Jesus was always admonishing the Pharisees to judge the tree by its fruit; [1] for the tree, though necessary, can have a rough and misleading exterior. But the essence of a tree is found in its fruit. Jesus was such a tree (or so the Scriptures claim). He was a man of no stately bearing, someone of whom men hide their faces. [2] And the world condemned Him for it, never daring to look deeper. This book, like Christ, asks us to look deeper.

  

 

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Prologue: Credo Ut Intelligam

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FIRST FRUITS

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Chapter 1: A Christmas Story 

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THE TREE

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Chapter 2: St. Augustine meets Stephen Hawking 

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THE EARLY HARVEST

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Chapter 3: Holy Relic or Red Herring?

Chapter 4: The Word’s Creation Timetable 

Chapter 5: A Theological Theory of Everything

Chapter 6: A Brief Sojourn into Oral Tradition 

Chapter 7: Another Christmas Story 

Chapter 8: Good News for Some; A Warning for Others

Epilogue: 2020 and Beyond

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GLEANINGS

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Appendix A: Anomalies

Appendix B: Rashey Chadashim

Image Accreditation and General References

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FOREWORD to the THIRD EDITION

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In the second edition of this book there were a number of open issues, puzzles that hadn’t yet been worked out, that were left for the reader to solve. But not long after the 2020 publication of that edition there was a rush of new insights. They tied up all the loose ends and made it apparent a third edition would have to be created. It would also address and correct the minor flaws that have since surfaced. Given the author’s age, health issues, and desire to pass this discovery on, it is being offered to the public online without charge (as will all subsequent material). Due to the difficulty in scaling down the graphics, however, it is, unfortunately, at present available only for desktop viewing. And if a mobile version is ever created, completion of the second and third books in this series will come first. But that work, too, has been suspended until this desktop version of the third edition is completed.

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Aside from all the added content, maybe the biggest change in this third edition is that the first two chapters have been flipped, with the original and foundational first chapter being upstaged by the chapter entitled "A Christmas Story." This change was made to allow the reader a taste of the fruit before getting to the headier material in "THE TREE" that produced it And those sections, under the heading "EARLY HARVEST" that follow, are so designated to differentiate the yield being offered in this book from that of the MAIN HARVEST, to be found in the next two installments, THE GOSPEL OF CREATION: PARTS 2 and 3.

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But just because some fruit has been placed at the foot of a tree, there is no guarantee of it being picked up and eaten. This is made clear by what happened when Christ made a similar offer to the Pharisees. They too refused to partake of the fruit, and it was their manmade traditions based on faulty scriptural interpretations that kept them from it. [3] To borrow from another metaphor, they had the Light of the World, standing right in front of them, but they completely missed it, because they couldn’t let go of the darkness. And in obvious reference to the treatment Christ observed, an early 20th century Irish playwright famously summed it up perfectly.

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All great truths [he noted] begin as blasphemies. [4]

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This book also purports to be a new light, in that it is in every case just as faithful to Scripture as that of the Christ. But as always seems to be the case with new lights, there are contrary traditions made by men that have sprung up to become mainstays of our authoritative religious community. Of those in direct conflict, the two biggest are …

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• that Jesus was about 33 years old when He died,

• and that our universe is only about 6,000 years old.

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So if you are among those who have elevated either of these two traditions to the same level as Sacred Scripture, it is doubtful that you will get anything out of what is being presented here. It will most certainly appear to you as tantamount to blasphemy. If on the other hand you recognize, correctly, that these two traditions are not Scripture, but merely interpretations of Scripture that may or may not be valid, then there is a good chance that you will be significantly blessed in reading further, because (and it bears repeating) there is nothing in this book that knowingly runs afoul with Sacred Scripture. But whether you can see the light being offered or not, there is still a blessing being offered to all who visit here and an even greater blessing to all who read this book, with comprehension, to the end. And the hope is that all will receive it.

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Cordially,

Your servant in Christ,

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James A. Victor

author and editor

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ENDNOTES

     [1] Mt 12:33 (paraphrased). 

     [2] Is 53:1-3.

     [3] Mt 15:9.

     [4] George Bernard Shaw (1917) from the play Annajanska the Bolshevik Empress. 

 

 

Published:              October 21, 2023

Last Update:              January 10, 2024

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