WHY WE PAY ATTENTION TO JESUS

Professor Ted Grimsrud recently published an article by this title and it is worth reading here.  The following are some of my favorite paragraphs that fit the Gnu Xian perspective:

Certainly, the story of Jesus has been twisted and turned, exploited for evil purposes, at times corrupted almost beyond recognition—but somehow sprouts keep shooting up through the rubble, bringing forth flowers, revealing something of the beauty of the original vision of this person who history can’t let go of.

Jesus has become a metaphor for human aspirations. He symbolizes what people want. Some people want sick things. So we get images of Jesus wielding an assault rifle or a picture called “Undefeated” with Jesus the boxer, muscle-bound, leaning back against the ropes in the corner of the ring, his gloves hanging next to him, a satisfied, victorious, post-fight smirk on his face, and a banner labeled "Savior" hanging next to him.

But even skeptics recognize that this super-macho Jesus isn't right. Comedian Bill Maher, in his movie Religulous goes on a 90-minute rant against religion, especially conservative Christianity. But several times he invokes Jesus as evidence on his side in his critique. You Christians are contradicting what Jesus was about, he says.

Historian Jaroslav Pelikan states: “As respect for the organized church has declined, reverence for Jesus has grown. There is more in him than is dreamt of in the philosophy and Christology of the theologians. Now he belongs to the world.” Jesus has escaped the bounds of formal doctrine and top-down church domination.

But what is meant by "Messiah" (Hebrew) or "Christ" (Greek)? Maybe the story becomes more clear if we say that by "Christ" we mean one who truly shows us the possibilities of living as fully humans, healthy and whole. A model, a guide, an empowerer. So Christ is a character in solidarity with humanity, not one who stands over and against humanity.

We pay attention to Jesus because he embodies a lot of what we want to embody ourselves—to be truthful, kind and courageous, to say no to domination and oppression, to be in solidarity with people in need living simply with generosity sharing our resources.

JOHN LENNON - THIRTY YEARS LATER

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Watch at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b7qaSxuZUg

TOTSE - A CHRISTIAN ATHEIST

When I'm short of time to give a full list of descriptors for my religious beliefs, I will often describe myself as a Christian atheist. An oxymoron, I know, but I will explain my reasoning behind such, and the developement of my beliefs.

First off, I was raised Christian, and hardcore Christian at that. At the young age of seven, I was already beginning to lose faith in God and the truth of the Bible. Some of this was due to contradictions in several books I was reading due to my interest in dinosaurs and geography. I was taught the Earth was young and formed by God, while another source of teaching, science, told me the earth was ancient, and that life had been here millions of years; the difference between the two...the scientific source provided reasons to believe what it stated while my Bible simply said it was God's will...a will I was beginning to defy.

Many kids are raised with the idea of Santa Claus, the jolly and kind man who rewards good behavior and punishes bad behavior. I was not raised with this but my brother was, so I saw the contrast in this while I was 8 and he was 6. It already seemed to me that my parents just wanted him to behave, so they told him he gets rewarded for being good. My religion seemed very similar to this; heaven for those who behave, hell for those who dissent. My father was an abusive man so I wasn't too happy with the idea of punishment. My dad told me that he hit me because he loved me and didn't want me to turn out messed up...it still hurt emotionally, and it seemed to be parallel with the idea of an all-loving god who sends the dissenting to Hell. These thoughts created an area in my mind that has forever hated the idea of punishment and set me towards rehabilitation in place of it.

While the next two years I was detatched from the faith, I was still learning a lot about beliefs and humanity in the Bible. My affinity for rehabilitation was just in line with the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament. There was very little talk of punishment, but much optimistic peering into the ability of man to change for the better. I was once again hooked on Christianity, despite having little interest in the Christian god.

Then, at age ten, I considered myself a Christian because I knew the moral teachings and rules quite well and agreed nearly 100% with a great deal of them as I had seem plenty of examples of them making lives improve. The 5 of the 10 commandments dealing with social morals fit directly into life, and the teachings of Christ were so gentle and loving, and most of all forgiving. I loved the idea of forgiveness; it was faith in humanities ability to better itself. To this day, I find no action in all humanity to be more powerful than forgiveness. I found it easy to forgive people for doing things to me that hurt with immense force...mainly my father's abuse and alcoholism...it hurt, yes, but it was forgiven. Soon though, I would feel a betrayel in my mind that would take me 4 years to forgive.

At age 11, my best friend and only confidant was killed by his mother. I was told countless times in my church that God protects those who have faith and guides us through rough times. I prayed so much the next few weeks but felt so lost, I felt no guidance from God. Somehow, I was able to forgive my friend's mom, but not God. At the young age of 11, I began searching the bible for answers. I noticed that a theme of the bible was man's ability to choose. My friend's mother was able to choose this action, despite my will that my friend be safe. It was at this point that I developed the belief that God cannot interfere in our lives to even the slightest extent as it would take away our free will; however, I was scared and angry that my friend had died. I wished my free will away, I wished God had been there, and I cursed God that day and cast him from my goals. The next four years I had a slowly crumbling faith in Christianity as I delved further into science. My love of paleontology, geography, astronomy, physics, biology...it all hit me with a great force, and more and more I discovered that science answered my questions better than the Bible ever had.

I turned sixteen just about two weeks before I realized my faith in God had completely diminished. I still held onto my love for forgivenes, change, honesty, and the main foundations of Christianity...but I hated the religion and its God. I hated Christians, and from this, I hated the religions close to it: Islam and Judaism. I slowly grew to hate all religion and all belief. I became the most religiously offensive person I could. I told jokes about raping Jesus, Muhammed, Allah, God, murdering children, suicide, and generally sick shit. At this point, my count for attempted suicides was nearing 10. Everytime I got near the point of ending it my body went haywire and the vital stab wound would just hit muscle. I have a 4" scar on my stomache from a blade wound I'm guessing missed internal organs by mere fractions of an inch...I have no idea how I possibly missed with such a giant gash. I was thoroughly depressed and attempting serious suicide rather than ploys for attention. Eventually though, I made a cry for help.

In my Algebra class, in front of my sat a person who would change my life. I had known her since seventh grade, but never really got to KNOW her. She laughed at all my jokes except the religious ones, it took me some time to figure out why. She was a devout Christian. Later in the school year we went on a field trip to a theme park...long ass bus ride on the way back. I decided to talk to her about religion. For a 3 hour bus ride, I spilled out to her my life, and her the same to me. She invited me to come to her church sometime. I said I would, and got her screen name so I could talk to her sometime. The next week, Spring Break started. I was becoming seriously depressed again, typing up a suicide letter on my computer when she logged on. I talked to her for almost two hours about completely inane shit, and it cheered me up a great deal. I shut my computer off and went to bed crying. I talked to her off and on for the last month or so of school. Summer began and contact with her pretty much went down the shitter.

About three weeks into summer, I decide to go to her church. There, I met some great people and an awesome pastor. I began to go in regular attendance and absorb a lot of the sermons, but much of it still was blocked by my mind due to my childhood and my friend's death.  Midsummer, however, my mind was fully opened and a lot of my childhood was shot away and replaced with the sermons at this church. I went on a camping trip with the youth group to Ohio, at which point I converted back to Christianity. I was happy with this for awhile, but eventually, my love of science interrupted again.

This time, my dissent from Christianity wasn't based on logic alone however; this time, I was seeing the pain of humanity in full context. My friends were all in constant distress from life, my life was shit except for my friends and this girl who always seemed to be there for me, and I saw no reason for faith. This God was not helping me, I once again reverted back to what I had realized years ago: This God could NOT interfere with our lives, it would violate his gift of free will. With this, I believed all hope for myself was lost: I had gained some of my earlier wisdom back, but not the essential love of forgiveness and change, I couldn't forgive myself.

On the night before my seventeenth birthday, I drove to a school across town and for several hours I was pondering how to commit suicide in a fashion that looked like murder so my friends wouldn't be as hurt as much as if I had given in. Eventually, the only thought that stopped me was the pain the girl who saved my life before would go through at my death. The next day, I went to church and cried a great deal. Over the next month, my attendance there slowly died off as I began to value my freedom over my obligation to appease the people there.

During this period, I lost contact with the girl who had saved my life, twice now. I was depressed for a short period but recovered with my beliefs intact. I loved forgiveness, change, and the basic beliefs of human society being the best it can all for aesthetic reasons. One part was missing though, I had no position on the idea of God. I came to the ultimatum that this God has had no effect on the outcome of my life, and despite their existence in my mind, I would do what I deem correct as it appears to me only my will matters in MY life.

In one day, I ended every one of my friendships in my mind, they were all based on responsibility. I decided which to keep and built these on the basis of respect for humans and decided to let them become responsibilities if deemed worthy of it. One friendship, I didn't deem worthy of even recreating for some time: the girl who had saved my life twice. I heard from several people how she wanted to hear from me and was really missing me. I ignored this for some time. Just recently, I made contact with her again. She's gone through so much I could have helped her with. I love her dearly, and I am in love with her; however, my mistake of letting her slip away from me has ruined my hope of there being a partnership. My only comfort is that she is once again a friend, and that humans still have the ability to change for any means...hope is not lost.

I sit and type before you with beliefs in love, kinship, honestly, fairness, empathy, sympathy, forgiveness, peace, humbleness, honor, respect, and most important of all, faith in humanity; I consider these the pillars of Christianity. My beliefs despite my defiance of the god I believe to exist are why I call myself a Christian Atheist. I claim and worship no god, not even the one I believe to exist, my pantheon consists of zero Gods, a(without)-theist(gods). By all logic, Occam's razor should have deleted this belief that a god exists...but humans aren't logical in the sense of removing emotion. We logically respond to emotion and events however, and that is what I am...a response to knowledge and betrayel. I am a Christian Atheist.

FOLLOWING YESHUA BUT NOT A CHRISTIAN II

Here a few more anecdotes about folks who would rather be known as followers of Jesus rather than as Christians - I think that they qualify as Gnu Christians!
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Labeling myself as a Christian can be dangerous.  So many so-called “Christians” have done so many things that are blatantly un-Christian.  For this reason (and many others), I’m trying to separate myself from this label.  I’m nothing but a follower of Jesus.  That’s it.  I don’t have a political agenda.  I’m not anti homosexual.  I’m not a Republican (or a Democrat for that matter).  I’m pro-choice (only because people do have the God-given right to choose).  I’m not sheltered.  I sin all the time.  I love Jesus more than anything else.  So many Christians have given Jesus a bad name.  When I talk about living like Jesus said and modeled, that doesn’t mean chastising people, judging people, criticizing people, or separating myself from people.  It means the exact opposite: loving people.  If I see someone in need, I try to help them out.  It’s that simple.  I don’t know too many people who would thing this is a bad way to live.
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I remember when one of my colleagues said, “I’m not a Christian anymore. I gave up Christianity in order to follow Jesus.”  I wondered what it would look like if we decided to really follow Jesus. In fact, I wasn’t exactly sure what a fully devoted Christian looked like, or if the world had even seen one in the last few centuries. From my desk at college, it looked like some time back we had stopped living Christianity and just started studying it. The hilarious words of 19th-century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard resonated in my thirsty soul:  “The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole like will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.”  Then I did a little survey, probing Christians about their (mis)conceptions of Jesus. I learned a striking thing from the survey. I asked participants who claimed to be “strong followers of Jesus” whether Jesus spent time with the poor. Nearly 80 percent said yes. Later in the survey, I sneaked in another question. I asked this same group of strong followers whether they spent time with the poor, and less than 2 percent said they did. I learned a powerful lesson: We can admire and worship Jesus without doing what he did. We can applaud what he preached and stood for without caring about the same things. We can adore his cross without taking up ours. I had come to see that the great tragedy in the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not know the poor.
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Being a Christian is about following Jesus. It seems to me, then, that a good barometer of our success would be in how well we follow him. Checking things off a list will never bring us close to Jesus, but actually following him, his teaching, and his example, will.  Jesus said, “I did not come to be served, but to serve” (Matt. 20:28). We are called to be followers of Jesus. A follower, well, follows! So we should be doing the same things Jesus did.  But when we treat our Christianity as a checklist rather than as a relationship we view our relationship with God not as a true relationship but as a list of things we must do or a set of requirements we need to fulfill. We wait for others to take the initiative. We don’t connect with each other away from the church building because it’s not on our list.  If Jesus did not seek to be served by others, why do many of us? Why do we criticize the minister or someone else for not visiting us when we never bothered to pick up the phone or make an appointment to spend time with someone else?  Jesus served others. He added value to the lives of others. The best question we can ask ourselves is not how we can fill a building with people, or how we can get others to do what we want them to do, or how we can make sure the minister “does his job.”  The best question we can ask ourselves, to be a true follower of Jesus, is:  Who can I love right now? And how?  That’s what it means to follow Jesus.
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I look at all that is wrong with the world, and then look at the average Christian and as a result, I want nothing to do with Christianity. It appears Christians would rather spend their time arguing and debating theology than helping the poor and homeless, and would rather drive Hummers and build huge church buildings than drill wells in Africa or feed orphans. I don't think that Jesus would be a “Christian” if Jesus were alive today.  There is a YouTube video where a secular rock artist posted his video about this very thing. The artist is very angry. The video and song lyrics show Christians going to church and pastors preaching sermons, all the while ignoring the hungry and needy that are all around them. The basic message of the song is "Christians need to stop praying and preaching and building huge cathedrals for themselves, and start doing something that actually helps!"  After I watched the video, I had to think that there is a special place in hell for Christians.
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Let's remember, Jesus/Yeshua was not a Christian then, and probably would not be one now.......

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY



FOLLOWING YESHUA BUT NOT A CHRISTIAN

Some of the upcoming posts are going to be "testimonies" from folks who have proclaimed that they would rather be identified as followers of Jesus rather than as Christians.  A recent and fairly notable statement was made by Anne Rice.  Rice is an author of note, and the Digital Journal said this about her:  "Rice, 68, probably best known for her novels 'Interview With a Vampire' and the books of her 'Beauty Trilogy', had been raised as a Catholic but had rejected the church as an adult, becoming an atheist instead. However, in 2008, she published a memoir entitled "Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession," in which she made clear that she had returned to her original faith in recent years."

Her statement earlier this year was short and to the point:

"For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being 'Christian' or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to 'belong' to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else."

 "In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of ... Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen."

After her announcement, Christianity Today did an interview with her talking about following Christ without Christianity.  It is worth your time to read through the transcript because I think that in many ways, Rice is a Gnu Christian.

SO WHAT IS A GNU CHRISTIAN ANYWAY?

Good question.  And since it appears as though no one has claimed any of the Gnu Christian domains, we have the opportunity to define Gnu Christians right here!  So, this will take a while, but let's start with this thought - Gnu Christians are Humanists who are guided, challenged and inspired by the teachings attributed to Yeshua.  Since Yeshua apparently never wrote anything but rather taught in the typical rabbinical oral tradition, we must look to what others wrote about his teachings.  Consideration should be given to all of the writings to include not only the canonized new testament but the other books that refer to Yeshua's teachings.  Because no one reads the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament in a "flat" manner ascribing equal importance to each verse, we too must establish what we believe are the most fundamental teachings of Yeshua such that indeed we can be "fundamentalists."

For me, Matthew 25, verses 34-40, are the basis for being a Gnu Christian.  This is perhaps the only time that Yeshua speaks about how everyone will be judged.  He does not talk about what words you spoke, about what creeds you affirmed, and so on, but rather how you treated "the other."  He teaches that the spirit of G_d lives in everyone, and thus we should feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and by extension to today's world, welcome our gay brothers and sisters into our homes, dine with those who think, look or act differently than we do, and perhaps most importantly, befriend those who consider us their enemies.

If this sounds like a good starting place, join in as we define Gnu Christianity.

GIVE THE RABBI SOME PROPS

You probably noted the reference to Yeshua Ben Yosef and may have wondered "what the heck?"  If you clicked on the link, you read that this is the actual name of the person generally referred to as Jesus.  From the Nazarene Way: 

"Yeshua is the original Aramaic proper name for Jesus the Nazarene, who lived from about 6 B.C.E. to 27 C.E. (A.D.)  The word "Jesus" is actually a mis-transliteration of a Greek mis-transliteration. It is most proper to call Him Yeshua. It was indeed his proper name, given to him by his parents, and only in Hebrew does this name have any meaning. In Hebrew Yeshua means both "Salvation," and the concatenated form of Yahoshua, is "Lord who is Salvation." The name Jesus has no intrinsic meaning in English whatsoever.  The first letter in the name Yeshua ("Jesus") is the yod. Yod represents the "Y" sound in Hebrew. Many names in the Bible that begin with yod are mispronounced by English speakers because the yod in these names was transliterated in English Bibles with the letter "J" rather than "Y". This came about because in early English the letter "J" was pronounced the way we pronounce "Y" today. 

Today's tradition of pronouncing His completely hellenized name as "Jesus" has indeed obscured His true name, "Yeshua," and has shifted its perceived meaning much like most of His original teachings.  Even His name, it would seem, became a part of this understanding. The name Jesus or Jesus Christ is often used in everything from idle conversation, to bumper stickers and jewelry, to enforcing false teachings, to justifying wars and political agendas, and is even used as a profanity. The name Yeshua however, has remained pure and holy, known and used only by those who would uphold His name and teachings in the highest regard and thus reserving His holy name for use only in spiritual matters and the most humbled and sincere of prayer and obeisances."

To which this Gnu Christian says "Amen."  So, there will probably be times when the name Jesus will be used and times when Yeshua is used, but it should be understood that his name is Yeshua.



JOIN THE CONVERSATION

This first entry is simply an invitation to participate by listening, responding, suggesting websites or other relevant resources - whatever you believe is appropriate for this discussion.