Unvarnished Gospels

I found the modern translation of the Gospels to make for easier reading but it lost the majesty and beauty of the King James version.

But now on to the main portion of my essay.

Since the Gospels tell the news of Jesus, I thought I would concentrate on His teachings and try to contrast what Jesus taught and some of what modern Christians believe.

Jesus' really only told his followers to do 4 things His teachings break down to
1. Love God and keep His law
2. Love your neighbor better than you love yourself
3. Keep sexually pure
4. Remember Jesus' death

To expand on these 4 points just a bit, based on the Gospels.
1. Love God and keep His Laws.
One thing that Jesus taught was that He did not come to this earth to make new laws, but to fulfill the law. Jesus never taught that the law of the Torah was no longer valid, in fact, He spent most of his time teaching that it was not only to be obeyed to the letter, but was to be obeyed in spirit also. The law was to be a part of our every day life, it was to guide your every thought and action. The law that God gave to Moses in the form of the 10 Commandments was not over turned or changed by Jesus. As an aside here, Jesus seemed to teach that God only was to be worshiped. As the Son of God, Jesus discouraged any worship of Himself, even refusing to be called good, when only God could be considered good.

2. Love your neighbor better than you love yourself.
Jesus really tried to get this point through to his students. This principle is a basic part of Judaism, but Jesus extended it to include all people, not just members of your tribe or people that believe your beliefs. Every one we meet in our day to day dealings is our neighbor, and are to be treated as well as we would treat ourselves. Everyone we meet was created by the same God that created us, and should be treated like one of God's creation. One thing that Jesus did teach is that there is evil in the world and that we must not tolerate evil, but to try help change evil to good, and if evil will not change, we must have nothing to do with it.

3. Keep sexually pure.
Jesus had some things to say about sexuality. He told us not to commit adultery and to be faithful to our spouses. At no time did he say we should remain celibate. In fact sexuality is a big part of Jewish tradition. But Jesus did say to remain faithful to the ones we married, even complaining about the ability to divorce that Moses had allowed. Jesus also let us that even to think of adultery was just a step away from committing adultery. Thought is father of the deed.

4. Remember Jesus' death
At the last supper Jesus told his students to keep the memory of His death alive by partaking of the Last Supper every time they got together. It is interesting that this was one of two rules that Jesus added. He said that we should have the ritual bathing (baptism) to be saved, and to remember His death. Not too many new rules were added.

What I find interesting is that many Christians today seem to be worshiping Jesus as God, and not as a messenger of God (even though Jesus was the Son of God). This is in violation of the commandment of not having any other gods before God.

Another thing that I find interesting is that you walk into almost church building today and you will see what could be considered an idol of Jesus hanging over the altar.

So ends my final essay

If you feel that this is sufficient for completion of my course, then could you send the credentials to

Stephen E. Williamson

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As an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since its inception, I've had the privilege of watching the Seminary grow. I've been a member of ULC for many years and our site has created a terrific ULC Forum. We also have the most extensive catalog of Universal Life Church materials.

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I've been a member of ULC for many years and our site has created a terrific ULC Forum. We also have the most extensive catalog of Universal Life Church materials and seminary courses. As an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning, I've enjoyed watching the continual growth of the seminary.


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