I’ve been thinking for a while about the comments you’ve made here, Shawn, and what I’m sensing here is that you’re placing Origen on a level that’s quite extraordinary for a person who says he wishes the Word of God to be infallible:
How is it that you’ve chosen Origen as the one who fulfilled what you believe Jesus promised? Have you really listened to what this says about Jesus? It says that both Jesus and God were too stupid to say what they wanted to say so they needed an extra helper (Origen) to step in and finish the job that Jesus couldn’t finish on his own. (In this way, your thesis reminds me very much of Marcion’s, as Marcion decreed that Jesus had to ask Paul to step in to finish what Jesus couldn’t.)
There are many difficulties with the Bible (both Jewish Scriptures and New Testament). There are many contradictions and confusing bits, and we aren’t always sure what Jesus meant. But Jesus and God knew what they were doing, and they didn’t screw it up.
It’s up to us – up to each new generation of Christians – to keep trying to figure out what Jesus was saying about God and why it’s still so important to our lives.
Yes, like the apostles, we often don’t understand. Jesus told us what we need to know, but we can’t hear it unless we listen with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. When we do hear it, though . . . it IS a mystery.