The Jesus Doctrine

He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was the life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
John 1: 2 - 5 NKJV

Doctrine is described as "A belief or set of beliefs taught by a church, political party or other group."  I never once thought to associate Christianity with a political party, but if the shoe indeed fits.  There are those who have seen the inner politics of church organizations and would agree with this.  For my part, I've seen enough to know that any time man is involved in any institution, human emotions and behaviors will definitely follow him there.  We can't help ourselves.  So, if doctrine is described to us as beliefs taught by the church, what is standard Christian doctrine?  Well, step into any local church (if it hasn't already been shut down by a authoritarian governor) and you will witness first hand the doctrine of the institutional church.  Over the Easter holiday I had the opportunity to watch the mass from Saint Patrick's cathedral in New York city.  I have to admit that the traditional Christian doctrine was missing a bit this year as the church played to a empty house due to authoritarian government restrictions.  I did, however, see all the pomp and circumstance the church has been known for.  What I didn't see...was Jesus.  That's right, despite the main reason for the Easter holiday being the celebration of His resurrection, what I mainly saw was a procession of grim faced men in white robes and funny hats.  What does Christian doctrine tell us about Easter?  Well, we're told that Jesus, after having been beaten and led to the cross to die for our sins, was buried in the tomb of Joseph and rose again three days later.  After His resurrection, He was seen by no fewer than 500 people as well as His disciples.  After rising from the grave, Jesus is said to have ascended to heaven where He now sits at the right hand of the Father {Acts 1:9}.  If this doctrine concerning Jesus sounds a little like God declaring "mission accomplished," you're not too far from the mark.  However, unlike that brash statement made by George H.W. Bush on the deck of that aircraft carrier all those years ago, this wasn't the end of Jesus.  Christian doctrine tells us that Jesus resides in heaven with the Father, that He looks down upon Gods children, encouraging them to be more like Him.  However, the truth of Christ Jesus is much different from traditional Christian doctrine in more than a few ways.

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Galatians 2: 20 NKJV

I can tell you that after sitting through many a church service, I have never heard a sermon where Christ is preached as living in us.  Perhaps this is why it was so difficult for me to accept the truth of Christ in me.  I listened and followed the Christian doctrine, hoping that one day I would "be like" Christ Jesus.  Well, the problem with that belief system, that doctrine, is that I already am like Jesus. The apostle Paul, one of the main authors of this truth of Christ, explains this to us in Galatians.  Paul claimed that it was no longer he who lived...he was now dead.  That life which Paul did live, was a life in Christ Jesus.  All we need do is read Paul's own words in order to see this..."But Christ lives in me."  No, I have never heard that in any Christian doctrine.  So, does that invalidate Paul's words?  Absolutely not!  In fact, I would say that this should strengthen our conviction even more that what Paul is describing is the truth of who we truly are.  Christian doctrine will tell us that we are simply sinners {Romans 3:23} striving to somehow earn our salvation.  The truth of the matter is that our salvation is our gift from God and not something that can be bought or sold {Ephesians 2:8-9}.  God gave us salvation willingly and lovingly.  It is our own doctrines that have made His gift to us a material thing that can be traded or taken away.  Have you ever known God to be a Indian giver?  Me neither.  So it is that I somehow bucked the Christian doctrine and came to the knowledge of who I truly am.  This is no easy task, for first you will need to overcome thousands of years of that doctrine being taught to the masses.  They had a word for those first followers of Jesus...Christ-eans.  Over time, this evolved into the term Christian we know today.  I would say that we are definitely followers of Jesus, in a way.  For to say that one is a follower maintains that they are somehow being led.  I'm not being led...I'm walking in Christ.

~Scott~