|
I might be able to offer you a perspective BurningBush. About five years ago I started a journey into different spiritual experiences that ended with a few miracles. I also come from a Catholic background which I still very much retain. Here is how I have come to make sense of the God I love and how he is portrayed in the Old Testament. (this position might be controversial but it is my genuine conclusion).
When it comes to the Old Testament, I look at it as reflections on the Jewish God Yahweh. The book is challenging in that it presents a very pessimistic image of the Jewish people and their relationship with Yahweh. I am not Jewish but what I take away from the book are all the problems that would occur if the wrong types of people were to be given miracles and were to be designated as chosen.
For example, the Old Testament book of Judges is all about how the Israelite is given miracles on call so long as they can keep their promises and live under the law and the book ends up in anarchy when the conclusion of the people is to game the law and do what they want. So, from there is a subtle implication that if this were to ever happen again then the same would result and I honestly do agree. Well, if a Fundamentalist Christian received a miracle he would just be more dogmatic. Or, if an atheist is given a miracle he may run to a false teacher because he doesn't have a strong foundation in theology.
Now, the New Testament is something different. It is a completely different book and is very critical of the Old Testament. My favorite Gospel is the Gospel and the Gospel of Mark which are very critical of Old Testament ways and the Jewish people. My interpretation of the Christ--this will get disagreements--is that he was the Son of God who came to Earth to give us a shot and just so happened to choose the Jewish people as his race because there really were no other options.
Could the Christ have been Roman? Could the Christ have been Samaritan? Could the Christ have been Zarathustrian? Could the Christ have been Buddhist? Could the Christ have been Hindu? If you meditate on all the different people the Christ could have been you too will conclude the Jewish people were his only option. None of those other groups had a manner of conceptualizing him. If you want me to help with this thought exercise ask and I will show why it would have been impossible for him to be anyone other than the race he chose.
With this conclusion is the Christ was exposing people to the True God through his thoughts and actions in a world of false of Gods that had no way to conceptualize the True God. Is God Jewish or the Christ Jewish...well, no...even the Christ says, "I am before Abraham was." That is just his only option on Earth.
I will start there. When it comes to the Bible the books I pay most attention to are the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of John, Peter and James. The reason I pay attention only to those books is books John, Peter and James were all with the Christ so they would know his teachings. I don't pay attention to Paul because he was doing something else and was as familiar with the teachings of the Christ as John, Peter, James, Mathew, Mark, and Luke.
If you look at only those books you will get a completely different perspective of Christianity than a Paulian Fundamentalist.
|