Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Just curious what everyone thinks Jesus wants us to do and be.
It might be an idea if you could show that this JtC actually existed before discussing what he does or doesn't want. After all, existence is primary, what he does or doesn't want is secondary.
However, if we just 'assume' that he existed for the sake of the discussion then I would say that the purpose of Christianity is the same as all other religions...control, power and wealth.
However, if we just 'assume' that he existed for the sake of the discussion then I would say that the purpose of Christianity is the same as all other religions...control, power and wealth.
I think Viz wants you to assume for the sake of discussion not only that Jesus existed, but the miracle working god-man Biblical version of Jesus existed, was accurately portrayed in the gospels as to his wishes. Then he wants you to say what you think the Bible says that Jesus says about the purpose of the church that formed after his death.
Even for a literalist / inerrantist, this requires a bit of reading of tea-leaves. Jesus didn't really explicitly found a church. The closest he came is saying to Peter that he WOULD BUILD his church on the rock of Peter's statement of faith ... but his actual earthly ministry was that of an itinerant apocalyptic preacher, calling people (Jews, actually) to repentance and faith in god, and he did not to my mind found a church so much as announce a new way of relating to god and a reformation of Judaism in preparation for an imminent judgment of god's people. It was left to his followers to flesh out a belief system in his absence and even the canonical NT doesn't bother to hide that it was a fractious process at best. Was Christianity to be a sect of Judaism or a breakaway religion? Did Peter or Paul have the right to lead the way forward? Jesus did not determine any of these things, his successors in leadership did.
So the purpose of what we recognize as Christianity today is whatever today's Christian leaders say that it is, and none of them are in 100% agreement with what little the scriptures actually say about it. In broad terms it is supposed to take the evangel to the world and this is supposed to be received as good news. Given that two thirds of the populace of this planet is not even nominally Christian after two millennia of this ringing good news suggests to me that it doesn't sound so good as all that to most people.
Sadly, Vizio and other Christians seem to THINK the purpose of Christianity is "To believe specific things about God and Jesus along with an assortment of beliefs both barbaric and implausible while focusing on what they THINK are the sins of others as a self-congratulatory means of excluding them from their ranks."
I believe the purpose of Christianity is: "To emulate Christ in all ways and follow His instructions to His disciples to love God and each other every day and repent when we don't."
MysticPhD,
your last sentence is barbaric and implausible.
Now get busy and wrench out that eye and cut off that hand. Oh, and sell all you have. And buy a sword. And drink poison. And let poisonous snakes bite you. Do greater works than Christ.
Just curious what everyone thinks Jesus wants us to do and be. This is NOT a question of how you think the visible church is acting today, but I want to know what you believe Jesus commanded the church to be and do.
Are we to just love everyone?
Are we to preach hate?
ARe we to preach something else?
Vizio, I can tell from your posts that you are an intelligent person.
Ask yourself a simple question.
Exactly how much of Lord Jesus direct words is there in the new testament? Like none, right? Everything else is hearsay. John saw this, Mathew heard that, John believes that's what happened, and so on.
So what teaching of Jesus are you actually referring to? There is Essenian Gospel of Jesus that allegedly is His words directly, but it was tossed out and is considered a forgery.
[The Essenes were a third religious sect during the time of Christ that lived away from the towns. Instead they lived in simple communities. The Essenes practiced the seventh day sabbath, believed in reincarnation, non-violence to all living creatures and the sharing of all material possesions. They were uninvolved in the politics of the Sadducees and Pharisees and shunned publicity. Josephus writing around 80 A.D. said that the Essenes were Jews by birth but seemed to have a greater affection for one another than they did for the Pharisees and Sadducees. Their piety toward God was extraordinary. They wore chitw garments. They used no profanity. They were ministers of peace and they spent a great deal of time studying the writings of the ancients The Essenes - The Essene New Testament - The Gospel of The Holy Twelve (12) - The Gospel Of Perfect Life That said, give me DIRECT teaching of Jesus and I'll discuss it with you. Though in its essence, it is not much different from principles of Buddhism of precepts of Krishna.
Also, even based on New Testament, Jesus never asked anyone to go to a church. When asked how to pray, what did He say? What prayer did He give? That was it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
