Being Memorial Day it is a time to mourn all the people who have lost their lives in the world’s many wars. If only we would learn the lessons of Jesus they could all have been prevented. God grieves with every death, especially when we futilely take up weapons against each other.
Jesus said two thing encompass all God’s laws:
Given the large loss of life due to the Goplin Missouri tornadoes recently I got to thinking about why we call tornadoes and other such events an act of God? Isn’t it really just an occurrence in nature? Did God really conger up these weather events to kill so many people in that city? Many search throughout the Bible for the answers to these types of questions and they seem to come up with an amazing variety of answers depending on which segments of the Bible they choose to use.
I tend to believe that events in nature are just that; events in nature. I would certainly not take that power away from God but at the same time I would ask why he would need to kill people in that way? Being a scientist of sorts I can understand the factual reasons for weather events. I understand that when weather fronts collide they produce powerful updrafts that become tornadoes.
I am just not one to believe that God finds it necessary to kill people for whatever reasons in natural disasters anymore than he finds it necessary to kill people by making them slip in the tub. So, to conclude this story yes tornadoes are an act of God in as much as God set down the original laws of nature that sometimes combine to make it happen.
Some believe that absolutely everything that happens in the universe is directed by the hands of God and is his will. They go on to say that we can’t possibly understand the reasons for instance why God makes a drunk driver to kill an innocent person but they say he does it for a purpose. The God that I pray to and adore is a God of agape love; who has an immense love for each and every one of us. He grieves for every life lost in Goplin this last week. It was not his will that it happen but yes he set the law of nature in place that came together to create the event.
So here it is Monday and I am right where I was last week. What happened to the predicted rapture? Of course this prediction that failed to happen is among a long line of similar predictions. Every time someone insists that they know the heart of God in minute details they tarnish Christ a little more. He seems to be very tarnished lately. The only thing this latest rapture prediction has done is to bring out thousands of jokes about those “Christian wackos drinking their cool-aid”. Cool-Aid refers to one of the most gruesome Christian events where Jim Jones and hundreds of his believers committed mass suicide some years ago.
Much of these types of events are spurred by those who believe that every word in the Bible is directly from God and therefore must have meanings, and sub-meanings, and sub-meanings. If only we dig we can find those secret messages of God that they are certain are contained therein. I’m pretty sure that like many others before him the pastor in California was convinced that he was the one to unravel the rapture mystery that is “hidden” in the Bible. But then again maybe he was doing it to get more donations in the door. He did receive over $30 million last year. I wonder what he did with all his funds last Friday?
While trying to discover hidden mysteries in the Bible are good for all the conspiracy theory people out there and for an occasional Hollywood producer they do much harm to the body of Christ in general. If only people would accept that the Bible was written by man with a certain amount of direction from God then maybe they would stop all these foolish things that put us in a bad light. God did not write the Bible and he certainly didn’t hide messages only for those who dig deep enough to find them. The Bible is an awesome book about Jesus Christ and the plain and clear messages he wants us to learn. The Bible is about God it is not God! The sooner all of us realize that the sooner we can totally concentrate on the messages that Christ meant for us to follow. That is what being a Christian should be all about.
Has the phrase “I am a Christian” lost its meaning in today’s world?
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament. That is one definition out of many.
Here are some of the words in Wikipedia describing a “Christian”:
The term “Christian” is also used adjectivally to describe anything associated with Christianity, or in a proverbial sense “all that is noble, and good, and Christ-like. It is also used as a label to identify people who associate with the cultural aspects of Christianity, irrespective of personal religious beliefs or practices
A wide range of beliefs and practices is found across the world among those who call themselves Christian. There is usually a consensus within a denomination about what defines a Christian, but often little agreement among members of different denominations on a common definition of “Christianity.”
So to be a Christian means many different things to different people. To many in the U.S. being a Christian means that we totally support our country and all that it stands for, or at least what we perceive it stands for. But defining Christianity separate from Jesus Christ can be a damaging thing. For instance, the Klu Klux Klan during the 1930 and even up to today claim to be a Christian organization who believe in the purity of the races. They cite verses from the Bible (mainly the Old Testament) to back up their stand.
A recent poll showed that a good majority of the citizens of this country think that the U.S. is a Christian nation and that God has a special love for us that he doesn’t for other countries. They believe that every war we enter into that God is on our side and against our enemies. The common mantra that a real Christian in the U.S. idolizes four things: God, Guns, Guts, and Country (not particularly in that order).
Of course Jesus had other words about this. He told us that all of God’s children are special to him. He also told us to keep a very fine distinction between God and the sectarian governments of this earth (ie. pay to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God”s). When Jesus told us to love one another he did not limit that to only citizens of the country where you reside. If we follow Jesus’ words then we mourn the death of that child who dies every three seconds due to starvation or inadequate drinking water somewhere in the world the same as if he/she were a member of our own family. In a sense he is as we are all children of God. That to me is what being a Christian is all about.
So, to wrap this up being a Christian means many different things to different people. I didn’t begin to cover the vast differences between Christian denominations in the world today. Those beliefs are so vastly different to be almost comical if they weren’t so tragic. The term “Christian” as been diluted to such a degree that it is almost without meaning in today’s world. For that reason I don’t necessarily call myself a Christian anymore but instead call myself a disciple/follower of Jesus Christ.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42769004/ns/travel-destination_travel/
The above article is about the ten most beautiful churches in the world. Since I take my life lessons from Jesus I went to his words to find his opinion about building monoliths to God. I did not see anything that remotely suggested that God wants us to spend massive amounts of our resources in monuments to Him. Quite the opposite appears to be true.
Building massive churches is probably in reality much more of a human power type thing. The Popes, various affluent Christian, and even very popular Evangelists in todays word, wanted to leave a legacy of their time on earth. To do that they spent church funds that could have been spent for much more Christ centered purposes. If Jesus was about anything he was about
- Preaching good news to the poor.
- Proclaiming freedom for the prisoners
- Recovery of sight for the blind
- Releasing the oppressed
- Proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Luke 4:16-20.
I don’t see anywhere in His words about building monuments to God. To me this is a very misguided concept that started very early in church history and continues through today. If we stuck to the words of Jesus we would all likely be having our Sunday services in abandoned warehouses, parks, foreclosed houses, or at least co-rented spaces shared with others that used them throughout the week. Some say if we don’t build lavish facilities then there will be those that won’t come. If we get people to come for the creature comforts are we really giving them the true message of Jesus? I think not….
This series was about looking at the Bible as a human document. That is, it was written and assembled by humans with different life experiences, viewpoints, and passions. Much of their thoughts and words obviously came from inspiration from God. When I study the Bible I try to understand the reasons why some of the writers might have penned what they did. Of course, I am also a human who has had unique life experiences and passions, part of which surely shaped by what I have studied. What I have said in this series is of my own understanding. But, what I have studied also very likely leaked through in some cases. If I failed to give some credit during these and other posts I apologize.
When we view the Bible as a document written by humans who were to one degree or another inspired by God it takes on a unique shape and understanding. Those who insist that the Bible was, more or less, dropped down from heaven by God himself deprive themselves of this valuable view. Understanding the background and circumstances of the writers helps us to gain a better understand the meanings behind their words. Every word in the Bible was not intended to be taken literally for all the ages. Much of what was written must be understood with first century eyes and then translated into twenty-first century circumstances where appropriate.
I will finish this series by saying again that I am not a trained theologian; I am just a simple guy who has studied the Bible and other related documents and come to some personal understanding about them. One thing I avoid in my posts, and I think I did a pretty good job here, is “theologian speak”. There seems to be a complex multisyllabic word to tag almost all studies of the bible. Although I am familiar with some of them I try to avoid them in my posts.
I hope this round of posts had at least a small amount of value for some of you.
May all the glory go to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Don’t lose your focus on him and him alone.
This is the fifth post on this series about the Bible. If it is not obvious by now I want you to understand that I put my Christianity on Jesus Christ not on a book about him. I will try to keep this brief as it is really a wrap-up of the past posts.
About the Literalists:
This, the fourth post on the Bible centers around where I see some others may have gone astray in regards to their beliefs surrounding the Bible.
This time I am going to go over a short list of things that are somewhat widely accepted by some twenty-first century Christian denominations but of which I basically disagree. Most of these topic titles are from texts of discussions I have had with Christians on various topics. I put them in a special category here because they were so deeply felt by others.
This is a continuation of the last post to finish up some of my fundamental beliefs about the Bible. I have not come to these beliefs on a whim. They are the result of many years of thoughtful prayer and study. I am also not trying to prove anyone wrong. Everyone should come to God in their own ways. So let’s get on with the final four areas of my beliefs on the Bible.
It has been a while since I have done any “deep” posts so this post will start a series on how I view the Bible and how that might differ from some mainline denominations today. The first two post are about how I personally view the Bible and other related Christian text. The third post is about how some of these belief are contrary to how others, mainly evangelicals, view the Bible. I will finish up with some of the things related to the Bible that I feel are the most misguided and in some ways harmful to bringing other to Jesus.
I apologize in advance for the length of some of these posts. I try to keep all my blog posts below five hundred words or so. I have failed to do that in this series. Before I begin I want to again tell you that I am not trying to prove anyone wrong by this series. I am simply reiterating what I believe. But, I do think I have a slight understanding of what Luther might have felt when he went against the Pope and the Catholic Church. I am just one very small insignificant person who happens to disagree with some pretty big Christian denominations today.
One of the things I have heard frequently from the comments on this blog is that others are relieved to see that they are not the only ones to believe things about current day Christianity. I hope this round of discussions helps some in that regard.
Getting started the statement that gets me in the most trouble with some current day Christian denominations is that I believe that the Bible was written by men for men. I have frequently been verbally chastised for those words. Some seem to even believe that I am not a Christian if I believe these words! But I think the reasoning behind these words have a very sound foundation backed up by the words of Jesus. So let’s start there.
I have been getting more questions lately from some in our old church asking why we haven’t been there for such a long time. I got a very heartfelt note in the snail mail today from one of those friends. She said that she really misses my wife and me on Sundays especially in the Bible classes. She mentioned that when I had a disagreement with the pastor on a biblical issue she and her husband tended to agree with me more than the pastor on that issue. She was wondering where we have gone and hoping that we would come back. It is nice to know that some from our old church still miss us six months later.
Since the pastor has evidently chosen not to reveal his actions that resulted in us leaving the congregation, this brings up a serious dilemma for me. I wish all the people there the best and that includes the pastor. Do I take a chance of causing disunity there by telling my friends the truth? It is not my intent to cause dissent in any of the Body of Christ but I also would like them to know that my leaving was at least partially not of my own accord. I don’t harbor any ill will of the pastor who wanted to take away my membership privileges because of our disagreements on biblical interpretations. After all he was just taking a stand, albeit a strict one, on denominational issues. Since I publicly admitted I do not believe in a totally literal and inerrant Bible he felt strongly that I could no longer be one of his official flock. But, I am getting very uncomfortable avoiding telling some of them who ask why we no longer attend. What do I say?
As I have said many times before, it greatly saddens me to see us Christians split over such non-essential things. As long as we hold to the basic tenets of Christianity surely we can come to our own conclusions about some of the other things? Must we always toe the denominational line?
How do I answer my friend who sent the snail mail note today? I just don’t know right now.
The title question came to me from a fellow blogger of the Quaker persuasion. The premise around the question is at the end time will there be more people in heaven or hell? If you answer hell then it appears like satan wins. From an evangelical Christian perspective I’m sure the answer is satan will win. By their very nature evangelicals believe that if you are not a Christian you are going to hell. This, like many things is a very black and white issue for them. Since it is widely known that the majority of people are not Christian then that makes God an instant loser in the battle for humanity.
If you believe in universal salvation as I am tending to these days then you know that God is never a loser at anything. I know Jesus said the words “No one gets to the Father except through me”, but I don’t see where he put a condition of membership on that statement. Did Jesus die for all our sins or just for those who end up calling themselves Christians?
Will Jesus welcome our Muslim, Hindu, and Jewish brothers when they come to the gates of heaven? I personally will not take that power away from him just because others cannot conceive of the possibility. If Jesus wants to allow someone into heaven it is certainly not up to me to tell him otherwise and I do kind of feel he has something up his sleeve in that area.
Remember being a Christian is all about Jesus Christ. Everything else is small stuff.
We Christians seem to like to take ownership of others actions. If a missionary is killed in South American we say that proves that we are suffering and dying for Jesus Christ. Somehow or another that death gets attached to our individual selves as if we were the ones who died.
We just can’t live vicariously through other. We are each responsible for our own actions. The only exception to that is Christ being a redeeming sacrifice for all of us before God that is memorialized today. As I have mentioned in the past I don’t really understand that idea but Jesus made it clear that that was one of the reasons he came to earth. I will take him at his word on that and mourn his crucifixion in my place and, of course, I will celebrate his resurrection on Sunday.
Just because some die in a foreign country trying to promote Christianity does not mean that we are likewise sacrificing for Christ. We must all take up our individual crosses in the name of Jesus. There is certainly an enormous amount of work that needs to be done in this word in His name. He certainly gave us a multitude of possibilities and almost all of them revolve around being our brother’s keeper and loving even our enemies. If you sit back and do nothing you are diluting what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Those are strong words but I feel that must be said.
God gave us free will while we are on this earth and part of that means we are responsible for our actions or inactions.
Why did God go to all the trouble to create the universe? By any standards that was a massive undertaking. I am one who believes in the day age interpretation of the Bible. In the last century or so God has given us the scientific understanding to know that the creation of the universe took millions if not billions of years to complete. Why did he go through all that trouble?
One explanation for God creating the universe and an infinitely small corner of it called the Earth was that he intends it to be a proving ground for what kind of person we choose to be. We all start out on this earth in basically the same conditions; that is we come naked from our mother’s womb. Some of us are fortunate enough to have a caring family and someone who can give us a life that will allow us to live up to our full potential. Many unfortunately are also given a life of day-to-day desperation. But it is up to each of us to decide via our actions just what type of human being we want to be.
One story in the Bible is that some of us become sheep and some of us become goats and in the end times Jesus will come back and separate us into those two categories. I don’t really understand the difference between sheep and goats; I kind of like them both but that is another story. Anyway there are several other stories about how God will come in the end times for the “final” judgment. How many of these stories are just allegory I don’t know but I know when I leave this earth, as all of us must, I will meet my Maker. When he judges me I am absolutely sure he will bring up the words of Jesus to compare what Jesus told me to do verses what I eventually did. Will that judgement make me a sheep or a goat? That seems to be totally up to me. Will the judgment have an effect on whether I am with God or not from that time forward? There are numerous places in the Bible where God seems to put conditions on that happening. There are also a few where St. Paul seems to say otherwise. But in some ways it really doesn’t matter to me. I will spend my life studying Jesus’ words and trying to live my life by them. Whether that gets me in heaven or not is totally up to God; I will not spend much time fretting over that. I will spend the time I have on earth enjoying his creation and living my life by the words of Jesus. I do this because I must; I do this because he is my creator and told me what he expects of me and that is to be my brother’s keeper.
Sundays continue to be a strange time for me. Up until last November I could always be found in a church pew on Sunday morning. At that time I was told by my church of eight years that my views of God no longer aligned with what their denomination expected of members. Instead of going through an inquisition I choose to separate my self from them.
But I must admit that the very restricted and almost solo message of that congregation became somewhat numbing. You can only say “Christ did it all so nothing is expected of us” so many ways. After that you are just repeating the same mantra again and again. To me Christ’s message is so much fuller than that. Being a little gun-shy from this experience I have yet to think about joining another current day Christian sect. There are a couple that are appealing but….
So, here I am on Sunday morning contemplating the words of Jesus Christ on my own. This could be a lonely time for me but I take heart of all the support I get from my like-minded friends in the blogosphere. I know I am not alone in putting the words of Jesus Christ front and center in my life. All the other words in the sacred texts are secondary at best. Jesus has much to teach me even now so I will continue to seek out his messages for how to live while I occupy a space on this earth.
Thanks to all of you out there and God bless you on this beautiful Sunday morning.
At the bottom of this post is a link to a heartfelt post by a convinced Quaker. A convinced Quaker is one who has come from outside the sect. In this person’s case it evidently was from Catholicism. This post struck me deeply as I saw myself in much of Laura’s writing. For those not going to the original post here are a couple of quotes that I want to comment on:
“Hard” was life before I learned about Quakerism. “Hard” was wondering how to handle a violent situation in a compassionate manner and thinking I was the only person in the world who had grappled with such an issue. “Hard” was feeling completely alone amongst friends, unable to shake the conviction that something was wrong with spending hundreds of dollars on entertainment and thinking I was doomed to be a social outcast forever because I felt that way. “Hard” was taking every word that came out of my mouth seriously, really thinking about speaking the truth and speaking kindness, and believing that I was peculiar and alone for being so serious about everything.
“Hard” was trying to live up to the light in me without even knowing that the light was there. Without knowing that others were on the same path as me, that there was a meeting of people who sought the same things I sought, who could comfort and support me in my time of need. Without knowing there was a long, rich tradition of writing about the very questions I had. Without a weekly meeting to be enveloped and nourished in corporate worship. Those days were very hard indeed, and I don’t want to go back to them.
I, like this convinced Quaker, have struggled with some of my feelings about violence in all its forms, extravagant spending on “entertainment” , Christian organizations that spend almost all their resources on themselves, and other such things. It seemed like the Christian organizations I was in for some time were more focused on a future life in heaven than one here or earth. So, to my total disappointment these types of matters did not come up very frequently.
One of the foundational concept of Quakerism is “living up to the light” this comes from the words of Jesus at Matt 5:14-16
“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Quakers believe that everyone has light from God shining in their lives. Some never allow it to even get to the surface but it is there none the less. I have come to be very much aligned with the concept of the light within each of us. It should be our task everyday of our lives to let the Lord’s light shine in our lives so that others can realize what being a Christian is really all about. It is not about hunkering down in our churches waiting for the end. It is about living day-to-day. Living my life in a Christian organization that did not follow through on that very basic concept was indeed a very hard thing.
What a sad day when one religious organization burns a copy of another’s holy documents. This supposedly Christian Reverend did a huge disservice to all of Christiandom. Where is the outrage among the mainline Christian denominations?
Do we really want to start a round of totally “dissing” each others views of God? Sad, sad, sad.
Quran burned at Rev. Terry Jones’ tiny church – Faith & Reason.
As I have mentioned in the recent past I have disassociated myself with the Christian church that I was part of for over nine years. I have always tried to not mention what my religious affiliations were on this blog but now that they are severed I will say it was with a LCMS Lutheran church. The pastor of the church was a regular viewer of this blog and gave several often opposing comments which I welcomed. I thought we had agreed to disagree on some of the secondary issues surrounding our individual faiths. That was fine with me. But then I was given notice that since I had among other things so publicly stated that I believe in the “day age” version of Genesis instead of the seven-day 24 hour version he would be taking my case to the elders to get my communion privileges revoked and therefore effectively removing me from membership! If I had not short circuited the process by voluntarily leaving it this would have resulted in a formal inquisition where I would be asked to disavow these false beliefs.
During our discussions on this topic the statement was made that we cannot each decide what to believe about the church or the Bible. Instead we must all believe what the church leadership tells us is the truth. To do otherwise, I was told, would result in mass confusions. In afterthought it seems very ironic to me that I was chastised for trying to understand the Bible on my own terms, especially by a Lutheran church. After all isn’t that what the founder of the Lutheran church actual did! He dared to go against current church beliefs and especially their practices.
But I have to admit that this type of thing probably goes on in almost all Christian denominations today. If you don’t tow the line and believe what you are told to believe then you are chastised in one form or another. In my studies of different Christian organizations about the only one I have found that does not do this are the Quakers. They basically allow any of their members to believe just about anything they want. I think they go too far in the other direction. There has to be some very basic core beliefs in order to call yourself a Christian. But most denominations today go way beyond that set of core beliefs and instead base their membership qualification more on church tradition and practices than anything else.
So here I am trying to understand the Bible on my own and not rely on someone else to tell me what each verse means. Maybe I should post my 95 theses on my old church’s doors. Who knows what might happen. (ha) I will continue to be a very fervent follower of Jesus Christ but not a member of any particular current day denomination. At least for now.
I am having trouble with my project of comparing what Jesus said to what Paul said. There are several reasons for this difficulty.
This leaves me with some basic questions.
In scanning the current theological thoughts about this topic there seems to be two completely opposite camps. I am trying to come to my own conclusions about this matter but it is hard to not get dragged into one of them. I’m not sure I am really ready to objectively even do this. It seems hard to compare Jesus’ “oranges” to Paul’s “apples”. It seems to me that Paul has latched on to some of the parts of Jesus’ message and totally ignored others. It find it strange that Jesus mentioned “the kingdom of heaven” hundreds of times in the Gospel accounts but that thought never occured once in Paul’s many letters?
Paul seems to be more locked onto the “poor miserable sinner” side of Christ than his side of love for even our enemies. But maybe I am missing some of that? It seems where Paul is a rule maker where Jesus is about love. I can certainly understand Thomas Jefferson’s belief that Paul took Jesus’ simple message and complicated it.
Is the Christian church as it developed with Paul as a primary source really about Jesus Christ? What would Jesus say if he came back today and saw it’s current state? Would he recognize it as following his words or has it become fixated on man’s rules and traditions? I just don’t know.
I am going to keep this post simple and just put out some verses about doing good deeds. This time I am going to also pull up some words from Peter and Paul.
Matthew 5:14-16.
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. NIV
1 Peter 2:11-12
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. NIV
1 Tim 6:17-19
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. NIV
Gal 6:7-11
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand! NIV
There are scores of places in the gospels where Jesus and his disciples gave us this same message so it is very hard for me to understand why some Christian denominations seem to ignore his message and concentrate almost entirely on the forgiveness of sins. Yes Jesus did forgive us our sins but as part of the process he expects us to act like we appreciate it. From the above verses there appears to be consequences for doing otherwise. All of us 24/7 should let the light in our lives reflect Jesus’ teachings so that others can see the Lord through us.
Recently I seem to be asking questions that I was previously very reluctant to consider. I know I am not supposed to test God but I just can’t understand why he has not shown himself more directly in more than 2,000 years? Even according to biblical standards this is probably the longest period of time without a direct and powerful intervention from God.
I know from my abundant studies in this area that these are questions often asked by people who have not yet come to know Christ. They make comments like “I know he was hung on a cross to die about 2,000 years ago and then came back to life, but what has he done lately?”. Many evangelicals say “he told us everything we need to know in the Bible.”
Why, why, why…
With this post I am starting a new category. It is called the Best of the Past. I will be pulling up some of the previous two years posts to look at them again. This one is from October 1, 2009
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Is it possible to know too much about Christian theology. I didn’t used to think so but I am tending to come to that conclusion recently. It seems that the more I study Christian theology/doctrine/dogma the more I see the disharmony in Christ’s church. Because of that I am beginning to wonder if anyone really has it right! To me the most important verses in the Bible are:
Matt 22:36-40 NIV
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied:‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
But, when I study church history and different Christian sects these words seem to get drowned out by things like:
This list could almost go on almost endlessly. We seem to be arguing over everything and mostly ignoring the “important” stuff! Jesus time and again told us we must be like little children if we want to truly follow him. Let’s look at some of the passages where he talks of this:
Matt 18:3-4 NIV
“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Mark 10:14-16 NIV
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Luke 10:21 NIV
“I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
Of course little children wouldn’t know much theology but they get the simple message that God is Love. They don’t lose sight of this the most important thing. I have always thought that knowing church history and its dogma was important to really knowing God but maybe all that stuff is just “stuff” that can drown out the simple truth of God. Maybe the old saying Ignorance is Bliss is really true when it comes to following Jesus on this side of heaven. More on that idea in my next post.
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EpiLog:
Here we are 15 months later and I feel more strongly about this now than I did even then. We Christians have made such a mess of God’s church with all our legalisms, traditions, institutional purity, and such. And the rest of the world has noticed. That is one of the primary reasons for seemingly constant shrinking church attendance. It is time to get back to the main and really only message and that is to just follow Jesus. All this other stuff is just noise getting in the way!!
Happy New Year’s everyone! God has given us another year to show the Lord’s love in our lives. Let’s not waste it!
This will just be a short post from something I have been reading this afternoon. It is an article in the January 2011 issue of Friends Journal – Quaker Thoughts and Life Today. The article is entitled The Meaning of Universalism by Phil H. Gulley. I will be discussing some of the issues he brings up about Universalism in future posts but I just wanted to give you one of the short stories in that article now. I found it comical and ironic at the same time:
It was about a church that decided someone needed to go preach to the Eskimos to go save them because they were lost. So they sent a missionary to the Eskimos, and he preached. When the missionary was done preaching, an Eskimo elder said to him, “Before you leave, let me ask you something. If we had never heard of Jesus and sin, would we have gone to hell when we died?” The missionary replied. “Well, no, of course not if you hadn’t heard.” And the Eskimo said, “Then why did you tell us?”
Are we condemning people who otherwise would not have gone to hell by our brief encounters with other cultures? That is something to think about.
