John 5 promotes eternal afterdeath rather than joyful life

 John 5 promotes eternal afterdeath rather than joyful life

Guide: CJB New Testament emphasis in bold (CJB online) or OJB Old Testament, text I emphasize in green; NIV in magenta; footnotes to CJB in superscript sky blue; Nomads* discussion in yellow; and my comments in gray. I may use endnotes to cite outside literature or extensive comment.  

*Participative Sunday-school-class at UBC led by Ken Tipton. Ken seems to consider answers in a continuous search for ineluctable truth. My evolving statement about Genesis 1:26-28 is at the end of this post.

Chief concerns and possible insights:

1.         John’s writing does not promote confidence in human being (the practice)

a.      V1-9 John slights Yeshua with a miracle at an un-civic healing pool.

                                                             i.      The healed person doesn’t care who caused the healing.

                                                           ii.      Ungrateful like the healed blind man in John 9.

                                                        iii.      And ready to blame Yeshua for the Sunday healing.

b.     Judeans are hung up on Moses’ laws regarding Sabbath work.

2.         John’s Yeshua seems neither gracious nor patient

a.      Convicts the lame man of sin without citing any offense

                                                             i.      Unlike the man blinded for Yahweh’s purpose

b.     Claims divinity while stating he can’t witness for himself

c.      Advertises eternal life in the afterdeath to those who acted on his light

d.     Asserts that dead people want resurrection.

e.      To cite John the Baptizer does not seem divine.

                                                             i.      Comparing personal witness does not seem confident.

f.       Dismissing the Scripture

                                                             i.      Discounting Moses’ awareness

g.     Dismissing civic integrity

3.         Most egregiously, overlooking Yeshua’s affirmation of Genesis 1:26-28, e.g., be perfect like The God is perfect (you can pursue perfection, if you choose).

Working considerations:

1.       V1 It seems rare for Hebrew scripture to refer to Aramaic language.

2.       V3-4 there are reported healing waters, some “miraculous”; https://guideposts.org/angels-and-miracles/miracles/7-of-the-worlds-amazing-healing-waters/, https://albaniavisit.com/attractions/benja-thermal-baths/ (Cynthia and I saw the big crowd in 1973), and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pool_of_Bethesda.

3.       V6 NIV and MSG have “get well” vs CJB “be healed”, which seems consistent with a healing-pool story about Jesus the reported miracle-worker.

4.       V9 promoting a miracle-worker like Elijah and Moses mollifies Yeshua’s message: humans may and can perfect their person during life.

a.      Matt 5:48, “Therefore, be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

b.     Deuteronomy 18:13, “You must be wholehearted with Adonai your God.”

c.      Genesis 1:26-28, esp. 26, “ And G-d said, Let Us make man in Our tzelem [image], after Our demut [likeness]: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon ha’aretz (the earth).”

5.       V10. John’s segue to the civil squabble by the Jewish leaders lessens Yeshua’s civic influence.

a.      The people desire to behave.

b.     Yeshua’s message is goodness, V14 “stop sinning”

c.      The Jewish leaders pursue domination over people – even murder, V18.

6.       V21. Performing capricious miracles is neither Yeshua’s purpose nor The God’s work ethic.

a.      Elijah reportedly raised the dead.

b.     https://www.learnreligions.com/people-raised-from-the-dead-in-the-bible-4109363

7.       V22. John forgets humility to Yeshua, choosing Paul’s theology

a.      https://biblehub.com/topical/t/the_role_of_jesus_in_judgment.htm

b.     Each person judges themselves, depending upon whether they accept Genesis 1:26-28 or not

                                                             i.      Affirmed by the laws of physics

                                                           ii.      Affirmed by Yeshua, the person, an entity that differs from each

1.     Reported miracle worker

2.     The sacrificial lamb

8.       V24. Capitalization of “One” suggests The God, followed by no cap in V30 about the son.

9.       V24. The segue to eternal life after raising the dead in V21 deludes interest to perfection in life.

a.      John cannot influence me to hope for resurrection after I die.

b.     I choose to pursue perfection of my person now.

10.   V26 I envision an analogue to Genesis 1:26-28: Just as The God manages the heavens, human beings may and can manage the earth.

a.      Listening to Yeshua’s commentary on Genesis 1:26-28, et.al., empowers the person who listens to Yeshua’s leadership.

11.   V27. It seems Daniel 7:13-14 equates Bar Enosh to Mashiach -- Son of Man to anointed one, if not Messiah.

12.   V29. I want to pursue Yeshua’s civic influence and behave, rather than accommodate evil then hope for resurrection during my afterdeath.

a.      Without Yeshua’s guidance, I cannot pursue necessary goodness.

b.     However, Genesis 1:26-28 informs me that I can succeed if I intend to.

13.   V31. I think John’s writing loses its impact.

a.      John the Baptizer seems a projection to OT prophecy.

b.     Someone else is vague.

c.      John disparages scripture, which we treasure as containing light, hard as it may be to discern.

d.     John disparages Sunday school, wherein we seek opinion we want to consider rather than praise.

14.   V46. John, in Patmos 70 years after Jewish leaders convinced Rome to execute Yeshua, conspired to project Yeshua’s life onto Old Testament prophecy and concepts.

15.   V47. I perceive that by listening to Yeshua’s civic influence and collaborating with fellow persons, accepting reported miracles and blood sacrifice, I have a chance to comprehend necessity and practice goodness.

a.      I trust my afterdeath, that vast time after my body and accomplishments cease, to my origins.

b.     I think I had no input into my origins and trust the entities involved.

5 After this, there was a Judean festival; and Yeshua went up to Yerushalayim. ² In Yerushalayim, by the Sheep Gate, is a pool called in Aramaic, Beit-Zata Bethesda, ³ in which lay a crowd of invalids — blind, lame, crippled. ⁴ [Some manuscripts have verses 3b–4: . . . , waiting for the water to move; ⁴ for at certain times an angel of Adonai went down into the pool and disturbed the water, and whoever stepped into the water first after it was disturbed was healed of whatever disease he had.] ⁵ One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶ Yeshua, seeing this man and knowing that he had been there a long time, said to him, “Do you want to be healed get well?” ⁷ The sick man answered, “I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I’m trying to get there, someone goes in ahead of me.” ⁸ Yeshua said to him, “Get up, pick up your mat and walk!” ⁹ Immediately the man was healed, and he picked up his mat and walked. [The writer was influenced by miracles rather than Yeshua’s message!]

Now that day was Shabbat, ¹⁰ so the Judeans Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It’s Shabbat! It’s against Torah for you to carry your mat!” ¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who healed me — he’s the one who told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who told you to pick it up and walk?” ¹³ But the man who had been healed didn’t know who it was, because Yeshua had slipped away into the crowd. [The healed blind man also did not know; John 9:10.]

¹⁴ Afterwards Yeshua found him in the Temple court and said to him, “See, you are well! Now stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you!” ¹⁵ The man went off away and told the Judeans it was Yeshua who had healed him; ¹⁶ and on account of this, the Judeans began harassing Yeshua because he did these things on Shabbat.

¹⁷ But he answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I too am working.” ¹⁸ This answer made the Judeans all the more intent on killing him — not only was he breaking Shabbat; but also, by saying that God was his own Father, he was claiming equality with God. ¹⁹ Therefore, Yeshua said this to them: “Yes, indeed! I tell you that the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; whatever the Father does, the Son does too. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does; and he will show him even greater things than these, so that you will be amazed. ²¹ Just as the Father raises the dead and makes them alive, so too the Son makes alive anyone he wants. [John has no evidence to claim that The God is capricious! But wait: he makes it contentions on belief in “the Son”. I doubt Yeshua expressed such theology.] ²² The Father does not judge anyone but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever fails to honor the Son is not honoring the Father who sent him. ²⁴ Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever hears what I am saying and trusts the One him who sent me has eternal life — that is, he will not come up for judgment but has already crossed over from death to life! ²⁵ Yes, indeed! I tell you that there is coming a time — in fact, it’s already here — when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who listen will come to life. [Preconception to salvation in afterdeath can repress Yeshua’s civic influence to life. It seems John suffers such preconception.] ²⁶ For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has given the Son life to have in himself. [This argument reminds me of Genesis 1:26-28 and “humankind in our image so they may rule on earth”.] ²⁷ Also he has given him authority to execute judgment [A person’s life is judged by whether they accept Genesis 1:26-28, which Yeshua affirmed, establishing his influence to necessary goodness.], because he is the Son of Man. [Daniel 7:13-14, OJB, “I was beholding in visions of the night, and, hinei {Here I am}, one like a Bar Enosh {Son of man} (Ben Adam, i.e., Moshiach {anointed one}) came with the clouds of Shomayim {heavens}, and came to the Atik Yomin (Ancient of Days, i.e., Hashem {the name or G-d}), and before Him He was brought. And there was given Him (Moshiach) dominion, and honor, and sovereignty, that all people, Goyim, tongues, should pey-lammed-chet (see Dan 3:12, serve, reverence as deity Him (Moshiach). His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His (Messianic) Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” Compare NIV: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”] ²⁸ Don’t be surprised at this; because the time is coming when all who are in the grave will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out — those who have done good to a resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to a resurrection of judgment. ³⁰ I can’t do a thing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is right; because I don’t seek my own desire, but the desire of the one [Is the non-cap a typo?] who sent me.

³¹ “If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not valid. ³² But there is someone else testifying on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he is making is valid — ³³ you have sent to Yochanan, and he has testified to the truth. ³⁴ Not that I collect human testimony; rather, I say these things so that you might be saved. ³⁵ He was a lamp burning and shining, and for a little while you were willing to bask in his light.

³⁶ “But I have a testimony that is greater than Yochanan’s. For the things the Father has given me to do, the very things I am doing now, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. [But you are testimony on your behalf is not valid, per V31.]

³⁷ “In addition, the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice or seen his shape; ³⁸ moreover, his word does not stay in you, because you don’t trust the one [Here the non-cap seems appropriate?]  he sent. ³⁹ You keep examining the Tanakh the Scriptures because you think that in it you have eternal life. Those very Scriptures bear witness to me, ⁴⁰ but you won’t come to me in order to have life!

⁴¹ “I don’t collect praise from men, ⁴² but I do know you people — I know that you have no love for God in you! ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t accept me; if someone else comes in his own name, him you will accept. [For examples, Peter, Paul, or Mary . . . and there’s Moses.] ⁴⁴ How can you trust? You’re busy collecting praise from each other, instead of seeking praise from God only.

⁴⁵ “But don’t think that it is I who will be your accuser before the Father. Do you know who will accuse you? Moshe, the very one you have counted on! ⁴⁶ For if you really believed Moshe, you would believe me; because it was about me that he wrote. [This boast expresses to me that John was privy to projecting Yeshua’s life onto Jewish prophesy and reports.] ⁴⁷ But if you don’t believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”

[Moreover, before Moses, even before Adam there was the author of Genesis 1:26-28: female and male humankind have the power, authority, and responsibility to pursue and practice necessary goodness to life on earth. Yeshua affirmed this and Deuteronomy 18:13 in Matthew 5:48. There’s no mention of eternal life to personal spirit in the afterdeath.]

[Genesis 1:26-28, a second simplification from the previous presentation:

I read to consider and apply perhaps 5500 year old Sumerian political philosophy, religiously referenced by Semite scribes of 3900 years ago, in Genesis 1:26-28; in my paraphrase:  

Female-and-male-human-being may and can choose to practice the power, authority, and responsibility to pursue necessary goodness and constrain evil. Civic citizens may and can use the rule of law to develop statutory justice. 

Political and religious philosopher Yeshua affirmed Genesis 1:26-28, contributing ideas in each Matthew 18:18 (no peace-power above humankind), Matthew 19:3-8 (mutual spousal loyalty), Matthew 5:48 (pursue your personal perfection, which also affirms Deuteronomy 18:13), 19:4-6 (don’t divide/lessen goodness), and in other direct dialogue, such as “go and sin no more”.

Discussion

I think Genesis 1:26-28 informs humankind to flourish in necessary goodness rather than accommodate badness and allow evil. Quoting below,

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground. See notes, below.

Accepting the power, authority, and responsibility to rule on earth is human being (verb). Reliable human-beings pursue necessary goodness to actual reality.

Since monotheism is a human construct, I use the phrase, “The God, whatever it may be”, to express objection to any doctrinal God yet reserve humility to ineluctable evidence and remaining unknowns.]

John 9: open debate need not divide humankind

 John 9: open debate need not divide humankind

Guide: CJB New Testament emphasis in bold (CJB online) or OJB Old Testament, text I emphasize in green; NIV in magenta; footnotes to CJB in superscript sky blue; Nomads* discussion in yellow; and my comments in gray. I may use endnotes to cite outside literature or extensive comment.  

*Participative Sunday-school-class at UBC led by Ken Tipton. Ken seems to consider answers in a continuous search for ineluctable truth. My evolving statement about Genesis 1:26-28 is at the end of this post.

Chief concerns and possible insights:

1.        John 9, more than any chapter Nomads has studied in my time, convinces me that “what we believe” preserves, quoting Ken, “the blinding consequence of not knowing what we do not know”.

2.        Pursuing Yeshua’s civic influence and Biblical debate, I accept Yeshua the light, Jesus the miracle worker, and Christ the blood sacrifice and the Genesis 1:26-28 power, authority, and responsibility to pursue necessary goodness in my way of living.

3.        It is important to consider that Israelites who accepted only Moses’s law (like Samaritans), wait for a prophet (Yahweh’s Levite emissary), whereas Judeans (non-Levites) expect an anointed, Davidic king and priest (also in the order of Melchizedek).

a.      Sibling clans: Levites vs Judites

b.     Moses a Levite

c.      Melchizedek blessed Abrahm (Genesis 18:18-19 OJB), great grandfather to Levi and Judah.

d.     Yeshua on par with Melchizedek, or higher than a prophet like Moses. See genealogy chart, attached.

4.        I won’t join a synagogue. Frustrations in 1994 inspired me to withdraw from the Baptist brotherhood (privately un-dividing my appreciation to humankind).

a.      I discovered Genesis 1:26-28 (humankind is to rule on earth) then returned to UBC to share, in friendship and non-atheism. See 3 attached letters regarding 1994.

Working considerations:

1.      V2 It is right to challenge parents if children are disadvantaged.

a.      Humankind has avoided incest (see V34) for over 30 millennia; https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/prehistoric-humans-are-likely-to-have-formed-mating-networks-to-avoid-inbreeding . “[R]esearchers speculate that an early, systematic approach to preventing inbreeding may have helped anatomically modern humans to thrive, compared with other hominins.”

b.     “Prehistory” seems to mean: before writing and grammar empowered reporting.

                                                             i.      DNA, archeology, and paleontology empower discovery.

c.      Ignoring discovery so as to preserve “what we believe” is not necessary.

d.     I think I saw an incest-family at the park this week – in the year 2025.

2.      V3 The God is not weak enough to intentionally abuse individuals with infirmity. I don’t trust John’s writing.

3.      V5 civic citizens can accept the miracle stories, the sacrificial blood, and The God yet pursue and practice the light Yeshua shared during his life.

4.      V6-12 Hearsay built public and civil doubt the healed man could not resolve.

5.      V13-17 The Pharisees say Yeshua is a sinner for working on the Sabbath and press the healed man for the opinion Yeshua is a prophet, an emissary to Yahweh.

6.      V18-25 Judean elites pressed the parents, who deferred to the healed man, in order to avoid being implicated as thinking Yeshua was Israel’s Messiah.

a.      They might be banned from the synagogue.

b.     The healed man acquiesced that Yeshua could be a sinner.

7.      V26-34 The elites pressed the healed man as to how Yeshua achieved the healing. He challenged their interest, and they responded by saying they were disciples of Moses (why not David, too?) and did not know Yeshua’s origins. They called him the offspring of forbidden sex and threw him out.

8.      V35-41 Yeshua re-entered the discussion and established that the healed man accepted him, then stated that he “came into this world” to allow contenders to identify themselves.

The text, CJB:

9 As Yeshua passed along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His talmidim disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned — this man or his parents — to cause him to be born blind?” ³ Yeshua answered, “His blindness is due neither to his sin nor to that of his parents; it happened so that God’s power might be seen at work in him. [I doubt John’s writing, because I do not accept that The God needs to use persons to demonstrate omnipotence: The God is not that weak. Also, the likely topic in this debate is incest, known to cause anomalies such as deafness and blindness. See https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/prehistoric-humans-are-likely-to-have-formed-mating-networks-to-avoid-inbreeding . Also, see V34.] ⁴ As long as it is day, we must keep doing the work of the One [Yeshua did not include the God’s spirit and thus did not suggest a triune One.] who sent me; the night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” [That is, I am reliable civic influence to this generation. Nomads keep Yeshua’s civic influence alive when we apply his teachings in our times. We can neither mimic miracles nor sacrifice body and blood, We pray for strength and wisdom to get through hard time such as illness and death, but not change water into wine or raise a corpse; see https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/miracles-debunked/ , for example.]

⁶ Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, put the mud on the man’s eyes, ⁷ and said to him, “Go, wash off in the Pool of Shiloach! Siloam” (The name means “sent.”) So he went and washed and came away seeing.

⁸ His neighbors and those who previously had seen him begging said, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some said, “Yes, he’s the one”; while others said, “No, but he looks like him.” However, he himself said, “I’m the one.” [Uncertainty? or can we believe the witness to a miracle? Has deceiptful healing claim occurred during our lifetimes?] ¹⁰ “How were your eyes opened?” they asked him. ¹¹ He answered, “The man called Yeshua Jesus made mud, put it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Shiloach and wash!’ So I went; and as soon as I had washed, I could see.” [The God maintains order, and wet soil that heals blindness is disorder. The believer is free to choose order or disorder, and I choose order, rejecting John’s writing in support of miracles. I choose Yeshua’s civic influence rather than Jesus’s miracles or Christ’s blood. I will not again profess something I don’t trust.] ¹² They said to him, “Where is he?” and he replied, “I don’t know.”

¹³ They took the man who had been blind to the P’rushim. Pharisees ¹⁴ Now the day on which Yeshua had made the mud and opened his eyes was Shabbat. Sabbath ¹⁵ So the P’rushim asked him again how he had become able to see; and he told them, “He put mud on my eyes, then I washed, and now I can see.” ¹⁶ At this, some of the P’rushim said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep Shabbat.” [Pharisees were sticklers to Moses’ law. I doubt the blind man would relate to this leap to theology.] But others said, “How could a man who is a sinner do miracles like these?” And there was a split among them. ¹⁷ So once more they spoke to the blind man: “Since you’re the one whose eyes he opened, what do you say about him?” He replied: “He is a prophet.” [A prophet in this context is someone chosen to represent Yahweh to the Israelites. See Wikipedia, “. . . Yahweh] is associated with Seir, Edom, Paran and Teman, and later with Canaan. The early Israelites engaged in polytheistic practices that were common across ancient Semitic religion, as their worship included a variety of Canaanite gods and goddesses, such as El, Asherah, and Baal.”]

¹⁸ The Judeans, however, were unwilling to believe that he had formerly been blind, but now could see, until they had summoned the man’s parents. ¹⁹ They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” ²⁰ His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind; ²¹ but how it is that he can see now, we don’t know; nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him — he’s old enough, he can speak for himself!” ²² The parents said this because they were afraid of the Judeans the Jewish leaders, for the Judeans had already agreed that anyone who acknowledged Yeshua as the Messiah [See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah for a Jewish perspective.] would be banned from the synagogue. [I do not join a synagogue, in order to prevent my civic integrity from being called heresy. I  I might join a synagogue/church that appreciates people who accept the power, authority, and responsibility to pursue necessary goodness on earth.] ²³ This is why his parents said, “He’s old enough, ask him.” [Note: Anyone who does not join the synagogue cannot be banned from the synagogue. Similarly, I do not join UBC, because I do not again want to respond to the opinion that I am a heretic. I genuinely want fellow citizens to think as I do: that Genesis 1:26-28 conveys our duty to humankind rather than to one of the 45,000 brands of Judaism or Christianity.]

²⁴ So a second time they called the man who had been blind; and they said to him, “Swear to God that you will tell the truth! We know that this man is a sinner.” ²⁵ He answered, “Whether he’s a sinner or not I don’t know. One thing I do know: I was blind, now I see.” ²⁶ So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷ “I already told you,” he answered, “and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Maybe you too want to become his talmidim?” ²⁸ Then they railed at him. “You may be his talmid,” they said, “but we are talmidim of Moshe! [Moses’ message to Israel is in Deuteronomy. If you think the message stops with the Penateuch, you are Samaritan (Northern kingdom). If you think it continues through the Tanach, you are Judean. If you think it is still being developed, you are Orthodox Jew.] ²⁹ We know that God has spoken to Moshe, but as for this fellow — we don’t know where he’s from!” [Recall V17 “He is a prophet.” From Deuteronomy 18:15, “Adonai will raise up for you a prophet like me from among yourselves, from your own kinsmen [Levies]. Then in Deut 34:10, “Since that time there has not arisen in Isra’el a prophet like Moshe, whom Adonai knew face to face.” Again, this is Samaritan belief, not Judean, which believes the Davidic Convenant.]

³⁰ “What a strange thing,” the man answered, “that you don’t know where he’s from — considering that he opened my eyes! ³¹ We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners; but if anyone fears God and does his will, God does listen to him. [If your prayer is not effective, ] [Suddenly, the blind man is a theist! I don’t trust John’s writing.] ³² In all history no one has ever heard of someone’s opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he couldn’t do a thing!” 

³⁴ “Why, you mamzer!” [offspring from forbidden sex, such as incest] they retorted, “Are you lecturing us?” And they threw him out.

³⁵ Yeshua heard that they had thrown the man out. He found him and said, “Do you trust in the Son of Man?” ³⁶ “Sir,” he answered, “tell me who he is, so that I can trust in him.” ³⁷ Yeshua said to him, “You have seen him. In fact, he’s the one speaking with you now.” ³⁸ “Lord, I trust believe!” he said, and he kneeled down in front of him. [In a parallel dialogue, in John 4, John has Jesus tell the woman at the well that the messiah she expects is before her. Since she is a Samaritan, she does not subscribe to Jewish literature beyond the Pentateuch, so the messiah she refers to is not of the house of David but of Levi.]

 

³⁹ Yeshua said, “It is to judge that I came into this world, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.” ⁴⁰ Some of the P’rushim nearby heard this and said to him, “So we’re blind too, are we?” ⁴¹ Yeshua answered them, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But since you still say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains. [To me, this equates to:  Since you Judeans claim to know or represent The God, you are not civic – do not accept the power, authority, and responsibility for order on earth.]

[Genesis 1:26-28, a first simplification from previous presentations:

I read to consider and apply perhaps 5500 year old Sumerian political philosophy. The polytheistic Sumerians are religiously referenced by Semite scribes of 3900 years ago, in Genesis 1:26-28; in my paraphrase:  Female-and-male-human-being may and can choose to both independently and collaboratively constrain political democracy on earth: on earth, civic humankind has the power and authority to pursue necessary goodness and constrain the bad. Civic citizens may and can use the rule of law to develop statutory justice. 

Political and religious philosopher Yeshua* affirmed Genesis 1:26-28, contributing ideas in each Matthew 18:18 (no peace-power above humankind), Matthew 19:3-8 (mutual spousal loyalty), Matthew 5:48 (pursue your personal perfection, which also affirms Deuteronomy 18:13), 19:4-6 (don’t divide/lessen goodness), and in other direct dialogue, such as “go and sin no more”.

Discussion

I think Genesis 1:26-28 informs humankind to flourish in necessary goodness rather than accommodate badness and allow evil. Quoting below,

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground. See notes, below.

Acceptance of the power, authority, and responsibility to rule on earth is human being (verb). Reliable human-beings pursue necessary goodness to actual reality.

Since monotheism is a human construct, I use the phrase, “The God, whatever it may be”, to express objection to any doctrinal God yet reserve humility to ineluctable evidence and remaining unknowns.]

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