Jesus: The Original Easy Rider

Please notice that in the picture above,  Jesus does not carry a Bible or any religious tracts.

 

It seems at times that we have lost our way.  Being immersed so deeply in the words that others wrote long ago, we have trapped ourselves in a maze of confusion. And while mulling over the multitude of interpretations, opinions and translations of the Bible where these words are contained, in an attempt to “better understand the mysteries of life”, we have completely missed the point of our existence.

Compare the Bible to a manual for assembling a bicycle.  The Bible contains all the necessary information and instructions that the Creator deemed necessary for building and living a Godly life, or in our comparison case, a bicycle.

 

The first step is to check our parts list for any missing components. Once we are sure they are all there we can start our work.  The problem is, the manual was written before there were cameras and the designer didn’t draw any pictures of the parts or the finished product. He only gave vivid descriptions of what it should look like when completed so we read the entire text and are at least able to create a mental picture of the bicycle. We decide we have a very good idea what the designer wants.

You, being an intelligent person with good mechanical skills, decide to give it a try. You are relatively sure all the parts are there so you move on to step two. Gathering the necessary tools. You’re pretty sure you have all the tools you need… at least enough to get started, so it’s on to step three;          Read all the instructions again and again and once you feel you have a clear picture to get started, you dive in.

 

Seeing your excited interest in whatever it is you’re doing,  your neighbors stop by to check it out. Being a patient man, you listen carefully to all their opinions and advise before continuing. After all… two or three heads are usually better than one… right?

 

Now we know you have received a lot of information from your onlookers and some seem to know a lot about the mechanics of your project, even though none of them has seen the finished project. So, do you take their advise with a grain of salt, or do you follow their ideas? You decide to put your heads together, so to speak, and continue.

 

“No, no, no! That’s not the headset… that’s the bottom bracket.”

 

“No that must be the fork.”

 

“I believe it’s the derailleur.”

 

“Look you guys, there are four of us here and we should be able to figure this thing out but we need to get organized. Form some kind of order. Maybe like what each of us are bringing to the table. What we know from our own respective areas of expertise. It would be so less confusing. Don’t you think?”

 

“Forget it! I’m going to build my own bike.”

 

“Yeah me too.”

 

“Sound’s good to me.”

You think good-riddance, and continue on your own until you come up with the idea that contacting the original designer… or at least his representatives, might be the better place to start.

 

Six months later all three neighbors have finished their projects and are ready to present them to the World at the first ‘International Bike Show’. It’s a great success. All three bikes have millions of eager buyers. Everyone has what he considers to be the best bicycle on the planet and is sure their bike will take them right where they need to go.

 

The problem:

 

Everyone had spent so much time dissecting and analyzing the manual that they missed the purpose of the bike and had no idea how to ride it or where they were going. Except, that is, for the manual’s first owner who sought out the original designer, who in turn, taught him how to ride and showed him the path to the final destination.

 

 

When religion becomes our god the real God can only wait until we crash before He can repair and sooth our misguided souls. It’s not the manual but the Immanuel that leads us to building the perfect bike. He sent the Holy Spirit to explain the Manual. Why should we believe what another flawed, imperfect human being says? Are we not born again? So why return to the old bondage or baggage of religion? 

 

 

 

Is The Trinity A Sound Doctrine?

“He that has seen me has seen the Father.”  John 14:9

 

So many these days are confused in some way in their understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. “How can Jesus have been both all man and all God at the same time?” they might ask. How does the Holy Spirit fit into this triune concept? Here is something to consider while you are seeking a better comprehension of this mystery:

 

In John 14:9 is Jesus saying he is God? Is this proof of the doctrine of the Trinity or simply as Jesus implies in John 15, that this statement confirms Jesus as the Christ and therefore that He is the “Way” to reconcile man’s relationship with the Father?

 

Could the later comments by Jesus in John 15 and other Scripture, suggest that as Jesus was united with the Father by His commitment to do only as He was commanded by the Father to do, we, if we do likewise with Christ’s commandments to us, will also be forever united with both He and the Father by way of the Holy Spirit?

 

In an attempt to bring the Trinity into context with New Testament teachings, man has indulged himself in an over-abundance of speculation and conjecture. I am not saying the Trinity is a false doctrine. What I am saying is that as usual, religion has created a temporal concept from a spiritual revelation.  This is not a unique aspect of Christianity but one that is shared with all monotheistic religions and the main concern of Jesus with regard to the Pharisee’s religion created out of the Jewish faith.

 

Jesus suggested that man’s relationship to God was both personal and spiritual in nature. There is no room for temporal wisdom when considering the spiritual existence of God. Man is a physical creation just like all the rest of those things brought into existence within this universe. However, there is one difference and that is his soul or his spiritual connection with the Creator. It is this spiritual connection that Jesus is referring to in John 14:9. In order to reestablish this connection with God that was severed by the original sin of Adam and Eve, God send His only begotten son who’s sacrifice as the Lamb of God would fulfill all the law required once and for all, and for man to be reunified with God through the prophesied Christ by the drawing of the Holy Spirit.

 

Jesus was saying that His unity with the Father was so perfect and complete that they were one in the same. His fruits were the fruits of the Father. His way was the Father’s way. And His spirit was one with the Father. He went on the explain that if we followed His commandments as He did with the Father, by way of the Holy Spirit, both He and the Father would come and fellowship with us and we too would be one with them.

 

This is not to be taken as me saying that we will become equal to God or Jesus, only that we will be connected by the Holy Spirit to Jesus as He is Connected to the Father. Like the Trinity of the Godhead, we are to be unified in Christ by the Spirit of truth. Think of it this way, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not independent of God the Father. They are all one forming the Godhead. That spiritual part of God, which He shares with mankind, was made flesh in the form of Jesus to complete the cycle of our human existence. With the death of the physical comes our unification into eternal life with the Trinity.