The World According to Renshi

I am beginning my second year as a student in the Masters of Practical Theology program at Winebrenner Theological Seminary. This trimester I am taking Counseling the Dying and Grieving, World Religions, and The Synoptic Gospels. The further I dig into my course work, the more I recognize that this is what God wants me to do.

I am learning so much, but at the same time, I feel like most of us are missing the boat on what God through Jesus intended. It frustrates me to learn of all the dissention in the world – in the name of Jesus. Let’s face it, you don’t have to have a doctorate to understand much of what Jesus taught. It’s pretty simple and straightforward – “Love God above all and Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Everything else that is written in the Bible directly relates to how one should honor that simple yet powerful commandment.

So, Jesus says to love one another. And, Jesus prays for unity – that we may be one in Him as He and the Father are one… Well we certainly screwed that up. Right now, there are over 47,000 denominations of Christianity in the world. We all read basically the same Bible and yet we can’t agree on what Jesus wants for us. We spend too much time debating man-made theologies and fighting over whether someone should be baptized as a baby or as a believer instead of listening to and acting upon what Jesus instructed us to do.

It is truly amazing when you think about it. Man spends more time arguing over man-made ideals than we spend learning from what Jesus taught.