Difference between revisions of "Charles Guignebert"

From PreparingYou
Jump to: navigation, search
m
m (Both edits are for word tenses and clarity)
Line 32: Line 32:
 
The Gospel of [[John]] is uniquely different than those of the first three Gospels. But this has almost entirely to do with the perspective of the source of those Johannine Scripts. If someone does not understand the message of the first three they can easily be confused by the fourth Gospel to say nothing of Paul's epistles to those Christians who were already doing what Christ said and had stopped doing what the [[Pharisees]] said was okay that was ''[[Corban|making the word of God to none effect]]''.
 
The Gospel of [[John]] is uniquely different than those of the first three Gospels. But this has almost entirely to do with the perspective of the source of those Johannine Scripts. If someone does not understand the message of the first three they can easily be confused by the fourth Gospel to say nothing of Paul's epistles to those Christians who were already doing what Christ said and had stopped doing what the [[Pharisees]] said was okay that was ''[[Corban|making the word of God to none effect]]''.
  
[[Modern Christians]] cannot see that their [[covetous practices]] have made them [[merchandise]] as predicted by [[Peter]]. They do not see that the [[Voice|voice of the people]] have rejected God and [[Jesus]] as the [[Christ]] so how can they understand the simplicity of the [[Gospel of the Kingdom]].
+
[[Modern Christians]] cannot see that their [[covetous practices]] have made them [[merchandise]] as predicted by [[Peter]]. They do not see that the [[Voice|voice of the people]] is actually a rejection God and [[Jesus]] as the [[Christ]], so how can they understand the simplicity of the [[Gospel of the Kingdom]].
  
 
Because of their ''lack of knowledge'' they  appropriate the Divine and fashion Him in their own image and call their faith in that image belief in God and Jesus.  Even the definition of religion had changed for Guignebert a hundred years before so he wrote,  "In all probability the Gospel writer was only concerned with the religious aspect of this sequence of events in time. Bearing this in mind, it is easy to explain the insuperable divergence which appears between the Synoptic chronological scheme of the events of the Passion and the Johannine scheme, while admitting that the former is lacking in clearness and coherence."
 
Because of their ''lack of knowledge'' they  appropriate the Divine and fashion Him in their own image and call their faith in that image belief in God and Jesus.  Even the definition of religion had changed for Guignebert a hundred years before so he wrote,  "In all probability the Gospel writer was only concerned with the religious aspect of this sequence of events in time. Bearing this in mind, it is easy to explain the insuperable divergence which appears between the Synoptic chronological scheme of the events of the Passion and the Johannine scheme, while admitting that the former is lacking in clearness and coherence."

Revision as of 18:58, 12 January 2018

Charles Guignebert (1867 - 1939)
Charles Guignebert was a professor of Church history at the Sorbonne. He wrote the book "Jesus" in 1935, which was eventually translated into English in 1956. He believed in the “historicity of Jesus,” men like Paul-Louis Couchoud, Benjamin Smith, John Mackinnon Robertson, Peter C. Jensen, Albert Kalthoff and Arthur Drews.

None of these writers and scholars had the advantage of Nag Hammadi material, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the extensive advances in archaeology. Some of Guignebert’s arguments may not be as valid today but that would not mean he would agree with the mythicists.

Charles had followed in the shadow of Alfred Firmin Loisy who was a French Roman Catholic priest, professor and theologian generally credited as a founder of Biblical Modernism. While they were critics of traditional views of the biblical creation, their biblical criticism of Sacred Scripture appeared after centuries of persecution, indoctrination, scattered and competitive reformation and theological undermining of any ideas that would decrease the power of the Catholic Church or the Church of England or even the Greek orthodox.

Once religion became "what you think about God" the vanity of men drives our thinking toward what psychologists call cognitive immunization. Personal pride and the fear of of the pain that comes from Cognitive dissonance keeps the masses mentally bound to one ideology or another.

Rationalism is a belief or theory that opinions and actions should be based on reason and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response. But if your facts are limited by design or by default your conclusions may be false. Yes we live in a cause and effect universe but eating of the tree of knowledge may produce results the vain man calls rational but are not.

Guignebert believed his approach was more scientific rather than confessional concerning Christian history. But his "scientific " perspective was limited to his personal point of view. He actually concluded with his narrow scholastic view that "We know nothing at all of the personality of Jesus, scarcely anything of the facts of his life, little as to his teaching, and can only speculate as to his career."

He viewed “The gospels" were "texts of propaganda, calculated to organize and authenticate the legend represented in the sacred drama of the sect by making that legend believable, and to conform it to the mythology of the era.”

That may be partially true with Matthew who clearly tried to write to the skeptics of Hebrew communities. But the gospels were both a record and repository of the basic history but more important the doctrines or teachings of Jesus. While there are differences in the reporting of the gospel they are certainly as accurate as modern media reporting today if not more so.

Guignebert makes numerous outlandish assumptions and conclusions based on testimony which by its nature is incomplete. Concerning the events at Gethsemane, he writes, "That the incident was dramatized after the event, and was even, in the main, entirely imaginary, there can be no doubt, for who could have seen, heard, and reported it, when the only ones who might have witnessed the scene were asleep?"

There is no way to know the details of the events. They are not reported. We know people were awake and fell asleep and were awakened from that sleep but there was no detail reporting of what they saw while they were awake or dozing off. These types of conclusions are fallacious unwarranted conjecture and certainly not scientific.

A major problem that arises in understanding these documents of antiquity is understanding the politics, laws and psychology of the participants within the text. The temples of that day were government buildings. The temple at Jerusalem was no exception. There were factions at the altar of God and like politics or religion of today facts do not always matter.

Without a thorough understanding of the sciences of politics, laws and psychology Guignebert concluded that "The Last Things which Jesus expected did not happen. The Kingdom which he announced did not appear and the prophet died on the cross instead of contemplating the expected Miracle from the hill of Zion. He must then have been mistaken ... Jesus' dream ... ended in failure."

These statements show a compete lack of understanding of the kingdom and how it worked. The Apostles had thousands of Jews accept Jesus as the anointed king, the Christ on Pentecost. Those Jews repented of the system of Corban that made the word of God to none effect. They stopped the covetous practices that sought benefits by men who exercised authority. Christians stopped taking from their neighbors and started caring for one another in pure Religion. They no longer prayed to the Fathers of the earth for their free bread. They worked daily in the government temple rightly dividing bread from house to house saying there is another king one Jesus. The only failure is with the modern Christian who does not see nor seek the kingdom of God, The Way, nor the righteousness of God.

Everyone who thinks they already know the truth have no room in their minds for information, no matter how factual, that contradicts what they already believe they know to be true. While the bricks of their prison are stacked in false pattern of information they are mortared together with their own vanity.

Because Charles read accounts from different perspectives and does not understand some of the basics of the gospel at that time he again imagines "the Jesus of John seems quite a different person from the one implied by the Synoptic tradition. He is in every way different---his character, his behavior, his consistently harsh attitude towards the Jews, and the tone of his discourses, which are solemn and lofty exhortations never understood by his hearers, and full of profound meditations on the eternal Christ instead of the familiar teachings about the coming Kingdom and the conditions of entrance to it."

The Gospel of John is uniquely different than those of the first three Gospels. But this has almost entirely to do with the perspective of the source of those Johannine Scripts. If someone does not understand the message of the first three they can easily be confused by the fourth Gospel to say nothing of Paul's epistles to those Christians who were already doing what Christ said and had stopped doing what the Pharisees said was okay that was making the word of God to none effect.

Modern Christians cannot see that their covetous practices have made them merchandise as predicted by Peter. They do not see that the voice of the people is actually a rejection God and Jesus as the Christ, so how can they understand the simplicity of the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Because of their lack of knowledge they appropriate the Divine and fashion Him in their own image and call their faith in that image belief in God and Jesus.  Even the definition of religion had changed for Guignebert a hundred years before so he wrote, "In all probability the Gospel writer was only concerned with the religious aspect of this sequence of events in time. Bearing this in mind, it is easy to explain the insuperable divergence which appears between the Synoptic chronological scheme of the events of the Passion and the Johannine scheme, while admitting that the former is lacking in clearness and coherence."

John never even mentioned the word religion but once it is understood to be in accord with James' version of Pure Religion both the Johannine Scriptures and the Epistles of John begin to come together with a deeper meaning along with the Kingdom of God and His righteousness which we are told to seek.


Peter, Paul, James, and John Warned

Peter[1], Paul[2], James[3] and John[4]all 'warned the New Covenant Church that what they were doing and not doing would reveal the truth of their claim to faith in God and His Holy Spirit. Paul warned people to test their faith[5] to make sure they were not deceived or reprobates[6].

Even John warns that we need to walk according to what Jesus showed us and confess our sins if we are to be cleansed of unrighteousness.[7] John even gives the keeping of the commandments as the rod by which we measure the truth of our faith.[8] And those who do not keep the commandments are a liar and Christ is not in them.[9] Over and over John repeats that he that "doeth not righteousness" is not born again of Christ and the Father.[10] And John warns us that we may not only be deceived but may deceive ourselves [11] warning us of the many false teachers who are "out in the world".[12]

Jude 1:16 "These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling [words], having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage."

We are told that we are told in Jude 1:21 "Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22 And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23 And others save with fear, pulling [them] out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh."

The Bible from the beginning warns[13] and continues those warnings throughout the New Testament that many will be decieved thinking they are believers while in truth they are workers of iniquity.[14] Because these warnings are ignored by the modern Church, the welfare of a foolish[15] society has become a snare.

  • “It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.”[16]



If you need help:

Or want to help others:

Join The Living Network of The Companies of Ten
The Living Network | Join Local group | About | Purpose | Guidelines | Network Removal
Contact Minister | Fractal Network | Audacity of Hope | Network Links

Footnotes

  1. “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:10, 11
    2 Peter 2:14 "Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; curse children:"
    2 Peter 2:3 "And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not."
  2. 2 Timothy 3:1 ¶ This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. 9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. 10 ¶ But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, 11 Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. 12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. 14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
    Ephesians 5:1 ¶ Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. 3 ¶ But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; 4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. 7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them. 8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
    "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1 Galatians 5:15 "But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another."
    1 Corinthians 6:9 "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
    11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.".
  3. James 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
    James 5:12 ¶ But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and [your] nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
  4. 1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
    1 John 2:6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
    1 John 2:11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
    2 John 1:4 I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.
    2 John 1:6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
    3 John 1:3 For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth... 11 Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
  5. 2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?(The word reprobate is from adokimos meaning not standing the test, not approved) But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.
  6. 96 ~ἀδόκιμος~ adokimos \@ad-ok’-ee-mos\@ from 1 (as a negative particle) and 1384; adj AV-reprobate 6, castaway 1, rejected 1; 8
    1) not standing the test, not approved (See warnings)
    1a) properly used of metals and coins
    2) that which does not prove itself such as it ought
    2a) unfit for, unproved, spurious, reprobate
  7. 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
  8. 1 John 2:3 ¶ And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
  9. 1 John 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
  10. 1 John 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
    1 John 3:7 "Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
    11 ¶ For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
    1 John 3:24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
  11. 1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
    2 John 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
  12. 1 John 4:1 ¶ Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
  13. Exodus 23:32, 34:12-15, 20:1-17, Deuteronomy 13:8, 17:16, Judges 2:2, 1 Samuel 8; 13:13, Proverbs 1:10-19, Proverbs 23, Psalms 69:22. See also Ezekiel 11:3-11, Micah 3:3; Exodus 16:3.
  14. 1 Corinthians 4:14 I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.
    Colossians 1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
    1 Thessalonians 5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
    Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
    Matthew 6:9, 23:9, 5:34... 20:25, Mark 10:42, Luke 4:18, 22:25, 1 Corinthians 7:21, 2 Corinthians 6:16, James 5:12, 1 Peter 2:16, Romans 7:7, 13:9, 11:9, Colossians 3:5, Hebrews 13:5, 2 Peter 2:3-14, 2 Peter 2:19, 2 Timothy 2:26,1:1, 9
  15. 1 Samuel 13:13
  16. Frederic Bastiat, 1801 – 1850, French theorist, political economist.