Some of Jesus

The following quote is usually attributed to Ghandi, and goes something like this:

"I like your Jesus. It's your Christians I cannot stand."

Now, I cannot say for sure the context of the quote, though it SEEMS obvious, nor do I personally believe that this is the exact way it goes, but you get the basic idea. Others have said such things as, "Everyone in the world knows what Christ taught except for Christians." I find these quotes, and others in the same vein, very interesting indeed and would like to answer them, though many who speak in such a way may never read what I am about to write.

Did Ghandi like Jesus? I have no doubt in my mind that Ghandi liked some of Jesus. What do I mean by this? Ghandi liked some of Jesus in the same way that those who prescribe to a Liberation Theology like some of Jesus. They like the part about Jesus that condemns the rich and seems to give preference to the poor, the wounded and the outcast. Ghandi, no doubt, loved the Jesus who touched the leper, who sat with the woman at the well or healed the sick though it was unpopular to do on the specific day He did it. How do you NOT love that Jesus?!

The problem is that Jesus was not merely the Leper-Healer, He was also the great Sin-Condemner. He was quick to tell crowds standing around them that unless they were righteous in God's eyes that they would indeed perish. He was quick to tell people that there was no way to get to God the Father, except through Him. He abolished all ideas of these possibly being other ways into eternal life and even called Himself God incarnate. I wonder what Ghandi thought about that part of Jesus, you know, the part of Jesus that commanded His followers to go and preach a gospel of unprecedented exclusivism in that day and age. THAT JESUS.

Here is the thing, and it sounds almost blasphemous to say: A little Jesus, some Jesus will get you to Hell faster than no Jesus at all. A little Jesus will convince you that you are doing right by a Righteous God who either only cares about how you treat others or (lest I leave out all the theologians) only cares about how you view predestination, spiritual gifts and whether or not Genesis 1 is a literal seven days or not. The complete Jesus speaks condemnation to sin and preparing ourselves for the coming Kingdom. This Jesus also speaks of going to the poor and the outcast. Only a complete Jesus saves, for only a complete Jesus is the Jesus of Scripture. Anything else is a sad figment of our imagination and, since "He" is created by us "He" is a damnable idol.