Is Jesus already here on Earth?

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Since I am a “Free Thinker” and like to go outside the boundaries of what the Church teaches and leads you to believe… I have an honest yet thought provoking question for everyone.

Obviously, a big part of Church and the Catholic faith is that we are all awaiting the return of Jesus so he can save us, or that we pray to Jesus to save us from Hell after we die… My question is: What if WE ARE Jesus and we just don’t know it?

Before you all pounce on me… let me explain some things. First of all… Church teaches us that Jesus was the spirit of God himself temporarily inhabiting a human body. The Church also teaches that God is three separate beings, yet is still one God… it’s one of the great mysteries that shows that God is one but many. We also know that God is everywhere and permiates all things and is the very fabric of our being and our existance. We also know we have a soul and a spirit that is eternal. Because God is not separate from us and because God created our soul and spirit, it could be safe to assume that we also have the spirit of God within us, since anything you create is an extention and reflection of yourself. SO… if we are also human beings that have the spirit of God in us, then really, what makes us all that different from Jesus? Even in the Bible there is a huge chunk of Jesus’s life missing that we don’t know about. What if Jesus just came to the realization that he is Christ, and was essentially trying to teach us that we are all Christ too? What if our real identity underneath all the physical and spiritual layers is that we are all different facets and consciousness of God? Instead of trying to lead a life where we strive to be the Messiah, what if we actually ARE the Messiah… unaware and fast asleep to that realization?

I kind of think of it as I do the ocean. The ocean is nothing more than trillions times trillions of drops of water that comes together as one singular substance… yet, if you extract a couple of drops of water, they are both a drop of water and the ocean at the same time. I feel that God is that ocean, and we are all the drops of water, and we are all one big cohesive entity, both separate but united at the same exact time.
 
This idea is common among proponents of New Age thinking. The literature tells us we are God. But that cannot be true. Yes, we all carry a soul. That soul is given to us by God. We can choose to accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died as a sacrifice so that sins may be forgiven and who established a New Covenant with all. We also carry Original Sin. Water Baptism is required. He, Jesus, will return to judge the living and the dead. Hell is a real place.

So no, the same Jesus who ascended into Heaven will return. He is not physically here now.

Peace,
Ed
 
In reading Catholicism for Dummies just last night, there was the story of St Anthony of Padua; a little lost boy was aided by the saint. The boy pointed to the friary chapel and said, “I live there.” Once in the oratroy the boy disappeared. The book then states, “It was later discerned that the child was in fact Jesus.”

???
 
But in another way, we, the Church, are the body of Christ, and, as Mother Teresa and other saints have taught us, we are to treat others as if they were Jesus because we are all God’s creations.

The New Age idea discounts Jesus as the Son of God, and denies certain actual truths about His divinity.

Christ will return in bodily form one day but He lives in us and we are to honor Him in others.
 
free_thinker said:
First of all… Church teaches us that Jesus was the spirit of God himself temporarily inhabiting a human body.
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Incorrect. The Church teaches that Jesus is fully God and fully man, not a spirit temporarily “inhabiting” a body. This was one of the first heresies to be addressed by the early church.
The Church also teaches that God is three separate beings, yet is still one God… it’s one of the great mysteries that shows that God is one but many.
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The Church teaches that God is three distinct persons with ONE divine nature. There is no separation in God, only distinction.
We also know that God is everywhere and permiates all things and is the very fabric of our being and our existance.
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This sounds like pantheism, which is not Christian.
We also know we have a soul and a spirit that is eternal.
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Only God is eternal. Our souls are created and therefore not eternal. Immortal, yes. Eternal, no.
Because God is not separate from us and because God created our soul and spirit, it could be safe to assume that we also have the spirit of God within us, since anything you create is an extention and reflection of yourself.
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Correct, God is not separate from us, but he is distinct from us. We are not God and God is not us.
Instead of trying to lead a life where we strive to be the Messiah, what if we actually ARE the Messiah… unaware and fast asleep to that realization?
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The role of the Messiah is to be the Savior. The whole point of having a Messiah is because we cannot save ourselves. That is why Christ alone is our Savior and Redeemer.
 
free_thinker said:
Since I am a “Free Thinker” and like to go outside the boundaries of what the Church teaches and leads you to believe… I have an honest yet thought provoking question for everyone.

Obviously, a big part of Church and the Catholic faith is that we are all awaiting the return of Jesus so he can save us, or that we pray to Jesus to save us from Hell after we die… My question is: What if WE ARE Jesus and we just don’t know it?

Before you all pounce on me… let me explain some things. First of all… Church teaches us that Jesus was the spirit of God himself temporarily inhabiting a human body. The Church also teaches that God is three separate beings, yet is still one God… it’s one of the great mysteries that shows that God is one but many. We also know that God is everywhere and permiates all things and is the very fabric of our being and our existance. We also know we have a soul and a spirit that is eternal. Because God is not separate from us and because God created our soul and spirit, it could be safe to assume that we also have the spirit of God within us, since anything you create is an extention and reflection of yourself. SO… if we are also human beings that have the spirit of God in us, then really, what makes us all that different from Jesus? Even in the Bible there is a huge chunk of Jesus’s life missing that we don’t know about. What if Jesus just came to the realization that he is Christ, and was essentially trying to teach us that we are all Christ too? What if our real identity underneath all the physical and spiritual layers is that we are all different facets and consciousness of God? Instead of trying to lead a life where we strive to be the Messiah, what if we actually ARE the Messiah… unaware and fast asleep to that realization?

I kind of think of it as I do the ocean. The ocean is nothing more than trillions times trillions of drops of water that comes together as one singular substance… yet, if you extract a couple of drops of water, they are both a drop of water and the ocean at the same time. I feel that God is that ocean, and we are all the drops of water, and we are all one big cohesive entity, both separate but united at the same exact time.
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I hate to burst your bubble, but what you are proposing, far from being “free thinking” is basically what every New Ager from Oprah to Deepak Chopra thinks. Heck, I’d be surprised if you couldn’t find more Americans that think the way you do than orthodox Catholics who profess and believe all the Church teaches. And it isn’t even really “new” age, it’s just a bunch of repackaged Eastern ideas that have been around for thousands of years.
 
free_thinker said:
Since I am a “Free Thinker” and like to go outside the boundaries of what the Church teaches and leads you to believe… I have an honest yet thought provoking question for everyone.

Obviously, a big part of Church and the Catholic faith is that we are all awaiting the return of Jesus so he can save us, or that we pray to Jesus to save us from Hell after we die… My question is: What if WE ARE Jesus and we just don’t know it?

Before you all pounce on me… let me explain some things. First of all… Church teaches us that Jesus was the spirit of God himself temporarily inhabiting a human body. The Church also teaches that God is three separate beings, yet is still one God… it’s one of the great mysteries that shows that God is one but many. We also know that God is everywhere and permiates all things and is the very fabric of our being and our existance. We also know we have a soul and a spirit that is eternal. Because God is not separate from us and because God created our soul and spirit, it could be safe to assume that we also have the spirit of God within us, since anything you create is an extention and reflection of yourself. SO… if we are also human beings that have the spirit of God in us, then really, what makes us all that different from Jesus? Even in the Bible there is a huge chunk of Jesus’s life missing that we don’t know about. What if Jesus just came to the realization that he is Christ, and was essentially trying to teach us that we are all Christ too? What if our real identity underneath all the physical and spiritual layers is that we are all different facets and consciousness of God? Instead of trying to lead a life where we strive to be the Messiah, what if we actually ARE the Messiah… unaware and fast asleep to that realization?

I kind of think of it as I do the ocean. The ocean is nothing more than trillions times trillions of drops of water that comes together as one singular substance… yet, if you extract a couple of drops of water, they are both a drop of water and the ocean at the same time. I feel that God is that ocean, and we are all the drops of water, and we are all one big cohesive entity, both separate but united at the same exact time.
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The Church encourages us to think for ourselves. Being a “free thinker” as you put it is what the Church encourages but that free thinking leads to the Church always. Jesus did not have a temporary body he is still in a body.

You do make an interesting point and it is good that you are thinking about this kind of thing. However I disagree with you because to claim we are all Christ would as mean we are also all God which is not true because our souls and spirits had a beginning. God created us from nothing which is something even the angels cannot do
 
free_thinker said:
Since I am a “Free Thinker” and like to go outside the boundaries of what the Church teaches and leads you to believe… I have an honest yet thought provoking question for everyone.

Obviously, a big part of Church and the Catholic faith is that we are all awaiting the return of Jesus so he can save us, or that we pray to Jesus to save us from Hell after we die… My question is: What if WE ARE Jesus and we just don’t know it?

Before you all pounce on me… let me explain some things. First of all… Church teaches us that Jesus was the spirit of God himself temporarily inhabiting a human body. The Church also teaches that God is three separate beings, yet is still one God… it’s one of the great mysteries that shows that God is one but many. We also know that God is everywhere and permiates all things and is the very fabric of our being and our existance. We also know we have a soul and a spirit that is eternal. Because God is not separate from us and because God created our soul and spirit, it could be safe to assume that we also have the spirit of God within us, since anything you create is an extention and reflection of yourself. SO… if we are also human beings that have the spirit of God in us, then really, what makes us all that different from Jesus? Even in the Bible there is a huge chunk of Jesus’s life missing that we don’t know about. What if Jesus just came to the realization that he is Christ, and was essentially trying to teach us that we are all Christ too? What if our real identity underneath all the physical and spiritual layers is that we are all different facets and consciousness of God? Instead of trying to lead a life where we strive to be the Messiah, what if we actually ARE the Messiah… unaware and fast asleep to that realization?

I kind of think of it as I do the ocean. The ocean is nothing more than trillions times trillions of drops of water that comes together as one singular substance… yet, if you extract a couple of drops of water, they are both a drop of water and the ocean at the same time. I feel that God is that ocean, and we are all the drops of water, and we are all one big cohesive entity, both separate but united at the same exact time.
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To answer the question in your title, yes Jesus is already here on Earth. He promised He would be with us “until the end of the age” and has kept that promise. He is spiritually present everywhere and physically present in all the tabernacles in all the Catholic Churches in all the world. If you want to see Jesus return to Earth, go to Mass - it happens every single day. God bless.
 
I don’t really know what the “official” New Age stance on Jesus is, if there is any, since I don’t follow one idea of thinking. HOWEVER, I didn’t say that I didn’t think that Jesus wasn’t the Son of God. I am saying that we are ALL Sons and Daughters of God therefore we all have the capability of being Christ-like. What makes us any different than Jesus? What if our “original sin” is really our unawareness to know our true identity and potential?
 
What makes us any different than Jesus? What if our “original sin” is really our unawareness to know our true identity and potential?
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Original Sin is one of the things that distinguishes us from Jesus. God cannot sin.
 
God didn’t create us out of nothing… God created us out of HIMSELF. In the beginning the spirit of God existed. There was no physical world like the one we live in now. It was just vast endless spirit. So therefore, if God was a like an infinite mind of consciousness and awareness, the only way God can create is to essentially “imagine” things. and form them. You cannot create nothing out of nothing. Therefore, everything had to have originated from God. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only change form. So… in essence, if God always existed, then so have we.
 
Ok… so I have another question for everyone. When Jesus returns… how will you know it’s really in fact him?
 
free_thinker said:
God didn’t create us out of nothing… God created us out of HIMSELF. In the beginning the spirit of God existed. There was no physical world like the one we live in now. It was just vast endless spirit. So therefore, if God was a like an infinite mind of consciousness and awareness, the only way God can create is to essentially “imagine” things. and form them. You cannot create nothing out of nothing. Therefore, everything had to have originated from God. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only change form. So… in essence, if God always existed, then so have we.
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I see what you are getting at but you can’t apply physical properties to a metaphysical reality. And even if you could, there is a difference between potentiality and actuality. For example, I may have existed in God’s mind for all eternity, but my humanity (body and soul) was not created until I was conceived. So I don’t think we have always existed…as an idea yes, but not as actual persons.
 
christus_vincit said:
I see what you are getting at but you can’t apply physical properties to a metaphysical reality. And even if you could, there is a difference between potentiality and actuality. For example, I may have existed in God’s mind for all eternity, but my humanity (body and soul) was not created until I was conceived. So I don’t think we have always existed…as an idea yes, but not as actual persons.
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You are absolutely correct. You cannot apply physical properties to a metaphysical reality. And this physical world is not the “real” world… the spiritual world is, because it is a world that is beyond the one we are living in right now. If there was a massive black hole that swallowed up the entire physical universe as we know it, the spiritual world would still live on, because it is not dependent on the physical world to exist. Same goes for us. We continue to live on in spirit after our body dies… our spirit is not dependent on our body to live, but the same cannot be said vice versa. So… existing in God’s mind for all eternity certainly means that you did exist prior to having a body in the form of a soul/spirit… and your soul/spirit was placed into a body before birth. So saying that you didn’t exist at all prior to having a body is a false statement. Exisiting even in mind or idea is still existing.
 
Lets look at what happens at Christs Coming.

The Judgment at Christ’s Coming

2 Thessalonians 1:5 This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, and is intended to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering. 6 For it is indeed just of God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marveled at on that day among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. 11 To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
free_thinker said:
Ok… so I have another question for everyone. When Jesus returns… how will you know it’s really in fact him?
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Revelation 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

It would appear He is planning a rather grand return which will get everyone’s attention.
 
free_thinker said:
I don’t really know what the “official” New Age stance on Jesus is, if there is any, since I don’t follow one idea of thinking. HOWEVER, I didn’t say that I didn’t think that Jesus wasn’t the Son of God. I am saying that we are ALL Sons and Daughters of God therefore we all have the capability of being Christ-like. What makes us any different than Jesus? What if our “original sin” is really our unawareness to know our true identity and potential?
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What makes us different is that we are not God. We were created by God so we have the divine in us and we may have “capabilities” as you say, but in this discussion it is important to state that we are flawed human beings, not mini-gods. We do many things and think many things that are just not Christ-like.

To look at this in another way, my Mother was a good woman. She showed us Christ in herself and others. But when I try to emulate her, I need to emulate her traits that are of Christ, not my mother herself. She was too human and full of flaws and errors and she would be the first to admit that. However if I look at Jesus, I can emulate Him entirely. I don’t need to edit or search out flaws. He was God.

The important issue in this discussion is to not lose sight of Jesus’ divinity. And I think that in some circles of belief, that is exactly what is being done, directly or indirectly. Some are saying that we are all God in order to deflate the importance of an actual God and of Jesus being God, making humans sort of demi-gods. I think the elements of humility and obedience are missing in this belief.

Others are saying that we need to see Christ in ourselves and in every person, no matter how flawed and that we are to keep steering our souls in the direction of the true Christ.
 
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