While the word “vaccine” has always had a positive connotation for most people, it’s now seen as a life-saver, a restorer of normal life and a saviour for the business community.
That’s a tall order, but a planet battered by the COVID-19 pandemic needs the vaccines being rolled out right now to be all that and more.
Sadly, the products being furiously manufactured don’t address humanity’s other serious problems. But there is a vaccine that does. So keep your mind open while I do my very imperfect best to explain it.
This vaccine isn’t a product. It’s a man. And He came to this planet on a rescue mission for anyone willing to listen to Him.
- He saw how people like me so often struggle with greed, fear and regret.
- He recognized that we seem unable to decide which of this world’s many competing voices should get our attention and resources.
- Finally, He grasped how desperately we want love and acceptance–and will sometimes do horrible things to ourselves and others to get even a temporary version of them.
Knowing humanity’s spiritual and moral systems don’t address our real needs, He offers us something entirely different: Himself.
If you’ve read this far, then I’m going to risk losing you by revealing who He is: Jesus of Nazareth, who many people believe is the Son of God.
With startling confidence and self-awareness, Jesus said this to anyone willing to listen: “Come to me all of you who are tired from the heavy burden you carry. Learn from me. I am gentle and humble. And you will be able to get some rest.”
How does He do that? He taught that pursuing fame, riches and power won’t result in a satisfying life. But a life soaked in gratitude and love will.
In his book The End of Religion, Canadian writer Bruxy Cavey unpacks that by noting “the more of a fundamentalist someone becomes about the teachings of Jesus, the more loving, forgiving and gracious that person should become.“
Jesus taught so much more, and ancient, original-source biographies describe how He backed up His authority by healing sick people and even bringing someone back to life.
Finally, Jesus proved His love for us by allowing Himself to be put to death to pay for every wrong thing His followers have done, and every right thing we’ve failed to do. That’s necessary because Jesus made it clear that “you must be perfect, just as your father in Heaven is perfect.”
The result of His Son’s sacrifice is when God looks at Jesus followers, He sees us as perfect like His Son, and welcomes us to spend eternity with Him in Heaven.
If you’re wondering how to get your hands on this vaccine, it’s simple: become a serious, dedicated Jesus follower. When you do that, He comes into your life NOW and starts to make you more of the person God created you to be.
Interested? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.
Frank's Cottage 
Jesus – the best vaccine ever!
Blessings, Frank!
Sadly, the “vaccine” being manufactured by Christianity does not address any of humanity’s real problems. It doesn’t cure diseases, or decrease poverty, or increase happiness, or promote love.
Christianity convinces you are sick in order to sell you it’s cure.
Real problems are solved by real people, through research and discovery and testing, and through discussion and agreement based on humanist principles that value the rights and autonomy of other human beings.
Christianity brings nothing to the solutions that cannot be found by other means, and brings much that is counter to human well-being.
Thanks for your comment. From my perspective, the Jesus vaccine isn’t manufactured by any religion. It comes from God; that’s what makes it so great, that’s why I’m so happy to have it – and that’s why I want EVERYONE to have it. 🙂
Convinces people they are sick? This Frank’s Cottage blog tackles that charge head-on: https://wp.me/p2wzRb-cv
So delighted that we agree that people can solve problems. And glad they’re based on humanist principles, since Jesus of Nazareth is the ultimate humanist.
Finally, there’s no doubt that all religions bring much that is counter to human well-being. That’s why I want nothing to do with religion. I’m very glad we agree on this important matter. 🙂
Your opinon would be worth more if you could demonstrate it to be true.
Otherwise it is just an opinion.
It does not take much study of history, including Christian history, to see that religions reflect cultures of their particular places and times. They are indeed manufactured by human beings.
The imaginary disease of Christianity is transgression against their God, and the cure they sell is complete obeisance to that God.
Jesus espoused some humanist principles, but did not oppose slavery or promote the emancipation of women. He is yet another example of religion reflecting moral values rather than dictating or inspiring them.
Thanks for your opinion. It looks like we’ve gone as far in this conversation as is possible, given our worldviews are absolutely opposite.
Just one thing: I’ve asked this before (see ‘The Controversial Making of Western Morality’ from June 2020) and this time, I’m hoping you will answer: please show me one sentence in the Bible – that’s all I want, ONE SENTENCE – that shows Jesus supporting slavery or discriminating against women. I’ll be patient and wait. 🙂
Numbers 31: 17-18.
Leviticus 25:44-46.
Sad that you do not know your Bible better, Frank.
And before you protest that was not Jesus, do you deny the Trinity?
Thanks for your comment. I’m aware of what’s written in the Bible’s “Old Testament”. I also know that whenever there’s a conflict between the Old Testament and Jesus’s life, teachings and actions while physically on earth, the Old Testament takes second place.
Jesus is the ultimate expression of God – if I want to know what God is like, I simply look at Jesus. Merry Christmas! 🙂
…or one sentence declaring the women should be treated equally here on earth (not that they will be in heaven).
Because if you cannot show a sentence declaring slavery or the discrimination against women as immoral, then you cannot claim that Jesus is the vaccine to our problems.
No, the onus is on you to back up your statements, especially as no one but atheist people (which you’ve told me you are) has ever, in more than eight years, made this demand. And Frank’s Cottage is most definitely not written for atheists. It’s aimed at people who are open to spirituality.
As for me, I carefully examine the overall life, teachings and actions of Jesus – reading them, thinking/praying about them and listening to others who have spent decades studying Jesus. Based on all that, I’m confident on where He stands on the things you wrote about. 🙂
He is our Saviour! I pray that more people seek His Grace and turn to Him, especially now, when so many seem lost.
Amen. Thanks for reading and contributing, Vivian. 🙂
Many people look for a Bible verse that condemns some social ill which our current Western society is addressed as a concern. If they cannot find it (sometimes without looking hard enough), they may go away convinced that Christian faith isn’t relevant to today.
But issues like slavery, abortion, drug abuse, physical abuse, genocide, which often dominate contemporary discussion, are not always directly addressed in the Bible by name or in a format which is convenient to find in our busy schedules. This requires much more in-depth (but worthwhile) study.
If a person takes years to acquire a worldview which is contrary to (or for that matter, agreeable to) Christian belief, why not take some more time to think and discover? Give the benefit of the doubt and examine the Bible with the greatest respect to the time many Christians have often also taken to examine their own beliefs and go past any significant doubt?
These matters, for Christians and non-Christians alike, require that kind of attention for their own convictions to be valid. At some point, we must all draw conclusions before we die, but not before turning over and moving away as many stones as we can find.
Uhm….have you READ the Bible? Issues like slavery, abortion, physical abuse, and genocide are not only directly addressed in the Bible, they are specifically condoned.
It’s quite common for people to write off the Bible by declaring it supports evil behaviours. Thankfully, the truth is quite revealing and beneficial (if it wasn’t, I would NOT be a Jesus follower).
It would require way too many words for me to deal with all the issues raised here. So I’ll concentrate on slavery.
Doug Baker, an American pastor, notes “In almost every instance, the kind of slavery governed by the Bible’s Old Testament was debt-slavery, where an individual would offer labour in exchange for an outstanding debt that he could not pay.” That’s a giant, dramatic difference from what 21st people think of when they consider slavery!
In the Bible’s New Testament (which chronicles the life of Jesus and his earliest followers), Baker says “God gives His people instructions on how to live in already existing social structure.” In other words, Jesus followers looked to live and grow in their faith in a world where slavery was an unquestioned fact of life.
Baker goes on to write: “Many people feel justified in criticizing Paul, or Peter (both early Jesus followers), or Jesus Himself, for that matter, for not being staunch abolitionists. However, such objections reflect modern sensitivities and a lack of appreciation for the historical realities in the first century and the transformative nature of the Christian gospel.”
In other words, it’s easy for 21st century people to criticize behaviours from thousands of years ago. This leads me to ask: what will people of the 21st century — like the atheist who I’m responding to here — be accused of by people 100 years from now?
Amen amen
Vaccinated by the blood of The Lamb