good
jb.

“Jesus Christ is actually ourselves?”
That thought runs contrary to the entire New Testament. It runs contrary to 2,000 years of Sacred Tradition in the Catholic Church, the Orthodox churches, and Protestantism.
If you said something along the lines of ‘Jesus can be found in our hearts’, then it would show you have a fine grasp on the notion of the Kingdom of God (as expounded upon by Pope Benedict in his book ‘Jesus of Nazareth’)
But to say that we are actually Him is outright heresy.
Look, notions like this were put to rest centuries ago by theologians like Athanasius, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas. Everything you can think of that goes beyond standard Christian doctrine has been invented before now, and effectively repudiated before now.
So why do you (Dr. Chopra and company) keep bringing this up? Why write a book about, and then lecture about, a faith that is not yours and you have no interest in ever sharing?
And a note to Beliefnet — This used to be a site where one could learn about other faiths from those who practice them, and through insightful articles and discussion. Now it’s predominantly a site of blogs like this one, written by people who have no direct experience with what their writing about. It would be nice if you got back to what made this site successful in the first place.

Dr. Chopra,
Maybe this essay by Chesterton would help explain a few things regarding Christian thought.
http://www.chesterton.org/gkc/theologian/whychristian.htm

Jesus himself said “Did you not know that ye are god’s?” When he said ” I and the Father are One”, he was not saying that he was God. He was demonstrating a relationship that at all times he KNEW WHO HE WAS. ONE WITH GOD. It is a concept that, I might add, has been taught by many Jewish theologians. This is how he transcended the experience of the crucifiction and ressurected. The awareness that WE ARE ONE is the salvation experience (salvation is from the Greek word helois, or wholeness)He said “Greater things than I will you do.” We can all transcend ourselves and the “negative” experiences of life when we remember WHO WE ARE.It will get us through. God created us all IN HIS IMAGE, and we are ALL part of the DIVINE. There is NOTHING blasphemous about this. I am a Christian and I think it’s about time the church focused on how Jesus taught us to live rather than fundamentalist Christian dogma that has NOTHING to do with Jesus’ teachings. Dr. Chopra’s view of Jesus is dead on accurate. Love and blessings to all – Linda

I am reading The Third Jesus. I am so impressed with Dr. Chopra’s insight and understanding of what Christianity is and is not. I have always beleived that Jesus spoke of a God within us and am very disheartened with the face of Christianity as it is practiced today.
It is obvious that if he came in person today he would not recognize his “followers” who have no true understanding of his teachings. Who
cannot or will not see that they are professing to follow yet spit words of hate and misunderstand all but their own small minds. I am sure there are those who have found a quietness within and knows God, but there is much shouting and professing by others who must make themselves heard for their own misunderstood motives.
Thank you Mallika and Dr. Chopra and all your family for allowing us to share in your world.
Rochelle

I am enjoying this blog. Thank you for this fine commentary on the real message of Jesus Christ.
From a former Pentecostal.

“Did you not know that ye are god’s?”
About that verse, you might want to read this:
http://www.apostolic.net/biblicalstudies/yegods.htm
As to being created in God’s image, let’s go back to Aquinas. You can find the link here:
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/2.htm
But to sum it up, in case you don’t feel like reading the whole thing:
“man is said to be made to God’s image, in so far as the image implies an intelligent being endowed with free-will and self-movement”
Look, Deepak has a free will and a right to believe whatever he wants. But to pretend that he’s expert on Christology and that 2,000 years of thought and tradition just somehow missed the point, so to speak, is ridiculous.
It’s like me saying to him, “Guess what? You can disregard all that Hinduism has taught. Forget about 9 incarnations of Vishnu, there are MILLIONS, because we’re ALL Vishnu! Now I’m no Hindu, but I think I’m qualified to talk about it.”
A little asinine, don’t you think?

Quakers believe in an inward light, inward Christ and there is “that of God in every man” -essentially that the spirit of God lives within All of us. Also, that there is a continuing revelation if we open our heart and listen. Everything that God has to say has not already been said or written (Bible). Everyone can have a direct relationship with God and intermediaries are not necessary – are actually a distraction as are physical sacraments, symbols, creeds etc. As a convinced Quaker, I have come to understand that there are many paths to spitituallity and are different for every individual. No religion has proven to have the only way as history points out.
As for comments on a religion by someone who does not belong to that religion – I find it many times very insightful and enlightening. I often listen to the BBC to get another perspective on American news and it has been fruitful over the years. I form my own beliefs based on information from many sources. The more the better. You get to decide, not some authority.
You have told us what the Pope said, what Augustine, Thomas Aquinas etc. say – “what sayeth you?”

Michael,
I agree that an outsider’s view on something can be at times insightful. The problem here, though, is that Deepak is missing three very important points about the Christian faith:
1.) In the Gospels, Jesus claims nothing short of being the Son of God. Now you can reject that claim (as billions of people do), but you can’t deny that the claim was made. In fact, the text makes it quite clear that it was that very claim that got Him killed.
Up to that point, you see, the Pharisees were quite angry, but it was Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God that drove them to ask the Romans for His execution. Again, it’s in the text, and the text is the only record we have of His words. We can take ‘em or leave ‘em, but we can’t re-write them.
People have the freedom to accept what Jesus said, or they can deny what He what he said. But these New Age thinkers have to stop twisting what He said.
2.) Over the past 2,000 years, and especially in those first three centuries, people have shed their own blood and given up their own lives for this faith. It’s well documented what happened to the earliest Christian martyrs, the brutal tortures and deaths they were subjected to. And priests, brothers, nuns, and sisters, they’ve all given up lives that could’ve included husbands and wives and children.
Whether these people gave up their lives as martyrs or in service, either way, do we think they could’ve done it if Jesus “was merely the product of the unconscious – personal or collective” as a person once put it?
3.) As St. Therese once said “I see that it is enough to.. give oneself wholly, like a child, into the arms of the good God.” That’s a perfect summation of the Christian faith. As Christians we look not for “inner power” or “cosmic unity” or the like. We don’t look for “The Secret” or for a “Third Jesus”.
We look only to give ourselves wholly, like a child, into the arms of our good God, and ask for His loving mercy. That, is the Christian faith.