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the-truth-behind-christianity
http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch24.htm
How did Christ end up as a religion? How do our present life and political arena, our wars and certain groups fit in with yesterdays history which has shaped todays world. In its first stage, Christianity begins not as a religion, it begins rather as the movement of people around a single charismatic teacher or preacher, and its hard to know what noun to use exactly. I would call him a holy man who attracted a crowd of disciples who followed him and his various wanderings as he did his healing, and his teachings. But this holy man winds up in Jerusalem and winds up executed by the authorities, probably as a trouble maker, somebody who's best off dead, rather than alive because alive who knows what may happen? He's a threat to the social order and best off executed. Christianity started about 2000 years ago in Judea (present-day Israel) with Jesus Christ and His faithful group of disciples. Judea was a cross-cultural Mecca of bustling cities and farms. The emperor of Rome was the ruler. The Jews at that time hated Roman rule -- it was but another reminder of the historical oppression they faced as people. The polytheistic cultural beliefs of Rome were also pagan and intrusive to Jewish life. Some Jews saw that their only hope was to conform to this change. Others became religious zealots who formed pockets of guerrilla resistance against Rome. Still others withdrew themselves into the Judea wilderness to study the Jewish law and wait for the eventual coming of their promised Messiah (savior). It is obvious that Christianity is but a modified form of Sanatana-dharma. Yet, since Jesus spoke in parables on many occasions, the connection with Vedic knowledge and the deeper meaning of his teachings are not always made clear. In fact, there have been numerous diversions and misunderstandings made because of this, as shown by the hundreds of sects that have developed within the Christian community. So, essentially, this would also mean that you cannot comprehend the deepest aspects of Jesus teachings without understanding Vedic scripture or the philosophy of Sanatana-dharma, since those are really the roots of Christianity and the basis of the teachings of Jesus.
Jesus' teaching was revolutionary. He challenged the established religious authorities to repent from their self-righteousness and hypocrisy and realize that the Kingdom of God is rooted in service and love. Jesus' teachings stirred the hearts of people and created instability, something the Jewish religious authorities feared. Soon, a faithful group of men began to follow Jesus and call him teacher. Jesus came to awaken our abilities, to show us the way, but because he challenged the old way, he was killed and his message destroyed, made into a religion, something he fought long and hard to get rid off. There is a great mystery in how this happened -- how such an extraordinary reversal, that begins with Jesus who is executed by the Romans as a public criminal, as a threat to the social order, and somehow we wind up three centuries later with Jesus being hailed as a God, as part of the one, true God who is the God of the new Christian Roman Empire. There is a remarkable progress, a remarkable development in the course of three centuries. ... It's hard to understand exactly how it happened or why it happened, but it is important to realize that we have a progression and a set of developments, and that Christianity by the fourth century is not the same as the Christianity that we see in the first or even the second.
One of the most surprising Christian heroes in the entire tradition, I think, is Constantine. What happens is that Constantine has a vision. Luckily for the Church, there's a bishop nearby to interpret what the vision means. Constantine ends not converting, technically, to Christianity, but becoming a patron of one particular branch of the church. One of the first things Constantine does, as emperor, is start persecuting other Christians. The Gnostic Christians are targeted...and other dualist Christians. Christians who don't have the Old Testament as part of their canon are targeted. The list of enemies goes on and on. We can only imagine the political intervention and misinformation provided, to include the manipulation of Jesus words, the martyr and guilt driven practice we see today.
Let us bring back the Christ consciousness, the true spiritual teaching Jesus came here on earth to awaken.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/why/legitimization.html
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/jesus_predicted_in_the_vedic_literature.htm
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CBLaxTJ9fE
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