My father was a very vocal atheist, especially around Christmas when he could not restrain himself from stirring the pot of religious fervor. However, even he had a profound respect for Jesus whose teachings he understood and appreciated more than any self-proclaimed Christian I have ever met.
He had said to me that Jesus gave us the best roadmap for how to be a good human being, and he tried to live by that roadmap. He just didn’t believe in “a man upstairs pushing buttons.” He didn’t believe that Jesus took away our responsibility for our actions.
Because my father had stirred up so much controversy about religion, the entire town felt the need to save his soul by persuading him to be a believer, and as I witnessed the revolving door of Bible thumpers from every brand of Christianity visit our home, I became intrigued about this highly controversial man called Jesus, and I have spent a good deal of my free time throughout my life studying his and others’ theologies.
At this time in my life, I can sum up what I have come to see as the truth about Jesus:
His teachings are not about who he was but what he represented and the example he gave us of how to live in integrity and practice what we preach, even if it means sacrificing our lives for a good cause.
Transcending our selfishness and arrogance and learning to love and forgive even our enemies is the most difficult challenge that can cause us a great deal of anguish, but this is what Jesus demanded in his teachings and by his own example. It is what he meant when he said that to find yourself, you must lose yourself.
Salvation is not a matter of believing that Jesus died for our sins. Rather, it is living by his teachings as summarized by the parable, The Good Samaritan.
Salvation is about a way of life, not just about eternal life. It is about living a life of love and generosity and building a community on the founding principle of helping each other without judgment. This is the only way to achieve peace of mind and lasting happiness. It is the only way to build heaven on earth. Conversely, selfishness and arrogance will build hell on earth and cause our literal destruction, as has never been more apparent than in this year.
Faith in the power of love and in the help of all the loving energy in the universe is the key to having the courage to strive to meet the spiritual challenge of giving more than taking and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable enough to love with all our heart. Faith in love is what will eventually lead us all to be miracle workers, and eventually to our liberation from fear and suffering—the ultimate salvation.
Like other moral and spiritual leaders such as Socrates, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jesus empowered ordinary people to improve their lives, which made them a threat to the rich and powerful of their time. The last thing the wealthy elite who have all the power and control in government and business want is an empowered people who no longer depend on them for their survival and reject systemic inequality, which is why the moral and spiritual leaders are frequently murdered. These leaders knew they were taking the risk of losing their lives when they chose to take on their mission to empower the people, but they took on the mission anyway because they loved the people whom they served.
What Jesus demands of his students is hard work, and it is up to us to take up the challenge, but if we do, we will eventually experience more joy and peace. That is the promise, and forgiveness of mistakes along the way is our consolation that helps us to keep trying. The bottom line, however, is our destiny is our responsibility, and Jesus taught us how to grow up and save ourselves.
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