> Almost a year ago I, as Spider-Boy, posted this.
>
> After Minamoon's recent conversion I felt like revisiting it and see what I wrote.
>
> >
> > The most important stuff in the Bible are the things Christ said, not who he his, not the miracles or the ressurection, just the things he said. this came to me from two places, one from a question my father asked, "If Jesus was just a man, would what he said be any less important" and the other was the Gosple of Tomas, which has no story, it is just a list of things Christ said. I realized reading that Gospel was that all the other stuff was the dog and pony show, Chirst was here to tell us to be nice to each other, the Beuatituds are more important than the ressurection, the ressurection was intended to get people to pay attedtion to the things he was saying.
>

>
> > No object, word, book, local, or person is more sacred than any other. Only the concepts that they represent are sacred. The cross is just a great big wooded 'T', the shroud of Turin is a very old sheet, the Bible is just words, Jerulsim is a very old city in a Desert county. The Pope is a wise old Polish man. What is sacred are the ideas people, places, and things are invesed with by belivers. Only Ideas are trully sacred.
>

On ideas: Ideas can be noble, magnificent, and yes sacred. But they are simply interesting chemical combos in your brain until supported by action. Scientists understand this--a theory is just a wonderful idea until it's proven by actually running the numbers or doing the clinical tests. Then it becomes something more. Likewise Christ's words and the ideas of highest love they represent are not just nice ideas--they are something more because they were supported by His actions. Rather than a "dog and pony show" to gain attention, as you state above, the miracles of healing Jesus performed were the noble, magnificent and scared ideas in action.

Because, you can say you love me all you want, but what have you DONE for me lately, hunh? :-)

This is why we are told that faith without works is dead, and works without faith are meaningless.
(See James 2:14 to 26*)

And, if the resurrection was just an attention getter, then why are more of Jesus' words recorded BEFORE the resurrection than afterwards? You'd think that it would the other way around, right? (All the Olympic athletes and "Survivor" show contestants got on David Letterman AFTER their deeds had been done, right? ;-) Instead, could it be that all Jesus' words and ideas were meant to point us to the resurrection *itself* as the unique and important focal point in history that it is?

On words: Your dad asked, "If Jesus was just a man, would what he said be any less important". The answer is yes, it would. Your kid sister can tell you to "be nice", and that's one thing. But when your parents, or your boss, or the policeman, or the judge tell you to "be nice", that's another thing. The difference is authority. It's not just Jesus' words that are important but WHO HE IS--God's one and only Son, God and man incarnate--which is important because it gives weight and authority to those words! (Matthew 7:28,29)**

koala "Admires that you wrote your philosophy down and then threw it open for discussion--twice"mom

*I know it bugs people sometimes when you throw Bible verses in, but since these are obviously not my own original thoughts (she said, looking modestly away), I might as well tell you where I got them from. Hope you don't mind.

**..another reason to put in the Bible verses--they carry authority as the word of God (which exceeds my own even though I *have* been posting to Rinkforum for a couple of months now ;-))