I argue with Jesus quite a bit. You’re probably thinking, “That’s okay! We all do, at times.” But my arguments are not about my “personal relationship” with Him as much as they are about what He said in the Bible. I disagree with several things Jesus said and did.

I have a problem that the first disciples Jesus called were lowly fisherman.

I have a problem with all of the Beatitudes…and the rest of the Sermon on the Mount.

I have a problem with the way Jesus told the disciples to rely on the welfare of the towns while traveling.

I have a problem with how Jesus says, “not peace, but a sword,” and then later says “all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”

I have a problem with how Jesus gave more wine to a wedding party that had been going all night.

I have a problem with how Jesus would break the law (healing on Sabbath) but said that He wasn’t here to break the law but to fulfill it.

I could go on and on, but I think I will spare you all of my arguments. I have always had an issue with blindly accepting something. I’ve never liked it when people say, “you gotta believe because Jesus said it,” or “it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t make sense — Jesus said it,” or “Jesus said and I’ll do.” There are probably several variations of those statements — but I’m sure we’ve all heard something along those lines…some of us have probably said those things as well.

I pity the person who blindly accepts what Jesus said. Blind acceptance leads to false practices. One cannot do what Jesus said without questioning Him. And if you think you can, are you really doing what Jesus said?

Follow me a bit. Jesus was not about people blindly following Him. I think He knew that in order to follow Him, there had to be some form of rebirth (oh wait, He did say that). There has to be an inner struggle. Otherwise, you’re not following Christ.

Anyone can do what He said. I could go out today and donate all of my clothes to homeless people and not follow Christ. Some of the nicest and most generous people I’ve met do not follow Christ.

What separates you is the inner struggle. The disciples constantly questioned Jesus. Did Jesus tell them to just blindly accept what He said? No. He explained things (and called them dull). True, He got upset at times, but He never expected them to blindly accept what He said. And He doesn’t expect us to do so, either.

There are some people I know that say that everything is great in their relationship with Christ. I wish I could say that. I struggle with it a lot. I struggle to follow Christ. I have a lot of problems with what He said. There need to be more Christians that have a problem with Jesus. His way was not meant to be easy. But we sure do try and sell that kool-aid.

Blind acceptance goes against everything about God. He gave us free will for a reason. He gave us a brain for a reason. Following Christ is worthless if it isn’t a struggle. Somewhere in history we decided to believe that in order to follow Christ, one had to do what He said, no questions asked. We taught people how to wear masks. Christ was all about life change, not just action change. Life change spawns action change — not the other way around.

So I’ll say it again: We need more Christians that have a problem with Jesus. We need more Christians that will be vocal about the problems they have following what Christ said. I guess what I’m trying to say, is that we need more Christians to be Christians.