Be Yourself
Uniting Church in Australia
Judge Michael Kirby
queer saints
beyond issues |
Is prejudice just fast food for the mind?
under construction Before I would totally damn an "unrepentant" homosexual Christian, as a lot of present-day "Christian" media and ministers do, I would want to look much more closely at what Jesus himself actually said and did. The earliest disciples disagreed with each other on many issues. Everyone who wants to know a real son of God should listen to the liberal Jew who said "ANY ONE who does my Father's will is my relative" (Matt 12:50) not to Gentile bigots who claim those who do not accept their particular image of Jesus do not know the Father.
Misrepresentations of Jesus' message and behavior continue to be
used by demagogues posing as pious pastors to mislead, torment, subjugate, fleece or otherwise
abuse those who "believe in" Jesus. The only truly "Christian" antidote to this situation is to train
people to distinguish the authentic voice & behavior of that radical Galilean Jew, Yeshu bar Yosef
of Nazareth (John 1:45), from the ideals & aspirations that followers have projected upon him for
almost two millennia. We can trust the historical accuracy of the gospels on at least one point:
from the first, people tried to tailor Jesus to fit ready-made models (John the Baptist, Elijah, the
prophet like Moses, the messianic son of David, the apocalyptic son of Man, the eschatological
Judge, the eternal & only Son of God). These models helped spread the name of Jesus. But they
blinded & deafened people to what the real historical person behind that name actually said & did.
It is the latter that really deserves to be believed & emulated.
Email: longship@mailexcite.com |
