McLaren Responses

What about Religion?

I think that we have lost a lot of the personhood of Jesus. He was God and man - wholly both. He had plans for how life should be lived and how the world should be run. This includes the life of each of his followers. In my own life I have frequently encountered individuals who associate nothing but hypocrisy and social stratification with the church -- and this is extremely sad. We were called to love one another as ourselves -- and we certainly wouldn't want to judged and ostracized so why do we condemn one another so often? Why do we perseve different as wrong? Jesus is often respected but also often misunderstood. He was a teacher - a rabbi to his followers. He tought us how to live, how to think, and how to treat one another -- and yet we choose to go against his wishes so irreverently. Respect is not enough - we must live as Jesus lived -- and He lived with a love that we can hardly begin to understand, but should strive to with all our might.

Good News for Everyone?

Jesus' message is absolutely positively for everyone man, woman, and child on this Earth -- not only those born in America, not only those born to Christian parents, not only those who profess His name even. The life of Jesus not only inspired a religion, but a dramatic shift in way of life.