Studies of religions interest me, and ought to interest all students of history and culture. The story can never be satisfactorily told by the academy without an accounting of religion in the emerging narrative. Religion like so many significant terms may be given various definitions, denotations and connotations. Even so, it is not as elusive as we have found it in studies since 1900 AD in America. It may be that historians have felt incompetent to treat the subject in depth. Likely, the limited treatment belongs to disinterest in a subject so fraught with variety and emotion. Some historians argue now that the matter of religion must not be left only to religious scholars. The story has not been adequately told.
Jesus made clear that moderation is an important factor in mortal context for healthy mankind. It is a basic concept in which there is sufficient of this or that so there is not too little or too much of it in the choice of individuals for themselves. In aggregate, the principle applies in society, so a matter of common grace. When moderation is lost in some area of the stock market, a bubble is created so to increase unduly the prices of stock in that industry or commodity. It inflates, explodes and shrivels, leaving bankruptcy and loss in its wake. Beginning in 2006 the bubble in the housing market exploded throwing the economy in a tailspin to the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Even before recovery from this greed factor, the following excess (in 2011) appeared to be gold and media stocks, which may generate a double dip recession. In a few months, gold rose from a price of $1,000.00 an ounce to more than $1,700.00. There was no genuine justification for the inflation. Instead of meeting the economic world with the principles of wisdom (in this instance the use of moderation or measure of balance), the activity proceeds without evaluation and adjustment that relates to all relevant factors, including other stocks.
In religion there is sometimes treatment of principle as though it is either spiritual so not applicable to mortal society, or (more likely) it is old and outmoded as a factor for current life and procedure. There is even a theory that presumably reduces the importance of any God-meaning in the principle. In the theory, Jesus took a trip east during his twenties, encountered the Buddhist religion, was attracted to the spiritual enlightenment of Buddha found in the attitude of devotion, and the practice of moderation. Buddha also added in self-reliance and freedom. So, according to the theory, Jesus, and ultimately Christianity, learned to teach moderation from eastern mystics. A small town in northern Japan claims that Jesus is buried there. Ultimately, Buddha morphed into a demi-God, a morphing procedure that was used on other occasions in the ancient world. All this is denied when we coordinate the words of Jesus with the Old Testament.
This projected approach to Christ and Christianity likely causes, for some persons, skepticism about Jesus’ teaching from his own authority to secondary sources, without documentation. So Jesus is made into a human person only, who was an astute student of the ideas of others, not divine. In this, any violation of the application of his message does not become sin, even if the violation devaluates meaning. Jesus claimed to teach with primary authority, calling for attentive faith. The discussion implies that if a principle preceded Jesus, it is not a part of his revelation. We fully expect that God assisted mankind in ordinary life and faith before Christ’s advent. Pre-Christian persons looked forward to something from God, as post-Christ-persons of faith look back to the events of Christ’s ministry and redemptive activity. The concept of a coming Messiah carried strength for believing Jews for centuries before Jesus. It still does, except for those who have seen the Messiah in Jesus. One ought to learn not to apply the chronology of time to God. The contours of God have always been present. God gave common grace for living from the time of the beginning, and all have lived under that mercy since. If much of what Jesus taught did not appear in the period before Jesus we would be hard put to believe God cared for those ancients, and we would likely fail in relating both Old and New Testaments as one document from God. We need to be aware that persons may divert meaning by ruse and/or contradiction. Unbelieving mankind is offended shown in the claim that God has not spoken. But, he has. From what we know there is reason to doubt that our natural situation could occur without active intelligence. He cares about us. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020