Which Jesus?, Part 4 - Asian and Middle Eastern

Sun Myung Moon - Unification Church:
“At Easter time in 1935, Jesus appeared to the young Sun Myung Moon as he was praying in the Korean mountains. In that vision, Jesus asked him to continue the work which he had begun on earth nearly 2,000 years before. Jesus asked him to complete the task of establishing God's kingdom on earth and bringing His peace to humankind…
If Jesus called him to complete his mission, it meant that Jesus' mission was incomplete…
Sun Myung Moon studied the Bible and many other religious teachings in order to unravel these mysteries of life and human history…
This family of disciples was the foundation upon which the holy wedding, the marriage of the Lamb foretold in the Book of Revelation, could take place. On March 16, 1960, Reverend Moon was blessed in holy marriage to Hak Ja Han. This marked the beginning of the restoration of humankind back into God's lineage. By the power of God and sacrificial love, Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han established the position of True Parents. They are the first couple to have the complete blessing of God, and to be able to bring forth children with no original sin…At the age of seventeen, Miss Han dedicated herself to the mission of bride of the Messiah…
the Unification Church was firmly established and could be used by God as the instrument of world salvation…
Reverend Moon declared that he and his wife are the Messiah and True Parents of all humanity…
Mrs. Moon has given a fitting description of the meaning of the Messiah and the True Parents. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, what is the Messiah? The Messiah is the True Parents of humankind. God's original plan was to establish perfected Adam and Eve as the true ancestors of humanity. Satan, however, invaded this ideal, and God, ever since, has been working toward the emergence of ideal True Parents through which all humankind can be restored. As true fathers and true mothers ourselves, we must vanquish Satan, liberate humanity and build the kingdom of Heaven on earth.’” 1

Reiki:
“‘I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me, can do the same miracles I have done, and even greater things than these will you do.’…
paralysis, lameness, fever, catalepsy, hemorrhage, skin disease, mental disorders, spirit possession, deafness and blindness. Many of these healings were accomplished by the laying on of hands…
There are many similarities between the laying on of hands healing Jesus did and the practice of Reiki. One important similarity is the fact that Jesus could pass the power to heal on to others…
Jesus gave his twelve disciples power to drive out all demons and to cure diseases…the fact that he was able to pass it on to them indicates an important similarity with Reiki…
it appears that the healings Jesus did with his hands did not require faith. This is one of the important aspects of Reiki: It does not require faith on the part of those receiving a treatment in order for the Reiki to work…
Jesus had secret teachings…
Secret knowledge is also part of the Reiki teachings in that the symbols as well as the process of doing attunements are secret. It is not known whether Jesus was born with the ability to heal…
It has been suggested by several researchers that during this time Jesus traveled to the East and was schooled in many of the mystical teachings of India, Tibet and China. If this is so, it is possible that Jesus was initiated into Reiki, or a Reiki like practice during this time as Reiki has his origins in India, Tibet and China. The early followers of Jesus' teachings were made up of several groups. One such group was the Gnostics. They practiced laying on of hands and professed to have a secret knowledge that had been passed on to them by Jesus and his disciples. The Gnostics were made up of many smaller groups some of which were known as the Docetists, the Marcionites, and the Carpocratians. They were united by their core beliefs which included: a personal experience of Jesus or the "kingdom of heaven within," their freedom and lack of rules, guidelines or creeds and their reliance on inspiration and inner guidance…
With the elimination of the Gnostics and the establishment of the Christian Church, the practice of laying on of hands by Christians was lost…
Was Jesus a Reiki Master in addition to being a spiritual Master? While it cannot be established in an absolute sense that Jesus was a Reiki Master, the available evidence clearly indicates so many similarities that it is likely the laying on of hands healing Jesus practiced must have been very closely associated with an early form of Reiki…
We must remember what the Great Master stated as indicated in John 14-12, ‘I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me, can do the same miracles I have done, and even greater things than these will you do.’ 2

Gospel Of Thomas:
v. 114 “Simon Peter said to them, ‘Make Mary leave us, for females don’t deserve life.’ Jesus said, ‘Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.’”

Infancy Gospel Of Thomas:
Ch. 22:1 & 3:3 “This little child Jesus when he was five years old was playing at the ford of a brook: and he gathered together the waters that flowed there into pools, and made them clean, and commanded them by his word alone…The son of Annas the scribe was standing there with Joseph; and he took a branch of a willow and dispersed the waters which Jesus had gathered together. When Jesus saw what was done, he was angry and said to him: O evil, ungodly, and foolish one, what harm did the pools and the waters do you? Now you will be withered like a tree, and shall not bear leaves, neither root, nor fruit. That lad withered up completely.”

Ch. 4:1 & 5:1 “Another time Jesus went through the village, and a child ran and dashed against his shoulder. Jesus was provoked and said to him: you shall not finish your life. Immediately he fell down and died. Certain people, when they saw what was done, said: Why was this young child born; every word of his is an accomplished work…Immediately the people who had accused Jesus were smitten with blindness.”

Gospel of Judas:
The Gospel of Judas affirms that Jesus existed, that He had apostles, that He preformed miraculous works, the He came as savior of humanity, that He had the ability to prophecy, that He was exalted as “the son of our god”, that He came from an “eternal realm”, that there is an afterlife, and that Judas “received some money”.

[I examined the Gospel of Judas at this link]

The Baha'i Faith:
“Baha'is believe that there is only one God, the Creator of the universe. Throughout history, God has revealed Himself to humanity through a series of divine Messengers, each of Whom has founded a great religion. The Messengers have included Abraham, Krishna, Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad.” 3

“Although we may have different concepts of God's nature, although we may pray to Him in different languages and call Him by different names--Allah or Yahweh, God or Brahma--nevertheless, we are speaking about the same unique Being.” 4

“…we believe that Jesus was only one of nine manifestations of the divine being and appeared in His era of time to illuminate those who lived at that time. Today Baha'u'llah is the source of revelation. Jesus was the way, the truth and the life for His time but certainly not for all time. 'Abdul Baha points out that we are to honor all the major prophetic voices, not just one of them. He said: ‘Christ was the prophet of the Christians, Moses of the Jews—why should not the followers of each prophet recognize and honor the other prophets?’ ‘The revelation of Jesus was for His own dispensation, that of the Son, and now is no longer the point of guidance to the world. Baha'is must be severed from all and everything that is past—things both good and bad—everything…now all is changed. All the teachings of the past are past. Abdul Baha'i is now supplying all the world.’ (Wisdom of Abdul Baha, p. 43 and Ref. Star of the West, official Baha'i publication, Dec. 31, 1913) Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Confucius, Christ, Mohammed, Krishna, Lowe [Lao Tzu] and Baha‘u’llah are all equal manifestations of the divine mind. 5

“Because God loves all humanity, He sent us many Teachers at different times and places. They are known as Messengers, Manifestations, or prophets of God…
There are two kinds of Prophets or Teachers—Primary Messengers, like Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha and Baha'u'llah, and secondary messengers, like Isaiah and St. John, who received their inspiration from the others. The Primary Messengers, (what Baha'is call ‘Manifestations of God’) receive their enlightenment from God and know more about creation (us) than we know about ourselves…
All manifestations are equal in knowledge and spirit…and build upon each other’s contributions. God’s Messengers have not come to save us because we are inherently evil, but rather to educate us because we are inherently ignorant and in need of guidance. Manifestations bring two kinds of teachings—social and spiritual. The spiritual teachings are eternal, but the social teachings change in needs of the time. The Manifestations of God are perfect reflection of God, they are not God in His Essence, nor are they little pieces of God…
Jesus was born of a virgin and was the spiritual Son, not the physical Son of God. God’s spiritual ‘Son’ rose spiritually to a spiritual Heaven to live forever. The term ‘return’ refers to a return of the spiritual qualities or spiritual station of a prophet, not their physical return. For example, Jesus said that John the Baptist was the return of Elias, even though physically, John was His cousin…Baha'u'llah, the One who founded the Faith and explained these principles, claims to fulfill the prophecies concerning the ‘Promised One’ of all religions. His life and teachings are worthy of further study to determine the goodness of His ‘fruit,’ and the validity of His claim.” 6

[For more on the Baha'i Faith see this link]

Judaism:
“To Jews, whatever wonderful teacher and storyteller Jesus may have been, he was just a human, not the son of God (except in the metaphorical sense in which all humans are children of God). In the Jewish view, Jesus cannot save souls; only God can. Jesus did not, in the Jewish view, rise from the dead….
Jesus is not seen as the messiah. In the Jewish view, the messiah is a human being who will usher in an era of peace. We can tell the messiah by looking at the world and seeing if it is at peace. From the Jewish view, this clearly did not happen when Jesus was on Earth or anytime after his death…No one who is Jewish, no born Jew and no one who converts to Judaism, can believe in Jesus as the literal son of God or as the Messiah. For the Jewish people, there is no God but God.” 7

“Leaving aside self styled ‘messianic Jews’-converts to Christianity who accept the Christian claims about Jesus and the Christian understanding of the Messiah as a supernatural, spiritual figure who is the son of God and part of a divine ‘trinity’…”8

“Jesus’ ministry on earth coincided with the lives of the early Rabbis known as Pharisees. Jews therefore see Jesus as a historical personality whose work and teachings parallel those of other wonder-working Jewish leaders of the time…
The Romans crucified Jesus just as they tortured Rabbi Akiba to death, because they feared the revolutionary effect of their doctrine of love and justice. But Jews stop short of identifying Jesus as in any way divine. Simply put, Jews do not believe that God had a son or appeared in human form…
Jews do not quote Jesus as a model, not because we cannot identify with much that he said, but because his life and death are so intrinsically central to Christianity…Were we to point to Jesus’ behavior or teachings as our guide in life, we would feel as if we were crossing the boundary from Judaism to Christianity. The Lord’s prayer, for instance, has nothing in it with which Jews would not agree. It is a prayer for the coming of God’s reign, a doctrine taught by every Rabbi of the first and second century. But we would not say the Lord’s prayer, since it is part of Christian liturgy, associated firmly with the bedrock of Christian faith. Similarly, Jesus is known to have preached the Golden Rule. But we do not cite Jesus to the effect that we should love our neighbors as ourselves, even though we agree that we should. Instead, we have our own daily prayer called the Kaddish [KAH-dish], which parallels the Lord’s prayer and was formulated about the same time…
It is always hard to second-guess history, but it is interesting to imagine what would have happened if the life of Jesus had not been appropriated by Christianity. What would have happened if he had been remembered only as the Jew he was, but not as the savior? His life might in that case have been retained by Jewish sources. He might in that case have been retained by Jewish sources. He might well have remained a Jewish moral hero like the Pharisees of the time, who were much like him. But precisely because Jesus was recognized by Christians as the Christ, he could not be recognized as a Jewish role model by those Jews who did not accept his divinity.” 9

“Many Jewish scholars believe that Jesus considered himself a prophet only. They reject the contention of Christian scholars that when Jesus used the phrase ‘Son of Man’ in his preaching (first mentioned in Daniel 7:13, where the Aramaic phrase bar enash is used), he was referring to himself as the Messiah. The phrase ‘Son of God,’ in the Jewish view, is used in the third person, and more likely than not, when Jesus used the phrase he was referring to someone other than himself. Jewish scholars also point to the fact that there is little evidence in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke)-the earliest accounts of the life of Jesus-that Jesus regarded himself as the Messiah.” 10

“Whether Jesus was the Messiah will be shown when the Messiah comes….I do not think many Jews would object if the messiah when he came again was the Jew Jesus.” 11

“According to the doctrine of incarnation, God transformed himself to human life in the form of Jesus. To Jews, who believe that God is One and unchangeable, this doctrine is unacceptable.” 12

[For more on Judaism see this link]

1. 1. http://unification.org/rev_mrs_moon.html
2. 2. William L. Rand, Was Jesus a Reiki Master? (Reiki News Articles. The International Center for Reiki Training.), http://www.reiki.org/reikinews/reikin16.html#Top%20Of%20Page
3. 3. http://www.bahai.org/article-1-4-0-1.html
4. 4. http://www.bahai.org/article-1-4-0-1.html
5. 5. Walter Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults (Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship Inc., Publishers, 1965), pp. 254-255
6. 6. Justice St Rain, Finding Common Ground-How many beliefs do you share with members of the Baha'i Community? You may be surprised! (Bloomington, IN.: Published by Special Ideas, 1997), pp. 2, 10-11
7. 7. Lawrence J. Epstein, Questions and Answers on Conversion to Judaism (Northvale, NJ.: Jason Aronson Inc., 1998), pp. 57, 58
8. 8. Nicholas De Lange, An Introduction to Judaism (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), p. 205
9. 9. Rabbi Morris N. Kertzer, Revised by Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, What is a Jew? (Don Mills, Ontario: Maxwell Macmillan Canada, Inc. 1993), p. 275-276
10. 10. Alfred J. Kolatch, The Second Jewish Book of Why (New York: Jonathan David Publishing, Inc. 1985), p. 71
11. 11. Edited by Naomi W. Cohen, Essential Papers on Jewish-Christian Relations in the United Sates (New York: University Press, 1990), p. 332. Quoting Franz Rosenzweig & David Flusser
12. 12. Alfred J. Kolatch, The Second Jewish Book of Why (New York: Jonathan David Publishing, Inc. 1985), p. 73