"PUTTING CHRIST BACK INTO CHRISTIANITY"

JESUSISM: A type of Christianity in which belivers adhere to the life and teachings of Jesus as the true and perfect foundation for their spriritual walk.

While in theory every Christian believes this, modern evangelical Chrisitianity mostly adheres to the teachings of Paul. A Jesusist holds the words of Paul and all others scribes of the Bible as wisdom gleaned from that person's encounter with God, but believes that the words of JESUS are esteemed above the words of ANY other person.

Jesusism views the LIFE, the TEACHINGS and the WORKS of Jesus as the only infalliable way, truth and life by which we should live. It is our life, our path, our guide and the only source by which we place our faith.

In short- what Jesus said and did is more important than what anyone else said or did in the Bible and if there seems to be any contradiction between words of Jesus and another person's words in the Bible; then what Jesus said is what stands as THE truth.



Saturday, January 19, 2008

Confessions of a Heretic

Okay I'm here to make a confession. I am not just a Jesusist, I am also a heretic. I am a confessed believer who maintains veiws and beliefs that are contrary to the traditional teachings of the church. That would make me a BIG TIME heretic. I mean if I were to start listing all of the opposing views I have to the church that could take up.....well, at least a VERY long blog post. To be honest I am unsure of MOST of the churches teachings. I don't know if homosexuals are going to heaven. Not sure if heterosexuals are either. I don't know if we should be baptized in the name of the Trinity or in the name of Jesus. (Just to be on the safe side I should probably "double dunk" like Robert Duvall in "The Apostle"). I don't know if the pro-choicers or the pro-lifers are right. (But to be honest, at times they BOTH kinda creep me out.) I don't know if God is a democrat or a republican. Understandable since I kinda straddle the political fence myself. I don't know if the Bible should be taken as the literal word of God or the inspired word of God. At this point, I'm not even sure that there is a hell. Although from where I'm standing there had better be a heaven.

The only things I am sure of are God, Jesus, Love, the Holy spirit, the brotherhood of mankind and that the way we treat each other on this planet is the most important thing in life. I guess that makes me kind of a complex Christian, but a very simplified Jesusist. I mean, is all that other garbage really important? I could spend my time worried about whether or not I beleive another person or group is doing what's right, or I could love that person or group regardless of my personal hangups. Maybe, just maybe all the redtape and additives and preservatives that are taught along with Jesus only serve to pollute the simplistic life our relationship with God is supposed to be. Someone in the Bible was quoted as saying (and affirmed by Jesus as being correct) that eternal life is gained by "loving the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind; and love thy neighbor as thyself."

That is so simplistic its deep and scary and almost unbelievable. What if that's IT. What if that is all there is to it. We love God and treat each other with love and bang - mission accomplished. What if love is the answer to everything? That we have to love each other no matter what? That the same way God loves us we have to pass it along to everyone else, even (no- especially) those we consider most unlovable? Its terrifying in a way because deep in my spirit I can feel that this is the truth. This is what Jesus was trying to teach and what God has been trying to get across to us since the beginning of time. Its the most simple but also the most complex thing in the universe.

Okay, I'm going way deeper than I intended to go with this. So I'm going to reel this end and post a disclaimer. "Listen to me at your own risk. After all, I am a CONFESSED heretic." I could get you excommunicated from the church.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Finally someone else.
The churches doctrine is all based on old men deciding on how to do things. If its not in the bible itself then why are we doing it. The one big thing I took from any service was that as long as you believed in Jesus and that he DID raise from the dead on the third day; as well as ask his forgiveness bam your in. Well you have to maintain the faith and all. But follow the 10 commandments and Jesus simple yet hard rules and were all good.

Norrisonian said...

I agree with you but I felt I needed to add what I believed!! That the Holy Bible is the inspired Word of God. Now, is every word correct? I don't know but it has spoken to me when I needed it to most. God never fails us!

Any way, I also wanted to add that for the first 1400 yrs after Christ, we needed have any written word - only the Holy Spirit and wow, the Church was birthed. Since the printing press 400 + years ago, we've done nothing but fight over theology and the meaning and intent over each author's writings. Even with our technology and the written word, we haven't done a quarter of what they did walking in the Spirit!!

There's my two cents!! God bless,

Grace said...

Having grown up a COE minister's kid, I can only laugh at the insignificance of 'church politics'. THIS, here, love and faith, is what I believe. Thank you for affirming my (in/)sanity!

Anonymous said...

I once believed that the cornerstone of Christianity was Christmas. How can you be a Christian and NOT celebrate Christmas?

Jesus celebrated passover and the other festivals that are celebrated by the children of Israel. Nowhere did I read about Christmas in my Bible. This realization rocked my world just the same as when my brother maliciously told me that father Christmas was not real and the tooth faery was also just our parents pretending.

Unknown said...

Jesus created man and woman, like i say my being Lweendo The Jesusist is a matter of life and death. Am not sorry but Jesus is most serious designer I have ever come to believe and know . there man and woman.no more no less, take it or leave it. As a Jesusist you, I obey without question. Jesus is ORDER The STANDARD The DEFINITION of What Should be,and not what I want or think it should be. Follow JESUS don't lead Him, but allow Him to show you to teach you Why He Designed you like that. Lweendo The Jesusist.