Beyond the A.B.C.'s of Christianity

Most everybody who has grown up around the usual Christian churches thinks they know the basics of Christianity. It always starts with "I accept Jesus Christ as my lord and savior", and ends with "you shall not covet". Many people are Christian, because they were raised in the church, and some have converted to Christianity. The problem is, most are content to have someone else tell them what Christ stood for, and what is right, or wrong. Expecting someone to interpret the law for them.

But Paul claimed that the law is dead.

What if you, and only you, with God's guidance, were responsible for defining what is right, or wrong for you? After all you are his creation. What if God directly showed you his truth, and led you to divine insight, and understanding. This freedom can be terrifying for many people. If you can follow this path of existential belief, your view of the universe, and your connection to God will be changed in the most sublime manner. It is to feel God within you, to see the miracles, and to see through God's eyes.

The rules governing a Christian life are spelled out simply in the book of Matthew. When Jesus was asked,

"Teacher, which [is] the great command in the Law?' And Jesus said to him, `Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thine understanding -- this is a first and great command; and the second [is] like to it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; on these -- the two commands -- all the law and the prophets do hang." (Biblegateway)

As you can see, Christianity is about personal relationships. Not just between people, but between God, and Man as well. These two rules sound simple, but can be very difficult to follow. It is very easy to follow a rule like 'do not eat pig meat for it is unclean'. It is harder to trust yourself. Some people refuse to make decisions on what is right, and wrong for themselves, because you only have yourself to blame for bad decisions. It is like swinging on a trapeze without the safety net of the law to fall on. You loose the excuse 'I was only doing as I was told'. This is why the first mandate for the new Christian needs to be; develop a personal relationship with God. That acceptance of direct guidance frees a person from the guilt. This is the freedom from the law.

Most people think finding God is harder than following the law. However, it is not as hard as you have been led to believe. Much as we observe in life, the artist leaves a part of themselves in their creations; our creator has left a part of himself within all of us. There is nothing that did not originate with the creator, and we are never separated from our creator. The key is listening to the wisdom within us, and understanding what he has created us to be.

Trying to be something that you are not intended to be is just plain foolishness. This does not mean that we are to stop trying to improve or 'better ourselves', but we have to understand the purposes God has created us for. As Paul wrote in the book of Romans, we are exactly as God created us.

"Shall the thing formed say to Him who did form [it], why me didst thou make thus? Hath not the potter authority over the clay, out of the same lump to make the one vessel to honor, and the one to dishonor? (Biblegateway)

To try to fight God's will eventually leads to unnecessary suffering, and is simply foolish. Yet people choose this path often. We are all destined to be what we are, and what we will be. Although, we can always choose not to follow this path. We are Christian because that is how we were created. A person that is created to be a Christian will find ultimately that it works best for them, just as a person that is created to be Non-Christian, should be the best Non-Christian the one God created them to be. This is the nature of living in grace. Living as God intended you to live, and being who God intended you to be.

Many historians believe that Paul, possibly the greatest teacher of God's grace other than Christ, had a hard time breaking from the legalism of his past, and accepting grace. Many historians believe Paul was what we would today consider a latent, or celibate homosexual. They believe he never practiced homosexuality, but was plagued by his desires. Alternately, Paul may have felt that embracing a homosexual lifestyle would have hurt his credibility in some circles, and that the message was more important than his desires. We really don't know. What we do know, is that he was never able to reconcile his desires, and his prejudices.

The second part is the connection that we have with our fellow humans, and indeed with all things in this world. It is to be conscious of how your decisions, and actions affect those around you. If you are listening to Gods direction you will find your true place in this universe. Everything one does have seen and unseen effects. Some we would judge to be "good and some "bad", but how we judge the world is not necessarily how God judges our actions. We strive to maintain a more positive balance to our actions. Without the guidance of God, the connection to other people can be incredibly complicated. One learns to deal with the world in a loving way.

We return to Paul's problem. There are things that we consider wrong. A person that has lived in this world may have desires that conflict with the rules they have been raised with. Some things we should always consider wrong. Gratuitous violence committed against another person must always be thought of as wrong. Abuse of the weak or incapacitate should never be allowed, and one should never allow themselves to be an abuser. However, there are times in the case of two consenting adults that fantasies can be acted out. In that case, what is the real harm? In case of two loving adults there is a lot of latitude.

If you have not started down this road yet, just as in Christ's time, the journey starts with a baptism (any strong act of commitment to leading a new life), and after that, living the life God intended us to lead. That is truly the second coming of Christ, and what it really means to be a Christian, being Christ like.

Maybe it is time for you to be a Christian, and if you are ready, to take the next step forward.