Did Jesus Condone Racial Disparity?

How would Jesus react to this week's news? As those who believe in Him and claim to follow His example in this world, are we being hypocritical by remaining silent as a black man is arrested in his own residence? Can we justify the behavior of the police officer simply because the black man became exasperated and raised his voice because he felt violated in his own home? The commonly seen bumper sticker says, "WWJD? - What Would Jesus Do?" Some of us have it on our cars or wear it in the form of t-shirts, jewelry or even keychains or purses. But what happens when the church, organized religion and popular preachers remain silent in cases of injustice? What message are we sending to the world? Are we complicit in racial prejudice when we take a back seat and do not comment or engage in the discussion that is ongoing about racial injustice and prejudice in this country?

Let me hear your voice on this issue...

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A Personal Experience of Jesus

Jesus, the wonderful counselor, the prince of peace, the mighty God, the everlasting father... He became flesh and lived among men... His divinity became humanity meaning that He maintained His divine nature while experiencing everything that was human. Jesus experienced our human nature personally. He lived as a man with "like passions as we have"... We focus on His divinity which seems unattainable to us. We see ourselves as frail, sinful creatures condemned to live in this world while we await His return. But is that the true purpose of Jesus' life on earth and His subsequent death on the cross? Was He supposed to be an example of what we can never be? Or did He come to show us what is possible if we are willing to transcend the Adamic nature; to live outside ourselves; to sacrifice comfort and endure suffering so that we can attain a level of spiritual maturity that is above anything we could ever think possible? Was His life and death a precursor of what God wants to demonstrate in the lives of those who are willing to be totally submitted to Him?

It is human to err... those were the words instilled in our hearts from an early age. No man is perfect... we blame Adam's fall for our inability to walk the narrow path. After all, we are only human and only God is holy! But is that pre-supposition correct? Didn't the second Adam live and die so that the work of the first Adam would be undone or reversed? If so, why do we work so hard to please God, to live right, to become like Christ? The truth is that Christ lives in you and if He lives in you, there is nothing you can do humanly to be closer to Him. Is there something you can do to make you DNA closer to you? Is there anything you can say to make your organs a part of you? No, they are in you and are part and parcel of who you are. In the same way, Jesus Christ living in you, is part of you. Paul argues that God is in Christ and Christ in us. What does that mean? How do we experience the God, the Christ who is literally us? Jesus says that we are what is in us? If we truly believe that and live accordingly, what would our lives and our world be like? Out of you bellies shall flow rivers of living water... life-giving, life-sustaining force...

The apostle Paul in I Corinthians 3:16 exhorts, "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple." (NIV, emphasis mine). This follows the personal experience we are to have of Christ. The Trinity has taken up residence in you. What are the implications of this concept? What kind of experience is the Christian believer supposed to have of the Christ who resides in him/her? How does the life of that believer reflect the power, creativity, love and grace that dwells in his/her person?

Deepak Chopra writes in his book "The Third Jesus" about the cosmic Christ, "the spiritual guide whose teaching embraces all humanity, not just the church built in His name. He speaks to the individual who wants to find God as a personal experience, to attain what some might call grace, or God-consciousness, or enlightenment."

Along these lines, I would like to hear your thoughts and let's have a discourse on how our lives are supposed to shape the world around us rather than the other way around...

Have at it....