It’s fair but unfortunate to say that many people have been hurt by religion. But allow me to be more specific. People have been hurt by those who have misused religion. Spiritual guidance has been misappropriated by power structures ranging from popes to pastors to parents. We live in an age where a form of Christianity has evolved that speaks more of fear masquerading as hate than compassion and hospitality. How much of our airwaves have been taken up by those demanding their so-called religious freedom to exclude? From what Bible are they taking their teachings? None that I have ever read.
But there is a message inside the jewel-encrusted bottle we have been taught to worship. The teachings.
Regardless of his parentage, Jesus of Nazareth was first and foremost a teacher of a practice. The practice is what really got him into trouble. Rome wanted to be in charge. The teachings taught us that we are in charge of ourselves. We are in charge of how we feel and how we love. We are in charge of forgiveness. They teach us a way to get under the skin of something through the simplest channels possible.
Catholicism—the original world conduit of Christianity—is structured in such a way that its Pope defines the true character of the Church. The declared “infallibility” of the Pope in all things theological means that what the Pope thinks, the congregation thinks also. Of course this isn’t practically true, but it’s comforting to note that a single good man can actually effect a change that could finally bring the church into a more complete alignment with its own teachings. For this reason I have hope for Catholicism. I can see it evolving. And as the de facto parent of world Christianity it will have a ripple effect throughout the system over time.
Yet in the meanwhile we are so often forced to throw out the baby with the bathwater. We have so much resistance built up as a result of those who continue to use Christ as a weapon rather than Jesus as a teacher. We intrinsically know that it’s wrong. We reflexively resist it. We are correct to do so. But it leaves us wanting. Self-abandoned.
It brings me to the obvious, even laughable question: What would Jesus do?
Of course I do not know what Jesus would do. I’ve never met the man. All I have is what has filtered through to today. Through centuries of translations and historical critical thinking and theological debates over what the teachings mean. Through the lens of my own culture and what it expects of me. These are the thickest of goggles through which I attempt to decide exactly what Jesus might do with times such as these. The question really becomes: What do I think Jesus would do?
His teachings focused on nonresistance, forgiveness, compassion, hospitality and empowerment. How might they be best applied to all those who have abused us through the act of preaching without practice? No man has the ability to withhold or distribute God’s grace. Ergo, we too are in possession of it. Those who lovingly facilitate it are welcome. Those who would act as a middleman are by default anti-Christian, anti-Christ. They know not what they do. Do we?
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