WWJD?

Seriously though, what would Jesus do?

We (Christians) use this question as a point to spark positive thought in line with out beliefs and as a way of deciding to avoid what is wrong and sinful.  But do we ever really stop and think what Jesus would really do?

I men, lets take a real hot potato right now - the position of Women Priests within the Church.  Now - I want to make my position clear right from the start, I am all in favour of women priests - provided it is Gods will (and there's no reason why it wouldn't be).  BUT, those who are against cite passages from the Bible as their evidence for their view.  So what if that is the case for real?  There are some pretty obvious examples of women not being chosen in the Bible.  That is mostly because of the social climate at the time I suspect.  The thing is though, would Jesus move with the times and accept this in a modern climate?  Or are the rules set down then still a requirement today?

And what about other areas that are contentious?  Homosexuality for example.  We seek to embrace and treat our neighbours as ourselves, we accept and minister to others in Jesus name, in the belief that He would welcome all those who turn to him.  But what if we are wrong?  What would Jesus do?  Would he embrace and now decide something that was once a sin, is now acceptable?  In that case, where does it leave other instances of God's law, such as not having sex without marriage?  All this is the word of the Lord, I cannot imagine that it is 'negotiable'.

So where does that leave me (and every other Christian?)  I want to love my life by Gods rules to the best of my ability, I am not one to discriminate against people, and I don't accept people that do - but in both a literal interpretation and a historical interpretation of Christianity, these things are quite prominent.

It's so easy to 'update' theological beliefs to fit with the modern acceptances of society, but are we simply trying to turn a blind eye to a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah or are we justified?

When my time comes and I am called home, will I stand judgement to be told "You did not follow my rules, you followed your own interpretation of them."?  Would I be told "You discriminated against others when you should have followed the spirit of my will"?

Jesus accepted all who came to him, but they had to repent of their sins and take up their cross.  Is our sin loosening the rules to match our society when we should be using the rules to build our society?  Or   is our sin refusing to adapt the rules in the spirit of God's love, when we could engage a much wider range of society?

So it isn't easy, we Just don't know what Jesus would do.  We know what he did and what he taught them.  We know both the word of the Law but also the spirit in which it was written and it seems to me that sometimes they can give different interpretations.  The truth is that no-one knows.  And it is so easy to use the claim of WWJD to justify what we want to do, not what God would have us do.

I want to do God's will and I don't want to discriminate against people.  I am sure God would not want that either - Jesus taught we should love our neighbours as ourselves, but what if there is a line between loving our neighbour, who may fall into one or more of the areas that I have mentioned, and allowing them to become part of the Church.

I cannot honestly believe that God would turn away anyone who came to him through Jesus, but it is so easy to side step the challenge to sin and seek acceptance without change.

Its just so difficult to not have second thoughts about where the line is between that which can be interpreted and adapted and that which is set in stone.

Reflection

Well, I've fasted, and cleared my head as best as I could do.  It got pretty hard towards the end - I ended up feeling very light headed and had a headache too.  Not that I haven't fasted for a long while and I went longer than I initially planned to.  I went 48hrs in then end.  It wasn't initially intentional  but after I fell asleep at the end of day one and then woke up into day two, it seemed right ti continue.

So what did I hear? Indeed, did I hear anything?  That said, was I asking the right questions and was I asking hard enough?  The one thing that does seem to have made a bit of headway was a question that G put on her Facebook profile, about risking everything to travel to Mars one way, leaving everything else behind.  In that sort of situation I have to say that I would.  I'd leave everything in order to pursue  a means of getting away.  Suddenly this gets me thinking, this isnt really an answer to the questions that I have been asking, but it is an answer.  I hadn't really taken the time to conclude that I would actually be prepared to up ends and leave things.

Maybe a realisation then its not such  a  bad thing and that I should be ready to go with the flow on a change of direction.

I don't feel like this is the answer that I was hoping for - but who am I to decide what the right answer is?  One thing it has made me thin about is some kind of longer term fast.  Having done a bit of reading about fasting and how it was done in the time of Jesus, one theme keeps cropping up - that of fasting during daylight hours.  It seems logical, one could fast for a much longer period of time on such a method of fasting.  As we're only just past the autumn equinox, there's a fair balance between daylight and dark still.  If I was to do this, over what period of time? How?  If I was going to do this I would want to be able to go to church and pray - not necessarily in services but just to be able to go and sit quietly and meditate on the thoughts and questions that I have.

Many thoughts, and I'm out of time here as my break at work is over and i have to go back to the day job again.