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.