Meet Jesus. He visits often and speaks to me. Sometimes I don't fully understand what he's saying, but that's my problem, not his. He's friendly, caring, and hard-working. He's my neighbor's Latino gardener.
Yeah, that's not quite right, is it? It's just a bit of humor. But when we start really asking the question, "Who is Jesus?", we can start to run into real problems if we're not careful.
Who is Jesus? Jesus is the Son of God, one of God's spirit children. He is brother to Lucifer, the brother who went bad. God, of course, is one of innumerable Gods, and it is only natural that He would have multiple children, including Jesus. Jesus's death on the cross was not sufficient to actually save completely, but His ultimate goal is to save us through that death and our good works so that we, too, can become gods by our own right. Now, I realize that this is not in accordance with everything you find in your Bible, but that's because your Bible has been influenced over the centuries to stray from the truth, so obviously this truth about who Jesus is will not align with the errors in your Bible. We believe in Jesus and trust Him for our salvation. How could you possibly say that Mormons are not saved?
Who is Jesus? Jesus is a man born over 2,000 years ago. He is the best man ever born. He is not only the son of God; he is a god himself. Now, be careful with that, because he also identified himself as the son of Man. The conclusion that he was God's son was not his own; other people said it. Some have claimed that he was God Himself, but that isn't true. He prayed to God, so he cannot be God and pray to God. He is at the right hand of God, so clearly he cannot be God. In John 1 it identifies him as "the Word" and says he was with God, so He can't be God. When the rich young ruler referred to him as "good", he denied that he was God by saying, "Only God is good." No, no, he was not God in the sense of "God Almighty". He was a god in the sense like Satan is called "the god of this world" or powerful people were referred to as "gods". Jesus was the best man ever born, a powerful man, blessed by God, and a god in that sense. We hold that salvation is possible only through Christ’s ransom sacrifice along with repentance and good works in the name of Jehovah. We believe in Jesus and trust Him for our salvation. How could you possibly say that Jehovah's Witnesses are not saved?
Who is Jesus? Jesus came to show us the way. He is our savior. He is the spiritual God who took on human flesh to show us true Christ Consciousness. Through this consciousness we are saved. Now, we know that you have this quaint story about Him "dying on the cross" and all, but since Jesus was actually God in the flesh, He couldn't actually die, now, could He? He simply released Himself from the lie of "death" as He did from the lie of sickness and all other sin-based errors. He didn't "die on the cross" to "pay for your sin" because sin is simply a false understanding of the Divine Mind (which Jesus came to correct) and doesn't actually exist. We believe in Jesus and trust Him for our salvation. How could you possibly say that Christian Scientists are not saved?
I could go on, but perhaps you're getting the point. It's actually fairly easy to say, "We believe in Jesus and trust Him for our salvation." It's fairly easy to even mean it wholeheartedly. And it's pretty easy to then claim "We believe what you believe; we're saved by grace through faith in Christ!" Of course, if you try to start asking questions like "What do you mean by 'grace'?" or "How would you define 'faith'?" or "Who is Jesus to you?" ... well, now you're just being narrow-minded and judgmental! In fact, you're probably one of those pharisaical fundies, aren't you? So, really, what makes you think you're saved, you're so smart?!
5 comments:
Would it be okay to point out one thing that Jesus said on the matter, for everyone's consideration?
Jesus said, "what you have done for them (the poor, the hungry, the imprisoned, the sick, the marginalized), you have done for ME."
Mother Teresa put it this way... "The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved
they are Jesus in disguise."
What do you think?
Dan, I'm really hesitant here, but I have to find out what you're saying. It appears as if, in answer to the question, "Who is Jesus?", you're saying, "Jesus is the poor, the hungry, the imprisoned, the sick, the marginalized."
If this is the argument, it is ... incoherent (using that word in its most literal sense). If Jesus is an actual person, a genuine being, in fact, the "only begotten" (one of a kind), then He cannot also be ... all those other people. That is an argument without cohesion. That makes no sense.
It seems to me quite obvious that when Jesus said "As you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me", He was not saying "these My brothers were Me", but that doing for Christ's people bears an equivalence to doing for Christ. I think of it like this. If someone does a member of my family a favor, they have done me a favor. Now, I am not the members of my family. It's just that, as they are an important part of my life, I am deeply grateful when someone else cares for them as well. (And He didn't mention "the marginalized". The concepts are not about those who lack power or influence -- the definition of "marginalized" -- but those who lack the necessities of life.)
So, in answer to your question, I would not argue that the answer (or even part of the answer) to the question, "Who is Jesus?", is what Mother Teresa asserted. I would disagree with her assertion. Jesus is not defined by these people.
I did enjoy your sense of humor in this article. God bless!
Simplified your faith. Complicating it will do more harm than good. It's like throwing a big stone into a calm lake. It's dangerous! I agree with jesusblogspot.com. Yea...
"Simplified your faith. Complicating it will do more harm than good."
I'm not sure what you're trying to say. If complicating it is identifying the genuine Christ in which to place my trust, I would not say that is "more harm than good". That is, if trusting in a false Christ gets me damnation, then I would think it mandatory that I locate the genuine Christ.
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