No Longer Following a false christ
December 11th 2006 10:46
I admit, the title is a shock, but that is the point.
I hope it worked.
There are perhaps four people responsible for this post. Me, God, Jordan Peacock and Jacques Ellul. A few months ago I ordered a whole bunch of books from Amazon (they are brilliant by the way, we love Amazon!) and one of them was the Subversion of Christianity by Jacques Ellul who had been recommended to me by Jordan Peacock (who has a blog over at hewhocutsdown.blogspot.com, go check him out). The book is brilliant by the way. Much of what he writes about is that as christianity was formed, it was also flawed. He doesn't criticise the Bible, but he does criticise alot of what people preach out of it, saying that people either add to what Jesus said, saying that He meant things other than what He said, or took away from what He said, by doing the same thing. He also said that christianity took on things into church tradition in order to become more acceptable, more useful, more of what in some areas it shouldn't be. What I find interesting is that this year I have read some remarkable books that have said similar things. Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship pretty well mirrors some of what this guy has said (I haven't finished The Subversion yet but I am looking forward to it) and like V "I like God do not play dice and do not believe in co-incidence."
I was swimming in the hotel pool in Brisbane, kind of reflecting on the book and other things, and a thought popped into my head. Where is my church similar to what this guy is saying? What has been added? What has been taken? What has been changed? I was starting to list things and then another thought hit me, the kind of hitting that takes great height to achieve. Where am I similar? What do I add? What do I take away? What do I change? This was some of the most sobering thinking I have done all this year. So I swore that every false idea I have about Christ I have to drop, I need to remove. I need to follow Him truly, know Him truly.
I am going to be reading through the Gospels, trying to read them anew. I will be taking notes, not on things that I find interesting, but only on things that make me think and learn about Him. For the past couple of days I've been reading and I have noticed that I am seeing things I didn't see before. It could be because I am different (I have done ALOT of reading this year) and it could be because I am not trying to see what I already know, or what I think is simply intellectual. I am simply a man trying to find the truth.
This isn't the only post I am going to do on this, but I felt it a necessary one.
JZ
I hope it worked.
There are perhaps four people responsible for this post. Me, God, Jordan Peacock and Jacques Ellul. A few months ago I ordered a whole bunch of books from Amazon (they are brilliant by the way, we love Amazon!) and one of them was the Subversion of Christianity by Jacques Ellul who had been recommended to me by Jordan Peacock (who has a blog over at hewhocutsdown.blogspot.com, go check him out). The book is brilliant by the way. Much of what he writes about is that as christianity was formed, it was also flawed. He doesn't criticise the Bible, but he does criticise alot of what people preach out of it, saying that people either add to what Jesus said, saying that He meant things other than what He said, or took away from what He said, by doing the same thing. He also said that christianity took on things into church tradition in order to become more acceptable, more useful, more of what in some areas it shouldn't be. What I find interesting is that this year I have read some remarkable books that have said similar things. Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship pretty well mirrors some of what this guy has said (I haven't finished The Subversion yet but I am looking forward to it) and like V "I like God do not play dice and do not believe in co-incidence."
I was swimming in the hotel pool in Brisbane, kind of reflecting on the book and other things, and a thought popped into my head. Where is my church similar to what this guy is saying? What has been added? What has been taken? What has been changed? I was starting to list things and then another thought hit me, the kind of hitting that takes great height to achieve. Where am I similar? What do I add? What do I take away? What do I change? This was some of the most sobering thinking I have done all this year. So I swore that every false idea I have about Christ I have to drop, I need to remove. I need to follow Him truly, know Him truly.
I am going to be reading through the Gospels, trying to read them anew. I will be taking notes, not on things that I find interesting, but only on things that make me think and learn about Him. For the past couple of days I've been reading and I have noticed that I am seeing things I didn't see before. It could be because I am different (I have done ALOT of reading this year) and it could be because I am not trying to see what I already know, or what I think is simply intellectual. I am simply a man trying to find the truth.
This isn't the only post I am going to do on this, but I felt it a necessary one.
JZ
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Comment by hewhocutsdown
My response to his article can be found here.
Thank you for opening this can of worms.
Comment by Nina
TV Babble
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
thanks for the recommendation of the book, it helped alot. Good post on your blog too.
It may be an ugly can of worms but it is an important one. The main thing is that I haven't lost my faith and it hasn't weakened. If anything it is stronger.
See you guys soon.
JZ
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
Thanks for your encouragement.
I had a thought to say that christians that don't go and do this thinking and meditating and reading and examination aren't christians but simply people that enjoy going to church.
I then had a think about that and realised it was fairly judgemental and maybe shouldn't be said. And then I had a further think and thought "But the Bible does say to work out one's faith with fear and trembling."
JZ
Comment by JohnR
No Myth Fitness
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
Dude, people have been taking selfish meanings from the Bible for a long time. Alot of this post is that I don't want to do that. I recognise that I have done these kind of things, that I have read things which aren't there. I want my walk with Christ to be an honest one.
There is I believe, a certain type of enmity with the world, but so much more than that, there has to be love. 1Corinthians13 dude.
And for the record, I have never read the Gospels and not been changed.
JZ
Comment by JohnR/Nomythfitness.com
When people say that what Jesus said has been distorted they are denying his message and person. When they take the documents and pick and choose what they want to believe he said or did they are creating their own god. Its easy to create your own religion, based on self.
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
I know. You'd be surprised how often it happens.
You ever done it?
JZ