Salvation

Last Wednesday at Burnie’s Bar I asked Max Angst what he thought of the "Da Vinci Code".
“I liked the book, but I haven’t seen the movie yet,” he replied.
“Max, give me your critique,” I urged
“I don’t know about the factual accuracy of many of the far out claims Brown made but I do like the picture he drew of Jesus. I took a “Historical Jesus” course a while back where I discovered the idea of Christ, Jesus being an aspect of God in the Trinity, did not become a major part of Christianity until the Nicene Council in 307AD, two hundred years after Jesus died. I never have felt comfortable with the idea of the Trinity. Actually, I don’t feel comfortable with the Christian God. There is just too much suffering in the world for me to accept that there is an omnipotent, omniscient, benevolent deity. Such a Deity would stop that suffering.”
“Wouldn’t it limit human freedom for God to interfere in the world.”
“Art, that’s the standard reply and it’s lame, terribly thought less. Don’t Christians pray continually for God to interfere in the world and believe he answers those prayers? Don’t Christians accept that miracles occur, which is God acting in the world? Hasn’t their God set up a required life style and judge people on how they comply with that requirement? Christianity is all about God being active in the world, so saying he doesn’t stop suffering because he doesn’t want to interfere with human freedom is a lie and that lie proves the religion itself is invalid.”
“Wow, but how about Jesus. Is he bogus, too?”
“ Not if you accept him as a wise rabbi who saw humanity’s greatest problem and tried to show a way to deal with it.”
“What is humanity’s greatest problem.”
“Art, we’re a bunch of bloody monsters. We’re forever killing and maiming each other. Jesus taught us to love one another. When he said God was love, I believe he meant love was the most important thing that exists and we should center our lives there “
“How does that work into the Da Vinci Code, Max?”
“ Jesus was a lover. He loved Mary Magdalene and had a family with her. Family love can be the strongest kind of love. I can relate to that Jesus and I see his teachings are very, very important. I can’t do that with Christ”
“How about Salvation?”
“Since I don’t believe in the standard God, I can’t believe in the standard concept of Salvation. But, there is a way in which I can see Jesus as mankind’s savior. Modern weapons put humanity’s future in jeopardy. We’re capable of blowing our selves to bits. . Accepting Jesus’ teaching to love one another would save humanity.”