I apologize up front to you that will be upset.
Although I do not believe the bible is the word of "GOD" and therefore perfect,(knowing that through the centuries it has been edited heavily by men of questionable motives and then dispersed with a sword,) I love the story of a human being who was so spiritually advanced that he was the nearest any other human has ever come to being truly one with our creator. That he lived in a "christened" state of being. He was our proof that God dwells in us. Heaven is within. He said that through that knowledge and yes, power, that we could love each other and create beautiful lives instead of the hate and separation and SATAN that was the religion of his times. But not only did he say "GOD" was within, but "GOD" was also without. There is more than our individual soul power. There are other souls with power, living along side us, living and learning their lives. But there is also the souls of the departed, and souls that never lived a life on earth. I know this may not agree with what you think the bible says, but I'm not taking it literally because I don't think that the bible is the perfect word of "GOD". (Read my husband's editorial he wrote: "Think For Yourselves")
I totally ignore the Jewish History legend that is The Old Testament. And although some of the passages are historically accurate, that just means that real men wrote the book. As for directly quoting a man 40 years after his death, let's just say I'm extremely doubtful that they remembered everything so exacltly. The fact that they all sound similar gives me pause, though. Did they all get together and get their stories straight before setting out to write it down? Probably. But something still shines through. They obviously were in the presence of a man so different that they were deeply changed, and felt so moved as to spend the rest of their lives talking about him. The overall impression the Gospels leaves me of this amazing human is that his teachings were radical. So radical that christians of today still don't get it.
I believe that there is no separation between me and my creator and the rest of creation. The "holy trinity" is true of every person. Jesus was the archetype NOT the exception. I do not worship him. I want to be what he taught, and since I believe in prayer and in souls, I have sought his wisdom.
If I believe just the overall impression of this book, he taught that what we had called "GOD" and had feared actually was benevolent. "It" was so close to us "it" was as family, in fact, our "Father". That we are so close to "GOD" that we can improve our lives, and the only thing "it" asks in return is that we love one another. As far as I can tell, the Jesus worshipping began primarily through Paul, who never met him.
Now Jesus was in ancient times and had to be really simplistic with his explanations and ideas, so I don't take any passage in the bible literally. NONE. I just accept the gist of all that concurs in it. As soon as organized religion (Roman Emperor Justinian AD 553) took the ancient texts and decided which ones would become "sacred" they lost all perfection (if indeed they ever were perfect in the first place since they were written 40 years after Jesus' death and then compiled for the bible some 500 years after THAT!) any possibility of remaining truly "inspired by GOD" is dismally remote, and yet people listened to it as it was interpreted again by Priests, Kings, and egomanics and still believed it was perfection! That kind of blind stupidity is not necessary. You can still follow the ideal of a spirit of perfection without defending and therefore going to war over it...TO WAR! Hmmm...sounds like something SATAN would do...And so damned unnecessary! If you give up the doctrine of it being divine and just accept the gist of the different testimonials you still have a mental picture of an amazing man who, I believe, really wanted his message to be told, not to be worshipped himself. The message was enough.
So yes, please don't assume I'm a Christian. I am a Jesus Freak. Because Jesus was a hippie too.
He may have been the first truly "son of God" but he never said he was the last.
Please excuse me if I offended you, and don't take this as an act of war. I'll love you anyway. We are all but children...
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