Our goal as Christians is to be like Jesus. To emulate his character and live a life that reflects his teachings.
For most of us, this means we strive to tell the truth, act from a place of love and compassion instead of acting out hatred and cruelty, and follow the Golden Rule — treating others as we want to be treated.
There is another crucial teaching that Jesus taught. He was so concerned about “the least of these” and how they were treated — those who are hungry, sick, thirsty, poor, and in prison — he warned his disciples they would end up in Hell if they didn’t help the least of these as if they were helping Jesus himself.
So, a Christian’s moral compass directs them towards love, compassion, telling the truth, treating others as they want to be treated, and helping the less fortunate, those Jesus termed, “the least of these.”
Yet, specific beliefs and practices of some Christians, especially conservative Christians, lead well-intentioned followers away from how we believe Jesus would live his life if he were among us today.
A Simple Example
The Bible is full of text that supports slave ownership, and those verses were quoted by Southern Christian churches during the Civil War to support their belief that God was on their side.
Yet, almost all Christians today understand that despite verses like Ephesians 6:5-8 in the New Testament, owning slaves is morally wrong. We understand that slave ownership used to be a common Christian belief and practice, but it was one that moved followers away from how we believe Jesus would live his life if he were here in person today.
Americans did away with slavery, but we continue to have significant issues with Jesus’ admonition to protect the most vulnerable among us.
When it comes to the “least of these,” which best describes you:
Are you moving towards love and compassion, as Jesus commanded? Or are you living a life that can be described as intolerant of others, close-minded to ideas outside of your tight circle, and mean-spirited where your actions hurt those that Jesus admonished all Christians to help and protect?
Conflating conservative politics with Jesus’ love can leave followers in a moral shadow that can be difficult, messy, and damaging to all concerned.
Getting specific:
Is your religious belief putting you at odds with Jesus because you are on the wrong side of these issues:
- denying life-saving and life-extending health care to millions of sick, disabled, and working-poor Americans?
- denying dignity and support to the impoverished, the elderly, the mentally ill, and the homeless?
- denying respect and fair-minded treatment to abused and bullied LGBTQ children, teens, and adults by legalizing discrimination against them, often in the name of Jesus?
- denying the catastrophic and deadly consequences of climate change?
- denying the right to vote — and the opportunity to improve social and economic circumstances for generations to come — for tens of millions of Americans of color, as well as the young and elderly.
A New Paradigm
In my life, I had friends and family who committed their lives to Jesus and were diligently trying to live a moral life based on Christian and biblical principles.
Yet, when I looked at their actions and not their words, I was confused when they acted in ways that were often mean-spirited, and did hurtful, damaging things to those around them. I was even more confused when they justified those actions by quoting the Bible and the religious doctrine taught by their church.
I realized I needed a new way of looking at born-again Christians who spoke about their allegiance to God, Jesus, and the Bible, but acted in ways that hurt the very people Jesus admonished his followers to protect.
Are you moving toward or away from Jesus?
It slowly dawned on me that it didn’t matter if someone said they spoke for God and Jesus, it didn’t matter which church or denomination they belonged to, it didn’t matter whose doctrine they followed, and it didn’t matter how well-meaning their motives were.
What mattered was their actions and more specifically, if those actions moved them towards or away from Jesus’ teachings and how we believe Jesus would live his life if he were here in person today.
The new paradigm that arose for me was a simple and concise principle that I could apply in almost every situation:
The Jesus Principle
How Christian beliefs and practices lead us towards or away from Jesus.
Learn more about “The Jesus Principle” in my groundbreaking and soon-to-be-released book, The Jesus Principle, and in the articles and videos on this site.
