Longfellow
Well-Known Member
I'm not a Christian, but I grew up in a Christian family, I went through confirmation class in a Christian church, I recognize and accept Jesus as my Lord, and I have an intense interest in what the Christian Bible says about Him and His kingdom.
In my understanding of the Christian Bible, part of what it means by "the kingdom" is a way of life that Jesus brought into the world, people learning together as a community to live the way that He says to live. When I say "Jesus," I mean the one in the gospel stories, imagining that person in the gospel stories as a person who was teaching in and between Galilee near the end of the Second Temple period, and not any kind of "historical Jesus," or "Christ spirit." I'm thinking that many people in Capernaum were learning to live that way under His care and guidance, and that kind of learning spread from there into society in all directions. One way that it spread was in communities with leaders approved by the Apostles, and that evolved into Christianity. The way that people enter that kingdom is by seeing God in Jesus and being moved by that to want to serve and obey Him and learn together to live the way He says to live. In my understanding, what they believe and don't believe, and whether or not they are "Christians" by any definition, has nothing to do with it. They could be followers of any religion, or none.
(later) I'm not sure that I know what it means to be saved. I'm thinking that maybe it means being saved from slavery to the sinful side of our nature.
In my understanding of the Christian Bible, part of what it means by "the kingdom" is a way of life that Jesus brought into the world, people learning together as a community to live the way that He says to live. When I say "Jesus," I mean the one in the gospel stories, imagining that person in the gospel stories as a person who was teaching in and between Galilee near the end of the Second Temple period, and not any kind of "historical Jesus," or "Christ spirit." I'm thinking that many people in Capernaum were learning to live that way under His care and guidance, and that kind of learning spread from there into society in all directions. One way that it spread was in communities with leaders approved by the Apostles, and that evolved into Christianity. The way that people enter that kingdom is by seeing God in Jesus and being moved by that to want to serve and obey Him and learn together to live the way He says to live. In my understanding, what they believe and don't believe, and whether or not they are "Christians" by any definition, has nothing to do with it. They could be followers of any religion, or none.
(later) I'm not sure that I know what it means to be saved. I'm thinking that maybe it means being saved from slavery to the sinful side of our nature.
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