You Are Not God's Focus

My real problem is, what would convince God to change His mind? What would convince God to act in either way? God does not care what happens to humans. Something very fundamental must have changed? Why would God take such an indirect path as the birth of a child? The Bible tells us that, “God gave His only begotten Son . . ." (John 3:16) His first-born Son. He had to have had a very powerful, compelling reason. A reason that would be important to God.

All the reasons I've been told about, are important to people. They do not, to me,to seem to rise to a level of importance to God. It is just as reasonable for God to have seized Jesus at about age thirty. He seized Paul at a later date, to do His work. Why send an infiltrator by way of a birth canal? Never before, when "contacts" with God are reported, it was with a human adult. Why change? Jesus grew up in a family of brothers and sisters. They were not apparently particularly impressed with Jesus until after He was thirty. Of course, in (John 4:24), Jesus himself testified, ". . . that a prophet hath no honor in his own country."

God has infinite patience. The time for this sect of Judaism to grow into prominence, is not particularly significant. Why would God choose religion as a methodology of nudging Man along a path we cannot see? God does things openly. If God started His attempts with Moses, the experience doesn't indicate that people are receptive to the message. This might be a reason God would try a new tactic? People are not a stable participant in God's Plan. The Israelites had gone astray due to many causes.

God doesn’t care if you worship Him. He must want something else. I note with some curiosity that Jesus prayed to God, not Himself. "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" It seems He didn't consider Himself divine. He believed in God. (Mark 10:17-21). He denied being God. (Matthew 7:7).

John, the gospel writer,was an eyewitness to the crucifixion of Jesus. Curiously, he does not mention a lot of "things" mentioned by others who were not there. John does not mention three hours of darkness, a veil tearing at the Temple, or the testimony of the Centurion. John only says that Jesus said five words, "I thirst." and "It is finished." (John 19: 28-30).

Jesus chose to feel the pain and die on the cross. He could have used His powers to remove Himself from that agonizing torture. He did not need to suffer the terrible residual pain from His previous scourging. It was His choice. It took the tremendous force of His free will to stay there on the cross and suffer and die.

I believe that Jesus saw His mission as that of a martyr. That His death had to be believable to be effective. The use of the Roman court and law made His death very, very believable. Scourging alone was terrible enough. Roman scourging could cut through skin and muscle all the way to the bone, and tear open the body cavity. Scourging could be used to kill all by itself.

I believe that death is easier to face with the sure knowledge of resurrection to come. Jesus certainly had that knowledge. According to John, Jesus spoke very little. Only at the end does He say five words that indicate any suffering. Death is not the worst thing that can happen to a person. Death is only a condition. What is important is the way, the method, and the travail of the path of your reaching that condition.

Jesus suffered appallingly. Natural phenomena, accident, disease, and simple deterioration of old age are things we all have to possibly deal with. It is the free will decisions of humans, exhibited by the Sanhedrin that is scary. It is the free will decisions the indifferent Roman government official, Pilate, undeviatingly following a rote pathway that is scary. Even here, we are given some evidence that Pilate was not insensitive to this issue when he symbolically washed his hands. It is the free will decisions of the indifferent Roman soldiers who carried out the scourging and the execution for very poor pay that is scary.

I believe that killing another human being may not be a sin, but deliberately extracting unnecessary pain, suffering and terror from the person to be killed, is a major sin. Death dealt in this manner does not serve God's Purpose. More, it is an important indicator of an extremely sick mind. Today is a good day to die. Hopefully, death will be quick and painless.

Christianity, as a religion, depends upon the theme of resurrection. This is the core of, and for, the Christian belief system. An apparently secondary idea is that Jesus died for our sins was added much later. i.e. the gradual diminishment of adherence to Jewish law, and then after His death, He was resurrected.

(c) Copyright 2006: George Wallace recently published a book on religion which lashes out at nearly all of the comfortable ideas about God, the trappings of organized religion, and the priesthood. His pithy comments and suggestions for a return to a God-centered personal religion will interest everyone. This article may be freely reprinted so long as all copyright attributions, and the full content of this resource box are included. www.OhGodIsThatYou.com

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