What does Christ actually mean?

[Illyrius]

What is Christ? Who is Christ?

We are being said He is a Son of God. What does this mean?

The word Christ comes from the Greek word Christos, meaning “the anointed.” "the Anointed," synonymous with and translating to Greek  Hebrew mashiah, a title given to Jesus of Nazareth; Old English crist (by 830, perhaps 675), from Latin Christus, from Greek khristos "the anointed," noun use of verbal adjective of khriein "to rub, anoint" (from PIE root *ghrei- "to rub").

Anointed

late 14c., "smeared with oil," past-participle adjective from anoint (v.). Earlier was annoint (c. 1300), from Old French enoint, Latin inunctum. Noun meaning "a consecrated one" (as in Lord's Anointed) is recorded from 1520s.

*********

 I tried to find the actual definiton of Christ, by googling what is Christ, and found almost nothing that would define it - only perhaps this:

 

When Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one reaches the Father but by me,”  or when he gave the parable of the treasure buried in a field, I think he was referring to the fact that no one can know the Father without first knowing the Self, Son, Christ or Atman.

One sees the Self or Christ in a moment of illumination (when the kundalini reaches the fourth chakra), sells all his or her worldly desires, sits down and meditates upon the Self that was seen, until it gradually becomes the vision of the Father (sahaja) and the seeker “buys the field” or achieves mukti (when the kundalini passes the seventh chrakra and reaches the hridayam or spiritual heart).

In my view, when one “buys the field,” one has Christ consciousness.

 

-source.

 

Any ideas?

[acute]

I often go past a local church that has a slogan on a board saying "Jesus is Lord".  I'm still trying to work out what it means.

[Illyrius]

4 minutes ago, acute said:

I often go past a local church that has a slogan on a board saying "Jesus is Lord".  I'm still trying to work out what it means.

Good point.

[Orphalesion]

The Anointed is a translation of Greek Christos, which is turn is a translation of hebr. Messias. From what I know form Religious Education, the word Messias (Messiah) is the Anointed One because he would be the future king of the Hebrews, and as such he would be smeared in fine smelling oils during his coronations, as was common practice back then. So being anointed conveyed a royal status because those oils were expensive. 
So during the time Jesus would have been alive Christ would have meant "the guy who is like a king, anointed in oils". 

This is why, form a Jewish standpoint Jesus can't be the Messiah, because he didn't become the king of the Ancient Hebrews and didn't lead them towards long-lasting dominion and safety in their homelands and is also why it's said that the Romans mocked him as "King of the Jews" during his crucifixion and gave him a crown of thorns.

When the early Christians decided that for him he was the Christ/Messiah/Anointed One and their religion emerged they decided that a lot of these things where metaphorical, Jesus was the heavenly King who would usher in the long lasting Kingdom of God for all his followers, everywhere and I have seen bible comments that claimed he was "anointed with the holy spirit" rather than oils, so it still counts.
Even today Christian infants of several churches get some oil smeared on their head during baptism. So they get anointed as well.

As to what exactly "Jesus is the Son of God" means...that's a question not even the early Christians could agree about. He's also called the "Son of Man" in several places in the Bible. 

[Illyrius]

4 minutes ago, Orphalesion said:

Even today Christian infants of several churches get some oil smeared on their head during baptism. So they get anointed as well.

Good informative post. Only what is the spiritual symbolism of anointment?

[Orphalesion]

Just now, Mr. Argon said:

Good informative post. Only what is the spiritual symbolism of anointment?

Do you mean what it originally meant or what it means during baptism today?

Originally anointment was a feature in many religions, including pagan ones, Greek idols were smeared with well smelling oils and salves because it's expensive so you show the god or priest or oracle you are anointing how much respect you have for them.

In modern baptism it's supposed to mark the infant as a follower of Christ, they are anointed in imitation of Jesus and under his protection. The water purifies and the oils mark/protect. "Watch out demons! This baby bears the mark of Christ, you can't harm it!"
That's also why people thought it was important to baptize a baby as soon as possible to get it under Jesus' protection and there was all sorts of superstition that in the dangerous period between birth and baptism demons or fairies or spirits could steal and/or murder the baby. 

[Illyrius]

A little deeper interpretation of Anointment;

Anointed [from Latin translation of Greek christos anointed] Smeared with sacred unguent, having oil or unguent poured on the head; a ceremony originally symbolically denoting a high degree of initiation, but later borrowed for minor purposes by the Christian churches in consecrations and coronations. A true anointed or christos is one who has achieved the great victory over self in initiation and therefore in life, and thus has become a full or complete adept or mahatma.

[Coil]

13 hours ago, Mr. Argon said:

We are being said He is a Son of God. What does this mean?

Any ideas?

 

People like Christ are avatars.

The word "Avatar" means the descent of the divine consciousness in the human body. The descent of the Divine is possible from any level of consciousness.The Avatar is one who realizes in himself the presence and power of the Divine embodied in him, the Divine governing from within his will, life and actions. The Avatar feels an inner identification with divine power and presence.

Apparently when a person opens the divine consciousness and surrenders to God, he is no longer subordinate to nature, people and social norms, he follows only what God commands therefore and becomes the son of God.

Read this passage from the book:

Spoiler

The year was 1874 and Sri Ramakrishna was then 38 years of age. Towards the end of that year, sometime during the month of November, Sri Ramakrishna felt a great urge to learn the truth about Christianity.

He began to listen to readings from the Bible, by Sambhu Charan Mallick, a devotee of his from Calcutta. Becoming intensely fascinated by the life and teachings of Jesus, Sri Ramakrishna longed to gain a vision of God through the Christian path.

There were some good pictures hanging on the walls of that room. One of those pictures was that of the child Jesus in his mother’s lap .

The Master used to say that he sat one day in that parlour and was looking intently at that picture and thinking of the extraordinary life of Jesus, when he felt that the picture came to life, and effulgent rays of light, coming out from the bodies of the Mother and the Child, entered into his heart and changed radically all the ideas of his mind!

The Master used to say that he sat one day in that parlour and was looking intently at that picture and thinking of the extraordinary life of Jesus, when he felt that the picture came to life, and effulgent rays of light, coming out from the bodies of the Mother and the Child, entered into his heart and changed radically all the ideas of his mind!

On finding that all the inborn Hindu impressions disappeared into a secluded corner of his mind and that different ones arose in it, he tried in various ways to control himself and prayed earnestly to the divine Mother (Kali), “What strange changes art Thou bringing about in me, Mother?” But nothing availed.

Rising with a great force, the waves of those impressions completely submerged the Hindu ideas in his mind. His love and devotion to the Devas (Gods) and Devis (Goddesses) vanished, and in their stead, a great faith in and reverence for Jesus and his religion occupied his mind, and began to show him Christian padrees (priests) offering incense and light before the image of Jesus in the Church and to reveal to him the eagerness of their hearts as is seen in their earnest prayers.

The Master came back to Dakshineswar temple and remained constantly absorbed in the meditation of those inner happenings. He forgot altogether to go to the temple of the divine Mother (Kali) and pay obeisance to Her. The waves of those ideas had mastery over his mind in that manner for three days.

At last, when the third day was about to close, the Master saw, while walking under the Panchavati (grove of 5 sacred trees), that a marvellous god-man of very fair complexion was coming towards him, looking steadfastly at him.

As soon as the Master saw that person, he knew that he was a foreigner. He saw that his long eyes had produced a wonderful beauty in his face, and the tip of his nose, though a little flat, did not at all impair that beauty. The Master was charmed to see the extraordinary divine expression of that handsome face, and wondered who he was.

Very soon the person approached him and from the bottom of the Master’s pure heart came out with a ringing sound, the words, “Jesus! Jesus the Christ, the great Yogi, the loving Son of God, one with the Father, who gave his heart’s blood and put up with endless torture in order to deliver men from sorrow and misery!”

Jesus, the god-man, then embraced the Master and disappeared into his body and the Master entered into ecstasy (Bhav Samadhi), lost normal consciousness and remained identified for some time with the Omnipresent Brahman (God, the Ocean of Consciousness) with attributes.

http://www.spiritualbee.com/posts/sri-ramakrishna-vision-of-jesus/

 

 

 

Edited December 4, 2017 by Coil

[Rlyeh]

A plot device.

[Truthseeker007]

17 hours ago, Mr. Argon said:

 

 

What is Christ? Who is Christ?

 

We are being said He is a Son of God. What does this mean?

 

The word Christ comes from the Greek word Christos, meaning “the anointed.” "the Anointed," synonymous with and translating to Greek  Hebrew mashiah, a title given to Jesus of Nazareth; Old English crist (by 830, perhaps 675), from Latin Christus, from Greek khristos "the anointed," noun use of verbal adjective of khriein "to rub, anoint" (from PIE root *ghrei- "to rub").

 

Anointed

 

late 14c., "smeared with oil," past-participle adjective from anoint (v.). Earlier was annoint (c. 1300), from Old French enoint, Latin inunctum. Noun meaning "a consecrated one" (as in Lord's Anointed) is recorded from 1520s.

 

*********

 I tried to find the actual definiton of Christ, by googling what is Christ, and found almost nothing that would define it - only perhaps this:

 

When Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one reaches the Father but by me,”  or when he gave the parable of the treasure buried in a field, I think he was referring to the fact that no one can know the Father without first knowing the Self, Son, Christ or Atman.

One sees the Self or Christ in a moment of illumination (when the kundalini reaches the fourth chakra), sells all his or her worldly desires, sits down and meditates upon the Self that was seen, until it gradually becomes the vision of the Father (sahaja) and the seeker “buys the field” or achieves mukti (when the kundalini passes the seventh chrakra and reaches the hridayam or spiritual heart).

In my view, when one “buys the field,” one has Christ consciousness.

 

-source.

 

 

Any ideas?

 

The word Christ was originally Christos. Christos meant the Clear One, or Enlightened One. The Greek had a character whose name was Krestus, and Krestus or krest meant the height or the top, and there were the various other types of Christs. I think anybody can become Enlightened it's just that many Christians assume that the Jesus of the Bible is supposed to be worshipped. Which is an inversion of what an Enlightened one would teach.

[Truthseeker007]

17 hours ago, acute said:

I often go past a local church that has a slogan on a board saying "Jesus is Lord".  I'm still trying to work out what it means.

Many Christians believe Jesus is God and they bow down and worship Jesus. You even have to take Jesus in your heart or you will either go to hell or will die forever. I know this because I was once a Christian myself until I had an awakening and had a kind of enlightenment myself and realized what religion really is.

[Mr Walker]

8 hours ago, Coil said:

People like Christ are avatars.

The word "Avatar" means the descent of the divine consciousness in the human body. The descent of the Divine is possible from any level of consciousness.The Avatar is one who realizes in himself the presence and power of the Divine embodied in him, the Divine governing from within his will, life and actions. The Avatar feels an inner identification with divine power and presence.

Apparently when a person opens the divine consciousness and surrenders to God, he is no longer subordinate to nature, people and social norms, he follows only what God commands therefore and becomes the son of God.

Read this passage from the book:

  Reveal hidden contents

The year was 1874 and Sri Ramakrishna was then 38 years of age. Towards the end of that year, sometime during the month of November, Sri Ramakrishna felt a great urge to learn the truth about Christianity.

He began to listen to readings from the Bible, by Sambhu Charan Mallick, a devotee of his from Calcutta. Becoming intensely fascinated by the life and teachings of Jesus, Sri Ramakrishna longed to gain a vision of God through the Christian path.

There were some good pictures hanging on the walls of that room. One of those pictures was that of the child Jesus in his mother’s lap .

The Master used to say that he sat one day in that parlour and was looking intently at that picture and thinking of the extraordinary life of Jesus, when he felt that the picture came to life, and effulgent rays of light, coming out from the bodies of the Mother and the Child, entered into his heart and changed radically all the ideas of his mind!

The Master used to say that he sat one day in that parlour and was looking intently at that picture and thinking of the extraordinary life of Jesus, when he felt that the picture came to life, and effulgent rays of light, coming out from the bodies of the Mother and the Child, entered into his heart and changed radically all the ideas of his mind!

On finding that all the inborn Hindu impressions disappeared into a secluded corner of his mind and that different ones arose in it, he tried in various ways to control himself and prayed earnestly to the divine Mother (Kali), “What strange changes art Thou bringing about in me, Mother?” But nothing availed.

Rising with a great force, the waves of those impressions completely submerged the Hindu ideas in his mind. His love and devotion to the Devas (Gods) and Devis (Goddesses) vanished, and in their stead, a great faith in and reverence for Jesus and his religion occupied his mind, and began to show him Christian padrees (priests) offering incense and light before the image of Jesus in the Church and to reveal to him the eagerness of their hearts as is seen in their earnest prayers.

The Master came back to Dakshineswar temple and remained constantly absorbed in the meditation of those inner happenings. He forgot altogether to go to the temple of the divine Mother (Kali) and pay obeisance to Her. The waves of those ideas had mastery over his mind in that manner for three days.

At last, when the third day was about to close, the Master saw, while walking under the Panchavati (grove of 5 sacred trees), that a marvellous god-man of very fair complexion was coming towards him, looking steadfastly at him.

As soon as the Master saw that person, he knew that he was a foreigner. He saw that his long eyes had produced a wonderful beauty in his face, and the tip of his nose, though a little flat, did not at all impair that beauty. The Master was charmed to see the extraordinary divine expression of that handsome face, and wondered who he was.

Very soon the person approached him and from the bottom of the Master’s pure heart came out with a ringing sound, the words, “Jesus! Jesus the Christ, the great Yogi, the loving Son of God, one with the Father, who gave his heart’s blood and put up with endless torture in order to deliver men from sorrow and misery!”

Jesus, the god-man, then embraced the Master and disappeared into his body and the Master entered into ecstasy (Bhav Samadhi), lost normal consciousness and remained identified for some time with the Omnipresent Brahman (God, the Ocean of Consciousness) with attributes.

http://www.spiritualbee.com/posts/sri-ramakrishna-vision-of-jesus/

 

 

 

Beat me to it.

I was just going to write the identical words you began with  However avatar also means a pattern, or template, or model, upon which we can base our own lives, behaviours and values. You are correct in that, what many people see as surrender,  and a form of slavery, is actually  total empowerment, and liberation from all the; fears, ties, traps,  bonds and desires, which enslave so many humans  . 

 

[Mr Walker]

12 minutes ago, Scudbuster said:

Christopher Hitchens throws cold water on this entire myth of Jesus:

 

Haven't watched the video but academically there is almost no tolerance for the idea that Christ was simply a myth (ie never existed as a real person) .   Much of his life story in the bible and certainly his divinity might be myth But he was a real Jewish preacher and teacher,  with many real followers.  

[Illyrius]

7 hours ago, Truthseeker007 said:

Many Christians believe Jesus is God and they bow down and worship Jesus. You even have to take Jesus in your heart or you will either go to hell or will die forever. I know this because I was once a Christian myself until I had an awakening and had a kind of enlightenment myself and realized what religion really is.

I agree that people perceive somewhat severely distorted vision. What i am trying to find out is a picture that is less distorted, at least.

[Illyrius]

29 minutes ago, Mr Walker said:

Haven't watched the video but academically there is almost no tolerance for the idea that Christ was simply a myth (ie never existed as a real person) .   Much of his life story in the bible and certainly his divinity might be myth But he was a real Jewish preacher and teacher,  with many real followers.  

First, i think we need to separate the person Jesus - and the principle of Christ, which is the subject of this topic.

[Illyrius]

10 hours ago, Coil said:

People like Christ are avatars.

The word "Avatar" means the descent of the divine consciousness in the human body. The descent of the Divine is possible from any level of consciousness.The Avatar is one who realizes in himself the presence and power of the Divine embodied in him, the Divine governing from within his will, life and actions. The Avatar feels an inner identification with divine power and presence.

Apparently when a person opens the divine consciousness and surrenders to God, he is no longer subordinate to nature, people and social norms, he follows only what God commands therefore and becomes the son of God.

I find this all very reasonable. But i happen to be immersed to a stream of teaching which said that this descent of divine consciousness had something very special about it. Not like other descents. I can't at the moment expand on this in a serious way but maybe as the topic unfolds further..

[Davros of Skaro]

It's just God's seal of approval for divine duties. A loaf of bread can be christened with oil, or a chief priest, or an angel can be anointed by spiritual light. 

 

[Davros of Skaro]

4 hours ago, Scudbuster said:

Christopher Hitchens throws cold water on this entire myth of Jesus:

 

I much as I love the Hitch, this falls flat unfortunately. 

Edit: It's been awhile since I watched this. He makes great points, but I wish he knew more things that's more readily available now.

Edited December 5, 2017 by davros of skaro

[Mr Walker]

3 hours ago, Mr. Argon said:

First, i think we need to separate the person Jesus - and the principle of Christ, which is the subject of this topic.

Not entirely.  Jesus Christ taught a liberal school of Judaism based on the Hillel school ( father and son rabbis of his time who lead a liberal school of rabbinical theology, in opposition to the zealots and conservative hard liners in power at the time 

 To me his divinity is immaterial You only have to live as he lived, and behave as he behaved towards others, for his life to become a serious template or avatar for how we should live.

  To me it is his teachings and life which are MORE important then  the mythology built around him because, if you follow them, you achiever " heaven on earth"  ie a state of mind the same as one would experience in heaven  Call it nirvana or  any word but it is achievable by ordinary humans in the here and now .  

[Coil]

5 hours ago, Mr. Argon said:

I find this all very reasonable. But i happen to be immersed to a stream of teaching which said that this descent of divine consciousness had something very special about it. Not like other descents. I can't at the moment expand on this in a serious way but maybe as the topic unfolds further..

Each avatar does something different about other avatars and shows some kind of principle, descends with some sort of mission at the right time to continue the evolution.For me it's like the bricks of one house that God is building on earth through different avatars.
In those days there were many small faiths and Christ brought faith in one God to the nations, the forgiveness of sinners, the salvation of sinners from hell, the alleviation of karmic punishment in hell.
In one book, it is written that Christ also appeared in other subtle worlds and there his mission was more successful. Their humanity was enlightened, but we, people, were the same may be because of the fact that the mission of Christ remained unfinished. They write that Christ was to transform the physical body on earth, but when he was killed he could restore it and rise to heaven because the earth in the form of people rejected him.

[Davros of Skaro]

On 12/3/2017 at 5:29 PM, acute said:

I often go past a local church that has a slogan on a board saying "Jesus is Lord".  I'm still trying to work out what it means.

Think of a King with magistrate officials called Lords. One of the Lords is the King's head magistrate (LORD of Lords).

King is God, and the magistrates are angels that ministers God's will. Jesus is the firstborn (of God) head official in effect being "The LORD".

Jesus is LORD.

[Orphalesion]

22 hours ago, Truthseeker007 said:

The word Christ was originally Christos. Christos meant the Clear One, or Enlightened One.

Nope, try again.

Khristos means the Anointed One, the direct translation of Hebr. Messiah.

 

[Lysippos]

2 hours ago, Orphalesion said:

Nope, try again.

Khristos means the Anointed One, the direct translation of Hebr. Messiah.

 

If it was only that simple. 

In Greek, Chrestos & Christos are pronounced the same way, but have two very different meanings. 

 

[SHaYap]

Well ding my dongs and pass the bong ...

~

[Truthseeker007]

2 hours ago, Orphalesion said:

Nope, try again.

Khristos means the Anointed One, the direct translation of Hebr. Messiah.

 

Anointed can be the same as enlightened or shining. Also to add into the mix their is the word Karast.