Saturday, April 08, 2006
Are you a closet heretic?
Many American Christians might be “closet heretics.” If you ask most Christians if they believe that Jesus was divine, you'll get a resounding yes. They believe in the miracles, in the authority of his preaching, and, most of all, in the Resurrection.(For the record, so do I.) But if you asked whether they really, really, believe that Jesus was fully human, as most mainstream Christian denominations hold, and whether he embodied all the things that make up a human being -- which includes worries, fears and even doubts -- you'll get some strange looks. At heart, some Christians have a tough time believing that Jesus experienced the same emotions that believers are afraid of admitting to themselves. During Lent and Easter, this becomes more evident as Christians meditate on what it meant for Jesus to have suffered during his crucifixion.
Rev. James Martin
Rev. James Martin
