What am I if I think Jesus was the best moral teacher ever but am indifferent re his divinity?
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Anonymous
| Am I a Christian? I like reading the Bible to understand Jesus's teachings and try to follow them. |
Anonymous
| Yes, you can call yourself Christian. Christianity doesn't really have just one central theology as much as it looks like it does. |
Anonymous
| Don't know the answer, but I agree 100%. I think some may refer to us as Jesuists. Personally, I don't need a label. I aspire to be like Jesus without worshiping him or God. |
Anonymous
| Thoughtful |
Anonymous
| I'm with you OP but technically no I don't think we are Christians. As in, you don't believe Christ died on the cross to save us from our sins. |
Anonymous
|
Nicholas Kristoff had a column about this just a day or two ago. He asked an evangelical who said "no" and the evangelical also emphasized faith over good works, at least as reported by Kristoff.
What Kristoff didn't say, but I'm sure he knows, is that other denominations are more open. Other denominations also emphasize good works over faith. Kristoff actually asked some good questions about scripture. I wouldn't let anybody, particularly anybody on DCUM, tell you they have a lock on Christianity. |
Anonymous
| I think to be a Christian you have to accept him as savior. Christ taught about the need for salvation and that God sent him to save us from our sins. If you try to follow his teachings, that would suggest that you accept him as savior. If you don't believe what he said was true, how can you see him as a great moral teacher? |
Anonymous
I believe he is the best moral teacher because he is better than everyone else about which I'm familiar. Simple as that really. |
Anonymous
| What if you aren't convinced he actually existed but do think the "story" of Jesus had a profound effect on humanity? Some good, some bad. |
Anonymous
Then I think you just appreciate good literature? I'm OP. I'm positive he existed. |
Anonymous
| I also do not believe Jesus was divine but find Him to be a great leader.so - following! |
Anonymous
| Way back before the "key 73" debacle, Jews and Christians got along quite well. In the 1940s, Rabbi Morris Enelow, chief rabbi of Temple Emmanuel in NYC, gave an annual sermon about Jesus. Of course, that kind of thing doesn't happen anymore. |
Anonymous
My parents taught me that Jesus Christ was the first Civil Rights Worker, so that's how I view him and that's what I take from all of his great messages: feed the hungry, look out for the poor, don't judge or think of others as "less than" for any reason (like MM). I think I'm remembering a song about how Jesus is cool, Jesus is real cool. Let me see if I can find it and post. I had it on a mixed tape I took to Peace Corps, so listened to it all the time. HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSfa56tjBQo King Missile, Jesus Was Way Cool. The drug thing may not be so funny, but I like how human and cool he sounds. That's my kinda Jesus, he helped people, like all people, and that is cool. Way cool. I also really like the Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis because it pulls out all of the ways people are distracted from the message. This is from the preface: “I live in the Managerial Age, in a world of 'Admin.' The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid 'dens of crime' that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern." Another quote I think is apt, also from Screwtape: “We must picture hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives with the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment.” How DC. The little devil is advised by his supervisor to keep the man occupied while at Church with the shortcomings of his fellow churchgoers, rather than focus on "The Enemy" (God) or His message. “Provided that any of those neighbours sing out of tune or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous.” I believe that the divine is within each of us and is expressed through service to others. Jesus was cool, and I can be too. And, you. Be cool today. I hear it's a good time of year for it. P.S. Black Lives Matter |
Anonymous
 thanks, PP!
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Anonymous
| Check out the Thomas Jefferson bible-it removes all miracles from the gospels. |