In His words, a rubric for unity

The Washington Times ^ | 05/02/2005 | Andrew I. Walton

[jboot]

In His Words, a Rubric For Unity

A couple of years ago, as I sat down to lunch with a friend, he said, "I understand you Presbyterians don't believe in Jesus anymore."

...I responded, "Are you talking about your Jesus or my Jesus?"

[snip]

He chose John 14:6..."No one comes to the Father but through me." I reminded him of the first part of the verse: "I am the way, and the truth and the life."

[snip]

"I am the way." "The way" is an Eastern religious practice that some know as Taoism...which predates Jesus by anywhere from three to five centuries...It, like many of the teachings and parables of Jesus, is mystical, spiritual, paradoxical and elusive. Jesus says, "I am the way." The paradox. The mystery. The spirit. The journey.

[snip]

Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to [God] but through me." Either we hear words claiming to have the only way, the only truth and the only life. Or we hear words of invitation opening doors of unity, nurture and Communion with all of God's creation. The choice is ours and determines the Jesus in whom we believe...

[jboot]

A little "Jesus is everything/Jesus is nothing" eastern-religious pseudo-gnostic mish-mash apostate twaddle to confusticate and bebother your Monday morning.

[jboot]

GRPL ping!

[thePilgrim]

So, who was this "other" Jesus that his friend was talking about? I understand that the essentially Presbyterian in government only PCUSA has its many problems, but I didn't think that another Jesus was one of them.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

In the service of the Lord,
Christian.

[jboot]

I think his friend was talking about that inconvenient fellow who was born of a virgin, suffered and died on a cross, was resurrected, that sits at the right hand of the Father and is returning soon to judge the living and the dead.

But I have no clue who or what the author was thinking of when he spoke of "Jesus".

[visually_augmented]

I think the author is saying that Jesus preached a message of inclusion rather than a message of exculsion?

The author claims that Presbyterians are exclusionary and hence not preaching the true words of Christ.

At least that is what I guess from these snippets.

Not that I agree with the authors assessment...

[HarleyD]

What a confusing read. It would have been better to have the whole context of the sermon before making a comment. But I did have problems with this sentence:

"I suggest that we find within Jesus' words a rubric for hope and unity among Christians, as well as between Christians and other world religions."

Does he mean that we have hope and unity with other religions? I think not.....(...er, I really do think but not like this. :O) )

[suzyjaruki]

It would have been better to have the whole context of the sermon before making a comment.

I read the whole sermon:
http://www.capitolhillpreschurch.org/about/sermons/sermon04-24-05.pdf

The Reverend ends his sermon:
Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to [God] except through me."
We can use these words to exclude or include.
The choice is ours.

Peace.

[Gamecock]

So you are not going to nominate him for the GRPL? ;-)

[kittymyrib]

Another bleat from a goat that will hear Jesus say to him on Judgment Day, "I never knew you. Depart from Me."

[suzyjaruki]

Mmm, no. It's his choice of words that gives a clue to his orthodoxy.

[sheltonmac]

"No one comes to the Father but through me."

Sounds like Jesus is the one who is doing the excluding. Funny how every liberal "theologian" tries to present Christ as simple guy who just wanted to get along with everyone.

---

[Lee N. Field]

"I am the way." "The way" is an Eastern religious practice that some know as Taoism...which predates Jesus by anywhere from three to five centuries...It, like many of the teachings and parables of Jesus, is mystical, spiritual, paradoxical and elusive. Jesus says, "I am the way." The paradox. The mystery. The spirit. The journey.

Total and complete BS.

[pineconeland]

"I am the way." "The way" is an Eastern religious practice that some know as Taoism...which predates Jesus by anywhere from three to five centuries...It, like many of the teachings and parables of Jesus, is mystical, spiritual, paradoxical and elusive. Jesus says, "I am the way." The paradox. The mystery. The spirit. The journey.

Total and complete BS.

A perfect example of being educated into, well "Psychology Today", has an interesting, relevant comment; ... " ... according to new research from the Stanford School of Medicine. The findings indicate that people with advanced degrees are at greater risk for mental health problems than the rest of the US. Employees at a Northern California office where 51 percent of workers had a master's or doctoral degree were evaluated for their overall mental health status. The highly educated workforce scored well below the national average ..."

[suzyjaruki]

people with advanced degrees are at greater risk for mental health problems

Your post is very interesting and may explain this pastor's problem. Was any opinion given as to why people with advanced degrees are "goofy"?

[pineconeland]

Was any opinion given as to why people with advanced degrees are "goofy"?

Here's what else the article says: (follow the link)

["Unfortunately, we don't know why," says study author Cheryl Koopman, PhD. "Possibly it has to with the nature of the kind of work that the highly educated do." Koopman and principal investigator Robert Matano, Ph.D., originally set out to research if interventions--such as treating alcoholism or learning better coping strategies--could help treat mental health problems at work. The link to education came up unexpectedly.

Overall, those with advanced degrees fell into the 32nd percentile, 18 points below the national average. Those who had recently completed their graduate programs were at greatest risk for mental health problems. The researchers attribute this to a lack of experience in coping with life's hardships.

Interestingly, women with advanced degrees seemed to be doing better than men when it came to mental health. However, the researchers noted that the study was very limited in scope, having examined only a single company. Further studies would be needed to confirm the findings. ]

Having been through the process myself, I would say that unless its some sort of technical degree; engineering, mathematics, biology, history(perhaps), you are following a course of indoctrination, in which you much twist personal experience to fit the professor's belief system to graduate. People do this in the hopes of making more money, then they find that it doesn't pan out.

We need to radically rethink, our entire education, and hiring systems. If we are educating for the sake of future employment, (or better yet, entrepreneurs), let's be up front about this and from the very beginning use small business creation as a context for the structure of the educational program. Currently this is impossible because virtually all of the educators, at every level, know absolutely nothing about business. It is insane that as a population we insist on our business people to go through a system which is dominated by people who's livelihoods depend on toeing the line to any local politics currently the rage at their institution, rather than having anything to do with creating real wealth. We ask our children to go through 16 + 2 years of indoctrination at the feet of parasites, then expect them to be prepared to create and contribute real wealth.

 

[suzyjaruki]

We need to radically rethink, our entire education, and hiring systems.

Thanks for the reply. Duh! I could have looked at the link, but it was happy hour at the time. ;)

I think that education and business need to form partnerships, but I don't place all the blame on the system. I think as long as the goal is material wealth and the job is just the means to that end, there will still be a lot of dissatisfaction. Maybe our children should receive more guidance to a vocation that will bring them contentment rather than success.

In the case of pastors/priests, a vocation that is a divine call is of supreme importance. There are plenty of false shepherds out there.

[pineconeland]

Happy Time! It's Sunday, so off to happy time I go.