Jesus is alright with me (it’s just you he’s not sure about)

Actually that’s not really true; I have no idea what Jesus thinks about you. How would I or anyone else for that matter. I was raised Catholic and am currently an atheist. But recently, and no thanks to the words and actions of certain Christians, I have been considering my own spiritual beliefs. I’ll get to that later but for now I want to talk about that group of Christians.

Dammit Jim I'm a blogger not a Theologian

I know I am on thin ice here talking about Jesus but I know a lot of people (my son included) who believe in Jesus as their savior and follow his teachings. I see their commitment to Jesus’ value system and instructions regarding the treatment of the poor.

“Overall, Jesus talks about mercy to those weaker and needier than oneself 24 times, tells people not to judge others 34 times, tells people to love and forgive even their enemies 53 times, tells people to love their neighbors as themselves and treat others like you would want to be treated 19 times, and tells people to help the poor and/or spurn riches and the wealthy 128 times.” 

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-lux/what-bible-is-santorum-treading_b_1288094.html).

It’s also hard not to notice a group of Christians who through their actions and words either do not appear to focus on the above aspects of Jesus’ teachings or somehow they have a different understanding. It seems that in defense of “conservative principles” they often quote from the Old Testament to support their beliefs. The Old and New Testaments seem very different to me. I will quote Mike Lux again to help me with my point.

“Conservative Christians' primary argument regarding Jesus and politics is that all he cared about was spiritual matters and an individual's relationship with God. As a result, they say, all those references from Jesus about helping the poor relate only to private charity, not to society as a whole. Their belief is that Jesus, and the New Testament in general, is focused on one thing and one thing only: how do people get into heaven.

The Jesus of the New Testament was of course extremely concerned with spiritual matters: there is no doubt whatsoever about his role or interest in the issues of the day, that the spiritual well-being of his followers was a major interest of his. How much he was involved with or interested in the political situation of the day is a matter of much debate and interpretation. Some say it was a lot and others that it was pretty limited or, as conservatives would say, not at all. However, much of a priority or focus it was, though, if you actually read the Gospels, it is clear that Jesus' main concern in terms of the people whose fates he cared about was for the poor, the oppressed, and the outcast. Comment after comment and story after story in the Gospels about Jesus relates to the treatment of the poor, generosity to those in need, mercy to the outcast, and scorn for the wealthy and powerful. And his philosophy is embedded with the central importance of taking care of others, loving others, treating others as you would want to be treated. There is no virtue of selfishness here, there is no "greed is good," there is no invisible hand of the market or looking out for Number One first. There is nothing about poor people being lazy, nothing about the undeserving poor being leeches on society, nothing about how I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps so everyone else should, too. There is nothing about how in nature, "the lions eat the weak," and therefore we shouldn't help the poor because it weakens them. There is nothing about charity or welfare corrupting a person's spirit. Old Testament – animal sacrifice, masturbation, trashing gay people, and hanging out with women who are menstruating. New Testament But mercy, kindness, and concern for the poor and the weak and the outcast seems to matter a lot more, with literally several hundred verses referencing those agenda items. If you are a progressive, that is a pretty good ratio.”

I have seen it written that Jesus never condemned homosexuality or abortion for that matter.  Obviously there were issues of his time – perhaps his message of forgiveness or not judging covered those topics? Just saying? He certainly wasn’t taking up the cause for the job creators was he?

I am pretty unsure about Jesus’ DNA but I can’t see the harm in following his teachings or Gandhi or Buddha for that matter.

Ray Wylie Hubbard - awesome Texas songwriter

"Buddha was not a Christian, but Jesus would have made a good Buddhist." –from the song “Conversation with the Devil” by Ray Wylie Hubbard

That we, as the collective us – we are the government, do we really want to pass the buck on who feeds the poor or provide help to the less fortunate? How does that fit in with the words of the great teachers? Tell that to the next homeless person you see, or the father who lost his job and can't feed his children. "Sorry man, you shouldn't get help from the big bad government. You should get it from the people individually.

Back to my own spirituality issue – lately I have been wondering about the existence of some “omni” like being. Not for the need for any organized religion but just whether there is a God. I’m sure Jesus lived I just sure not sure about his DNA. A dear friend of mine (BFBF) suggested considering Pascal’s wager as a good place to start.

Pascal's Wager (also known as Pascal's Gambit) is a suggestion posed by the French philosopher, mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal that since the existence of God cannot be proved (or disproved) through reason, but since in his view there was much to be gained from wagering that God exists (and little to be gained from wagering that God doesn't exist), a rational person should simply wager that God exists (and live accordingly).

I appreciated BFBF’s support and I am not sure where my spiritual journey will take me but I will turn to Mike Lux again for ending this post.

“I decided about four decades ago that since there was no way for sure about the nature of God or the soul or all that metaphysical stuff, I wasn't going to spend much time thinking, caring, or worrying about it. If that sends one to hell, at least I'll be there with a lot of my favorite people”.