What Makes (You) (Not) A Christian?
God, You, & the Bible (Reader Survey)
Before we get back to Job, a question for you, the reader. Where does your idea of “God” come from, if not from your direct, perceived experience? The answer, at least the one that I am going to give you, is: the Bible (this is true even if you have never read it).
Yet is it not also true (inescapable) that the Bible is only as good as whoever is reading it? Think about this. I will pick it up and unpack it in the next post.
And what is true of the Bible must surely also be true of all words, including this column. So now is your chance to improve the quality of this column, by taking a few minutes to answer—or at least contemplate—some of the following questions. (If appropriate, substitute “Moslem” or “Jew”—or even “atheist”—for “Christian.”)
1. Does God exist? (Yes, No, Maybe; alternatively: is “God” a useful word?)
2. Does enlightenment exist?
3. Is there such a thing as objective reality?
4. If so, how can we know it? If not, what?
5. Do you consider yourself a Christian?
6. What does it mean to be a Christian?
7. Is being a Christian a matter of self-identification, group affiliation, action, belief, or something else?
8. How essential is reading the Bible to being a Christian?
9. How essential is belonging to any particular Church?
10. Is the idea of enlightenment compatible with being a Christian?
11. Was Christ like us or fundamentally different (more-than-human)?
12. What is the basis for your morality?
13. Is some form of a belief in God essential to community relations?
14. Do you own a Bible?
15. If so, how often on average do you read it?
16. What’s your ratio of interest for Old vs. New Testaments?
17. Do you attend a church? Would you consider it?
18. How essential is attaining knowledge to wisdom, enlightenment, or revelation?
19. How essential is revelation to knowledge?
20. Is the Bible a work of revelation, a moral code, a manual, or something else?
21. Is it the word of God?
22. If so, what percentage? 100%? 50%? 5%?
23. How essential is the Old Testament to Christianity?
24. Is the Christian God the same as Yahweh, the God of the Tanakh (Old Testament)?
25. If so, how? If not, how not?
26. Are Jews still God’s chosen people? Were they ever?
27. Is it okay for God to have a chosen people/national identity?
28. Does the fact of a passage or book being in the Bible give it special validity?
29. Is it okay to pick and choose which parts of the Bible are true? By what criteria?
30. Can someone be a Christian without ever having read the Bible? Or without knowing it?
31. Is there such a thing as a personal God?
32. What does “personal God” mean to you?
33. Did God create Satan and evil?
34. If so, why? If not, where did they come from?
35. Does the doctrine of original sin contradict that of free will as the cause of evil?
36. If we can choose good over evil, can we choose to go to Heaven or Hell?
37. Does God act on the world and humans externally? Internally? Not at all?
38. Does God reward good behavior and punish bad?
39. If so, how? If not, why not?
40. Can God become a man (or a woman), or vice versa?
And so on; post your answers and/or add your own comments below (at the site) or reply to the email (public comments are preferred).
so far there certainly is a wide spectrum of perspectives, almost as wide as possible to imagine.
1. Does God exist? (Yes, No, Maybe; alternatively: is “God” a useful word?)
Yes
2. Does enlightenment exist?
No, but enlivenment does.
3. Is there such a thing as objective reality?
Yes and subjective reality.
4. If so, how can we know it? If not, what?
If you hit your thumb with a hammer it will hurt and if you do it again it will also hurt again. Likewise, if you jump of a tall building it will likely not end well. Subjectively if you think negatively and approach every situation with fear, hate, vulnerability then you will likely get walked over but if you stand strong and positive then you will be approached differently and see the world with more opportunity, perhaps.
5. Do you consider yourself a Christian?
No
6. What does it mean to be a Christian?
To be at one with Christ.
7. Is being a Christian a matter of self-identification, group affiliation, action, belief, or something else?
It is a relationship with something more than the material world
8. How essential is reading the Bible to being a Christian?
Not at all as long as there are mentors and teachers to show you how it works.
9. How essential is belonging to any particular Church?
It helps.
10. Is the idea of enlightenment compatible with being a Christian?
Yes
11. Was Christ like us or fundamentally different (more-than-human)?
Jesus you mean? He was probably like Jordan Peterson or Eckhart Tolle or Alan Watts or..., for a while and it all got out of hand.
12. What is the basis for your morality?
Not sure, something innate that I cannot explain.
13. Is some form of a belief in God essential to community relations?
Not really but trust that we are better than we are programmed to believe is.
14. Do you own a Bible?
Yes
15. If so, how often on average do you read it?
Very little.
16. What’s your ratio of interest for Old vs. New Testaments?
70/30
17. Do you attend a church? Would you consider it?
I go to support family members and can often be found visiting the more ancient of buildings next to a yew tree just for solace and quietude.
18. How essential is attaining knowledge to wisdom, enlightenment, or revelation?
It is a question of intelligence vs intellect. Example; Intellectually I don’t feel that relevant with much of the back and forth in this thread but I do feel comfortable in my intelligence to not be afraid and answer.
19. How essential is revelation to knowledge?
Knowledge is revelation, when you get it you get it and not before.
20. Is the Bible a work of revelation, a moral code, a manual, or something else?
All that and more, if I had the time and inclination then I would delve deeper. I think it is an analogy for existence with lots of stuff encoded in it; maths, geometry, physics, astro stuff. Oh and stories just for shits and giggles.
21. Is it the word of God?
No
22. If so, what percentage? 100%? 50%? 5%?
23. How essential is the Old Testament to Christianity?
Don’t Know
24. Is the Christian God the same as Yahweh, the God of the Tanakh (Old Testament)?
Don’t Know, but would intuit that there are many gods mixed up in it.
25. If so, how? If not, how not?
26. Are Jews still God’s chosen people? Were they ever?
Don’t care they are just people.
27. Is it okay for God to have a chosen people/national identity?
No, but it’s his/her/its shout.
28. Does the fact of a passage or book being in the Bible give it special validity?
No, there are plenty of other valid passages in many other books.
29. Is it okay to pick and choose which parts of the Bible are true? By what criteria?
Again, I don’t care about such a thing. I will always judge by my own standards and if someone wants to preach gospel i will listen, if I am in the mood. I might learn something, you know, a revelation.
30. Can someone be a Christian without ever having read the Bible? Or without knowing it?
This is similar to question 8. Once Christ is defined in a general sense that everyone can agree upon then maybe.
31. Is there such a thing as a personal God?
I think so, but not to be confused with the ego.
32. What does “personal God” mean to you?
It is the feeling of life and existence within something unfathomable.
33. Did God create Satan and evil?
No
34. If so, why? If not, where did they come from?
Darkness is part of the all, and a path for some who may wish to take it or have to experience it to know something more. If god is all then it is, light and dark, evil and good, love and fear, and much more between. Evil does not come from god in as much that it is god.
35. Does the doctrine of original sin contradict that of free will as the cause of evil?
See Q34 I suppose.
36. If we can choose good over evil, can we choose to go to Heaven or Hell?
We can choose to be right with the universal god and converse with it in some way, then we see which way we go based on our relationship. We can likely not comprehend hear and now.
37. Does God act on the world and humans externally? Internally? Not at all?
Both internally and externally.
38. Does God reward good behavior and punish bad?
See Q36
39. If so, how? If not, why not?
See Q36
40. Can God become a man (or a woman), or vice versa?
It Can!
That was exhausting, but ultimately worth the experience. Ask me again in 2 weeks and I’ll have a different set of answers.