If Jesus could speak today he would be appalled at the words which have been put into his mouth by his followers

 

Words such as these:

And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

-- Matthew 26:27f.

And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.

-- Mark 14:23f.

Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

-- Luke 22:20

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

-- John 6:53ff.

 

A Jewish Jesus would have thought such words as those to be an abomination. He preached instead a gospel of the fatherhood of God, of the imminent coming of God's kingdom with judgment, of radical renunciation of the world because it was about to be destroyed, of the necessity of mutual forgiveness of sins, of God's desire for mercy and not sacrifice, of the perpetuity of the law until heaven and earth pass away.

And here is the law on the subject, loud and clear:

 

But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

-- Genesis 9:4

It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.

-- Leviticus 3:17

Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.

-- Leviticus 7:26f.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood. And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

-- Leviticus 17:11ff. 

Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.

-- Leviticus 19:26

Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water. ... Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh. Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water. Thou shalt not eat it; that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.

-- Deuteronomy 12:16, 23ff.

Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.

-- Deuteronomy 15:23.

 

It beggars belief that a Jewish Jesus believed anything contrariwise.

Um, that was Judaism last time I checked

 In WaPo of course, reproduced here:

Christianity was a particularly blood-obsessed religion, with the Nile transformed to a river of blood in the Old Testament plagues of Egypt . . .  Christianity was a blood-soaked, even blood-obsessed, religion . . . All of this gives some of [Trump's] Christian supporters permission to reembrace the darkest aspects of the symbolics of blood that saturated their religion for centuries. These are old ideas. They are deeply and historically Christian ideas. And they are terrifying.

The guy never mentions Judaism and the Jewish Temple with its elaborate, obligatory centuries old sacrificial system, which disappeared with its destruction in 70 AD, nor Islamic Qurban, the ritual slaughter of tens of millions of animals which happens every year all over the world during Eid al-Adha right up to the present.

Stupidest, most bigoted anti-Christian newspaper in the country, curated for you by the Jew Matt Drudge right on time for Good Friday:

The ancient, volatile Christian ideas behind Trump's obsession with blood...

 

 

You may not eat the life with the flesh, as they literally do in China, and in Catholic Mass everywhere

But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

-- Genesis 9:4

For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

-- Leviticus 17:14

 

Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.

-- Deuteronomy 12:23

This Johannine idea is therefore utterly inimical to the spirit of the Old Testament food law:

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

-- John 6:53

On the very foul and gross corruption of holy communion

When our Saviour said, in an allegorical and mystical sense, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you; the hearers understood him literally and grossly.

-- Richard Bentley (1662-1742)

St. John Henry Newman rationalized Catholic adoption of paganism from time immemorial as sanctifying and transmuting it, same as bread and wine are transformed into holy body and blood by priests

Canonized a week ago, Newman was originally an evangelical Anglican.

Paul's chutzpah: Chief of sinners says "I am pure from the blood of all men"

Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.

-- Acts 20:26

And Saul was consenting unto his death. 

-- Acts 8:1

And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.

-- Acts 22:20

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

-- 1 Timothy 1:15

The true God needs no bloody sacrifices, not of bulls upon the hills, not of birds of the air, not of his "only begotten son", and not of the "mass"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

-- Psalm 50:9ff.

Paul claimed his gospel was not mediated by flesh and blood, but he must have heard something at Stephen's stoning

But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. ... But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother.

-- Galatians 1:11f., 15ff.

Before this conversion, Luke puts Paul in Jerusalem keeping the coats of those who stoned Stephen for his long proclamation of the gospel and corresponding indictment of Israel:

Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was consenting unto his death.

 

-- Acts 7:57ff.

How do you consent to something the details of which you are not aware?

An instance of justification, without a cross, without a bloody sacrifice, without a Messiah, without baptism, without the Lord's supper, without the Sinner's Prayer, without a priest, without resurrection from the dead, without works, without faith, without belief, without knowledge, only remorse!

δεδικαιωμένος

And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

-- Luke 18:13f.

Jesus was killed because he taught that his generation was uniquely guilty and had to pay with its own blood for sins immemorial

Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

-- Luke 11:49ff.

The interpretation is wholly in keeping with one Jewish interpretation of the suffering servant of Isaiah 52f. as referring to the Nation of Israel itself and not to an individual. Since Christians adopted the latter view, Luke's testimony to this point of view flies in the face of the subsequent Christian understanding, to which Luke himself is also witness in Acts 8. But Luke shines as an historian in this capacity, as in so many other instances, uniquely preserving interpretations, traditions and sayings of the Lord which when taken together appear to leave an incoherent mess, but when properly analyzed and appreciated preserve what we believe to be the historical Jesus' original eschatological message. According to that interpretation, the Son of Man would descend with God's armies of angels to exact from Israel the penalty of sin, the Temple would be destroyed, and all who had not repented would perish. The idea that Jesus came to die for sins is wholly alien to it.

Actual forgiveness of sins, without a bloody sacrifice, without resurrection from the dead

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. -- Matthew 6:14

And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. -- Matthew 9:2

When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. -- Mark 2:5

And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. -- Mark 11:25

And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. -- Luke 5:20

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. -- Luke 6:37

And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. -- Luke 7:48

Muslim barbarians in Dhaka, Bangladesh flood the streets with the blood of their animal sacrifices

Our new country's going to be great!

There is nothing new under the sun: Gay Trump-supporting billionaire Peter Thiel wants to suck your blood

Actually, he just wants transfusions from the young and healthy, the history of which is discussed here by Candida Moss:

Peter Thiel, billionaire tech investor, has revealed a somewhat unsavory interest in the blood of the young. Thiel, like many other Silicon Valley billionaires, is interested in prolonging life expectancy and escaping death. ... Thiel has a particular interest in medical vampirism. ... Now he is interested in parabiosis, the practice of using blood transfusions from young people to promote longevity.

 

 

 

Read the rest of the story and you will get the sense that from the perspective of the Jewish law at least, the development of the Christian idea of drinking Christ's blood in the communion and the fascination among the wealthy with drinking the blood of the executed represents the sweep of history as degenerate, reverting to pagan antitypes, not progressive. The barbarity of animal sacrifice for sin remains, nothwithstanding.

But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

 

-- Genesis 9:4

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

 

-- Leviticus 17:11

For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

 

-- Leviticus 17:14

Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.

 

-- Deuteronomy 12:23

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

 

-- John 6:53

St. Peter in the 1st century thought the blood moon prophecy was already being fulfilled and meant the end of the world

 

 

In Acts 2:16f, 20, Luke the Historian has St. Peter explicitly connect the Pentecost phenomenon with the fulfillment of our lately called "blood moon prophecy", saying that "this is that", namely that Pentecost ushered in the last age of the Spirit, but the end of the world it most certainly was not, then anymore than it will be today:

  But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: ... The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come . . ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is notable is that the historical Jesus did not talk this way.

 

He said the kingdom of God was not coming with signs to be observed, but that it would come by stealth, like a thief in the middle of the night, intruding into the midst of normality suddenly and without warning, as it was in the days of Noah . . .. By the time you realize it, it will be too late. The many will perish, and only the few will be saved. Therefore repent! Sell that ye have! Give alms! And come, follow me.

Jesus forgave sins quite apart from the shedding of blood, his own or that of others, and taught it

Thy sins be forgiven thee.

-- Matthew 9:2

Thy sins be forgiven thee.

-- Mark 2:5

Thy sins are forgiven thee.

-- Luke 5:20

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

-- Matthew 6:14

And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

-- Mark 11:25

Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.

-- Luke 6:37

Her sins, which are many, are forgiven. ... And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.

-- Luke 7:47, 48

And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.

-- Luke 11:4

And Moses Smote The Waters, And They Were Turned To Blood

Rare red tide hits Sydney beaches

"And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that [were] in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that [were] in the river were turned to blood."

 -- Exodus 7:20

"There are some possible risks to human health including skin rashes and eye irritation and for this reason the beach will remain closed until the algae dissipates," according to a local spokesman, quoted here in a story about the rare phenomenon.

"So they took soot from a kiln, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses threw it toward the sky, and it became boils breaking out with sores on man and beast."

-- Exodus 9:10

The Lifeblood of the Nation

"Money, the lifeblood of the nation,

Corrupts and stagnates in the veins,

Unless a proper circulation

Its motion and its heat maintains."

-- Jonathan Swift