| | Ok, I'm going to write this post in a dialog form. With the change in color is also the change in speakers.
"Behind these four curtains you see are 4 different versions of Jesus. One of which is the Jesus of the gospels."
"Ok, well tell me about them."
"Very well, behind curtain #1 is Jesus the lottery ticket."
"Jesus the Lottery Ticket? Did I hear that right?"
"Yes you heard it loud and clear."
"Why is he called that? explain."
"Well, this Jesus is the Jesus that promises health and wealth to everyone. Now there are some different varieties to this Jesus. To some he's a self help coach, who teaches you the secrets to great success. To others he has more of a spiritual role, he is one's cosmic servant to do one's bidding in heaven and on earth, although this version has a lot in common with the Jesus you'll meet behind curtain #2."
"And, this Jesus isn't the Jesus of the gospels?"
"Oh no. Now the Jesus of the gospels did miracles, such as healing the blind and even raising the dead, but He never actually promised health to anyone and certainly never promised wealth to anyone."
"Gotcha. Well, what about Jesus behind curtain #2?"
"One more thing about Jesus #1 here. As you might guess he's very popular with Americans. He allows you to chase the American dream without feeling the least bit guilty over it."
"Yes, that makes sense."
"Now to Jesus behind curtain #2. This Jesus we call Jesus the localized deity."
"Deity means God right?"
"That's right."
"This must be the Jesus of the gospels, because I remember Him being called Emmanuel or God with us."
"That's true, but this Jesus isn't him. That's why he's called the LOCALIZED Deity."
"Could you explain?"
"You'd have to understand the ancient world a bit for this one. In the ancient world each community, or sometimes groups of communities, had their own god (or gods). And people would worship and offer sacrifices to these gods to appease them. To put in modern language, they didn't want the gods to get ticked off at them."
"I see."
"So, if you didn't want the crops to flood, you offered a sacrifice to the river or weather god. If you wanted to be safe on a journey across the sea, you offered a sacrifice to the god of the sea or ocean."
"So, what is this Jesus like?"
"Well, the localized deity Jesus is worshiped so that bad things don't happen to you. Or, as was the case with the ancient gods, people tried to manipulate them to get what they wanted, this is what I meant when I said the version of Jesus the Lottery ticket that viewed him as being in heaven to do our bidding. This Jesus can be manipulated to do what you want and to get what you want. People who advocate this call it 'name it and claim it.' Jesus is thus obligated to do what they want him to do."
"And this Jesus isn't the one of the gospels either?"
"No he isn't. The Jesus of the gospels is the Son of God and He can't be manipulated, appeased or tricked into doing something. He did His Father's will, if people asked for something according to His Father's will He granted it, if not He didn't. Two of His disciples found this out, they would be the brothers James and John."
"OK, what about curtain #3?"
"This Jesus is Jesus the roofer."
"Roofer? Explain that to me."
"Whenever you have a leak in your roof you call the roofer right?"
"Yes."
"OK, well that is what people do with this Jesus. Whenever they have a problem they call on him to fix them. Sometimes these people are so impressed with the work that he does that they try to get other people to call on him as well."
"Well, now that sounds more like the Jesus of the gospels."
"Well, he's a lot closer to it than the other two, but not quite it."
"Why is that?"
"Two reasons. One the Jesus of the gospels never promised to fix all the problems his followers faced, at least not in this lifetime. In fact, he flat out told them to expect problems in this world."
"I remember reading that now."
"But there is one bigger difference between this Jesus and the Jesus of the gospels."
"And that is........."
"Well, when the roofer is finished fixing your roof, even if you praise his work, think he is a genius and go tell other people about how great a work he does, you expect the roofer to go home."
"Well, yeah, it would be kind of strange for him to hang around my house after he was done."
"You are right. And that is how the believers in Jesus the roofer see Jesus. They call on him to fix their problems but they don't want him hanging around afterwords. And they certainly don't expect him to try and take over the house, you'd probably call the police on your roofer if he did that regardless of how good he was."
"Yeah, I sure would."
"Well, you see the Jesus of the gospels called on people to follow Him. He wasn't just a fix it man, or fix it God for that matter. He wasn't around just to solve the problems in their lives. He was there to take over their lives."
"Now, I see what you mean."
"OK, ready to lift curtain #4?"
"Yeah."
"Behind this curtain we have the Jesus of the gospels. This Jesus told people to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him as just mentioned. He told people their lives did not consist in the amount of money and possessions that they acquired. He said they couldn't serve both God and Wealth. He told them to love their enemies. He told them to forgive others. He told them to seek God's Kingdom and Justice first. He told them that greed, hatred, lust and pride were not the values of His Kingdom. He told them those who humbled themselves before God, God would exalt......as well as the other way around. He told them to love people who were different from them. And He told them He was God's promised Messiah. The people of His day didn't care for that too much, to put it mildly, so they had him killed. But, little did they know that was part of God's plan all along, and even though they had Him killed. God brought Him back to life."
"Yes, that is the Jesus of the gospels."
"You've probably noted that this Jesus isn't very popular today either. Many people claim to believe and worship this Jesus, but in reality they have him mixed up with one of the Jesus' behind the first 3 curtains."
"Yes, I see that."
"So, there you have it. The four curtains have been lifted. We have Jesus the lottery ticket, Jesus the localized deity, Jesus the roofer and the the Jesus of the gospels. WHICH JESUS DO YOU WANT?"
|
| | Posted 1/15/2009 8:11 AM - 6 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
- recommend
  - recs0
- share
- email
 - sent0
|
