Jesus Taught that Heaven is the Here and Now


The "teachings of Jesus" or "the words of Jesus" must always be taken with a grain of salt. No one who quoted Jesus has ever claimed to have been present when Jesus said things. In fact, no one who wrote anything about Jesus ever saw him or claimed to have known him. That has allowed Jesus to become an industry. Many thousands of people make a living arguing about what Jesus said, what Jesus meant when he said it or whether Jesus ever existed at all. 

The link makes the argument Jesus believed heaven was not an ambiguous place in the sky but was right here in the minds of people in real time. He quotes from two of the gospels that did not make the cut to be included in the Bible. He quotes the text of what appeared in ancient writings, some predate those that appear in the Bible, and then goes into the obligatory "What this means" mode. What this means, he says, is the mustard seed flowers and grows and individuals find the heaven in their minds where it grows and matures providing happiness. 

The author regards these books available at the time but not included in the Bible, often called the Gnostics, as the secret teachings of Jesus. This underground or insider whispering make his view more appealing than views coming from shouting TV preachers or high church Catholics and Lutherans. 

In the comments to the link are other Christians hammering away at the authors for use of the wrong writing and pointing to stuff in the Bible where Jesus talked of a heaven located in the sky. Shame on the author, they say, for the heresy of quoting writing from the Gnostics who are not today regarded as genuine Christians.

So which branch of the faith shall we believe, the one that quotes Jesus as saying heaven is here in real time or the one that says it is in the great afterlife? My advice is believe the one that makes you happy. That has been done since day one. Or, disregard them both. This also has been practiced since day one. Consider them material written for unknown audiences back in ancient times the very by wealthy but unknown males of that period.  

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