The Pageless Book

I’ve receive two interesting and well written comments recently on a couple older articles which debate the main points of those articles. Now I could just respond to these comments briefly and then move on, but I am struck with how much time and effort these two visitors placed in their comments. Anything less than a thorough and well thought out response would be insulting, so I’ve decided that I’m going to respond to these two comments as their own article.

The first article can be found here. The second comment is from Tanya, who commented on my article, “Learning How To Live With Meaning.” She wrote:

Well apparently in your universal search for truth and meaning, you haven’t looked very deeply into Christianity. Either that, or you have and you didn’t like what you saw. Being a Christian is not just following the teachings of Jesus. If that were true, then He would have never said, “21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity”. (Matthew 7)

Hello Tanya. I was raised Christian. If you would have looked deeper into my website, you would have known that. My falling out with Christianity was due to my changing spiritual needs - Christianity wasn’t fulfilling them. However, I did not fall out with the basic principles and ideals that Christianity espouses and I still respect Jesus… just as a man, and not as God.

Just before the bible quote you provided above, there is the parable of the tree and its fruit (Matthew 7:15-20). Now that particular parable, if you remember, is often quoted in reference to those who say they follow Jesus, but produces that which is evil instead of good. The proximity of these two quotes leads me to think that he is speaking about those who pretend to be righteous, pious, and good, but does so with sinister and hypocritical intentions.

You are right that being Christian is not just about following the teachings of Jesus. What you fail to mention is that someone can do everything except follow the teachings and still be considered a Christian in good standing. These are the people Jesus is telling you to look out for in Matthew, chapter 7. These are the men that profess a deep abiding love for Christ, yet fly in private jets, speak hatefully of Gays and Muslims, and think that the death penalty is still pretty spiffy.

He also said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”. Now my question for you would be this: Who do you say Jesus is? Because either He was the Son of God, and nobody comes to the Father but through Him like He said, and that’s the truth … which would render every other religion null and void ….or perhaps he was merely a lunatic with a megalomaniac complex who didn’t know what he was saying … or He was a liar. And if He was a lunatic or a liar, then that would render Christianity and ALL His teachings null and void. Sort of a catch 22, isn’t it?

Truth is either true, or false. If it’s false, then logically it isn’t truth. We can’t say that everything people say is true, is true. It’s either true or it’s not. The world is either round or it’s flat. It isn’t flat just because I believe it’s flat. Science has proven that it is round. I can go around saying it’s flat, it’s flat, it’s flat…..but that doesn’t make my statement true.

This is bad logic, which is one of the reasons why apologetics do not work. Yes, I’ve heard this argument before. There are more options lunatic/liar or the Son of God… many more in fact. He may be merely misinformed., perhaps he was misquoted, or (and this is my favorite) he may be speaking figuratively. He could have meant his example that was the way to God and Heaven, but said it in a poetic manner to better communicate his meaning. Could all of Christendom have been the result of misunderstanding one man’s teachings? Yes.

Capital-T-“Truth” is a subjective animal. Yes, there are some things that are obviously wrong - “the world isn’t flat” was your example. That’s a fact, verifiable through scientific reasoning. Facts are either true or false. However “Truth” - the understanding and wisdom that comes with time - doesn’t have an opposite. It is the meaning which you ascribe to your life. This is what we should be searching for, without pause or trepidation.

But back to my comment on Matthew 7. In that scripture, Jesus said, out of His own mouth, that there will be many people who did good things in His name, and followed His teachings, that He will ask to depart from Him, call cursed, and say He never knew them.

So if being a Christian isn’t just about following Jesus’ teachings, then what is it?

Actually I don’t believe that is what he meant. They claimed to do all those good things, and yet still had wickedness in their heart - that is why Jesus said he would turn them away. But lets assume that your interpretation is correct for one moment…

It’s about having a relationship with Him. He will say He never knew people, because of just that … they never got to know Him. And if you’re going around chasing after this religion and that one, then sadly, you’ll never get to know Him, either.

So how does one have a relationship with God? Well, there is prayer… but prayer is only a one-way communication. That does not make for a very good relationship. Relationships need to go both ways. You could suggest that the Bible is God’s response, but printed words are so subjective and cold - there is no interaction. Asking God to show up for a face to face discussion is a bit presumptuous… so that leaves one means of hearing back from God; life. The phrase “God works in mysterious ways” comes to mind.

The events of your life, good and bad, is the response with which you can build a relationship with the Divine. This requires us - all of us - to pay attention to our lives and to find meaning within even the most horrible tragedies. This requires a constant search for truth - a constant conversation with the Divine. No search, no conversation, no relationship… This was the point I was driving at with my original article.

If my relationship with the Divine is different than yours, who are you to say that it is wrong? Who am I to say that your relationship with God should be exactly the same as mine? The relationship each person has with the Divine is different, even for those within the same religion. Seeing as each person has a different relationship with the Divine, it stands to reason that some relationships with God are so vastly different that they constitute a different religion altogether. All religions may very well be relationships with the Divine on different terms. I think God is big enough to not only allow different religions, but also to nurture people of all faiths.

Best wishes on your search for truth. Keep thinking logically, and you’ll end up with logical conclusions.

And best wishes on your own search as well. Remember that logic is hammer with which you forge yourself… and spirituality is the fire.

Namaste.

First Photo by J.C. Brandon. Second Photo by Daniele Pesaresi. Third Photo by Swami Nathan. Final Photo by Andrew Polandeze.