existential

ZoomProsa - Jesus Junk

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Our coffeehouse discussion groups, Café com Prosa, have been online for over a year now, under the name ZoomProsa. Last Saturday, I took the helm and gave the introduction for our last catalytic event of the semester.

We have been using a series of introductions that seek to stimulate students to do some inner searching, to ask the questions of what drives what they do and believe. We have used some of the classic existential questions to hopefully spark a cord: How did I get here? Who am I? What is my purpose? Why is there evil in the world? What comes after death?

This week we asked the question about what they think of Jesus as a possible way to answer these questions. In fact, Jesus pointed to himself as the answer to these questions! If truth is what these students are seeking, then Jesus’ words should come as a relief: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

However, we know that there are LOTS of ideas floating around about Jesus, some true and some not-so-true. "Jesus Junk” is a term we have used for years - cultural concepts about Jesus that are deterrents to really getting down the historical and true understanding of Jesus. Brazil is full of these constructs, as are many Western cultures. Sometimes we need to sift through these prejudices in order to help focus on Jesus.

"Jesus is an interesting figure, but what ruins him for me is his fan club.” This is a common reaction for many college students here in Belo Horizonte. While they are not without due cause for such an opinion, we try to offer a way to sift through their Jesus Junk and focus on the Biblical and historical Jesus. We focus on three concepts:

One of the slides used, using the doctrine of Imago Dei - man made in the image of God.

  1. What did Jesus say about himself?

  2. What did others say about him? - including prophecies, his friends and his enemies

  3. What did he do? - mainly his miracles and his resurrection from the dead!

This is part of our approach to wade through the sea of "noise” and focus on the simple truth of who Jesus was.

Pray with us for students who continue to ask these honest questions, and for us to be able to clearly communicate what the Bible reveals about Jesus.