If I was a Christian, for Easter

[sophiaserpentia]

I am a spiritual refugee, exiled from my home forever. I could be a Christian if not for scripture, if not for doctrine.

If I was a Christian, this is what I would believe.

That Jesus believed in us.

That Jesus wanted us to see that no matter what we had experienced or done before, that we could rise above it by living in accord with the spirit of compassion and love for the divine.

That Jesus wanted us to understand that we are all in this together, and that together we could make anything happen. There is no "us versus them," there are no enemies; those who limit or oppress us are lost in their own nightmare and suffer their own limitations, and there is always hope of helping them to wake up.

That Jesus wanted us to stand together in solidarity and love in the face of brutality.

That Jesus refused to cower in the face of persecution, and was killed for challenging injustice.

That Easter is a clear sign from God that resistance against wrong and limitation is not futile -- that living in perfect love and perfect trust is the key to victory over death and fate.

That Paul wanted us to understand that the Resurrection is a promise that God is on our side when we work to transcend the limitations of fate.

That Paul wanted us to play our part in the reconciliation whereby God will become all in all.

crossposted to my journal and crossposted to convert_me

Comments

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

Stop any Christian on the street and ask her what Christians believe, and she is most likely to list many doctrinal points I omitted, and may or may not get around to adding anything that I listed above.

Well, yes. That just goes to confirm what was said earlier about the creeds being enumerations of the distinctive points of Christianity as opposed to, say, Buddhism or Islam; likewise, the question "What do Christians believe?" carries an implicit rider of "...compared to anyone else?". Most Christians believe that Providence is the capital of Rhode Island, too (assuming they've heard of the place) but that doesn't make it on to a list of distinctive things believed by most Christians because so does everyone else. The danger is assuming that what's distinctive is exhaustive.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

The points listed in my post are not meant as a list of things I feel Christians don't believe. I apologize if that was not clear.

So the list itself is not new or innovative. For the most part it is not disagreeable to Christians.

But what I think is revolutionary is to assert that points such as the ones I raised constitute the defining message of Christianity. If so, that message is not Christian-specific, but is one that anyone of any faith or creed can get in line with.

What I have concluded is this: Jesus and Paul thought that "religion" (doctrine and ritual) was a trap that prevents us from seeing the spirit and humanity in everyone around us. Therefore their message bore not a new set of beliefs, but instead metanoia followed by orthopraxis.