Four Gospels

I was disappointed in this course. It was nice to have a different perspective of the gospels, however, I was hoping for a little more. It took me back to the days of Sunday school class and seemed to have just grazed the surface of the whole Christian faith.

I think this course would be great for someone that doesn’t know that much about Christianity, and would give them a great place to start learning about Jesus and his teachings.

I was hoping this course would have gotten deeper into

the background of the Christian Religion than it did.

I was hoping to get a better understanding of the

history & culture of back then. I believe this is

necessary, to understand what Jesus was really all

about. Why was it important for Jesus to be a son, than a daughter? Why was it that women were seen as property, instead of people? And why did/do women need to depend on a man to take care of them as some denominations still believe today? There is a lot more “why’s” for me not answered.

I’ll give an example of why I would like to have known more of the background than what was provided. Back in the 60’s and 70’s people would sometime say, “Wow he’s a real lady killer”. A hundred years from now some people are going to wonder what that means. Without knowing anymore about the sentence than just that sentence, someone might take the words literally which changes the whole meaning of the sentence. Now that man is believed to be a person that kills women. When you look deeper at the sentence, and get a better understanding of the different sayings that were said during that time period, you can now apply the true meaning of the phrase “lady killer” to understand its meant to mean he was just a really good looking guy.

Unfortunately many Christians take parts of the bible literally. Some denominations go as far as telling

their congregations how to dress or how to wear their hair just because the bible says so. If they would

take the time to understand the reasons those rules were important back in biblical times, they might be

able to see how those reasons / rules do not apply to today. Personally, I really don’t think God cares to

such minuet details as long as our hearts are in the right place. As Jesus said in the bible, it is not what goes into your mouth that defiles you, it is what comes out of our mouths. I think this same principle apples. Jesus is not talking about vomiting, or what you eat. He’s talking about the condition of our spirit and where our heart is at. If your heart, mind, body and soul is in the right place, then you will speak loving and kind words out of your mouth. You’re tongue is like a two bladed sword, beware what you say. Words are a huge influence on people. So many Christians today seem to focus more on their own agenda, as the Pharisees did in Jesus’ time, than the one Jesus had. Jesus wanted to turn people towards God, not away. People get set in their ways and have trouble hearing the truth. Jesus says that people like the darkness better than the light. Better the evil that you know than the possible evil that you don’t.  Change is scary and people avoid change.

Then there is the whole debate actually about Jesus. I personally believe Jesus is the son of God. However,

in what perspective? Are we not all considered sons and daughters of God? Was Jesus the only man that has

ever came close enough to truly living how God intended us to live? Jesus is an excellent example of

how all Christians should live. After all he is the reason or the founding father of Christianity.

However, all of us fall short. Even the holiest of holiest here on earth have some fault and have failed

at one point in time. Should we just give up? No, because Jesus provides us all with hope. In one sense

would that not make Jesus the true son of God, merely the finest example of how we should live our lives?

Everything we do everyday, should be to glorify God, not Jesus, but God. As Jesus did.

And if this is true, then Jesus was Jewish, should we not all be Jewish? After all is that not why he came

to earth to save the Jewish people? Now don’t get mad at me, it’s just a thought.

Or is it more the second sense, Jesus was actually God on earth merely in the form of man. Keeping to the

trinity, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Separate, but the same.

If Jesus came to save us from our sins, and to be the door between God and a person, then why is it the Catholic faith still believes you must go through their priests to seek forgiveness? Just another question. Not intended to be offensive.  These are just a few questions that have come up since reading the book provided for this course.

Then there is the whole debate of religious symbols.  The cross being one of those examples. I could be wrong, but the whole reason for the Cross being so important is because Jesus was crucified on a cross. The Cross back then was a form of Capitol Punishment.

However, taken in today's scenario, Capitol Punishment is either lethal injections, or the electric chair. If Jesus were here with us today instead of being with the disciples and was set to be crucified using today’s Capitol Punishment, would the electric chair or the syringes used become a religious symbol, thus people wearing a miniature syringes or a miniature electric chair around their neck? This is not intended to be disrespectful of the cross and how many Christian’s feel about the Cross. Just a question if they would apply that same feeling towards the objects used for Capitol Punishment today if Jesus was crucified by one of those means.

Thank you for the opportunity to take this course. It has been an enjoyable experience.

Rev. Dawn Egler

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.

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