I can't speak for all writers, but I can say I tend to be thin-skinned. Although I strive for healthier practice, I still often hear the one critical voice standing in an approving crowd. And when you write things that lovingly but honestly ask hard questions about religious beliefs and practices, there may, in fact, be more than one critical voice out there. Just ask Brian McLaren, or, of late, Rob Bell.
When you reject one idea of Jesus to suggest another one that seems more authentic to you, some people take it personally.
Of the criticisms I've been getting about my book The Other Jesus (and I'm not wading through anything like the abuse that Mr. Bell and Mr. McLaren face), the one I take most seriously is the accusation that I've just rejected an angry Jesus built by frightened people, and replaced him with a peace-y, justice-y Jesus of my own creation. I know we are prone to such things; Albert Schweitzer opined that we tend to find the Jesus we are looking for.
It's probably still true. Although I've been hard pressed to find anything in scripture or the Christian tradition that suggests lower taxes are an absolute value, I know a lot of Christians who think Jesus would support them religiously, since they do. And although I wasn't a very Christian-y person for most of my adult life, if anyone had asked me during those years who Jesus was, I'd have told them that he was probably equal parts Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Dorothy Day, because I aspired (and aspire) to be a peace-y, justice-y person, even if I was a largely secular one.
That innate tendency toward finding what we're already looking for is why now, since returning to a faith that saved my life, I try to listen, not just talk.
It's why I try to be aware of my own filters and desires and read scripture and tradition as honestly as I can to see what new things God has to teach me.
One of the things I found soul-killing about the tradition I was raised in was the insistence that Christian faith was about unswerving belief that could not accommodate questions or disagreement.
And one of the things I have found life-giving is the idea that God is always doing a new thing, and that, as the Reformed tradition would have it, the Church is always reforming to try to get on board with that new thing God is doing.
I'm pretty confident that now, in my own life, The Other Jesus is the Jesus I am supposed to be following instead of the Angry Damnation Jesus. There may, in fact, be another Other Jesus out there -- I don't claim to have answers so much as questions -- but seeking the identity of Jesus through the Bible and in the tradition, I find that these days Jesus looks surprisingly like -- well, Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Dorothy Day.
Like them, Jesus loved so much he was willing to live and die for the poor, the broken-hearted, the castaway, and all the rest of us schmucks.
Like them, Jesus was a spiritual leader whose beliefs led him to feed, comfort, heal, and speak out for justice.
Like them, Jesus was a person who rejected the earthly values of wealth, power, and possession for the heavenly values of compassion, prayer, and hope.
I want to be like this Other Jesus, but not because he looks anything like what I see looking out of the mirror.
I want to be like him because I see him peering out of the Bible and the Christian tradition.
And that is the way it ought to be.
Greg Garrett: Seeking The Other Jesus
Love, Hope, and "The Other Jesus": An Interview with Greg Garrett
Rob Bell's intervention in the often ugly world of American ...
Yet, so few have read the "red letters" of the KJV of the New Testament since they learned how to read and study.
It is like their ultra EGO was right. Instead of reading them, 40 minute exercise, and being able to speak about the truth of what the WORD and CHRIST says.
Me, I had to become a Raja Yogi to find the time and to analyse what GOD said in the body of Christ
Nothing about the absolute Church teach of Jesus at all.
What new thing is God doing exactly? Please explain.
Without a loving Jesus/God/Holy Spirit, why serve any powerful imagery/thought/invention? It does not make any sense. There is so many humans born without the capability of rational thought due to brain issues, mental illness, and other numerous conditions which afflict the human race. How can they be a part of a rational plan which makes them make a decision to "accept a god"?
I cannot and will not ever to back to the "angry" model of God/Jesus. It is not rational, not compassionate, and mostly, it promotes violence against other humans.
Personally, I like some of the visions of science fiction where human beings emerge as light when they finally arrive at some level of enlightenment.
I know I will be corrected on some of these thoughts, but, they are expressed in a sincere manner.
It is essentially self behavior modification.
And absolutely nothing about the Old Testament: An Eye for an Eye which seems to be credited for
Philippians 2:3-4
2 Kings 18:27
Didn't Ricky Bobby, in a way, say the same thing? He would only refer to Jesus as the "baby Jesus" because the older Jesus scared him.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. (John 10:1)
Man has always created gods in many shapes and forms Baal was common at the time.
Galations 4:8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
2 Kings 19:18 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.