Wandering Sheep VIII: Is Christianity Necessary?

Don: We have been looking for many weeks at the metaphor in Matthew18 … The parable of the sheep and the shepherd, especially the 99 sheep that stay vs. the 1 that strays. John 10 espouses the same metaphor. We’ve explored this, and we explored who are the “other” folds mentioned.

Christians believe that it is only through Jesus that people can join the fold … John 14:6, John 8:24. John 10 begins by saying it is through Jesus that the process of oneness, of reconciliation, of joining the flocks, can occurs. What about all the people who lived before Jesus, or who even today live and die without ever hearing the name Jesus? The gate, in John 10:1, the door… Is the only way in. If you climb through a window, you are just a fraud, or a thief. Verse 7: Jesus says he is the Door. People can go in and out. Why in and out? How does this relate to non-Christians. In Jeremiah 23 Jesus says verse 2 you have scattered the flock all over the world  and I will gather the remnants and bring them back to the fold. Ezekiel 34:11 says much the same, and it is a global gathering, not a local one. But everyone must come through the Door.

So must everyone become a Christian to get through? How is Jesus the portal? Why is belief in that notion essential to getting into the fold?

Jazlin: In science education there is a concept called the Other, with a capital O. It is used by highly trained teachers to refer to lesser trained teachers. There are Experts, then there are the Others. It takes a long process to get both sides to accept that they share a common background and basic beliefs. It amounts to a transformation. The same is true of getting Christians and people of other/no faiths to transform themselves.

Robin: just exactly who are the thieves and the robbers who Jesus said came before him to steal kill and destroy?

Harry: most scholars accept that the bible was written over a long and turbulent period of history, during which there was a backlash against the Jews. The robbers and thieves were those who argued “there is only one way and it is through us” — and this is just what the Jewish priests and prophets argued.

Don: Ezekiel 34 talks about prophesying against the prophets of Israel, the people who did not really have the interests of the people at heart and indeed propagated the dispersal of the flock.

Eb: psalm 87 v 6 mentions types of people… But Luke 2:10 brought good tidings to ALL people, not to one specific group, regardless of whether they hear it through the voice of Jesus.

Harry: Jesus did not ask to be worshipped. The power to do good is of the heart, regardless of one’s religion.

David: perhaps jesus meant that the thieves and robbers are religionists. Jesus meant that the only way to god was through the inner light, not through words in a book or priests in vestments. Anybody who tries to pedal any other story is a thief and a robber (of souls.)

Don: does this confirm Christianity as the right religion?

David: no, Jesus’s name is not important… God is important, and everyone can reach god through the inner light. One can argue that emulating Jesus’s behavior will facilitate communication with the inner light…with God.

Robin: Jesus never tried to establish a religion, he just wanted to show us through his behavior, especially to outcasts (Others) named as such by the established religion, how to reach the Father.

Robin: Christianity is a Gentiles’ church, is it not?

Turkish guest: much depends on where we were born, who our parents were, how we were shaped by our upbringing. So the notion that one could take presence over another is a problem.

Don: should god have been more directive, instead of letting the chaos of religion run riot?

Turkish guest: there are many similarities among religions. Churchgoers and mosque goers come back from church just thinking about god, nothing else. Both like to help poor people. We have more in common than we think.

David: does god give directives? Is the bible a directive? Are the Beatitudes a directive? We’ve had free will for ever, even in the Garden. The beauty of that is that people have, as a demonstrable fact, chosen to do good, and surely that is the ultimate expression of goodness–choosing to do it rather than being directed to do it.

Robin: the plan of salvation was prepared at the foundation of the world, long before there were religions.

Eb: in one’s international travel, it is remarkable to see that throughout the world, although there are problems, people are not generally a problem. Most people are good. They practice Christianity in principle, and only tend to stray from that when we convert them to Christianity!

Don: Jesus’ teaching, his worldview, his statement about being the Door, is descriptive rather than prescriptive. That Jesus is a name above all names is just description. Perhaps it is not necessary to know the description in order to recognize and understand and benefit from the Door. 1 Tim 4:10…god is the savior of all men but especially of believers. So belief is good but not vital.

Don: Romans 9 talks about the inside and the outside and how god deals without the two separate entities. Next week let’s explore what the intentional behavior of the shepherd says about free will.

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