Yeah, I went to a Christian school the other day at spoke to their student body. As I was leaving they told me to never come back. I didn't understand. At the end of my talk I challenged the students to get on their face before God and pray. There were about 60 kids that came up to the front of the Chapel and prayed. Some were praying for themselves, and some were praying with each other. It seemed like an awesome moment in time, where the student body came together. But the Headmaster didn't want me to come back.
You want to know the reason, right? Well, I sat down in the Headmaster's office shortly after my speaking engagement, and he told me what he didn't like. During my talk I referred to Jesus as a dude. What?!?!?! I couldn't believe myself. j/k The Headmaster thought that I was demeaning Jesus by calling him a dude. He thought I was disrespecting Him.
Here is my point of view. Growing up, I always looked to Jesus as this untouchable, unreachable, so perfect that He would never be able to relate to me kind of person. And He isn't. God made Jesus so that God could show mankind that God, the ultimate authority, could also be fully man. Jesus came to Earth so he would be able to relate to the normal person. Therefore, Jesus was a dude. By referring to Jesus as a dude I believe the high school student can understand that Jesus is more like them than they think.
8 comments:
Hi Ryan,
I wanted to edit how I phrased my comment. Here's my revision:
As I sit here trying to find the right words to say, I find none that can be completely free of my own subjectivity concerning this matter.
I don't think that you were wrong nor do I think that the Headmaster was wrong. Christians believe that the way to approach God is through Jesus Christ. But how does one approach Jesus? On one hand, the approach to Jesus should be personal. On the other hand, there should be a level of formality before the Son of God.
I guess it all depends on how one intertwines the personal and the formal aspects of approaching Jesus. Personally, I wouldn't call Jesus a "dude," but that's my approach. I think it's still possible to have just as deep of a relationship with Jesus if you call him "Lord" instead. For me, I think it evens deepens the relationship to retain that element of formality.
The Headmaster was probably suggesting that your method of approaching Jesus was not in keeping with the school's tradition of approaching Jesus. Therefore, he probably wasn't trying to have a theological debate with you; he was just representing the school's (his employer's) tradition.
Assuming that you left nothing out of your story, it was a little harsh for him to ask you to not come back. There was probably a better way of handling that. In these types of situations, I always try to remember that a relationship with Jesus is personal. Yet, everyone tries to make it universal. Therefore, I feel that the individual's own personal devotion and reverence for Jesus' sacrifice should dictate his/her approach.
-Chad Register
I totally agree with you Chad. Thank you for putting some thought into your comment. I defintely believe we should show reverence to Jesus. I mean, Jesus is God. SO Jesus is Holy.
My only point was to say that although Jesus was fully God, He was also fully man. Which means he will fully hily, as well as fully dude.
Does that make sense?
Hi Ryan,
Whether or not your rationale makes sense to me or anyone else is unimportant. Like I said, a relationship with Jesus isn't universal; it's personal. Let your own relationship dictate your approach. :D
-Chad
It sounds like the headmaster is your typical stuck-up christian! I know that sounds harsh, but it have seen it so much that some christians are not reall in their beliefs and feelings of God. Dude is not a curse word... it is a word the the young people can relate to and it makes Jesus more human to them.
Ryan,
I'll start this off by saying, I am not a Christian. I used to be, but I apostasized. So, that section of "used to be" in my life is where I will relate to you from.
Oh, and I'm about to be sarcastic.
I'm pretty sure that Jesus came to remove the formalities of conversation with God. No longer did you have to bring your pious face when approaching the throne. No longer was there a need to do something "religious" in order to talk with God.
Jesus' friends, his apostles that he spent the majority of his adult life with, saw him constantly. I know this isn't anywhere in scripture, but you can't tell me that they had a completely formal relationship. I'm sure they farted and cracked jokes, somewhere Jesus gave someone a noogy. They used phrases like, "hey, pass the salt" and "I told you no stinkin' mustard on my lamp chops."
They lived life together. I know the word "dude" didn't exist when Christ was on earth, but they had it's biblical day equal. Every generation relates to people in a different way.
Lastly, the Bible is supposed to be taken contextually to people. Everyone relates to it differently. To some people the bible needs to be a professional document that an be studied, while to some people it needs to be modernized (like the word edition).
Peace,
Justin Abernathy
I'll go ahead and get this out of the way: I'm not a Christian. I was raised Catholic, did the rebellious atheist thing, considered Buddhism and Taoism, and have eventually concluded that I'm just too apathetic to care about religion or spirituality. I'll probably pay for that later in life. Or afterlife, as the case may be. :)
That said, my opinion may be rendered irrelevant, but I don't think you were in the wrong. I can understand where Chad is coming from in suggesting that maybe the Headmaster didn't appreciate your more modern approach to understanding Jesus, but it still seems to me that the Headmaster is missing the bigger picture. You brought the group together with a mutual love and respect for Jesus: The approach may have been different, but the end result is the same, and to me, that's the important part.
I was raised Catholic... which means I don't really practice anymore. I swear, catholicism has the greatest drop out rate.
Jesus was a dude. Even if he's not your savior, most people believe that there was a male around year 0 that was a really nice guy and was named "Jesus".
Now, a name is a name... but I'm always amazed at people who will debate his skin color. "Jesus was white!" Really? Ethnically, just look at the area. Jesus was most likely black or arab. Does it really matter? Should we be having "White Jesus" versus "Black Jesus" debates?
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