The Origin of the Priesthood
Protect yourself from the hinder part
of a mule,
The front part of a woman, from the
side part of a wagon,
And from all sides of the priesthood.
(An old proverb)
At the time when Augustus made
himself the Roman emperor, the entire world languished under the yoke of the
Roman rule. Money-hungry and despotic governors of the emperor bled the
countries of the Orient dry and took from the inhabitants the little which
the local rulers had left them, which on the basis of clever politics the
Romans did not get rid of in every instance. Freedom, life and the property
of the people were subject to the mercy of the despotic rulers. The
circumstances of the oppressed people of the Orient were hopeless and they
sighed for relief from the hard yoke.
All the people of the
oppressed countries were hoping for a hero to liberate them from bondage.
The poets create a legend and become prophets, and a prophecy which
originates from the feeling and need of the people quite often becomes the
cause of its fulfillment.
The subjugated people
of the nations of the Orient hoped for such a hero to liberate them. As the
Messiah they imagined a kind of Washington or Garibaldi who would liberate
them from the much reviled Roman yoke.
The people of those
days clung much more firmly and fervently to the hope of the coming of a
Messiah — since they did not have any other hope nor could they find any
other comfort — and in their helplessness they were completely convinced
that they could not help themselves. Even outside the earth their hopeless
hearts could not find a point of support. The gods had lost their
credibility, and the belief that they could be of help to them was lost
because their impartial justice had never been that great. The Olympians
associated very little with the plebs; instead they socialized with the
aristocracy. The gods that were invented by Homer and Hesiod, and for whom
the Greeks and their spiritual vassals built temples, had become a mockery
to the educated classes. The belief of the people for the help of the gods
extended perhaps no farther that the belief of the northern German Catholics
in the saints.
Among the Jews the
hope for the Messiah was even more vivid and more impatient, because they
hated the Roman rulership even more so than all the other nations. The Jews
had a past which they viewed with pride. They believed themselves to be
Jehovah’s chosen people, and Jehovah was their invisible king who constantly
associated with them through the prophets since the times of Moses. They
considered the bondage into which they had fallen as a punishment from
Jehovah for their disobedience, and since it lasted for a long time and it
was severely felt, it was only natural that their poets and the voices of
the people’s heart were rich in prophesies. The Romans as heathens were to
the Jews a particular abomination. The Jews were of the opinion that their
plight and humiliation could not reach a higher level than it already had,
and the time for the appearance of the Messiah had to be soon. David and his
son had been their greatest kings, and the prophets had said that the
Messiah would come from David’s lineage. The religion of the Jews from the
very beginning consisted mainly of the observance of particular rules, which
Moses, who had very good sense, had given to the Jewish nation for their
regeneration, and he found it appropriate to represent them as direct
commandments from Jehovah. But in the course of centuries they had become no
more than empty ceremonies.
The time was ripe for the
appearance of the Messiah. The Savior did come, but He appeared in a form
different than the people had imagined. Therefore, they did not acknowledge
Him, and the aristocracy despised Him, pursued Him and crucified Him,
because if His principles had been accepted not only would they have
destroyed the government of the Romans, but also the power of the
aristocracy would have come to an end. Jesus was a revolutionary who in our
times, if not crucified, would have been shot to death or imprisoned by an
order of a court.
When Jesus, the son of
an insignificant tradesman, appeared as the promised Messiah of the
prophets, He taught: “There is only one God, and He is a God of love and not
an angry, revengeful being, but rather a kind Father to all humanity. Life
on earth is merely a preparation for an eternal life with God, and it is
given to every individual to make that life a joyful life. Before God, kings
and slaves are the same; and He judges and rewards human beings not in
accordance with their reputation on earth but rather in accordance with
their deeds and intentions. The last and most insignificant human beings who
bear their sufferings and privations most patiently and who remain virtuous
shall be the first and happiest human beings in their eternal life.”
These teachings were
balsam for the desperate hearts of the poor, because these teachings gave
the necessary energy to anyone who believed in them firmly and fervently not
only to bear even the most severe sufferings but to bear them with joy and
to walk towards death without fear. Because death became a salvation, the
portal to an eternal life filled with happiness. The belief in these
teachings in fact robbed death of its sting and liberated humankind.
As comforting as this
promise sounded, that is how hard it was to prove its truth, because this
promise, when subjected to an examining reason, would not stand the test any
more than any other promise which reaches beyond death. Jesus substituted
only one claim with another; but since the belief in His claims made
humankind happier than any other promises, and since He liberated them from
the sufferings of this earth and the fear of death, it was very rewarding
for them. The comforts that were contained in these teachings caused
humankind to be very much inclined towards this belief. Although the ancient
belief of the Jews was based on the authority of men who were considered to
be prophets and who alleged that they were in direct contact with God, this
pretext was supported by miraculous deeds.
All belief is based on the belief
in authority. If the son of a carpenter from Nazareth, whose parents and
siblings were known, wanted to gain belief in His authority and be
recognized as a prophet and as the Messiah, then He had to carry out tasks
as the prophets before Him had done. All prophets, starting with Moses, had
performed miracles. Therefore, Jesus had to carry out miracles; and that He
did.
Even truth that is found on the
path of reasonable examination is not very effective today if it is not
supported by external circumstances and if it does not appear in a
present-day wrapping. Especially when many interests are offended by it,
even superstition would have a much greater chance for a momentary success
if it flattered these interests.
The belief which Jesus
wanted to produce, although He promised the poor and oppressed salvation,
offended the interests of the ruling classes. Therefore Jesus could not rely
on the help of the ruling classes, and they could not be brought to belief
through miracles, because the initiated, those who had knowledge, knew what
to think of miracles. The salutary effect which belief had on the people and
which Jesus preached did not persuade them to support Him, even when they
realized it. Instead their egotism caused them to nip this belief in the
bud, and to annihilate its creator. However, the high priests and Pharisees
of today do exactly the same as they did to the Jews in those days.
Jesus had to depend
entirely on the people. He proceeded in quite a practical, one could say in
a mathematical manner, which did not have immediate success, but future
success was assured. He chose simple uneducated individuals from among the
people for His twelve disciples. And He understood how they, by observing
His activities and His pure and exemplary lifestyle and personal love and
devotion for them, were instilled with unlimited trust and through this the
firm belief in everything He said and promised. And if each of Jesus’
disciples proceeded in a similar manner and if this system were continued,
then the number of believers had to increase in a particular progression.
The disciples saw the
miracles that Jesus performed. They believed in Him and hence in His
promises, and they lived in accordance with His rules. His teachings were so
simple that Jesus did not deem it necessary to write them down. He had
confidence in the living word of His disciples in whose hearts He placed
these teachings.
The same method that
Jesus had chosen for spreading His teachings had proven itself to be
practical six centuries before His appearance. Buddha, the reformer of
Indian religion, had used it, and the result was the same, as we can judge
it now even in its development, degeneration, and consequence. Europeans,
who for the first time enter a modern Buddhist temple in China, are
surprised at the similarities which they find everywhere in the customs of
the Buddhists and of the Roman Catholic Church. The Buddhists have their
rosaries, relics and cloisters just like the Roman Catholics.
However, Buddha was
the son of a king, and Jesus the son of a tradesman, and this difference
necessitated the difference in procedures. While it was sufficient for the
prince to live a virtuous life in order to assure success with his
revolutionary teachings that abolished the caste system of the Brahmin,
Jesus, as the son of a tradesman, appearing as a prophet among the Jews had
to perform “miracles.” So that the prophecies of the prophets would be
fulfilled, He had to die for the sake of His teachings.
The sacrificial death
seemed to be a necessity to Jesus. It was an act that arose from careful
consideration. This sacrifice was very difficult and Jesus thought about
that with great anxiety if there was not another way, and this is what
clearly emerges from the Gospel. At the Mount of the Olives He prayed:
“Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from
me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.”
We are accustomed,
when we think of Jesus, to imagine Him in a glorious way with which His
success and nineteen centuries have clad Him. Although He aroused the
attention of His contemporaries, that is the Jews and the Romans which were
in their country, it did not take long before the common people forgot Him,
and His memory lived only in the limited circle of His disciples and their
followers. Philo, a Jewish philosopher who died approximately twenty years
after Jesus, did not mention Jesus at all. Josephus, a Jewish historian, who
was born a few years after Jesus’ death and who wrote a book on history in
the last years of the 1st century, mentions His execution only in
passing and with a few words. The number of followers of His teachings was
very small and insignificant, because this historian, who listed all the
sects which were in existence at that time, does not mention the Christians
at all. Only in the writings that were published in later centuries was
Jesus mentioned as the founder of the Christianity.
Everything we know
about Jesus, we know from the writings of His disciples. They recorded from
memory what the people had told them about the childhood of Jesus and what
they had experienced when they were with Him and what He said on those
occasions. The disciples were individuals from the common people, without
any particular education and talent. But they loved Jesus and they believed
in Him. However, they did not completely understand Him and they had no
concept of the magnitude of His soul. The Gospels were written many years
after Jesus’ death. Even the Gospel of Matthew, which is the oldest, was
written about fourteen years later. It is understandable that Christ’s
speeches could not be repeated in the same manner as He had given them, but
they were described in the manner that the disciples understood them.
Therefore, it is a natural consequence that the various accounts not only
differ from each other, but they also contain mistakes and contradictions,
which later on gave rise to insane interpretations and conclusions of which
we will find numerous examples in this book.
At this time we shall
consider two very important points to which the Roman Catholic Church
attaches the greatest importance, although it should be mentioned that such
“importance” is based on the teachings of the Church itself than on the
teachings of Jesus. And these are the divinity that is ascribed to Him, and
the miracles which He performed....
