Category: philosophy/religion topics
I found this article on the Huffington Post and wanted to share it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brandan-robertson/4-teachings-of-jesus-that_b_6343320.html
4 Teachings of Jesus That His Followers (Almost) Never Take Seriously
By Brandan Robertson
Posted: 12/18/2014 4:51 pm EST Updated: 12/18/2014 4:59 pm EST
It's no secret that those of us who claim to follow Jesus Christ consistently fall short of living up to the way of life of our Rabbi. Being a disciple
of Jesus is a lifelong journey towards conforming ourselves to the image and way of life that Jesus taught. However, so often, followers of Jesus choose
to blatantly ignore some of the clearest instruction of our Rabbi and obscure it with vague theology so that we can get off the hook. Other times, followers
of Jesus are taught something explicitly contradictory to the plain words of Jesus and then spend their lives obeying the instruction they received instead
of the commands of Jesus.
However we end up at the place of disobedience, all of us who claim to be followers of Jesus struggle to obey the commands of our Lord. One of the most
transformative periods in my faith was when I took time to re-read the Gospels of the New Testament and get reacquainted with Jesus' himself, in his own
words. As I studied the words of Jesus, I discovered that so much of what he asks of us as his disciples is incredibly clear and yet so much of it was
new to me. I had never heard it in church or Sunday school or actually heard someone teach the exact opposite of the words of Christ. It was during that
season of my life where I took inventory of how I lived and what I believed and aligned to the person and teachings of Christ that my faith was radically
transformed for the better.
Below I have compiled a short list of 4 clear teachings of Jesus that most of us who exist within Evangelicalism have either never heard, refuse to acknowledge,
or believe the exact opposite of. It's my hope that by rereading these teachings of Christ, you will be inspired, like I have been, to return to the Gospels
and begin to reshape your faith and life around the way and teachings of our Master, Jesus. Get ready and buckle up, because most of what Jesus says is
pretty bold and potent. It'll shake up your faith!
1. Jesus, not the Bible, is God's living and active Word that brings life.
"You don't have His word living in you, because you don't believe the One He sent. You study the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them,
yet they testify about Me. And you are not willing to come to Me so that you may have life."- John 5:39-40 HCSB
The Christian life is one that is fundamentally rooted in the reality that Jesus Christ is living and active. He interacts with us on a day to day basis
and desires that we cultivate an intimate relationship with him. The more we commune with the Spirit of Christ, the more life and truth we are exposed
to and are able to comprehend. However, for many Evangelicals, we rely more on the Bible than we do on the living and active Spirit of God within us. We
fear that following the Spirit could lead to confusion and subjectivity and so we root our faith in the Bible. The problem is that a faith that is rooted
in the Scripture alone is not sustainable. It will dry up and wither on the vine. While the Bible is an important and authoritative guide for Christian
faith and practice, it isn't the foundation or center of our faith- Jesus is. And if we truly believe that he is alive, we should also have faith that
communing with him will produce spiritual life within us. He is the living Word that we can ask anything to and expect, in faith, to receive and answer.
Sometimes he will speak through Scripture. Other times he will speak through our friends and family. Other times he will find unique and special ways to
reveal himself to us. But in order to maintain a vibrant and living faith, we must not make the Bible our substitute for communion with the living Word
of God. Studying Scripture is valuable, but nowhere near as valuable as cultivating a day to day relationship with the God incarnate.
2. The only way to enter the Kingdom of Heaven is through DOING the will of God.
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Matthew
7:21 ESV
"An expert in the law stood up to test Him, saying, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?""What is written in the law?" He asked him. "How do
you read it?"He answered: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor
as yourself."You've answered correctly," He told him. "Do this and you will live."- Luke 10: 25-28 HCSB
"We are saved by faith alone, apart from works!" This is a very popular Protestant catch phrase. The doctrine of sola fide (faith alone) was developed by
the Reformers in response to the Roman Catholic Churches corrupted teachings that emerged in the 16th Century teaching that one could gain favor with God
and shave off years in Hell and Purgatory by giving money to the church or doing acts of penance. The intention of the doctrine of faith alone was very
good- to correct the error that our salvation could be earned or that God's grace could be manipulated. But like most doctrines that are formulated in
response to another group's doctrine, it often goes too far. One of the clearest teachings throughout all four Gospel accounts is that the way to enter
the Kingdom of God is through living in obedience to the Law of Christ. Time and time again, Jesus makes very clear statements that condemn those who think
that they will be saved because they believe the right things or do the right religious rituals. Jesus responds to people who believe they are religious
and deserve heaven by saying that their outward religiosity is detestable to God and the only thing God desires is that they would exercise their faith
by obeying the command of God- to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly. (Micah 6:8) Jesus says if anyone claims to be right with God but doesn't serve
the poor, needy, oppressed, marginalized, sick, diseased, and sinful, then they do not have a relationship with God. No matter what they proclaim with
their lips. No matter how religious they may appear. Jesus says those who don't obey will have no part in his Kingdom. He makes very clear that the way
to "inherit eternal life" is through loving God and loving our neighbor. Isn't it astonishing, then, how many Christians today have been taught that salvation
comes through right believing instead of right practice- a message that is fundamentally contrary to the words of Jesus. (And even more to his little brother
James who says, "You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone." James 2:24 ESV)
3. Condemnation isn't Jesus' style.
"I have not come to condemn the world, but to save it." John 3:17 ESV
"Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more."- John 8:11 ESV
Many modern day Evangelical preachers spend a lot of time talking about the kinds of people that God is opposed to and who he condemns. They spend time
talking about how to transition from a position of condemnation before God to a position of Grace through believing the right things about Jesus. They
often talk about those who disagree or live contrary to their understanding of what is "righteous" as those who are under condemnation from God. But what's
funny is that as one examines the teachings and life of Jesus, we find him not only befriending, loving, and affirming some of his societies most despised
and vile people, but chastising the religious leaders who condemned them for their sin. Whether it is Jesus' conversation with Rabbi Niccodemus in John
3 where Christ explains that it is his mission to redeem the world and not to condemn it or the instance where a woman is caught in the act of adultery
and is taken outside to be stoned by the religious officials (as the law required) and Jesus steps in to stop the condemnation and proclaim freedom and
forgiveness to the broken woman, it is clear that Jesus is not in the condemning business. Instead, it seems Christ is in the business of restoring humanity
to the most broken and wicked of people. It seems that his passion is to see the weak, sick, and broken become strong, healthy, and whole in his Kingdom.
It seems that he spends very little time (almost none) telling sinners why they're wrong or speaking words of condemnation over them, but rather practically
loving and extending grace to the most screwed up of individuals. Maybe we Evangelicals, who are known for our condemnation of entire people groups with
whom we disagree, could learn something from Jesus on this point.
4. You're supposed to sacrifice yourself and speak words of blessings for those you disagree with the most.
"Love Your Enemies and Bless Those Who Persecute You" Matthew 5:44 ESV
It seems like every week there is a new major controversy taking place within the Church. Most of the time, the situation revolves around one group of Christians
disagreeing with another and then taking to the internet to write slanderous posts about the other. If it's not infighting, then it is Christians engaging
in culture wars, working to defeat those whom we disagree with politically and socially by painting them as soul-less monsters. But that response is absolutely
contrary to the way of Jesus. Jesus calls his followers to love the people they disagree with most and to speak blessings over them when all we really
want to do is curse them out. No matter what the situation is or what kind of enemy we have, Christians are called to bless the people who hurt us the
most. This includes in theological battles, political disagreements, national wars, and personal conflicts. Christians are called to a radical position
of nonviolence and forgiveness, grace, and even blessing of our enemies. There is no way around it. And when Christians chose to ignore these clear teachings,
our hypocrisy is glaringly obvious to the watching world. Want some proof? Take a couple minutes to watch this clip of the famous Agnostic Comedian, Bill
Maher, talk about Christian's refusal to obey the teaching of Jesus. (Contains explicit language)
Bill Maher nails it! - YouTube frame
Bill Maher nails it! - YouTube frame end
That video may be hard to stomach but Bill Maher is 100% correct. "If you ignore every single thing Jesus commanded you to do, you're not a Christian."
The point of this post is to encourage those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus to reexamine how we are living our lives and practicing our faith.
It is so easy to get so caught up in the flow that we fail to recognize just how far away from shore we have been carried. The words of Jesus are pretty
darn clear, but oftentimes in our zealousness for our faith, we often get pulled away from the basics and eventually end up living in a way that we believe
is honoring to God, but is actually contradictory to everything he has taught us.
In this post, I have offered just four examples. There and hundreds of teachings contained in the 4 Gospels of the New Testament, teachings that, if we
obeyed, would absolutely flip our lives and world upside-down for the glory of God and the good of all people. What the Church as a whole and Evangelicals
in particular desperately need in this age is a return to the plain teachings of Jesus. We need to be willing to set aside out theological debates and
meanderings for a season and focus on simply reading, conforming, and obeying the will of Christ, both as revealed in Scripture and as we are led by his
Spirit. The world is desperately longing to encounter Jesus through us and for far too long we have been giving them a cheap knock off that we have exported
under his name. But it's clear to everyone that what is passing for Christianity today is almost totally divorced from the teachings of Jesus Christ.
My prayer is that we would all turn our faces towards our risen Savior and seek to selflessly follow his commands. I am convinced that the Jesus' way is
the only way that will heal our broken world. I am convinced that the whole earth is groaning as it waits for men and women to take of their crosses and
follow in the way of redemption. I am convinced that when those of us who call ourselves "Christian" re-orient ourselves in Jesus, the power of God will
flow through us in an unprecedented and miraculous way that will bring salvation to the ends of the earth. Oh how I long for that day.
?"Those who aren't following Jesus aren't his followers. It's that simple. Followers follow, and those who don't follow aren't followers. To follow Jesus
means to follow Jesus into a society where justice rules, where love shapes everything. To follow Jesus means to take up his dream and work for it."? Scot
McKnight
This post originally appeared on The Revangelical Blog on Patheos.
The views expressed in this piece are exclusively those of the author and not of any of the organizations that he represents.
You're not worshipping the right way! Only I am worshipping the right way.
Me! Me! Do you hear me? Me! My way is the right way and all you other people
are just doo-doo heads. If you don't agree with me, you're wrong, and the book
says so. Ignore all those other verses that completely negate all the verses I
just pointed out. Ignore the fact that my first point is to say that you shouldn't
just base your belief system on the verses of the bible and then back that up by
pointing out verses of the bible. Ignore all that. No, stop looking over there.
stop reading the bible. Stop it. You're not listening to me. Only I'm right. I've
read the book that millions upon millions of people before me have read and
only I have gotten it right. See how forward thinking I am? I'm even so set in
my ways that I can condemn other people of faith for reading the same book
and translating it differently. Even though I point out in my own article that
Jesus isn't meant to condemn. That's a stupid idea given christian doctrine, but
I managed to find one or two verses that could be twisted into a translation that
supports it. So fuck catholics, am I right?
Fuck, what a sanctimonious ass-hat. Just as a hint, btw, that's how christians
come off to non-christians. You come off as smug and sanctimonious, or just
hypocritical, one of those two.
I like this.
I’ve often time said in these debates, that God isn’t exactly as the people that read the Bible think. That the Bible is an instructional tool, but a guide book.
The stories are helpful in showing how people are.
Jesus, Mohammad, and some of the other profits, were not perfect people by Christian standards by a long shot.
But, these people were the blessed.
Makes you wonder why Christians still read the book of David. Smile.
Good post at this time of year.
Bob, thanks for bringing this article.
Cody, take a look at the writings of people like Bart Campolo, Frank Schaeffer and Michael
Dowd. Of course they're going to say they're right. But if you're honest, some of the more
fundamentalist noise is relatively modern. I think there are probably more Christians who
embody these sayings of Jesus than we might suspect. The narrative I keep getting from
the Daughter now is this is the way her generation does Christianity now. In fact, you or I
can't get very far trying to counter the typical apologetics, or right-wing politics. And, her
Mom is in on it now too.
Setting aside the rationalist atheist head for a minute, the likelihood there was no
historical Jesus, etc., and think with your humanist heart. If this means less abherent
behavior, I'd say it's a good step. Again, I think there are probably more Christians, some
on this site too, who already embody what they're striving for in this article. We just don't
hear from these in the tea party debates, the likes of Dinesh D'Souza and Ravi Zecharias,
or the establishments like the Family Research Council and the now-defunct Exodus
International.
Bob, thanks so much for this article. It very much summarizes my approach to faith and
what being a Christian means to me. It's a lifestyle choice, not a religious conviction.
I was honestly expecting an anti-Jesus post with this one, but this is refreshing. There is a great amount of truth here; I agree with everything. I think it's easy to get wrapped up in the natural man and forget the fundimentals. So often people are so absorbed in the religion they neglect the gospel - and the one - on which it is based. The same can be said for the Bible. Cody is right in that there are indeed glaring contredictions. But there is also context by which we can understand the meaning of the seeming contrediction. And then there is the condemnation. Don't get me started on Christian condemnation. What better way to turn away people than to say everything they do or believe is wrong! Real productive.
All right, I am hoping to stimulate thought, not just randomly ruffle feathers. For fellow
nonbelievers, especially those who consider themselves to be antitheists, this is not meant
to be a "hippie" maxim, as we more humanistic types tend to get accused of. If I was
called double-minded and a heretic when I called myself a Christian, I think I can handle a
bit of pushback by anonymous antitheists on the Internet. But try to look past some of
our mutual biases on this one, I swear it's rooted in rational thought even if it uses
nonrational empathy. To Christians, just entertain this as a thought experiment even if
you hold the "belief gene" hypothesis to be heretical or controversial.
Let us say the "belief gene" turns out to be proven a scientific theory, rather than the
barely hypothesis that it is today. We will then be in the same position we were years ago
before we understood the hormonal connections to different sexualities. So if I do not
express this "belief" tendency, but only experienced religion through culture, isn't it
possible to supportt people of other phenotypes? People who do express this tendency?
We all as human beings experience indirect empathy. You empathize with the sex
trafficked girl and have maybe even sent money as a result, to organizations who help
these people. We boran after slavery was eliminated in this country still indirectly
empathize with the plight of slaves of former eras, as well as the disadvantaged today. I
understand it's often not politically correct or popular uber cool to talk about this, we're so
caught up in claiming how nobody can understand anybody, but that simply is not born
out by cultural anthropology, or the functional MRI scans which show areas that light up in
your brain related to empathy for people you don't even know. People in pictures.
Fictional people, even. I'm a straight man, but can functionally empathize, indrectly so,
with the needs and feelings of other people. A male partner, even a lesbian partner, of a
woman who is giving birth, can functionally empathize through education, understanding,
communication from her, and a whole host of other things.
So, if it's tru a straight person can empathize with gays, and partners can empathize with
the pregnant partner, and a whole host of other things, why can't we nonbelievers
empathize with those who seem to have the "belief" gene, or probably phenotype? I read
this article as a nonChristian who strives to cultivate this higher nature of ourselves, this
ability to indirectly empathize. I read from it that many Christians seem to embody the
characteristics they are striving towards. I did not see Isis, Yahweh, or Bin Laden in this
article. I didn't see Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Exodus International, the illicit handling
of the Rwandan situation, a situation my own Christian wife said "is just awful." No, I saw
my own Wife and daughter in this article, and many other Christians in it as well.
Antitheistic types like Hitchens and Dawkins wholly miss this. But this highly emergent
property of what I call indirect empathy, is what makes us us, in any meaningful way.
Ironically, if some of the fundamentalist Christians are right, I could die and go to hell
defending the honor of quite a few Christians, and empathizing with their plight of being
up there while many of us loved ones are down here being tormented. That would have to
be a truly awful state, in my opinion.
But why should that cause us nonbelievers to knee-jerk? I know I'm probably going off on
a humanistic soap box here, but if we lose indirect empathy for other people with
experiences wholly different from ours, what good are we as humans? Chimpanzees make
tools, babboons make war, bonobonos enjoy frequent polyfidelous sex. But who else can
indirectly empathize like we can? And apparently, we do this better than many of the gods
we create. But while this is a function of the brain, we can also cultivate it. I frequent
many of these religious topics not only to stimulate the minds of some undecided, but to
maintain and cultivate a properly human empathy for believers.
What if we find out there is a belief phenotype? A set of genetic characteristics which are
set in motion by determined and indeterminate factors in the environment? If that is so, I
think I would be brutish, as someone who apparently does not express this "belief
phenotype," to fail to indirectly empathize with the feelings and experiences of other
human beings. For fellow atheists, you and I know we humans are remarkable difference
engines. If you don't yet know what a difference engine is, please look it up. Because we
are pattern-recognizing machines and difference engines, you and I both know that we
can tell the difference between the Christian reconstructionists / Isis / extremists who
seek to undermine the rights and autonomy of other humans, and the types of Christians
who are represented in this article. To Christians, even if you find the idea of a "belief
phenotype" to be an aberration, a heresy, or something else, just please understand that
for some of us at least, it may be an explanation of nonbelief, but not an excuse. It is,
however, an excuse for us to cultivate and exercise our indirect empathy towards you and
your experiences.
Although my appeal is a nonrational appeal to our higher empathetic capabilities, I believe
it can be understood rationally. My appeal may be nonrational, but it is not irrational, aka
against rationality.
I don't have the "gay gene," as it were, the hormones at play in utero that have results
showing up on a functional MRI, but I can through indirect empathy cultivate indirect
empathy to the experiences gay people are enduring, which are in some ways different
from other groups.
A nonbeliever and a believer both, if they express different phenotypes re: belief, can
cultivate indirect empathy towards one another. We atheists are not running around
eating babies and destroying churches, any more than most Christians are running around
bombing things. But we're all human, we all have the ability should we choose to cultivate
it, of expressing indirect empathy to the feelings and experiences of people who are
remarkably different from us. We seem to have more of this ability than many of the gods
we have created. And it's not a hippie idea concocted by sitting around a campfire: it's
what has allowed us to adopt humanistic ideas like gender equality, racial equality, and
abolition of slavery, among many other concepts formerly unknown to us. Baboons aren't
doing this, and chimpanzees, remarkable as they are, are not doing it either.
Obviously my bias here is not just as a nonbeliever, but one with an "Atheist head,
humanist heart," to borrow the phrase from Bart Campolo, the secular humanist chaplain
of UCLA, and former evangelical pastor.
Thanks for posting this, Bob. I appreciate it. Like Blind Guardian, I was anticipating an anti-Christian post, and was pleasantly surprised to see what it really was. It is food for thought, to be sure.
Leo, I'm both curious and confused by your last post. You talk about a belief gene. What is that? I have never heard that term. Are you saying that some are more genetically predisposed to believe in something than others? Interesting concept, if that's indeed what you're driving at.
If the Belief / God gene hypothesis Wikipedia page:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_gene
I wish somebody else, a better writer, I had written my prior post. I feel really strongly
about it, as many other humanists do.
I understand your post Leo, but I’d like to get to the root, or what I believe to be the root.
Scientific study doesn’t always touch ever base, nor prove all. Most of it is exactly that, theory, but have not been proven.
So, if someone came along tomorrow and stated they can prove without a doubt scientifically all the religious nonsense is just that, I’d still be as I am.
Let me give you a suppose.
You talked about us being were on the sexes, and how they relate.
I have no hormonal issues, and am a straight male as I write this. But, tomorrow, I can decide to enjoy sex with another man.
I can do this, because I have free will. No scientific study can examine me and decide, well, because of A and B, he woke up one day and just decided to be bisexual.
If we all believed, and thought as Jesus did, we’d have had no reason to learn why some men were gay.
We’d not have condoned them in the first place, nor preached against them saying they were evil, or whatever.
Jesus saw everyone as Gods child, a human, someone to be loved, respected, and allowed to go his or her own direction as long as that direction wasn’t harming anyone.
A gay couple doesn’t harm me at all. They take nothing from me, nor my life, so if I am a Christian that thought like Jesus, I’d great them in the street, and treat them as equals, not evil.
I believe this was what the article was getting at
Essentially, Jesus "is" a humanist in that regard. He, and by extent his father treat all men as equals and are no respecter of a person's station, gender, ethnicity or orientation. Whether you're a theist, undecided, Atheist or Antitheist, there is always common ground to be found. Our humanity and societal responsibility to care for and empethize with one another are just some of the many ways we are distinguished from other species.
The idea of genetics is an interesting one. Obviously there is factual evidence to support genetic predisposition towards certain facets of life. As a member of the Church of jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints my personal belief is that before our mortal births the limitations our bodies would face - such as blindness - many of the trials we would face and our body's genetic make-up as it were were made known to us. Again this is just my own oppinion. Perhaps we were housed in mortal shells most compatible to our spirits,, or, in the case of gender identification maybe not. Either way the degree genetics plays a part in our actions and personality has always been fascinating to me. Do our genetics diminish our free will?Personally I don't think so. I think regardless of our genetic predisposition, we are responsible for our actions, and capable of battling some of the urges which may be enherent in our biology, such as the desire to kill, rape or simply be violent all over the place.