Jesus Course

Being a follower of Jesus can sometimes seem like more of a chore than a joy. We get so worked up about what we should or shouldn’t be doing, or what we should or shouldn’t be believing that we can lose some of our desire to follow.

Then of course non-Christians look at us and think that being a Christian doesn’t look like a lot of fun but just more rules and regulations to follow. We tell them that we get freedom from following but they what they see is lots of rules and regulations.

If you are struggling or starting to drift into thinking being a Christian is just about following a set of rules or beliefs then I encourage you to try and get some more love back into your relationship with God.

There are all kinds of ways of doing this but why not set aside an hour or two (or more) in your diary for just thinking about how great God is. Listen to some music if you like, go walking in a beautiful place, just sit still and think about the beauty of God. We all need this every now and then. It all starts with love.

Thoughts christian, devotions, jesus christ, love

Sadly too many times Christians have mistaken discipleship with legalism. We trawl the bible looking for rules to obey and then get upset when we can’t obey them. But I’m not convinced that this was what Jesus had in mind in the first place.

Jesus does say that he has not come to abolish any laws but he also wants to go to great lengths to explain that following Jesus is about learning to think like Jesus thinks and not following rules and regulations.

This is always difficult for Christians because we don’t want to sound like wishy washy people who say it doesn’t matter what you do as long as it feels good but this is kind of what Jesus taught. But the feeling good bit is about making God feel good and not ourselves (although we feel good when we do what pleases God). God has given us a description of himself and what it is like in his kingdom but instead of saying, just do all these things and everything will be fine he says follow me and you will start to live like I’ve described.

Being a Christian is not about following rules its about developing a mindset and a way of feeling that pleases God. The benefit of this approach is that we then get to live the kind of life that God intended for us and this means we live life as it was designed to be lived (this is the best way by the way).

This all may sound confusing but simply put we don’t follow rules and regulations we follow a person – Jesus. To live properly we simply ask: “what would my life be like if Jesus were living it?”  This doesn’t mean trying to live like Jesus did (e.g. carpenter, beard, dusty roads, sleeping under the stars, riding donkeys, etc) but trying to work out what Jesus would do given your life.

So next time you are tempted to think in terms of law remember that this was never Jesus’ intention for you.

Christian living jesus christ, law

Is it right that Jesus should be judged on the goodness of his followers? On the one hand we find out how useful the things that Jesus said are by those who try to live by them, but on the other hand the people trying to live by them are just people and people are not perfect.

I get really sad when I hear about someone who is a Christian but they do something very un-Christian. No Christian can deny that Christians do and have done some pretty bad things. Whilst it is true that not all of the things that were done by Christians were done in the name of Jesus there are some things that Christians just can’t wriggle away from. Some bad things have been done by people who happened to be Christians but an awful lot of stuff has been done by Christians because they (mistakenly) thought they were Christian things to do.

Just look at the way the Jewish people were treated by Christians in the middle ages. This kind of treatment was appalling and made even worse because many of the people who were doing them thought they were doing them for Jesus Christ.

We find a similar thing during the crusades. Much of what took place during the crusades was typical medieval war-making (Christians did the same thing to Christians), and some was just propaganda encouraged to scare the Muslims (it must have worked well because it still has an effect today). However some of the terrible things that were done were perpetrated in the name of Jesus Christ.

Even today we find Christians are still capable of abusing their position and power.

There can never be an excuse for any of this and as a Christian some of it makes me ashamed that such things could ever be done in the name of my faith. I can understand why some are repulsed by Christianity when they consider what Christians have sometimes done.

But I can do nothing to change the past. Those who acted did so for reasons that seemed good to them but now we see that what they did was wrong – no matter what the provocation.

So does all this badness mean that Christianity is wrong? I don’t think so for several reasons. There isn’t room in a blog to cover them all in detail but here are some of them:

1. It’s the teaching of Jesus that shows us that Christians have sometimes done terrible things. Because someone who follows the teaching of Jesus does something wrong doesn’t mean that the teaching is bad. We know that what Christians have sometimes done is wrong because of the teaching of Jesus Christ. It is the very teaching of Christ that shows how wrong the actions were. This means that it is because Christians have failed to follow that bad things have happened and not because of the teaching itself.
2. People with no faith have done things which are just as bad – if not worse. The last century has been described by some historians as the century of dictators. These dictators were often people of no faith at all and yet were capable of terrible humanitarian crimes. If the problems were with the teachings of the faiths (and in particular Christianity) then we would expect people of no faith to be different, but we discover that they were not and in many cases they were worse.  This does not excuse the behaviour of some Christians but it does at least show that it is not religion that is the problem.
3. Christians have made a big impact for good on the world. A great deal of humanitarian work finds it roots in the Christian faith. Other faiths make similar contributions but we are concerned with Christians here so that’s what I’m going to concentrate on. Hospitals, learning, science, etc all have strong connections with Christians. Many of the great world changing people of history have been inspired by their Christian faith. The abolition of slavery worldwide was inspired by the Christian faith. Sometimes Christians take a while to realise that the teachings of Christ say something very important in a situation but when they do realise it they are inspired to make a difference for good. Much of the work undertaken to help children and young people has its roots in Christian movements (Scouts, YMCA, MAYC, Guides, Boys Brigade, YWCA, etc – to name but a few). When South Africa finally threw off the evil of apartheid the world waited for terrible vengence to be taken on the white people but none came. The reason given for the overwhelming feelings of forgiveness was due to the Christian faith of that nation.

I’m going to have to stop here otherwise this will turn into a book rather than a blog post.

As a Christian I am very sorry for the bad things that others have done in the name of my faith. I say – like many other Christians have said – that I am sorry and ask for your forgiveness.

Christians are people and like other people they sometimes get things wrong and others suffer. This is not a good thing. However because Christians sometimes get things wrong doesn’t mean that the teachings of Jesus and therefore the teachings of Christianity are wrong. Don’t let the stupid behaviour of a few blind you to the wonders that are available to those who follow Jesus Christ.

Thoughts jesus christ, suffering

One of the strange things about Christians is that they are often accused of being narrow thinkers, and yet Jesus was often accused of the exact opposite.

When Jesus spoke to the Pharisees or Sadducees he wanted them to think beyond just abiding by the letter of the law and to see the spirit that lie behind the law. He wanted his followers to be open minded. Now this doesn’t mean that Jesus wanted his followers to disregard everything that had gone before but that they needed to see the world in a much wider way than just the following of a set of rules. He didn’t say that the rules were wrong but what he did say was that slavishly following the rules might make us wrong.

He gave an example of a really good person and a bad person praying. The good person told God about how good he had been at following the rules the bad person admitted that he had broken the rules and asked for forgiveness. Jesus said it was the bad person that went home right with God not the good one.

The point being that we need to see beyond the obvious rules to what those rules mean. Everyone breaks some of the rules and so we have to admit that before God to be right with him.

I’ve been accused on more than one occasion of being narrow minded because I believe in Jesus Christ. It seems that people assume if you have faith it must be because you are narrow minded, and then they further assume that those who have no faith are open minded. I think they are wrong. Being open minded is being willing to listen to the big arguements and then draw a conclusion being narrow minded is refusing to deal with the big issues and the evidence.

So don’t assume someone who has come to a conclusion is narrow minded or that someone who thinks in a different way to you is narrow minded, but just make sure you have thought through the issues honestly.

Jesus wants us to think differently than others not just to slavishly follow everyone else.

Thoughts evidence, jesus christ, open minded

People sometimes get annoyed with Christians because they only ever seem to think about what will happen when we die. So does it matter that we will die?

I think it does. I think it is important for everyone to consider what is going to happen to them when this life is over. I’m suggesting that we should think about whether there is anything after this life. Prominent Atheists want us to believe that there is nothing, that once this life is over then there is no more. Perhaps you feel this way yourself. However I don’t think that way myself. I believe that there is something more when this life is over – not because I can’t face the reality of mortality but because it makes more sense to me.

When I’m faced with questions about death I come back to thinking about Jesus. Because I believe that Jesus is divine it means that I have to believe that what Jesus said about the afterlife is true. If I question the existence of life after death I come back to the teachings and life of Jesus who wanted to make it very clear that there was. Once I’ve accepted the authority of Jesus to talk about such things I have to listen to what he says very carefully.

Of course if I believe there is an afterlife then I want to know what it is going to be like. Again to answer this I have to go to Jesus.

Jesus had a lot to say about life now and life after death. He spoke about judgement (I don’t like the subject but I have to deal with it) but more importantly he spoke about how wonderful heaven is. Jesus wanted us to know that heaven is a wonderful place to be and he was very keen to let us know how to get there.

Other religions talk about the afterlife but none of them are able to speak with the authority of one who has been there. Only Jesus has this unique ability to talk about heaven.

So don’t shy away from thinking about death but instead look for understanding and peace.

Thoughts death, jesus christ

Jesus demonstrated time and again that he had the power to work miracles – at least those who saw him face to face believed that he did. Yet despite this obvious power Jesus seems to have needed to take time for prayer.

It’s one of those strange questions that often comes up about Jesus. If Jesus is the second person of the trinity (e.g. God himself) why did he feel that he needed to pray? Jesus seemed to have great power at his disposal and yet time and again there are references in the gospels to Jesus going off to pray. I’m sure that this question was just as aparent to the gospel writers as it is to us today and yet they don’t gloss over this simple fact. They claim that Jesus was God (you have to do some serious bending of the gospels to conclude otherwise) and yet they tell us that Jesus went off to pray.

The truth is that although we have lots of references to Jesus praying we have very little of his prayers actually recorded and when we do we notice something quite revealing. In John’s gospel we read about Jesus praying for his friend Lazarus. During this prayer Jesus makes it quite clear that he does it for the benefit of those watching and not because he needs to.

Then again the longest of the prayers of Jesus is in John’s gospel when he prays for the disciples. There are also prayers recorded in the garden of Gethsemane. In both of these prayers Jesus is talking – quite intimately – with his father. Among other things these prayers point towards the Christian belief in the Trinity (how can God pray to God?).

Then the disciples ask for help in learning how to pray and Jesus gives them what has become known as the Lord’s prayer. This is a framework for us to pray from and not really an example of how Jesus himself prayed.

The truth is that most of the time Jesus didn’t make his prayers public. However we do know that he spent whole nights in prayer and on one occasion spent 40 days and nights in the wilderness praying.

If Jesus sees prayer as such an important part of his own life – why should we think we can get away with anything less? I’m not suggesting that all night prayer vigils are the thing for everyone but I am suggesting that we should all pray as much as we can.

How often do you pray?

Thoughts jesus christ, prayer

One of the things that people notice about Jesus is how he cares about people. He wants to put people and their relationship with God above systems and organisations. When the religious leaders of the day try to stop people doing things just because it is wrong Jesus steps in and tells them off.

Some have mistaken this to mean that Jesus thought that you could ignore God’s laws if those laws were upsetting you. Jesus never says this and in fact is quite strict in how he interprets the law.

What Jesus didn’t like was ‘religiosity’. When people compain about organised religion they often mean that side of religion that seems to make people feel bad just to suit the religious leaders. Jesus hated this. He had no time for any religious leader who was using people’s faith as an excuse to gain a little more power.

Jesus described people as ‘sheep without a shepherd’ meaning that people need some guidance but sadly all they get are these impotent religious leaders. Jesus saw himself as the good shepherd, by the way.

So Jesus didn’t say ignore the law but he did say that he wanted religious leaders who helped people. Sadly even the followers of Jesus at times have made too much of the authority of the church and not enough of the compassion of Jesus.

Uncategorized compassion, jesus christ, religion

One of those things that I’m always trying to get across to my children is that being popular doesn’t make you right.

There certainly seems to be an assumption around that if you are the most popular person then somehow that automatically means that you are right. Perhaps this is one of those situations where the press has encouraged us to think this way.

I have always found this to be a worrying trend. It means that right or wrong is decided by a general consensus of popularity. It must be right if it feels good (regardless of the consequences for the rest of humanity) seems to be the order of the day.

Is this really a good way to decide what is right and what is wrong? My good feelings might result in unhappiness for another. My overfilled stomach might be taking food from a starving mouth. My drunken and destructive revelries might be putting someone out of business or breaking a good relationship.

Popularity is a very poor way to make choices.

I don’t think Jesus is as popular today in the U.K. as perhaps he once was. This doesn’t make him wrong it just makes him less popular. Perhaps Jesus’ popularity depends too much on how people perceive his followers. Perhaps how people perceive his followers depends too much on the popular press and popular stars and pop singers and popular comedians?

So what about you? Do you decide what is right or wrong based on popular opinion? Do you just follow the crowd and do what they do? Or perhaps you want to think for yourself and make your own choices.

Whatever you decide make sure you always remember that being popular doesn’t make you right.

Thoughts discipleship, Jesus, jesus christ, popularity

I like walking. Generally this involves walking on Dartmoor but I do sometimes get to visit other places for a walk as well. Unfortunately I don’t live on the edge of Dartmoor as so I have to drive for an hour and a bit to get there. It’s worth it for the reward even though it can be a little tedious early in the morning when you just want to start the walk.

So often we have to go on tedious journeys before we get to what we really want to do. However I think perhaps the people who went on Pilgrimage in the middle ages (and before) could teach us a thing or two. When you have to walk somewhere that is several miles away it takes quite a while. The forced slowness of the journey forces you to take time to think – what else is there to do if you are on a slow journey on your own?

Of course for many Pilgrims there was a time spent with others on the same journey but somehow talking with strangers about your life can also be a good way to think.

Even Jesus had to take his time getting around the Holy Land. It isn’t a big country but on foot there is still plenty of time for reflection. When I read in John’s gospel about how there are many other things that Jesus said and did not written down I sometimes think perhaps John was remembering the times he had spent walking along the road talking with Jesus.

If you have to make a decision then why not take a walk? Sometimes the journey is as important as the destination.

Thoughts Jesus, jesus christ, walking

It seems to me that when you hear about Jesus in a church he is often quite a nice fellow. He is easy to listen to, always says nice things, and never upsets anyone. This last Sunday I listened to another of these sermons where we were encouraged (of course quite rightly) to prize friendship.

Perhaps it’s just me or perhaps it’s the passages we read in the gospels in church but when I read about Jesus he seems to be having the opposite effect on those who hear him.

Yes there are large crowds but by the time he is crucified all the large crowds have dwindled away. The religious leaders come to try and catch him out and he usually sends them away embarassed. We even hear quite early on in the gospels that people were planning to kill him.

Now we might put this down to first century zeal where the easy solution to any problem was to bump off the person causing trouble. But I think this is too simply a view. I think people were still bothered by the thought of killing someone, I don’t think they took this kind of things lightly at all. I think we can even see this in the character of Pilate who condemns Jesus. He can be ruthless but he still understands that taking another’s life is a big deal.

Jesus says things and does things that really upset people. He doesn’t just say do what I do, he says do what I say. Jesus says things that only God has the authority to say and in the end his opponents are very clear in their own minds that Jesus is claiming to be God.

This is uncomfortable for us even today. Most of us would like Jesus to be a little easier to cope with. But if what Jesus said is right then perhaps he should be causing a few upsets.

Perhaps Jesus needs to cause a few upsets even today.

Thoughts Jesus, jesus christ, who is jesus?