Note: Thanks to two groups

1 Some are still helping us inch toward our Debt Retirement Goal of $20,000 for Chains of Grace Ministry. Our parolees thank you and I thank you.

2. Some are sharing this blog post with family and friends. Our subscribe button is working now. When you share this site with others, they subscribe. As a result I am getting to have conversations with various persons who want to talk about Jesus. I have to believe these talks will have meaningful results. Please keep on inviting others to come here.

Now, to our subject.

The Word was in the Beginning, John 1:1a

The Word became flesh and dwelled among us, John 1:14a

Perhaps preachers in the post-Christian era in which we now live (an era soon ending as more people start to understand the emptiness of their lives is a religious vacuum rather than a “spiritual” one) limit their teaching on the subject of Jesus because they find so much of His story to be mythological.

That is, the absence of Jesus in church presentations these days may be the result of the practical atheism of the presenters (preachers). A German theologian named Rudolph Bultmann published an essay titled “New Testament and Mythology” in 1941 in which he established his belief that all the Bible has to say about Jesus after the Crucifixion is only a story based on hyperbole (exaggeration), which is the essence of mythology.

In other words it was not actual or real and no one need set much stock in it. Bultmann may have seemed a minor figure at the time but he has “swung a big stick” since then even among people (preachers) who have never heard his name.

Why does this matter?

Well, the Biblical teachings on the Christ are easier to take if we do not have to insist on Jesus, the Christ as the Divine Son of God, both Human and Divine, personifying, not representing, God on Earth, certainly not born of a virgin, absolutely not resurrected and admittedly not extant today. This is Christianity-lite; an ethos (system of ethics) without the necessity of God.

I am sad when I say Christianity without the Divine Christ, the God-Man who dies for our sin, is more or less negligible and very easy to neglect. Why bother with anything beyond the Golden Rule and just be nice to others?

When Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment under the Law (by a religious lawyer who knows the Law; he just wants someone to reinforce his narrative) Jesus give him the Divine (the Law) and the Human (the grace answer).

He says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. And the second commandment (about which Jesus was not asked) is like unto the first, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

I would dare to point out the two commandment are not much alike. We are to love God with all we are, all we have, all our desire and all our passion. Oh, and love your neighbor the way you want to be loved by your neighbor.” The common element in them is love; cold, hard Biblical fact leading one to place God where no one else can reside, thence to let our reverent love for God inform our daily life.

No wonder the Feel Good preachers who are in the Feel Good business avoid this kind of Christianity. On the day Jesus died (before the Bultmannian mythology begins because even Rudolph believed men could die) there were persons in the crowd before Pontius Pilate who voted for Barrabas to live and Jesus to die, meaning Barrabas gets a bigger crowd when it counts. To get a big crowd does not mean you have to be faithful to Christian teachings. In fact, real Christian’s teaching may get in your way.

If you leave off actual Christianity, it will not be long before you leave off teaching Jesus.

I fear this is where we are now in North America.

Note: I voted with about 3,500 other early voters at my polling place yesterday. In person, first day voting.the effort cost me about an hour all told. Please accept my loving opinion; if driving ten minutes, standing in a long line of fellow voters and showing a picture ID is your idea of voter suppression, you are too lazy to have a voice.

GO VOTE TOAY. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST DAY AND RISK RUNNING INTO A BIND. GO VOTE TODAY,

Now, to our subject.

Yesterday we spent some time on the I Am statements of the Christ in John, Chapter Six. In that one chapter Jesus announces He is the Bread of Life not less than four times. Jesus really wants us to know He is the great provider of our inner needs.

In reading over the post today I realized I may need to spend a day on the essential nature of the Logos. Remember, John’s Gospel starts in eternity, with the Logos (Word) with God as God as the Agent of Creation. Post-Christian evangelical atheists scoff at the idea of a Trinitarian God and, not less, at a personally created order. I think they miss the geometric relationship of the Trinity, one Person to the Other and then the algebraic model of reality in missing the Creation.

By geometric (in relation to the Trinity, God manifesting one unity in three forms), I mean the visibility of form. In eternity the Triune God is in a horizontal relationship, One Person to the Other. The beauty (aesthetics) of form in equality and proportion in Creation present in Creation’s unity,m conformity and even in its irregular presentations (the one moon of Earth orbits the Earth in line with Earth’s orbit of the sun, whereas all other moons in our solar system have an orbit both peculiar and particular to their gravitational body) gives evidence of a Precise Prime Mover. God, the Precise Prime Mover is in perfect unity, of a horizontal nature, One to the Other.

Therefore, put more simply, the unity, conformity and even the occasional, persistent irregularity of Creation argues for a Personal Creator. Then, Human rebellion interrupts Human History, at least as God provides. The “Tree of Life” episode is sometimes interpreted as God as the Villain,” in that God wants to hold Humans back from the divine knowledge they, we need to advance our race (as though God the Creator does not intend our greater good).

Since then, as we would see, our form “is out of whack.” Pure form has not actually predominated since early on with the human race, so we require other forms of “the Math” to explain our relationships to each other. It is God alone who remains static in form even since Humans moved away from Him. However, in order to display the intention of God to redeem and restore fallen Humanity to Godself, God reorders the relationship of the Trinity from horizontal to vertical, making Godself appear in dominant and subordinate relationship as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with separate stations and actions.

Let me illustrate it this way. The night before Jesus died, He prayed to the Father, “Let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.” If, as we believe, Jesus is Eternal God Himself, to whom does He pray at this point? Is He talking to Himself?

To make this argument is to misunderstand the real sacrifice of the Christ. For fallen Humanity, Jesus surrenders the independent exercise of His divinity, emptying Himself, limiting Himself, obedient even to the point of death on the Cross. In so doing, Jesus displays this truth; that life and death (remember that Tree?) is never the province of Man, but always the domain of God.

The Logos Principle, for Christians, is inclusive of but beyond Creation as form. There is a reason we take Geometry (Plato) before Algebra (Neo_Platonism). The Logos is God’s personals demonstration of the relationship between matter and form.

Remember what we say. If we have Jesus we have what we need. If we do not have Jesus it does not much matter what we possess, or what possesses us.

Last week we took a first look at the I Am statements of Jesus. This weeks we will take a closer look at those statements.

Jesus says, “I am the bread of life, John 6:35, 41,48, 51.

Please note these things, to wit:

1. The bulk of the I Am teachings come down to us from John’s gospel. John’s gospel is the only non-Synoptic Gospel. John’s gospel gives us theological information and, indeed, is often called The Theological Gospel. His information begins with the Logos statement in John 1:1-14, rather than with historical details of a genealogy, as in Matthew, look ahead as in Luke or a call to immediate action as in Mark. John starts in eternity and works from there to human history That is to say, John’s gospel gives us the Why behind the How, while offering us a lot of the What.
2. John has Jesus repeating His Bread of Life statement four times in John, Chapter Six. His repetition means whoever hears this series of statements and explanation first is deeply impressed. Jesus often uses the teaching method “Tell them everything and repeat the important parts.” There is something about His Bread of Life statements He wants His hearers to assimilate.
3. What does Jesus want HIs original hearers to get? The text indicates He does not want them to follow Him for what they can get to live on in this world. This is the danger of modern “Prosperity Preaching,” or of ministries based on “Supernatural Happenings,”: Soon the Getting becomes the God. Jesus will not allow this to happen to His saving work. He insists they see Him as their spiritual Savior, the One and Only, their means to Heaven.
4. We should incidentally note this fact; miracles do not satisfy for long Humans are like this, aren’t we? We always need one more sign. We require a little god who will work out a way for us to see what we want to see, the way we want to see. Beloved, beware of the material temptation to chase off after what you want, all the while insisting God behave according to your whims. A dear person once told me if God would only do a miracle in front of her she would fall down on her knees and worship God forever. I had to reply, “Who knows? You might be the very first to honor God forever because of some supernatural act. The evidence of Scripture and of personal experience says that is not going to be the case.” Jesus acts miraculously, still, but the late, great Dallas Willard was right when he said, “The earliest followers of Jesus did not follow Him because of His miracles. They sought Him out because He had information they have never heard.”
5. When Jesus presents His I am the Bread of Life statement, He is stressing that He is what His hearers need. There is just no other like Him. Jesus possesses (and makes available to us) all we need to have a life of meaning for now and hope for later.

Yes, I do go on awhile.

We started this subject because I felt frustrated with preachers who were not spending much time on the great subject of the Christian faith; Jesus, the Christ. If you have Jesus you have what you need. If you do not have Jesus, it does not much matter what you do have in your life.

Go vote. Today. Do it today. Do it now. Go vote. Really. Go vote.

Note: Readers, share this blogsite with family and friends, please. Help me grow the readership.

Now, to our subject.

Today’s essay is an Op-Ed. The great glory of old age is you can think what you want, read what you want and write what you want. This long series on Christology and the Current Crisis is what I want to spend my time and limited mental energy.

I think Jesus wants us to do more than follow the people/party prone to disliking the people we mostly dislike. Please don’t tell me you don’t know what I mean.

Journalism is now not much other than advocacy, wherein the talking heads on one channel damn the GOP, while equally empty heads on a second channel show the “knuckleheads” from the other party. Politicians scarcely do more than stir up hatred and fear among us. Big Money rules the day.

During Our Lord’s short earthly life religious political parties stirred up hatred and fear. The Romans ruled the day; they killed whom they wished and terrorized the rest. Big Money ruled the day.

Jesus spent His time preaching Truth to power. He demonstrated the love of God for the Lazarus people, who could not eat or live inside or have decent medical care. He railed against the Big Money religious parties. He was so indifferent to earthly power He refused to spar with them when His own life was on the line.

What would Jesus do today?

Jesus would teach us to think. We do not have to check our intellect at the door of the Church. We can have faith and pursue knowledge.

Jordan Peterson is right, I think, when he opines that most of us do not think much. We mostly just listen for someone to agree with our narrative and then agree with them.

If Jesus wanted power, all He had to do was accept the license of the religious powers of His day. Or, for more power, He could have simply preached Rome Our Home Right or Wrong. His fortune would have been made. Crowds would have followed Him; for all the wrong reasons.

Jesus would not do it. We should not listen for the familiar voice preaching the narrative we want to hear.

Try this test. When you hear someone striving to make a point, check what you feel emotionally. If their tone or tempo or tongue make you angry or anxious or anything else, take one step back and consider their words rather than your own feelings. Why are you angry or anxious or inflamed? Is this what the speaker wants?l Is this what you want? What does it say abut the speaker or about you if this is the goal of the discourse?

Our whole culture should probably take a step back, suck in a big breath and look at how we feel. Those who would manipulate us for their benefit may find it more difficult to “play us” if we won’t get in their game.

I think Jesus wants us to learn to think. If you already know how to think, use your thinking ability to see through deceit.

Note: Thanks to one of our confidential donors who sent in $400 for our Debt Retirement Fund. We are now just over $10,600 in cash and pledges toward our $20,000 goal. Please remember this is for Chains of Grace Ministry, a Christian charity intended to offer Re-entry helps to men coming out of prison. Our houses need to be self supporting and retiring our initial debt on the dwellings is one way to achieve our goals.

You can donate either of two ways.

Go to our website at www.chainsofgrace.org. You will find more than one Donate button on the pages. Click on the Donate button, enter your information and we will get your donation.

Or

Send a check for any amount to our hard site at

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Thanks in advance for your help.

Now, to our subject.

Jesus,, the Christ, is the means of our spiritual salvation and the source of our life in the eternal heaven. The Christ is the predestined sacrificial mediator between God and Humankind.

Yes, I use the word predestined. The modern confusion around the predestination of the creation can be turned to a positive only if we see in it the desire of the human heart for the church to preach and teach Jesus.

The New Testament use of the word predestination is first used to describe the intentional ministry of the Christ. In Acts 2 and repeatedly thereafter in the Kerygema sermon school, we learn to accept the crucifixion of the Christ as the ultimate example of the Lordship of God and the responsibility of humankind.

In the Synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luk,e) the Christ is presented as the One intended )ok, predestined) to bring good news to all people through the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel. Humanity will follow God as a response to the repentant covenant people conditioned on their willingness to repent. This is the predestination of God for Messiah, the Christ and the covenant people of Israel.

Sadly, Israel dies not repent of its own artifices and turn (return) to God. So distant and distinct is Israel from its God they do not recognize God’s entry into human history in the form of the God-Man Jesus the Christ. God is intent on human salvation, so intent that divine providence (predestination, in which the Human History is bent toward God, from where it first comes) keeps its course.

God will save. God will save through Jesus. God will save Humankind through Jesus, a certainty conditioned on the willingness of persons to repent (remember Israel’s need for repentance).

Why do we see so little repentance in our day?

We see little repentance in the place we find ourselves as North Americans. Many persons around the world repent and come to Christ daily. We should not think God is not at work in our world. Divine Providence is being worked out around the world.

Why do we see so little repentance in our place. Can it be that our churches just do not talk about Jesus much? For all the good churches do in North America, our evangelistic fervor is buried deep under levels of self help, do-goodies and unhelpful “tolerance.”

Recently, even Pope Francis said all religions are just languages by which persons of different faiths come to God. All religions are much the same, he went on to say, and all are on a path to God.

He made no mention of Jesus. He made no mention of Christian salvation.

Please let me respectfully this one question.

If all religions are the same, isn’t the Crucifixion an extreme event?

If you and I are all OK and just struggling to find our “OK-ness” isn’t the Cross an extreme event?

So, we are face the old decision. Preach Jesus and risk alienation. Accept the predestination of the Christ as the means of sacrifice for Human failing, not divine failing, and, so, realize we are eternally in His debt.

Enough for one time. I will see you tomorrow, I hope.

Note: Late and short post today. On Wednesdays I rise early and go to jail. The Tarrant County Jail folk let me come to teach Re-entry skills to inmates about to be released. I get about two and a half hours with these guys. Then, today, I lunched with some of the Chaplains and the Chief over ReEntry.

I am exhausted but it is a good tired, you know?

Thanks to Pat Parks for her latest donation to Chains of Grace. I pray for a hundred more just like her.

Now, to our subject.

The I Am statements of Jesus show us what He is and what we should want to be.

I Am statements start rather early in the lives of the Covenant People. Perhaps the most famous I Am statement in the Hebrew Bible is the answer of God to Moses from the burning bush in Exodus Chapter Three. There Moses the Irresponsible hears from God out of a bush burning (the bush, not Moses) but unconsumed.

Moses the Impulsive hears a clear call from God. Setting aside His usual spontaneity Moses thinks of (and blurts out) a series of reasons why he cannot answer the divine call. Yes, I know, humankind can think of a thousand ways to do silly things but still balk at the divine call. You know how we are.

When Moses runs out of excuses for the time being, he realizes his need of some muscle. He asks God for a calling card.

“Who shall I say sent me,” Moses wants to know.

“Tell then I Am sent you, Moses,” God replies.

Jesus starts His I Am statements early and keeps going.

“I Am the bread of life, John 6:35, 41, 48,51. I Am the light of the world, John 8:12. I Am the door of the sheep, john 10:7,9. I Am the good shepherd, John 10:11,14. I Am the resurrection and the life, John 11:25. I Am the way, the truth and the life, John 14:6. I Am the true vine, John 15:1,5.”

Jesus is speaking to first century Jews, who understand He is, in his I Am declarations, announcing His relationship with God, the First Person of the Trinity. Jesus is, in effect, announcing His own divinity.

Jesus uses the I Am of the Burning Bush to tell us what He knows about Himself.

What do you know about you? What can you emphatically state about your relationship with God?

What is your I Am?

What is so clear to you you could explain it graphically?

What is your I Am?

Nietzche decided Natural Philosophy Mattered when it became a World explanation rather than just a Word Arrangement. Natural Philosophy with its ocular evidence and clear explanation is fascinating, persuasive and convincing. No one need depend on faith without sight if one can see and, really, only what one sees matter at alL.

What would a burning bush due to our Natural Philosophy? I think it would do nothing to our evidence based living if only the bush had the good sense to be burned up in the fire. A burning bush with a voice and a call, a burning bush that keeps on burning and issues a call to service, well, now, that is something beyond the simple. If we are going to explain our World View as other than what we can see, hold, hear, smell and touch (though all of those things are possible and important), what does that do to our I Am?

Try some of these statements:

I am less than God.

I am temporal, not eternal, not immortal.

I am matter that matters because God says I matter.

What would you add?

Try this exercise with an open Bible and a journal before you. Decide on some of your I Am statements.

I am worn out tired.

See you tomorrow.

Note: The kindness of donors means so much to me. We continue to receive Debt Retirement Donations. Thanks to Monica Flinchum for her latest donation! We are now over $10,000 in cash and pledges toward our goal of $20,000. With this amount we can completely eliminate our debt on one of our houses. Debt Freedom is important for a charity like this one.

Now, to our subject

The Current Crisis in our nation is the deep division in our population. Much of it could be the direct result of one old, dusty sin called Envy. Men want to be women and women men in our day because they envy the opposite gender. One race is infuriated against another. The Haves hold contempt for the Have-Nots. The Have-Nots return their contempt with anger.

Does all of this come from Envy?

I think so, though I have learned not to think in absolutes so much. Envy may only be one symptom of the divisive illness from which we suffer. I admit Envy may not be the only source of the fever.

I still think it is a good place to start.

Envy is the hatred felt by the lesser loved.

Cain murdered his brother because Abel gave a more acceptable gift to God, Genesis 4. God gives consoling instruction to Cain but Cain cannot process God’s instruction because he feels himself the lesser love.

Joseph’s brothers feel incidental to their father. Genesis 37. They fear Joseph will get the greater inheritance from their father, Jacob. The sons of many mothers are able to unite for one cause; they fear and hate Joseph. Joseph does not help by telling them his vision of how they bow down to him. The many brothers are able to unite out of, well, um, Envy. In this case the consoling voice of God is in Joseph;s vision, but the brothers cannot process God’s purpose, which is to save the family and, so, the nation from the famine to come through Joseph. They feel themselves the lesser loved.

Jacob, the father of these misguided gaggle, knows about the hatred of the lesser loved. He himself is the greater loved between himself and his more manly twin, Esau. In fact, we read “Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated,” Genesis 25, also Romans 9:11. Jacob haphazardly follows God during his life. His mistakes are often greater than his faith. His redeeming hope? His mother’s favor on him, through which God works out a (troubled) future for Jacob, who, literally, fleeces his father, sundering their relationship, fooling his brother (same result) and wrestles with God for which action he gets a hip problem and has to stay off ladders.

We should note the Biblical Hebrew word for hate used in relation to Esau actually means “loved less.” Our Calvinist friends must look elsewhere for a proof text. God loves Esau, as evidenced by Esaus’s successful life. God simply loves Jacob more for the purpose of establishing the Kingdom.

Still. Esau has Envy. Jacob feels the hatred of the lesser loved.

We could continue with Biblical stories of Envy as the hatred of the lesser loved. David and Saul anyone? I want to leave the illustrations just now, so we can look at how our Christ soothes the envious soul.

So, how does Jesus calm envy?

Jesus sees humans alike. Yes, he comes first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but He opens His work to foreign women, Roman soldiers demoniacs from Gadarene demoniac. Jesus has room for strangers, opponents and the mentally/emotionally challenged. Jesus has time and Jesus has room for the needy; all of us.

God opens the Kingdom to all who have been called unclean (Acts 10). God shows the militant apostle Paul the equality of persons in the Kingdom; there is no Jew no Greek, nor slave or free not male or female; you are equal in Christ Jesus, so Galatians3:28-29.

You are thinking now of the divisions in Christianity. I am saying these divisions are not the will of God but the result of our hardness of heart. Christian reunion ought to be a cause for each of us. We should not give in to the hatred of the lesser loved.

Since division is our cultural issue and since envy is the symptom of this disease, we ought to find a vaccine for envy. I suggest it would be Christ-like love.

There is so much to say about Jesus, the Christ. I cannot imagine what a preacher does in his/her preparation for a sermon presentation if his/her work fails to include information about Jesus and an invitation to come to know Jesus.

What does the Church have if we do not have Jesus?

Why do we pretend the Church matters at all without a keen emphasis on Jesus in all we do and say?

Here are some things we should know/say/teach about our Lord.

Jesus identifies positively with this world.

Jesus is Agent of Divine Creation. Jesus is the Living Word of God, the Logos, The Logos is eternal, present with the Father in a way common humanity cannot presume and, therefore, is present at the Creation as the Agent of Creation (John 1:1-3. Some modern scholarship removed the title Logos from Jesus as bastardized Platonism, but the Written Word of God (the Bible) does not shrink from this honorific, as aware of Plato as they may have been.

Why does it matter to announce Jesus is the Creative Agent?

I could use the authoritarian approach. I could just say, “The Bible says so, The Church says so. Work out the purpose of it for yourself.”

I choose instead to offer this explanation. Jesus is the Agent of Divine Creation and this matters because this teaching allows us to maintain this certainty; this is the best of all possible worlds, in its primal state.

Yes, humankind mars the world with our lack of stewardship over its resources. This in no way means the world we inhabit is less sacred in its inception.

Put it this way. God makes meadows, humankind plants mine fields.

Jesus identifies with our world as Creative Agent. This is the best of all possible worlds. The argument then follows this world and its inhabitants are lovingly, beautifully created because God does not make junk. God does not make a junk world or trash people.

What we believe/say/teach about Jesus as Creative Agent matters because it informs what we believe about the world, the human relationship to the world and humans in general. We set aside this teaching at our own peril.

Jesus identifies with this world as He illuminates the world’s inhabitants with his life light. His life light is so powerful the darkness of dismal sin cannot overwhelm Him, John 1:4,5. Jesus lights up a life when He enters.

I had a friend, Mr. Edward’s. Mr. Edwards was one of those people born to service. The first time I saw him, I thought he was a politician or an educator. I often described him as “the kind of guy who carried his own lights around with him.”

Jesus carries His own lights around with Him. He lights up the world, so great is He.

What does this matter?

Jesus identifies with this world as the Life Light of the World. I can faithfully say I do not know anyone who has ever declined because they have taken on the light of Jesus. I do know people who lose jobs, suffer discrimination and even persecution because they receive Jesus but I do not know the man/woman who has grown darker because of their love of Jesus.

Jesus is the Divine Agent of Creation but Jesus does not create, fold His rms and with draw. Jesus so identifies with this world He offers His life as the means of personal social and spiritual illumination to our world and to our human race.

Yes, it matters.

Jesus identifies with this world so strongly He makes His home among us, John 1:14. Jesus tabernacles among us.

Why is this important?

Biblical leadership, Christian leadership is this; to lead, to walk ahead of the people during the day (so to point the way, so to protect against dangers, so to detect safe resources) and then to dwell among the people come the night. Moses leads this way. Even Saul practiced this leadership when in his right mind.

Jesus leads the way during the day. Jesus dwells among us when the world turns dark.

When something goes amiss, one usually calls on the source of the element for repair. When life grows dismal and dark one looks for a suitable light to overcome the gloom

Do you ever feel a bit frustrated when you call for help and get a recording? I insist your frustration (and mine) is because you were sold the product on its reliability and the supplier’s accountability. You are frustrated because the widget does not widget and the supplier is nowhere to be found.

Jesus pitches His tent among us. He makes life bearable by His reliability and by His accountability.

The Church should not talk about something else when it can preach about Jesus.

Note: I intend to spend Saturday and Sunday reading two books. No posts for those two days, I think. I will be back Monday with a vengeance.

The Current Crisis

Plato moved on from Socrates to teach the Pure Spirit and the Good in Itself. Epicurus hated Plato and moved to Death as material, not Good. Zeno wanted to take his Stoics back to Spiritual Good and so majored on courage and justice.

Immanuel Kant, the philosophical great grandparent of billions made all things relative. Truth, he posited, is merely information gleaned through one’s own personal needs and cognitive abilities. Locke agreed, but felt freer than Kant, and mostly did away with God. Hume did not disagree.

Then, Nietzche. Nietzche is pilloried because a Central European dictator in the 20th century misinterpreted Nietzche’s appeal to genius as indicative of a Master Race. Nietzche was arguing for a special place for genius, which he rightly considered himself to be and so created a status for genius the “rare for the rare.” He did not argue for mass murder. Genius is one thing. Genocide is something else altogether.

All these men were ardent pursuers of Truth. They missed the mark only in their ignorance of the One, True God (Plato, Socrates. Epicurus and Zeno) or their hatred of an overarching ecclesiastical body (Kant, Hume Locke, Nietzche) intent on holding Truth in thrall (that is, the Church imitated the world, married the state and sullied its priestly robes. Each man wanted Truth, they just missed its actual source.

We ought to thank each of them. Their work enables us to compare and contrast well meaning human thought to the greatest of philosophies, the theology of the purest man (and greatest thinker) Jesus the Christ.

Philosophers for the ages searched for Truth as a suitor for a lovely woman. They came close more than once. Each one sees her lovely form. Each one hears her lilting voice. All of them long to understand her as his own. Sadly, there the Ideal ends, with the usual results of unrequited love; the broken heart, the lonely days and empty nights.

Perhaps we could gentle our current generational schism if we could agree on this one thing; we all want the Truth. Understand, if we can get both sides to accept a search for The Truth, we have already won, for that puts an end to each of us seeking his/her individualistic truth with a small “t.”

Truth, you see, is no longer verifiable. This is ironic because we live in a “scientistic” era, which insists on the end of Philosophy and the humiliation of Theology. At the same time the Scientism of our day offers its own unverified philosophy, a dark and dismal one where altruism is deterministic and the world is hurtling toward its own certain end. Much science seems to be for sale and, worse yet, the call for verification in an uncertain realm demeans Truth to be only one’s own identification, rather than reality. What we would have called hypocrisy decades ago is now just “your truth.

What to do?

Enter Jesus.

The late philosopher Dallas Willard (the C. S. Lewis of our time; Lewis and Muggeridge rolled into one mind) wrote the first people who followed Jesus followed Him and continued to follow Him because He offered information they could not get elsewhere.

What did Jesus teach that was so good?

Organized religion is helpful but corruptible. For its greater good, organized religion must stay a step away from its earthly brother, government.

Organized religion is not for the synagogue, temple or church. For the greater good of its surroundings, religion must inhabit the home, the habits and the heart,

Organized religion, of itself, can only instruct, never can it save. Religion of the Church can amass and assimilate believers to Truth but the Church is not the source of the Truth.

Organized religion too closely paired with earthly influences imperils alll it touches.

God loves humankind. God intends our good.

God, who is offended by our wrong doing (all wrong doing is against God) pays the redemptive price for the offender(s).

Jesus death demonstrates the length to which God will go to redeem humanity.

Jesus teaches Truth, lasting, real, eternal Truth, Truth for the ages, because Jesus embodies divine Truth. All morality (ethics, oughtness) is based in spiritual reality. Morality is more than effective affection for morality must have consequences, for good or ill.

Jesus is the greatest of teachers. We ignore His teaching at great risk.

The Church is an empty place without God. We ought to go to great length to include ourselves in what God does. We cannot do that while we ignore Jesus.

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