{"id":99,"date":"2009-01-29T20:15:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-30T04:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jimfreedom.com\/blog\/?p=99"},"modified":"2009-01-29T20:15:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-30T04:15:00","slug":"my-contention-with-christianity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jimfreedom.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/29\/my-contention-with-christianity\/","title":{"rendered":"My Contention with Christianity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><meta equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta name=\"ProgId\" content=\"Word.Document\"><meta name=\"Generator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 11\"><meta name=\"Originator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 11\"><link rel=\"File-List\" href=\"file:\/\/\/C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CJIMFRE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C02%5Cclip_filelist.xml\"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags\" name=\"PlaceName\"><\/o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags\" name=\"PlaceType\"><\/o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags\" name=\"place\"><\/o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:worddocument>   <w:view>Normal<\/w:View>   <w:zoom>0<\/w:Zoom>   <w:punctuationkerning\/>   <w:validateagainstschemas\/>   <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false<\/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>   <w:ignoremixedcontent>false<\/w:IgnoreMixedContent>   <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false<\/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>   <w:compatibility>    <w:breakwrappedtables\/>    <w:snaptogridincell\/>    <w:wraptextwithpunct\/>    <w:useasianbreakrules\/>    <w:dontgrowautofit\/>   <\/w:Compatibility>   <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4<\/w:BrowserLevel>  <\/w:WordDocument> <\/xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:latentstyles deflockedstate=\"false\" latentstylecount=\"156\">  <\/w:LatentStyles> <\/xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid=\"clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D\" id=\"ieooui\"><\/object> \n\n<style> st1\\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } <\/style>\n\n <![endif]--><\/p>\n<style> <!--  \/* Style Definitions *\/  p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal \t{mso-style-update:auto; \tmso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmargin:0in; \tmargin-bottom:.0001pt; \ttext-indent:.5in; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan lines-together; \tmso-layout-grid-align:none; \ttext-autospace:none; \tfont-size:12.0pt; \tmso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; \tfont-family:Arial; \tmso-fareast-font-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-bidi-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";} @page Section1 \t{size:8.5in 11.0in; \tmargin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; \tmso-header-margin:.5in; \tmso-footer-margin:.5in; \tmso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 \t{page:Section1;} --> <\/style>\n<p><!--[if gte mso 10]> \n\n<style>  \/* Style Definitions *\/  table.MsoNormalTable \t{mso-style-name:\"Table Normal\"; \tmso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; \tmso-tstyle-colband-size:0; \tmso-style-noshow:yes; \tmso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; \tmso-para-margin:0in; \tmso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:10.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-ansi-language:#0400; \tmso-fareast-language:#0400; \tmso-bidi-language:#0400;} <\/style>\n\n <![endif]-->    <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I like Jesus.<span style=\"\">  <\/span>I have been and am inspired by Jesus.<span style=\"\">  <\/span>As a young man when I came to my midlife crisis I was inspired by Jesus to seek a way out of my feelings of being trapped in a meaningless world.<span style=\"\">  <\/span>I realized I wanted what Jesus had.<span style=\"\">  <\/span>I did not know what that was at the time, I just knew that I wanted whatever it was that he had had.<span style=\"\">  <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I also knew from previous experience that I could not go to Christians for help in this regard.<span style=\"\">  <\/span>I say this because my experience of Christians and Christianity was perfectly reflected by Gandhi when he said, \u201cI like your Christ but I don\u2019t care for your Christians; for your Christians are <b style=\"\"><u>so unlike their Christ.<\/u><\/b><u>\u201d<o:p><\/o:p><\/u><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><u><o:p><span style=\"text-decoration: none;\"> <\/span><\/o:p><\/u><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Here is the crux, Christians <i style=\"\">don\u2019t follow Jesus\u2019 way, truth or life<\/i>, they follow the apostles, particularly Paul.<span style=\"\">   <\/span>In the bible Paul admits that when he started out his mission was to turn people away from Jesus\u2019 way and, as he puts it, bring that back to sound doctrine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I sought to find what Jesus found and found it.<span style=\"\">  <\/span>I did not follow the Christian way; I pretty much followed Jesus\u2019 way.<span style=\"\">  <\/span>When I went to share this with the Christians all I got was resistance and rejection.<span style=\"\">  <\/span>As I looked into why Christians resisted my way (and Jesus\u2019 way) I found several particular points that Christianity teaches AGAINST Jesus\u2019 way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">First, Jesus did not think of himself as a sinner and taught that neither should we (Matt 5:48, \u201cBe perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.\u201d)<span style=\"\">  <\/span>Being perfect means to be whole and complete, lacking nothing, without flaw.<span style=\"\">  <\/span>Perfection, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.<span style=\"\">  <\/span>If we actually try to do what the bible tells us then we will NOT take of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; in other words, we will not think we know what is good and what is evil, what is righteous and what is sinful.<span style=\"\">  <\/span>Or, to put it as Jesus did, we would be innocent as children to enter the kingdom of heaven.<span style=\"\">  <\/span>I also feel he was saying the same thing when he said, \u201cGreat is the God that reveals the truth unto babes but hides it from the wise and learned one (Mt 11:25).\u201d<span style=\"\">  <\/span>The learned ones are those who think they know what is righteous and what is sinful.<span style=\"\">  <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The one who called himself the Apostle Paul taught that \u201call have sinned.\u201d Christians who follow Paul\u2019s faithless doctrine think that no one can perfect as Jesus was perfect.<span style=\"\">  <\/span>This is NOT true.<span style=\"\">  <\/span>Paul\u2019s statement is obviously false (to me) for if ALL have sinned then that all must include Jesus. <span style=\"\"> <\/span>Yet most, if not all Christians than confess that Jesus was without sin.<span style=\"\">  <\/span>Therefore that proves that ALL have not sinned.<span style=\"\">  <\/span>But because Christians have been taught to treasure scriptures as inerrant they get trapped in a bind when shown that this is not true, so they cannot talk about it further.<span style=\"\">  <\/span><span style=\"\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Jesus started his ministry by telling people to \u201crepent\u201d or completely change their ways of thinking. <span style=\"\"> <\/span>It is in our ways of thinking that effects the quality of our life experience.<span style=\"\">  <\/span>If we think like Jesus thought and how he suggested we think than we can experience that <st1:place st=\"on\"><st1:placetype st=\"on\">Kingdom<\/st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st=\"on\">Heaven<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> that is AT HAND, here, now, today.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I will try to point out more examples of the differences between Jesus&#8217; way and the apostles way (Christian way) in the future.<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I like Jesus. I have been and am inspired by Jesus. As a young man when I came to my midlife crisis I was inspired by Jesus to seek a way out of my feelings of being trapped in a meaningless world. I realized I wanted what Jesus had. I did not know what that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,13,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christ","category-christian","category-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jimfreedom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jimfreedom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jimfreedom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jimfreedom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jimfreedom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.jimfreedom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jimfreedom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jimfreedom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jimfreedom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}