My convictions and their basis

Why I Follow the Way of Jesus
James W. Gustafson, PhD
I said in an earlier email/discussion that I would explain why I am not big on religion. But I am a follower of Jesus. Whether I am a Christian is for others to say, for the first tenet of Jesus’ message is that I am messed up in the eyes of God and only His grace can rescue me. He seems to know who I am and what the ultimate quest in life is all about.
Here is what is unique in Jesus’ message to mankind, in contrast to all other worldviews, religions, and philosophies.
All religions are human attempts to bend the forces that influence us to one’s own will. Say prayers, do rituals, worship the right way, help others. give offerings (the list is very long) and you will get the powers to flow for your benefit or the deity to aid your agenda.
Your goal is to live a good life, to escape suffering, be healthy, have what you need to be happy, and to make the cut (however that is defined) into the next life. “A good life now if possible and a better existence after death.”
This whole way of thinking is typical human reasoning. Who can go against “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?”
Jesus has a different message—and a unique life to back it up.
He turned all this on its head. It’s not something any one would make up. Listen to his words.
If you want to gain life, lose it. If you want to be great, humble yourself. If you want fulfillment, deny yourself.
Fulfilled are you when you are at the end of rope, when people reject you for speaking the truth of the Gospel. You must be willing to be put down and even killed in order to be part of the kingly rule of God.
And this is what Jesus actually did.
He comforted the oppressed and stood up to the religious bullies of his time. He refused to save his own neck. His family, his friends and his God all abandoned him but he never flinched.
Let me say that I have studied his life and teachings for about 50 years, having degrees in theology and philosophy. I am basically skeptical of all grand claims. Countless times I have imagined myself on the scientific materialist side of the fence, trying to explain what we know honestly and without bias as far as that is possible. I have read the arguments of atheists from David Hume (1775) to Frederich Nietzsche (1880) to Bertrand Russell (1930) to Antony Flew (1970) to Richard Dawkins (2007). You may not know these names, but they are all heavy-hitters in philosophy.
Who is this person? I say that the most reasonable answer is this: he is who he said he is.
He is not a mere human, although he was born to Jewish peasants. He is more than a great teacher. He is more than an inspiring and courageous reformer.
He claimed that God, the Creator of all, was his heavenly father. He claimed to reveal God by his words and his life. He claimed to be equal with God, existing before the creation of the universe.
A bit of logic tells me this man is nuts or maybe evil or God the creator visiting us. C.S. Lewis showed that he was not delusional—there are no symptoms of delusion at all. He was not evil—no one, even the skeptics say that.
That leaves me with what his original followers (messed up and confused though they were at first) came to acknowledge: he is the unique Son of God.
But wait. There is another explanation. One that Mohammad and countless others came up with—the records of Jesus life and teaching are corrupted.
That doesn’t work once you study the facts. Scholars have spent more time analyzing the New Testament than on any scholarly project in history. Starting with various “corruption” theories, the scholarship now concedes (with a few holdouts, to be sure) that we have the story pretty much as the it was first written down by people who knew Jesus—what he said and what he did. As one of the original writers put it, we have not followed cleverly-devised tales.” I would be intellectually dishonest not to accept this.
So where does that leave me? It makes me consider whether what Jesus said is true, not just in theory, but also in real life.
Here’s what I found, in a nutshell.
I am a self-centered person, seeking to run my life the way I want. Even the good I do is compromised by self-motives. I often deceive myself into thinking I can be my own god and even use religion to get what I want, to feel better, and be proud of my self-sufficiency.
This is not true. I know it if I am honest. I am deluding myself. I need rescue and an extreme makeover, starting on the inside where no one else can see or know me.
Jesus asks me to turn over everything—the good and the not-so-good—to him and to seek God’s forgiveness for putting my will in place of his and to ask for mercy through the life Jesus sacrificed for me and the new life he can grow in me.
When I decided to do this, everything changed for me. God has come into my life (what Jesus called the Holy Spirit) and has kept his promises. I am a long way from where I need to be, but the joy and peace and sense of fulfillment is always there.
Why do I say I am not keen on religion? Because doing life as Jesus requires is a complete bending of my will and wants to his. It’s not about me any more. It’s about him.
But Christianity is a religion, you say.
Yes. But Jesus condemned even this religion. He said people would come to twist the way of grace into a religion of works like all the other religions. Go to Mass, say prayers, do penance, pay tithes, give to the unfortunate—and if you are good enough God will know you made the cut. Jesus said to those who did all this religious stuff—get out of here—I do not know you. Jesus said most would not make the cut even though they thought they would. Why? Because salvation is based entirely on what God gives a person and zero on what that person does. This is very plain in the teachings of those who heard his teaching.
I am joyfully doing all I can to live as Jesus lived, serving God and others—not to make myself worthy but solely to live out my thanks for the free gift of forgiveness and eternal life.
Jesus tells it like it is. I know I will not be spared hardship, suffering and even death for his cause.
Yet I have known many people who are religious turn their back on their god. God let their loved one die of cancer at a young age, or be killed in accident or by suicide. God allowed the loss of a job and income. God didn’t protect my kid from abuse or some other pain. God is so heartless—I can never believe in him. The examples are endless. There is a false premise here that is at the base of religion. God is there to make my life good. When my life is not good, why be religious any longer?
Jesus did not promise to make life on earth good for me. What he asks is the one leave everything and follow him. It’s more like joining the Navy Seals or volunteering for a trek through hell. You can get hurt, deprived, tortured, abandoned, and killed. That’s what Jesus said would be normal for his followers. (You can read it—it’s in the book.) So when hardships people complain of come the true follower rejoices. Can you believe what this man said? It’s what our Leader went through himself and what he has a right to demand of me. One guarantee—he will never leave us—he walks through it all with us and promises it will be worth it in the end.
Religion doesn’t go for this, generally speaking. People think their good deeds or faithful rituals will impress the deity. Or they seek health and wealth (listen to those TV preachers!). Or they think they can stay wimpy and soft in good feelings. Or they rely on a formula: I was baptized, I said prayers, I memorize the Koran, I said the sinners prayer and got born again.
No way! Jesus stood against all this. I admire him for it. He does answer prayer. (I have seen scores of remarkable outcomes from prayer both here and in India and Africa, by the way.) But he does not answer prayer to make us feel better or spare us suffering. He does it to show that God is there and his demands on us are real.
After studying all the major religions and the major philosophical worldviews, what Jesus taught makes the most sense. His life is the one most worthy of emulating. I have experienced his life in me by the Holy Spirit. And that cannot be conveyed in words or concepts—it has to be experienced, just like you cannot really convey the glories of a spectacular sunset to a person blind from birth. They have to be re-born with the capacity for sight to have a real experience of what it’s like.
I’ve signed on. No regrets following Jesus for many decades now. None.
So that’s my explanation of why I’m not big on religion. Just on Jesus, the carpenter from Nazareth.
Other religions want to re-make him into one of their own via distortions – from Islam to New Age to Dan Brown to secularist, to atheists (Nietzsche etc) Why? Because he is the single most influential person who ever lived. My agnostic colleagues at NECC acknowledge that even thought they reject his central claim.
I agree with what Paul had to say—a man who persecuted those who believed Christ was the Messiah of God until Jesus knocked him off his horse and changed his life 180 degrees. “For me, living means Christ and dying is gain.” After many decades this is where I stake my claim. Remember, God has no grandchildren—every one comes personally to ask for adoption into the Family of the Father, who made all there is or ever will be and who invites me to come home to him.

Violence in the name of religion.

Violence in the name of religion is nothing new. The question we ask is this. Is violence either required or at least condoned in a given religious worldview?
The Gospel forbids the use of violence with one exception. Those who are government officials charged with protection of the innocent may use force to combat evildoers. The authorities “do not bear the sword in vain” said Saint Paul in Romans 13. But Jesus rebuked Peter when he drew a sword to defend Jesus from the mob that came to arrest him. And in Christian history heads of state (under the medieval popes) have been condemned for using force in the Crusades. The recent popes have apologized for this more than once. It is a denial of Jesus’ teaching.
Regarding Islam we find a different problem. While most Muslims are for peace, there seems to be a strain in the Koran and Hadith that may allow violence in matters of religion. Some say that Muhammad’s word of peace (there shall be no coercion in religion) came when he and his followers were weak in numbers and thus vulnerable. But when his armies were victorious and more powerful he spoke of smiting unbelievers who would not convert to Islam or accept the status of dhimmis. There is one example of the Prophet ordering an adulterous woman to be stoned to death, in contrast to the example of Jesus, who saved the life of a condemned adulteress with the words, “Let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone.”
Question 1. In our times, thousands of Muslim leaders call the USA (and the West in general) the Great Satan. Why would they say that of us who have spread freedom around the world and have sent billions in aid even to Islamic countries?
Question 2. And these same clerics justify mayhem and killing of their enemies, condoning lying and murder in the conflict with their enemies. Is there anything in the Koran to support such tactics? And even within Islam killing family members who desert the faith or disgrace the family name is justified by some Muslims. (See the following news article).
Question 3. What is the best answer to the question: does Islam by its texts and its founder’s example justify violence? (Note, in Islam there is no separation of religion and government. Islam advocates what is known technically as theocracy.








Silence over 'honor killing' stuns Islam critic
Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 7/15/2008 4:00:00 AM


A critic of Islam says feminists in the U.S. are more concerned about fundamentalist Christians taking away their right to abort babies than they are the outrageous "honor killing" of an Islamic woman by her own father.

Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, recently wrote an article in Frontpage Magazine about the honor killing in Clayton County, Georgia. Police said Chaudhry Rashid, a Pakistani immigrant, claimed he strangled his daughter, Sandeela Kanwal, in order to restore his family's honor. Rashid believed his daughter had sullied the family name by planning to divorce her husband to whom she had been given in an arranged marriage.

Spencer contends Americans must understand that this crime is the direct result of political correctness and a failure to confront the ugly realities of Islam. "We've let people into the country who believe it is justified for them to kill their daughters if they've sullied the honor of their family," he asserts. "And nobody is even facing the problem. Everybody is making excuses for it and saying it's not an Islamic problem, so the Islamic roots of it are unchallenged," argues Spencer.

He believes American liberals are more concerned about fundamentalist Christians. "Feminists seem to be more concerned about preserving their right to an abortion than about people who are doing things that are much more threatening to the equality of rights of women than anything the Christian fundamentalists are doing," Spencer adds.

Spencer states that no one will examine the question of unrestricted Islamic immigration in light of this problem.

Turn the Other cheek? You must be kidding!

What does it mean for Christians to “turn the other cheek?”
Jesus said: if someone slaps you, turn the other cheek and if someone is cheating you out of your coat let him take your shirt, too. (Dr. Gus’ paraphrase.)
By contrast, Islam is quick to retaliate against others, especially those who insult Islam. Do you remember the Danish cartoonist who, a couple of years ago, depicted Muhammad as a terrorist or something? He had death threats, as did the newspaper publishing the cartoon. In the USA even the slightest hint of criticism of Islam is met with an instant response of being bigoted and intolerant. Salmon Rushdie’s “Satanic Verses” highlighted problems with a part of the Koran that Muhammad retracted as being not a revelation of truth but a test Allah allowed Satan to send through the mouth of the Prophet to test the faithful. Rushdie has been in hiding ever since.
Meanwhile Jesus has been portrayed as having a love affair with Mary of Magdala or as being gay or as a crucifix in a jar of urine. The Christian church has its dirty laundry all over the front pages of the news. Christians are often told to shut up in public places and not to wear “offensive” identifications such as jewelry with a cross on it or a T-shirt with a Bible verse.
Meanwhile Christian heroes of the past spoke out and sometimes got killed for doing so and in present times people in China, Iran, Egypt and elsewhere are fearless in defying the government laws against sharing the Gospel, reading a Bible, or praying. This is not “turning the other cheek.”

The questions are these. What did Jesus mean—was it for personal application or for people in public life? Was it meant to allow others to step all over you? Does it mean merely not to be in a self-defense mode all the time? What should Christians do when in a free society like the USA they are told what is permissible speech and what is not? Is speaking the truth from the perspective of the Gospels hate speech? Or is refusing to speak unpopular ideas a denial of one’s faith? Is Jesus asking his followers to always “be nice” and not upset anyone’s feelings? Christians are also told to “speak the truth—in love.”
There is much here to discuss. Just take a couple of the ideas and give your comments, reflecting in your response that you have read the chapter on Christianity. And I encourage you to read Matthew chapters 4-7—available online from many sources. It will take you ten minutes to read Jesus’ famed Sermon the Mount where the reference has its origin. I will also send it in an email FYI.

Why Are the Jews So Hated?

Why are the Jews hated so much?

Anti-Semitism, as it’s called, has been around for along time. Jews attained an accommodation in the Roman Empire of old. So much so that the Christians only got persecuted when they were forced out of the protective cover of Judaism.
But the Roman Empire collapsed. Jews became even more scattered than they been throughout the Middle East and then into Europe. They fared well for a while under Christian and Islamic rulers. But not for long. They became scapegoats for the woes of various societies.

Thomas Cahill wrote a great book a few years back (The Gift of the Jews), highlighting all we owe to the world-view that began with Abraham 4000 years ago: the idea that history is linear and not cyclical. This, he says, made progress in terms of culture, science, and technology possible.

The worst of their long history of woes came with the Holocaust as the secularistic regime of Hitler inflamed hatred to the point where he wanted to exterminate all people with Jewish blood in them. About six million perished.

And now Iran and other Islamic nations want to wipe out Israel, after trying and failing to do so in the past.

In discussing this, let’s try to focus more on the religious aspects and not merely on the political.

Buddhism in Tibet

Tibet may not be the home of Buddhism but it is a nation dominated by it.
As you may know, there is a clash of two worldviews going on there. On the one side is Buddhism, led by the Dalai Llama. The other is the non-religious ideology of communism.
Why can’t these two belief systems tolerate each other? Why don’t see the benefit of separation of “church and state” as the way out of this impasse? Do you make an assessment of which side is more to blame—and for what reasons?
To get you started on what is happening in this conflict, I ask you to go to an email in the course posted today.

Hinduism today

I visit India every year since 2003 to teach philosophy and ethics courses as an adjunct professor in a 300-student theological college. I enjoy meeting the people at this Christian college in north India where Hinduism is the predominant religion.
India has had religious freedom in its constitution as a modern democracy and subscribes to the United Nations guarantee of human rights. But unlike Europe and America, the reality on the ground is widespread intolerance and a lot of violence—especially against women. Countless wives die in kitchen fires each year—and this is not by accident. Either there was a problem with the dowry or with childbearing.

But the biggest curse of India is the caste system, an essential aspect of Hinduism. There are a few major castes along with hundreds of sub-castes. And below all the castes are the nearly subhuman millions of Untouchables.

As I travel from Delhi north by train I have been cautioned to be careful of how I identify myself to strangers in casual conversation. English and Hindi are the two official languages of India 2400 languages, so I can converse with most people who travel on trains. In north India militant Hindus have been known to hurt people, even burning churches and mosques and killing Christians.

The students I teach will go out, in many cases, like the apostles of Jesus and face severe persecution. I admire them greatly as followers of Jesus, for they do not fear death any more than he did.

Hinduism, in my judgment, is a misguided worldview. I saw this in living color in the film “Water,” an Indian production of a few years ago, which is worth seeing. (BTW, did you know that India’s “Bollywood” produces more films each year than Hollywood?) Hinduism claims no basis in real historical events, has a pantheon of gods somewhere between a few and 300 million, depending on how you look at it, and yet has a rich literary heritage of scriptures, most notably the Upanishads, Vedas, and the Gita.

Due to social oppression many low caste people are turning to Buddhism, Islam, or Christianity where there is a greater sense of equality. The Hindu majority in India are not happy about this and are trying to prevent it.
Is there any hope for Hinduism to set aside the caste system? Does Hinduism’s better features outweigh the social drawbacks? What reasoning and research supports your assessment?

Resources to get you started: http://www.friesian.com/caste.htm
http://www.gfa.org/kidnapped-christians-released

Photos from north India: http://jimgus.slide.com/