"Did John the Baptist Deny Being Elijah?"

In response to a question about whether the statements of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew about John the Baptist being Elijah are effectively contradicted by the denial of John the Baptist that he was Elijah in the Gospel of John:

A quote from Chapter 1, verses 19-23 of the Gospel of John:

“This is how John appeared as a witness. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him “Who are you?” he not only declared, but he declared quite openly, “I am not the Christ.” “Well then”, they asked, “are you Elijah?” “I am not”, he said. “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No”. So they said to him, “Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?”

So, John said, “I am, as Isaiah Prophesied: “…a voice that cries in the wilderness: Make a straight way for the Lord.”

So, the first thing you have to understand here is that a Christian is one of the most brain-washed people on the face of the earth. And I mean this quite seriously. When they read the scriptures, they do not really hear what the Scriptures themselves are saying at all. What they hear are the quotations from those Scriptures that they have been fed by their Christian religious ‘authorities’ for years if not decades; and, right along with those quotations they interpret those Revelations as supporting the doctrines of Christian theology. In fact, that is the only reason they read the Scriptures in the first place, not really to understand them, not really to get any new and deeper understand, but merely to verify that the doctrines of Christianity are, supposedly, supported by the Scriptures.

So, what the Christians do when they read about this denial by John the Baptist that he was Elijah, is to triumphantly quote this statement as a definitive contradiction of the statements of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew that John the Baptist was, literally, the prophet Elijah ‘raised from the dead’; in which case those statements made by Jesus must be understood merely in a figurative or a metaphorical sense. And, at that point, they simply stop reading, having confirmed for themselves that Jesus could not possibly have meant that John had been Elijah in a previous life.

But, in order to really determine the Truth of the matter, it is important to continue reading from the Gospel of John and to understand the sequence of the events with regards to John’s denial that he was Elijah…

 For more information, listen to the recording at: http://youtu.be/qXzVplKYeFQ627f7