The Gospel of Doug

         Many people believe that the "Good News", or Gospel, of Christianity is that God Loves us, and that Jesus loves us.  My own personal view is, while that is good news, it is not the best news available to us as Christians. The best news to me, is the promise that God, and Jesus Christ, will never abandon us, we can only abandon Them. All that is asked of us, is to follow the teachings of God, and Jesus Christ and avoid sin. As long as we attempt to do those things, and do not abandon God or His teachings, He will not abandon us. I base my life on this promise. I don't base my life on God's love, because quite frankly, I am not that lovable.  Jesus may love me, but that doesn't mean he likes me. Reading the Bible, Jesus had a disciple he loved best. So it isn't quite like He loved everyone the same. (I love horses, but there are a few horses I could almost shoot. I don't like them, even though I love horses.)

          It also seems to me, that Christ can only love us, in a meaningful way, when we love Him and his teachings. In today's world, being Christian, tends to mean taking on the role of God. We decide for ourselves how righteous or good something is, or if someone is a sinner. One of the things that I think about is how destructive believers have been towards God and His creation. With the gift of free will we have been tearing down what God was trying to build, since the beginning of time. The Garden of Eden, a beautiful place, God created and established rules which allowed the place to exist. Almost immediately we were defying the rules, and God. The Bible documents this defiance up and to the present day. The thing that blows my mind, is how smug and arrogant we are when we defy and change all of the teachings of God. "Well He didn't really mean that, How could he have meant that? No, what He means is this." If you read the Bible, it is like God predicting this happening, and warning against it, and yet Christians seem blind to the very words and teachings expressed in the Bible. . . .When people say, "What would Jesus Do?" I want to reply, "You don't have a FUCKING clue." Jesus never asks us, to think about what He would do, He TELLS us what he expects us to do. I guess when it comes down to it, I am more comfortable, when I screw up, to remind Jesus of His promise, to not abandon me, then to call attention to the fact, that He loves me, when it is obvious, I don't Love Him enough, or my love isn't perfect enough for me not to have screwed up. 

The First Message  of the Gospel of Doug