When I was in my early 20s, a Bible teacher by the name of Dianne Kannady posed a rhetorical question that continues to haunt me to this day: "If Jesus was your only source of information about what Christianity should look like, how would you live your life?"
That question has gotten me into a lot of trouble over the years.
Consider the three things that instantly come to mind.
1. Jesus preached nonviolence.
2. Jesus was a faith healer.
3. Jesus challenged the religious fundamentalists of his day.
Take any of these three statements, declare that followers of Jesus should do the same thing today, and somebody's going to get pissed.
Preaching nonviolence may win you accolades in certain circles, but there are an equal number of people who will hate you for it. And who in their right mind would want to attempt a ministry that revolves around the miraculous today? With the exception of people who watch TBN, everybody despises faith-healers -- at least here in America.
It's rare enough to find a person who embodies the values of preaching nonviolence and faith-healing simultaneously, but the real contradiction seems to be between faith-healing and challenging religious fundamentalism, because the kind of certainty that it takes to say to a crippled man "rise up and walk" doesn't lend itself to the kind of nuance that it takes to challenge religious fundamentalism.
Yet, that's exactly what Jesus did.
Take this story for example:
"When Jesus was about to be received up (into heaven), he set out for Jerusalem, bound and determined to get there. So he sent some messengers before him, and the messengers entered a Samaritan village to make things ready for him. But the Samaritans did not receive Jesus, because Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. And when his disciples, James and John, saw what the Samaritans had done, they said to Jesus, "Lord, would you like us to call down fire from heaven and consume them, like Elijah did?"But Jesus turned to them and rebuked them, saying, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of. The Son of Man didn't come to destroy people's lives. He came to save them!" (Luke 9:51-56, rephrased from the King James Version)
Jews and Samaritans despised each other in Jesus' day. Jews said that the proper place to worship was in Jerusalem. Samaritans disagreed. Which is why they weren't jumping for joy at the opportunity of hosting a Jewish rabbi on his way to Jerusalem. The Samaritans had a fundamentalism of their own, which said that if you don't worship at the right holy place, you can't be a true messenger of God.
So they rejected Jesus.
Then there's James and John. Not only were the Samaritans of the wrong people (strike one), and the wrong religion (strike two), they had flat-out rejected Jesus (major strike three). James and John knew that rejecting Jesus is a big no-no, so they must have assumed that Jesus felt the same way about the Samaritans as they did, otherwise why would they imagine that Jesus might go along with their plan to call down fire from heaven and incinerate them?
And notice the way they asked the question, "Do you want us to call down fire from heaven. ... As Elijah did?"
In the Bible that they read -- what Jews today call the Hebrew Scriptures, and what Christians call the Old Testament -- Elijah really did call fire down from heaven to consume his enemies. They weren't making that up. The Bible really does say that! (For the curious, the story is found in 2 Kings Chapter 1.) But the disciples took the story literally, meaning they believed that the story applied to them in their day in the same way that it applied to another people at another time and place.
And Jesus nailed them for it.
Jesus said, "You don't know what kind of spirit you are of."
We see many rejections in this story. The Samaritans rejected Jesus because he worshiped in the "wrong" holy place. The disciples rejected the Samaritans because they rejected Jesus. And Jesus rejected the way his disciples used the Bible to shore up their rejection of the Samaritans.
The disciples read the Bible accurately, but with the wrong spirit. As Jesus said, "The Son of man didn't come to destroy people's lives, but to save them." Is it possible to read the Bible accurately, but with the wrong spirit?
How might people do that today?
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Was Jesus a fundamentalist? I think that this parable answers that question.
(a "tare" is a weed that resembles wheat)
Matthew 13:24 ¶ Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Matthew 13:36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.
37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
To clarify your misgivings, let’s take a look to see who Jesus really is……………….
JOHN 1:1 ~~~~ In the beginning was the Word, [JESUS] and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
JESUS: “I and my Father are one.” ~ John 10:30
JOHN 14:8 ~~~~ Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
JOHN 14 Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.
In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The true Light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
"...they shall call his name EMMANUEL, which being interpreted is, GOD WITH US." --MATTHEW 1:23
JOHN 14 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through JESUS CHRIST.
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made Him known.
Here's a list of Old Testament passages that are either directly quoted or referenced to in the New Testament.
http://www.bible.ca/b-canon-old-testament-quoted-by-jesus-and-apostles.htm
If you click on the link you'll find that most of the Old Testament quotes come from Jesus in the gospels.
If being a "fundamentalist" implies that one believes the scriptures to literally be the "word of God," and that they have authority even in modern times, then we have to conclude that Jesus himself was a fundamentalist by this definition.
The same way I do now. Without Christianity.
I see many people on the Huff Po site posting about others morals and such and saying God will judge you in the end"
But really why would he when soooo many are so eager and willing to do so now.
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I'd be playing "50 Shades of Grey" with the corrupt people in the churches, just like he did.
The only way to read the Bible "accurately" is with the Holy Spirit.
We could not have a modern society if we followed it's words to the letter. That's just the New Testament.
The Old Testament is just too barbaric to be taken seriously at all.
Today, the same thing is taking place. Only it involves the churches of christendom for the most part.
Anytime one brings up Paul's teaching you can see people bristle with contempt.
I always like the story about Paul, where he is riding to his destination by train, and when he reaches his stop, there are women everywhere protesting his teaching on women. They have bullhorns and protest signs, Paul steps off the train and smiles and plainly states "I see you have heard of me",.
Regardless, here's what I believe you overlook...and that's Jesus was Jewish and he railed at how the Jewish clergy had turned their backs on the people and had, instead, sold out to the Roman occupation and become concerned with enriching themselves. The last thing he wanted was a new religion. He wanted to get back to the basics -- the basics of Judaism.
So...here's the main takeaway -- there are Christian clergy and worshippers claiming to speak to and for Jesus and to following in his path. They are as much hypocrites as were the Pharisees -- and probably more so since today's hyprocrites are supposedly Christian. They preach hate and division and many turn their backs on the needy, the poor and the sick. IMO, Christian leaders and clergy need to look inward to see how they've strayed. It's not about faith healing or miracles or fundamentalism or whatever. It's about love, it's about compassion, it's about seeing all people as equal and as children of God. All the rest is a diversion and a corruption.
JEHOVAH gave the nation of Israel the Law, with its many features. Regarding them, the apostle Paul wrote: “They were legal requirements pertaining to the flesh and were imposed until the appointed time to set things straight.” (Hebrews 9:10) When the Law led a remnant of Israelites to accept Jesus as the Messiah, or Christ, it had fulfilled its purpose. Thus, Paul declared: “Christ is the end of the Law.”—Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:19-25; 4:4, 5.----Jesus came to fulfill the Law Covenant and gather a 'remnant' of faithful from Israel. Judaism was abandoned.
The entire Bible has but one theme: The Kingdom under Jesus Christ is the means by which the vindication of God’s sovereignty and the sanctification of His name will be accomplished.—Daniel 2:44; Revelation 11:15.-----This is what it's all about for Jesus.
The first 39 books of the Protestant Bible are about Judaism. The last 27 are about the ways in which Paul created a new religion with Jesus at the center. Jesus never expressed that as his purpose. He had come to retrieve and rehabilitate lost Jews. The Bible emphasizes God at the beginning and Jesus later on.
How exactly do you know he REALLY said that?
No offense or disrespect....but I doubt that you could provide us with alternative sources clearly detailing the teachings of Jesus.
Jaknik: These sentiments are the usual "I, and I, only, have the Truth, and nothing but the Truth!" Yet? Every spokesperson for every sect says the same thing. Well over 33,000 variations and nuances of Christianity, alone, each claiming to have a special conduit to the real Truth. The Truth is that all cannot be correct, but all can be wrong.
"What is Truth?" asked Pilate.