Currently I am working my way through Luke Timothy Johnson's book, The Real Jesus. He is naming many things for me that my people, and people who I come in contact with constantly are struggling with. Spiritual people in the Bay Area want to live like Jesus without all the hang ups of organized religion. Is that even possible? The book offers a pretty clear, no.

No I constantly sense this struggle when I preach in a very simple way and I am still trying to get comfortable with how to handle it. That is referring to passages from the epistles as, 'Paul said...' or 'Peter said...' It seems that so much of this discussion of wanting the spirituality of Jesus without Christianity, set Jesus and Paul directly against each other rather than seeing them as having the same goal. The personalities of the NT writers are so clear the more I read and understand the scriptures, yet by drawing a distinction am I creating a divide that I do not want for my people. Or am I using a point from liberation theology effectively, noting the difference in approach and personality, yet not compromising the united message of the Gospel as presented throughout all of Scripture?