THE “ANGRY” JESUS
I have been reading, as mentioned, “Misquoting Jesus”. This is actually a kind of hurtful book in a way. I have never expected the Bible to be verbatim, it HAS been nearly 2000 years since most of it was written, that wouldn’t be possible. But some things I read disturbed me, for example, the section about “the angry Jesus”, which deals with a changed line from the gospels about how he was angry at a leper he healed – changed to “filled with compassion”.
I started to get bothered by this, because honestly, I cannot model an angry Jesus. And there WAS an angry Jesus, I can only claim that his anger was righteous, because whatever else I may be conflicted about, I do believe he was born perfect. As for me, I am LIGHTYEARS away from being able to only be righteously angry, so I cannot really touch that one.
THE MESSAGE MATTERS
It was at this point that a lightbulb went off and this disheartening book suddenly revealed a new truth. It is not the fact of the events of 2000 years ago SO MUCH as what they teach us. And while God perhaps would not intervene* with a Bible that ended up more humanly than divinely inspired, I cannot believe that He would let Christians end badly because of they *possibly* worship a man and not a God, not if they are pure of heart.
THE CHOICE MATTERS TOO
Which leads me to THIS conclusion: perhaps faith IS a choice. Because right now what I want is to be a Christian, wholly and totally. And following the Jesus of MY choice, the righteous man who demonstrated something extraordinary in his sacrifice is bringing peace, clarity, calmness, and frankly, joy into my life.
When I get detracted from that path, I lose all that and so much more.
JESUS AND HIS HUMANITY
What is amusing to me is that when I read the next part in the book about how Jesus didn’t suffer by the grace of God, but that the original text much more likely read “apart from God”…now THAT made more sense. Because for the sacrifice to be valid, he had to be apart from God – alone, scared, shamed, in agony – just like every other person who got crucified or who suffered in any way on this earth. It’s the only thing that makes sense to me, in the sense of I can FINALLY see Jesus as completely human AND completely divine. (I still don’t see him on equal footing with God, and see some evidence of that even in our current Bible, but that’s a whole other post.)
So where does this leave me? I think I am going to finish that book and buy a few recommended reads on grace (a concept the REALLY boggles my mind!) For now, I’m going to be content where I am and stop for a little bit digging and digging AND DIGGING. I will go back to excavating the Real Truth I’m sure at some point, but for now, I’m just going to enjoy my readings and get back to church tomorrow, to worship my one true God.
*NOTE: It’s my opinion that God CANNOT interfere that much, or free will has no meaning. Where can/does He draw that line? No one can say, but there must be enough free will for our choice to follow Him completely matters utterly.
I know I keep doing this, and with two children and all you don’t have that much time to read–but if you’re going to be reading books on grace, you might want to pick up “What’s So Amazing About Grace?” by Phillip Yancey, if you haven’t already read it. He’s a traditional Christian, and as such may be more compatible with your own views and inclinations than the universalist readings I mentioned before. Check it out on amazon–I think it’s one of the books you can “look inside” there to get a feel for it.
Free will is a toughie for me. On the one hand, we like to feel we do make real choices, and if we don’t have the freedom to do that, it calls into question all our thinking about morality, among other things. On the other hand–we also like to feel that God is somehow in charge, and that events involving ourselves and other people reflect God’s intervention in our lives. How do we reconcile those two? I have no idea, yet. Well, I have some idea–my inckling is to give up on absolutes–neither is our will entirely sovereign and free, but we do have some freedom and do make genuine choices; nor is God is the cause of all events, but God does influence events, including our own actions. But that’s as far as I’ve gotten, and a lot of people wouldn’t swallow either of those limitations.
Hi Addofio, I AM an avid reader, I just do it at different times nowadays. Yes, that book is on my Amazon wishlist, BUT in truth, what I read from the books you proposed is actually more in line with my thinking.
No matter how I slice it, I keep coming up unorthodox. I asked God for the Truth, and honestly, this is what He keeps showing me. Now all I need is the courage of my convictions…lol..
Your comments on free will are interesting…though I don’t agree. I believe it’s more like God set up the order of the cosmos, set things in motion (divine natural laws, everything from justice to laws of attraction to biological, physical laws) and sits back from messing with those things.
Truthfully, it’s far more difficult to explain how He intervenes…I don’t think intervenes is the right word. I think these things set in motion include the creation of all of us and our inevitable inertia towards returning to His Divinity.
Does that make sense? It’s like I’m saying, God engineered the universe, physical and metaphysical.
It does make sense–kind of like photosynthesis and the mechanisms that keep plants turning toward the sun.
I have more to say about this, but I’m due in class in 45 minutes and not dressed yet, so. . .
Looking forward to hear more from you later!