My Brand Of Christianity

I call myself a Christian, I believe that Jesus transcended death and is transformed into something related to what he was when he was a rational human. Was he essentially different than any other human?

Let us revisit the Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac story in Genesis 22. In the story God asks Abraham to take his son Isaac and go to Mt. Moriah and sacrifice him there. When Abraham gets to where he is going he tells Isaac that God will provide a sacrifice, but Isaac is eventually tied up on the alter. When he is ready to actually plunge the knife and it is so sure that he will actually go through with it, the angel of God calls it off. A different sacrifice is provided, a goat caught in a bush and thus Isaac is spared. In the Bible the purpose of this sacrifice was to test Abraham's fear of the Lord and there is some additional rationalization as to why it was done in Hebrews 11. Well on the face of it I do not like it much. It seems like an immoral request and a cowardly response, but let us look at what may have been left unsaid.

First let us consider sacrifice in primitive society. Was it an early form of a conservtion law, a version of there is no such thing as a free lunch. Abraham probably lived in a world where he knew that some of his neighbors sacrificed people and babies to their Gods. Was he impressed with the devotion that these people showed to do such a thing? What does it mean that God spoke to him and told him to go to such a place and prepare a sacrifice. If God spoke to Abraham like he speaks to me he would of had a hard time distinguishing it from his own thought processes. So what might those thoughts have been.

Abraham who was at the splintering point for two major religions, must have been a great chieftain, and minister for his age. I think he lived in what is now Turkey and was a nomad of sorts, following herds of goats around. Perhaps he wanted to prove that his God was more powerful or more important than the Gods of the other tribes around him. How could he do this, well if his God could ask him to sacrifice his son that ought to prove that he was talking to a real powerful God, right? So he sets off with Isaac with an idea that he might make a sacrifice of Isaac. Can he go through with it, NO. That is what is important here. Not that he would of killed his son out of fear of the Lord like the Bible implies but the fact that he did not. He realized that no human sacrifice is necessary, nothing that sad should happen, and that is the moral of this story and what really distinguishes Abraham in my opinion.

Now let us consider Jesus sacrificing himself or what might also be described as God sacrificing his son, (as Jesus says not my will but thy will be done), on the Cross to save all of faithful humanity. As I was taught Jesus being the son of God had special significance to God. That he sacrificed himself means that he paid the price to clean away all our sins as only he uniquely could and thereby make us acceptable to God. If we will believe that Jesus is our Savior and accept him in our heart and soul then we will be able to be with God when we die. Another benefit of having Jesus as yur savior is of course yur actions will reflect it and yu will be living a very good life.

Let us take another look at the Christ story. Jesus who is at the intersection of another splintering point for two major religions was also a great thinker, and minister for his age, maybe a generation of God himself. The Jewish people do not accept him as a saviour as I understand it, whether or not they believe he was a prophet. That he physically died on the Cross, a tough way to go, is probable, but is it sufficient to wash away all sins. All creatures die, I will have to go through it eventually. But did he die on the cross? I suggest not. I suggest that just as Abraham could not sacrifice Isaac, God the Universal father can not sacrifice his symbolic son Jesus and that is what is important here. Jesus lived and did not die, he is not diminished from what he was before and no spiritual sacrifice was made. The implication is that nothing spiritual can ever be ultimately sacrificed and that things may be less serious than they sometimes seem. I fully expect to be reunited with all that I love and that loves me. Tears of sorrow will turn to tears of joy then.

I have my esoteric proofs that there is a greater reality than the one I am currently in but they are esoteric and by definition can only apply to me. Maybe it is always that way, yu get the proof yu need to believe that there is a God or a higher Purpose if yur honest with yurself. I don t for a minute maintain I hav any proof for my faith and belief. I believe that Jesus Christ is existant, that he believes in me, and we believe in God. Perhaps in some other reality it is faith and beliefs that are all important, maybe ultimately the answer to why there is something instead of nothing. In the Universal Catholic liturgy we sing the mystery of our faith.

Christ has died
Christ has risen
Christ will come Again