The Christian faith is entirely dependent on one being; Jesus. What we believe and everything we do is predicated on the person, life, and teachings of Jesus. It is through Jesus that the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, find their fullest meaning. It is through Jesus that we truly understand our humanity and the sin that has torn us apart. It is through Jesus that we see the character and nature of God at its fullest. It is through Jesus that salvation is made possible.
I could go on, but I think the point is clear; Jesus is the foundation and center of Christianity.
Yet here is a troubling notion; many Christians don't really know who Jesus is! Think about it. If I were to ask the question "Who is Jesus?" how would you answer? Then think about if that question were asked during a Bible class full of Christians. How many different answers would there be?
Something that has happened, which is reflective of wider cultural change, is that Jesus has become a very personal figure. The question isn't necessarily "Who is Jesus?" anymore, but "Who is Jesus to you?" This subtle shift reflects the culture we live in; a culture where everyone's opinion is right. Who Jesus is to you may not be who Jesus is to me.
This attitude of "subjective truth" has made its way into churches. I doubt we would ever say that the truth is based upon your personal opinion and experiences, but we sure act like it is. Most of the talk is about your personal relationship with God. This leads to widely different opinions and perceptions about who God/Jesus is.
What's interesting is how this type of thinking does NOT apply to questions about HOW we do things. How do we conduct worship? How do we take communion? How do we behave during services? How should Bible classes be divided up? The list goes on and I'm sure you can think of many more examples. The point is that we have been extremely concerned about HOW we do church but not WHY we do church.
Here is an example of what I'm talking about. Imagine that one Sunday morning you are sitting in Bible class and someone raises there hand to say something. They stand up and say "I really just think that Jesus is a really good teacher. He was a good man, but not much else." Now imagine that instead of saying that they said "I think this church needs a band for the worship service." Be honest; which statement would cause more of a fuss? The sad truth is in too many churches it would be the second statement that would concern more people (it could any number of issues).
A study performed by Dr. Scott Adair, a Bible professor at Harding University, shows us something even more disturbing. While working on his dissertation Dr. Adair decided to survey the students at Harding to see what they believed about Jesus. He took students from a Church of Christ background (Harding is roughly 85% Church of Christ) and asked them a series of questions about Jesus. What he found is frankly disturbing.
Around 70% of students who are from a Church of Christ background did NOT believe that Jesus was ever truly human.
Think about that for a moment. The humanity of Christ, one of the core beliefs of the Christian faith, isn't believed by a majority of students from the Churches of Christ. In 1 John 4 it is very clear that whoever proclaims that Jesus came in the flesh is from God, but whoever denies it has the "spirit of the antichrist." John condemned all those who denied the humanity of Jesus.
Sadly I wouldn't be surprised if these students knew all the "right" answers to the questions of instruments, women's roles, communion, worship services, and baptism. Are these things important to discuss? Absolutely. Are they more important than knowing Jesus? Not a chance.
I think this problem arises from, again, treating Jesus as an exclusively personal figure. Who is Jesus to you? How is your relationship with Jesus? Who Jesus is is treated as a personal experience. This can't be farther from Scripture. Jesus himself declares that "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." He did not say that he is "the many variations of the truth," or "I'm your way, but not yours." Jesus is THE truth. Singular. This is what our focus should be.
I could go on, but I think the point is clear; Jesus is the foundation and center of Christianity.
Yet here is a troubling notion; many Christians don't really know who Jesus is! Think about it. If I were to ask the question "Who is Jesus?" how would you answer? Then think about if that question were asked during a Bible class full of Christians. How many different answers would there be?
The Subjective Truth
Something that has happened, which is reflective of wider cultural change, is that Jesus has become a very personal figure. The question isn't necessarily "Who is Jesus?" anymore, but "Who is Jesus to you?" This subtle shift reflects the culture we live in; a culture where everyone's opinion is right. Who Jesus is to you may not be who Jesus is to me.
This attitude of "subjective truth" has made its way into churches. I doubt we would ever say that the truth is based upon your personal opinion and experiences, but we sure act like it is. Most of the talk is about your personal relationship with God. This leads to widely different opinions and perceptions about who God/Jesus is.
What's interesting is how this type of thinking does NOT apply to questions about HOW we do things. How do we conduct worship? How do we take communion? How do we behave during services? How should Bible classes be divided up? The list goes on and I'm sure you can think of many more examples. The point is that we have been extremely concerned about HOW we do church but not WHY we do church.
Here is an example of what I'm talking about. Imagine that one Sunday morning you are sitting in Bible class and someone raises there hand to say something. They stand up and say "I really just think that Jesus is a really good teacher. He was a good man, but not much else." Now imagine that instead of saying that they said "I think this church needs a band for the worship service." Be honest; which statement would cause more of a fuss? The sad truth is in too many churches it would be the second statement that would concern more people (it could any number of issues).
A study performed by Dr. Scott Adair, a Bible professor at Harding University, shows us something even more disturbing. While working on his dissertation Dr. Adair decided to survey the students at Harding to see what they believed about Jesus. He took students from a Church of Christ background (Harding is roughly 85% Church of Christ) and asked them a series of questions about Jesus. What he found is frankly disturbing.
Around 70% of students who are from a Church of Christ background did NOT believe that Jesus was ever truly human.
Think about that for a moment. The humanity of Christ, one of the core beliefs of the Christian faith, isn't believed by a majority of students from the Churches of Christ. In 1 John 4 it is very clear that whoever proclaims that Jesus came in the flesh is from God, but whoever denies it has the "spirit of the antichrist." John condemned all those who denied the humanity of Jesus.
Sadly I wouldn't be surprised if these students knew all the "right" answers to the questions of instruments, women's roles, communion, worship services, and baptism. Are these things important to discuss? Absolutely. Are they more important than knowing Jesus? Not a chance.
I think this problem arises from, again, treating Jesus as an exclusively personal figure. Who is Jesus to you? How is your relationship with Jesus? Who Jesus is is treated as a personal experience. This can't be farther from Scripture. Jesus himself declares that "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." He did not say that he is "the many variations of the truth," or "I'm your way, but not yours." Jesus is THE truth. Singular. This is what our focus should be.
Conclusion
The title of this entry is "Who is Jesus? Part 1." As you can probably guess this is going to be a running series throughout this blog. I thought it was important to first address the issue of "who Jesus is to me" before diving into "Who Jesus is." This will be a cornerstone of this blog. The different entries may be weeks apart as I talk about other things, but we will always come back to this.
Before I end this entry I do want to point out one thing. This time I was pretty hard on subjectivity. Subjectivity is not in itself bad. In fact there are some areas (which we eventually talk about) that subjectivity has greatly helped our understanding of Christ and the Church's mission. There is room for how we personally see and experience life. In fact this is a vital piece of our faith. What I am criticizing is making that our primary mode of knowing who Jesus is.
I pray that this blog helped you understand Jesus, your own thought process, or Scripture a little bit better. At the very least I hope it causes you to think. God bless.
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