What is the appeal of Jesus? Part 7

What is the appeal of Jesus?

Part 7: Are you sure it’s true?

Someone might still be sceptical about the list above of those things that are true. This is because the word “God” keeps appearing, and you may wish to complain that we had said that God does not do anything, because we are not allowing God to exist as an independently existing personal agent; he is simply an aspect of the human mind. However, we are adopting a method by which every active verb about God is really a passive mirror image of what human beings are doing and imputing to the “person of God” – in which God is not a person but an idea – a hub of spiritual values (albeit one that has “ignited into a personal reality within the mind of the believer”)

So, in rather more convoluted language, we can translate what the list above means literally: –

• Christians do believe in a set of ultimate spiritual values, which for ease of use, they refer to by grouping them under an idea to which they give the name: “God”. In this sense, the word “God” simply means “what is ultimate” and for Christians, what is ultimate is their set of spiritual values
• Christians do believe that Jesus expressed those values perfectly
• (Whatever the actual socio-political details of events that contributed to it) Christians do believe that Jesus’ death correctly expresses their core spiritual value of love to an ultimate degree
• They are right in saying that these beliefs, including the supremacy of love (the love that Jesus showed them), are stronger than death, because it is possible to still believe in them no matter what, including believing in them after Jesus was killed
• They are correct in saying that trusting in their spiritual values – gathered together under the idea of “God” – does enable them to believe that all their sins can indeed be forgiven, and calling on a trust that the death of Jesus expresses the ability of love to forgive all sins is the way to express their complete commitment to the spiritual values that are expressed under the idea of God.
• When Christians say that “Jesus is alive”, they mean that the values Jesus taught them are still valid and powerful in their lives.