Separating Jesus from the Bible

The UU has people who share a wide range of religious views. Last night at the worship committee meeting we had a discussion about the criteria that would be used to select our new minister. One member expressed opposition to anyone who was "overly Christian" and was visibly upset at anyone who would preach from what he called a "homophobic, sexist..." and then just abruptly cut himself off. He talked about how they would need to be internally contradictory to believe it all. 

I don't think that's the case and below is an email I shared with him

"The Jefferson Bible gave me a totally fresh lens to see "Christianity" and I found it to be incredibly liberating. 

I think it's clear we both have different goals though, mine was simply to reconcile my beliefs with those of most of the people in my life and still have my own "responsible search for truth and meaning."

For me, it was clear there was obviously a lot of value in the Bible (though most of the good messages are not unique to it) but as you mention, there are also a lot of other mean-spirited, hateful messages as well as unscientific bunk that I think even the most creationist Christians would have a difficult time believing. 

Here is a good example I found a few years ago that I have never heard mentioned in any church: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_of_Endor

It's clear Jefferson had similar issues. Rather than getting caught up in thousands of pages of religious texts and supernatural phenomenon, he simply took the parables of Jesus and said "Here, this is what he was really preaching." I found it to be very easy to swallow. 

The real issue (and purpose) for any religion is to give people a way to live and to make difficult moral decisions in life. I think the title of Jefferson's project highlights this "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth." For me the supernatural stuff (whether or not there is a god or whether he was "RAISED FROM THE DEAD" or even if there is a heaven really aren't important.") What I found was a world view almost 180 degrees different than the materialist culture we live in. 

CS Lewis once said something along the lines of "Jesus is either a liar, a crazy man, or who he says he is." He tried to back you into a corner, but I think the "crazy man" label isn't that much of a stretch. Jesus was a wandering homeless man who hung out with the lowest members of society and enjoyed shaking up the religious establishment of his time. He lived in a world where religion was a set of silly beliefs and rituals (Pharisees) and had lost its way. Jesus said the whole law can be described up in as loving your neighbor. It's a world view that challenges me every day and reminds me not to cling to the popular measures of success - a pretty wife, money in the bank, decadent food, sex. I see his purpose as very simple - to tear down the nonsense of religion and be a true reminder of what we should do. That's how I see Jesus and I think that's how many "liberal" Christians see him too..."