256Jesus, as Much God as You and I
posted by Jeffrey on January 23rd, 2007
What if we were all as much “God” as Jesus was? How would that change life and how we lived it? I suspect most people would immediately think, “if that were true, then I could do anything I want!“…but I’m not talking about that. What I am talking about, many of you already believe, I’m just phrasing it in a way that, for some reason that presently escapes you, makes you uncomfortable.
Perhaps I should first submit some other thoughts for consideration. What makes Jesus so different than us? He was a man. He was born, he was killed, then he kind of rose from the dead (I’ll explain that last part in a second). If Jesus was God, then the aforementioned would mean that God could be killed. Does that ring true to you? He did come back from the dead, but was it Jesus that came back from the dead or the eternal Christ within the human, Jesus of Nazareth’s body, that made it come alive? Regardless, it was not the same old regular Jesus of Nazareth who had lived and walked for the previous thirty three years, for his closest friends and followers did not even recognize him after his “resurrection”.
Ok, take a deep breath. We’re ok. I know that’s a lot of big questions in succession, but I promise, we’re ok. My wife and another friend’s wife call this type of questioning a “drive by shooting”. You get to experience thought processes that have been going on in my head for weeks and months, but unlike me, you’re faced with them all at once, not gradually over time. I know, it’s rough, you can bail if you’d like, I probably would.
Did that breather feel good? Ok, so here’s the point. Perhaps Jesus of Nazareth wasn’t anything more than a man. It was the life of Christ within Jesus, i.e. Jesus the Christ, that made him “God, God’s son, the Savior, etc”. Maybe you’ve already beaten me to the final question, if not, here it is. Doesn’t that make you the same thing? If you’re a “christian”/church person/whatever, you probably already believe that Christ’s life lives within you. Doesn’t that make you “[insert name here] the Christ”. Doesn’t that make me “Jeffrey the Christ”, and my wife “Shaunna the Christ”, etc? Feels uncomfortable to say it that way doesn’t it? I wonder why. I wrote a post earlier this month about this fairly obscure (from my perspective) verse in the Bible that kind of deals with the same thing. It was from Colossians and said, “…the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints…is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Maybe Jesus of Nazareth was the vessel used to show us humans that there there is no separation between us and God. It’s a lie. It’s a myth. Maybe he was to show the life of the Christ is within us all, we just have to become aware of it. Maybe you call this your moment of “salvation”. Everything after this point is learning how to continually cease the life of Jeffrey, and continually increase the life of Christ through (or maybe even “as”) Jeffrey. We are all just physical containers of the spiritual.
So if all this is true, what does a life lived out by Christ through us look like? Conversely, if it’s not true, what does life look like then?
Technorati Tags: Jesus, Christ, spirituality, Jeffrey Davis, philosophy
001: Rick,
January 23rd, 2007 at 11:09 amIf Jesus and the rest of us are all the same, how did he live a sinless life?…or are you saying everyone has lived a sinless life?
002: Sam,
January 23rd, 2007 at 11:48 amJeffrey, my boy, you’ve opened up a can of words here.
But I love it.
Based on this post, you’ll have things to write about all year.
While they’re not particularly exhilarating reads, the words of early Christians Arius and Athanasius wrestle with these same questions of divinity.
More contemporary writers, such as Marcus Borg, also explore these issues and the relationship between Jesus’ humanity, divinity and the role of the resurrection. (Some say he died as Jesus and arose as Christ).
Either way, I’m all up for this discussion.
003: Jeffrey,
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:08 pmrick, that’s gonna be even harder to answer here in a comment thread than the original post itself ;-). I know what I feel regarding that question, but let me spend some time thinking about how to articulate it here, in print. That may merit a post itself, rather than merely a comment.
Sam, I had a feeling someone would bring up Arius and the other key players at the first council of Nicaea. I am only vaguely familiar with their teachings, but find that I would probably enjoy reading some of their works, given my recent questions from whence this post came. You’re right, all this does bring up a whooooole heap of stuff to think about/write about.
004: JMG,
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:58 pmHere’s some interesting reading that deals with the same topic:
005: Brent,
January 28th, 2007 at 3:59 pmThis subject is why I no longer believe in the deity of Jesus or the indwelling of a “Holy Spirit.”
If Jesus was who Christians say he is and the Holy Spirit really lives within each Christian, then this world would be a better place. Christians have the same issues as unbelievers and I don’t see any real evidence that they gain any assistance in life’s struggles by God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit.
Ten years after I was baptized in a Church of Christ (I waited until college because I wanted to make the decision for myself rather than at the insistence of my parents) I did not see any difference in my life because of any divine force. I prayed and read my Bible daily and sought a life that pleased “God.” I was the same as anyone else - Christian or not.
I then began a journey of Bible study that revealed its human, rather than divine, origin. When I looked at the “Word” from a new critical perspective I could see how I (and many others) got God off of the hook quite often. I had been brought up with all the ways to explain away the problem passages of the Bible. I had learned how to harmonize it. I had all of life’s answers in the palm of my hand. My journey showed me that all of the Christian ways to look at things were a big lie.
006: Jeffrey,
January 28th, 2007 at 6:04 pmBrent, thanks for stopping by. I’m glad to have been graced by a brief glimpse into your spiritual journey. I share your sentiments regarding the unbalanced state of our world to that of what reality could be if all the “christians” lived what they say they believe. However, do you think that such lack of “walking the talk”/”incarnational living”/”practicing what is preached”/etc. means that the perfect Love of Christ does not exist within people still…even in a semi-dormant or unaware state?
008: Shadows of Love »,
February 2nd, 2007 at 12:39 pm[…] Below is a guest post by Sam Davidson, president of CoolPeopleCare.org. His post is related to the Jesus, as Much God as You and I? post from January 23rd. You can read more by and about Sam samdavidson.blogspot.com and www.coolpeoplecare.org. […]
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