In all honesty, I’m not quite too sure yet. To me, there are three main phases in a mature, or full appreciation and understanding of who Jesus was and is. There are plenty of records of his existince and most God-centric (or God based) religions accept that he walked on the Earth. Of course we all differ to the nature of his visit. Jesus is either seen as the Messiah, a prophet, or a fraud. Either way, there are lessons to be learned. The depth and ramifications of those lessons vary depending on who you believe him to be, but even the Athiest has something to learn from his teachings. After all, even if he was a fraud, men still follow teachings and the morality of other similar “frauds” or non-Gods. If I quoted Ghandi, Lincoln, Mother Teresa or some insert-their-name-here philosopher, chances are you would nod and say something like, “yeah, that was good, put that on a plaque for my office wall”.
Wait, what about the 3 phases of belief?
Okay, back to that statement. So far I can formulate three stages of “Jesus Acceptance” if you are going to subscribe to the belief that Jesus was God on Earth.
Belief in Jesus – this is the fundamental acceptance of Jesus as the Son of God. It’s a simple statement, but not simplistic in meaning.
Believing Jesus – this second “stage” takes the acceptance of Jesus as the Son of God and adds the recognition and adherence to his recorded teachings.
Understanding Jesus – how did Jesus think and act but more importantly why? This stage is the Christian’s nirvana, the mind is in harmony with the body and your actions make sense and are planned around a central purpose.
I’ll admit that I am past stage one, but seem to be stuck in transit between 2 and 3. Which is not to say that I have an adequate or even acceptable performance as a Stage 2 believer. I still make really dumb decisions and mistakes that are in direct contradiction with Jesus’ teachings. But I firmly believe that the determining factor in fulfilling stage 2 is to make some hefty progress in stage 3. In order to be a more successful doer of Jesus’ teachings, you need to have an understanding as to why you are following his teachings.
I guess a large portion of this website is dedicated to my limbo between knowing what to do as a Christian and understanding why I am doing it. What in life actually deserves my attention and effort? What things are distractions and wastes of time? Are things that I value worth valuing? If Jesus could go on a walk with me and discuss the things he would do differently, were he me, what would they be?
Why I Waste My Time…
I am cognizant of the common (and increasingly popular) view that Chritianity is not only a waste of time, but that it has been the root cause of many social injustices and evils. These objections to Christianity center around issues like women’s rights (abortion, treatment of women as inferior, suffrage), social equality (a history of Christian slave owners, “gay rights”, sexual freedom), religious intolerance (the Crusades, Inquisition, and public factions in the Church) and an overall conflict in what Christians teach but actually do. In one word, we are hypocrites.
How do I respond to these objections? I understand the objections and agree with most of these feelings that are a result of the way “Christians” have handled themselves regarding these issues. But, that’s not Jesus. I’ve heard the response “well they did it in his name, or said Jesus approved!” Well, based on that argument, I will go punch a stranger in the face and tell them I did it with your authority, putting all the guilt on you. Perceived authority versus actual authority is a topic for another day though.
Was there a point up until now?
Yes there was. I am convinced that a majority of non-Christians and Christians never really dive into an exploration of Stage 3. They do not understand Jesus. They can recite scripture and use Jesus’ teachings to support whatever view they have, but in the end they don’t know him.
I want to know him and understand him. Jesus said that a person can only come to the Father (God) if they come through him (Jesus). That was not a statement requiring a specific action or belief.
Jesus is not a gate to go through, the very idea would mean he is stationary and serves the singular purpose of letting us in. Rather, I believe Jesus was saying, if you want to see God I will take you there. I will guide you and show you who God is. I will prepare you for him. To me, anything but that conclusion makes no sense. If God had wanted a door, Jesus could have sacraficed himself WAY before he did and saved himself a lot of agony and stress. Instead, Jesus showed us how to reach God. He gave us something to examine, something to understand (and along the way I think he learned a lot about us too, but again, that’s another topic for another day).
Find Jesus, Find Life
Some days I won’t acknowledge the religous roots of my thoughts. I may not mention God, Jesus, or Christianity in my writings, that doesn’t mean that they weren’t on my mind. This blog is about me and my experiences. It’s not a vessel for preaching or teaching (for the most part). The application for a Christian will always be there.
I’ve thought about it for a long time, and I decided to change the overall tone of After the One, from a tone of instruction to a tone of story telling. I think Jesus told a few stories here and there didn’t he?
If this my words are a paint brush then I want them to paint the widest stroke possible using all the paints on my palette. I guess that makes this site the canvas.
Who is this Man?
In all honesty, I’m not quite too sure yet. To me, there are three main phases in a mature, or full appreciation and understanding of who Jesus was and is. There are plenty of records of his existince and most God-centric (or God based) religions accept that he walked on the Earth. Of course we all differ to the nature of his visit. Jesus is either seen as the Messiah, a prophet, or a fraud. Either way, there are lessons to be learned. The depth and ramifications of those lessons vary depending on who you believe him to be, but even the Athiest has something to learn from his teachings. After all, even if he was a fraud, men still follow teachings and the morality of other similar “frauds” or non-Gods. If I quoted Ghandi, Lincoln, Mother Teresa or some insert-their-name-here philosopher, chances are you would nod and say something like, “yeah, that was good, put that on a plaque for my office wall”.
Wait, what about the 3 phases of belief?
Okay, back to that statement. So far I can formulate three stages of “Jesus Acceptance” if you are going to subscribe to the belief that Jesus was God on Earth.
I’ll admit that I am past stage one, but seem to be stuck in transit between 2 and 3. Which is not to say that I have an adequate or even acceptable performance as a Stage 2 believer. I still make really dumb decisions and mistakes that are in direct contradiction with Jesus’ teachings. But I firmly believe that the determining factor in fulfilling stage 2 is to make some hefty progress in stage 3. In order to be a more successful doer of Jesus’ teachings, you need to have an understanding as to why you are following his teachings.
I guess a large portion of this website is dedicated to my limbo between knowing what to do as a Christian and understanding why I am doing it. What in life actually deserves my attention and effort? What things are distractions and wastes of time? Are things that I value worth valuing? If Jesus could go on a walk with me and discuss the things he would do differently, were he me, what would they be?
Why I Waste My Time…
I am cognizant of the common (and increasingly popular) view that Chritianity is not only a waste of time, but that it has been the root cause of many social injustices and evils. These objections to Christianity center around issues like women’s rights (abortion, treatment of women as inferior, suffrage), social equality (a history of Christian slave owners, “gay rights”, sexual freedom), religious intolerance (the Crusades, Inquisition, and public factions in the Church) and an overall conflict in what Christians teach but actually do. In one word, we are hypocrites.
How do I respond to these objections? I understand the objections and agree with most of these feelings that are a result of the way “Christians” have handled themselves regarding these issues. But, that’s not Jesus. I’ve heard the response “well they did it in his name, or said Jesus approved!” Well, based on that argument, I will go punch a stranger in the face and tell them I did it with your authority, putting all the guilt on you. Perceived authority versus actual authority is a topic for another day though.
Was there a point up until now?
Yes there was. I am convinced that a majority of non-Christians and Christians never really dive into an exploration of Stage 3. They do not understand Jesus. They can recite scripture and use Jesus’ teachings to support whatever view they have, but in the end they don’t know him.
I want to know him and understand him. Jesus said that a person can only come to the Father (God) if they come through him (Jesus). That was not a statement requiring a specific action or belief.
Jesus is not a gate to go through, the very idea would mean he is stationary and serves the singular purpose of letting us in. Rather, I believe Jesus was saying, if you want to see God I will take you there. I will guide you and show you who God is. I will prepare you for him. To me, anything but that conclusion makes no sense. If God had wanted a door, Jesus could have sacraficed himself WAY before he did and saved himself a lot of agony and stress. Instead, Jesus showed us how to reach God. He gave us something to examine, something to understand (and along the way I think he learned a lot about us too, but again, that’s another topic for another day).
Find Jesus, Find Life
Some days I won’t acknowledge the religous roots of my thoughts. I may not mention God, Jesus, or Christianity in my writings, that doesn’t mean that they weren’t on my mind. This blog is about me and my experiences. It’s not a vessel for preaching or teaching (for the most part). The application for a Christian will always be there.
I’ve thought about it for a long time, and I decided to change the overall tone of After the One, from a tone of instruction to a tone of story telling. I think Jesus told a few stories here and there didn’t he?
If this my words are a paint brush then I want them to paint the widest stroke possible using all the paints on my palette. I guess that makes this site the canvas.