My understanding of Jesus is that, first — he was born and lived in ancient Galilea among the oppressed Jews who, at that time, were living under the oppressive rule of the Roman Emperor…a militant conquering army which often mistreated, beat, and even ran a sword through any Jew who raised a word of dissent against their oppression. So, Yeshua (that was Jesus’ real name) tried to teach his people ways to gain a modicum of acceptance among the Roman centurions who controlled life in Galilea at that time. Ultimately, Yeshua was betrayed by Judas (who had been paid 30 shekels by the Hebrew Rabbinic Leader (whose name escapes me at the moment) … so that they would not lose any of their control of the Hebrews (Jews) under their control, nor capture too much attention from the Romans who occupied the region. Jesus was victimized by his own religious leaders and his life was cut short. 2,000+ years here, after that unfortunate political disaster in Galilea, we have a religious manual — the Holy Bible — which we use to learn how to be good Christians, in the hope that we might be accepted into heaven when the time comes. Our Christianity is nothing like what the Jews who followed their Rabbi Yeshua experienced. Our Christian beliefs and behaviors owe a lot more to Martin Luther and, of course, the monolithic Catholic Church that has it’s historical origins in the Middle Ages.

A great many of us Christians these days are losing our religion, for a lot of reasons. But I think most of us are now having difficulty seeing the connection of our spiritual aspirations to the practices of the Christian church. The Bible is a historic document covering life centuries ago. It’s losing it’s relevancy in the 21st Century as well.