I believe the gospel is the "good news" of the historical event of Christ's death on the cross, burial, and resurrection to save and redeem human beings for eternity.
I believe that Jesus was the proponent of the Way. The execution and whatever happened afterward were irrelevant.
I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you -- unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day... 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
God didn't preach the gospel, so this did not come from Him.
In the place of the cross, many of today's most popular churches are celebrating their visible "good deeds" -- the kind of "works" and ethical or spiritual living that draw man's applause, not God's approval. [Galatians 1:10]
I agree that "they have their reward", but celebrating belief is ALSO going to result in God saying "They have their reward".
But the scriptures point to the work of Christ alone; His death on the cross and resurrection to new life as complete and sufficient.
If that were the case, we would only need the gospels. The Way is the Way no matter who is talking about, just like it doesn't matter who is your math teacher: math is math. God had no troubles dealing with people prior to Jesus and had no problems dealing with people after Jesus. The Scriptures point to the Way (with cultural biases also in play).
"God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Galatians 6:14
Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7:25
I lack your love of Paul. I consider him to be less accurate than a broken watch. I've noticed "the scriptures point to Christ" used by lots of people, but only about 3 people are actually quoted from the ENTIRE list of authors with regularity. Such people might as well not even bother with the bible and only have a text with the works of Paul and John (both John's).
Whoever you are, whatever you believe, do you despise or embrace what the cross of Jesus Christ represents?
I do not despise it. I consider it idolatry to focus on one little frame out of the entire movie of Jesus' ministry. The Cross has become unto God for many people. It's sad, really.
For example, I've heard it said that the cross was foreshadowed by the bronze snake that Moses made that could cure people. What is typically left OUT of the ads for this notion is that it was later taken down as a source of IDOLATRY. The only crosses in my house are my mother's. I could care less, as what is in my heart is what's important, not decorations.
Refusing the cross is Paul's way of describing the refusal to deny ones self and become part of the body of Christ, no longer being an individual but part of Christ.
I was going to say "describing the refusal to believe Paul is God's gift to Christianity", but your way works too.
Do you think that when or if one decides to follow the teachings of Yeshua at a certain point in their life this then erases all their past sins?
Erasure of sins is not the goal. Jesus was quite clear that we will get what we deserve. Put in 10%, get 10%. Put in 100%, get 100%. Brag on earth about getting 100%, get not a dang thing.
I think if one is led to believe that only a single politically correct belief is required then they probably never actually placed their belief in Jesus Christ and submitted their life to Him because according to the scriptures faith in Christ's death on the cross and resurrection brings about death to the old nature and new life to the person in Christ..
You have been TOLD that by people other than God. The Scriptures point toward the Way. For God's Word, it's amusing that God and then Jesus have such little "screentime" in Their own anthologies. You'd think if it were actually ABOUT them, the writings would be mostly ABOUT them, but they're not. They are about humans trying to get it together (and usually screwing up, but yay for dreams, right?).
I certainly celebrate life, too, but according to the scriptures, without the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for the sake of humanity there would be no new life to celebrate.
Back to life imagery happens pre-Jesus, so why is God suddenly powerless to do this Himself?
I appreciate that you have shared your thoughts. I suppose I can't demonstrate to you that we are born with a sinful nature, but for me when I am honest with myself or see the behavior of everyone I've ever known or view the condition of the world it appears obvious that humans have a sin problem. That's my perspective, but I realize everyone sees things differently.
I think we have a "bless your heart" problem. Humans are impulsive and tend to screw up. "Sin" requires informed motivation to do evil. There's a reason Adam and Eve get off with essentially slaps on the wrist and Cain, the first MURDERER, gets practically no punishment whatsoever: they are SCREW-UPS, not evil people. Evil is much more rare in society than we are led to believe by clergy with financial interests in getting you into their pews (it's not like they ever claim you can go to ANY church, but will guilt trip you into believing you must follow THEM). God is not nearly as angry with us as evil people would claim. The first thing an evil person does is try to distract from their evil by claiming "everyone does it", from the Duggars to Paul to whomever. It's like when people quote a verse from supposedly King David where he whines about being sinful from birth... that's HIS problem, not ours. MOST people don't go around whoring around and killing tons of people and such.
Well, I was talking about puritanical forms of Christianity. For reference, an extreme example of puritan Christianity is that which conducted the Salem Witch Trials. (Most aren't anywhere near that extreme or dangerous, but puritanical thought does seem to underline a lot of US Christianity and culture in general). Makes no sense to me; even Jesus said "eat, drink, and be merry!"
I feel Jesus hung out with "sinners", not because they needed forgiveness (as it was clear he thought it was the self-righteous who were the sickest), but because they were being victimized by a lack of compassion. He saw the Light in them the "good" people refused to see.
You are not a god who delights in evil. No wicked person finds refuge with you the arrogant cannot standbefore your eyes. You hate all who do evil you destory those who speak fasley, abloodly and fradulent man the Lord adhors.
Ah, but it is the villains who tell us we are separated from God. They put blinders on us, berate us ... they are like abusive spouses trying to keep us from seeing our families. It is like the gulf that supposedly separates heaven from hell: if that's true, how do the people in Jesus' parable about Lazarus work? Good wifi in hell? Whether Jesus intended it or not, it reveals the gulf is in our heads.
I have a co-worker who sliped something from her mouth, "I dont know where you will go in the afterlife," she paused, and re-adjusted herself, "anyway, um..." We were talking about religion and her hint was since Im not christian Im not going to heaven.
Supposedly Jesus put a down payment or something on many mansions. They don't all have to look the same. I believe anyone who believes in an afterlife will experience the one they see in their hearts. I believe (lately) that all people go to Heaven, but evil people will see the compassion and friendliness of those in Heaven and be disgusted. For them, Heaven is Hell. There is no reason to have a separate place.
If 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 is not considered a gospel or good news, what do you think should be the gospel? Do you know any?
Beatitudes
I mean, Jesus, while not following his own rules perfectly, at least has better things to say than "Paul sayeth I should beleiveth in him, even when he says he doesn't get some things from God and just madeth it up".
So, who do you consider the anti-christ that rages the society?
It's not a "who", just as the Way is not a "who". There is the Way and there is "Nothing". One will take you where you need to go and the other simply won't.
That may be one way of looking at it...if Jesus was simply only a truly good person. Yet, I believe the scriptures indicate that He was God Himself the Creator, one with the Father
And yet Jesus is nowhere in either Genesis 1 or 2. Again, why bother with the whole bible when you only rely on the views of a couple of people?
Even if you are an okay person, the *cough* good news *cough* is that God will take into account those who think evil thoughts merely because they are ignorant of anything else.
(Of course, nowadays, I suspect God will ask why, in the 21st century with the internet, people wouldn't go learn stuff for themselves, but that's more of an intelligence issue, not necessarily a moral one.)
Yes, there have been many extreme examples of "Christianity". In all such cases I think it is necessary to look to the scriptures and Christ alone, rather than people for validity.
So follow your own advice?
I don't see what Christ accomplished on the cross as a miscarriage of justice. To allow sin to go on forever with out punishment would certainly be a miscarriage of justice.
Let's say you have two kids and one has been stealing your credit card and the other hasn't. The "good" kid goes to jail so that the "bad" kid doesn't. What did we teach the bad kid? "Oh, don't worry, honey ... you just keep on being a rotten thief ... you NEVER have to worry about responsibility or accountability." They will graduate from theft to assault to murder, all because no one demanded they deal with their own crap.
It's psych 101. If Jesus' execution by Romans really did mean anything, it meant God didn't know anything about humans when He first made them and didn't by the time of Jesus and most likely knows little now if He wants Jesus to come back and fix it (again).