Perhaps I should have entitled this article “What’s Wrong with Christianity?”
The answer to both questions are not synonymous, but they are related.
Plus questioning what is wrong with Christianity is too subjective, as evidenced by the various Christian denominations found throughout the world. Denominations, including religious sects, are greatly influenced by personal feelings or opinions.
By definition, denominating something means to organize something into various categories in order to differentiate one thing from another thing. For instance, money is denominated into different categories consisting of bills or coins. Both bills and coins can further be “denominated” or sub-divided into: ones, tens, hundreds, or dimes, quarters, dollars respectively.
Bills and coins may both be money, but a bill denominated as a hundred dollar bill is not the same as a dime. Over time, the denominated value of money can fluctuate wildly depending upon circumstances. A cast gold dollar coins value tends to increase above its stamped value, while a dollar bill tends to be “not worth the paper it is written upon”, as is the case for most (fiat)* paper money! *Fiat means backed by a government decree with no intrinsic value other than take the governments word for it.
Taking the government or any person’s word for something might be okay as long as that particular ruling class is in power, but when that government falls, so fails the money.
So fiat accounting is extremely subjective.
There is a sub-category of monetary standard in which paper is backed by something which has intrinsic value, such as gold. This is much better than fiat money, especially if the government is held accountable by transparent accounting of the gold; reconciled against the bill notes in circulation. This type of monetary standard, formerly known as the gold standard, can be somewhat objective, at least as far as the corruption level of the people in charge of the government.
However, governments tend to abandon precious metal standards and revert to subjective fiat standards to hide the evidence that the system is being bankrupted by their corruption.
Hanging a denomination sign on a building and claiming to be a Christian is very similar to monetary standards. What any denomination is worth depends a great deal on what, if anything, is backing it. Does that denomination have a dictatorial leadership structure backed by fiat with zero accounting? Perhaps that denomination has an appearance of accountability, but without true transparency, in other words saying one thing and doing the opposite.
All that leads me back to the title of this article: What’s Wrong with Jesus? The answer is, nothing is wrong with Jesus.
It is worth noting that Jesus the Christ disciples were first called Christian at Antioch because they followed his example and were for the things Jesus was for.
So one might ask what was and is Jesus for? In summary, Jesus was/is for peace, equality and justice as evidenced by what he did.
Peace, equality and justice are nice sounding words. Ask yourself who is wielding those words as a sword and what is the basis for their accountability.
Governments fail, people are corruptible, the evidence of mankind’s history testifies against us. Jesus taught love your neighbor as yourself, prefer others above yourself by being a servant.
Jesus’ accountability standard is the Ten Commandments, which if faithfully followed produce peace, equality and justice.
You may not have the power to live up to Jesus’s standard by yourself, but Jesus will give you that power if you ask. Jesus can change our corruptible hearts if we ask him to. There is nothing wrong with Jesus — the problem is men love the darkness of fiat, rather than the light of accountable justice.
1 Peter 1:18-25 KJV 18-25: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.