Presents...	Separating Fact from Fiction
	A series of four presentations by Pete Yazzolino

Presentation # 4

This is our last session together and I want to answer all the questions you have written out and leave some time for ones you may still have after my opening comments.

I'll make a quick summary of the highlights of the material we have covered so far. I'll try to answer the written questions we have received while I do that.

The new material today deals with the comments made in the book about the divine feminine and the lost goddess worship.

Question: One of the written questions had to do with a list of resources.

Answer:  I have made that list available and Roger has made copies. It is available on line as well.

Question: Did Constantine collate the Bible?

Answer: Christians felt that since Jesus accepted the OT it was Ok with them That last point should be churches rather than libraries. None of those bibles exist today so we don't know which books were included but have to assume it was Eusebius' s list of accepted books.

Question: In her book Beyond Belief Elaine Pagels seems to make a strong case that Constantine, may well have had influence in determining what books made it into the Bible.

Answer: I reread her chapter "Constantine and the Catholic Church" and could not find anything that indicated she thought Constantine said what would be or would not be in the Bible. Constantine was determined to bring unity to the Christian religion in order to stop the unrest that had been a part of the Arius vs. Athanasius dispute. She writes what I have read in many other accounts, that Constantine left it up to the bishops at the council of Nicea to settle their differences among themselves.

Pagels writes from a Gnostic Christian perspective. This book "Beyond belief " is written about the Gnostic gospel of Thomas. I think that what she feels is beyond belief is that spark that some may have inside themselves that needs to be awakened. A general Gnostic belief.

Christian churches rejected the Gnostic gospels long before Constantine. They weren't banned nor burned they were just not used by the churches and were lost through the years.

To be included in the canon Christians generally agreed that writings had to meet the following requirements: Ancient--Written near the time of Jesus Apostolic--Connected to one of Jesus' closest followers Catholic--Used widely by like-minded churches throughout the world Orthodox--Promoting the right kind of belief rather than heresy

Question: The book portrays powerful, knowledgeable Christians twisting and suppressing truth for ambition and power, Is there anyone we might recognize as a model for this?

Answer:  Certainly the author wants you to see Constantine in this light as well as some leaders in the Catholic Church. I would not call them Christian models.

Question: Did Leonardo Da Vinci include Mary Magdalene in his "Last Supper" painting?

Answer:  Remember we discussed this was Dan Brown's exhibit A to make his case

Question: Did Leonardo Da Vinci hide clues about church secrets in his paintings?

Answer:  We don't know a lot about Leonardo but what we do know flies in the face of the claims in this book.

Were Jesus and Mary Magdalene married?

Question:  What is the Greek word from the Gospel of Philip that caused anyone to think Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married?

Answer:  The Gospel of Philip was written in Coptic but the word "companion" translated back to Greek was "koinonos" which is also used in the canonical Gospels to mean "companion" or "friend in the faith". The Greek word for wife is "pornea"

Question:  Clear up what was said about Jesus suggesting that it was better not to marry.

Answer:   I think in the discussion someone misquoted Matthew's Gospel. Maybe I can clear it up. The Pharisees were trying to trip up Jesus and asked him about divorce. In Deuteronomy Moses allowed men to divorce their wives by simply writing a bill of divorce and the reason could be for "some indecency". The Pharisees quoted Moses. The Pharisees who loved to write laws detailed what some indecency" meant including the mere spoiling of a dinner or talking too loud. Jesus says whoever divorces his wife except for unchastity commits adultery when he marries again. Jesus' disciples said so it is not expedient to marry. Jesus was laying down the sanctity of the marriage bond.

Question:  What about MM going to the tomb of Jesus? Rabbinical law is emphatic that only family members could do this.

Answer: Leviticus talks only about a priest touching only the dead body of the nearest of kin. Pharisees may have had laws about it. I don't know.

In the book To Be a Jew Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin states: under preparing for the dead, preparing them for burial, watching over them, and handling the burial itself is a sacred religious task which only the most pious and worthy members of a Jewish community were called upon to do.

Are Opus Dei and the Priory of Sion real organizations?

By backwards here I mean there are no monks in the Opus Dei. Monastic orders are for people who have a vocation to seek holiness by withdrawing from the secular world. Opus Dei is for people who have a vocation to live their Christian faith in the middle of secular society. They try to live lives of self-denial.

Question: Were any of the men listed as Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion ever proven to be members?

Answer: Only Pierre Plantard who forged the documents and got the organization started in 1956. His immediate predecessor, Jean Cocteau, committed suicide under a cloud of scandal

What is the Holy Grail?

Question: Is there any historical evidence that Joseph of Arimathaea and Mary Magdalene ever traveled to Europe?

Answer: There are legends about what happened to the Apostles and to other of Jesus' followers but there is little evidence to prove any of them. There is a legend that MM died in Ephesus in Turkey and that her bones were transported to Constantinople. There is legend that Joseph and the cup went to Europe but I find no evidence.

Gnostic themes in TDVC

Fact: These are some of the points we have discussed so far relating to the Gnostics

Question: What is DB's thinly veiled agenda in his book TDVC?

 

Now let's look at the divine feminine and goddess worship

Sacred Feminine and Goddess Worship

The Gnostics believed that an overly masculine humanity lacking in feminine balance existed. Male egos had run amuck, resulting in woman-hating societies, wars, and a growing disrespect for Mother Earth.

They believed that humanity was meant to be androgynous. They believed Jesus would require a counterpart who would make him complete.

Pagan was the name given to all that were not Christians, Jews or Muslims. In Rome in the first three centuries this was about 80 to 90 percent of the population. The favored religion of the Roman legions was Mithraism. In one form it was for males only. Later it was elevated to Sol Invictus (Invincible Sun). The other form of Mithraism was from Persia. Mithraism declined as Christianity grew until it was eliminated in the fifth century. It was far from a goddess worshiped religion and had nothing to do with the divine feminine

Goddesses did not dominate the pre-Christian world--not in the religions of Rome, her barbarian subjects, Egypt, or even Semitic lands where hieros gamos was an ancient practice

Fact

Question: Does Christianity demonize sex? What about the Roman attitudes toward women?

Answer: Women alone were solely responsible for chastity Chastity was the main virtue in a relationship

Question: Has the church lost the divine feminine?

Women of the Bible

Question: Can anything positive come from this controversy?

Answer: It invites us to take a fresh look at our origins and our history, both good and bad. Final comment: In the end, truth will endure

Final comment: In the end, truth will endure.

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