Black Spirituality Religion : Whited sepulchres, full of dead men's bones

[thePreacher]

The gospel of Matthew 23:27 contains what may well be the most caustic words the biblical Jesus ever spoke:

Matt.23

1. [27] Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

To whom was he talking about? Literally, it seems that he was referring to other Jews, specifically scribes and Pharisees. Two groups which functioned not alike the so-called religious right of our day. Ergo, self-appointed guardians of what must and must not be considered to be the Word Of God.

But, could he also have been talking about Christians? At first glance, the answer would appear to be no. This rant appears in one of the gospels. But the book of Acts states that the name Christian did not come into existence until Antioch [Acts 11:26]. And the bible presents Acts as being written after the gospels. chronologically speaking.

Nevertheless, as I mentioned before, these whited sepulchres do sound like the religious right of our day, who are Christians. Even one of the Christians here, in another thread, concluded in another thread that Jesus is referring to Christians who have lost their way.

But, biblical chronology is often not what it appears to be. For instance, if you ask someone who graduated from a seminary, you might discover that many bible scholars, even Christian ones, have concluded that the book of Acts was written before the four gospels. Which raises all sorts of questions, but also answers a few --- such as why the book of Acts strangely fails to mentions so many pertinent details of the ministry of Jesus, such as the parables he used all the time to wrap his Way in what he, himself, called a mystery [Mark 4:11].

Christians, of course, are a bit uncomfortable referring to their religion as a mystery because that sounds too much like the so-called mystery religion of ancient Egypt. Nevertheless, astute scholars of the bible might have noticed that, upon occasion, even the Old Testament speaks in a mystery not unlike that of the Book of Coming Forth Unto Day:

Mal.4

1. [2] But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

If you are familiar with the winged Sun orb symbol of Ra, you get where I am going with this.

Anyway ...

If the chronology of Jesus' whited sepulchres rant is in question, if Christians, or perhaps their predecessors who later become known as Christians, were around even in the days of the biblical Jesus ...

Perhaps we can ponder whether he was talking about Christians.

What do you think? In this age we are in now, with over 90% of the nukes being stockpiled by two nations the majority of whose citizens are Christians, and with Christian zealots currently roaming to and fro within the US military, calling themselves Dominionists and seeking to kill their enemies rather than love them as Jesus taught, are they the whited sepulchres, full of dead men's bone's, of our age?

 

[Angela22]

Those of this generation which seem clean without but are full of foulness within are indeed many that identify with being Christian, but also others who claim to have a devotion to the Father but their actions speak contrary to His Way, such as some modern day Jewish people, some Muslims, some BHI, and so on.

 

[thePreacher]

You seem to be leaning towards where I am as well, which is that Jesus was addressing not just Jews, not just the religious right of Jews [Sadducees and Pharisees], but those in highest positions of influence in all religions [Christianity's egocentric popes and multimillionaire evangelists, Islam's gun toting clerics like the Ayatollah Khomeini, and the openly racist Jews running apartheid Israel].

Imagine what a beautiful world we would live in if the most religious Christians, Jews, and Muslims stopped trying to save everybody else and, instead, focused upon removing the beam in their own eye.

 

[Angela22]

You seem to be leaning towards where I am as well, which is that Jesus was addressing not just Jews, not just the religious right of Jews [Sadducees and Pharisees], but those in highest positions of influence in all religions [Christianity's egocentric popes and multimillionaire evangelists, Islam's gun toting clerics like the Ayatollah Khomeini, and the openly racist Jews running apartheid Israel].

Imagine what a beautiful world we would live in if the most religious Christians, Jews, and Muslims stopped trying to save everybody else and, instead, focused upon removing the beam in their own eye.

I understand what you mean.