... I'd like to think that if there is a God whose existence is the very definition of absolute truth, that the path to fellowship with Him would not be muddled by endless debate and confusion and trick doors. I'd like to think it would be simple enough that even the most illiterate, uneducated and philosophically-disinclined mind could find it.
I agree with this, and we can. Faith works within people in many ways. One might see the Almighty in mathematics, another by overcoming a horrible disease. We're all on our own path in a way. Most who identify with a set religion aren't very "religious", but there is a belief in values and goodness.
Anyone who says that theology, philosophy, and early Christian history are irrelevant to faith in God as a Christian do not know themselves. The irony is that the specific doctrines/christology of Jesus descending from heaven, the word/logos made flesh, atonement for original sin, resurrection from death to return to "heaven", etc. are gnostic concepts espoused by Paul, in Johannine works, and by other Gnostic sects, many decades after Jesus lived. I think the more esoteric writings can distort the message among the unstudied. To say "Jesus is the Son of God" without prerequisite knowledge of the mindset of Jewish/Hellenic theologians of that era, who debated/originated such ideas within their paradigm, is absurd.
My problem with Christianity is that it's based more on the descriptive ruminations of Paul than the words of Jesus; that people seem more devoted to Paul's romantic, convoluted christology, than God the Holy One.
I recognize there are positive elements of the Church and am glad that Europeans have at least some form of theism, but man it is flawed. We're setting our standard dreadfully low. Warping the story to make Jesus into God (when we know he worshiped the Father), born of a virgin, achieving physical immortality, has psychologically impacted us the last 2000 years. I don't mean just the brutality and p***philia of the RCC, or Protestants who owned slaves in America.
What we're witnessing is an example of mass cognitive dissonance regarding day-to-day life and our own sense of inner strength. The Supreme God becoming a man is so impossible for the average person to conceive- it creates a wall between us and our innate connection to God (that Jesus worked to ignite). Someone says, "well I wasn't born of a virgin, and only he is Godly... I'm just a sinner". There's an inherent disconnect I see that's hard to describe. The culture is schizophrenic. There's no wisdom, sensitivity. They box themselves in this abstract idea of God as an image from Revelation, Jesus literally descending from heaven. Every allegorical phrase and exhortation is taught as literal truth, it's insane. Instead of promoting cultivation of our own spiritual awareness it seems like the church is stuck in neutral. They're trapped by the past. The schizm between Catholic and Protestant is a curse and evidence of deep rooted instability.
Criticism of popular Christianity doesn't take away from the divinity of Jesus. He was the awaited Messiah and recognized the light of God within. The ancient message that Jesus preached is to remember God. Treat others like you'd like to be treated. Fast and pray. Be the son/daughter of God that YOU are. Salvation doesn't rest in "believing in Jesus", it's found by living by his teachings.
