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Jesus, the founder of Christianity….or was he?

May 22, 2020 by DoneWithReligion

by Jim Gordon

When we think about Jesus, many of us automatically think of Christianity. Yet in actuality, the two are completely different.  Jesus did not come to start a religion. Jesus was not a Christian.

We are missing the whole point when we focus on religion rather than the real reason Jesus came to live among us. He came to show us what God is really like. A god who is kind and who loves each and every one of us. No matter what we call ourselves or what group we claim to belong to, God loves each one of us.

According to Wikipedia it is stated that according to some estimates there are roughly 4,200 religions in the world including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Jewish, Christianity. In a sense, each of these and every other religion are actually related. They are all human based ways of trying to find and please the God (or gods) they believe in and serve.

In regard to just Christian denominations, World Christian Encyclopedia says that world Christianity consists of six major ecclesiastical-cultural blocs. These are divided into 300 major ecclesiastical traditions and are composed of over 33,000 distinct denominations in 238 countries. We even break it down more within Christianity with all the different denominations such as Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian or part of the hundreds of other groups. It certainly cannot be stated that people are not interested in some type of higher power.

We want to argue over religion and who is right and who is wrong. All the different religions of the world cannot agree in who we believe or what is right. We argue over whose interpretation or doctrine is right, then condemn and disassociate with those who feel differently.

Needless to say, we all have our interpretations, thoughts and ideas but those just make us unique individuals. They were not intended to cause separations and divisions among us. We should be able to be ourselves and yet love and accept those who are different from us.

If we could get past the religious part of our beliefs and live in the freedom God provided, accept one another and love one another even in our differences, we could certainly get along much better together. Rather than defend our denominational interpretations and our religious doctrines, if we would love and accept others with the love of Christ, people would be more open to hear about our views on God.

Sadly, we are normally busy pointing out what we think are sins and mistakes of others. We are quick to judge and condemn those who we consider sinners. Yet when we do so, the love Jesus told us to show everyone seems to get missed. I personally do not think it is our job to judge and condemn people and determine what are sins or not. We are told to love God and love one another.

Jesus told us to love God, love one another, love your neighbor and love your enemy. When we focus on the gospels and the life of Jesus, we see that he did not condemn people nor point out specific sins. He had compassion and love and forgave them before they even asked. We can certainly see a distinct difference from the way we act today. Jesus mainly seemed to have an issue with the religious leaders who thought they were better than everyone else because of their religious works.

When it comes to saying I am a Christian, I am hesitant anymore because of the stereotypical ideas most people form when hearing the term. If being a Christian means a follower of Christ, someone who wants to be like Christ, someone who shows the love of God to everyone then I am for it. But if being a Christian means someone who follows the old covenant law, who is judgmental, condemning and hateful then I am done with that and prefer not to use the term. In that sense, Christianity is not the answer nor is any other man-made religion.

Jesus is not into religion. Jesus came to show the love of God to every human being no matter who they are or what they believe. Jesus crosses the barriers of religion and loves everyone. Jesus shows us what God is really like, an all-inclusive, loving and accepting Spirit who wants the best for all of us. In the world today we are the only Jesus people see. We should be ready to share that love and acceptance with everyone we meet.

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Posted in Acceptance of Others, christian living, Jesus follower, Love of God, religion | Tagged christian living, Christianity, denominations, follower of Christ, Jesus, Love of God, religion, religions | 9 Comments

9 Responses

  1. on July 15, 2020 at 4:15 AM Jesus, the founder of Christianity….or was he? – Anchor Blog

    […] Jesus, the founder of Christianity….or was he? […]

    LikeLike


  2. on July 15, 2020 at 4:13 AM Salem Andero

    Whoaa!
    Mr Jim.
    I love the whole exposition.
    It’s really lifting.
    I thank God for bringing this awesome piece my way.
    I couldn’t read through but I read a good part that was very inspiring…

    LikeLike


    • on July 15, 2020 at 8:21 PM DoneWithReligion

      Thank you Salem. Glad you enjoyed the article.

      LikeLike


  3. on June 29, 2020 at 4:16 PM cctechm777

    Greetings, I agree with you Jesus Came to give His Chosen… Life, a life Hid in Him, so that we would be One with Him as He was one with the Father. For He said, me and the Father are one.
    If persons are truly Born-Again by His Holy Spirit from above, then we should be dying to self, and all pre-conceived ideas on what we should do to be “like” Him, when in actual fact, He came to MAKE us like Him.
    Where two or three are gathered together, there Christ is the midst of us, as He stated. So we don’t need to or follow after the present day, Anti-Christ church system, for they follow NOT after Jesus Christ, they follow are another god and another Gospel.
    Thank you for posting this…….Lord bless you!

    LikeLike


    • on June 29, 2020 at 7:59 PM DoneWithReligion

      Thank you for the comment. I appreciate you taking the time to read my article and for the kind words.

      LikeLike


  4. on May 22, 2020 at 11:49 AM DeAnn Schmitt

    Done listening to you.

    LikeLike


    • on May 22, 2020 at 8:31 PM DoneWithReligion

      Thanks DeAnn. You should not listen to me, nor any human being. Listen for the Spirit who lives within you.

      LikeLiked by 1 person


  5. on May 22, 2020 at 10:19 AM Jem

    Great post, Jim. I love it. Thank you.

    LikeLike


    • on May 22, 2020 at 8:31 PM DoneWithReligion

      Thanks Jem.

      LikeLike



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