A Minor Challenge…

THURS., FEB. 1, 2001, 4:13 PM
FARM, STUDY

to what you and I do together… when you “can find the time.” Following up on this, I shall observe that with all of the unscheduled time you have now you should come to Me more often than you do. It just isn’t necessary that there be some “significant” event or condition to which I might speak. You just know that I have much to say to you. Don’t worry that you shall “run Me dry.”

Now, back to the “challenge,” which came close to a refutation of Our true relationship and an accusation that this could well be “from the devil.” I certainly am quite aware of those who are worried about Me and feel, somehow, that this “devil character” is stronger, wiser, and more able than I. I do smile at such a concern… and am appreciative that some sincere Christians truly want to protect Me… because I apparently can’t do so Myself.

You didn’t argue (and you didn’t need to), but you were firm in affirming (how’s that for a phrase!) that you and I are in our 22nd year of relationship, and you have no reason to doubt My expressions of truth… and Truth… in what you have written, from Me. ( 4:27 / 4:31 ) The printed material that your group considered this morning, along with a portion of The Acts, indicated that in the early days, after My life on earth as Jesus, My crucifixion, My return to earth in body, and then My Ascension into heaven (while still being here and helping many of you humans over these close to 2,000 years), there were a number of Gospels, and so the early Christian leaders selected 4… out of the “many”… to be the official canon. (You should find the Gospel according to Thomas, and see for yourself why it could have been selected, but wasn’t. These Gospels told of the life of Christ Jesus (Me, in another “form”), but each in a somewhat different way. And the author’s conclusion was that each contributed to the faith of present-day Christians, even as they were not entirely consistent or complete.

You have the most Aloha for John’s Gospel, which is the closest to being evangelical and spiritual. Yet you are not personally evangelical, even as you approve of John’s story.

You write what you “hear” Me tell you, so there is a tangible record of what I say, Lo, these many years since the social scene in which John lived, observed, and wrote. These Teachings are reasonably consistent, so that you can create and personally accept a “theology” from them. I am apparently “doing better” (in consistency) than the several who wrote Gospels, after My “death,” as Jesus, My return, and My “departure” as a physical person. Yet it is important to have some “variety,” in description, in interpretation and in length of the four Gospels selected.

And then I add that while there are some differences in the Gospel “message,” the need for such is incredibly greater today. There are Christians of all ages, using and thinking in different languages. Most cultures today that include Christianity are quite different, in many ways, from the culture in which I, as Jesus, lived., taught, and preached. Your culture, in which Christianity is the dominant religion, also includes many non-believers (humanists), a number of other recognized faiths, as well as a wide range in Christian practices, from orthodox to evangelical to “main stream” to the quite liberal. Even congregations often are made up of a range of folks, having a range of interpretations of what the faith is and what it demands of members.

You continue to be relatively comfortable as a Presbyterian (attracted by the notion of being “chosen”… while many of your fellow Presbys shy away from such a way for Me to act). Yet only a few of your fellow parishioners are aware of… and approve of… how you claim (when you infrequently do) that these Teachings are a “gift” from Me, Holy Spirit… and, thus, are another form of Scripture.

You also are part of a secular culture which encourages diversity and which is “modern” in ways not imaginable in the times in which I lived, taught, and acted, as Jesus. You write these with either of these old, beat-up ball point pens, while a younger colleague, Andy, uses a modern computer. Ah, so.