Jesus Is Love

December 10, 2007

For obvious reasons, this is the time of year I’m the most pious. All the Christmas songs, I suppose, being about Jesus and how great He is. The joy of His birth. Mmmm, nice.

As I mentioned several weeks back when ranting about atheists, identifying myself as Christian tends to confuse people. They’ll come up with all sorts of stereotypes and presumptions about my character, as well as what my exact beliefs must be. And when I say that my personal belief system does not align with what they’re telling me Christians all are supposed to believe, I get to be told that I either don’t understand my own religion or I’m not really Christian.

Well, I don’t claim to be a theological expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I still do not hesitate to call myself a Christian. Why? Because I believe in love, and to believe in love is to follow Jesus, and vice versa.

Is that to say non-Christians who believe in love don’t actually believe in love? No. They still very much do. I’m suggesting that since they believe in love, which is in and of itself the entirety of real requirements to be Christian, then these people are Christian! Meticulously following the Bible does not a Christian make. To snatch a line from Pirates of the Caribbean: “They’re mostly just guidelines anyway.” You can’t spread hate and call yourself a Christian. The two contradict each other. Christianity is love, and to love is Christian.

What about Buddhism and other peaceful loving religions? Well, they’re peaceful and loving, right? Then they mesh with Christianity. There is no conflict. Any conflict there is unimportant and ought to be cleaved out. They have the same essential beliefs. In other words, every religion is right.

Then why do I call myself Christian? Well, I do in fact believe Jesus was the Son of God, and spread the love and purity around while on earth, before a bunch of jerks finally said “GTFO!” and crucified Him, but showed up again for a bit a couple days later. What I also believe, however, is that He wasn’t the only one. There were saviors in many other religions, who were supposedly born to virgins and fathered by God, who preached peace and love with twelve bumblings sidekicks, and eventually died for our sins. Were they all of this just like Jesus? To that I am bold to say, “Sure, why not?”

So, if I believe there were many saviors, why do I latch onto Jesus? Well, that’s simple. I choose to. You can pick any one you want really, if any at all. I attribute the belief in peace and love to Jesus Christ, so I call myself a Christian.

Yeah, it really is that simple. For me anyway.

Peace! 😀

One thought on “Jesus Is Love”

Comments are closed.