Updated June 22, 2009
Christianity Reformed from its Roots
A life centered in God, like Jesus’s
“I must be about my Father’s business” (Luc 2.49)
by Jairo Mejia
Important Notice
Responding to the request of many visitors, this Page is now available as a book. The format has been restructured, and the text has been thoroughly edited and updated from the beginning to the end. (Please see Table of Contents, below). New essays on important topics have been added as well as some prayers.
In the internet, only the beginning of each essay is displayed; to see the full text of the essays you must go to the book. All links of this front page are working, but the links inside the essays may not work; I apologize. Visitors may order the book from the next banner. Click inside with the “hand,” and it opens the information you need.
In the internet, only the beginning of each essay is displayed; to see the full text of the essays you must go to the book. All links of this front page are working, but the links inside the essays may not work; I apologize. Visitors may order the book from the next banner. Click inside with the “hand,” and it opens the information you need.
Or click here to look inside the book.
To communicate with the
author please click here: jmejia@mbay.net,
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line: Comments or Questions. Your feedback will be highly appreciated.
Thank you.
Jairo Mejia – January 12, 2008
To know about the author, please read first the Personal note, below, and then click here. It is very convenient that you see the historical context and perspective of this Page; please click here.
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Table of Contents
Foreword
Introduction
Part
One
Critique and Commentary about Traditional Teachings
Chapter I: Revelation
1. Presuppositions of faith
2. Revelation as experiences of the divine
3. “Revelations” are to be experienced
4. “Revelations” of the Bible must be scrutinized
5. “Revelations” outside Christianity
6. Living in peace and trust in the love of God
Chapter II: Meaning of Being a Christian
1. What being a Christian means, in simple terms – Subject A
2. What being a Christian means, in simple terms – Subject B
3. What being a Christian means, in simple terms – Subject C
4. Christianity seen from its roots
Chapter III: Religion
1. Un-Christian pressure from organized religion
2. Religion is a commitment with God, not a ritual or external vow
3. Globalization of religion – Subject A
4. Globalization of religion – Subject B
5. Globalization of religion – Subject C
Chapter IV: About Jesus
1. Is it possible to know who Jesus really was?
2. Jesus, the Redeemer
3. A deeper reflection on Jesus
5. The glorified Jesus. How he might be
6. The glorified Jesus. His roles
7. The glorified Jesus. A conflict with God?
8. The pain of changing the image of Jesus
9. Could Jesus be called Christ?
10. "Koinonía," Communion with Jesus
11. Christian faith: the preeminence of Jesus
12. Is communion with Jesus part of Christian life?
13. Is Jesus the necessary Mediator for mankind?
Chapter V: About God
1. Can we please God?
2. Worship one God, purpose of religion
3. The “God of the gaps”
4. The being of God
5. What it means to communicate with God
6. Demands of worshipping God and its consequences
7. Action and Providence of God
8. Is God really a “father”?
9. Is it possible to communicate with God?
10. Prayer “Our Father”
11. “Let your kingdom come”
12. “Give us our daily bread”
13. Presence and action of God in us by grace
Chapter VI: Christian faith
1. Christian faith: Facts and Consequences
2. Reflections about Christian faith
3. Christian faith and churches in crisis
4. Paradoxes of Christian faith
Chapter VII: The Bible
1. Bible and Revelation
2. The Bible, a book of inspiration
3. A Dilemma: Science or the Bible
Chapter VIII: Life after death
1. The new creation
2. Communication with the afterlife
Part
Two
The
new vision
Section
One
Schema
One under the New Vision, and Reflections
Chapter IX: The New Vision
1. Schema of interpretations about God, the world, mankind, and religion
2. Reflections on Schema One – Subject A
3. Reflections on Schema One – Subject B
4. Reflections on Schema One – Subject C
5. Reflections on Schema One – Subject D
6. Reflections on Schema One – Subject E
7. Reflections on Schema One – Subject F
Chapter X: Development on the Reflections – Part One
1. Being, Presence and Action of God in creation
2. “Identification” with God
3. Reflections about the Being of God and creation
4. Fundamental points of spiritual life
5. God in Space and Time perspective
Chapter XI: Development on the Reflections – Part Two
1. Experience of the infinite Being of God by limited human beings
2. Faith, Grace and Supernatural
3. From Reason to Faith, to “Amen” and Eternity
4. My Name is Existence, To Be, “I Am”
5. The Meaning of God
6. Eternal “Ideas” in God
Section Two
Schema Two under the New Enlightenment, and Developments
Chapter XII: The New Enlightenment
1. Schema about the Nature, Attributes and Communication with God – The presentness of God
2. Schema Two – Subject A
3. Schema Two – Subject B
4. Schema Two – Subject C
5. Conversation with God about his presentness
Chapter XIII: Development of Schema Two
1. Evil – In which sense we may say that evil is good
2. Presence of God in space or his presenceness
3. Presence of God in evil
4. Is God out of the world? He must be!
5. Everything is in God: the Giver, not the Receiver
Part Three
My Prayers
Chapter XIV: Early Prayers
1. Prayer for openness to new beliefs
2. Who is and who is not our God
3. The whole creation is in God and we in Him
4. God, by his grace and kindness, is pleased with us
5. Your will be done!
6. Eternal life in God
7. Hymn of thanksgiving and unconditional trust
8. Action and Providence of God
10. Intimate conversation with Jesus
11. Prayer of hope and confidence
Chapter XV: Later Prayers
1. Prayer of submission
2. Conversation with God about his presentness
3. The meaning of God as a prayer
Chapter XVI: Personal Prayers
1. Reflections about real life
2. Prayer of Submission and Thanks to God
3. Hymn
Index of Names and Places
Bibliography
Subject Index
Why the title "Christianity reformed from its roots"
I will respond to this question throughout the whole work on this internet page, but I want to give a brief answer at the beginning, in order to put things in perspective.
The dictionary defines reform as a verb saying that it is "to improve by alteration, correction of error, or removal of defects;" and as a noun as "a change for better; a correction of evils or abuses." Revise on the other hand is defined as "to change or modify." This definition of change is so generic that it does not recognize the facts of the errors or defects that must be corrected; it seems to me this would be too lenient for what Christianity needs. That is why I used the word "reformed."
I do not pretend with the title of this work to be a second Martin Luther, or a third after the Episcopal bishop John S. Spong, who wants to be a second Luther; I just want to give the proper name to a fact, that is, that Christianity needs a deep reformation, in my opinion. Reformation is reformation, regardless who is the reformer, or what the reformation is about, but it means that it is something radical. This is the point. Christianity does not need "reformations," palliative revisions, but a real reformation, a reformation from the roots.
Personal note
Six years have elapsed since I wrote four books, Step by Step with the Bible. These books present the central traditional teachings of Christianity, today. I tried then to present the Christian message to the best of my knowledge.
Being too busy with my ministry I didn't give sufficient time to study the scientific, historical and biblical advances of the last decades, and what I read or studied was always writings that reinforced my own beliefs and opinions. It was after my retirement in 1994 that I gave more time to prayer and also ample time to the study of contemporary science as well as to biblical and historical investigations.
I must confess that I was behind in all these fields of science, history and biblical investigation. I am afraid that many pastors and most Christians do not devote sufficient time to the study of these disciplines. As a consequence, the relevance of Christian teachings diminishes every day and the breach between religion and science is larger daily. This is fatal for religion, and its relevance or life in modern people.
And then, what happened to me because of my "discoveries"? What must happen, happened, if I wanted to be honest: to confront myself about my own beliefs, recognize my errors and misunderstandings, and revise all my beliefs from the roots. I have believed all my life that there could not be opposition or contradiction between religion and science. When science tells me something about a certain fact, religion must accept it.
I had to "reformulate" my credo. I did that initially through a series of prayers that I composed for my daily prayer, and later through a series of documents or essays, according to my daily discovering and deepening; but my present mind is better reflected in my Page's Directory, "Most recently released documents," starting with the series The Schema of interpretations about God, the world, mankind and religion. (You may see it, here.) I do not think that any of my prayers or essays is final, and probably they never will be.
I am going to share this work with you. Why? Because I want to share what I have learned, and perhaps some of you will find some light among all your uncertainties too. Perhaps also some readers will find that Christianity is compatible with modern science, not the traditional teaching I must say, but a reformed Christianity, reformed from its roots.
Please look at the Directories of the Page to find any document or prayer.
Originally written on July 11, 2002 and updated March 21, 2005.
Directories
For a detailed subject directory, click here; for main topics only, click here
Introductory Directory
If you are looking for communication with God, look for Prayers, at the end of Directory
If you want to start with a positive note, click the following title, or rather, the Alternate version, which is an update:
Who is Jesus - Song of praise to Jesus
Song of praise to Jesus - Alternate version
You may want to start with a document about: What being a Christian means, in simple terms
If you want to start with a critical note, click the following title: Christian faith: facts and consequences
If you become angry reading this page, you might read: Reflections for angry readers of "Christianity..."
If you feel hurt reading this page, you might read: The pain of changing the image of Jesus
Abuses of some churches, the Roman Catholic Church included: Un-Christlike pressure from organized religion
It doesn't have to be "your" way to have peace and salvation. See this: Living in peace and trust in the love of God
It is a fact that religious faith is based on many unproven presuppositions. Read this: Presuppositions of faith
Do atheists have reason to scoff at religion? - Failure of churches; Religion is a commitment with God, not a ritual or external vow
Most recently released documents
My latest reflections. Comprehensive and updated review. Does not include the revision, additions and updates of the book.
1. Schema of interpretations about God, the world, mankind, and religion (6 Themes)
2. Being, Presence and Action of God in creation Under the light of the law of Energy equal mass
by speed of light square (E=mc2)
3. “Identification” with God - Jesus, Prototype of identification with God
4. Reflections about the Being of God and creation (Complement or continuation of previous ones)
5. Fundamental points of spiritual life - (Complement or continuation of previous ones)
6. God in Space and Time Perspective - Time and Eternity
7. Experience of the Infinite Being of God by Limited Human Beings
8. Faith, Grace and Supernatural in a World of Science
9. The Paradox of Some Christian Teachings - "Personalities" in God - From Reason to Faith, to "Amen" and Eternity
10. My name is Existence, To Be, "I Am." - God, the "Personification" of Existence. Elucidation of the Experience of God
12. Eternal "Ideas" in God - How we may see Jesus, the Word, and ourselves on this vision of the mind of God
13. Schema about the Nature, Attributes and Communication with God " of God (Three Themes)
See the Prayer Conversation with God about his presentness, below. (This is not a link.)
14. Evil – In which sense we may say that evil is good
15. Presence of God in space or his presenceness
16. Is God out of the world? He must be! - The spiritual order
17. Everyone of us, and the universe, are in God - God, the Giver, not the Receiver
Other most recent documents
"It was revealed," what does this mean?
1. Revelation as experiences of the divine - God does not talk to humans but humans may experience God
2. "Revelations" are to be experienced - Beliefs about God through other people's experience or through our own experience
3. Bible's "revelations" must be scrutinized - The quintessence of Christianity is to experience God as a father
4. "Revelations" outside Christianity - Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism - "Revelations" on the internet
What being a Christian means, in simple terms - Part 1 - What the initial followers of Jesus thought and did
What being a Christian means, in simple terms - Part 2 - The teachings of Jesus were not kept untouched, but evolving, even altered
What being a Christian means, in simple terms - Part 3 - Jesus' dedication to God - Worshiping is the same in all traditions
Paradoxes of Christian faith - What God's grace is and what does and creates
Presence and action of God in us, by grace - What God's grace is and what it does and creates
Globalization and religion - Part 1 - From Judaism, to Christianity, to Islam
Globalization and religion - Part 2 - Religions opened up
Globalization and religion - Part 3 - The hegemony of some religions - Recognizing the real Jesus
Titles of documents, by topics - Truth "hard to swallow" - You might wish it were not so
About Jesus - See also the Prayers, below.
Is it possible to know who Jesus really was? - Probably no
Jesus, the Redeemer - Problems with the doctrine of redemption
A deeper reflection on Jesus - Light on a difficult matter
Intimacy with Jesus - The uniqueness of Jesus
The glorified Jesus - 1. How he might be - New Testament writers contemplated the glorified Jesus
The glorified Jesus - 2. His roles - Jesus as the Prototype of the new creation
The glorified Jesus - 3. A conflict with God? - A religion without Jesus
Could Jesus be called Christ? - What the "divine" being of Jesus may include
"Koinonía," Communion with Jesus - Communion is an act of faith
Christian faith: the preeminence of Jesus - The apostles and the communion with Jesus
Is communion with Jesus part of Christian life? - The experience of Jesus
Is Jesus the necessary Mediator for mankind? - The doctrine of salvation must be universal
About God - See also the Prayers, below.
May we please God? - It depends on the kind of God we are talking about
Worship one God, purpose of religion - The Trinity, a dogma that might be reformulated
The "God of the gaps" - Why we should believe in Jesus
The being of God - A transcendent and impassible God or a loving and caring God
Prayer about the Being and Will of God - New version
What it means to communicate with God - Does God hear? have feelings? can be pleased?
The demands of worshiping God and its consequences - Action of God upon us
Concepts about God - Is God really a Father? - Use of analogies, symbols and metaphors to call God
Is it possible to communicate with God - Risk of distortion with the use of "Abba," Father
Prayer "Our Father" - "Paulinity" versus Christianity - "Idolaters" of the Bible - Jesus' dedication to God
"Let your kingdom come" - The kingdom of God as social justice and loving care for one another
"Give us our daily bread" - Transcendent God, Immanent God and Providential God
Providence of God - See also the Prayers, below.
Action and providence of God - A personal way of praying
Prayer about the Providence of God - New version
About the Bible
Bible and Revelation - Revelation is not yesterday's but today's
The Bible, a book of inspiration - And also of disillusion - Why?
About Christianity
Christianity seen from its roots - Gap between Jesus' mind and later "enlargements"
Reflections about Christian faith - Manipulation of faith by churches and teachers
Christian faith and churches are in crisis - Specific changes in Christianity which are overdue
Presuppositions of faith - It is a fact that religious faith is based on many unproven presuppositions
About Redemption
Jesus, the Redeemer - Problems with the doctrine of redemption
About eternal life - See also the Prayers, below.
The new creation - Life after death
Communication with the afterlife - Since there is none, why should we believe in eternal life
Titles of Prayers - Affirmative and directive prayers with comment and explanation.
Prayer of submission - My most recent prayer
Prayer for openness to new beliefs - Oh God, Spirit of God!
Preparation for talking with God - The God of the Universe
Who is and who is not our God - A critique of Bishop John S. Spong
God is everywhere and we in Him - God "controls" everything
God, by his grace and kindness, is pleased with us - There are no requirements; just grace
Prayer about the Being and Will of God - New version
Your will be done! - Grant us that we really want your will
Action and Providence of God, his Power and his Kindness - New version
God, by his providence, cares for us - Not just coincidences
Loving, individual and endless action of God - Efficacy of prayer
Eternal life in God - Predestination
Hymn of thanksgiving and unconditional trust - Pessimism out!
Intimate conversation with Jesus - Jesus was glorified in order that we may praise God with him
Conversation with God about his presentness
“New Thought”
Review
of “Christianity Reformed From its Roots”f
Movement for a Reformed
Christianity
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