What Christ is Like

Often in the process of trying to reform, route corruption, and keep people on redeeming path, the Lord can be depicted as a overlord who is stern and harsh. This is mischaracterization of Christ, who said these words, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good—not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne." (Matthew 11:28-30). Jesus Christ is Gentle God, a loving Savior who gave His life on cross for our sins to be close to us, so that we could come boldly into the holiest place through His blood (Hebrews 10:19) and so that He could live in all Christians (Colossians 1:27). The Lord God Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is tender, kind, loving, and yes just and will judge the wicked (Revelation 19:11-16, Zacharaih 14:1-18) but He also is so kind He is giving everyone a chance to repent and believe in Him (2 Peter 3:9). It is Allah, the god of Islam that is harsh, who plays tricks on his followers, makes people sin, call for blood shed and holy war to merit salvation for Muslims, (Quran, Suras 9:111, 2:216, 3:140-43, 4:74, 8:39, 9:41, 47:4, 66:9. ). 

I am concerned when the Last Judgement side of Jesus is overemphasized, as if Jesus is thrilled to cut unbelievers to pieces. I am also concerned when the Hippy Jesus is emphasized that depicts a spinless Savior who condones everything evil and says, "forget about it." Read the New Testamenr and you will see a complex Christ who is both full of endless compassion and is Love itself (1 John 4:8) going as far as to die for our sins on cross (Colossians 2:14, Romans 4:25, 1 Peter 3:18), and yet confronts injustice, corrupt piety, and coldness in His Woe to Pharisees (Matthew 23, whole chapter), His confrontation of money changers (John 2:15), and His words to crowds in Jerusalem, calling them sons of the devil (John 8:44-45). We as humans made in image of God (Genesis 1:27) are complex, we have variety of emotions, dispositions, and attitudes. One moment we can feel mercy, another a desire for vengeance, because we are not singular; we must weight each moment individually to determine if we should show kindness and mercy or justice and punishment. I argue if we being so complexly made by Christ (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16) how can we expect the LORD who made us to not also be complex? Is not the artwork, technology, and everything made by our hands inprinted with complexities we give them? How much more so God the Trinity? While I did not intend to derail this into a comparsion of the two sides of Christ: Mercy (Cross) and Justice (Sword), it must be addressed before I go further into just how compassionate our Lord Jesus Christ really is. 

Jesus Christ did something no other god ever did, He lowered His station or status, "have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had, Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God, as something to cling to," He gave up His powers, "Instead, he gave up his divine privileges," He became humble, "he took the humble position of a slave," He took on the very matter of His own creation, "When he appeared in human form," unlike Zeus who took human form to seduce a woman to have sex, Christ became human to die as criminal's death, "he humbled himself in obedience to God, and died a criminal’s death on a cross," (Philippians 2:5-11, all aforementioned verses) in order to save us from our sins and admit us into eternal life (1 Peter 2:24, John 6:40). While Allah demands sinners to make atonement for their sins by blowing themselves up and killing in Jihad Akbar (holy war), Jesus Christ took on the sin of all mankind upon Himself and gives us paradise for believing in Him. Allah and other gods punish the sinner and make the sinner atone, merit, and destroy sin through acts of piety, asceticism, and mediation; but the One True God the Holy Trinity decided to come in human body to die on cross for all our sins and asks for us to believe in Him and His saving work. If that isn't mercy, I don't know what is, to spare us from existence of always viewing God as the IRS demanding Taxes, and to see God's love without conditions, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). We do not serve a judgemnetla, angrty, and harsh God, but a God who so loved us He died for us on a cross, gives us Paradise through Himself by simply believing (trusting) and loving Him all our days oppose to all that useless man made religion of keeping a score card of our debts (sins, mistakes) and living pennace that can do nothing, because only God can whipe away sins, and He did this by taking our place, taking sins on Himself on the cross. No other gods did this. Horace and his brother battled in masturbation war to prove who is better, Zeus seduces women (is a sex pervert), Allah wants people to commit suicide and kill innocent people, Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahmin created caste systems of control to keep people like Untouchables stuck in horrible existence, Ashteroth is a war goddess and seduces people in sexual orgies that give them STDs and ruin their chances of having children, and their souls (mind and emotions). Buddha created wheels and mediation that enslave people into thinking they can reach enlightenment, when the true enlightenment is found only in the Christian and One True God Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:2-3). None of patheons of every other religion every limited their divine privileges, pedigree, position, and die a criminal's death for sins of mankind; only Jesus Christ who is one with Father (John 10:30, John 17:20-23) and Holy Spirit, did that! You see the Creator Christ is also the Savior, He so loved His own creation that He allowed that creation to kill Him on cross for that creation's mistakes and sins that separated them from Him; and whne He rose from Dead he broke barrier once and for all, tore the viel of death, and now brings us to Father (John 14:6) who has open arms to receive us. What a loving God, to create us, and when we sinned (our ancestors Adam and Eve, Genesis 3) decides to take the place of every human on earth and let punishment for sin fall on Him! How can we for a second think He is an austere Alpha and Omega, when He didn't even spare His own life and privileges to save us from eternal damnation?! Now to activate the saving grace and forgiveness, debt payment of our sins we have to believe and confess Jesus (John 3:16, John 6:40, Romans 10:9-10), and the invitation of forgiveness is extended to every human being (2 Peter 3:9, 1 Timothy 2:4). That is a loving God, who will punish the wicked, because with justice there cannot be love, a parent cannot be considered loving if they won't protect their good children, and that is what Jesus will do at the Last Judgement, show us love once more, by punishing the Wicked who wouldn't accept his free gift of Forgiveness of their sins but instead hid under mountains (Revelation 6:16, 16:6-10). 

Jesus is a loving and kind God. The Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Three but One God cares so much for us that He died on cross, and took our punishment. He is not somber god who wants us to seem Him as He appears in Medieval paintings, but a God who laughs, eats, and enjoys our company. Do not let anyone convince you that Christ is cruel, no He is opposite of cruel, He cares so much He died for you and as the opening verses I shared states, He has light yoke (teaching) and will carry your burdens for you. Right now the spirit of religion is trying to mask a mean spirited mask on our Messiah and God Christ Jesus. There are churches and even people trying to make Christ seem like other gods who are harsh, demanding, not understanding, and cruel. But Christ is not these things, rather He is love (1 John 4:18) and is like this, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good—not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne." (Matthew 11:28-30).