For the last several months I have been focusing my attention on the central figure of Christianity, no not Obama, Jesus of course. I feel as if Jesus is calling me to focus more on Him than all other religious subjects such as church structure, theology, reasons why the American church is failing and many other worth while topics. I desire to fall in love with Jesus all over again, to rekindle the purpose of why I decided to be a vocational minister in the first place besides fame and fortune.
The newest book on my book shelf is feeding that hunger. It is called Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll. Mark is a colorful figure in the church world with his off the wall sermon topics, cracks on womanish pastors and hard line views on doctrinal issues, while still having a relevant delivery with one of the fastest growing churches in America located in metropolitan Seattle. He may push the envelope, to say the least, but I believe God brings about men and women through out history whose purpose is to do so. I copied an excerpt from Vintage Jesus to wet your appetite for this funny yet informative book.
Jesus of the Cults
"It is fascinating how some peole will boldly claim that all religions essentially teach the same thing. However, when it comes to Jesus, the cults and world religions in no way teach the same thing.
Liberal "Christians" and some of their Emergent offspring say Jesus was merely a good man, but they are not clear about his being the God-man. Jehovah's Witnesses say that Jesus was merely Michael the archangel, a created being that became a man...Unitarian Universalism teaches that Jesus was not God but rather essentially an incarnation of Mister Rogers, a great man to be respected solely for his teaching, love, justice, and healing. New Age guru Deepak Chopra told Larry King, "I see Christ as a state of consciousness we can all aspire to." According to Scientology, Jesus is an implant forced upon a Thetan about a million years ago. I would explain the position more thoroughly but I have never smoked weed or done any drugs; subsequently, I apparently lack the imagination to understand a religion started by a science fiction writer that has unleashed Tom Crazy Cruise on the world as Billy Graham's evil doppelganger. There is even a Canadian nudist-arsonist cult that thinks that the word Jesus in the Bible is a code word for hallucinogenic mushrooms that are to be eaten before getting naked and lighting things on fire."
Jesus is the whole reason for the Bible, Christianity and life as I see it. He is the figure we should be exalting, the God-man we should be immitating and the only One we should be worshipping. Christianity at large might disagree with that but check out the book for some more hilarous illustrations and biblical teachings about Jesus.
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