January 20, 2016
Post #26
Dear Readers,
We are dedicated to the absolute co-equality and balance between men and women! Our premise is that God created us this way to be whole, complete, unified – as One, through one another, masculine and feminine. That is what Jesus taught men. We are discussing how the Word of God as taught by Jesus of Nazareth was willfully or inadvertently misrepresented or misunderstood such that men came to believe they were somehow more equal. God is One! We are one! Jesus said,
“Hear O Israel – The Lord our God is One Lord. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
This is the first and great commandment.
The second is like it, namely this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Pages 305 – 306)
Whether or not you agree please be our “Friend” and “Share” us with your friends!
You are reading one in a series on the “Feminine-ist” teaching of Jesus of Nazareth.
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References are to pages in the book. And our many thanks to Wikipedia!
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Jesus was not a Pharisee! Jesus was not a Hellenist! Mary his mother was also not! They were indeed Traditionalists! We tend to be emphatic about this because it is such a critical point it bears repeating again and again. In context, as we have discussed, the Hellenist Greek Seleucids from Syria invaded Judea-Israel and promptly outlawed Our One True God. In banning God, they sought to instill and enforce their brand of male worship, a “Man-as-god” belief system (as we note below) upon the people, under penalty of death. Of course this relegated women to a sort of second-class non-status.
Controlling worship of God from the Temple throughout the land found favor with the Pharisees, who embraced the precepts of Hellenism, but was opposed by Traditionalist-Orthodox people including the Sadducees. The Revolt of the Maccabees defeated these Greek occupiers, restored the Temple, but did not overcome the idea of Hellenism. Its beliefs and practices would eventually lead to the Hasmonean Civil War, and a deep chasm between the children of Israel. We found this riff was most pronounced between men and women whom, under God, represented a much more co-equal balance of energies in the countryside than in Jerusalem herself. What did Jesus say?
“How often I would have gathered your children together – just like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings – but you would not!” (Page 313.)
In addition to banning circumcision, sacrificing pigs in the Temple, and other acts and practices in direct violation of God’s Law were intolerable to the Orthodox-Traditionalist elements in Jerusalem. Among the many practices which they opposed was Jewish men – including priests, “socializing” naked in the “gymnasiums” of Jerusalem the Greeks had established in order to gain favor with the Hellenists.
Typical Hellenistic and/or Roman art depicting the naked male-form (man-worship) as godly.
The attack on Hebrew-Jewish culture was essentially two-pronged: First the Hellenists sought to promote their elitist international worldview run by a few men, while second, undermining belief in our One True God in any way they could. This of course included denigrating belief in God, replacing faith in God with faith in a man – Antiochus IV Epiphanes for example (see below), marginalizing women and a woman’s place in society, banning traditional worship of God, controlling Temple worship and practice, and more. The “Festival of Lights“, which Jesus observed in Jerusalem in his time, today called “Hanukkah“, celebrates the defeat of the Greeks and the rededication of the Temple.
However, as we said, Hellenism survived both inside Judea-Greater Israel, but especially in Greek cities and enclaves outside Israel like Tarsus and Antioch. We will continue this conversation with greater focus on what we refer to as Jesus’ teachings in opposition to Hellenism, about God’s Divine Balance of masculine and feminine energies that so threatened the Greek worldview, and what we call “Feminine-ism“.
Have a blessed day!
Miguel
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This weblog, our pamphlets, study guides and other materials are inspired by Miguel’s book, The Word 2.0, a new biography of Jesus of Nazareth in his own words, based upon a single, unified timeline.
Find us at Amazon.com or our website: www.whatifjesuswasawoman.com
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God is undifferentiated masculine and feminine energy in perfect balance, whole, complete, unified, and co-equal. God is neither male nor female, and yet both – inseparable! And as a reflection of God’s Divine Balance, God made each of us manifest as male and female, man and woman, in God’s perfect likeness! Truly a state of grace.
How Adam’s actions brought about the fall from this state of grace is something we will discuss elsewhere. Suffice it to say that long before Jesus was born, men and women were already out of balance. In the more immediate sense of events which took place in Israel before Jesus was born, I found the Seleucid Greek invasion critically important because of the belief system we call “Hellenism” the Greeks forced on the children of Israel at that time.
It may not be especially well known today but the Seleucid Greeks from Syria outlawed our One True God! They forbade the worship of God under the penalty of death. Their King Antiochus IV Epiphanes (Antíochos D’ ho Epiphanḗs, “God Manifest”), believing he was god, decreed the people would have no other god before him.
Coin depicting King Antiochus IV: “Image of (G)od; bearer of victory”
Hellenism did cause divisions among the people though. On one hand identifying with the Greek empire and culture could enrich certain elite Israelites, but on the other hand their man-worship violated God’s Law. This divided not only those who were “Hellenists”, their supporters and adherents, from those who were “Traditionalists“, but also, apparently, men from women. Why? Because it is also in the nature of Hellenism that women be subordinate to men.
But our One True God was definitely not a Hellenist, right? Given that, Jesus was not a Hellenist – quite the opposite. We might characterize Jesus’ ministry as anti-Hellenist – teaching men in particular about the Divine Balance of God’s Feminine and Masculine aspects, specifically “Feminine-ism“. I briefly outline some basic principles of Jesus of Nazareth’s life and ministry, as they are revealed in “The Word 2.0”:
1. Jesus was a “Traditional” Hebrew-Jewish teacher and Rabbi – to say the very least!
2. Jesus was not a “Hellenist” in any sense of our understanding the word.
3. Jesus espoused and promoted that our One True God – the God of Israel, is a perfect co-equal balance of both masculine and feminine, as is reflected in all Creation.
4. Jesus said that we must love the Lord our God first and foremost, and then love one another as we love ourselves.
5. Jesus taught that love, beginning with God’s “Ruach HaKodesh” – the Breath of Life and Holy Spirit, as aspects of God’s Divine Feminine, is the only way that men can experience the Kingdom of God.
6. Jesus rejected the kind of egocentric, selfish, self-centered thinking and behavior of men that characterizes “Hellenism”.
We will discuss each of these points in much greater detail as we continue, and, look for my study guides they will soon also be available!
