Jesus - The Mystic. Secrets Revealed.

[William]

From the evidence re the bible stories, Jesus was obviously a mystic and knew about things which were hidden from the mainstream human consciousness.

He also encouraged his followers to learn the hidden things to do with mysticism.

It has been my experience that Christians generally frown upon such practices involving hidden knowledge and often label it as 'of the devil' or 'occult'.

Obviously Christians who say such things are unaware that 'Occult' simply means 'hidden' and there are ample references where Jesus speaks about that which is hidden, and even more biblical references regarding that which the biblical God hides from the general Human population.

Some of those biblical references are shown below [KJV]

“For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.”
“He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.”
“Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”
“Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”
“Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”
“The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.”
“The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.”
“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.”
“Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”
“For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
“Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.”
“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
"Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit."
“He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.”
“Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:”
“The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.”

It is understood that the use of the words "light" and "dark" reference knowledge.
The "light" reveals what is there to be known which was once hidden - which is what the "dark" represents...that which has yet to be known.

Often knowledge is cherry picked in relation to the individual character, and what that character identifies with, which is why we often see Christians arguing with one another and form groups of like-minded characters [denominations] all thinking they are 'true Christians' while the others are 'false'.

Q: Can Christianity be said to be a conduit of that hidden knowledge, and if so, how is that being shown to the world?

[myth-one.com]

[Replying to William in post #9]

Jesus had the power of prayer!

mystic: a person who seeks by contemplation and self-surrender to obtain unity with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute, or who believes in the spiritual apprehension of truths that are beyond the intellect.

Jesus did not seek anything by "contemplation and self-surrender." He did so through prayer.

Jesus did not have power of His own to heal people, raise people from the dead, and perform other miracles. This is known because because Jesus prayed! If He was a God during His thirty-three years on the earth, He could have performed such feats directly with His own godly powers. Since this was not the case, He had to pray to God His Father to perform acts beyond His human capabilities. One of many examples, is the raising of Lazarus from the dead:

Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. (John 11:41-42)

The power we all have, including Jesus while He was a human on the earth, is that of prayer:

Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. (Mark 11:24)

So He was not a mystic or involved with mysticism. Neither is Christianity.

[William]

[Replying to myth-one.com in post #11]

See Post #10. Prayer is counted as a mystic ritual. Indeed, according to biblical Jesus - one asks and one receives - and in order to ask one must have relationship with the one being asked.

[JehovahsWitness]

WAS JESUS A MYSTIC



No, Jesus cannot accurately be described as a "mystic". A mystic is described as someone that practices mysticism. Mysticism is the belief that God or spiritual truths can be known through individual insight, rather than by reasoning or study. Jesus on the other hand taught that his disciples could find spiritual truth in holy scripture and that his own source of knowledge came not from "within" himself or by personal contemplation but through being taught by God while being in His company in heaven.

According to some mystics progress in contemplation, involves a “suspension of the faculties" i.e., an end to the ordinary operation of the intellect whereby we think, reason, formulate ideas, etc.; Jesus however taught his deciples to worship with their " whole mind" and contantly appealed to people to use their intellect to distinguish between what was acceptable worship. At no point did he teach or indicate he himself disengaged his intellect in prayer or worship.

[myth-one.com]

[Replying to myth-one.com in post #11]

See Post #10. Prayer is counted as a mystic ritual. Indeed, according to biblical Jesus - one asks and one receives - and in order to ask one must have relationship with the one being asked.

In post #10 you make the claim that prayer is a mystic ritual.

What authority do you have to make such a claim?

It's not in the definition.

[William]

I can see why Christians deny that biblical Jesus was a Mystic. It saves them having to make any effort to work on themselves any deeper than their beliefs require.

[William]

[Replying to JehovahsWitness in post #13]

Rather than take a sample of a definition of mysticism, it is best to realize that it is a lot deeper than that.

Disengaging the intellect has to do with the Ego-personality which prevents one from even contemplating the idea that we are engaging within a Creation and that there is a Creator who can interact with the individual Human being.

[Eloi]

To classify a person as "mystic" when that person has never described himself in that way, all his teachings must be taken into account. This topic tries to compare Jesus with other "mystic" religious who have absolutely nothing to do with him, neither in teaching nor in the way he lived his human life. I don't see any "mysticism" either in the life or in the teachings of Jesus. Anti-Christians imagine many things.

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to JehovahsWitness in post #13]

Rather than take a sample of a definition of mysticism, it is best to realize that it is a lot deeper than that.

Fair enough what specifically are you claiming that is particular to mysticism that you understand Jesus did or taught? (Prayer is common to almost all forms of worship, it is riduclous to claim Jesus was a mystic because he prayed; Hinus pray, was Jesus a Hindu? )

[William]

[Replying to JehovahsWitness in post #13]

Rather than take a sample of a definition of mysticism, it is best to realize that it is a lot deeper than that.

Fair enough what specifically are you claiming that is particular to mysticism that you understand Jesus did or taught? (Prayer is common to almost all forms of worship, it is riduclous to claim Jesus was a mystic because he prayed; Hinus pray, was Jesus a Hindu? )

While it probably is ridiculous to claim anyone is a mystic just because they pray - as the OP states - "Jesus was obviously a mystic and knew about things which were hidden from the mainstream human consciousness." and most Christians are only dabbling at the fringes in relation to prayer.

However, the OP does not say that Jesus was a mystic simply because he prayed. That is just something you decided to focus on as a straw foundation for your argument that "No, Jesus cannot accurately be described as a "mystic""

Clearly the OP says that Biblical Jesus also encouraged his followers to learn the hidden things to do with mysticism, and this evidence is among the bible references also presented in the OP.

As I stated, prayer is like a doorway for the potential initiate. Most don't venture any further than that, whatever religion they position themselves and pray from.

As the OP states - It has been my experience that Christians learn early to fear Mysticism. They generally frown upon such practices involving hidden knowledge and often label it as 'of the devil' or 'occult', as a means of both avoiding having to learn what they hid from, and of judging those who do go there, as being instruments of agenda against the will of The Creator.

What are you reasons for believing that the bible is not a book of mysticism and that Jesus was not a mystic and that biblical Jesus did not encourage his followers to learn the hidden things to do with mysticism?

According to the bible accounts of The Creator, things are hidden by The Creator, specifically for the reason that those Humans who have the honor of kings, seek out and uncover the secreted. That is essentially what mysticism - in practice - is.

[Eloi]

People can call whatever to whoever they want. A different thing is that it is true or not.

People have called Jesus a revolutionary, a socialist, a communist ... and for the first time I read someone call him a mystic. The Witnesses were called anticommunists in my country of origin, and communists in the United States a few years ago. They have even said that the witnesses are creationists, without even considering what that term involves.

Who decides what a mystic is? What is the real definition of that philosophical posture? Is this about someone having the whim of "turning" Jesus Christ into a mystic?

If everyone who taught others about things they do not know was a mystic, then all educators would be equally so.