"If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today.” Mahatma Ghandi.
As a young boy I was required to go to church and exhorted to believe the gospel as presented in the bible. For many years I secretly had many questions that were never answered to my satisfaction. I was taught that the meaning of the word gospel as presented in the bible was "good news". To me, there was little good new associated with the lifestyle of our culture.
Because the news didn't seem to be so good to me I studied and restudied the scriptures searching for the good news as presented and nurtured into us by our Christian churches and our American culture as a whole. It appeared that what we were calling good news was replete with guilt, fear, defeat and hope for a better life at another time, in another place.
Why did I come to this conclusion? There are numerous answers that could fill several books but I will address only one here.
We live in a culture that is supposedly based on the bible, yet there is a generally accepted pattern of life which denigrates us. We proclaims ourselves to be a Christian nation ( questionable) based, in part on the "good news" as stated in the gospels of the bible.
The common scenario of life in this culture is that we are reared to go to school and get an education, get a job, work for thirty or forty years in a job that, heretofore the majority of us have hated; retire and enjoy a few years of retirement, if we can afford it. If we can't afford it we scratch for a mere existence.
Further, at a certain age, again if we can afford it, we go to a nursing facility or some such home, destined to sit and stare at walls, being useless until we die. What is the good news in this scenario? Yet, that is the general scenario that describes the fate of the majority of the people in the American society.
Clearly, if this is all there is, by our proclamation we have a culture that is truly denigrating. This is far removed from gospel as taught by Jesus Christ.
Will someone please explain to me what is good news about becoming helpless and infirm at a certain age; about being here on earth with all of our divine potential and capabilities waiting 2000+ years for the return of a man, much like ourselves--Jesus-- to save us from ourselves and empower us. If he was as great as we proclaim, why could he not do it the first time. In my view he did.
Jesus was a great teacher and not only did he teach, but he demonstrated to us our capabilities. Our culture has instilled in us such fear and guilt that we fail to actualize the great power that is in each of us. Jesus performed his purpose very well but most of us are self-proclaimed poor students. To my knowledge, he claimed that we could do what he did and even greater. If we must wait 2000 or more years for him to return to teach us again, our fate is pathetic. For many of us, it is clear we will never learn.
I am excited to join the Baby Boomers in their tenacity and courage to change the mind set and landscape of this archaic culture. Here I lay down a challenge to each one in this American, "Christian" culture, to follow the example of Jesus and many other great explorers and leaders throughout history and live now!
Jesus was indeed an example of our capabilities. He taught all we needed to learn. I learned it and now I proclaim myself to be the same as he. If he returns, fine. If he does not return I will, as long as I live, continue in the quest to get the best from life and master it. I have learned that what he taught is sufficient for me to face any challenge, overcome any obstacle, live any way I want-- abundantly.
The Boomers appear to get this message also. And so it is for all.
Accept the challenge to live now. Let me make it clear, I believe that any one of us, regardless of religious persuasion, can live the life Jesus taught. Christians have no monopoly on what our Creator has designed into us. There can be no walls between mankind and the Spirit. As it is written: "I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh." Jesus knew this and so can we.
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