THE GREAT GOSPEL OF JOHN
VOLUME 5
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus in the region of Caesarea Philippi. (cont.) Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 16
- Chapter 224 -
Aziona's question regarding the life of the soul after death.
1
(Aziona) "But since we are now sitting so comfortably together with bread and wine, I would like to then hear from Your mouth, oh Lord, how things are with the life of the soul after the passing of the body!
2
According to the sagas, one has always almost all so-called religions with few exceptions a double condition "namely, like among us, let's say, Gentiles - : an Elysium, where good and worthy souls live on eternally in an indescribable bliss, and then a Tartarus, where the bad and evil souls are tantalized with all sorts of unheard-of plagues and tortures also for eternity.
3
The Jews have their heaven and their hell, all of which is in a certain way quite the same thing as among the Gentiles their Elysium and the Tartarus. Likewise in certain forms, names and derivations the Indians have a double omnipotent being, a good and an evil one. So all the gods of Elysium are good and those of Tartarus are evil.
4
And among the Jews there is a highest good and wisest Jehovah and myriads of likewise good spirits at his service who are called 'angels' and are prepared to provide humanity with the best protection; in direct opposition to the good, all-powerful Jehovah and his angels however then there is also an almost no less powerful Satan, also called 'Leviathan', and at his side a countless number of the very evilest spirits which are called 'devils'.
5
It is true that the good Jehovah always makes an effort to make the people good and to draw them to him. But this is not of much use; for Satan knows even better how to catch the souls for himself, and constantly drives them away from the good Jehovah in hordes and hordes. Indeed the good Jehovah threatens Satan with all sorts of punishment and judgment; but at this Satan always laughs and does nonetheless whatever he wants. Now, Lord, what should we think about such fables? Oh Lord, give us the correct revelation about this!"
6
Epiphan says again before Me, "Just look at our director, Aziona! He is truly even more intelligent than we all! We have now already asked many things, and this most important point of life has occurred only to him! Yes, Lord and Master, such things I have read many times already myself in all sorts of scriptures and have also always thought for my good part myself! Either the otherwise in many respects wise old men have everything that they knew written down in a language of images which is incomprehensible for us, or they have simply created fables and spoken nonsense just like children and idiots purely according to their highly uncultivated imagination.
7
I as a very simple person of limited understanding, equipped with a "as one says "humanly good heart, can indeed with reason only imagine a continuing life of the soul on the other side, because it had begun to live either casually good or more certainly badly, only in that way that it finds itself for ever after in a progression at least up to a certain, possibly highest degree of completion. Further, that there are only wise and correspondingly purposeful corrections out of varied causes and reasons for a here already badly begun and certainly even more badly ended life on the other side, so that also a soul which has performed a bad life here, would achieve, if even later, a better cognition of itself and of a true, highest divine being and also its true state of life and duties.
8
But then to suffer eternal punishments in a most indescribable hardship and very most inhumane severity there for a short, unfortunately badly carried out life, and that purely for no other purpose except for an all-powerful god eternally cooling his never ending revenge at the expense of a most powerless being "no, I cannot allow to dream nonetheless of a god like You, oh Lord, at least for us are obviously one, also in a very evilest heat of fever which already borders on the strongest craziness!
9
A lion is certainly a very evil beast, just like a hyena, a tiger, a wolf or a bear; but nonetheless they can be tamed and then often become guards of the people and thus useful creatures. But if beasts of the mentioned type can be trained to do something useful, why not a soul turned bad often without own fault?! Thus, dearest Lord and Master, tell us how it look then with the strange things and circumstances about which Aziona asked You very wisely!"