When people hear me say that I am not Christian, they often interpret it to mean that I am atheist. The truth is that I can't honestly make the commitments to faith that Christianity requires.
Like Socrates, Jesus did not record himself through his writing. We know both of them only by what others have written about them. Both of them have been written about by enough people for me to believe that they both were real people, but we are left with only stories about them and not with stories they wrote to convey the messages they thought were important. It is said that Socrates did not write down his thoughts because the written word could be misinterpreted.
When it comes to discussing faith with Christians, there seems to be a lot of individual interpretations about what was meant by what is written in the Bible, and even whether what was written was meant to be taken literally or figuratively. If it is to be taken literally, it is scientifically and historically flawed. If it is to be taken figuratively, it is fiction.
Don't blame me for that. I didn't make up the rules, and I am subject to them like we all are.
The biggest influence on my faith has to be my father. He was an insatiable reader, and he loved the red words in the red-letter edition of the Bible. Those were the words of Jesus. Dad contended that if Jesus were to reappear today, his messages would be the same as they are in the Bible. I have considered that many times on several matters over the decades and never found what Dad said to be faulty.
There is no reason for Jesus to change his message because we have the same human natures today as we did back then. The human natures that cause problems are also known as the seven deadly sins, one of which is envy.
I wrote a post about how the recent student loan forgiveness would positively impact the economy. Some of the responses were from people who are Christian who were angry because they weren't going to get the money directly. I asked one friend who did not care about the economic impact or rising above a sinful nature what Jesus would say about it. The reply was Jesus would say to "pay your bills."
Of course, Jesus didn't say that. He said, "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." It is part of The Lord's Prayer, and it is Matthew 6:12 in the Bible. That isn't some obscure reference contained in the black letters of the red-letter edition of the Bible. Those are words that Jesus said according to Matthew's account of him.
That comment drew a response from someone else who is a conservative Christian, and who could explain to me better how this all works out in their minds. He then eloquently explained to me that Jesus didn't mean what he said and that people who were damaged by student loan marketing and salespeople should have to pay what they agreed to pay because there was nothing in it for him. He also pointed out that student loan forgiveness does not resolve all the problems in higher education, so we should just allow the government to market and sell the product as it is now.
I told him that he sounds more like Ayn Rand than Jesus Christ. I also told him that my support for free public education would resolve the cost issue for future students.
It does not take an English major to know that a quotation from a real person at an historical event would be one of the non-fiction parts of what is otherwise a compilation of fictional stories (parables) from which lessons are to be learned. It does not take an economics degree to know that people who no longer have to budget for student loan payments are now able to budget that money for other things, and those other things will become "demand" that will result in employment for those hired to create the "supply." It does not take a deep knowledge of mathematics to understand that if the polarity of a factor is reversed, such as words meaning the opposite of their definitions, that the logical result (conclusion) based on that equation (premise) is also reversed.
Pascal said that rational people wager that God exists because, if God does exist, it comes with eternity in heaven at the expense of some worldly rewards that he described as luxuries and pleasures. Nothing in Pascal's wager describes publicly declaring faith in God and living lavishly and sinfully as a way to eternal life. Jesus called on sinners to repent from their ways to absolve themselves of those sins.
Jesus also said that we cannot serve two masters, and the choice is between God and money. I agree with my father that if Jesus were to come back today, he would say the same things again. If someone doesn't believe that, then there is no point in reading about him and his teachings today unless it is done as a public display for popularity.
It is illogical to assert that Jesus was infallible and also didn't mean what he said. It is equally illogical for someone to assert that they know the correct interpretation for what Jesus meant, and that it is the opposite of what he said. That isn't something I would expect from someone who believes what Jesus said. It sounds more like something who believes in the reverse conclusions of Ayn Rand, and, for God's sake, nobody should mistake Ayn Rand for Jesus Christ.
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