An excerpt from the writings of unorthodoxchrstianity.com/
4-12-2008
I was listening to one of our better known preachers the other day on the radio. To paraphrase what I heard, “Do you know that there is a reason why you are listening today. It is because you need to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior or subject yourself to a catastrophic eternity”.
I beg to differ emphatically.
Your eternity is up to GOD to measure, not us as men to judge. We have to remember that according to Jesus of Nazareth, whom we aspire to follow as Christians, GOD is LOVE. How would LOVE measure our lives and how would LOVE react to our living? LOVE, knowing all of our motivations, understanding all of our temptations, understanding all of our circumstance and cultural upbringing, how would that LOVE measure our choices? The decision was made clearly and emphatically by LOVE’S representative on Earth, Jesus of Nazareth upon a cross of crucifixion, “FORGIVE THEM, FATHER, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO”.
Who requires a better attorney for our admission into eternity than that?
NO ONE.
Who is in a better position to pass judgement upon our actions and our qualifications for eternity?
NO ONE.
If you haven’t had a chance to discover the life and example of Jesus of Nazareth you may have had a wonderful life, but you haven’t necessarily had the opportunity to have a life full of wonder. If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to get to know Jesus of Nazareth you haven’t yet discovered a way of life that can potentially SAVE you from the mistakes that plague most of us.
The Jesus of Nazareth of Unorthodox Christianity neither came to condemn nor necessarily condone. This Jesus did not come to save us in our eternity, He came to help save us in our everyday. This Jesus did not come that we would be saved in our dying, but that we would have real help for our living.
Through following the example of Jesus of Nazareth we may save ourselves much of the grief that we cause ourselves in our living because we do not pay attention to the example of Jesus. Instead we often prefer to have a Jesus of our dying and not ascribe much of his teaching to our living.
This Jesus has a message for our living not for our dying. Jesus does not condemn us in our death, what happens is that through our living, our prejudices, our bigotry, our contentious culture, we cause ourselves more grief than if we merely pay attention and follow the teachings carefully.
Saved from what? Saved from our culture, from our prejudices, our bigotry, our selves.
Saved from what? Saved from our religious vipers, vultures, and profiteers.
Saved from what? Saved from being more focused on the day of our dying than living the day of today.
Hear the GOOD news.
Jesus of Nazareth is about our everyday, not our eternity.
If we but allow Jesus of Nazareth to be the example of our everyday, our eternity will take care of itself.
dw