Tag Archives: Christ

Jesus the Vegetarian?

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I’m not willing to just sign onto this 100% blindly…too many people have come up with too many wild-seeming theories about Jesus, from him being gay and doing John (or doing Mary Magdalene, for that matter) to being a fan of capitalism…but among the various non-standard theories about Jesus, this one is among the more intriguing and plausible:

Might Jesus have been a vegetarian and against the killing of animals?

Read this story, which Son of Blue hipped me to:

www.huffingtonpost.com/kamran-pasha/was-jesus-a-vegetarian_b_276141.html

Feel free to drop back in and discuss. I don’t have any deep thoughts of my own to post right now, so maybe I can start a discussion/debate amongst us all here.

Christ Before Christianity

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There is a disturbingly common misconception among a lot of folks who are quick to say “praise Jesus” or “in Jesus’ name” who think that the Son of God preached for a few years to establish a religion. Too many people who think that what is laid down as church doctrine came from the mouth of Jesus.

Frankly, there are a lot of people hostile to religion who think the same thing, though I’m gratified to find a fair number of atheists and snarky agnostics who can separate their issues with early Christian church leaders from the teachings of the Christ himself.

Jesus did not establish a religion. Jesus preached that people should turn to God and be obedient to Him. That is, obedient to the underlying spirit of His commandments, which revolve around love, and not so much for the nit-picking of the laws and they way they put people in bondage and encouraged folks to double standards.

Jesus preached against anger and hate and intolerance. He often singled out hypocrisy as one of his biggest pet peeves. Ultimately, what Jesus taught was a spiritual awakening and awareness, and not a religion. After all, he already had a religion: Judaism. He was there to fulfill God the Father’s will and not reinvent the wheel. He was actually trying to tweak that wheel so that it spun true and straight, because it was twisted, pitted, kinked, rusted and otherwise pretty messed up by the time he came around.

True, the New Testament is filled with doctrine and rules and guidelines. Those things that formed the “walls” of the early Christian church, to build upon the foundation that was Jesus and his teachings. I totally understand why the apostles and other early church leaders did that. Keeping people on the right track and preventing heresy around Jesus’ message was important. Fragmenting into cults with personal agendas was something that horrified early church leaders, and rightfully so, because that could have undone everything that they were doing to spread Jesus’ teachings and the good news of the resurrection.

That said, even the early church leaders weren’t tying to establish some rigid doctrine in many cases. Perhaps not even most cases. Many of the things in the New Testament were letters to specific churches and regions, to deal with specific issues and problems they faced. Sometimes, we take a lesson that was meant to point out how easy it is to fall away from the path, and turn it into a rule that everyone must follow…OR ELSE!

Jesus believed in rules and in proper behavior. I don’t deny that. And what he taught was important. But some of what he taught was meant to make people think, not simply to compel them to a certain action or set of rules. I mean, does anyone with any sense really think Jesus was advocating that you rip out your eyes if, for example, you just can’t stop ogling the ladies? Come on, now…

Jesus taught with metaphors and symbols through his parables. He sometimes used hyperbole to make a point. He didn’t write down a doctrine and he didn’t create a church, nor did he command a new church to be created. He set his apostles on the path to create a church of ideas and of good lessons and of reverence to God, but Jesus portrayed himself as a servant as much as a teacher, and he didn’t crave to have people bow and scrape before him. He wasn’t trying to set up himself up as an object of worship but as a gatekeeper, guide, brother, teacher and advocate. He is the messiah and the savior, but he didn’t seek to create Christianity.

He strove to create godliness.

A couple Sundays ago, our pastor preached from the gospel of Mark, if I recall right. Or maybe Matthew. I’m too lazy at the moment frankly, to scour things and remind myself which “M” gospel writer it was or which chapter and verse. But it was the story of the apostles who, after having recently failed miserably at healing and casting out of demons, came to discover that someone outside their circle was casting out demons using Jesus’ name.

They were incensed, and went to Jesus to tell him that they had told the man to stop doing that. Jesus chided them for doing so, reminding them that they man was doing good works, and that “those are not against us are for us.”

Does this sound like a man who wants us to follow a specific church, or a specific religious leader? No. Jesus wanted us to serve and love and embrace God.

Yes, this is the man who also said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, and none shall come to the Father but through me.”

But that doesn’t mean he wanted us to embrace a religion called Christianity. It simply means he knew that God was going to put him at the metaphorical gates of Heaven to determine who was ready and willing to enter.

This is why I reject the idea that only those who claim Jesus’ name officially and directly are saved. Because Jesus was happy to hear about someone who didn’t follow him casting out demons and doing healing in his name. Doing  God’s work.

Yes, I believe that truly embracing the spirit of Jesus’ teachings and recognizing him as one’s savior is an express road to salvation. It’s the short cut, though admittedly a short cut that is riddled with bumps and potholes at times. It’s a better and surer path, but not the only one.

Jesus acknowledged that some out there weren’t his followers, but they were still allies and people to be thanked for doing good. Yes, we will answer to God through Jesus. Yes, we need forgiveness for our sins.

But it isn’t just the Christians getting into heaven, my friends.

And there are a whole mess of Christians who are very much against what Jesus taught, and who will find themselves turned away in the end.

Light Weight

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In various things I’ve been reading on some of the blogs I frequent, and in just assessing myself and my approach to both the physical and the spiritual world, I’ve been thinking a lot about the whole “light of Christ” and “light of God” thing.

That is, as a Christian, I should be a reflection, as much as possible, of my savior and my father in Heaven. Their light, via the Holy Spirit, should shine through me. Ideally, in promoting the gospel, I will be both a beacon to draw people into discussions about faith and salvation, and a lighthouse to help point them in the right direction. Or a candle to help them study something and understand it as it relates to the Word of God.

But it occurs to me that this is a much heavier burden and responsibility than it might at first seem. It’s already daunting enough to try to be the best person I can be and to sometimes stop thinking of my wants so that my duty to God can be carried out.

What is more daunting is to realize that light isn’t always a good thing. We are supposed to be lights for God and Jesus, but sometimes, we don’t illuminate but rather blind people.

Shining a flashlight into a person’s eyes is not generally something that person will desire. It will make them look away, and it might evoke a nasty response if the flashlight is held there long enough. Going overboard and saying too much, too fast to someone about Christianity can be so generally blinding as to make it impossible to see the core truths and foundational things a person needs to start with before they dive deeply into a faith walk.

And, well, the military and special forces police officers sometimes uses flash grenades to stun and disorient people. That’s essentially light as a weapon.

I try to be light in this blog. And I don’t refrain from being snarky and even obnoxious at times. I don’t know that any of that will change any time soon, but I wonder if it must one day. Do the words and attitudes I throw out help to guide people in to learn more?

Or are the words I use (foul or otherwise) actually flash grenades that will do nothing but harm?

I don’t have answers. But it does bear examination.

And, hopefully, personal illumination.

Renewal, Symbolic and Literal

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So, here we are in the post-Easter time of year.

Fewer gray skies. Flowers popping up, in my case some lovely purple and white oblong things along the side of the house—Lord only knows what they’re called, as the former homeowners planted them and I know next to nothing about flora. The lilac tree in our yard has buds that will be leaves and flowers soon. The big-ass trees on our property should be sprouting leaves soon, too. Don’t have to huddle under blankets as much. Don’t have to shovel the house out from under piles of snow.

It’s good. And, it’s a reminder.

On the spiritual side, Christians like myself have just gotten done with celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. There are literal aspects, like the fact I believe he really died and really came back to life and that he died for our sins. There is the symbolic fact that this is also the time of the year that life comes back to the Earth after a time of “death” that we call winter.

Much in the same way that I view the Lord’s Supper, or Communion. I don’t believe that the bread and wine magically turn into bread (or cracker) flavored flesh and the wine (or grape juice) into vino-flavored blood. But at the same time, the breaking of the body and the spilling of the blood of Jesus was a serious thing, and we should view the taking of his symbolic body and blood very seriously and not treat it as some throwaway act we just do for the hell of it.

In this season of symbolism and spiritual renewal, I believe it’s a good time to take stock of where we are, in terms of God and in terms of our daily lives. For my part, I’m going to take some time to reevaluate what I should be doing in my spiritual life, but I am also considering some new paths for my career and the way I support my family.

Spring has sprung, folks, and I would encourage you to not only enjoy the nicer weather and blooming foliage, but also to look at where you are at, what you have gone through recently, and where you are (and where you should) be going.

Triple Play

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I do not believe that God and Jesus are the same entity. I simply don’t. If Jesus was God Himself, just in human form, he couldn’t have died. And therefore there could be no true resurrection. In fact, no true sacrifice at all. And if he were God, avoiding sin would have been a piece of cake.

The reason Jesus matters so much is…well, there are a lot of reasons. But some of the chief among them are that he was the only begotten son of God, and thus had direct communion with God and came out of the starting gate clean. But at the same time, he was human, and could be tempted. He knew what it felt like to be lured by sin, yet he was also able to resist it.

A lot of people get hung up on the idea that God and Jesus are the same being, and that the Holy Spirit is the third aspect of this single being. Catholics are among the biggest bloc in this regard.

It doesn’t wash with me. I know things of Heaven are supposed to be out of the realm of true understanding by anyone still stuck on this Earth who wasn’t named Jesus but still, it doesn’t seem that there would be any point in God and Jesus being the same being.

And so, I don’t buy into the Trinity concept, at least not in that regard. Yes, there is a Trinity, but I see it like this: God the Father is the ultimate authority and power. Jesus is his right-hand man, so to speak, as well as being his son and heir to all that is God’s. The Holy Spirit, I believe, is an entity with a distinct personality and purpose to guide and edify us, but is a being that is generate as a result of God’s spirit being in humans to a small degree.

The three of them serve important roles, but they are not the same being, and ultimately, I believe that Jesus and the Holy Ghost answer to God.

This is important, I think, because each is to be respected and approached in different ways. Appreciated and thanked for different reasons. Leaned on more in one case and less in another. We need all three of them.

But they ain’t the same being.

Born Again

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I’ve said it before and I guess I might as well say it again:

I don’t see how all of Jesus’ core people, his apostles and several others in or near the inner circle, would have carried on after his death unless he really rose from the dead.

I’d be pretty demoralized. Or I’d feel betrayed that he died when he professed to be God’s son. I’d certainly be scared shitless that I might be one of the next folks flogged and crucified if I kept Jesus’ cause alive. I’d certainly want to protect my family from harm, as well as my own skin.

And yet 11 men out his 12 carried on. All of his surviving apostles not only continued to preach what he told them to, but preached that he rose from the dead.

This is not sane behavior. And the idea that Jesus had 11 loyal-as-hell devoted people around him that were that crazy and people still followed him in droves makes no human sense. Human behavior hasn’t changed much in 2,000 years.

They carried on because their Lord lived. Despite being crucified and shoved into a tomb, he rose three days later. He walked among them for a while thereafter before rising into Heaven.

So in these last few minutes of Easter Sunday, that’s what I want to leave you with. The reminder that people don’t generally act against their self-interests and survival. Certainly not a group of 11 at the same time and for the remainder of their lives.

The Lord is risen. Jesus lives. And he sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven.

Hallelujah folks.

Do As They Say, But…

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So, today we’re going to talk about one of the things that most pisses me off in religious circles: Hypocrisy.

I got into it a bit recently with another blogger about how he “wondered about the souls” of people who would vote for Barack Obama, particularly if they knew he had been against a bill that would have guaranteed medical care for fetuses that survived the process of late-term abortions. What got me mad wasn’t that he was troubled by the practice of late-term abortions (which are pretty freaking rare, by the way)…because frankly, I’m not really a big fan of abortion either, though I stand by a woman’s right to choose. I wasn’t troubled that he thought this particular decision by Obama was perhaps morally wrong. I wasn’t even bothered that much by the fact he is firmly in that McCain-Palin is good and their opponents are evil camp, because I expected it.

What cheesed me off was when I point out to him that plenty of right-leaning politicians have made decisions related to the environment that allow toxic crap to be spewed out and cause all sort of health-related harm, included lethal cancers in children and their families, and in larger numbers than are affected by late-term abortions. He basically brushed me off with a comment that environmental controls are bullshit and I was being a fearmonger about bringing up fantasy scenarios about the environment while ignoring the plight of the unborn.

That pisses me off because I wasn’t ignoring the plight of the unborn but pointing out that all politicians have stains, and many of them have at least one pretty severe stain (if not many) in their pasts. I was pointing out that it’s easy to focus on an issue you feel close to and ignore the fact that people you support have done things equally harmful in areas you don’t consider valid. I was pointing to hypocrisy.

And the hypocrisy point was reinforced for me today at church when my pastor preached from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 23, verses 1-12:

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.  “Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’ But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

What really got me about that passage from Matthew was this part:

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

In other words, do as they say, but for God’s sake, do not do what they are doing.

It is interesting, because it is so close to that comment so many of us have gotten from our parents and/or say to our own children: “Do as I say, not as I do.”

That’s an important sentiment. It is not, however, a hypocritical one in many cases. It is a often recognition by the person saying it that they know they are doing wrong, and they want the person they are chastising to be a better person. There is a lot of positive value to that.

Likewise, when Jesus told his disciples and others gathered around him to listen to the words of the Pharisees and scribes, but not to emulate them, he was giving good advice. The Jewish church was teaching things according to God’s will, and those teaching were valuable. But at the same time, many of the priests and others in the temples and synagogues were dirty and sinful to the extreme. They were full of themselves and not full of the spirit of God.

How does that apply today? For you? Simple: There’s a good chance that what folks might tell you from the pulpit or sometimes even from religious blogs has at least a kernel of truth or goodness to it, but try to focus on the real message and on the Word of God, and not on the person giving you the message.

The blogger I argued with was right that we should question Obama’s judgment and motives on that legislative decision. But where he was wrong was to suggest that somehow supporting Obama (especially if you knew about that decision) was something that put your salvation in jeopardy. Hell, it wasn’t even appropriate for him to suggest that Obama was evil for that one decision. That blogger had an agenda, and a perfectly good respectable message about considering the sanctity of life was utterly corrupted as he carried out an agenda instead of trying to raise awareness.

In churches, preachers sometimes preach from their own motivations and beliefs and let that cloud their sermons. They also might act in ways that are counter to what they preach. That doesn’t mean what they have preached is wrong. But it might be skewed. It is incumbent upon us to be in the Word of God ourselves, and to use our brains, to sort out the message from the messenger.

Because the words given to us by those who are in religious circles might be good ones, but the people themselves might be hypocrites. And the worst hypocrites sometimes twist those good words to foul purposes.

Don’t be led by men. Be led by prayer, by the Word of God, by Jesus, by the Holy Spirit. You may still get it wrong or misinterpret or misstep, but at least when you do, it will have been because you made a mistake or got lax. But if you just let people force-feed you your dogma, and don’t ever question the value of the source, you are letting God down. Connect to Heaven, not to earthly agendas. Get in touch with your soul, and not other people’s prejudices.

Cornerstones and Cribs by Miz Pink

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What I’m really gonna talk about today is foundations and nurseries, really (hey, I’m pregnant and about to pop any day now…kid related stuff is consuming my brain and everything is in kid metaphors these days for me). But “foundations and nuseries” didn’t have the alliteration kick I was lookin for, so “cornerstones and cribs it is”!

So what the hecky-hoo am I blabbing about anyway?

It’s just the way I’m seeing things these days. We need firm foundations in our lives if we’re going to be worth a lick ‘o salt. If what we do is gonna matter, we have to base it on something strong. If we plan to stand for something, we have to have something firm to stand on.

I’ve had two other kids before the upcoming one. Mini Pink #1 and Mini Pink #2 didn’t not come into the world without a nursery waiting for them. The nursery might not have been quite as together as I wanted it to be, but it was there. There were onesies and diapers and blankets and someplace where they would be able to sleep. Even with the first husband, who I didn’t get along with from pretty much the moment after we got hitched, we had some kind of nursery ready for Mini Pink #1. And Sir Pink and I were pretty well on top of things for Mini Pink #2. This time, we’re scary ready, with mobiles and monitors and all sorts of doo-dads and a nice neutral color for the nursery since we are still going for the surprise factor on Mini Pink #3’s gender. A new life was coming into the world, and it needed a good start with all the basics in place at the very lease.

For something as important as your life, your legacy, your stands on major issues, your philopsophical outlook on life, how you treat people, what kind of work you will pursue…doesn’t it make sense to be prepared?

For the building that is your life, you need a strong cornerstone but most importantly a good foundation. And this is something Jesus told us quite clearly:

The Wise and Foolish Builders 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 7, verses 24-27)

Far as I’m concerned, there is no better foundation to build on than God and Jesus.

A shame that so many people who call themselves Christians don’t really build on that foundation, and are willing to spread lies, spew hate and do violence all while telling us they do it for God.

Jesus the Grifter

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So, it was brought to my attention recently through the comment thread at another blog that Jesus was the ultimate con-man.

Imagine my surprise. Well, that’s it. I’m going to stop doing this blog and renounce Jesus.

Or not.

Look, I understand a lot of folks don’t buy into Jesus’ divinity. But as much as I can see how they come to their views, I find the notion that Jesus was a kook—who gathered around himself 12 easily led automatons who mass-hallucinated his return from the dead—far, far more believable than Jesus as con-man.

But hey, let’s entertain the notion for a moment. For Jesus to have been the ultimate con-man, here’s what he had to pull off (mind you, this mixes the skills sets of a grandmaster stage magician, con artist, orator, community organizer and master manipulator):

  • Jesus had to convince not only his followers, but also a priesthood and government (both of which were predisposed to think him a fraud), that he could cure obvious ailments (blindness, leprosy and paralysis).
  • He had to convince his immediate followers that he was able to calm storms in pretty much an instant, as well as cause food to multiply.
  • He had to convince a lot of Hebrews that he was the messiah and that a healer and teacher would be the messiah, at a time when the kind of messiah people wanted was a leg-breaker and sword-swinger who would get rid of the Romans.
  • He had to survive a brutal beating after being condemned to death but before being crucified, without once giving into the temptation to save himself possibly by recanting the notion that he had declared himself the son of God.
  • He had to fake his death on the cross, arrange to be buried alive, and then be spirited away before he died wrapped up in his tomb.
  • He had to convince his apostles that he could walk through a wall, after they thought he was dead, and perform other tricks and convince them they were real miracles.
  • He had to fake his ascension into heaven.
  • He had to do all of this so convincingly that his remaining 11 apostles would risk their lives for years to preach that he was the risen son of God.

Wow!

That’s a lot of risk for a guy to go through for a con, don’t you think? And pretty hard to pull all that off without slipping up over a three-year period. And let’s see, for all that effort and risk to life and limb, his ultimate goal was, um…hold on…whoa…yeah.

Folks, the only reason to pull off a deliberate con that elaborate is to get something fantastic out of the deal. Power. Money. Prestige.

By being dead, Jesus couldn’t enjoy any of those things. And if he was “fake dead,” then how was he profiting or going to cash in? From the loads of money that the early church was raking in? Oh, that’s right, the early church was mostly struggling not to get wiped out by the Romans and the Jews, and it wasn’t anywhere near the fabulously wealthy thing we see with Protestant mega-churches and the Roman-Catholic Vatican.

Yeah, ultimate con-man indeed.

Don’t be fooled folks. If you want to believe Jesus was a nut (rude, but I’ll forgive you) or that he didn’t exist (doubtful, given the historical record), fine.

But con-man?

Give me a break. It sounds good as a soundbite from a non-believer and it might sound good to another non-believer who doesn’t bother to think things through.

Me, I’m not conned.

(Image: “Christ in Profile” by Georges Rouault)

It’s Just a Crucifixion

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OK, I’m probably already on shaky ground with the headline for this post, because saying “it’s just a crucifixion” is kind of like saying, “sure, that woman was raped and tortured, but at least they didn’t damage her face.” Just bear with me. I have a point, truly, and it might even be a good one.

So, this morning I was catching up with my main blogs, and saw this post at Deus Ex Malcontent. (The original MSNBC story on the controversy is here, and I’ll copy past it in the comments after I post this in case the link should change later.)

First off, I felt I had to produce a valid excuse to use that crucified frog image to your left, because it’s just so freaking weird and absurd, but as it turns out, it has inspired a real meat-and-potatoes topic for today.

Second off, it’s just a crucifixion, folks.

If Elmer Fudd runs his finger across his throat with a “hhrrrrkkkkktt” sound to threaten Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck, do we get up in arms about how it disrespects people who end up getting Columbian neckties? Is every overblown scene of someone being zapped to hell in the electric chair (whether in a drama or a cheesy horror flick) an insult to those families who have had loved ones executed that way?

Crucifixion was a terrible and cruel form of execution, let there be no doubt. I said as much in my post What Jesus Endured. But it was a form of execution that was practiced on tons of other folks prior to Jesus, and after him as well. That Christians chose to pick a symbol of Christ’s crucifixion as the major symbol of the faith is all well and good, but Jesus wasn’t the only person to be nailed to a tree wearing only a loincloth. The people who built up the institutions around our faith in Jesus picked an image that was very stark and intense, but also one that could be easily misused. The crescent and star of Islam and the Star of David for Judaism are more abstract and maybe we would have been better served with something more along those lines. Maybe we should move more toward the fish symbol or flying doves or something if we can’t handle the crucifixion being used in art in a less-than-flattering manner.

And yes, when someone “mocks” the image of Jesus crucified, it is in many cases an attempt to ridicule or slight Christianity. So what? Even if that’s the case here—and I’m not convinced it is—didn’t Jesus tell us we would catch a lot of shit for following him? Let’s take our hits like grown men and women and move on. Whining and bitching like little babies isn’t going to get us respect and it isn’t going to change attitudes.

In the end, being killed (and how) isn’t what makes Jesus special. What makes him special is how he lived (sinlessly), why he died (for our sins) and how he followed up that death (by rising back to life and ascending to the right hand of the Father).

Moreover, Jesus never asked us to defend him. He doesn’t need to be protected by us. He can handle his own business. He told us to lift him up in glory when we interact with others (or at the very least not deny him) and to be shining lights for him. That means showing Christ-like character, not trying to prevent people from mouthing off about Jesus.