The Christian MythologyLeatherbee, E. B. (Ethel Brigham)
Religion
The Christian Mythology
Leatherbee, E. B. (Ethel Brigham)
Christianity and other religions; Mythology
In all probability, these medical miracles of Jesus were copied from
older legends by his biographers. But, even if they actually occurred,
they were not miracles at all, for a miracle must be, in the very
meaning of the word, performed by the suspension of a natural law,
and from all gospel accounts the mental therapeutics of the Christ
were performed, if at all, in perfect accordance with well-established
psychological laws. They had been performed years before his birth,
and they have continued to be performed years after his death,
even to the present time. Through the force of faith, the patients
were placed in passivity (hypnosis) and treated by suggestions being
impressed upon their subjective minds, when present; at a distance,
they were cured by the telepathic suggestions conveyed from the
healer to their subjective mentalities. There is no miracle here;
it is merely a demonstration of telepathic and hypnotic phenomena,
governed by psychic laws, and does not place the Christ on a higher
intellectual plane than modern hypnotists and mental healers, who
consciously and knowingly work within the dispensation of these
laws. They are anything but proofs of the godhead of Jesus.
It would seem that the Pharisees had some such idea in mind when
they demanded an astronomical miracle and requested "a sign from
heaven." But, unable to comply, he evaded this performance by calling
them hypocrites and "an evil and adulterous generation," and saying,
"There shall no sign be given unto this generation" (Matt. xii, 38-39;
xvi, 1-4; Mark viii, 11-13; Luke xi, 16, 29; John ii, 18, 24; vi, 30).
One of the commonest miracles ascribed to religious leaders of all
sects and times, and one which never fails to convince witnesses and
hearers of the authenticity of such a leader's claims, is that of
restoring the dead to life. Such miracles have been so well attested
that there seems little reason to suppose them entirely fictitious.
Everyone has heard of cases of catalepsy, and medical history teems
with cases of "suspended animation"; in fact, the only actual proof
of death is the entire decomposition of the vital organs; therefore,
the cruelty and crime of embalming corpses before such a condition
is apparent. Some undertakers actually insist upon embalming before
such conditions, because the dead can then be made to "present a
better appearance"!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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