The importance of following Jesus

Do beliefs matter? Could we be condemned? Is there a literal devil? Or is the devil just a symbol for something within ourselves? Our ego?

I often find myself getting lost in speculations about this and that.

I believe that we get away from what’s important when we put too much emphasis on factual claims in the bible. Not that the factual claims are unimportant. If you take away certain beliefs, other things fall apart. And some things maybe need to fall apart, while others need to be preserved. I’m not going to go into detail about this here, but it could be worth considering.

The more I think of who Jesus was and what he taught, the more it strikes me how complete and timeless his teachings were. I’m not saying that the miraculous events in the Bible didn’t occur. As a matter of fact, I believe that some of them most likely did. I can even say this with some ease, as I know that the world is much more than what we can perceive with our five senses. But I don’t think that you need miracles or to believe in the whole narrative literally, to see Jesus as miraculous. We have become so accustomed to the many of the things that Jesus stood for, that we don’t even stop to reflect on how counter-intuitive they are to our animal natures. And they work. Not only do they work. They make our lives infinitely better. Because when we live according to our animal natures our lives will most likely suck. And the lives of those around us will suck too, if we have a significant impact on them. 

What I believe is that Jesus gave us an example of the ultimate potential that lies dormant within each and everyone of us. And I’m not alone in this belief. Thinkers such as C.S Lewis, Dallas Willard, Jordan Peterson and John Ortberg have said basically the same thing, with small variations. 

According to the Bible, we were all made in the image of God. But we are somehow fallen. I don’t believe that the fall from the Garden of Eden should be taken literally. I’m not ruling it out. But I don’t think that it’s what’s important. If you look at it a little closer it’s full of symbolism. What does, for example, nakedness symbolize? And no, I’m not talking about sex or shame around sexuality. I’m talking about vulnerability. When we’re naked, we’re exposed and vulnerable. 

Or take the idea that Adam walked with God before the fall. This means that we have the potential of living in- and feeling God’s presence. But as the Bible progresses, God becomes more and more distant. Less corporeal. 

And what does it mean that the knowledge of good and evil is what causes the fall to begin with? You can ponder that for a yourself, because I could go on like this forever and this is not really what this post is about. 

Coming back to the person Jesus, I believe that, together with everything else that he is, he is the perfect ideal. I would even go so far as to say that he is a perfect ideal that would be very difficult, if not impossible, for the human imagination to conjure up on its own. And as I said a few paragraphs ago, we have the potential within us to live like Jesus. There are no real physical or even psychological limitations. I even believe that what Jesus said about humans being able to perform miracles is accurate, because I know that lots of strange things happen inside us, that are not recognized by mainstream science.

But even if nothing limits us for real, each and everyone of us fall short of the ideal that Jesus represented. And yet, paradoxically, I believe that when all of the nonsense that we have turned into an identity over the years is removed, living like Jesus is really our natural state. When we completely stop functioning from the ego.

What do I truly believe in? What do I truly believe about Jesus?

I think that the broad question about what we truly believe, is quite an important one to ask oneself. Because otherwise, as with many other things that we don’t bring consciousness into, our beliefs risk running on auto-pilot. The idea here is that when it comes to lots of issues, there is simply no objective truth available. It doesn’t mean that there is no objective truth. But whether there is or not, we don’t have access to it. And when we don’t take time to make clear where we stand on different issues, it’s much easier to get swept away by what others believe. Or what we for one reason or another deem appropriate for the moment. Reasons that have nothing to do with our authentic selves, such as fears, cultural values or unconscious desires. 

Let’s get into one of the heaviest questions right away: What do I believe about religious truth? Well, I believe that the truth is to be found in the Bible. But probably not among the most common interpretations of the Bible. And I believe that some, perhaps many, important books were excluded from the Bible. Among those, I believe the Gospel of Thomas to probably be the most important one. 

I also believe that religion and spirituality is the most important, most fundamental aspect of human existence. And I believe that any religious faith that does not make someone hurt others is better than no religious faith at all. And I don’t believe that, just because I believe that one religious faith is the truest one, it makes all of the other faiths wrong and sinful. 

In some sense, I believe that the life and death of Jesus Christ constituted a shift for the whole of humanity. I’m not exactly sure what. I think that it’s pretty clear that his life gave us a perfect ideal to follow. But I also think that this ideal life, lived out fully, represented something more. I think that it may have something to do with that we are all connected on a deep level. There are serious theories about this within the realm of physics and I’ve had some personal experiences that seem to indicate that this might be true. 

This means that what one person does, has an effect on everyone. At the same time, I want to be clear that for me, this does not exclude Jesus as the only son of God. And somehow I feel that this is an important question. 

If the whole idea of Jesus being the son of God, who died on the cross to save us from our sins, is true, then blind faith, if this is something that we are truly capable of, would probably be the best response. In other words, if we don’t just delude ourselves into blind faith because we are afraid of the consequences of not having such a faith. Or worse, if we secretly gloat over the punishment that we believe awaits those that are not capable of such a faith. 

I know that I am not capable of such a faith. But since I believe that the question of the person of Jesus, and not just the example he sat, is important, this is something that I need to think about. But for now, this is as far as I come. I hope that it can offer some food for thought.

So, here's the deal

I feel that it’s time for an update.

So, here’s the deal:

I know that something huge is going on on the planet right now. Whatever spiritual awakening is, it’s happening. To lots of people. Undeniably. It’s not some wishful thinking or mass delusion. It’s not a question of “maybe, maybe not so let’s have a debate about it”. Having a debate about it would be like having a debate about whether the earth is flat. The connection with God on the inside is absolutely undeniable to me, even if it took a while for my ego to become convinced, and even if my ego sometimes still throws doubts in my way. Because it seems as if no matter what proof I experience in my life and together with my wife, my ego can still find ways of doubting. 

The “problem” is, for me, that for one reason or another, I’m led to Christianity. In the sense that the answers are to be found there. Not just in the sense that some answers are to be found there, but that THE answers are to be found there. This does not mean that all other religions are wrong and of the devil. I believe, for example, that the chakra system of Hinduism, the philosophy of letting go of attachment and resistance in Buddhism, or the natural flow of Taoism all have valuable things to teach us. 

So many crazy things have happened in my life. Things on the inside mostly. But also weird synchronicities and messages that come to me and my wife. So the crux of the matter, is that while this is undeniably happening, there is no way of proving to anyone else that it is. If we could, we could go out and show people the true nature of reality, we could overthrow the tyrants that rule the world by simply refusing to comply with them, and we could build utopia on earth. But for one reason or another, God has chosen to let things play out a different way.

Anyway, what I wish to do with the blog is to explore this openly. A few important questions to ask here are: “Why am I drawn to Christianity”, “what does this mean?”, “if Christianity is true, why is it true?” and “how come that most people that wake up don’t seem to be Christians?”

It seems though, as if many people that have woken up are using more and more biblical references and Christian terminology. And I do agree with those that say that “Christian” is a label. I even agree with those that say that it is a problematic label. I think that it seems a little strange that one’s whole eternal destiny would be contingent upon wether one adopted the label or not. 

On the other hand, I believe that this still is a valid label, for someone that, with all his or her human frailties and weaknesses, aspires to live like Jesus.

A widened perspective on the Bible?

What if you read the Bible for the first time, with no prior knowledge about it, except the vague notion that it contains some kind of important truth about the world? I want you to really think of what this question means. So I’ll say it again: What if you read the Bible for the first time, with no prior knowledge about it, except the vague notion that it contains some kind of important truth about the world, that means that it cannot be dismissed as mere fiction?

This would mean that you didn’t know about literal interpretations or that there are people that reject it completely. You would neither know what theologians have been saying since the beginning of Christianity, nor would you know the doctrines of the different churches. 

You would also not know about ideas that Christians often reject because they think that they are incompatible with biblical teachings. And you might look at some of the stories as attempts to describe events that they would have understood very differently if they would have occurred today. You might interpret some things that today are looked upon as literal as symbolical and vice versa. 

What if you looked at everything in it, that doesn’t have an absolutely self-evident interpretation, with an open mind, but seriously enough to not fall for the temptation to say “everything is relative so I’m free to do what I want”?