Letting Jesus Go
As we transition through various levels of understanding and relationship with "All that is" (God is a German word for good and even scripture says that this creator is unnameable! But I still call him God when trying to relate to others:) I have found that it is important that I not to see someone as right or wrong in their beliefs, because I think that we are all wonderfully accepted and seeing accurately depending on our individual perspective and vantage point.
That was a hard lesson for me to learn as passionate and zealous as I was and am! If someone is a seed, and Jesus compared us to this analogy, then their outward perspective is one of dormancy and even death until they are planted, then it is darkness. Suddenly they descend deeper into that darkness and reap the treasures that are found there - the minerals and moisture from the soil or our earthly carnal experiences. A strong root system is built and again a shift occurs and their direction is turned upward where this sapling breaks the plane of the earth. A neighboring mighty oak cannot pull the sapling upward for it would mean its destruction, the sapling through time, water and weathering will grow to be what is encoded in its DNA.
It is important to remember the origin of the seed as well, for it fell from the mature mighty oak...
We cannot help but become who and what we are. We grow and unfold and no one knows how.
As for those believing that Jesus never existed matters not to me. I experienced a great shift when this voice came to me and said, "Let me go."
John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.
We can interpret this many ways. For me, the key to understanding the perspective of those not believing in the historical Jesus is that they have experienced repentance (which means to turn around and change the way that you think). It is a divine inversion when we realize that everything in scripture is actually inside of you - the ego needs to see things as external in order to grasp the mysteries of scripture - then one day, in the twinkling of an eye (enlightenment) the shift occurs and we realize that the history is actually a mystery and that this Christ, is you.
Paul labored intensely with this little seed (human consciousness) as he was in travail for us even now to see that Christ be formed in us.
There is a book by Deepak Chopra called The Third Jesus where he classifies three beings called Jesus. If you have not read it it is a worthwhile read. He speaks of the historical Jesus, the Jesus of Christianity and the cosmic Christ.
It is necessary for the fledgling seed of man's consciousness to see a pattern and so the pattern is here with us in book form so that the intellect can read and cypher what it chooses to believe, historical or mystical. If I believe in Jesus as a human it is of no consequence as as long as I understand that Christ is come in the flesh (yours and mine). It is of no consequence is I believe he did not come in historical form as long as I believe he has come in the flesh (yours and mine). It is of no consequence if I see a cosmic Christ (Christ all in all) as long as I believe he is appearing in you and me.
Belief is all that is required - not in a man per se but what is in you, what your true identity is as spirit that is having quite a human experience. This is the Christ, the Emanuel (God with man). Presently this Christ is slumbering in the manger of humanity wrapped in the swaddling of our beautiful biology. He, this Christ is growing within and at some point we must put away those necessary things/beliefs from our youth so that the Christ might appear, in us.
This is why Jesus warned us not to believe it when someone says, Look there is the Christ! Because this appearing will not be external from us but rather will be within the framework of man.