Love Was Jesus' Only Message

Consider Jesus’ parables. When you really think about their practical implications, you realize Jesus’ only message was offering us practical hints on how to love one another.  According to Jesus, successfully doing this places us in God’s presence. That’s it. All the ideas like Mary being a virgin mother, Jesus rising from the dead, his resurrection representing atonement for original sin, and the importance of the trinity represent human theology developed, debated, and modified years, decades, and centuries after Jesus taught only love.

Conservative Christian theology has its purpose. It provides a basis for church organization, discipline, and materialistic growth.  It asserts that the Bible is “God’s word” and therefore “perfect, complete, and infallible.” From these common basic and untenable assumptions, each fundamentalist Christian institution then interprets the Bible however it wishes and behaves as if its interpretation is the only true version of “God’s word.”  Statements of Christian dogma then propose to answer human questions like, “What is the purpose of life?” and “What happens to me after I die?”

Many have been so totally immersed in conservative theology for so much of their lives there is little chance they could ever evaluate what they say they believe from a rational viewpoint.  I would suggest those individuals stay right where they are if that is where they feel comfortable. My only caution is that whatever they are taught they should do to "save" those they define as "non-believers", does not come from the teachings of Jesus.

All the New Testament authors were different. Paul did not say the same things as Mark, Luke, Matthew, or John. Later on, scribes altered Bible passages to fit the Christian theology of their day. Then the whole Christian movement was thoroughly shaken up and modified to suit the religious whims of Constantine, the 4^th Century emperor of Rome. The Christian sect he supported ended up defining orthodoxy. All the other Christian organizations, and there were many, were outlawed, attacked, and eliminated.

There are practically as many theological viewpoints in the Bible as there are authors. But the teaching voice of Jesus, somehow slips around and through all the verbal battles about doctrine letting his singular message of love survive.

I would like to suggest that each of us knows exactly how to demonstrate unconditional love and compassion in every situation we face in life. We know it, but we can't (won't) do it. We “sin” constantly because we convince ourselves it is  important to exclude from our unconditional love those people we don't like or actually hate. We want our family, our tribe, our personal cultural and our religious views to be better than all others.  Self-centeredness is the primary motivation behind most human acts of evil.

           We make exceptions to Jesus' example of unconditional love so we can blame our personal feelings of unworthiness, temptation, fear, anger, hate, jealousy, envy, greed, and regret on others.  Jesus taught that we should replace these self-centered emotions with an understanding of God that allows love to dominate. It works in simple, practical ways every time we seek loving solutions. Of course, we are also free to ignore his teachings.

It is so strange that Christian dogma which originally derived from the teachings of love, has devolved into fearing, rejecting, and shunning fellow humans  because they are different. Jesus never met a person he could not accept. We all understand this and agree that this is a true reflection of Jesus’ view of life, but immediately we tend to turn around and reject those who don't look, talk, act, or believe as we do.

When you accept the dogma of a human religious institution then you, yourself, are accepted by those already in that institution and you are made to feel welcomed. You become a respected member of the "club." You learn the words, the phrases, the nods and the winks that link you together. This does provide a community in which to experience and celebrate life. 

          But if your church membership pulls you away from what you know is the loving spiritual message taught by Jesus, you  have a decision to make. Which outcome is most important to you? Is a successful spiritual life attained by building barriers around God's love, to protect it from the unworthy? Or is it more important to remove barriers so all are seen as God's children?  That is a personal decision each of us must make on our own.

My rational mind and the spiritual experiences I have had during my lifetime tell me that personally seeking out the practical results of Jesus' teachings of love is the right direction to go. This leads an individual to a personal confirmation of the laws of love and frees him/her from the dictates of dogma. Dogma chains you to law, intolerance, and the status quo. Love frees you to discover, learn, and grow. 

          Jesus taught love.