Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Tolstoy...
I’ve been reading a couple of things by Leo Tolstoy lately. I love books that can show you life from a completely different paradigm. I haven’t tackled War and Peace, but “The Kingdom of God is Within You” contains some wonderful insight into the teachings of Jesus and how they can and should impact our lives. I wouldn’t recommend reading the whole thing because it is very dry and boring, but the last chapter (it is a huge chapter) sums up his ideas very well and definately gave me a wake up call.
The western world has just totally missed the boat when it comes to what Jesus taught. We are so caught up in what people wrote ABOUT Jesus that we forget to listen to what he was trying to say. Was he God? Was he physically conceived by a virgin that was impregnated by a spirit? Did he really perform miracles? All those questions are irrelevant to his teachings. What difference do those theological points make if you don’t listen to what he said? The western world still thinks that we should fight violence with violence and we totally ignore Jesus’ central message of turning the other cheek to violence and giving all we have to those that have less. We have used our cushy lifestyles to rationalize our way into trivializing the message of Jesus.
Tolstoy spent some time studying the original Greek translations of the Gospels and compiled them into one book called “the Gospel in Brief”. It does the best job that I have ever seen of staying focused on his message without manipulating it to fit the political and spiritual hang-ups of ancient and medieval cultures.
I had never realized how much we let ideas of heaven, hell, spirits, demons, and a physical after-life change our perspective of Jesus. I recommend “the Gospel in Brief” to anyone who wants a fresh perspective on the heart of Jesus and a new passion for scripture.
