You are currently browsing the ThinkingBlog weblog archives for the day 23. March 2008.
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- 9. May 2012: Marriage is Unconstitutional and Illegal
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- 12. March 2012: Our Yearning for Consciousness Stated Lyrically & Beautifully By Billy Joel
- 7. March 2012: God Is Not God and You Are Not You
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- 3. March 2012: "American Values" Are No Longer America's Values
- 22. November 2009: Work and Job: Synergy Whenever Possible but Do Not Ignore Work
Archive for 23. March 2008
‘Half-Baked’ Christians? Its Mysticism AND Ethics
23. March 2008 by Da Fu.
Christianity, like most religions, consists of a code of moral behavior (ethics) and mysticism. Religions usually have a Prophet or God that reveals moral values by which followers should behave. Religions evolved into teaching this moral behavior and also to the mystical worship of its Prophet/God.
In Christianity, Jesus Christ is this Prophet/God who preached desired moral behaviors and eventually died (and resurrected). The New Testament of the Bible and other writings document Jesus’ ethics teachings. Jesus’ teachings are an ethic that he and subsequent Christian leaders expect believers to follow.
Yet, Christianity as currently practiced by many has come to mean only the worship of Jesus as God (i.e, mysticism). They routinely ignore Jesus’ moral teachings as not essential to being a Christian. Thus, they are in a way ‘half-baked’ Christians.
Through the practice of mysticism only, these Christians practice their Christianity in worship services only. The rest of the time they frequently behave in any way they want including many unChristian ways since adherence to Jesus’ teachings is not necessary to their beliefs.
Christians that practice only mysticism and the Christian Leaders that condone and even encourage this practice are (according to Aldous Huxley’s The Perennial Philosphy) “turning to God without turing from themselves.” They use the “name of God to justify what they do in pursuit of place, power and wealth.”
Christianity is more than just calling oneself a Christian. It involves the worship of Jesus Christ (mysticism) and adhering to his moral behavior teachings (ethics). If Jesus were to decide on just one of the two–mysticism or ethics, I suspect he would select his believers follow his ethics and forgo the mysticism. In fact, Thomas Jefferson in The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth deletes the mystical aspects of Jesus’ life from the New Testament and focuses on Jesus’ ethics that he believed everyone should live by.
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