June 29th, 2011 
Dana Fisher I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. – John 13:17
There are many things I will take away from my time at the Wild Goose Festival in North Carolina this past weekend of which I plan to write in depth on after a little(and much needed) digestion. One question raised in passing during one conversation was the wish that we had more, if not all, of what Jesus said. It is true that we have just a small portion of his 33 years of life wrapped up in the pages of our Bibles but I had never heard this sort of disappointment almost at the fact we did not have more. Mainly for my own benefit I wanted to hash that out in words.
In order to be a disciple of Jesus Christ it is largely important to study and understand clearly what it is He taught. This is why I see the argument for more of His words to be something which is healthy to dig deeper in to.
My overarching point: We still struggle with what little we do have.
I certainly can’t go line by line, or teaching by teaching on all that Jesus said in the Bible but I’d like to touch on one as an example, the sermon on the mount. Three chapters of the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus sits down and begins to teach His disciples. I’m 29, relatively young; still I read this over and over again and have trouble with it all. There is a plethora of information that He teaches us here from loving enemies, praying, fasting, worrying, judging, and so much more. If you fully grasp all of these topics than the argument for more of what Jesus said over His lifetime demands more discussion and theorizing.
My trouble is, I don’t get it all yet. And my argument is I don’t believe anyone has. Throughout history, and continuing on probably forever this grouping of scripture has splintered the church with points of contention. Some argue for just wars and bring weapons into other countries to defend nations claiming it brings about peace. Others promote peace with non-violence but judge in their hearts those who don’t promote peace. The left is wrong, the right is wrong, none of us have this all 100% figured out so what right do we have to ask or wish for more? It’s like getting to thanksgiving dinner, filling your plate with all the fixings and wishing you had another turkey leg before even seeing if you can finish off what you have. Gluttony is just as much a problem as starvation.
This idea that without all of what He said over His life that we can’t fully understand God is absurd. Not only is the breadth and depth of God so big that we will always be growing in our understanding of Him but Jesus came so that we may have life to the fullest(John 10:10) and has made God known to us(John 1:18). God doesn’t need us, we need Him. If we believe this to be true than we must believe that He has provided us with all we need to know Him.
Much of this comes back to the inerrancy of scripture itself, another large point of contention. If I am willing however to throw out verses such as 2 Timothy 3:16 where can I draw my line?
That’s one of the reasons I loved Wild Goose so much. So many different view points from so many different people asking really tough questions without prejudice. But for now, lets try to get our fill of what we do have in scripture before we start wondering about the what/where/why of anything else Jesus may have said.
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I applaud your thinking here, this is some of the wisest writings I have read online from a young Christian in entirely too long!
Keep up the good work – the testimonials of His disciples may be all we have to work with, but it is clear to me that the guidelines given are what will be needed to allow humanity to cope with its discoveries if a “heaven on Earth” is what we are yo build instead of a “hell on earth” – and science is making either possible.
-Jason Kennerly
P.S. I am a Christian who rejects the Old Testament entirely as a non-Christian and invasive text.
Thanks Jason!
I’m not sure we can reject the Old Testament so quickly. There are many important things with which to wrestle from the OT.
While the law was given in the OT prior to Jesus and Jesus came and fulfilled the law(romans 8:3-4), he did not come to destroy it(Matthew 5:17-19)
What parts give you pause and make you think it is non-christian or invasive?