In the first three parts, we have looked at how religion, religious leaders and crusaders are polar opposites of Jesus. In part 3 we also looked at how the religious establishment abused Jesus' message on the Kingdom of God to expand and grow rich and going against what Jesus taught. This is Part 4: Jesus and Conversion are polar opposites
Misunderstanding 6. Jesus asked his followers to go all over the world and to convert people. FALSE.
Misunderstanding 7. Jesus asked his followers to use all means necessary to fool, force or coerce people into following Him. FALSE.
Misunderstanding 7. Jesus asked his followers to use all means necessary to fool, force or coerce people into following Him. FALSE.
We will look at both these misunderstandings in the light of two controversial topics conversion and baptism.
The great commission controversy: Jesus told his disciples to go to all the nations, to teach the news about the Kingdom of God which He Himself had been proclaiming for the three years He taught publicly, to baptize those who believe in the message and to teach His commandments to all those who want to learn.
This has become controversial because kings (such as Constantine I of the Roman empire created the 'christian' state religion about Jesus and enforced it, Charlamagne did in Gaul), religious powers (Pope Innocent III offered conversion instead of torture, the horrors of the Portuguese inquisition in Goa, India), political powers (all colonial expansionists e.g. British in India, Spanish in Americas), power plays (e.g. corporations, agencies, non-profits, free-trade treaties) have abused Jesus' words to suit their own political power and expansion agendas. They used every means possible - sword, force, tricks, or bribes, threats, economic stimulus for their own greed under the garb of religion which Jesus never asked them to establish, conversions which Jesus never asked them to perform and building a kingdoms and empires which Jesus does not ask of anyone.
Yet one cannot find even one time Jesus did such things or taught His disciples to use force or tricks or give bribes to get “more numbers”. In fact He always said “many are called but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14), “... only few find it” (Matthew 7:14).
Nowhere was Jesus ever interested in getting anything but a genuine and willing response. Should a messenger of Jesus (bearing the news of God's action on behalf of all humanity) not find the message welcome, He told His disciples they should “leave that home or town”. (Matthew 10:14). The great commission assigned by Jesus is to tell the message (like TED talks) and teach those who are interested, the task is NOT to convert anyone.
🙏Lament & Hope: The lament is for the wrong done by crusaders, tricksters, false preachers, colonialists, established religion, religion as a business peddlers and the kind which has resulted in the very justified hatred that the world has towards these that have twisted the truth for their own greed, power and politics. The hope is that God searches for and finds the heart He foreknows is His despite the chaos and lies.
The baptism controversy: This is also controversial because the most common interpretation of the verb baptize has come to mean to convert from one religion to another. However, it is the opinion of the author of this blog that it is not about adopting a new religion since no religion was needed to be formed in the first place. Rather this is about an outward action signifying the internal transformation from a state of spiritual deadness to a state of having the spirit made alive by joining with His Holy Spirit.
It is important to note that dipping in waters of rivers was a common practice to denote similar concept in many places in the world across different cultures and spiritual paths that predate Jesus. The prophet John was aiding people to do this in Israel even before Jesus ever appeared on the scene. The people in middle-east from centuries before had the concept of dipping in rivers or waterfalls to signify spiritual transformation.
So, it is the opinion of this blog’s author that this practice was not introduced by Jesus, rather He asked people to use what was culturally relevant then to signify the internal spiritual transformation. The Greek word which comes from the verb used to describe sunk ships and its Latin equivalent simply mean 'to immerse'. The word used was in the vernacular to emphasize the effect, not the process.
🙏Lament: It is sad and unfortunate that this has been made into a drastic event, divorcing one from one’s cultural roots and a mandatory ritual by culturally insensitive propagators. Colonialists (like the British in India) used it in the worst possible cruel ways such as throwing bread in wells and guilt-tripping Indian villagers into obligatory conversion since they drank water with "Jesus bread" in it.
Finally, I leave you with this quote of Jesus, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” - Matthew 23:15.
Hopefully that helps you understand how very angry Jesus was at those whose motivation was expanding their religion instead of living a life full of God's love that overflows in being His hands and feet in the world by feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, clothing the naked, looking after the sick, visiting the lonely in prisons and genuinely loving people within reach.
