Milta: Logos Is Not Enough (And Milta Got Me Past The Filipino!)
I finally got past the Filipino. Yahoo! Two weeks after I got saved in Honolulu, Hawaii, I had to go to an office and wait in a long line. Next to me was a Filipino my age reading his pocket Bible. I hadn't been reading mine. It has haunted me for over forty-four years that if he was consistent, that Filipino was ALWAYS two weeks further along in his Bible study than I was. I could never catch up!
But last night I read an old query from Victor Alexander asking why no one had ordered his book Story of Jesus from His Own Words. Victor was looking for advice. Well, I had ordered Story of Jesus and had gone over it with a fine-tooth comb. I'd even sent Vic a list of all the grammatical and typographical errors I could find in it, not realizing he wasn't going to revise it anytime soon. Maybe I was the only one who had ordered it. Not the Filipino! That meant I was finally ahead of him!
I grabbed my copy and wondered why no one else had purchased the book. Well, forty dollars a pop on Amazon was certainly a factor. What promotion was there for it? And a book using quotes from the Bible to explain Jesus isn't all that special or unusual, is it?
I started reading Story of Jesus again. In the Author's Note before the introduction, Alexander explains his point of view. Why his perspective in the book is special. Different. Having read it, I'd say that if I were sitting with Vic in his living room and he asked if I'd pay forty dollars for just this Author's Note, I quickly dig into my pockets to acquire it. Two twenties? Chump change.
The ideas in the Introduction are worth as much or more. I wish Vic had hired a proof-reader before sending it to the publisher: on page 23 he confuses Genesis 17:1, the revelation of the name Eil to Abraham, with Exodus 3:14's, "Ahiyeh Ashur Hiyeh"; and this "burning bush" event (it was Jesus as the sun disc) with the later giving of the Law. THAT kind of confusion is superfluous. We can work through it, right?
I don't blame Victor for this secondary confusion, because the idea of Milta (ܡܠܬܐ - thank you, Dr. J. DeFrancisco) melts your brain, and he was probably in a hurry to share it. In short, Jesus was not the Logos of God, which would be the Word or Expression. He was the Milta: the Manifestation of the entire Godhead. The whole kit-and-caboodle -- not an example or explanation. It is a bigger picture. The Sent and the Sender. Him AND us. He as the substitute for us. Thus when He died, WE died. When He arose, WE arose. It is more consequential than being a messiah. He was a messiah, but He was the Milta who IS our Messiah.
So much. Too much. I am so sorry if I really am the only one who ever bought this book. There is a whole different Christianity here, the real Christianity, that most will never know.
But last night I read an old query from Victor Alexander asking why no one had ordered his book Story of Jesus from His Own Words. Victor was looking for advice. Well, I had ordered Story of Jesus and had gone over it with a fine-tooth comb. I'd even sent Vic a list of all the grammatical and typographical errors I could find in it, not realizing he wasn't going to revise it anytime soon. Maybe I was the only one who had ordered it. Not the Filipino! That meant I was finally ahead of him!
I grabbed my copy and wondered why no one else had purchased the book. Well, forty dollars a pop on Amazon was certainly a factor. What promotion was there for it? And a book using quotes from the Bible to explain Jesus isn't all that special or unusual, is it?
I started reading Story of Jesus again. In the Author's Note before the introduction, Alexander explains his point of view. Why his perspective in the book is special. Different. Having read it, I'd say that if I were sitting with Vic in his living room and he asked if I'd pay forty dollars for just this Author's Note, I quickly dig into my pockets to acquire it. Two twenties? Chump change.
The ideas in the Introduction are worth as much or more. I wish Vic had hired a proof-reader before sending it to the publisher: on page 23 he confuses Genesis 17:1, the revelation of the name Eil to Abraham, with Exodus 3:14's, "Ahiyeh Ashur Hiyeh"; and this "burning bush" event (it was Jesus as the sun disc) with the later giving of the Law. THAT kind of confusion is superfluous. We can work through it, right?
I don't blame Victor for this secondary confusion, because the idea of Milta (ܡܠܬܐ - thank you, Dr. J. DeFrancisco) melts your brain, and he was probably in a hurry to share it. In short, Jesus was not the Logos of God, which would be the Word or Expression. He was the Milta: the Manifestation of the entire Godhead. The whole kit-and-caboodle -- not an example or explanation. It is a bigger picture. The Sent and the Sender. Him AND us. He as the substitute for us. Thus when He died, WE died. When He arose, WE arose. It is more consequential than being a messiah. He was a messiah, but He was the Milta who IS our Messiah.
So much. Too much. I am so sorry if I really am the only one who ever bought this book. There is a whole different Christianity here, the real Christianity, that most will never know.
posted by Daniel C. Branham-Steele at
3:44 PM
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