Thousands of people, if not millions, from all over the globe call themselves “Christians” and have their own interpretations of what the stories in the Bible mean.

I’m in complete agreement with your interpretation above. I think people who thought that Jesus was talking about himself as a separate being from God are utterly confused.

They seem to want to have their cake and eat it too. They want Jesus to have been God, but not be God all at the same time. They are trying to make the religion into something that is polytheistic with at least two completely different Gods and a Demon.

It’s ludicrous IMHO.

If it’s supposed to be a monotheistic religion and Jesus was supposed to be God, then to Jesus was God and that’s that. It would be silly to pray to an even ‘higher God’ in the name of Jesus as though Jesus is a lesser God. That’s polytheistic thinking. Yet Christianity claims to be monotheistic. They can’t seem to make up their minds.

So since it is all such a confused jumbled mess and no one has a clear understanding of it that everyone can agree upon, then you interpretations are just as valid as anyone else’s.

So, yes my dear, you may interpret it anyway you like and still claim to be a “Christian”. You’ll be in GREAT company because this is what the vast major of people who call themselves “Christians” are doing all the time.

Anyone who believes that the statistics of 2 million Christians on earth, means that 2 million people all believe the same thing, has got to be seriously naïve. Just on these forums along I have seen tons of people who call themselves “Christians” yet they don’t go to church, and they all have their own personal interpretations of what the scriptures mean. I have seen many of them voice interpretations similar to yours.

So I would say that you are free to use whatever label you like, just like everyone else does. :bigsimle:

You’ll always find people who will bulk at what you do not matter what you choose to do.

You’ll never pacify the fundamentalist extremists short of bowing down and worshiping them directly.

But then where does that leave Jesus???



That's the best advice I've heard yet.

Great post, Crazy and I hope you draw concrete conclusions from this. So, please keep your mind open.
Like everything else, man messes up everything, government, religion, non religious beliefs but we must have guidelines to live by. How else can you keep a multitude of people organized in some fashion, but belief systems. Oh yea, Christians are wrong in the way they defend their beliefs but not many correctly defend their beliefs without offending someone else. I applaude you for your efforts in being a wholesome person.
In the Old Testament, there is mention of a Messiah coming through the prophets. It's hard to believe and hard to digest. But if you could look at this country 50 years ago and see how it was in better shape than it is now and look at it now, what would you give credit for that? Good luck with your quest.
T mie

Wow!!! DEEP!
Thanks for makin me Think!

Ok I hope what I say here helps. Jesus was sent here for one purpose and one purpose only. To live among man, bear witness to their sins, and die on the cross for our sins. Yes he was and still is the one and only Son of God. and no the ten commandments are not part of three different religions. The Ten Commandments are Gods Law. They were given to Moses while he was delivering the Jews from Egypt. The "Shall not put forth any idols before me" is just that. When you are praying to Jesus, he is our advocate to the Father(God). Ya know like a lawyer speaks on our behalf to a judge. I hope I helped you in this. And now to the next thing. Christians go by the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old Testament they spoke of a Messiah. They spoke of how he would bear the sins of man(when I say this I also mean women)and how he would perform miracles and would be shunned by alot of society. It was also told of his crucifixtion. This was to be Jesus. Now in the New Testament, Jesus was born to the virgin Mary. He performed the miracles that had been spoken of in the Old Testament. and he was crucified in a manner that if someone did that for me, why wouldnt I have the heart to say I love you, and yes I believe you died for me and yes I will follow, simply because you bore my sins.

Hi CP,

Believing in Him is to include Him in your belief in God.

Being inclusive of Jesus is a good thing. Excluding Him could very well include not benefitting from a single thing He had to say. Know what I mean?

To utterly reject Him would mean rejecting anything He has said to us at the expense of missing out on the good that was offered.

Many of Jesus' words are quite unique, and most of them are extremely inclusive of the personal liberty to express love and display love for all to see and feel from us.

That His own life was cut short for His side stepping of religious hypocrisy should speak to the problems that religious elitism and privelege to access constrained from those not in favor with the advantaged in His time and where He found Himself living among people as was His fortune.

Much as we are all finding ourselves planted where we are and facing the unique challenges that confront us all in our personal lives. We don't have to be militant or abrasive to embrace the good, but we can be gentyle and humble in our purposes if we choose.

I find no constraint to inhibit expressions of sincerity but I used to before I embraced His words. They freed me to be who I am and embrace the good and cxast away the bad and if I must suffer loss because of it, I am not unique in that, nor is anyone.

Walking as he walked in the humility He possessed brought Him trouble, but He faced it off and continued to display who He was and not who others wanted Him to be. That is inspirational to me.
There are a great many things done in this world in His name, or at least credited to His responsibility for having been done, but I don't buy that. That is a cloak for denying personal responsibilty for being offensve in someone elses' name.

If I want to be offensive, I can do it in my own name. I will get what I get for it.

If I choose to be otherwise, I can. In my own name or otherwise. But still, no one is fooled by bad behaviour, nor is anyone robbed by my displaying good behaviour....and attitudes too, for that matter.

Do you see what I mean?

It took me years to feel comfortable with being a Christian, even though I despise the American model of Chrisitianity and Church, not to say that there are not better models and loving congregations, but rather that I choose to embrace the good things of God coming from Jesus mouth and reject the unpalpable deceit of any that would cloak ill will as done so in His name.

If I am wrong, then I will answer for it before God some day, and I believe I will have to give an account for my life at some point after leaving this body of mine.

But I also believe in people and I believe that there are good intentions and the will to be great is in everyone.

My definition of great is my own. I don't measure greatness by the abundance measured materially, but rather by the willingness of a person to be real. By the willingness of any to be spontaneously sincere in any given moment without that moment being a burdensome obstacle of life is greatness to me.

I learned that from Jesus' words when I applied His words to my life with confidence.

What has since opened up to me would not have had it been otherwise within me. Perhaps only my sincerity brought that about, bbut it is so for me.

When others appear to have tapped into that sincerity, by any name, I can recognize the love for truth in that person.

Beyond that, I am incapable of judging anyone, not even myself.

Hope you find an encouraging word to venture in where you might find heartfelt riches to embrace.