Reena Kumarasingham Heresy – one of the most misunderstood words.
Those who claim to follow the ‘true’ teachings of Christ use this word to marginalise and accuse those who do not as deliberately deceiving others out of the ‘true form’ of the religion, or dissenters of the ‘true religion’. However, the root of ‘heresy’ comes from the Greek word ‘hairesis’, which means ‘choice’ or ‘opinion’. Therefore, a heretic is really one who makes a choice, or has an opinion. It is ironic that in voicing an opinion or making a choice about a belief one risked being marginalised, labelled and oftentimes punished, as a deceiver or dissenter. However, this choice and the freedom to voice an opinion around Christianity were prevalent at its inception. In fact, two thousand years ago, it was the burgeoning Christian movement that was persecuted for daring to choose and voice an opinion about a different religious belief, philosophy and opinion from the pagan beliefs of the Romans and traditional Judaism practised by the Sadducees and Pharisees. In the true essence of the word hairesis, Jesus, Paul, James, Mary Magdalene and everyone who birthed these new spiritual teachings practised hairesis – they had a different opinion and made a choice to spread their opinions. It was only through hairesis that Christianity as we know it came about. One of the historical difficulties posed by the Gospels is that they were not written during Jesus’ lifetime or even years after his death. Critical scholars have realised that not only were the Gospels written decades later, but they were based on stories about him that were circulated by word of mouth in the many years after his death. Another New Testament scholar, Rudolf Bultmann, and his colleagues have also argued that the teachings of Jesus and the stories about his life had been transformed, changed and adapted for personal and political agendas, before being written down in the Gospels. So how much do stories get changed from the retelling from mouth to mouth over the years? As far back as we have recorded memories of Jesus, we have widely disparate accounts of his words, deeds and events of his life. This not only came out in the regressions, but also from the research and scholarly works that are available to us. For example, in the second and third centuries there were Christians who believed that Jesus was both divine and human (e.g. the Gnostics). There were those who argued he was completely divine and not human at all (e.g. Gentile-Christians). There were those who insisted that Jesus was a full human (e.g. Judeo-Christians). There were those who believed that Jesus’ death on the cross brought about the salvation of the world (Gentile-Christians). There were those who thought Jesus’ death (on the cross or otherwise) had nothing to do with the salvation of the world (Gnostics). Finally there were those who said Jesus never died on the cross (Judeo-Christians). The accounts in The Magdalene Lineage and Divine Consciousness totally reflect these disparate views. In Divine Consciousness, the past life regression of Paul was very eye-opening in that it revealed that Paul, whilst an ardent, enthusiastic student of Jesus, took on the tough task of taking his teachings into the heart of Rome. Therefore, he had to adapt the teachings and Jesus’ life story for people in Rome to accept and adopt his teachings. Paul’s intentions were not selfish or mean or vile. His intentions were merely to get the most number of people to adopt the teachings of someone Paul clearly idealised, was inspired by and believed in completely. It cannot be stressed enough that it is because of his untiring efforts, Paul laid the foundation for the growth of the largest religion in the world to date. Virtually all forms of modern-day Christianity go back to Paul’s form of Christianity. He adapted the teachings of Jesus for its adoption and growth in Rome. In the past life regression, he admitted the aspects he changed included, but were not limited to: a. Making Jesus into a Son of God, so as to compete with the pagan gods that the Romans predominantly believed in. b. Convincing them that salvation lies in believing Jesus died for the sins of the people, to highlight the unconditional love that Jesus had for people, in comparison to their pagan gods who required the people to show their love by sacrificing for the deities. c. Not acknowledging Jesus’ family, including his siblings, wife and children, in an effort to preserve and highlight the illusion of Jesus’ divine status, therefore whisking away their hereditary lineage of being leaders of the church. d. Suppressing the role of women in his ministry to adapt to the cultural norms of the Roman patriarchy, in order to make the teachings more palatable to the Romans. Divine Consciousness also contains past life accounts from James, the brother of Jesus. Many scholars regard James as the unsung hero of Christianity – the successor that Jesus chose, the true leader of Jesus’ church after his death. Indeed, he was the leader of the Jewish Christian group, who maintained that: a. Jesus did not die on the cross b. Salvation is attained by following Jesus’ teachings to create Heaven on Earth. c. Jesus did indeed have a family of siblings and children, and the successors of his church are Desposyni, or the bloodline of Jesus, their Messiah. d. Women and men play an equally important role in the ministry of this church, according to the way of Jesus. Jesus, James and the Apostles were thoroughly Jewish in their beliefs and practice. However, they wanted to break away from what they perceived to be the power struggles, corruption and control wrought by the other Jewish sects, the Sadducees and Pharisees. So they turned to who they believed to be the true Messiah of Israel, Jesus, for guidance, whilst still following the laws and beliefs of the Jewish custom. It is also interesting to note that in comparing Judeo-Christianity and Gentile Christianity, the latter could be considered to be more liberal, because Paul opened Jesus’ teachings to non-Jews, whereas Judeo-Christianity wanted to maintain their orthodox Jewish laws and rituals such as circumcision. In doing so, they limited access to the teachings to only those who practised Jewish law. Then, we got a fascinating insight into Gnosticism through the past life regression of Mary Magdalene in The Magdalene Lineage. Through her, we learned that the Gnostics believe that: a. Every soul has a Divine Spark within them that is a reflection of the divine source up above, and is linked to the Web of Consciousness of the whole. b. Jesus is a human, who was imbued by the divine spirit, Christos, in inspiring his teachings of a new way of Being. c. Jesus did indeed have a family of siblings, wives and children, and that Mary Magdalene was his wife. d. Both women and men play an equal part in the ministry, as Jesus and Mary shared their ministry. Mary Magdalene’s Gnostic ministry was very different from both the Judeo and Gentile Christianity in the sense that it seemed more aligned and in tune with all of existence. It is as though Gnosticism embraced the spiritual and esoteric essence of Jesus’ teachings more than the external rituals, whereas the Judeo and Gentile Christianity embraced the external rituals more. This would make sense, as modern-day Gnostics find their roots in the Jewish Kabbalah, whereas Judeo-Christianity, and to a certain extent Gentile Christianity, find theirs in the Torah. The fall of Judeo-Christianity occurred after the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD70, which resulted in the dissolution of the Jerusalem church and the scattering of those who upheld Jewish Christianity. Gentile Christianity, which based its theology on Paul’s teaching of faith in Jesus continued to rise in popularity. Leaders and proponents of Gentile Christianity wrote fierce critiques against Gnostic beliefs, and the Gnostics were defeated in the battle of dominance in early Christian groups. One of the most well-known defeats of a branch based on the Gnostic teachings, was that of the Cathars, when the last resistance of Cathars ended with them being slaughtered at Montsegur in 1244. A series of political manoeuvrings, persecutions, inquisitions and forced conversions successfully dimmed the light on the rich, diverse teachings of Christianity as it was at the beginning. Through the combination of past life regressions and documented evidence, Divine Consciousness and The Magdalene Lineage have shone a light on the depth and richness of Christianity in the antiquities that has been lost to us. At the end of the day, Judeo, Gentile and Gnostic Christianity all represented facets of Jesus’ teachings. Alas, the rich depth of Jesus’ teachings is something Christianity lost when it declared Jewish Christianity and Gnosticism a heresy. It is such a pity that people, power and pride got in the way, when all these facets were trying to establish their individual selves as the true and rightful belief system. In fact, the amalgamation of all three belief systems is actually closer to the true system. It may be no accident that such astounding archaeological findings as the Nag Hammadi Library and the Dead Sea Scrolls have come to light since the middle of the last century. Perhaps it is a mark in the shift in the understanding of the common heritage of Christianity. Reena Kumarasingham is a psychology graduate, regression, therapist, between life therapist, and a certified international trainer for the Past Life Regression Academy. She has trained therapists in the UK, Australia and USA and through this and on line training. She also teaches Advanced Vibrational Techniques to help people transition and live in the New Consciousness with calm, peace and empowerment. She has given talks internationally including the World Congress of Regression Therapy in Turkey and the Netherlands, as well as the Past Life Regression Convention in India. She is the author of the highly acclaimed Radiant Light series, comprising of the Award winning Shrouded Truth, The Magdalene Lineage and Divine Consciousness. For more information, visit https://www.reenakumarasingham.com or connect on FB @rkumarasingham or IG @ reenakumarasingham |
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