Addressing the misrepresentation of Jesus
Jesus was not a Christian. He is not the founder of Christianity. Jesus never encouraged people to worship him. Christianity is a religion created in the name of Jesus, and is much different from the actual Truth that Jesus taught. Were Jesus alive today, I don’t think Jesus would be a Christian. Jesus is still one of best-kept secrets because his Truth has been grossly distorted by those who claim to speak for him. There is a religion-free Jesus who belongs to all of humankind. Christianity does not own or have first rights to Jesus. His truth has universal significance. It’s often the case that you have to disentangle Jesus from institutional Christianity in order to uncover his Truth.
Contrary to popular belief Jesus did NOT:
Start the Christian religion
See human beings as “sinners”
Die in order to rescue people from God
Establish a spiritual hierarchy of “clergy” and “laity”
Create a theological orthodoxy about God
Write or read the New Testament
Advocate the hatred, diminshment or maltreatment of another human being for any reason
Teach that women were subservient to men
Deny the image of God in any human being
Believe that humankind was separated from God
I wrote two posts to clarify the ways Jesus is often misrepresented by the religion that bears his name:
