The Bible: Commentary and Controversy

While we’re at it, sort of, let’s talk about all the Jesus Christ theories, who and what Christ was, and where He came from.

1. Jesus was an alien. (Aside from just being from Galilee, that is.) Extraterrestrials came down from their ship, gave Mary a whiff of something that kept her asleep during the procedure, and impregnated her, then went back to the ship. Maybe came back down a while later and told her she was pregnant, and what to name the baby.
2. Jesus was the actual son of God. Thinking he may have been a little too hard for too long on his creations, God decided to send His son to earth for 33 years, to relieve mankind of its original sin, show the world that God is good and all powerful, and explain that all earthlings are in fact children of God, with unbounded powers. And then be tortured, crucified, and killed only to arise from the dead and ascend into heaven, with a few return visits to pump up the apostles.
3. Jesus was just a guy. A pretty terrific guy, to be sure, and a moral philosopher of some note, but just a guy. However, he caused such a stir with his words and works that he was blown into someone with super powers – perhaps an actual descendant of God – by his followers.
4. There actually was no Jesus, or if there was, he had nothing to do with the founding of Christianity. (Not kidding. That’s an actual theory called “The Christ Myth.”)
5. If there was a Jesus, he was just an amalgam of dozens of pagan gods whose supposed birth, works, and existence were the basis for Jesus’ life and times. Birthdate, resurrection, ascent into heaven, etc., etc.
6. Jesus was really Jesus, but he was not a true prophet, because some of the events he prophesized didn’t come true. If he wasn’t a true prophet, then he certainly wasn’t the son of God, who would be expected to know all these things. After all, the way you can tell whether a prophet is a true prophet or not is by whether or not his prophecies come true. (Duh)

Scientists, of course, deny the existence of Jesus, and God, and just about everything else in the bible, because there’s no real proof of their existence or their works (aside from the creation of the world, but that’s definitely not proof for the science guys.) In fact, the belief in God is simply a way of closing the door to further research in any area. If the answer is “God did it,” why look any farther?

Except, of course, the scientific world that created phlogiston, and the luminiferous ether, now firmly uses dark matter, and string theory, and parallel universes to explain the mysteries of the universe. Except, of course, there’s no real proof that those things exist. They simply have faith that it does. And faith, as we know, is belief in things unseen.

All that said, I have a completely new and original explanation (at least as far as I know) for His existence, one that will undoubtedly be reviled by just about everyone – religionists and scientists alike – because it has nothing to do with religion, and because scientists won’t even consider the possibility of it being true (oh ye of little faith.)

Let’s start at the beginning, with the biblical description of the creation of the world. Note I didn’t say simply “the creation of the world.” I said “the biblical description.” Is that actually the way the world was created? I have no idea. Nor does anyone else.

To me, the bible is a long, wonderful collection of parables and life lessons that you can appreciate whether or not you believe in the existence of God.

So how did the creation of the world happen according to the bible?

God brought it into being.

The bible says: “And God saith, ‘Let light be,’ and light is.”

Is that an accurate description? I don’t think so. Why would he say it, if there was no one to talk to? According to Genesis, “the earth hath existed waste and void, and darkness is on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters.” In other words, God is all alone in the chaos of the world.

So forgive me, Moses and the many biblical scholars who have missed this simple fact, but God did not say “Let there be light.” He thought it.

In fact, He did not say anything; He thought everything.

According to Ellicot’s commentaries: “And God said: Voice and sound there could be none, nor was there any person to whom God addressed this word of power. The phrase, then, is metaphorical.” And as Benson says in his commentaries: “God said: Not by an articulate voice; for to whom should he speak? but in his own eternal mind. He willed that the effect here mentioned should be produced, and it was produced.”

Exactly. But it goes a step further. He began to bring order out of chaos not by thinking it, or by willing it, but by having faith that his thoughts would be made reality. No, the bible doesn’t read that way, primarily because “said” would have made a lot more sense to the originators and keepers of the old testament.

God thought it, and believed it would happen. No. To correct myself again, He knew it would happen. Think about it this way: you’re on a cliff a thousand feet above the ground. It’s pitch dark. You believe there is a set of stairs in front of you that leads to the bottom. Would you step off the cliff? Probably not. But if you know there is a set of stairs in front of you, no problem.

But how can you know something if you can’t touch it or see it or smell it? You must believe so completely that your belief becomes knowledge. You can believe there is a God, or you can know there is a God. You can believe God will deliver your enemies into your hands, or you can know it. You can believe you can kill a giant with a slingshot, or you can know it. You can believe there is a child in your womb, or you can know it.

So the truer interpretation of Genesis is that faith, which is defined as “belief in things unseen,” was responsible for the creation of the universe, and of everything in it. Only in God’s case it was the knowledge of things unseen. In other words, He knew these things, and by that knowledge brought them into existence.

Note I’m not trying to make you believe in Genesis, or the bible, but simply laying some foundation for what is basically a total reinterpretation of the events described in the bible, and of Jesus himself.

Consider all the miracles, and other improbable things that happen in the old testament. Whether or not they actually happened is irrelevant. How they happened is what’s important.

• Joshua and the destruction of Jericho.
• The many times the people of Israel defeated much larger forces.
• David and Goliath.
• The seven plagues of Egypt.
• The parting of the Red Sea.
• Manna in the wilderness.
• Daniel in the lion’s den.
• Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
• And many others.

The thread that ties them all together? Faith. But not just the belief that God will make it happen: the knowledge that God will make it happen. Is it possible their faith was so strong that it affected reality? Quantum theory says that’s a distinct possibility.

Wait. What? Yup. Here’s a crash course on the subject.

According to quantum theory:

1. The world is made of some kind of weird stuff we know practically nothing about, except it defies all existing laws for “stuff.” (Remember the luminiferous ether?”)
2. This “stuff” acts like it’s alive. Wow! But wait. It gets better.
3. This stuff the world is made of is constantly aware of what is happening in and to all of its parts. When something happens to some of this stuff, all of this stuff knows about it instantly, even though part of this stuff is the planet Mars, or Jupiter, and some is the planet Earth. Wait a minute, you say, along with everyone else who’s heard about this. That means this knowledge has to travel faster than the speed of light. Just one of those niggling problems scientists run into from time to time when trying to explain how the universe works.
4. But wait, there’s more. This stuff doesn’t just know what’s happening to its parts. Whatever happens to some of this stuff affects all of it at once. If one tiny part changes, all of it changes in a corresponding way.
5. But here’s the best part. This stuff is influenced by our thoughts, our expectations, even by our very presence.
6. When we measure it, it changes itself to fit our expectations.
7. In other words, this “stuff” relies on our expectations for its shape, or form.

Let’s say that again. This “stuff” the whole world is made of shapes itself according to our expectations.

To put it another way, our thoughts shape the universe.

It may sound dumb, and it may sound like science fiction, but it’s proven, validated, dependable, verifiable, indisputable, scientific fact. Does that mean I can say to that mountain over there “be moved,” and it will be? Well, Jesus said I could, and you could, and anyone else could who had a sufficient amount of faith – not because of how good or holy we are, but of how strong our belief is. In other words, if we can get from belief to knowledge.

Now about the new testament.

There were hundreds of prophesies described in the bible pertaining to the coming of Christ. Hundreds of prophesies that were believed by thousands of Jews.

Here’s the proposition.

Could all those prophesies, and all that sincere belief, actually have brought Jesus into existence? Remember, faith was much different then from what it is today. It was much more intense, and was founded on very detailed prophesies such as:

• The Messiah would be born of woman
• He would be born in Bethlehem
• He would be born of a virgin
• He would come from the line of Abraham
• He would spend a season in Egypt
• A massacre would happen at His birthplace
• He would be called a Nazarene
• He would be betrayed.
• His hands and feet would be pierced.
• He would be resurrected and ascend into heaven.
• And many, many others.

Could it be that these prophesies were so profuse, and so detailed, and so intensely believed, that they actually brought Jesus into existence? Quantum theory suggests that possibility. If so, it’s obvious he could have formed in a virgin womb, because he was not brought into the world in the normal way – by the reproductive act between a man and a woman – but as the result of thousands of people believing that his appearance was inevitable.

If that is true – if Jesus was the living result of a people’s faith – he would not have been bound by the laws that bind ordinary mortals. If he was subject to those laws he could not have, for example, survived 40 days and 40 nights without food or water. How did he do that? And how did he accomplish all the other miracles in the new testament?

By faith. In every case, he pronounced the miracle in advance of it happening. The water into wine, the healings, the centurion’s child, Lazarus, all happened as he said they would, because he had utter faith that they would. In fact, He knew that they would, because he was the manifestation of prophesy.

The key phrase that proves this theory?

“And the word was made flesh.”

Not “God sent His only son to walk among us.” Even though in a sense that’s what actually happened. But that requires a definition of God.

So here we go.

Is God an old white-haired old man who created everything and watches over us?

I think not.

Do I know what God is? Of course not. Do I think I’m smarter than all the thousands of minds that have tried to define God over the years? Maybe. But that doesn’t mean I know what God is. However, who or what he is isn’t relevant to this version of reality, because God doesn’t decide whether or not you get what you want.

That’s up to you.