Lucy: Ok Scaughdt, do you believe Jesus was God in the flesh? … And do you believe there is a penalty for sin? … And do you know what Jesus’ purpose was?

 

Scaughdt: Oh yes, that’s right … It is your turn to ask me a question — even though you kind of fudged and asked me three of them …

 

Fair enough, my Friend.  Here are my responses thereto:
*Question #01) “Do you believe Jesus was God in the flesh?” … Well, according to how Jesus defined “only Son of God” via his teachings & his actions, then definitely “Yes!” … Of course, this is not at all the way that the Christian church defines the same concept, so I would also have to honestly add a humble yet resolute “NO” … Allow me to explain:

 

Jesus himself repeatedly said that he was to be followed, not worshiped (Mark 10:18 et al); that he was an “angelic”, perfect embodiment of God — the same potentially perfect Child of God that resides within us all (see John 14:20) … Paul, as you very well know (being the devout follower thereof that you obviously are) had a very different opinion as to the nature of Jesus — claiming quite openly that Jesus was the only manifestation of that “Son of God” essence, and that we are all to subserviently worship Jesus as such – either that, or suffer eternal damnation (all concepts Jesus himself fully rejected during his ministry).

*Question #02) “Do you believe there is penalty for sin?” … Yes I do … I, just like every other sentient being on this planet, have indeed experienced the patent Truth that we do indeed all “reap what we sow”.  Of course, I have also uncovered an astounding caveat thereto; namely, that God the all-Loving Father (again, the opinion of not only myself, but Jesus Christ as well) actually seems to allow us to experience far less of the painful consequences our sins might “deserve”, and actually seems to grant us all far more Bliss than our good deeds “merit” … This Truth is actually one third of what I call “The Trinity of Grace” (the other two-thirds of which being A) our conscious awareness of our lives – what some call “free will”, and what Jesus referred to as “the Holy Spirit”; and B) the moral guidance we all possess in our “Hearts” – what many call the “conscience”, and what Jesus called “the Advocate Within”) – but an in-depth discussion thereof is probably best left for another day …

 

 

 

*Question #03) “What was Jesus’ Purpose?” … Well, you have actually asked me this question a number of times before (albeit admittedly in different threads), and I have answered you quite clearly every time you have done so, and yet a repeat or two of any important answer is never a bad thing …  … With that in mind, here – once again – is my response:

 

Just like you and every other human being on this planet, I have absolutely no idea what Jesus’ intentions truly were.  I can only immerse myself in the Bible’s texts, radically test the various possible interpretations thereof, and have faith that the one that bears the best Fruit is “the real one” … As such, based on the past eleven years of my intense study of the Scriptures and my radical experimentation therewith, I have the utmost Faith in the Jesus Christ of the Gospels and the message he presented therein – namely, that he was a man who came to radically reform the outdated, conservative & somewhat immoral laws of the Old Testament, and replace them with a doctrine of pure, perfect, courageous, humble, and radically unconditional LOVE.  And I humbly believe (based largely on the findings of my aforementioned eleven-year “Experiment with Truth”) that Jesus showed us all quite clearly how we are to live in order to embody that Way; that he showed us with his actions more than his words the Narrow Way we are to walk if we wish to thereby enter into the state of raw Bliss that he often called “The Kingdom of Heaven” (see Luke 17:20-21).

Filed under: Burnishing Bigotry by Scaughdt