Jesus...the UNITER or DIVIDER?

I sent this message and video out to some family members today, but thought it worth a blog post. I have edited this message a little from the original email...

I saved this video to my favorites a couple weeks back. There has been a lot of controversy within Christian circles lately about Oprah and other stars or personalities who expound about their own particular twists on religion and Christianity in particular. With the many different faces of religion and Christian "styles" in the world today, it is no wonder these subjects are so much the lightening rod of discussion...much of which leads to yet more divisions amongst us based on whether we agree or not with a particular persons beliefs or lifestyle. This video features many celebrities...from all styles, races and backgrounds...who at this Oprah sponsored event seem to unite and "feel the Spirit" around a songfest about "Jesus"...in the unique and emotional style of black gospel music. I for one was touched by this video as it was obvious each individual there...whether "saintly" or not...was obviously moved by this music and message.

The historical person and message of Jesus is STILL a uniter more than a divider to me, though you don’t observe that in today’s world. Black, white, Latino, Indian, male, female, big sinners, small sinners, church goers, non church goers...like the old Andre Crouch song, "Jesus is the answer for the world today". If more people would emulate the real Jesus...most of this world's ills would be behind us or under control. More people would WANT to be "Christian". We would not see black, white, Asian, Indian...we would see and embrace a "brother". We would have enough food and clothing for EVERYONE...all 6.6 Billion or so...and it wouldn’t involve governments to do so. Guns would be unnecessary. A person’s word and/or handshake would be better than a multi-page contract and we wouldn’t need lawyers. The only law we would need is the "golden rule". That alone would save our nation $300 Billion of annual litigation costs which could be used to more productive humanitarian ends. We would spend very little time watching the media or sitting in judgment of our brother, because we would be too busy living, managing our wealth/blessings and helping those in need around us. We would not be in debt. We would have more time and freedom to raise and educate our children versus enslaved to our jobs or careers to create security and status for our declining years. We would have time, money and compassion to take care of our elderly instead of shuffling them off to some "facility". The need for drugs and other addictions to fill our empty souls would be gone.

Yea...I know...I'm dreaming. But, I think Jesus would go along with that program...