Why Jesus Doesn't Matter

Don't get too offended yet, hear me out.

Sometimes I'll have religious discussions with people, and hearing me talk about God leads people to ask why, then, I don't consider myself Christian.

Now, to be Christian, you must believe in the holiness of Christ, yes? Seems essential. And I just don't. So here's why.

I don't really "buy" the Bible. There are a lot of things I disagree with, there are a decent amount of ridiculous rules, and it just doesn't do much for me. So that's the bottom line. I just don't believe it. But let's pretend.

Say Jesus was, indeed, everything the Bible says he was. We'll go for fully divine and fully human (shout out to the Nicene Creed for that one...indecision at its finest..."we choose...BOTH!"). So say he died for the sins of humanity, for atonement. He was miraculously conceived, he performed miracles, etc.

It seems to me that Jesus was meant to do what God willed for him to do. Now I know there's the whole "he had freewill" argument, but how many times does God impregnate a woman and then the son doesn't obey his father(God)?

1- Totally against the Commandments, I'm assuming really against the commandments if your dad wrote them.

And 2-Never. According to Christianity, he's one for one.

So, in my mind, Jesus was being puppetted by God. Whatever Jesus did, he was either willed to do by God, or he had specific instructions from him. I frequently feel like decisions would be easier if I had specific instructions from God on what's right.

Also, I'm pretty sure that if I was told that my death would lead to salvation for every person to live after me, I would die too. Soldiers die every day. People jump in front of busses for others. And that's just for one person, community or country. Apparently, Jesus died for everyone. Ever. I get that it was still selfless, but I don't think it'd be a tough sell to most people.

In terms of theological study, many people find comfort in Jesus because he offers divinity in human form. People can relate to him and feel like he is a compassionate listener who provides a direct line (of prayer, communication) to God. What is a more direct line of communication to God, however, is actually communicating with God. I don't see any reason to have a liaison in my relationship with God, whether it's a priest or a prophet or an alleged son.

People delight in personal relationships with Jesus, but if Jesus is the son of God, and God is the almighty and all-knowing...why not cultivate that personal relationship with God directly?

So the main point is...I don't believe the stories of the Bible are hard fact. I think they're stories to make points. I think Jesus is a metaphor for God's love for us and desire to have a relationship with us. But if Jesus was real and did all the things the Bible outlines, it all still points back to God. Everything looks back to God, so whether it was truth or metaphor, I don't see how the importance of Jesus matches up to, much less supersedes, the importance of God.

And that is why, at least to me, Jesus doesn't matter.

Public opinion

I may or may not be in class right now.

And my Asian professor keeps saying "potty" instead of "party."

For example, "Republican potty."

Seeing how America's politics have resembled anarchy recently, I'm starting to think she isn't mispronouncing it.

I thought about running for president, but my lack of tack and consideration of forced sterilization would give the offensiveness of Rick Perry's campaign a run for its money.

Unleash the quiche(s)

I love getting pots and pans from my mom, especially if I can bake with them.

This summer my mom gave me a quiche dish. It has a quiche recipe on the bottom of it so you can bake a quiche in it. Observe.

When Tina and I moved into our apartment, I told her, "This is a quiche dish," and I'm sure she said something like, "Oh, how cool - yay quiche!"

So this Saturday was Barrister's ball for Tina (a.k.a. law prom) and she had some people over for appetizers before the event.

I noticed that she had my quiche dish out and later noticed how she used it:

Mini-quiches are quiches too.

A birthday celebration

My blog is almost three years old!

After writing emails to family and friends from Costa Rica in 2008, my sister Ashley convinced me to start a blog. I'm glad she did and I'm pretty sure she's still one of the blog's biggest fans.

Most of my Costa Rica emails were monotoned and simply chronicled each week. I wasn't nearly as rude or Bob-like back then. After seven weeks of emails, I got the best responses from my last one, which chronicled the first (and hopefully last) time I peed on a horse.

It happened. Just let that set in for a second.

So in honor of my blog turning three, here is the email excerpt that started it all:

"Monday we had a morning tour of the ranch where they told us about the plants and how it is also self sustainable. Costa Rica is all about sustainability and conservation. We got to pet the pigs (one of which I think we ate) and saw the mini-hydroelectric power "plant" they get their energy from to keep the place running. In the afternoon a few of us decide to pay a little extra and take a horseback tour around the volcano. This was probably the coolest thing I've ever done. While I've never gotten on a horse before in my life, I proved to everyone that I'm really a cowgirl at heart when my horse took off running and I wet myself. Always an experience. After riding the horses straight up a mountain to a lookout point, we again walked through some mud and across rushing rivers...this time on a horse. Halfway though the two hours it started to pour. We went straight through the jungle and once we hit a road the guide yelled, "YAAA" and all the horses took off running. No big deal, my bladder was already empty."

*Taken pre-urination*