Jesus' God or the Church's God?

Somewhere in the Bible it states that "fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. I'm not sure I can agree with this because somewhere between prayer and wisdom I have actually lost my fear of God. Don't get me wrong. I still love, reverence, respect and worship Him but my attitude towards him has changed dramatically.

The church paints this image of God as a mean, exacting judge sitting up above with a hammer in his hand, waiting to smash our heads in with it if we mess up. How many times have you been told God will "strike you down?" Further more how often do we hear people attribute death, disease, storms and every other life hardships to "an act of God"? As if God is on some kind of mission to cause harm and mayhem to our lives. The churches I grew up in did a good job of literally scaring the hell out of people. I am sure that methodology works well for those who use it.

Butthis mean spirited, vindictive, unforgiving God that so many like to preach of, bears little or no resemblance to the God Jesus spoke of in His Ministry. I don't see a God that strikes people down, but instead the God that raises us up. I don't see the God that harms but the God that heals. I don't see a God that punishes, but a God that forgives. I don't see the God that is our judge, I see the God that is our Father. There is no angry God looking down on us, there is a loving God who wants only the best for each and everyone of us. So which God do you choose. The angry God of so many modern Christians or the God of Jesus?

We Are Borg (oops! I meant CHRISTIAN).. You will be Assimilated.

On Star Trek- TNG there is an alien race known as "The Borg." This race is made of of beings that were once human, but thanks to many very carefully placed computerized/robotic/ cybernectic parts, they are now cyborgs or more correctly "Borg." As if this wasn't bad enough, they travel the universe making every other race of people they meet part of the Borg race. And if someone does not want to be half robot and controlled by a central processing unit, who cares?? Their motto is "resistance is futile." After all, the borg consider themselves to be superior to every other lifeform and consider it their duty to assimilate everyone them meet into the borg collective. They will not allow anything to deter them from that mission.

Has Christianity turned into a real life version of this futuristic alien race? Lets look at it. I was taught that as a Christian we are not of this world. (that would make us an alien race) Christianity, in general, teaches that Christians should believe the same things and do the same things. (a collective)Otherwise you are a heretic heathen like me. Christians feel it is there obligation to go into the world trying to bring more people into their world and way of believing (assimilation?) They consider themselves to be "God's chosen" as if God wants no-one but them. We believe that "every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord (which means resistance is futile).

As I read about the life and teachings of Jesus, I often wonder if he called us to be robots. I hope not. I believe that He came to give us abundant life and that we as his followers should be as unique and dynamic as He was. Not just in our jobs or our natural life but also in our spiritual life and our relationship with God. Your life is not my life. Your abilities, Your hopes, Your dreams, Your struggles are different from mine so your walk with God will be different than mine. Your personal relationship with God should not be a carbon copy of anyone elses. It should be as unique and original as you yourself are.

Have you ever just asked yourself who you really are in this walk of faith? What does your PERSONAL Relationship with God look like? Are you a Carbon Copy of everyone else or does your walk with God have its own unique flavor? Are you part of the collective or are you the original, one of a kind person God has called you to be?

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.

SALVATION- ETERNAL LIFE- BORN AGAIN

As I stated in a previous post, the words SALVATION, ETERNAL LIFE, and THE KINGDOM are used interchangably in modern Christianity. This causes the words to also be used erroneously. All three concepts are discussed in the Bible, but they are discussed as entirely separate and distinct from each other. This is the reason why modern Christianity teaches that eternal life is a free gift that comes from confessing Jesus even though Jesus himself taught that eternal life came through keeping the commandments.

SALVATION- Jesus came to give us a more abundant life. When Jesus spoke of salvation he was not speaking of the afterlife, but of the more abundant life that we can live right now.
Mark 16:16- states that if you believe and are baptized you will be saved. Salvation is a free gift, no strings attached, no works involved. It is simply a matter of believing and receiving. This is why Jesus could offer salvation to anyone who came to him wanting it and ready to receive it. Nicodemus was said to have received salvation in Luke 19:9. The woman with the alabaster box received salvation in Luke 7:50. To understand this, we must understand salvation is not for the afterlife; IT IS FOR HERE AND NOW.

Eternal Life- I already stated a lot about eternal life and how to gain it in my previous post. I'll just reiterate here that eternal life is gained by keeping the commandments of God.

BORN AGAIN/ THE KINGDOM- John 3:1 recounts a story where a man named Nicodemus inquired about the miracles Jesus did. Jesus attributed his works to the Kingdom and stated that no one could see this Kingdom unless they were "born again." It is important to note that this is the only time recorded in the Bible that Jesus mentions the concept of being born again. Jesus gave many examples describing the concept of the Kingdom, but He never actually defined what the Kingdom is. He did however tell us that the Kingdom was at hand (very close to us) Matt. 4:17 that it is within us, Luke 17:21; that there are keys to it, Matt. 16:19; its difficult for the rich to obtain, Mark 10:23.

Eternal Life

There are several instances in the Bible where Jesus was asked "What must I do to have eternal life?" The answer that Jesus gave is far removed from the answer modern Christianity gives. Jesus always gave the same answer "KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS." Recognizing that Christianity (through Paul's teachings) teaches that eternal life is a free gift gained by accepting Jesus as our Lord. It seems strange that such a strong contradiction should exist concerning such an important subject.

Jesus was given this question of eternal life in Matt. 19:16, Mark 10:17, Luke 10:25, Luke 18:18 and each time Jesus gave the answer "Keep the Commandments." So it is obvious for those of us who believe in Jesus and His Word that eternal life is gained not by grace but by works. Even when Jesus spoke about judgement day and some entering into eternal life and some everlasting punishment, he related their judgement to their WORKS while here on earth. (I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in) It had nothing to do with grace, or accepting him or their faith. In fact in Jesus' teachings the people who did these works seemed to be unaware that they had did anything worthy of eternal life. (Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?)

So if eternal life must be earned where did the church get the teachings of grace and faith and accepting Jesus? I believe that the teachings are a misunderstanding of terminology. Certain words used in the Bible; namely SALVATION - ETERNAL LIFE- ENTERING THE KINGDOM were three entirely different concepts. Modern Chrisitanity uses these words pretty much enterchangably but a closer look at the scriptures shows that they are not the same at all. But that's another blog.

Adam and Original Sin

Orthodox Christianity for the most part teaches the doctrine of original sin based solely on the teachings of Paul (Romans 5:12-21). After much prayer and meditation and studying, I am not sure that I still believe in this doctrine. For starters, the concept of sin was never once mentioned to Adam after he ate off of the tree. The tree itself was neither good nor evil. The Bible calls the tree "The tree of KNOWLEDGE of good and evil." The only thing that the Bible says occured after Adam and Eve ate of the tree was "the eyes of both of them were open and they knew they were naked." Notice, the only thing that happened to them was that they ceased to be ingnorant and instead became knowledgable that there was good and evil in the world. Once they KNEW, they became responsible for choosing one or the other. Also notice that God cursed the ground and he cursed the serpent, but he never once cursed Adam or Eve. How could He, when he had already blessed them. He told the woman that He would multiply her sorrow and conception and that in pain she would bear children and that her desire would be to her husband and he would rule over her. (More about Eve and this prediction later) But this was only a prediction of things to come, not a curse. To Adam, God said that he would have to toil and sweat to get anything from the earth, but God never cursed to Adam HIMSELF. God merely cursed the earth and because of the curse on the earth, it would no longer easily yield food and sustanence to man. Notice, God could not even take back the dominion that he had blessed Adam with over the earth. He could only curse the earth so that it would not yield to man's dominion.

And what of the warning from God that the day Adam ate of the tree he would surely die? Well, as a Bible scholar, I am a big fan of concordances and original meanings of words. The original Hebrew word for death is "Muwth" (pronounced "mooth"). The word means "to kill, to die or to be worthy of death." So could it be that rather than meaning that Adam would literally drop dead the moment he ate of the tree, God could have meant that Adam would be worthy of death or that eating of the tree was essentially a death sentence for him. The fact is, God never actually sentenced Adam to death. He only put Adam out of the garden to restrict him from eating from the Tree of Life. God Himself said in Genesis 3:22 that if Adam ate from the The Tree of Life, he would live forever. So, Adam was going to die anyway. It was up to him to choose eternal life, but he chose instead to know good and evil. So maybe, Christ is a tree of life to us who believe in Him, basically giving us back the choice that we lost when Adam was cast out of the garden of Eden.

During this event refered to in religious circles as "the fall of man" the word sin is not mentioned. In fact, the first time sin is mentioned in the Bible is in Genesis chapter 4 where God warns Cain that sin lies at the door. Later, in the same chapter, God curses a person (Cain) for the first time by pointedly stating "you are cursed..." Genesis 4:11. Therefore since, Adam was never said to have sinned and according to the Bible was obviously not cursed, the doctrine of the original sin must be erroneous. Even if there was in fact an original sin of man and a resulting curse upon man, then that sin and that curse would have had to come through Cain, not Adam.

ALONE WITH GOD

There is nothing in the world more rewarding than being alone with God. I think that most Christians undervalue the benefits and worth of meditation. I have learned to sit and not just pray, but to actually have conversations with God. I talk to Him and I listen to Him. I grow closer to him through this private time we spend communicating. I believe that Jesus knew the value of being alone with God. After all, the Bible says he spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting and praying. It also says that he sometimes got away from the crowds and got alone to pray. I wonder how many people recognize the complete joy and peace that can be found in just being alone and talking with God? Part of living the Jesusist way of life is finding quiet time to be alone with our Creator; to practice speaking with him and practice hearing his voice. There is no greater act we can perform than to have communion with the Almighty. Our intimacy with Him grows through our communication with him. In order to recognize His voice and His guidance we have to get used to hearing His voice. "My sheep know My voice." In order to truly be His sheep and have Him as our Shepherd we have to learn to recognize His voice. I know you have probably spoken to God, but ask yourself, when was the last time you actually heard Him?

The Sermon On The Mount

If there is a foundation for following the Jesusist Way, it would have to be the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is probably Jesus' most important and most well known speech. This speech is used by Jesus to teach the listener what it takes to be his follower. He took well known tradtional laws and redefined them to show the people that even more was expected of them. Rather than to do a revamp of everything Jesus covered in the sermon on the mount, I would rather talk about the spirit of Jesus' words. He soke of His followers being the salt and the light of the world. We add flavor, we illuminate, we purify and we help others to see. He talked about fulfilling the law. Jesus' ministry was to complete, and make perfect the law. Jesus spoke of Murder and adultery that begins in the heart. Perhaps this is because all sin originates in the heart. By not controlling our thoughts and not keeping our desires under wraps, we invite sin into our lives. "I think therefore I am." If this statement is true, then that means if we dwell on sinful thoughts then we ARE in sin. Jesus goes on to speak about many other topics including not taking oaths and going the extra mile for others, and loving our enemies. All in all, the sermon on the mount can be taken as a guide for living the life. It explains to us how to have a right relationship with God and with our fellow man. It shows us the true way to be a follower of Jesus. If studied and followed the sermon in the mount has the potential to change lives.

The non-religious Jesus

When most people say they are Christians, they really mean they are Paulians. Jesus Christ did not start the Christian religion , Paul did (more about Paul, later). Jesus' teachings were never about starting a new religion, his teachings were about having a true and intimate relationship with God, being completely baptized in the Holy Spirit, letting the Holy Spirit be your guide in all matters and learning how to truly love God and our fellow man not in words but actions. These three sentences are a quick summation of what Jesus taught and stood for. There were no divisions taught, no one was appointed head, no one was esteemed as more or higher than anyone else. Everyone was admonished not to seek to be a leader but instead be each other's servant. There was no judgment, no room for treating anyone as less based on race, class or gender. In Jesus' teachings, LOVE IS THE LAW. When Jesus spoke of building his church, he was not speaking of a building or a place of worship. Instead when he spoke of church he was speaking of His "called out ones." So Jesus' church is the people themselves who believe on him, not a building or a religion and the proper place of worship is as he told the woman at the well, "in spirit and in truth."

THE BIBLE

1. I believe that the Bible contains some of the Words of God but cannot be accurately called THE Word of God.

2. I believe that the Bible is a collection of writings in which each author described and recorded his or her encounter with God.

3. I do not believe that the Bible is infalliable becuase it was written by falliable human beings.

4. I believe that all scripture when rightly interpreted and used can be beneficial for edification, but I do not accept all the words of the Bible as God's Divine Word nor do I accept every teaching found in the Bible as God inspired. After all, Jesus himself quoted Isaiah as being correct in saying "In vain they do worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." I believe that there are many places in the Bible where commandments of men are being taught as God's divine doctrine.

5. As a Jesusist I see the life and teachings of Jesus as my guide book and my point of reference. The teachings of Jesus are the cornerstone of the Bible and ALL OTHER TEACHINGS contained in the Bible can only be validated by weighing them against what Jesus taught. In every situation, what Jesus taught takes precedence over what the anyone else in the Bible teaches. If there is ever a contradiction, then what Jesus says stands as the final authority.

I AM A JESUSIST

I am a Jesusist. I was raised in a Christian household and until about five years ago, I knew exactly what I believed........what I was taught. So do most Christians. Historically Christians have accepted the teachings of the church as factual and God breathed without seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit to find out if the church's truth is actually God's truth. Why should they? After all even questioning the church's teachings are considered heretical. It is so much easier to blindly follow whatever is being taught. I, like so many other sheep, willing followed whatever was said to me whether it bore any resemblance to Christ's teachings or not.
Sometime in late 1999 I had a crisis of faith. I spent a few years re-evaluating all my spiritual beliefs. I questioned everything I believed and why I believed it. After stripping away decades of religious indoctrination, I soon realized that I can no longer call myself a Christian with a clear conscience. My faith, my personal creeds and my relationship with God are no longer in line with the teachings of the Christian religion (and yes it IS a religion). After much prayer, studying and soul searching, I have become what I can only call a Jesusist. To put it plain and simple, I am a person who studies and practices the teachings of Jesus. I even go further to state that I am a Messianic Jesusist. I not only study and practice Jesus' teachings, but I also believe on Him as the Messiah, the Christ, God's only begotten son. I created this blog to spread the message of Jesusism as a way of life.