Skip to main content

Do You Really Want to Know What Jesus Taught?


Over the past 30 plus years I have spent a great deal of time working to understand the life, teachings and movement of the Jesus that took place between 6 BCE and 27 CE in Galilee, Judea and Samaria. Over the years I have met a lot of people that tell me they really want to accurately understand what Jesus taught when we first met. However, as they began to learn what he taught, it became clear that they left something out of their statement when we first met:

I really want to know what Jesus taught -- as long as it supports what I believe!

It’s probably pretty safe to say that what most Christians believe about Jesus and what he taught differ significantly. So, why is it such a big deal when people discover that they differ? The reason is that in modern Christianity people are told that going to heaven when they die is based on “believing in Jesus.” When I ask people what that means, their answers are usually one of these:

● believe that Jesus existed

● believe that Jesus is the Son of God

● believe that Jesus is God

But when we look at who will enter eternal life in the teachings of Jesus, we discover some very different requirements:

● giving food to the hungry

● giving drink to the thirsty

● giving a stranger a place to stay

● giving clothes to the naked

● visiting the sick

● going to see those in prison

Jesus wasn’t giving a “do the above and go to heaven check list.” This question will help you understand what he was actually teaching:

If you had been in the situations above – hungry, thirsty, homeless, naked, sick, imprisoned – what would you want others to do for you?

Jesus uses two terms to describe the acts above -- “acts of righteousness” & “acts of love.” This wasn’t a program for organizations to do or a religious ritual. Jesus was instructing his followers about how to interact with the people they meet in the normal course of their lives. You may encounter people with very different needs in the normal course of your life. They may be lonely, afraid, unskilled, addicted, confused, oppressed, etc. When Jesus taught “love your neighbor as yourself” he understood that some neighbors will be easier to love than others. We can choose to love -- but most of us can’t choose who our neighbors are.

This is the bottom line. The focus of Jesus was on life before death, while my church focused on life after death. It is easy for others to see how lives are affected when people do what Jesus taught – people are helped and lives are changed right here one earth. On the other hand, it is impossible for anyone to check out what my church taught until they die – and then it will be great or too late!

But the good news is that doing what Jesus taught doesn’t require church members to make an “either/or” decision. They can do both since Jesus didn’t require people to “believe” anything and churches promote helping people. So, do you really want to know what Jesus taught? 

So, do you really want to know what Jesus taught?
If the answer is “Yes”, please let us know
by “Liking” our Facebook Page by CLICKING HERE.

If you understand why sharing information like this makes it challenging
to raise the funds it takes to do this work -- and want to help –
Click Here and donate.

People that understand Jesus’ teachings
are urgently needed in the world we live in today!
Please share this blog with others.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why did they lay their coats at Saul's feet?

The witnesses, laying their coats at the feet of Saul, were the men that would cast the first stones at Stephen in Acts 7. Why did they all lay their coats at Saul’s feet? The Talmud contains a very interesting account of the act of stoning that may provide the answer. “When the trial was over, they take him [the condemned person] out to be stoned. The place of stoning was at a distance from the court, as it is said, ‘Take out the one who has cursed.’ [i] A man stands at the entrance of the court; in his hand is a signaling flag [Hebrew   sudarin = sudar , ‘scarf, sweater’]. A horseman was stationed far away but within sight of him. If one [of the judges] says, ‘I have something [more] to say in his favor,’ he [the signaler] waves the   sudarin , and the horseman runs and stops them [from stoning him]. Even if [the condemned person] himself says, ‘I have something to say in my favor,’ they bring him back, even four of five times, only provided that there is some substance to what he
Post a Comment
Read more

Are Saul and Paul the Same Person?

There has always been some confusion over whether Saul and Paul is the same person. The confusion begins in the Book of Acts. ● “Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul . . . he brought him to Antioch . . . for a whole year they taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called ‘ Christians ’ in Antioch .” ( Acts 11:25-26 ) ● “ Then Agrippa said to Paul , `You almost persuade me to become a Christian .’” ( Acts 26:28) ● “ Then Saul , who also  is called   Paul . . . ” ( Acts 13:9a ) Based on the three verses above, we would assume they are references to the same person – but is he the Paul we read about in the Epistles? The name “ Saul ” doesn’t appear in the Epistles. In order to answer that question we must examine the stories of the “ conversion experiences ” of Saul in Acts and Paul in Galatians . Pay close attention to the time periods and places mentioned in both accounts. Saul’s experience is found in Acts 9 and it took
Post a Comment
Read more

Rabbi Stephen S. Wise’s Sermon at Synagogue on Jewish Jesus Causes a Storm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Samuel_Wise#/media/File:Stephen_Samuel_Wise.jpg Rabbi Stephen S. Wise gave this sermon in late December 1925 and it set off a storm of protests in Jewish communities.  Before you read the article, it is important for you to be aware of some of the accomplishments of Rabbi Wise. ● a founder of the New York Federation of Zionist Societies in 1897 ● first vice-president of the   Oregon State Conference of Charities and Correction in 1902 ● appointed Commissioner of Child Labor for the State of Oregon in 1903 ● co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) ● founding of American Jewish Congress (AJCongress) in 1918 ● founded the   Jewish Institute of Religion, an educational center in New York City  in 1922 ● founding president of the World Jewish Congress in 1936 (created to fight Nazism) ● co-chair of the American Zionist Emergency Council in WWII ● held press conference
Post a Comment
Read more