But we’re not talking about that - socialism can be nice and loving.

“He considered competition to be against the church's teachings, favoring a ‘science of partnership’ in which people worked together instead.”

Then again, according to the very basics of Christianity, we live in a Fallen world where man is naturally selfish and mankind will NEVER all work lovingly together without any competition. Then there’s also the possibility that lovingly produced goods and services (by workers who all feel good about each other’s welfare) will not necessarily be of the same quality as goods and services produced in order to outclass your competition.

“Closeness with Christ brought a kind of sweetness to this brand of socialist thought that was missing from the thinking of Marx.”

Socialism should be sweet and loving from a Christian’s point of view. It’s regrettable that Marx is supposed to be one of the main proponents for socialism because he didn’t give it that same Jesus sweetness. And again, one could ask how “sweet and loving” it is to embrace wrong economic ideas that always necessarily result in more poverty, and therefore, more suffering for more people.

Some could say that ignoring natural laws and truths that God set down for how things work in the world isn't very "Christian." But again, "Christian" seems to be a loose term that can be applied to almost anything these days.
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Message From the Dalai Lama: You Still Need to Become More Spiritual - Who Would Have Guessed?

The Dalai Lama is a wise, wise man. At least that’s what everyone tells me. He is one of the most respected religious leaders of modern times. So I had to include some of his latest thoughts in here just for the fun of it -

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, who is on a controversial visit to Taiwan this week, held a dialogue with Taiwan's Catholic leader Wednesday, during which both called for the cultivation of spirituality and ethics.

The conversation with Cardinal Paul K.S. Shan in the southern city of Kaohsiung drew an audience of more than 1,000 people, including Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp.

Stressing that trust is an indispensable element in society, the Dalai Lama urged people to use their wisdom to resolve differences and avoid using harsh words to create rivalry.

According to the Tibetan leader, the purpose of religion is to discover the good of humanity and allow followers to understand universal values through various doctrines.

The Dalai Lama said he believes all religions should teach mutual tolerance, respect and cooperation with each other in order to promote world peace.

Agreeing with the Dalai Lama, Shan said birth, aging, disease and death are the normal occurrences in life, and the cultivation of spirituality will help people better control their emotions and sensual pleasures and relieve their suffering through "the power of love” …

The Dalai Lama pointed out that many people lack spiritual values and pay attention only to making money, mainly because modern doctrines and school systems are not paying enough attention to moral discipline …

What I don't understand is that whenever I read anything said by the Dalai Lama, it's something so generic that I could have made it up just while making fun of Ace Ventura in a Tibetan monastary.

"I am now a child of light. Your earthly money holds no appeal to me ... You have all still to attain omnipresent-super-galactic-oneness."

Personally, I'm just hoping my own personal medallion of spiritual accomplishment doesn't take me eighty years to achieve.
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