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BEYOND
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INTRODUCTION It takes a great novel or movie, such as Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," or Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," to spark off most peoples interest in matters of the remote past. The fact that more than 30 million copies of "The DaVinci Code" have been sold, and that it has been translated into 42 languages, even before the movie version appears which will reach an even greater audience in the year ahead, shows the enormous power of these issues to grasp peoples imagination. Even more clearly it shows how compelled they are to seek for answers, most of which have never been provided by the religions down through the Christian centuries, even though they claim to be taking care of our destinies. This has been a great tragedy, but even more so an injustice, as it is precisely that which has deprived people of the power, freedom and joy that rightly belongs to them as children of God. These are alive and vital issues, not just some matters of abstract academic interest to a few experts who love to delve into what all too often seems a dusty, remote, and irrelevant past. This
telecourse, BEYOND THE DA VINCI CODE: Unveiling The Quantum Life
of Jesus Christ, sets out to steer people through the myriad of
bewildering debates and controversies to where the truth lies, so that
they will have an informed understanding of how centrally important
these issues and the answers to them actually are in our lives today.
The DaVinci Code has spawned a small cottage industry of publications about it, almost all of them critical, some of them in a very vitriolic vein. This is only to be expected when one touches issues as sensitive and central to many people's lives and beliefs as Dan Brown does. Many accuse him of a hidden agenda; trying to replace Christian living with some sort of New Age sexual free-for-all and in the process destroying both the uniqueness and divinity of Jesus Christ. Whatever historical deficiencies and inaccuracies the book undoubtedly contains; its phenomenal success can only be explained by the fact that it raises issues in which an enormous number of people are intensely interested. They are looking for answers, in large part probably because they suspect that many of the central things they have been taught about Jesus and his relevance to their lives, are very wide of the mark. One of the book's amazing achievements is that it has to an extraordinary degree made it possible for the woman and man in the street to talk about issues that for a very long time have been the almost exclusive preserve of historians, scholars and that rare breed who read dead foreign languages for a living! Such a state of affairs probably has not existed to the same degree since the fourth century in Europe when it seems everyone was embroiled in trying to decide who or what Jesus was. Successfully demolishing the way some theological or historical questions are presented in a novel is of course not exactly the same thing as showing the theological issues have been demolished. It is obviously of very compelling interest to an enormous amount of people to know whether Mary Magdalene was in fact the First among the Apostles, whether she was married to Jesus, and whether they had children from whom descended the groups known variously today as the Desposyni, the People of the Holy Grail, or the Rex Deus families. In the middle of all the heat of controversy these issues deserve to be looked at dispassionately in a scholarly and objective way in the light of the available evidence, and not just be judged on the basis of emotion, prejudice, hurt or anger. We need to assess what evidence there is and decide if the conclusions that have been drawn are valid or not. For instance, many who have responded to the Da Vinci Code allege that Jesus could not have been married, for that would "destroy his divinity." What a catastrophically negative assessment of womanhood must lie behind such a statement! There are three areas of intense relevance and interest for us today in relation to Jesus and the three telecourses will be dedicated to these. The first of the issues made controversial by the Da Vinci Code is what place did Mary Magdalene actually have in the Ministry of Jesus? Was she married to him and did they have children, some of whose descendents occupied some of the principal and most historic of the thrones of Europe, through the middle ages and right into modern times, and whose descendents are still with us today? The evidence from the New Testament will be examined in these telecourses in a thorough and calm way. That will be followed by looking at some early Christian documents that have things of significance to say on these matters, ancient documents that for one reason or another did not make it into the New Testament. The third line of investigation will look at the evidence that comes from those who claim descent from Jesus and Mary Magdalene and who have been bound under the strictest secrecy, on pain of death, to keep the account of these matters secret until the time was ripe. They obviously believe that that time has now come. The second issue that intrigues us about Jesus is whether he had an identical twin, known historically as Jude Thomas Didymus, the Apostle Thomas, best known as the Apostle of India. Thomas put down a set of summary statements which synopsized the secret teachings of Jesus for those who were already familiar with them. These were in the main not included in the New Testament. The public teachings of Jesus are supposed to be that which is contained substantially in the four Gospels of the New Testament. Half of the world's Christians in the Middle Ages looked to Thomas and his understanding of the teachings of Jesus as their foundation in the faith, rather than to the western church's tradition based on Peter and Paul. That tradition was ruthlessly suppressed, as is evident from the history of the Arians of the Paulicians, and of the Bogomiles right across to the Cathars of the Languedoc in the south east of present day France. The Cathars made their last stand at Montsegur and when they surrendered after a long siege they walked down the mountainside to where the armies of the Pope and the French King had prepared a huge palisade filled with and pitch which was set ablaze. 224 Cathars were thrown into the palisade and burned alive. The third question about Jesus that is of great importance to us today is how did he become a Christ? Obviously if he had not done that nobody would care if he had ever been married or whether he had ten twins! Most people who discuss these matters assume that words like "the divinity of Christ" or "salvation" are clear and distinct ideas which they understand perfectly and on which everybody agrees. Nothing could be further from the truth as the theological history of Christianity clearly shows. But furthermore, the assumption that Jesus was some sort of divine paratrooper launched by God into this world as a fully formed and assembled divine person whose duty was to suffer and die for our sins to appease God' vengeance is based on an extremely peculiar interpretation of both God and Jesus. What kind of God would demand the painful and shameful sacrifice of his only Son and how could a divine creator succeed in becoming a creature? Rivers of ink were spent in trying to explain how God could become man. A much more realistic and profitable adventure would have been to try to explain how a man or woman might bring to realization in their human nature the divine life that was already in them. This reality was the core of what Jesus taught. He did not come to be an idol to be adored, but rather a magnificent ideal which we could follow. In investigating
this third topic about Jesus we will look at his life in Egypt and
India and will discover that he spent more than 80% of his life abroad.
We will discover a whole new understanding of what Resurrection
of the Body meant and where it came from as well as the significance
of the Cross, of the age at which his crucifixion occurred and the
time of year for which it was all precisely planned. This exercise also
sheds light on the true meaning and significance of the rites which
Jesus left behind him such as the Eucharist and Baptism. ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR
He was a member of the International Theological Commission, a small group of theologians of international standing, charged with advising the Holy See on theological matters. He also served as Chairman of the Committee of Heads of the Irish Universities and as a member of the governing Bureau of the Conference of European University Presidents (CRE). He has lectured extensively throughout Europe, South Africa, Japan, Australia, Mexico, and North America. His forthcoming books are entitled The Message Whose Time Has Come Again and The Ascent to God: The Soul’s Journey Within. Dr. Ledwith has been a member of Ramtha's School of Ancient Wisdom for many years, and has been invited to speak at the major events held by the School all over the United States and throughout the world.
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Copyright 2006 The SHOCKphilosophy Institute All Rights Reserved |
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Miceal
Ledwith, L.Ph., B.A., L.D., D.D.,
was Professor of Systematic Theology for sixteen years at Maynooth
College in Ireland and subsequently served for ten years as President
of the University.