Let's Pretend

If I may, I’d like to play a game of “Let’s Pretend”.

It is a game I like to play with various ideas just to see what would change with my faith or my paradigms if some normally accepted “givens” were removed.

If:

• ·         Jesus was not a full 1/3 of the deity, but was completely human in every way
•       Jesus was not born of a “virgin” and angels, stars, magi did not form part of his birth   experience.
• ·         the miracles are more about symbolic truth than descriptions of real events
• ·         his death was not required as a “propitiation” for our sins
• ·         he did not physically rise on the third day

If all those things were true, then what? What are we left with?

Maybe these things:

• ·         An extraordinary, perhaps unique man, who drew upon the collective wisdom of the Jewish faith and understood the connections of truth which had been slipping past for generations; that God was a servant God; that release of the captives, recovery of sight, release from poverty were an integral part of who God is.
• ·         Someone who understood what God actually wanted from people;  

          “And what does the LORD require of you?
          To act justly and to love mercy
          and to walk humbly with your God.” – Micah 6:

         Or in Matthew 22: 

        “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

         Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all

         your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love

         your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two 

         commandments.”

• ·         Someone who, when he declared forgiveness of sins did not declare it for the future (after he had paid the price, been the sacrifice, been raised from the dead and you have accepted him into your heart as personal saviour and Lord)

o   Matthew 9: 1-8 “My Son, Your Sins Are Forgiven”

o   Mark 2:1-12

He declared it as a truth.  The religious legal eagles became all bent out of shape when he said this and demanded to know how he could forgive sins. How about this; what if he wasn’t forgiving sins; he was just declaring the truth that their sins were forgiven?

• ·         Someone who declared the current and ongoing presence of the Kingdom of God, where intimacy with the Almighty was not an event to prepare for in the hereafter, but a immediate and eternal reality.
• ·         Someone who, with the story of the Prodigal Son, showed that God did not require a formula, a sacrifice or a ritual in order to want fellowship and a welcoming embrace. All that was required was for us to turn our face towards home and God would be sprinting towards us.

If those things were true, where would we be then?

• ·         I would know that I live in a world where I am loved by a loving God, where I am invited to participate with that God in the healing and fulfilment of creation.
• ·         I would know that forgiveness of my sins is not something occupying God’s heart
• ·         I would know that God’s love for me is unconditional
• ·         I would know that to participate in the Kingdom I need to keep my face turned towards God and to work in the areas close to God’s heart; to relieve the suffering and oppression of those around me.
• ·         I would know that I can live now, right now, in the everlasting presence of the eternal God and trust any and all futures to Him

For these reasons and others besides, I tend to feel great freedom when theological issues are discussed. If anyone can walk up to me and scientifically prove that there was no Virgin Birth or that they have complete proof that they have discovered the bones of Jesus, it doesn't change my faith or the reality of my relationship with God in even the smallest way.

I believe that Jesus was focussed on his relationship with the Father and that this was what he wanted for everyone else. I really don’t think he wanted to be the “centre of it all.”