So, I’m waiting in line at that high end culinary experience, Taco Bell, and I get into a conversation with this woman. The conversation starts off with how crazy it is that Taco Bell can make fifty menu items out of only about seven ingredients and then moves on to Christianity. At one point this woman makes her statement to me about who she envisions Jesus to be, saying, “I think that Jesus can help us become more focused and successful in business, he is a good person to have on your side”. Then, a little later she went on to state her belief about prayer, “When I’m sick and I pray, I get better faster. It helps the body heal faster”. Finally, she summed things up with her philosophy of life, “As long as we don’t hurt others, everything is ok, that’s what Jesus would want us to do”.
She picked up her order and went on her way and I thought: “I just had another golden calf experience”.
I had another person give their version of who Jesus is and what Christianity was all about, and it was completely irrelevant that none of the facts added up.
Here in America we value our right to have an opinion about anything, and everything. This right to our own opinion permeates everything from how we feel about the presidency of Jimmy Carter, who should be eliminated and who should stay on, whatever reality show, to who Jesus is and how can Jesus help us out.
We are not necessarily interested in who God is; We are interested in who God is, for us.