All Comments (231)

All cleverness aside, Mr. Chopra, there is only one Jesus and we all (Christians and non-Christians alike) would do well to stop making Him into our own images and live to be more like Him instead. If we devoted our hearts and minds to Christ-consciousness rather than divisive nation- or race- or gender- or self-consciousness, what a wonderful world this would be.

Diane L. Harris
http://www.steppingintothelight.net

Hi Deepak,

We as humans have been misdirected and misguided by Europenas and Western world in proclaiming an ordinary man to be GOD and spread the myhths and lies. The religion of follwers of Jesus was imposed by Romans first for the reasons best known to them and made it a point to enforce the same to the world by concocting stories, lies and threats.

A new threat of Evangelists is hovering the world for the ill-luck of this generation. This is again "Old wine in a new bottle".

In my opinion it is not Jesus that is required but GOD. If you look and read the life & teachings of Shirdi Sai Baba, who can best be regarded as incarnation of GOD, the world would be in peace and prosperous for ever.

Thanks

I find Dr. Chopra's article very inspiring and encouraging...it is in keeping with the opinions of Tom Harpur ("The Pagan Christ"). They both make clear distinctions between faith and religion, and while one may inevitably lead to the other over time, it should not stop us from constantly examining and evaluating both.

We know that for the most part, our brains are governed by the mammalian, emotional lobes rather than the more recent Frontal , rational ones. I often wonder if we emerged as pack animals, and not unlike wolves, need to defer to an alpha male that exerts authority over our behaviour and ranking in society. If such a biological imperative does exist, it would be easily exploited by anyone seeking authority over others' lives. This is one area in which reason is needed in faith, so that we don't find ourselves of defering to people, places and things that might well be asking us behaviors that are not only lacking creativity, but in fact counciling destructive ones. A personal, internalized Jesus is certainly a break from the pack mentality.

My brother Deepak,

Your words speak to what I believe is perhaps latent knowledge within each of us. It has been Re-membered and forgotten at numerous points during human history.

It is the birth of a new idea of Jesus or religion, that we create depending upon the focus and agenda of our collective consciousness at a particular point.

The historical Jesus and the physical events we attribute to him are only the symbols for deeply profound ideas.

We are both the creators and creations.

I forget the chapter and verse, but your words brought to my mind the New Testament passage that says:

"And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed through the Re-Newing of your mind...so that you may know what is that true and perfect will of god...think soberly...according to your faith."

Christ consciousness awaits our Re-Birth.

CBL-PDX:

Thanks for your comments. You nailed it with C.S. Lewis - Jesus IS Lord, Liar, or Lunatic.

And your choice of lunatic is one of the only viable options. Jesus is not merely a spiritual teacher, not merely a prophet, not the founder of a religion. None of those are consistent with his divine claims.

He claimed to be God (in several places in the Gospel accounts and corroborated by applying several Old Testament Messianic/God references to himself).

If he new it wasn't true, he is THE liar.

If he didn't know that it wasn't true, he is your lunatic (your choice).

Any honest evaluation of his teaching and works on the earth rule out both of these options.

That inevitably leads you to recognising that Jesus is Lord. And as Lord, Jesus has a claim on our lives - how we live them. In short, Jesus directs us to 'repent and believe' (Mark 1) and 'Come, follow me.' The context is that the Kingdom of God is at hand.

This is not a narrowly denominational or religious invitation/command. It is made to everyone, regardless of upbringing, country of origin, philosophy, language, or religion.
Much grace,
S

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It must not be supposed, because the doctrine of the Cross makes us sad, that therefore the Gospel is a sad religion. The Psalmist says, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy;" and our Lord says, "They that mourn shall be comforted." Let no one go away with the impression that the Gospel makes us take a gloomy view of the world and of life. It hinders us indeed from taking a superficial view, and finding a vain transitory joy in what we see; but it forbids our immediate enjoyment, only to grant enjoyment in truth and fulness afterwards. It only forbids us to begin with enjoyment. It only says, If you begin with pleasure, you will end with pain. It bids us begin with the Cross of Christ, and in that Cross we shall at first find sorrow, but in a while peace and comfort will rise out of that sorrow. That Cross will lead us to mourning, repentance, humiliation, prayer, fasting; we shall sorrow for our sins, we shall sorrow with Christ's sufferings; but all this sorrow will only issue, nay, will be undergone in a happiness far greater than the enjoyment which the world gives, — though careless worldly minds indeed will not believe this, ridicule the notion of it, because they never have tasted it, and consider it a mere matter of words, which religious persons think it decent and proper to use, and try to believe themselves, and to get others to believe, but which no one really feels. This is what they think; but our Saviour said to His disciples, "Ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." ... "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you." [John xvi. 22; xiv. 27.] And St. Paul says, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." [1 Cor. ii. 9, 14.] And thus the Cross of Christ, as telling us of our redemption as well as of His sufferings, wounds us indeed, but so wounds as to heal also.
- John Henry Cardinal Newman

Deepak,

Today we are dicussing about different faith,culture and beliefs and how it is affecting us but in my
understanding the most important question a human is still asking today is why he or she is not happy? or why he or she is suffering?.In my understanding CREATION of a HUMAN through a relationship of a MAN and a WOMAN was a SUBLIME MESSAGE of CONSIDERATION, DEPENDENCE and ACCEPTANCE of each other.
What we have up to now done is never accepted our ownself thus never accepted others.As we are creature of habits we never realised the acceptance part.That is the reason we find ourselves in a world of hate, frustration and anger.We never came to terms that we can MAYBE know or understand human from an outside appearence can NEVER know or understand from whithin.That means anything we say is not ABSOLUTE. We can only comfort ourselves through a dialogue of each other understanding and their own life experiences.It is my humble request to visit my website WWW.CONSIDERATEWORLD.COM.
I am willing to sit with any human to have a dialogue to try to comfort the HUMANITY.

I think the Islamists need a new Mohammed.

The world can't afford the Jesus and Mohamed that we presently have. We certainly don't need more such myths serving to segregate humans into warring factions deftly controlled by greedy power brokers.

Jesus did not exist. There was not such a person in history. See Earl Doherty's "The Jesus Puzzle" book and web site.

What amuses me is that the author of this silliness is a snake oil salesman.

Providence

What really makes me amused is all of the holy, holies on here quoting the bible to prove the bible. They can't give any other rational argument for their beliefs except the book told them so and then they quote the book to prove their point. How silly.

Also, maybe C.S. Lewis was right (ie. messiah or lunatic). But unlike the holy, holies, maybe lunatic is the correct answer.

TO KELLY:

You wrote, " It also says that the only way to God is through Jesus,", that is not what Jesus said.

Jesus said, "I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except thru Me".

Considering that God is a Trinity and is One and is a Being of Pure Love, the difference between what you wrote and what Jesus said is huge.

Take care, be ready, see you and the rest of humanity in the Kingdom.

Sincerely, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.

>>What Jesus envisioned was a world ruled by God, which cannot occur unless human nature changes radically. In everyday life Jesus’s teachings are impossible to follow. Ordinary awareness doesn’t permit us to follow the Golden Rule. If we treated everyone else the way we wanted to be treated, there would be no wars, crime, or divorce. If we obeyed the injunction to resist not evil, all too probably the world’s evil-doers would run amok.<<

If Jesus' teachings can only be followed in the ivory tower of our own private ideals, then His teachings are worthless.

The Jesus I know put His words into action. He gave His back to those who beat Him and stretched out His hands to those who would nail them to the cross. In doing this, He completed the ultimate act of forgiveness.

You cannot forget something like that. We expect to be resisted. We expect hatred to return hatred. What do you do with somebody who returns your anger with the vibrant love of Christ?

For such love, I would lay down my very life. All that we think has meaning in this world pales in comparison to the love and holiness of Christ. You're right, Deepak, if we were all followers of Christ, there would be no wars, crime, or divorce. The "god" in me can't hack it Jesus' way. It always seems to fail me at the worst possible moment.

I put my trust in the God of the universe, in the real and sinless Jesus Christ.

>>What Jesus envisioned was a world ruled by God, which cannot occur unless human nature changes radically. In everyday life Jesus’s teachings are impossible to follow. Ordinary awareness doesn’t permit us to follow the Golden Rule. If we treated everyone else the way we wanted to be treated, there would be no wars, crime, or divorce. If we obeyed the injunction to resist not evil, all too probably the world’s evil-doers would run amok.<<

If Jesus' teachings can only be followed in the ivory tower of our own private ideals, then His teachings are worthless.

The Jesus I know put His words into action. He gave His back to those who beat Him and stretched out His hands to those who would nail them to the cross. In doing this, He completed the ultimate act of forgiveness.

You cannot forget something like that. We expect to be resisted. We expect hatred to return hatred. What do you do with somebody who returns your anger with the vibrant love of Christ?

For such love, I would lay down my very life, because all that we think has meaning in this world pales in comparison to the love and holiness of Christ. You're right, Deepak, if we were all followers of Christ, there would be no wars, crime, or divorce. The "god" in me can't hack it Jesus' way. It always seems to fail me at the worst possible moment.

I put my trust in the God of the universe, in the real and sinless Jesus Christ.

Christianity like Islam is an idolatrous faith. The true nature of the idolatory of Christianity lies in the fact the idol Jesus is entirely of human creation, very much similar to the Islamic idol Allah , who was created by Muhammad and in the fact that these two idols are defined by words that have been made permanent.

I will not label Christianity and Islam as blasphemous because I do not believe that the true God, unlike the god of Christianity and Islam, is offended by idolatry and humans ascribing human attributes to him. " Thou shall not worship any other god besides me is a very human statement propelled by jealousy and envy.

The nature of the Christian and the Islamic idol is most harmful because they are word idols--in other words, idols whose permanence is manifested in the non-changeability of the scriptures of the idol worshipers.

Thus the words alleged to have been said by the idol, whether Jesus or Allah, cannot be changed although in the formative years of the Koran and the NT the words were frequently revised by the authors. Compare with the cross as an idol. I am sure that Christians would have no hesitation in destroying a wood cross that is infested with termites but would not change the alleged words of the alleged god Jesus.

The word nature of these idols is what makes them dangerous. Allah said women may be beaten up but no Muslim will dare to change these evil words uttered by Allah.

Ditto Allah, except that Muslims go one step further because they will not destroy a Koran that say has become infested with antrups, that mythological ant that became a demon.

It should not surprise any one that these two major idol worshiping religions or cults have also been the inspiration for most of the massacres and land thefts in recent human history.

The theft of land and property of Jews of Arabia by Muhammad are well documented. The theft of land in North and South America and in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa by white skinned Christians surpasses all previous land robberies. Now these whites will deny Mexicans the right to enter a land that inhabited long before the whites stole it from them. Obscure interpretations or downright adherence to the letter of the scriptures have been used to justify the robberies. After all Jesus did say, allegedly, that the "poor shall always be with us."

Had Jesus been a good god he would have banished poverty with 3 words" Poverty be gone.".

Jeremy Lowrey

I showed you the truth. If you must have God in your life than chooses a God that only demands that we be good to one another and help each other. If our God does not wish this from us he is not worth worshiping.

The Christian god Jesus, entirely created by humans, does not fit this bill.

You may find salvation thru the man-made idol named Jesus but I find my salvation by worshiping God thru service to others.

Give my way a try and salvation will be immediate.

You surely do not wish to worship a god that threatens with hell fires as Jesus did, do you??

"We need another Jesus"? Not hardly... Since religion is pre-philosophy, i.e., the myth/explanations that primitive man gave to natural phenomena. The alternative is a reality and nature-based philosophy that will give us the means to live a fulfilling life. Reason and Reality are a good place to start, not superstition and myth.
Chopra equates myth and a wisdom- tradition. Truly frightening...
"God-consciousness will never perish"? It will when men and women accept a meaningful "deeper value structure" that begins with reason, purpose and self-esteem.
"Jesus is a mythical figure in the tradition of pagan mythology and almost nothing in all of ancient literature would lead one to believe otherwise. Anyone wanting to believe Jesus lived and walked as a real live human being must do so despite the evidence, not because of it."
--C. Dennis McKinsey, The Encyclopedia of Biblical Errancy

Emperor The Bible was mostly written from the letters of Paul defending his heresy to the followers of Jesus and the brother of Jesus...if you believe the Bible at all. Paul never even met Jesus!

And what happened to the letters from the people who received these letters? Why would a Roman Emperor be needed to have his "guy" make a judgment on what tales were to be in the "Bible"? At best, we have stories about Jesus from some of his followers; but where is his brother, his mother, his father?

Paul created this Church, not Jesus! There is no indication at all that Jesus, if he existed, had even a notion of a new religion...after all, he was trying to fulfill the Jewish prophecies!

(btw - i was "amen-ing" the article, not the nut in the previous post).

This board is depressing. All the mentally-ill jesus-freaks logged in at once.

AMEN!

AMEN!!!

I fear there is one overriding question that Mr. Chopra's essay fails to answer. If we are responsible for defining Jesus for ourselves, where then is our hope. Mr. Chopra seems to concede that humans as we currently exist are incapable of living life on God's terms - indeed, he says this is impossible - and I agree with that position.

But if that is the case, we have no hope of ever reaching God unless Jesus IS who He is presented to be in the Gospels. Jesus said He was the "Way the Truth, and the Life" - not out of arrogance but from necessity. Without His redemptive sacrifice, the path to God would be forever closed to us.

More than anything else, Mr. Chopra is claiming that as an "enlightened society" we no longer have a need for Truth, much less "the Truth," and that we can define our own realities based on personal mythology. But if we are incapable of achieving God's vision on our own, those new realities will be no better than the old. And ultimately, all of our efforts will have no lasting value and personal illusions on which we based that reality will die with us.

I believe there is only one Christ, that He is the Truth, and that meaning and value can be found only in Him. Either He can truly change the nature of who we are if we place faith in Him, or we are without hope.

Of those who contend that Jesus is not true, or that God is not, I ask only one thing - an honest search for what IS true. I have no illusions of being able to convince you that Jesus is real - despite His reality in my own life - but I have faith that God can, and that He will reveal Truth to those who are willing to abandon preconceptions, self-interest, and self-justification, and seek only Him.

Jeremiah 29:12-13

Dear Anonymous:

Aaah!

I think Jesus teachings are liveable but they are goals not rules. The Golden Rule simply says do not hold anything against anyone that you would not hold against yourself. "Love Thy Neighbour" simple means do not hate your neighbour. "Turn the other cheek" means do not react to attack as if it is real because in truth it is a call for help. This doesnt mean allow poeple to abuse you!

Resist not evil does not mean encourage it, it simple says that what you resist persists only because you believe it about yourself. You do not overcome a belief by fighting with it! You simply let truth tell you that this must be an illusion and since it is not real you have no need to react to it.

By resisting "evil" you are merely strengthening its rule on the world by implying that it is real in the first place. IT IS ALL MIND! Of course God's Plan is working perfectly on Earth, evil, wrongdoers, believers and all. Those who suffer are only those who are afraid of their own Greatness.

"The redeemed son of man is the Guiltless Son of God and in His recognition lies your salvation." from A Course in Miracles.

Brother Deepak I am here already!

Do you not recognise me?

Excellent essay on the changing nature of man's interpretation of divine love and law**

looks like the wog printed the wrong article.
notice how is did not say a new mohommad - a man who married a 6 years old and then did her full on by the time she was 9? a man who told his followers to convert of kill. who ordered his people to murder a nursing mother who was a poet but opposed to his rule?
christians violate the rules of christ to kill, islamic follow their cult when they do kill.
so why is wog boy picking on christians?
take a look at the hindi's that consider 25% of the people of india "untouchable".

Well, Anonymous, you have it all figured out.

Try Peter, or even John his half brother that wrote epistles regarding Christ.

You've made up your mind that Jesus did not believe in buildings(why did he get so upset about the money traders in the TEMPLE, a BUILDING.

You've made yourself god by proclaiming that anything claimed in the NT about Jesus is either myth or the people who DO believe are "non thinking"

True religion is trusting in God, yes Jesus, and understanding that he loves us, and wants the best for us, and has given us a guide to live by in the whole book called the Bible. Just because you want to do what YOU want to do, does not make the truth
not true.

There is no "pretending" that he is a deity- he used the words "I AM " which if you bothered to read up on it, caused the Jews to want to stone him to death because he was calling himself God.

Confront the truth and embrace it. There is a reason why His death on the cross is the single biggest event in human history outside of creation. Jesus LOVES YOU !

We don't need a new Jesus.

Someone just needs to answer one thing, and all will be understood...

What does the "H" stand for in Jesus's middle name?

A History of Religious Ideas Vols.1-3: by Mircea Eliade. Christianity is such a small part of this history that any emphasis of its importance is evidence of being completely under the influence of superstition. Superstition is driven by ignorance and fear, not knowledge and love.

Given the numerous denominations of Christianity I always find it interesting that someone has the absolute answer. Not all of you can be correct and that assumes that Christianity is “better” than other religions (or non at all). Once all of Christianity agrees on their religion then we might have something to talk about.

TMO.

Very nice post. Yes I believe we are talking about defining God/Jesus properly for maybe the first time.

I think in general we have created God in man’s image, because that was all we could comprehend. With our greater understanding and sophistication it is time to revisit our definitions(s) of God. We are ready for more but unless we are open to the possibilities we will not see them.

This doesn’t mean the ancient wisdom traditions are necessarily wrong. In many cases we have had trouble seeing the true meaning of numerous ideologies of the original teachings. We have surrendered our critical thinking to books and religious leaders and forgotten how to connect with God on our own.

We are positioned to enhance our understanding of God which is a natural step in our spiritual evolution.

"I don't think Historic Christianity has much to worry about."

You're not understanding. Historic Christianity is not RELEVANT anymore.

The obvious god created in man's image is now too phony for thinking people to believe in, especially the torturous Jesus freaks. Jesus Christ indeed had a short public life, decried any kind of religious institution or need for buildings (which, like most things biblical, most christians ignore).

While Jesus called himself the son of God, he also called his followers children of God. No need to pretend he was a deity. No need for a false religion to be born around a myth.

If Jesus was such a deity in real life, how come not a SINGLE CONTEMPORARY wrote down a SINGLE WORD about him?

Biblical writings started anywhere from 40 to 90 years AFTER Jesus died. They had no computers, very little written word - this was myth; made up for future consumption by those that want to control with religion - especially in medieval times.

Wow, that is pretty deep; to think that Jesus was all about God-consciousness! If one quote from Psalm 82 gives you that impression I'd hate to think what kind of conclusions you'd draw if you actually read the rest of the Bible.

I don't mean to sound rude, truly, but that is the most ridiculous thing you can say about the Messiah. He wasn't trying to raise anyone's consciousness. He said of Himself, "I came to seek and to save that which is lost." He was God in the flesh! He came here to save mankind from its sinfulness. He's not some kind of mystical spiritual leader!

You are right, however, Deepak, in this day and age we do need a "new" Jesus. I think the better way to state it is: "We need a better and a correct presentation of Jesus." Nowadays He gets mangled all over the place by people voicing their opinions about who He is or what they want Him to be instead of looking to the source to find out who He really is.

Any other presentation of Him outside of Biblical context is idolatry (violation of the 2nd Commandment: Exodus 20). If you don't understand Jesus correctly, you are not talking about the Jesus Christ of the Bible; that "other" person is a figment of your imagination.

The "lost" I referred to in the 2nd paragraph is all of mankind. We have all sinned against God. The Bible tells us that "...we've all sinned and fall short of God's glory" (Romans 3:23). How's that? Well, if you've ever lied you've broken the 9th Commandment, if you've ever stolen anything you've violated the 8th Commandment, if you misused God's name or the name of Jesus, you've broken the 3rd Commandment, adultery is the breaking of the 7th. Jesus even said that if you have lusted after someone you've committed adultery in your heart (Matthew 5:28). No one can say that they are not guilty of breaking these commandments. There has only been one perfect man in this world. His name is Jesus. No one is perfect, not one of us.

The reason this is so important to realize is that Jesus, as represented in the Bible, out of great love and compassion, came to this earth to take our punishment for these sins. It's like this: You have committed a heinous crime and are standing before the judge for sentencing. You have been proven guilty and the fine and/or penalty is beyond your capability to pay. Someone you don't know steps in and pays your fine out of compassion and mercy towards you. Once the fine had been paid you're free to go. The law no longer has its hold on you because your fine has been paid. That's what Jesus did for us. That is the Jesus of the Bible. Anything else is a phony. Don't buy into this "new age" mystical view of someone who doesn't even exist. We're all guilty of sin and need the forgiveness that will pay our fine in the sight of God. Only Jesus can do that.

I hope the folks who let posts go through will have the integrity to let this pass. It'd be great to see someone allowed to counter some of the nonsense that gets presented when people try to impose their worldly views onto Jesus. We'll see...

Blessings to you all.

RedRose1, jeezus krist. Are you the same RedRose1 who rattles on how the Boomer generation should all die and get out of the way.

How terribly christian of you, you hypocrite.

B DAVID:

You said, "Because we need 'a new Jesus,' we can just make one?"

I think what Deepak is trying to say (yes, we're on a first-name basis) is that we as Christians (I was raised Catholic) need to step back from the chaos in our world and reexamine who Jesus was and what he stood for and what he was actually trying to teach us. The fact is, we constantly reinterpret Jesus' life and teachings to suit our own flaws, such as greed and conceit, and we use what was meant to instill peace and understanding as a weapon, justifying our hate and our wrong-doings by saying, "Jesus said so. Here it is in the Bible. See? He hates gays...immigrants...Arabs." (for example)

To those above saying things like, "We don't need another Jesus," etc., you must recognize that this "third Jesus" whom Chopra speaks of always was and always is. The "third Jesus" does not need invention; it needs recognition and procurement from within ourselves. Only through being true to ourselves, recognizing God's creation in ourselves and everyone and everything, and ceasing to exploit our messiahs' teachings will we be able to live in peace and harmony with ourselves and with those around us. And this goes for all religions.

It is my personal belief that if Jesus truly is God, in the trinitarian 'big guy in the sky' sense, then so are every other religion's gods. I prefer to think of Jesus as God in a Buddhist sense, in the same ways that all of us are reflections of God, and therefore we must respect ourselves and others as such, and we must strive to be examples of our godliness through our thoughts and actions.

Through love, not hate.

Deepak Chopra is a Hindu. He does not understand who Jesus is and should not be considered an authority on the Son of God. We do not need a "new" Jesus. The real Jesus will do just fine.

Being a good guru in life isn't going to help when death and eternity beckoning your name. All this new age garbage isn't going to restore you to the creator God, only life through Jesus who is the only way, truth and source of life.

Deepak Chopra is a hindu/universalist, trying to sound like a Christian. Jesus was not a rabbi or teacher, and he didn't become God, or have a God consciousness. He is God. His mind is the mind of God. Deepak quotes John 10:34 out of context in order to promote his teaching that we are all in God and God is in all of us. But the reality is that we don't need a 3rd Jesus. We just need to know the real Jesus, of whom Deepak knows very little.

It's amazing how little this has to do with reality in any form, from the article itself to the comments it inspired. Because we need "a new Jesus," we can just make one? Why not make a new Lincoln? You'd have just as much luck trying to raise him from the dead.
As for Jesus Himself, He makes no other sense unless He is what the text of the Gospels says He is, because all of His "ethical teaching," has no authority unless He is the Son of God.
As for what He means, the comments here are all political in nature. And there is no mention of sin. If there is no sin, there is no reason for Jesus' mission. He spoke a lot about it.
Look it up.

I love you Deepak but you don't get it. The only reason that we know anything about Jesus and his impossible teachings is because he was killed and is resurrected and was seen by his followers who went to their deaths incapable of rejecting the truth of what they had experienced. Jesus isn't guiding us today by teachings that the world rejects and what's so revolutionary about loving one another anyways?

Sorry Deepak, Jesus isn't changing people's lives by his philosophy or teachings. He's changing lives because He and The Father are a real force in the universe that is manifested in the Holy Spirit through which the Kingdom of God is expanding.

I respectfully disagree with your version of the truth. The only test that is reliable is by testing the fruits of various beliefs. Are you ready?

I love you Deepak but you don't get it. The only reason that we know anything about Jesus and his impossible teachings is because he was killed and is resurrected and was seen by his followers who went to their deaths incapable of rejecting the truth of what they had experienced. Jesus isn't guiding us today by teachings that the world rejects and what's so revolutionary about loving one another anyways?

Sorry Deepak, Jesus isn't changing people's lives by his philosophy or teachings. He's changing lives because He and The Father are a real force in the universe that is manifested in the Holy Spirit through which the Kingdom of God is expanding.

I respectfully disagree with your version of the truth. The only test that is reliable is by testing the fruits of various beliefs. Are you ready?

I love you Deepak but you don't get it. The only reason that we know anything about Jesus and his impossible teachings is because he was killed and is resurrected and was seen by his followers who went to their deaths incapable of rejecting the truth of what they had experienced. Jesus isn't guiding us today by teachings that the world rejects and what's so revolutionary about loving one another anyways?

Sorry Deepak, Jesus isn't changing people's lives by his philosophy or teachings. He's changing lives because He and The Father are a real force in the universe that is manifested in the Holy Spirit through which the Kingdom of God is expanding.

I respectfully disagree with your version of the truth. The only test that is reliable is by testing the fruits of various beliefs. Are you ready?

I love you Deepak but you don't get it. The only reason that we know anything about Jesus and his impossible teachings is because he was killed and is resurrected and was seen by his followers who went to their deaths incapable of rejecting the truth of what they had experienced. Jesus isn't guiding us today by teachings that the world rejects and what's so revolutionary about loving one another anyways?

Sorry Deepak, Jesus isn't changing people's lives by his philosophy or teachings. He's changing lives because He and The Father are a real force in the universe that is manifested in the Holy Spirit through which the Kingdom of God is expanding.

I respectfully disagree with your version of the truth. The only test that is reliable is by testing the fruits of various beliefs. Are you ready?

I love you Deepak but you don't get it. The only reason that we know anything about Jesus and his impossible teachings is because he was killed and is resurrected and was seen by his followers who went to their deaths incapable of rejecting the truth of what they had experienced. Jesus isn't guiding us today by teachings that the world rejects and what's so revolutionary about loving one another anyways?

Sorry Deepak, Jesus isn't changing people's lives by his philosophy or teachings. He's changing lives because He and The Father are a real force in the universe that is manifested in the Holy Spirit through which the Kingdom of God is expanding.

I respectfully disagree with your version of the truth. The only test that is reliable is by testing the fruits of various beliefs. Are you ready?

Jumpin jeezus k frog.

Why in the world would we need a new jeezus when we can't even get rid of the old one.

The earth and all it's people will be a lot better off when jeezus, ally oop, buddah and all the rest of the Disney characters are long forgotten.

Looks like you are trying to cash in on this "growth industry" that includes the likes of Dan Brown...I thought you were a scholar, Chopra....

You make a false division between the rabbi and the Son of God, as Christ stated explicitly that He was no mere rabbi and that He was, in fact, the Son of Man.

Nice try, Chopra, I hope you buy a nice new mansion to "meditate" in with the book proceeds.

It must be close to Easter, the publishers and main stream media are bringing out the Jesus "theories" and other thinly veiled attacks on Christianity...

washington post is a satanic newspaper that are trying to confuse christian people but you will not do it.

You're mistaken. Humans shouldn't ever rely on just one "leader". If you've been paying attention, there should be many humans who come to mind as excellent role models for us.

Many musicians, writers, poets, artists. Some (but very few) politicians. There are hundreds of prime role models stuck in poverty and/or behind prison bars for their beliefs. These people will never be heard from by the masses.

The modern-day story of Jesus is mostly bullsh*t. Immaculate conception? Walking on water, rising from the dead? Those who believe that nonsense are already behind in life and knowledge. Those who encourage such beliefs and ficticious stories of this nonsense are simply enablers of one kind of power structure. If it's not the corporations, it's the religions that are presently dooming the human race to perpetual ignorance.

Call for second or third coming of Muslim's prophet Mohammed and see what Muslims will do to you!!

Be fair. You are a gutsy man, aren't you, Chopra?

Bravo, Deepak. Thank you for talking sense, instead of misguided theology. Thanks for giving people the words to free themselves from the constricting and limiting belief structures built up over several thousand years by narrow-minded and/or power seeking human beings.

2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Not many people want to do what it takes to understand the depths of Christianity. Most go to church and listen to someone else's interpretation. They either agree or disagree. If anyone truly wants to understand the scriptures they should work toward reading them with a spiritual attitude of innocence, like a child. This will not answer all questions but it's a good beginning.

A response to this column ran in today's edition of the University of South Carolina's student-run newspaper:

http://media.www.dailygamecock.com/media/storage/paper247/news/2008/02/22/Viewpoints/Jesus.Of.Nazareth.Does.Not.Need.Sequel-3228160.shtml?reffeature=recentlycommentedstoriestab

When I went to France I saw young Indians praying at the uncorrupted body of St. Bernadette - at 169 years of age she remains as beautiful as the day she died. They found their proof. Initially, I was going to tell them that it wasn't right to pray before her body during the consecration of the Eucharist - since we were all in the presence of something far greater at that moment - the living God hidden under the accidents of bread and wine. But I was glad I didn't they had come all the way from India and found their proof. What they had been taught in that old dusty Catholic missionary was true.

God bless

We need a new Jesus like we need a hole in the head. What we need to is to come to terms with the 21st century. Accept that Jesus is mythology and he will never come to us in a donkey, let alone in a Honda Civic.

We need to move to the next level of conciousness, accept that we are responsible for our actions and that no donkey ridding hippie is going to save you!!!

you do not order up Jesus like you do fast food. you got your one Jesus and that is all you get.

Dear Deepak,

The Early Church fathers <500 AD thought far more about Christ than you have.

faithfulservant3 wrote: "The Christian community is often mischaracterized and even demonized. Some of us help in providing the ammunition."

"The christian community". I find this term enlightening about christians. Did Christ consider those who followed him to be in a christian community and those who did not follow him outside that community? Or did He consider all of humanity to be children of God? It is only human to tribalize ourselves, make clans, gangs, nations, etc. Religion is just another vehicle for separating ourselves from others, something that is completely against Christ's teachings.

faithfulservant3 wrote: "At any rate, sometimes believers are accused of being paranoid. However, honest liberals admit that many people discriminate against Christians."

A good christian would not really care if they were being discriminated against. If they were it would simply be the price for believing. And a real christian would not hold any malice against those who discriminate against them, for that too is a teaching of Christ. And a real christian would not label people as "liberals", as though all who call themselves liberal say the same thing, or are outside the "christian community". Christ spoke of inclusiveness. faithfulservant3, like many of evangelical teaching, speak of separatedness, being attacked, and otherwise closed in.

Today in America christianity has been made into a paranioid cult by its leaders who find that a cult mentality holds the flock closer and extracts more money. Instead of the truth of God being what is important, the fires of hell are vividly painted to hold the flock in fear. When did Christ invoke hell to make a point?

Pointing out real discrimination, as though it happens to no other group, helps keep a siege mentality that is necessary for a cult mentality to form. Christians are no more discriminated against than blacks, jews, muslims, or women, yet for some reason this is preached as some unique form of discrimination, which allows some christian leaders to get into politics, something which Christ did