Image by freestone via FlickrWhy? You will know it by the way they think, act, speak, celebrate Christmas, go to Church, and relate with people.
I was born and raised a Christian, a Catholic Christian. In my childhood I devotedly served our church at the Immaculate Conception Parish as an altar boy. In high school, I went to a Catholic School and then went to college and studied in a college seminary to become a religious priest (I ended up getting happily married) Did I really know who Jesus is from all these experiences? No?
Oopps. Don't jump to a conclusion right away.
No means many things to me.
1. Not fully. I believe that no one can fully know Him except His Father.
2. Not completely. I still have a very immature knowledge of Jesus.
3. Not exactly. I lot of different ideas about Jesus are in my head.
4. Not really. I believe that most of us are only claiming to know Him better than the others but deep within there is a vaccuum of knowledge about Jesus.
5. Not the historical Jesus. Why? It's due to these various influences:
a. My parents told me Jesus will be angry if I do something wrong, disobey my parents, steal things, etc. I
learned that Jesus is a very strict moral person.
b. Some of my grade school teachers told me that Jesus will be mad if I do bad things. I learned that Jesus
is such an impatient person.
c. My grade school religion teacher told me that Jesus loves me because He died for my sins. I then
learned that Jesus is a loving person.
d. Some of my childhood friends tell me that Jesus will cry or be unhappy if we harm others. I learned then
that Jesus is there watching over us like a police.
e. The priests and religious people I listened to said Jesus came to redeem us from sin. It was very
theological that I could not fathom the depth and nor reach the height.
f. My Philosophy teachers said Jesus is considered God by Christians, blasphemous by Jews, prophet by
the Muslims, etc.
g. As Catholic Christian I also learned That Sto. Ninio is the baby and or child Jesus.
h. From my born again friends, I learned that Jesus is my personal Savior.
i. From the liberal theologeans I learned that Jesus is a pro-poor and is a political figure.
Going back to the question. Do I know the real Jesus? I personally believe that it is a lifetime struggle to know the real Jesus. However, it does not mean that our perceptions are invalid and without hope. I rather believe that our perceptions can either be shallow or deep, childish or mature, twisted or straight, unorthodox or orthodox, new or old, conservative or liberal. Who is the better judge of your perception? Don't let other people judge. Judge or evaluate your own perception, see it with your faith and then consult it in prayer with Jesus. Compare it with the Bible and make the theologies and philosophies St. Augustine and St. Thomas be your reference. Thank you for reading. See you in my next blog.
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