Non-Christian follower of Jesus

mangalvaar said:
Hi there, Longfellow. What you say here makes me think of Jesuanism (also called Jesusism). From what I understand, Jesuanism is not a religion about Jesus but the religion of Jesus. In other words, it is the path of following the teachings and example of Jesus of Nazareth. In order to even know what are his teachings and example, Jesuans need some kind of source, so they look to the gospel books. Would you say that Jesuanism sounds like your religious or spiritual life?
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I started a thread to answer that question. A non-Christian understanding of the Christian Bible
 
I'm not sure, but I'm thinking that maybe some people thought that I was here to argue against some Christian beliefs, or to Criticize Christians or Christianity. That isn't what I'm here for, and I'm trying now to strictly avoid saying anything critical about Christians or Christianity. Trying to avoid that, not always succeeding.
 
People might need or want to know that I don't think that the Bible is the only way to know how to serve and obey Jesus and learn to live the way He says to live, but it's the only way that I want to post about in these forums.
 
I'm thinking that maybe what I've said about not being a Christian, and other things that I've said in my posts, might have created a false impression about how I feel about Christians and Christianity. It might look like I feel more critical of them, or more alienated from them, than I do. I don't know if it looks that way or not, or what to do about it if it does.

I'm not sure exactly what I mean, myself, saying that I'm not a Christian. I don't think that I have the same beliefs about God and Jesus as any Christians, conservative or liberal or in between, Trinitarian or not, but I'm not sure that fully explains why I don't want to call myself a Christian. I thought that accepting Muhammad as an authentic prophet of God would disqualify me from being a Christian, but apparently not. I might qualify as a Christian culturally or in some of my ways of thinking, but that is not reason enough for me to call myself a Christian.
 
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The only thing that might make me a Christian is that I see Jesus as a person to serve and obey above all others, by the will of God, and I see Him calling us to learn together to live the way He says to live, but that doesn't seem to be part of anyone else's definition of "Christian."
 
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Longfellow said:
I'm not sure exactly what I mean, myself, saying that I'm not a Christian. I don't think that I have the same beliefs about God and Jesus as any Christians, conservative or liberal or in between, Trinitarian or not, but I'm not sure that fully explains why I don't want to call myself a Christian. I thought that accepting Muhammad as an authentic prophet of God would disqualify me from being a Christian, but apparently not. I might qualify as a Christian culturally or in some of my ways of thinking, but that is not reason enough for me to call myself a Christian.
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One could get the impression you are a non-creedal Christian, like Quakers.
 
Or like the early followers of Jesus, whose faith was defined by the accounts told, rather than human doctrine. :)
 
mangalvaar said:
Hi there, Longfellow. What you say here makes me think of Jesuanism (also called Jesusism). From what I understand, Jesuanism is not a religion about Jesus but the religion of Jesus. In other words, it is the path of following the teachings and example of Jesus of Nazareth. In order to even know what are his teachings and example, Jesuans need some kind of source, so they look to the gospel books. Would you say that Jesuanism sounds like your religious or spiritual life?
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I see that I pointed you to another thread that I had started, but that might not have directly answered your question. I think that if anyone really wants to understand me, that will never happen by trying to associate me with some group or category of people. I've never seen or heard of anyone who relates to Jesus and the Bible the way I do. I'm thinking of the teachings in the gospel stories as what a real person actually taught, including what He said about Himself. Most importantly and consequentially for us, that He is, by the will of God, a person for us to serve and obey above all others, learning together to live the way he says to live. I don't agree with any Christian beliefs about salvation. I agree with saying that He is God and the Son of God, and that He paid a ransom to free us from captivity to our sinful nature, but those mean something different to me from what they mean to Christians. My way of thinking actually is *about* Jesus, but quite different from any Christian beliefs about Him that I've ever seen or heard of.

Incidentally, I don't see Jesus in the gospels as an example to follow. He might have been an example to follow, but if so, I see very little of that in the gospels. The gospels don't seem to me to serve that purpose at all, of Him being an example for us to follow.
 
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I'll add to what I said above, that I think that Jesus offered Himself as a final sacrifice, to replace temple sacrifices.

In my understanding, calling Jesus "Son of God" means a promised king of Israel, and calling Him "Son of Man" means the presence of God in the form of a person, the suffering servant.
 
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