{"id":3504,"date":"2008-09-02T11:14:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-02T11:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/09\/if-jesus-came-today-he-wouldnt-be-a-christian\/"},"modified":"2008-09-02T11:14:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-02T11:14:00","slug":"if-jesus-came-today-he-wouldnt-be-a-christian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/09\/if-jesus-came-today-he-wouldnt-be-a-christian.html","title":{"rendered":"If Jesus Came Today, He Wouldn’t Be a Christian"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The title of this post isn\u2019t a statement by me, but the title of a song, if you can believe it, by a band called Obadiah and the Minor Prophets<\/em>:<\/p>\n<\/iframe>\nThe lyrics are really<\/em> interesting:<\/p>\n<blockquote>I love Jesus<\/p>\nAnd Jesus loves me<\/p>\nI know all about him<\/p>\nBecause I\u2019ve got a PhD<\/p>\nStudying Religion and Church History<\/p>\nAnd the development of Christology<\/p>\nFrom its pre-Christian origins<\/p>\nTo the Council of Chalcedon<\/p>\nIn 451 \u2013 Yeah!<\/p>\nIf I could make a machine<\/p>\nTo travel back in time<\/p>\nI\u2019d go to the first century<\/p>\nAnd live in Palestine<\/p>\nI could talk to John the Baptist<\/p>\nAnd Rabbi Hanina Ben Dosa<\/p>\nI\u2019d find St Paul<\/p>\nAnd punch him in the head<\/p>\nThen I\u2019d talk to Jesus<\/p>\nAnd listen to everything he said \u2013 Yeah!<\/p>\nI\u2019m sure that Jesus<\/p>\nMust be turning in his grave<\/p>\nWhen he sees those<\/p>\nWho are preaching in his name<\/p>\nIf Jesus came today he wouldn\u2019t be a Christian<\/p>\nNo, he\u2019d probably be a liberal Jew<\/p>\nThat\u2019s why I don\u2019t want to be a Christian<\/p>\nJust a follower of Jesus<\/p>\n\u2026 Or maybe just a <a href='https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/library\/buddhism' target='_blank'>Buddhist<\/a> \u2013 Yeah!<\/p><\/blockquote>\nYou can download other music by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reality.org.nz\/articles\/32\/32-simmonds.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Jeff Simonds<\/a> from his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffsimmonds.org\/Jeff-Simmonds-Free-MP3s.php\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">web site<\/a>.<\/p>\nWe\u2019ve all presumably encountered the point of view that Jeff sings about in the song, but this is the first time I\u2019ve heard someone sing about it. <a href=\"http:\/\/exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\/2008\/06\/review-of-gretta-vosper-with-or-without.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Gretta Vosper<\/a>, in her book expressing her own Christian viewpoint, she mentions the issue of progressive Christians who think differently than conservative and fundamentalist Christians on a large number of issues, but then <a href=\"http:\/\/exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\/2008\/06\/with-or-without-god-song-for-gretta.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">sing<\/a> the same songs. I wonder whether this marks a turning point\u2026<\/p>\n(HT <a href=\"http:\/\/ntwrong.wordpress.com\/2008\/09\/02\/jeff-simmonds-if-jesus-came-today-he-wouldnt-be-a-christian\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">NT Wrong<\/a>)<\/p>\n<div class=\"blogger-post-footer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7622297540113836091-9021412221050392121?l=exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The title of this post isn\u2019t a statement by me, but the title of a song, if you can believe it, by a band called Obadiah and the Minor Prophets: The lyrics are really interesting: I love Jesus And Jesus loves me I know all about him Because I\u2019ve got a PhD Studying Religion and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[131,39,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity-religion","category-historical-jesus","category-paul-and-his-letters"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>If Jesus Came Today, He Wouldn't Be a Christian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The title of this post isn't a statement by me, but the title of a song, if you can believe it, by a band called Obadiah and the Minor Prophets: The\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/09\/if-jesus-came-today-he-wouldnt-be-a-christian.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"If Jesus Came Today, He Wouldn't Be a Christian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The title of this post isn't a statement by me, but the title of a song, if you can believe it, by a band called Obadiah and the Minor Prophets: The\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/09\/if-jesus-came-today-he-wouldnt-be-a-christian.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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