“Jesus was a human being like you. He was a first-century Jew in ancient Palestine. We know about him today because the truth he shared distressed a deep-rooted, 4,000-year-old religion and threatened the political and societal power centers of his day. He sure raised quite a bit of hell for one guy! Ultimately, those religious and political powers conspired together to have him killed.
Why? What danger did Jesus pose to these powers that resulted in his execution?
The truth that Jesus shared and demonstrated debunked the foundational premises on which those religious and political systems were built. Jesus called for people to stop listening to them and start listening to the spirit of truth within themselves. He attacked the credibility of those systems and told people to find their authority inside themselves. Instead of a human-led society, he was advocating a world ruled by an amazing power or Spirit mind that was already within us. Jesus called it the kingdom—the authority—of heaven. Each time Jesus opened his mouth, he was pulling out another wooden Jenga block, making these religious and worldly powers vulnerable and unstable. Jesus himself was no threat—he had no position of religious or political power and wasn’t campaigning to be the worldly president—but his truth made him a one-man wrecking crew.
If Jesus were alive today, that scenario would repeat itself. He would come to his people—the Christian establishment—and they would quickly discover that his truth doesn’t line up with their longstanding, “orthodox,” theological tradition. Protecting their church kingdoms, Christian leaders would come out with guns blazing. Like first-century Jews, they would reject Jesus, label him a heretic, characterize him as a dangerous inciter, and ostracize him. As Jesus stirred things up and more people started listening to and following him, he would become a person of interest to our worldly and political powers. The government would not allow the rebel Jesus to go on like this—it might just get people questioning their dogma and authority as well.”
– Jim Palmer, Inner Anarchy
There are many spiritual, religious and theological reasons given for why Jesus was crucified. Here’s an explanation that perhaps you’ve not heard – Jesus was executed because he was a terrorist. The Christian religion has a story and narrative about Jesus that is especially proclaimed during the Easter season. But is this narrative true? I explore this question in great detail in my book Inner Anarchy, and summarize a few thoughts about it in this post.
There is an alternative way to understanding Jesus from what is often taught by Christianity. Here are 14 posts I wrote about Jesus that shook things up:
15 liberative teaching of Jesus that you wont hear in church
Why I believe in Jesus (Why am I not a Christian)
Is Jesus real? (And why do I insist upon talking about him?)
The only Jesus there is… is the Jesus-spirit within you
His name was Jesus Christ (well, not exactly)
The difference between Jesus and religion
Jesus did not institute the Christian church
Jesus cannot be defined by religion (not even the Christian one)
