Sometimes I’m asked—by people who identify themselves as “Christian”—if I “accept Jesus.” This is the quintessential loaded question. If you read the subtitles, this can potentially mean:
“Do you BELIEVE that Jesus is the ONLY son of God, and that he died for your sins?”
a. If so, then you are SAVED, meaning you are OK. You are not going to eternal hell to roast perpetually.
b. IF NOT, then you had better start believing, unless the idea of roasting perpetually appeals to you.
This “turn or burn” rationale always put me off. If God loves us the way you’d expect God to love us—with a love greater, more unconditional, and deep than any kind of love we can imagine—and the whole point of sending Jesus was to remind us that He loves us, why would such a loving person use threats of eternal torture to coerce us to love him back?
The whole “you’re going to hell” challenge is enough to make me fighting mad. Mad enough to suggest a similar destination to whomever’s cursing me to go there. And not even in such polite words. Or, in the words of Woody Allen, “be fruitful and multiply.”
If you look at what Jesus actually taught, it’s all about loving God. Surrendering to God. Serving God. He was teaching the same essential message of bhakti-yoga (devotional service to God) you’ll find in the Bhagavad-gita, or at the core of any genuine theistic spiritual tradition.
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of the Hare Krishna movement, stressed to all his followers (and anyone else who would listen) “Jesus Christ is our guru.” In fact, I’ve heard many statements to the effect that Prabhupada has inspired more Jews to become followers of Jesus than the Christian church has.
Here’s how I’ve been thinking about the exclusivity of “accepting Jesus:” Say you’re trapped somewhere. Somehow, someone is able to reach your precarious location. They tell you “I know the way out. You have to follow me. Do what I tell you.” You have to accept them. That’s all.
So I accept Jesus. No problem. What I don’t accept is people using Jesus as a loaded gun pointed to my head. Whoever you are, whenever and wherever you were born, whether you’ve even heard of Jesus or not, if you’re curious to know the underlying truth behind all things, you’ll be given the opportunity to find out. And when you do, you’ll have no problem accepting Jesus, either.
It sounds to me like the so-called Christians you have encountered are not real Christians. I don’t believe Jesus ever instructed us to “bully” people into loving him. Or maybe these people really care about you and want to make sure you are “saved” because that is what they truly believe. I liked how you ended the blog and feel certain that Jesus approves. PS. Just for the record the quote from Woody Allen? Never heard him say that, but that is actually a bible verse when God instructed Adam and Eve – “go forth, be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth”. Keep writing – I love to read it.
The Woody quote is from a standup routine, in which some bullies were harassing him. “Be fruitful and multiply” was his polite, cleaned-up King James English version of saying something not quite so polite.
Most people that claim to be Christian don’t keep the sabbath holy, this was not suggested but commanded. The Westboro Baptist Church (“God Hates Fags” ) are complete lunatics. Jesus Christ said that we must love our enemies. Do you know many people that can do that?