I love Jesus. I'm a Jesus lover.

And I don't mean merely Jesus the God, but much more so Jesus the person, including Jesus the friend.

I love his humor, his charm, charisma, humility (as self knowledge and awareness), his repartee, his teaching, philosophy, his character, and his passion; I love his conflict with the Scribes and Pharisees and with an evil empire which by corrupting the temple was robbing Jesus' people dry through unjust taxation and the appropriation of land and title, subjugating the average Joe to Roman occupation. I love how Jesus worked with the downtrodden and optimized them through his teachings and positive influence, even to the degree that their collective faith and passion felled that same empire (for a time) leaving "not one stone upon another" of the temple itself.

He knew. He never everything (and please don't demean his accomplishment of thought being and action by saying "well of course he did because he was God").

I love how he did everything that was required all the way down the line for the sake of God's love and righteousness, without making any compromise, for holding the line, and taking a stand for what he knew was right.

Some may say, and it's true, that to love him is to keep his commandments, and while I am a work in progress I must admit that i still have a ways to go in perfecting my walk and character, my thought and action bringing every thought (and resulting deed) into congruent, harmonious alignment with the will of God as the will to love, the same will which Jesus was obedient to unto the very point of death itself. In other words I still have some way to go in terms of manifesting the love of Jesus in the world, but falling in love with him is surely a good start..

I think that Jesus wanted us to so get or "grok" him that we would get to increasing move towards being with him where he was, and that he wanted us to be close, or in intimate, participatory contact, following his lead and working with and not against him for the realization of the kingdom of God on earth, made real and true to form where form follows function ie: practical.

I love everything about him, from what can be discerned from a careful and even critical reading of the gospels.

There's a there there in the person of Jesus and anyone who says otherwise hasn't taken the time to make a fresh new inquiry free from any sort of contemptuous bias, prior to re-investigation.

Sure at one time it was just a bunch of "churchy" talk to me too and I couldn't make head nor tails of it for the life of me it might as well have been in a foreign language, it just didn't "grok" but then as I grew older having traversed the whole spectrum of inquiry from modern physics to chaos theory and back again in search of "the truth" about the meaning and purpose of life, eventually I made a return journey and I re-examined it, I re-examined Jesus, and then for the life of me I could not help but to fall in love, from a whole host of perspectives.

I cracked open the BIble and read it (the Gospels first, then later, Acts and the rest of the NT) through. Ironically, the thing I'd been avoiding for most of my adult life and teenage years too, can be read, if you're a good and voracious reader like I am and have been in ONE sitting! LOL Heck the red parts (words of Jesus) contained in the synoptic Gospels, taken together are less than any short story you might read say from a collection of short stories by Stephen King.

I didn't write it off. I kept an open mind, even a scientific mind.

My Jesus is the person behind the myth and to some degree it was mythologized of that there can be little doubt, but it makes no difference once the character at the heart of the story has been encountered, and you can't unknown him once you find him there.

Were there miracles. I believe there were. Were every one of them true, not necessarily and they needn't be given what they point to which Jesus was ALL about. The Gospels were never written to be read as literal historical fact to begin with (that's what the church did with it as an esoteric representation) but were written as Apocrypha which means to both hide and reveal.

Jesus the person, the man, is infinitely more compelling to me than Jesus the God of modern Conservative Fundamentalist-Literalist Evangelical Christendom.

And the irony in this regard, is of immense proportion i.e.: that there's a character and a person of Jesus who is infinitely more compelling and interesting and lovable, than Jesus the God.

Could it be that He wanted us to join him as children of God in the heavenly household or family of God?

That's what I get from him which makes him like my elder brother, and true friend of friends, a Jesus I can love, and in loving have no need to "worship", but only to enjoy communion with and the koinonia of an intimate, participatory co-creative relationship without the possibility of separation from the eternal Godhead aka "heavenly father". Abba! With Jesus we too are given the power to call God of the most high, Abba, or "papa" in the familiar not the formal sense of the word.

It is in this newfound "self awareness" that the whole Bible is fulfilled because in loving Jesus as we are loved, so too do we love God as God first loved us in and through Christ (from the beginning) and in so doing get to be there at that moment in time and history when God comes to live with us with we his people and he, our God.

So we end up in the right place, by loving Jesus the person, the character that we find when we but take another look at Jesus with an open mind, and crack open the Gospels which can be read in one sitting and read them as if for the first time.

Best Regards, and God Bless,

NAM

And I love his humor and how he outsmarted everyone for the sake of what was in their own and everyone's best interest, that really takes the cake, imho.

I am glad you can take all the good and ignore all the bad that jesus
encouraged, i have a hard time get past the brutal immoral things he
commands his followers to do in his and his fathers name, to stone,
murder, enslave and otherwise demean humanity by claiming morality
when there was none is not a good thing, i don't see how it ever could be.

To love a brutal dictator like being that cannot even equal current human
morality is a bit odd but many folks loved hitler and stalin and on and on.

One thing i would ask is that you please be more moral than the one you
worship was, then we can all love what we want freely and be happy.

reply to post by bloodreviara

You don't understand Jesus, who actually liberates us from all bondage to freely love as we are loved, and who's only commandment was/is to "love one another as I have loved you."

This transcends the morality of should and should not, turning what was to what is and what ought to be in such a way that it resonates with our deepest hearts desire which is to love and to be loved, and be accepted and acceptable to God (reintegrated as authentic children of God). It's a law of life and love that is life and love itself. It's not a "morality play" that's not it not what it's really all about. It's a "Passion Play". It transcends all the nonsense and absurdity and sin, even swallows death whole as an evolutionary principal of life meeting life.

It's a wellspring of self reinforcing, limitless love without measure and of incalculable value and thus of the type which once it wells up wells up to eternal life in Spirit.

One has to re-read the Gospels just one more time to see and grasp and comprehend what I'm really talking about here.

You can even get a sense for his humor, mirth, love and charm reading between the lines of my writing about him!

But I still wonder how many "Jesus is bad" replies that this thread will receive as things process in the morning.

G'night all.

Best Regards,

NAM

Jesus is a cool dude. Its everyone else that I don't like.

Originally posted by zonetripper2065
Jesus is a cool dude. Its everyone else that I don't like.

You know of course that Jesus would flip that around on you somehow..

He say something like - "if you love only those who love you, what reward is there in that? Insofar as you did it unto the least of my brothers, you did it unto me, so you cannot say that you truly love me, until you can figure out how to love them as much as you love me."

Then, if you were there at table with him, on pondering this more fully, you might burst out in laughter or tears or both, and then the sound of your laughter and Jesus' would raise the roof as everyone present got the joke on the other side of the insult.

Originally posted by bloodreviara
I am glad you can take all the good and ignore all the bad that jesus
encouraged, i have a hard time get past the brutal immoral things he
commands his followers to do in his and his fathers name, to stone,
murder, enslave and otherwise demean humanity by claiming morality
when there was none is not a good thing, i don't see how it ever could be.

To love a brutal dictator like being that cannot even equal current human
morality is a bit odd but many folks loved hitler and stalin and on and on.

One thing i would ask is that you please be more moral than the one you
worship was, then we can all love what we want freely and be happy.

Can you list those brutal immoral teachings Jesus taught please
or
are they just assumptions.

Its sad when people make comments based an assumptions.

I am a Jesus lover as well, I am always at His mercy.

God bless you

and Jesus didnt know everything....

I'm not religious, but I had a dream of Jesus. We met each other in a town square (with many olive trees) for lunch. It was like we were BFF's. Very cool dream. Very loving man. I'm not worried about death anymore because of that dream. There are more details, but I don't want to bore anyone. The dream was for my comfort I'm sure.

Originally posted by bloodreviara
I am glad you can take all the good and ignore all the bad that jesus
encouraged, i have a hard time get past the brutal immoral things he
commands his followers to do in his and his fathers name, to stone,
murder, enslave and otherwise demean humanity by claiming morality
when there was none is not a good thing, i don't see how it ever could be.

To love a brutal dictator like being that cannot even equal current human
morality is a bit odd but many folks loved hitler and stalin and on and on.

One thing i would ask is that you please be more moral than the one you
worship was, then we can all love what we want freely and be happy.

As another poster said, can you quote the immoral and brutal things Jesus commanded his followers to do? I'm not really sure what you are talking about. I've never read of Jesus telling his followers to stone someone.

What I have read Jesus telling his followers to do was...

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

Or how about,

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

or....

21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder,[a] and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’[d] is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. 23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

I would highly recommend you go take another look at the bible. Forget everything you think you know about it. Pay close attention to the red letters. It's a okay to be skeptical to the rest, but truly pay attention to the red letters.

I recently found THIS website...I recommend it to all. It really explains the scripture in the way that (to me) makes the most sense.

Much love and luck on your path, whichever path it is you chose.

EDIT: And before someone goes off saying, 'See, Jesus threatened hell and judgement!' Please, understand, Hell is not what you have been told. It is not the literal firey place that you will be sent forever and ever just because you 'messed up' as a human. Hell is the place we send ourselves when we allow ourselves to suffer without the love of God. Hell is where you live when you are depressed and angry and lost and confused. Hell is when you have forgotten who you truly are. The 'Judgement' is the judgement you bring upon yourself by judging yourself and others. It is an energy exchange. God is forgiving, but only as much as you are willing to be humbled.

edit on 14-4-2013 by eleven44 because: (no reason given)