Changes

:<small>Some<ref name=esoteric/> assert that Jesus during the "hidden years" before his public ministry had journeyed to India and Egypt where he learned physiological techniques like [[yoga]] which enabled him to control all of his bodily functions, heart rate, breathing, stamina, and unusually effective healing powers involving the conscious harnessing and control of the vital energy of the human body, which enabled him to survive the scourging and crucifixion, even the piercing of the lance. On the morning of the third day an earthquake rocked the whole region and the site where he was entombed, dislodging the stone that had been rolled over the entrance. He then regained consciousness, and stood up. The soldiers fainted from terror and fled, and he was the man in white the women saw, including Mary Magdalene. He sent one of his secret circle, who knew his manner of breaking bread, to accompany the two who would later depart toward the village of Emmaus, to advise them and reason with them that he was alive, while he himself went to Peter; and the other, in Emmaus, after breaking bread with them, hypnotized them into believing that he had vanished and departed, and they took him to be Jesus in another form. Jesus then likewise went to the ten disciples, hypnotizing them into not seeing him enter the room with them when they locked the door, then disclosed and presented himself alive to them and showed them his wounds, and then afterward to Thomas in the same way, and then to his followers. He fully recovered, his wounds completely healed, and over a period of weeks gave his inner circle his secret esoteric mystical doctrine, which is not included in the New Testament writings compiled afterward. He then called for his followers to assemble outside of Jerusalem where he addressed them and then withdrew into a thick fogbank as they watched, and immediately and quickly departed from them without their observing where he had gone. Then two of his most secret confidants and co-conspirators, men unknown to the disciples (''possibly known to John''), stepped forward and told them that he had gone into heaven and would return in the same way. These departed and joined Jesus in the desert where he remained in concealed seclusion with them until he died of natural causes, his consciousness merging with the mind of the universe (see [[nirvana]]), and, like Moses, was buried in a cave somewhere in the desert so that no man knows the place of his burial to this day.

:<small>Some<ref name=esoteric/> assert that Jesus during the "hidden years" before his public ministry had journeyed to India and Egypt where he learned physiological techniques like [[yoga]] which enabled him to control all of his bodily functions, heart rate, breathing, stamina, and unusually effective healing powers involving the conscious harnessing and control of the vital energy of the human body, which enabled him to survive the scourging and crucifixion, even the piercing of the lance. On the morning of the third day an earthquake rocked the whole region and the site where he was entombed, dislodging the stone that had been rolled over the entrance. He then regained consciousness, and stood up. The soldiers fainted from terror and fled, and he was the man in white the women saw, including Mary Magdalene. He sent one of his secret circle, who knew his manner of breaking bread, to accompany the two who would later depart toward the village of Emmaus, to advise them and reason with them that he was alive, while he himself went to Peter; and the other, in Emmaus, after breaking bread with them, hypnotized them into believing that he had vanished and departed, and they took him to be Jesus in another form. Jesus then likewise went to the ten disciples, hypnotizing them into not seeing him enter the room with them when they locked the door, then disclosed and presented himself alive to them and showed them his wounds, and then afterward to Thomas in the same way, and then to his followers. He fully recovered, his wounds completely healed, and over a period of weeks gave his inner circle his secret esoteric mystical doctrine, which is not included in the New Testament writings compiled afterward. He then called for his followers to assemble outside of Jerusalem where he addressed them and then withdrew into a thick fogbank as they watched, and immediately and quickly departed from them without their observing where he had gone. Then two of his most secret confidants and co-conspirators, men unknown to the disciples (''possibly known to John''), stepped forward and told them that he had gone into heaven and would return in the same way. These departed and joined Jesus in the desert where he remained in concealed seclusion with them until he died of natural causes, his consciousness merging with the mind of the universe (see [[nirvana]]), and, like Moses, was buried in a cave somewhere in the desert so that no man knows the place of his burial to this day.

</small>  

</small>  

The New Age critics of Christianity claim that Jesus was no more God than any other human being, that God the Father was Himself once a man like us, and the only difference between him and us was his knowledge, and that he taught the liberating knowledge (Greek ''[[gnosis]]'') that the supernatural and the natural are one continuum of being, that there is no real division or "[[dichotomy]]" in the existence of being between the natural and the supernatural, and that his resurrection was in reality "the powerfully liberating psychological realization of his unity with the whole [[ground of being]]". Thus there is no death, and the only real sin is ignorance, which can be overcome, so that, potentially, each of us can realize that we are God and already have divine power and wisdom, if only we accept it.<ref>This is similar to the doctrine of [[Zen Buddhism]] regarding the experience of ''satori'', a sudden, brief insight into the impermanence of all that exists, including whatever gods might or might not exist.</ref>

The New Age critics of Christianity claim that Jesus was no more God than any other human being, that God the Father was Himself once a man like us, and the only difference between him and us was his knowledge, and that he taught the liberating knowledge (Greek ''[[Gnosticism|gnosis]]'') that the supernatural and the natural are one continuum of being, that there is no real division or "[[dichotomy]]" in the existence of being between the natural and the supernatural, and that his resurrection was in reality "the powerfully liberating psychological realization of his unity with the whole [[ground of being]]". Thus there is no death, and the only real sin is ignorance, which can be overcome, so that, potentially, each of us can realize that we are God and already have divine power and wisdom, if only we accept it.<ref>This is similar to the doctrine of [[Zen Buddhism]] regarding the experience of ''satori'', a sudden, brief insight into the impermanence of all that exists, including whatever gods might or might not exist.</ref>

:In this way, and in all variations of the same kind of "naturalist" teaching, the supernatural resurrection of Christ is done away. The orthodox (Greek "''ortho'', right, ''doxos'', doctrine") teachings of Christianity and the Bible (containing what "''Esoteric Christianity''" calls "''metaphorical symbolic imagery of esoteric truth''") are given to the masses as the "''exoteric'' (''for the many'')" doctrine as a means of relieving them of fear. The "''esoteric''" (''for the few'') doctrine, the ''[[Secret Doctrine]]'', is given privately by word of mouth only to a smaller, select number of qualified individuals in every generation as the liberating ''gnosis'' that they are one with nature and the whole of the universe, with skill to use the forces of nature as an "''expression of the mind of God''".  

In this way, and in all variations of the same kind of "naturalist" teaching, the supernatural resurrection of Christ is done away. The orthodox (Greek "''ortho'', right, ''doxos'', doctrine") teachings of Christianity and the Bible (containing what "''Esoteric Christianity''" calls "''metaphorical symbolic imagery of esoteric truth''") are given to the masses as the "''exoteric'' (''for the many'')" doctrine as a means of relieving them of fear. The "''esoteric''" (''for the few'') doctrine, the ''[[Secret Doctrine]]'', is given privately by word of mouth only to a smaller, select number of qualified individuals in every generation as the liberating ''gnosis'' that they are one with nature and the whole of the universe, with skill to use the forces of nature as an "''expression of the mind of God''".

===Difference between philosophical naturalism and spiritual or religious naturalism===

===Difference between philosophical naturalism and spiritual or religious naturalism===