[orthodoxymoron]

Thank-you for the great post J rod7. I'll have to read it several times. It contains a lot of good, concise information.

I try to follow the words of Christ...but I currently believe in reincarnation. In principle and concept, at least...they harmonize. I hope the following sermonette is not too theological or preachy. It's a bit of an off-topic non-sequiter...but illustrates three theological perspectives. I identify with the last one...and this view is relatively easily harmonized with the concept of reincarnation. I don't follow eastern mystics...or chant, etc. I just think we should be ethical...and that we get recycled. When we are ethical...we create a better world to get reincarnated back into. It's all about quality of eternal life...and not whether I am going to be 'saved' or not. I think we all get recycled...whether we are good or bad...but we should still be good!

I wrote the following some time ago...and I have recently decided that the concept of God is problematic to the max. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. I tend to think that this applies to all beings in the universe. Conceptualized ideals are helpful...and there is a certain divinity which resides within humanity...and probably within reptilians and greys as well. I really don't know. So interpret my references to God in whatever manner which resonates with your views.

A debate that has raged for centuries is between those who say Jesus was just like us, and those who say He had an advantage over us. Both views state that Jesus perfectly obeyed the law of God from birth to death, and thus secured our salvation, by doing that which we could not do, and that by believing in Christ and His sacrifice, we are accepted by God, and saved for all eternity.

If Jesus was just like us, some believe that the substitutionary atonement is just the beginning, and that we can overcome sin just as Christ overcame sin, and indeed we must do this at the end of time, just before the return of Christ, in order to be saved. That we must stand before God without a mediator. They believe that if Jesus had an advantage over us, that the substitutionary atonement would not be valid. That it would be a hollow victory! They also believe that there is no excuse for sin, and that if there is, then the Devil is right and God is wrong!

Those who believe that Christ had an advantage over us state that Christ is the second Adam, and that He succeeded where Adam failed, and thus secured our salvation. And that there was no taint of sin whatsoever in Christ, both physically and spiritually. Further, that we, with our fallen sinful natures, can never, ever, live sinless lives until Christ returns and gives us new bodies and minds. That it is only by laying hold of the merits of the crucified Christ that we are accepted by God as though we had never sinned, and saved for all eternity.

The first option tends to lead toward legalistic perfectionism. The second option tends to lead toward irresponsibility. What fun!

I'm going to go way, way out on a limb, and say that these two views are delusion vs delusion! They both turn the old, old story of Jesus and His love into a fairy tale. They imply that God is a legalistic, perfectionistic, blood-thirsty monster who doesn't think we're good enough for Him. They are both sort of logical, when isolated from the realities of every day life, but they are utterly illogical when reality is clearly faced without distortion or rationalization.

I believe that Jesus was just like us, but that He was very, very spritually refined and developed, and that He demonstrated to the human race, the true character of God, and what we humans are capable of achieving, and indeed must achieve, to usher in the last great, true renaissance which will bring peace to the world! By His sacrifice on the cross, Jesus made the bloody Old Testament sacrificial system obsolete, and made a new and living way to be right with God available to all, by following His example of loving neighbor as self in a non legalistic-pefectionistic way. To be right with God, we need to be right with God! Not just declared right with God! This symbolic and representational demonstration did not require perfection. Nothing changed between God and us.

We must be in harmony with the character of Christ, and decidedly part of the solution! We must not be in rebellion with the character of Christ, and decidedly part of the problem! We need to be very good, but not perfect! This is an ongoing process of cooperation between the human and the divine.