A Civic People

The preamble to the US Constitution may seem obsolete. But we are the 12th generation of "our Posterity" to the framers and the "ourselves" to the next generation. We may each own an interpretation. Mine on 3/23/20 follows: We the People of the United States consider, communicate, collaborate, and connect to practice 5 public disciplines: integrity, justice, peace, strength, and prosperity so as to encourage both living citizens and future citizens to practice responsible human independence.

Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Mystery, Manners, and Church: Flannery O’Connor’s art

Flannery O’Connor promotes the Eucharist past Yeshua[1], while Cynthia[2] expresses humility.

In Mystery and Manners, 1957, O’Connor explains her art: faith in the Church. Dying in 1964, her influence still thrives. Selected letters are in the 2019 book, Good Things Out of Nazareth.

Within UBC[3], the art of Yeshua-of-Nazareth thrives. Reared by Jews, Yosef and Miryam, Yeshua promotes constraint to the bad in order to perfect the good. He influences civic integrity. A Jewish faction hopes Yeshua returns and unites the 12 tribes. A diverse faction hopes Christ redeems souls.

After Yeshua’s execution, early church promoted Ἰησοῦ, the rabbi, then Χριστός, the Incarnation, hiding Yeshua’s influence.

Father to my Catholic family, I never wanted the Eucharist. Monsignor Ott held that priest-plus-parishioners’-liturgy yields Christ’s-body-and-blood for personal-consumption. That’s transubstantiation.

Our teenaged children, at UBC by my request, stopped Remembrance after I read Herschel Hobbs’ opinion: Only believers-who-chose-submersion are invited-to the Lord’s Supper.

O’Connor condemned Ralph Waldo Emerson’s preference[i]: Remembrance without bread and wine.[ii]

O’Connor wrote, “The artist uses his-reason to discover an-answering-reason in everything he sees. [He would] intrude upon the timeless . . . by the violence of a single minded respect for the truth.” Bishop Baron recounts[iii] O’Connor-violence: “Well, if [the Eucharist] is a symbol, I say, to hell with it.”

Spoken violence stuns me. Yet I support human quest for the ineluctable truth. That requires evidence that is altogether unavoidable plus unchangeable plus irresistible. Ineluctable truth does not yield to violent opinion.

Both Emerson and O’Connor pursue appreciation for Yeshua of Nazareth. So far, neither’s art reforms the Church.

[i] Mystery and Manners, page 161-2.

[ii] Online at https://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/emerson/essays/lordsupper.html. Quoting, “[T]he Almighty God was pleased to qualify and send forth a man to teach men that they must serve him with the heart; that only that life was religious which was thoroughly good; that sacrifice was smoke, and forms were shadows”, September 9, 1832. Emerson resigned as Unitarian minister, 2^nd Church of Boston, October, 1832.

[iii] Online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wgo0ONxWiWk

PRB, 4/10/2024, updated 4/11/2024

[1] In ancient Hebrew life, “Joshua” and “Yeshua” were interchangeable. The Greek translation done in Egypt 2250 years ago uses Ἰησοῦ for Yeshua and Χριστός for anointed one. Jewish parents, Yosef and Miryam, 2000 years ago, named their firstborn, a son, Yeshua. I think Yeshua’s civic integrity improves or corrects civil codes in the Bible. Ἰησοῦ and Χριστός began to repress Yeshua’s civic influence 1900 years ago and dominated 1600 years ago. Jesus, the expression, is not Yeshua, the person. We may and can develop Yeshua’s civic influence.

[2] My wife, who practices Louisiana-French Catholicism.

[3] University Baptist Church, Baton Rouge Louisiana.

[4] Mystery and Manners, page 161-2.

[5] Online at https://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/emerson/essays/lordsupper.html. Quoting, “[T]he Almighty God was pleased to qualify and send forth a man to teach men that they must serve him with the heart; that only that life was religious which was thoroughly good; that sacrifice was smoke, and forms were shadows”, September 9, 1832. Emerson resigned as Unitarian minister, 2^nd Church of Boston, October, 1832.

[6] Online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wgo0ONxWiWk

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

I prefer Yeshua's civic influence

The world’s ongoing reform from competitive monotheism is new to me. His mom and dad called him Yeshua (English Joshua), which I prefer much as I prefer people to use my children’s names. For example, when someone calls Rebekah “Rebecca” it bothers me. When someone-who-knows-her spells Rebekah “Rebecca”, it offends me. I always report the “Rebecca” mistake when it comes to my attention, then forget the incident. In other words, I do not recall repetition in half a century.

This happy reflection reminds me of forgiveness, a demanding process Matthew attributed to Yeshua in Chapter 18:15-20. I paraphrase:

In private, report perceived offense; if resolved (maybe you needed reform and made amends), all is well; if not, convince a fellow citizen to join your presentation then either admit your stubbornness or approach the accused to debate again; if not – no sympathizer, no second presentation, or no resolution, present your case to society. Society may treat the offending party (maybe you) as irresponsible, arrogant, or evil. The motivation to practice Yeshua’s process is that whatever harm you tolerate continues to lessen living, while harms you resolve bring peace. Yeshua’s greatest strength is that he neither initiates nor accommodates harm to or from any person or association.

The importance to Yeshua of this process is evident in the parting commission to his apostles, reported in John 20:23, “If you forgive someone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you hold them, they are held.”

Both of the above references exemplify Yeshua’s use of metaphors[1] that run deep to reliable responsibility to the good on earth. By accepting responsibility to address offenses when they arise, a person, aware or not, effects Yeshua’s resistance to the bad on earth. After the metaphors “I am”, light, the word, fulfill the law, and peace, Yeshua’s commission to forgive seems ineluctable. It is humankind’s responsibility to mutually interpret the metaphors to the good rather than to compete to the bad.

Interestingly, once again, when a discovery appears in my life, a little research shows I am late yet not unhappy. I found a 4 minute introduction[2] to the name, Yeshua. The etymology is explained[3] as Yehoshua–Yeshua–Iēsous–IESVS–Iesu–Jesus through transliteration rather than translation. “By the time the New Testament was written, the Septuagint had already transliterated ישוע (Yeshuaʿ) into Koine Greek as closely as possible in the 3rd-century BCE, the result being Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous).” That is, 250 years before Yeshua was born. A blunt, modern, heartfelt notice exists.[4] His family history[5] seems connected to everyone alive. By all means, I feel connected to Yosef and Miryam when I speak the name they used: Yeshua. I perceive humility to the God, admitting I could be wrong.

The “Christ”[6] debate need not dominate humankind. In the Septuagint , “Christ comes from the Greek word χριστός (chrīstós), meaning ‘anointed one’.” Some rabbis predicted an anointed one would unite the 12 tribes of Israel and grant their kingdom. A faction thought Yeshua was the anointed one. A smaller faction thought Yeshua negated the Torah. The majority of Hebrews disagreed.

Many non-Jews developed Yeshua as the God, usually as the Trinity. That’s when competitive monotheism dominated and “Christ” obscured Yeshua. Competitive-mystery’s gotta stop, shocking as it may seem after 5500 years’ practice. Of course, I don’t know the ineluctable truth and can only observe what the world presents.

[1] Online at https://www.dbu.edu/mitchell/christ-and-composition/jesus-and-metaphors.html

[2] Online at https://lpb.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/what-was-jesus-real-name-video/origin-of-everything/

[3] Online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_(name)

[4] Online at http://www.cccla.org/about/the-name-yeshua/

[5] Online at https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-teachings/messianic-perspective-bible-teachings/how-yeshua-became-jesus-the-journey-of-language/

[6] Online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_(title)

Vision for an achievable, better, United States

Pursue Human Being While Responsibly Accepting the-Mysteries (Accept the mystery of the God in order to pursue Yeshua’s civic influence in each generation)

I think vision for an achievable, better, United States is emerging, surprisingly, thanks to the reactionary “woke” movement. Wokeism seems Internet-powered, misguided-reaction to traditional-tyranny.[1] For example, since 1789, civic-citizens allowed Congress to cleverly avoid, change, escape, neglect, and resist the U.S. intentions proffered in the 1787 U.S. Constitution. The better-future can& may emerge from a public combination: open-mind& appreciative-heart toward whatever constrains the consequences of human being (verb). [2] Many political philosophies attribute the-constraints to the-mysterious-God.[3] Nevertheless, each human-being can& may constrain chaos in their choices for living. When most persons choose human being (the practice), humankind can& may discover& pursue the-good.

Key human-accommodations include: appreciating& following the-constraints, in-order-to share the-civic-good[4]; continually pursuing the-ineluctable-truth[5] rather than preserving rationalizations; developing civic-integrity[6] through accepting human being; and nurturing their-unique-maturity[7] rather than preserving traditional-tyranny over children. Each human-being can& may constrain chaos in his/her way of living. Approaching age 81, I perceive that the-civic-Yeshua has guided my life and assert I could be wrong (recall Endnote 4).

A possible civic-culture includes: an expanded Bible canon that benefits from human being during the earliest recorded civilizations on earth, such as, Sumer, Indus River Valley Civilization, and Confucianism[8]; church[9] independent from self-promoting religions; appreciating the-civic-good; and gratitude to every person who pursues& practices civic-integrity, whether they claim Yeshua’s guidance or not. Civic-integrity is essential to comprehensive-safety& security,[10] and no person can or may either effect or constrain Yeshua’ influence on an individual’s choices& actions. Some people study Yeshua for guidance in self-interested responsible-behavior more than for the mysteries.

The above concepts are grounded in interpretation of Sumerian political philosophy, expressed in Semitic vernacular in Genesis 1:26-28, NIV. The word “may” in that NIV passage infers the-security-principle: only humankind can pursue comprehensive-safety& security to life on earth. Humans divide on awareness and appreciation of Genesis-1:26-28 political philosophy.[11] The civic-citizens pursue statutory-justice by which to facilitate& encourage reform to fellow-citizens who neither perceive nor accept the Genesis-1:26-28-can& may-principle.[12] Did any scholar suggest the-security-principle to all nations? If so, why does the suggestion fail, so far?

I suspect this principle can be discovered in ancient literature from other parts of the world. There’s no evidence that civic-integrity was pursued only in Sumerian culture. Nor is there proof that the Sumerians are the-mysterious-God’s chosen people,[13] even though their inventions, such as the wheel, writing, and law codes, impact their descendants and affected other cultures. Humankind benefited from Sumer-inventions. I regret ignorance about Sumer and other ancient civilizations.

Expected consequences of pursuing these principles: many churches both accept the-mysterious-God (unknown as it is) and advocate pursuit of the-civic-Yeshua as separation of church and state[14]; civic-citizens flourish; human-acceptance begins to influence the community, city, county, and state, respectively; other states create their variations; an improved civic-process emerges; the U.S. reforms[15] to civic-integrity, attributing U.S. improvement to Yeshua’ example, as a matter of reference[16] rather than of divine obligation.

Accomplishment time frame: 10 years. We are 60 years from the civil rights movement, itself a divisive Christian struggle to appreciate 12% of the population. Episcopalian Bishop Curry cited a survey that suggests 84%[17] of a diverse public is interested in Yeshua. Perhaps the-civic-Yeshua can accomplish what neither flood, fire, nor love[18] did in 2000 years, despite 5,500 years under can& may suggestion.[19] The world is hungry for an achievable better future. A church (recall Endnote 8) with U.S. civic-integrity can initiate the journey: sharing the-civic-Yeshua while accepting the-mysterious-God as discoverable.

PRB, 12/28/22, updated 4/2/24

[1] So far, Education Departments throughout history have concentrated on training “the workers we need” rather than aiding individuals in the quarter-century transition from feral infant to young person with the comprehension& intention to live a complete human lifetime. Consequently, tyrants in all nations are able to manipulate most people to work for the tyrant’s happiness rather than for the worker’s own. The Internet has empower human-being to pursue the happiness they want, and recognition of responsibility to self-interest has not yet become evident.

[2] Human being is a practice and a condition. For the noun, I use a hyphen: human-being. The human-being accepts the laws of physics and chooses the-good rather than tolerates the bad.

[3] God as the-God is, rather than as rationally constructed, in order to impose opinion on the-God. For all we know, the-God controls the consequences of human choices& actions. It seems that the-laws-of-physics, or simply physics, controlling biology, psychology, and everything, constrains human choices& actions. Perhaps some person or an institution has rationalized the-God. But the rest of humankind doubts Gods-of-reason and benefits from the discovering physics while accepting the mystery.

[4] The-civic-good is experienced& observed by every generation. Ancient civilizations shared awareness that is avoided in modern governments, including the civic-advice that is offered in reports of the life of Yeshua. The Catholic Canon depicts Christ as Israel’s Messiah, not necessarily lessening of Israel’s role as chosen people. Anti-Semitic rationalization developed decades after Yeshua died. Nevertheless, Yeshua volunteered civic-advice. For example, when asked about divorce, he recommended spousal-integrity (Matthew 19:3-8, NIV). Since we have no video, audio, or writing by Yeshua, his civic examples can only be discovered& nourished after he died. Nevertheless, the Bible’s mysteries can be construed to assert that Yeshua is the-God. However, I feel guided by the-civic-Yeshua and am glad I can articulate that perception.

[5] Ineluctable means collectively “not to be avoided, changed, or resisted”.

[6] “Civic” means reliable responsibility in human connections& transactions more than collaboration with civil authority, both political and spiritual

[7] Each human-being is born with their unique, unknown-potential. They can& may acquire the comprehension& intention to discover& achieve their best self. Rare is the person who accepts& pursues their unique opportunity. This is so, because no Education Department intends to aid youth to discover human being rather than “train the workers we need”. When most persons are pursuing their-unique-maturity, humankind progresses and may approach perfection.

[8] While homo sapiens is about 300,000 years old, recorded cultural-evolution is only 10,000 years old, and humankind has advanced exponentially. The Bible writing began only 3,000 years ago, and covers development of a dispute about Messiah versus “Christ”, a word and theory that developed long after Yeshua died. It seems Yeshua commented on literature more than 3,000 years old. Also, humankind – NASA -- plans to colonize either the moon or Mars in ten years. Bible canon have bemused humankind for the recent 1,700 years, concerning a 1,300 years older slice of Western human-history. It seems pastime to de-fossilize the Bible.

[9] Association of voluntarily-collaborative citizens.

[10] By “comprehensive” I mean everything required for each human-being to responsibly pursue the happiness they perceive rather than submit to someone else’s vision for them.

[11] Choosing to comprehend, practice, facilitate, and encourage the Genesis-1 political philosophy I call responsible human independence (RHI).

[12] I often refer to this principle as responsible-human-independence (RHI).

[13] Catholic doctrine (1700 years old) that Israel (2800 years old) is God’s chosen people, to eventually accept Christ as their Messiah, conflict Yeshua’s influence and embarrassingly neglects Sumer (5500 years old). See The Corporate Conversion of Israel. Semitism and anti-Semitism are relatively recent conflicts that need not dominate human being.

[14] In this sense, “separation of church and state” infers that the individual accept soul salvation as the-God is and practices human being for their benefits in living.

[15] The 1787 U.S. Constitution accommodates the Genesis-1:26-28-civic-integrity principle. However, the 1791 Bill of Rights imposed a negative: freedom of religion to Congress despite the people. This tyranny can be reversed by amendment of the First Amendment. I suggest amending the religious practice clause to “promoting” instead of “preventing”, in order to clarify that no religious doctrine can or may conflict with statutory justice.

[16] I benefit from deeply considering statements attributed to Yeshua. For example, the Golden Rule, in all historical versions can& may conform to Genesis 1:26-28: RHI citizens independently pursue order& prosperity, preserving each other’s privacy. Also, they cooperatively constrain dependent fellow-citizens. The mutually apply Yeshua’s process for forgiveness in Matthew 18:15-20, CJB.

[17] (1) The #GC80 Show - Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry - YouTube

[18] Love fails, because it is too diverse and often justifiably unwanted. Appreciation is the consequence of applying Yeshua’s process for forgiveness (Matthew 18:15-20) and never fails.

[19] “Can& may” negates the “free-will” mystery: each person can& may pursue human being.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

His family called him Yeshua, so I do too

The most thorough report I found on what Yeshua’s family called him is from Wikipedia[1] (for which I seek second source. So far, I perceive affirmation and plan to continue my $30 annual Wiki contribution.)

I like “Yeshua”, because it seems the name the family used and offers me direct connection. First, Mom taught to respect the name a person uses within their family. Second, I appreciate the story of Yeshua at age 12 meeting with adults and the conclusion: Luke 2:52, CJB, “And Yeshua grew both in wisdom and in stature, gaining favor both with other people and with God.” Third, I perceive withdrawal on changing “Yeshua” to “Jesus” or adding the title “Christ”, as Christianity attempts. Confusion dilutes the actually-real-person’s civic influence, much as babel prevents expression. I do not know the ineluctable truth, but appreciate that at age 81 I embrace what I think.

I favor neither Israel nor Christianity. I want to promote Yeshua’s civic influence. It starts with his excellent scholarship, which empowered him to improve the Torah during the 3 decades before he started teaching and afterwards. I want to pronounce[2] well the soft sound: ye shoo ah. Think of “Joshua” but with short “ye” and soft accent on “shu” rather than on “Jo”.

Considering usage trends

The Google ngram for three words -- Jesus, Christ, and Yeshua,[3] instructs me to advocate Jeshua’s civic influence, as I have been doing, until now, as “Jesus’ civic influence”. I like two factors from the Google statistics: in 1994, “Jesus” usage exceeded “Christ” usage and the advantage is increasing as of 2019. I want to and may exponentially increase “Yeshua” usage.

Jerusalem souvenir

Quoting a sales pitch, “The Hebrew name of [the actual person] - Yeshua - as it was written on an ossuary dating from the time [he lived], found in a rock cut tomb in the vicinity of Jerusalem. The Hebrew and Aramaic name "Yeshua", Jesus [transliterated from the Greek translation], is a late form of the Hebrew "Yehoshua", and was a very common name during the first century. The meaning of the name Yeshua is "Yahweh is salvation", or "Yahweh saves", and is alluded to in Matthew 1:21 and Luke 2:21. Yeshua therefore refers to the Savior and was one of the Christian ways of naming and identifying Jesus.”[4] Before “Christian” Yeshua was Aramaic and Hebrew translated into ancient Greek and on to the
“J” sound.

Matthew 1:20-21, CJB: ^“But while he was thinking about this, an angel of Adonai appeared to him in a dream and said, “Yosef, son of David, do not be afraid to take Miryam home with you as your wife; for what has been conceived in her is from the Ruach HaKodesh. She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Yeshua, [which means ‘Adonai saves,’] because he will save his people from their sins.”[5] It is important to notice that Adonai is not the Trinity.

Luke 2:21-24, CJB: ^“On the eighth day, when it was time for his b’rit-milah, he was given the name Yeshua, which is what the angel had called him before his conception. When the time came for their purification according to the Torah of Moshe, they took him up to Yerushalayim to present him to Adonai (as it is written in the Torah of Adonai, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to Adonai”) and also to offer a sacrifice of a pair of doves or two young pigeons, as required by the Torah of Adonai.” It is important to notice that such bird sacrifices stopped when the Second Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD, only 40 years after Yeshua was executed.

We read, ”. . . [since] 70 AD. As there was no longer a Temple at which to offer animal sacrifices, Judaism pivoted towards prayer and the study of the Torah.”[6] Luke’s writer may not have been aware that blood sacrifice required by Adonai was obsolete. Simultaneously, the Luke 2 reference to Adonai seems obsoleted.

A reporter’s controversy

Tuvia Pollack[7], among a 4^th generation of Jews who believe in Yeshua, lends credulity to the souvenir, writing,

In the Hebrew Bible there is a name which could be rendered as Yehoshua if we want to be true to the Hebrew pronounciation. Due to tradition most English Bibles nowadays call him Joshua. It means “God saves,” or “salvation of God.

I assume in “call him Joshua” Pollack references Hebrew publishers of English-language Bibles. Pollack concludes with “I personally prefer to say Jesus when I speak English and Yeshua when I speak Hebrew, but I leave it up to each and every one to decide for himself. If I find myself in the right context, I might say Yeshua when I speak English.”

I reached the same conclusion on considering the Google ngram view for “Jesus” and “Yeshua”. However, I advocate Yeshua and encouraged Pollack to do so, too. Yeshua’s process for forgiveness, Matthew 18:15-20, does not suggest “agree to disagree”.

A rabbi’s sensational conclusion

A Christian group wonderfully analyses[8] Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri‘s posthumous announcement that Jesus is the Messiah. Notice the statement, “The first coming of the Messiah was not to save his people from the Romans, but "from their sins". The salvation of Israel and the world is yet to come.” It seems to overlook that the world is steeped in intentional wrong, which, in the doctrine, must be lessened to prepare for the second coming.

Many theological issues are raised, not the least of which is that the transliteration of “Yahoshua” to “Jesus” was accomplished 200 years before Mary and Joseph reared Jesus. Once again, the world can entertain a political prophecy. Meanwhile, an ancient person’s political influence to the good suffers the bad. I think his mom and dad called him Yeshua, but am willing to talk about Jesus’s civic influence rather than be stonewalled. On the other hand, I do not want to aid Paul’s church to compete with Yeshua’s church.[9] Neither do I want to aid Saul’s competition with Ya’akov, somehow Anglicized to “James”.[10] Discovering “Yeshua” and “Ya’akov” in my early 9^th decade is shocking yet hopeful! I need to learn Kefa’s opinion (1 Peter, CJB).

Posted on 3/27/24, updated 4/2/24.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeshua#:~:text=Yeshua%20in%20Hebrew%20is%20a,using%20their%20full%20name%20Joshua

[2] Online https://www.google.com/search?q=How+do+you+pronounce+Yeshua. Ewerton Belchior, on March 24, 2024 at University Baptist Church, taught me the softly accented “shu”; it makes the name like a whisper.

[3] Online at https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Jesus%2CChrist%2CYeshua&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3

[4] Online at https://www.jerusalempottery.biz/yeshua/

[5] The Epistle of Ya’akov (“James” somehow) informs that “sin” means intentional wrong. Saul argues that Yeshua grants elected people favorable afterdeath, regardless of wrongs in life.

[6] Online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Leviticus

[7] Online at https://news.kehila.org/jesus-yeshua-or-yahshua/

[8] Online at https://bible-menorah.jimdofree.com/english/rabbi-kaduri-note/, “We are Christians and not Messianic Jews.”

[9] For example, see online https://doctrine.org/jesus-vs-paul.

[10] Online at https://gospelproject.lifeway.com/who-was-right-james-paul-or-both/. Also, see James 1:1 in the Complete Jewish Bible, “From: Ya‘akov, a slave of God and of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah”; why isn’t the book titled “Ya’akov”?

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Resolve global chaos using 3 principles

Resolve global chaos from Baton Rouge on 3 principles practices:

1. Pursue the ineluctable truth.

2. Accept the humility (power and authority) that is expressed in Genesis 1:26-28’s* message: humankind may and can rule on earth. *either New International Version or Complete Jewish Bible

3. Mirror Jesus’ civic influence, heard in the voices and seen on the faces of civic** citizens: you can perfect personal practice of Genesis 1:26-28.

*message: humankind may and can rule on earth. *either New International Version or Complete Jewish Bible

*Civic means reliably responsible to the good rather than accommodating the bad in human connections and transactions.

“Ineluctable”

· Published in 1570s, competing with “inescapable” (Figure 1, below)

· Published with “truth” in 1906 (Figure 2)

o Usage on the rise and needs our boost

· Civic people may and can deny judges power and authority to change ineluctable evidence.

Genesis 1

· Mesopotamian (Sumer) polytheistic political philosophy -- originated law codes

· Semitic-speaking faction transitioned to competitive monotheism and no human sacrifice

o Developed blood sacrifices with animals and birds

· A faction, Israel, added Moses’ law and sacrificial systems including blood, animals, birds, incense, grains, and oils. (I don’t know about modern Israel’s sacrifice systems if any.)

o Invasions and other events divided the 12 tribes.

o Factions predicted an anointed one would unite the tribes.

o Jesus understood Moses’ law and lessened some flaws.

o A Hebrew faction deemed Jesus, the anointed one, improved Moses’ law.

o A faction opposed circumcision to affirm commitment to the good (thegod and the law).

o Some messianic Hebrews proposed to open the system to willing gentiles.

· A gentile faction proposed salvation of souls more than persons, and imposed on Yeshua the title “Christ”. Descendants replaced human sacrifice to idols with personal sacrifice to Christ.

· Roman emperor Constantine saw political power by imposing the Christ movement.

· The world is now divided 31% Christian, 0.2% Jewish, and 25% Muslim; its people are held hostage by the 56% competitive monotheistic institutions that originated in Mesopotamia.

· The Bible is interpreted in languages covering 90% of the world’s inhabitants.

Jesus’ civic influence

· Appreciate Mary and Joseph finding their 12-year-old son talking with rabbis: “And Yeshua grew both in wisdom and in stature, gaining favor both with other people and with God” (Luke 2:52, CJB). That’s “ye shoo a” -- short e, accented oo almost u, and short a, Joshua in English.

· I want to honor but don’t know his family name, so raise the question then settle for “Jesus”.

· However, I will not impose the title “Christ”, which is arrogant toward most Hebrews’ hopes.

· I perceive no problem with civic people thinking theirgod chose them, even though I think theirgod may be humble to thegod. If thegod is actually real, “may” changes to “ought-to”.

· Similar appreciation can be mutual with Muslims, who also look to Jesus for aid to the good.

· Thus, 56% of competitive monotheism may and can, together, offer relief to the world’s 44% other fellow citizens, most of whom are civic citizens rather than dissidents, rebels, or villains.

Actions

· I write on 3 blogs that are read worldwide. There’s current heavy interest in Hong Kong and Singapore, less in US and Israel, some in 7 other countries. The media suppress my blogs.

· Letters to congresspersons, the Speaker, and state representatives

· Answer questions on Quara.com; comment on The Epoch Times, LibertyLaw, and FaceBook.

· I participate in University Baptist Church as a friend, stating I am neither Baptist nor Christian, rather am an advocate for Yeshua’s civic influence, voiced as Jesus’ civic influence.

· The Louisiana Education non-profit corporation I founded, A Civic People of the United States, stopped when COVID interrupted library meetings. Work since then is applicable.

· My greatest opportunity to learn is in conversation with civic strangers. Not being in their church or political party, they talk freely on topics I cautiously open.

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