Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
I came across the following thought below while researching for another thread. What is one to make of this? A curious thought, no? The author of the book- The Mystic Christ- endeavors to make the case that Christ, Buddha and Krishna are One. What interests me below is the exegesis of the text below. And I'd be pleased if our resident scholars would take a took at it, especially the idea that the word 'erchetai' does not apply to all people everywhere, but rather, to the persons Jesus was speaking to, as well as the concept of the cosmic "I".
Oh I can just hear to whistle of the Gnosticland Express start and the screeching of the wheels as they spin and get nowhere!  |
Well, I'm not qualified to comment on the Greek ... I should be but alas ... I am not. I will leave that to brother Andrew. However, I think that the notion of the "Cosmic "I"" is not far off the mark. Without commenting on the Aramaic argument (which I am REALLY not qualified to do) I have always understood that one must hear the "I AM" statements of Jesus that appear in John's Gospel as being the words of the "Logos".
the Gospel of John begins with the lyrics of a hymn to the LOGOS. "In the beginning was the Word ..." I have always believed that this is the key to understanding John's Gospel. When Jesus speaks in this Gospel he is speaking as the Divine Word. He is speaking as the second person of the Trinity. In other words, it is not Jesus of Nazareth who is the Way, the Truth, and the Light, it is the LOGOS who he embodies that is the Way, the Truth, and the LIGHT. I don't believe that Jesus is the ONLY manifestation of the Logos in the world ... just that he is the full and complete incarnation of it.
C.S. LEWIS said in "Mere Christianity" that other religions can be "true" and admirable and worthy of respect in so far as they do not contradict the truth as it is revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. I guess this is close to my own understanding as well.