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THOUGHTS on the CHRISTIAN RELIGION

Some have asked me what I think about the Christian religion since I left it almost ten years ago. Do I consider it a great evil to be resisted and fought against or a force primarily for good to be emmulated—or, for that matter, do I take a neutral, "live and let live" position? Hard to say. I suppose I can see value in all three positions, yet no one of them sits entirely well with me. I oppose many of the misconceptions and exclusivity Christianity has foisted upon humanity but I also see much good that some of its followers have performed. I also see it as one path to God among many though not the only path (which is what puts me so irrevocably outside of the church's walls). Perhaps the following brief tome may provide some food for thought.

So what do we make of the religion this Nazarene inspired? Is it all built on misunderstandings and presumptions and doomed to collapse of its own weight in the next few centuries? Or is it humanities' greatest hope and beacon of truth to guide a lost world to the light of salvation?

It depends on what you imagine this religion was designed to do. If you imagine Jesus' intent was to save humanity from the wrath of an angry God, you will be disappointed. As of this writing the world's population is approaching six and a half billion souls. Less than a fifth of that is Christian (of all denominations and perspectives). In 2,000 years God can save less than a fifth of the people on the planet. Does that sound like an omnipotent, all-loving God to you? Is that really the best He's capable of?

I submit if Christianity's goal is to rescue people from eternal separation from God, it has failed miserably. For every one person that finds salvation, four do not. When the British liner Titanic sank in 1912, just over a third of those onboard were rescued, yet the Titanic is remembered not for that third that survived, but for the many that perished needlessly through neglect and arrogance. It is still considered one of the greatest maritime disasters in history. Why, then, do we consider Christianity God's greatest gift to us when it produces even more dismal results?

Am I saying that Christianity is worthless then? No. Christianity also has infinite value because it has Christ; without it we might never know this remarkable man. Stripped of its religious trappings it is pure salvation-not from a wrathful, angry God, but from our own ignorance about who and what we are, and therein lies our salvation. For once we realize the Father and the Son—and Ourselves—are one, we will have finally fixed what is broken. Christ does that for us. It's why he was put here.

But while Christianity as a religion is helpful in bringing us to an understanding of God, it will take us only so far. God's unconditional love and boundless compassion can be seen in many faiths and philosophies, both secular and religious, and as such other religions are also capable of taking us part of the way-a few even further than Christianity in some ways-but again, none can take us all the way. They are only temporary constructs designed to help us get from point A to point B, but no faith structure will get us all the way to point Z, which is where we ultimately need to get. They simply are not structured to do so.

And the reason it is not within their capability is because all religions are man-made constructs designed to either appease or appropriate the blessings of an angry God. Christ offers neither because there is no angry God to appease and we have His blessings always even if we aren't capable of perceiving them. And for that alone, Christ is to be honored, adored, and emulated.
But not Christ only, for others like him came before and since that Galilean rabbi trod upon this Earth. Like great meteors that manage to make it through the fiery heat of Earth's atmosphere to smash into the cold, hard mantle beneath, Christ and a pantheon of spiritual masters like him have impacted our planet throughout history, each leaving craters—some small and quickly forgotten and some immense and never forgotten—but all of them forming part of the mosaic of God's revelation of himself to us. They fell among us at times and in places where at least a few were ready to hear their divine message and left their mark-their "crater" on our souls. The people may not speak with one voice or even perceive God the same way, but each master has left us a part of the greater, ultimate truth that exists outside the limited realm of time and space we currently find ourselves subject to. Each meteor "strike" further enriches and reveals the divine fingerprint. With Jesus, we just happen to have one of the most massive of all such "hits"—one that left a massive crater that continues to reverberate among us today, two thousand years later.

Such is the way of love.

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