Esoteric Christianity and Exoteric Christianity

[Solve_et_Coagula]

Jesus was familiar with the Cabbalah; this Science was an integral part of the Judaic tradition in which he was brought up and it was he who revealed it to St John. This is why we find so many cabbalistic elements in St John's Apocalypse. In all spiritual traditions there is an exoteric teaching which is given to all the faithful, and an esoteric teaching which is revealed to a small minority of initiates. The exoteric aspect of Christianity is represented by St Peter and the esoteric aspect by St John. In the Gospels, St John is called 'the disciple whom Jesus loved', and his closeness to Jesus sometimes aroused some jealousy on the part of the other disciples, particularly St Peter. After the Resurrection St Peter questioned Jesus about St John and Jesus replied, 'if I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?' And the Gospels adds, 'Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die.? This is the source of that long-lived tradition according to which St John is still alive and he dwells with other Inititates in Agartha, waiting until that the old legends about the mysterious kingdom of Prester John originated in these words of Jesus and the fact that the early Christians took them to mean that St John would not die.

Jesus, therefore, prepared St John and St Peter for two different missions. Why did he divide his work in two in his way? Those who are familiar with the history of Initiations in the past know that all great Masters did the same thing. Moses, himself, gave one body of teaching and rules for the masses, but to the seventy elders chosen from amongst the wisest and most faithful of his followers, he entrusted the keys of his five books, the Pentateuch, and it was thanks to these keys that they were able to decipher the hidden meaning of those books. Certain truths were kept secret either because they were beyond the comprehension of the weak or because they would have put power into the hands of the wicked. This is why Jesus said, 'Do not cast your pearls before swine.' And, when his disciples asked him why he spoke to the multitude in parables, he replied, 'Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven, but to them it has not been given'. All the established churches, whether Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant, are exoteric churches; they teach certain truths but their primary concern is with rules and regulations for the masses. They are unable to reveal the deepest and most mysterious truths, for only those whose minds have been tempered and made ready can accept and digest secret apspect of reality.

Jesus gave his exoteric teaching to St Peter, therefore, and his esoteric, Initiatic teaching to St John. This is how St John received the keys to the Old Testament and, in particular, to the deeply mysterious Book of Genesis. You are all familiar with the Word' which seem to echo the first words of Genesis, 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.'

I know that a great many people have difficulty in accepting the idea that Jesus was familiar with the Cabbalah, but we find at least one proof that this was so in the Gospels. Do you remember the episode of the woman taken in adultery? Some Scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery before Jesus. The Law of the Jews decreed that such a woman should be stoned to death and they wanted to get Jesus to tell them what they should do about it, in the hope of getting him to lay himself open to charges of breaking the Law. The Gospels says, 'But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger, as though he did not hear. So when they continued asking him, he raised himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 'Nobody has ever explained what it was that Jesus wrote on the ground. Was he making idle marks in the dust like someone who doodles on a scrap of paper when he is bored? Was he pretending to be thinking of something else so as to avoid their questions? Neither of these, of course. Although no one has ever revealed this before, I will tell you what he was doing: he was tracing certain Cabbalistic signs and symbols with which the Scribes and Pharisees were as familiar as he was, having been schooled in the same tradition. Jesus took this way of telling them, 'If you are pure and blameless, you are free to apply the Law and punish this woman. but if you, yourselves, are guilty of the same sin, be careful what you do for, by virtue of these Cabbalistic signs you will be condemned and struck down'. Seing these – and because they understood perfectly well what they meant – they withdrew and left him alone with the woman. How can you explain that the Scribes and Pharisees, who had every justification in law for putting this adulterous woman to death, gave up their intention so readily if not because Jesus threatened them in some way?

Yes, there is no doubt about it: Jesus was familiar with the Cabbalah, and St John's Revelation cannot be interpreted without some of that same knowledge. Take, for instance, the passage about the scarlet Beast with seven heads and ten horns on which sat the Harlot, holding the golden cup full of abdominations and filth: this is obviously a reference to the evil, adverse Sephiroth known in the Cabbalah as the Kliphot. But how can anyone who does not possess the key to the secret meaning of the Apocalypse hope to interpret it correctly? St John wrote, for instance, that the number of the Beast was 666 and, failing to grasp the symbolism involved, a great many people have tried to decide to whom he was referring. Every imaginable interpretation has been given to this wretched number; it has been attributed to all the most hated tyrants of history: Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, etc. But that is plainly ridiculous.

Christianity did not suddenly appear out of nowhere. It is the outcome of several different traditions, the most important of which is the Judaic tradition contained in the Cabbalah. This is why it is so important to have some knowledge of the Cabbalah in order to understand the Bible. Christianity possesses a vast philosophy, a science of tremendous richness but, unfortunetly, for several centuries the Church has been content to transmit only scraps of incomplete, superficial information to the faithful. Is it any wonder that they are flocking for inspiration to Japanese, Tibetan, Hindu and Sufic philosophies? The answers they receive from Christianity seem so poor and inadequate, whereas others have such a wealth of knowledge. The clergy should be ashamed of their inability to communicate the deep truths of Christianity to the faithful; they have been content to preach at them without teaching them anything, and it is only now that they see the results! It is high time that Christians began to reflect about these things, otherwise Christianity will finally disappear altogether. for my part,I am not opposed to Christianity, quite the contrary. Iwish that Christians would return to Christianity; they have no idea what it really is at all. If priests and pastors understood my attitude they should be the first to come and embrace me. But it is just the opposite: they think that I am working against Christ and against their interests. There is a great deal of misunderstanding here.

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Thanks. I am bookmarking this to go over at a later time

[Burning Water]

2. Oke-doke.

Where do we get this mystic knowledge, O wise one.

I won't go to Madonna for instruction, I can tell you that.

[KittyWampus]

5. By studying Nature.

[Trevelyan]

3. Very interesting thoughts on Christianity and misunderstanding of the

concepts in the Bible. We need to focus on spiritual wisdom and power to protect world citizens from the bush crime family and those backing them.

http://www.gnosticteachings.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=307&Itemid=43

=Pistis Sophia is the Thunder= Yes I have read it, and found it to be filled with great wisdom. It's probably one of the most misunderstood texts in the NHL, with a myriad of interpretations by all people. This Gnostic website in my opinion does a decent job interpreting the Scripture in relation to Gnostic doctrine: Thunder, Perfect Mind

=the Nag Hammadi Library has broadened my view and understanding of the Bible. Many people will try to tell you that the two (Bible and NHL) have opposing messages, yet in my opinion it has only reinforced what I believe to be true. It also shows us that Christianity, at its conception, was a much broader movement then we've been led to believe. The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas is believed by some scholars to have been written as early as 50 AD! The reason that it has caused so much interest is because it is a sayings Gospel. Before the NHL was found, scholars believed that the Synoptic Gospels were compiled with the help of a fifth sayings Gospel, commonly known as "Q". Since the Gospel of Thomas contains a large amount of sayings that appear in the Synoptic Gospels (and John for that matter) many believe that it could have been used as a source for compiling the NT Gospels.

The Nag Hammadi Library has allowed me to look at the New Testament from a new angle, instead of accepting the interpretation of mainstream Christianity. Unfortunately, because of all the doctrine and labels that have been attached to Gnosticism by scholars (such as a non-physical Jesus, the world being created by a demi-God etc....), many people are hesitant to read the NHL. We need to realize that these labels have been attached by scholars who are trying to intellectually trying to understand something that can only be understood through direct experience, in other words Gnosis.

For example, the Gospel of Thomas does not convey the idea that the world was made by a demi-God, or that Jesus was not a physical being. Instead it presents to us the real essense of Gnosticism, that knowledge of oneself leads to Gnosis, knowledge of the divine that transcends theory, dogma or belief.

[kineneb]

7. Thomas is very Zen-like

There is the legend that Jesus went east to study during those non-documented years. If I had my druthers, my book of wisdom would include just the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of Thomas. Paul took things in the wrong direction.

Elaine Pagals has a great book on Thomas vs. John: Beyond Belief, the Secret Gospel of Thomas.

[Deep13]

4. How can you explain that the Scribes and Pharisees, who had every ..."

I can think of a few possible reasons why they did not go foreward. First, as the Gospels indicate, the Jewish leaders had no power under Roman jurisdiction to put anyone to death. That is why they turned Jesus over to Pilate: they could not kill him themselves. Second, they may have been looking for an excuse not to do what the rabble was demanding in stoning her. Jesus' remark gave them the face-saving out they needed. Third, the test was no to see if Jesus would obey the law, but to see if he would resist the invitation for vigilante justice. The Pharisees were not the Fundies of the day. Those were the Saducees. The Pharisees were the liberal, more secular wing of the Jewish leadership and were under pressure from the right to stop collaberating with Rome and enforce 'God's' laws. I doubt they were anxious to murder an unarmed woman in a public street under the noses of order-conscious Italian soldiers.

Nothing in this passage gives any clue to what Jesus was writing on the ground. I find it likely that he was stalling for time to give a non-answer to the loaded question he was asked. The mob wanted him to say, "Yeah, well, that's what it says. Pitch away!" which would have given the priests an excuse for arresting him for inciting a riot. The priests would have prefered, "Are you crazy? With Romans everywhere? Besides, who hasn't committed adultery?"

[Bellamia]

6. Interesting.

How do you know all this??
I just printed it out to read later, and there is a post printed out that does not appear, as of this minute, on the forum. Also two websites, one On Gnostics, I suspect that's where you came across all this? Yes, No????