In response to some comments and an effort to clear up my ambiguity
A few days ago I discussed my current approach to Christianity. Are the three ways that I previously discussed the only way one can approach Christianity? No, it would be foolish to think that. There's countless ways to approach Christianity. But these are three ways that I've personally experienced Christianity.
So let's define the three ways that I experienced it (I was too lazy to do that two nights ago).
Fundamentalist: here Christians break down their entire faith to a few theological rules. They simplify the faith so that they can propagate it more easily. Concepts like immaculate conception, the inerrancy of scripture, the deity of Jesus, formulas for conversion, and even stuff like seven-day creation are believed without question, when obviously they are incredibly complicated. This is how I grew up, this is what I embraced. And thank God I've moved on. I think that there is some good in this, I certainly hold many fundamentalist beliefs--but they are useless without the rest of the religion and they are useless without further explanation. What allowed me to progress to my next phase was questioning these "fundamentals" and expanding my faith beyond a set of rules. I learned that these fundamentals were very complicated and some other things that Jesus talks about, feeding the poor, sharing our belongings, and not killing each other, are less complicated and maybe more important.
Academic: this is an approach that was incredibly important to me (and is still very important to me). When I began asking questions about the fundamentals of Christianity, I was forced to study the Bible on a level that I hadn't before. I was forced to look at the text, look at what Jesus said, and wrestle with it. This resulted in me bearing a lot of fruit and I finally began to understand Christianity as something that was much deeper than simply a set of rules. Christianity was a deep, complicated, and ancient tradition that involved much more than believing in five or six core doctrines. It was a great time for me. I learned more about Jesus and the Bible than ever before. But I still felt distant, unsatisfied, and empty. I rejected many fundamentalists and evangelical thoughts, even ones that I did not have the liberty to. I began to study Jesus on an academic and stopped engaging with Jesus on a personal level. I stopped praying, I stopped worshipping. As certain as I was that fundamentalism was the wrong approach, I knew there had to be more than simply academic study. I knew that there should be a difference between a Christian and a religious studies professor.
Relational: one of the most important things that I learned in my pursuit of Jesus through academic means was that my faith was much more than a single commitment, it was more than simply being forgiven, and it was much more than a ticket in heaven. I even questioned whether or not there may be a heaven. My faith was not so much about what I couldn't do, but what I was supposed to do. But I'm passed most of that. I've learned that my faith isn't about converting people and propagating a religion. I also learned that it was deeper than mere academic study. I learned that Jesus was not simply a historical figure to study. I learned that my faith was more than dogma. I learned that Jesus was someone that I could talk to and befriend. I learned that I could question, probe, doubt, wonder, and worry all while engaging Jesus on a personal and spiritual level. I learned that I could ask Jesus about stuff and get results. Real results.
That is what it means to be a follower of Jesus. To simply engage in a friendship with him. I'm not going to list what we should be doing as followers of Jesus. It would be easy to do that, but it's not appropriate. I don't want to break a friendship with Jesus down to mere fundamentals (even if these fundamentals are much different that evangelical fundamentals). But I will say that a friendship with Jesus is about sacrificing, communicating, understanding, and loving. According to the Gospels, Jesus says that the greatest commands are loving God and loving each other, I think it's pretty clear what he means. And I promise it has little to do with the Virgin Birth and seven-day Creation, and much more to do with fighting racism and poverty and promoting peace.
I hope that clears some stuff up.
So let's define the three ways that I experienced it (I was too lazy to do that two nights ago).
Fundamentalist: here Christians break down their entire faith to a few theological rules. They simplify the faith so that they can propagate it more easily. Concepts like immaculate conception, the inerrancy of scripture, the deity of Jesus, formulas for conversion, and even stuff like seven-day creation are believed without question, when obviously they are incredibly complicated. This is how I grew up, this is what I embraced. And thank God I've moved on. I think that there is some good in this, I certainly hold many fundamentalist beliefs--but they are useless without the rest of the religion and they are useless without further explanation. What allowed me to progress to my next phase was questioning these "fundamentals" and expanding my faith beyond a set of rules. I learned that these fundamentals were very complicated and some other things that Jesus talks about, feeding the poor, sharing our belongings, and not killing each other, are less complicated and maybe more important.
Academic: this is an approach that was incredibly important to me (and is still very important to me). When I began asking questions about the fundamentals of Christianity, I was forced to study the Bible on a level that I hadn't before. I was forced to look at the text, look at what Jesus said, and wrestle with it. This resulted in me bearing a lot of fruit and I finally began to understand Christianity as something that was much deeper than simply a set of rules. Christianity was a deep, complicated, and ancient tradition that involved much more than believing in five or six core doctrines. It was a great time for me. I learned more about Jesus and the Bible than ever before. But I still felt distant, unsatisfied, and empty. I rejected many fundamentalists and evangelical thoughts, even ones that I did not have the liberty to. I began to study Jesus on an academic and stopped engaging with Jesus on a personal level. I stopped praying, I stopped worshipping. As certain as I was that fundamentalism was the wrong approach, I knew there had to be more than simply academic study. I knew that there should be a difference between a Christian and a religious studies professor.
Relational: one of the most important things that I learned in my pursuit of Jesus through academic means was that my faith was much more than a single commitment, it was more than simply being forgiven, and it was much more than a ticket in heaven. I even questioned whether or not there may be a heaven. My faith was not so much about what I couldn't do, but what I was supposed to do. But I'm passed most of that. I've learned that my faith isn't about converting people and propagating a religion. I also learned that it was deeper than mere academic study. I learned that Jesus was not simply a historical figure to study. I learned that my faith was more than dogma. I learned that Jesus was someone that I could talk to and befriend. I learned that I could question, probe, doubt, wonder, and worry all while engaging Jesus on a personal and spiritual level. I learned that I could ask Jesus about stuff and get results. Real results.
That is what it means to be a follower of Jesus. To simply engage in a friendship with him. I'm not going to list what we should be doing as followers of Jesus. It would be easy to do that, but it's not appropriate. I don't want to break a friendship with Jesus down to mere fundamentals (even if these fundamentals are much different that evangelical fundamentals). But I will say that a friendship with Jesus is about sacrificing, communicating, understanding, and loving. According to the Gospels, Jesus says that the greatest commands are loving God and loving each other, I think it's pretty clear what he means. And I promise it has little to do with the Virgin Birth and seven-day Creation, and much more to do with fighting racism and poverty and promoting peace.
I hope that clears some stuff up.