How To Believe in Jesus Part 1

How to Believe in Jesus. Step one, don't hate Jesus. 

I get that there's this sort of feedback-loop logic that says people that hate in the name of Jesus justify hating Jesus. Okay, whatever. But as a plea for greater civility, perhaps we ought to consider that most people are obnoxious regardless of nationality, education, religious affiliation or lack thereof. 

Aslan
 because he's literally the fictional Jesus

I mean there are a lot of annoying people in this world, and just statistically, 2 out of 7 of them are Christian, one was born in China, and almost all of them have brown eyes. Get what I'm getting at. 

I understand that it's possible that  Jesus is a mental construct. And you can't prove that the entire concept of religion isn't anything more than a millenias old coping mechanism we pass down to our children from one generation to another for the simple reason that that's what our parents did.

But on a personal level if in the moment of death, it is somehow made eminently clear to me that God does not exist, I would have no regrets that I lived my entire life as a Christian. 

Really.

Because even if God is a coping mechanism, what's the harm? What's the harm in having an extra nudge to stop and help jump that ratchet-looking car in the Target parking lot? Or having an obligation to get out of your yoga pants and serve once a week, even if it's with a baby on your hip? 

Where's the downside in a built-in justification to hold a potluck with people far outside your socioeconomic or generational circles? Or to feeling like you still fulfill a meaningful purpose even if illness or disease means the only service you're capable of, is sharing some of your thoughts on Jesus?

If there's even one more, tiny mental hurdle to cross before you cuss someone out or flirt with a married man or give up hope--isn't that a good thing? 

Right, in the name of this coping mechanism, yada-yada  crusades, reconquista, etc. etc. But no, not really. Religion has been used as propaganda since the beginning of human history, but that doesn't make it a motive. I mean, it's a little generous to the Medieval monarchs to say that Jesus was more important to them than the Silk Road. Keeping the faith and a mistress are pretty much always mutually exclusive, and keeping the latter wasn't all that rare. You can come to your own conclusions about the real role of religion in these conflicts, but I don't think the evidence is very convincing. 

Yes, you can be a judgey, back-stabing Christian, but I'd argue that the same people would probably make judgey, back-stabing Athiests.  I mean, isn't that the like the major Athiest credo: religion does not have a monopoly on morality. Thus religion cannot possibly corner the market on immorality. 

You can be a self-centered jerk with or without Jesus. At least with Jesus, I feel a little more guilty about it. Not a good enough reason to join a church, but to me, it's plenty good enough to stay there. And a good  place to start in the journey of becoming religious.  

I believe that there was a man who lived a good life. Who lived with unimpeachable integrity, and was kind or just to the perfect degree in every circumstance. And I believe that he can help me live a life like that. 

I haven't always felt like he was up to the task, but wishing that were true has never done me anything but good.

Step one in believing in Jesus is "well, it would be great if it were true." 

 

Wouldn't it?

-Stephanie