So in church this morning, we talked about Christ's coming a second time, which I need help on. I know I asked you about this before, and you said, I think, that somehow we're judged, but do you think Christ is coming again? That seems pretty farfetched.

Also, why is Christ called Christ, rather than Jesus? I think Marcus Borg said that Christ got that name after the resurrection. But if Christ means Lord, doesn't that mean we're worshipping Jesus? And I know you said we're to emulate Christ, not worship him. So what does Christ mean?

And why is Advent such a big deal anyway? I know we're waiting for
Jesus to be born, but....

I hear a lot of "atonement" theology at church and wish I didn't. How
can I not mind that?

Christ's Second Coming (actually the NT never uses that term; it speaks of a "glorious coming") relates to our acceptance of God's reign and the triple transformation of consciousness, conscience, and community. When humanity has evolved to the point where that transformation occurs, then Christ will have returned. So "Christ consciousness" is for Christians what "Buddha Mind" is for Buddhists and so on with similar terminology in other religions.

Christos is the Greek word for Messiach in Hebrew. Both words mean "messiah", one anointed by God. Christ is a title, so Jesus the Christ. Christ does not mean Lord. Buddha is a title and Buddhism challenges everyone to become a Buddha. So too Christianity challenges everyone to become an "alter Christus", another Christ. That's why I like The Gospel of Thomas...it asks us all to be twins of Jesus.

As Meister Eckhart said long ago: what good is it that Jesus was born in Bethlehem if he isn't also born in your heart? Advent is the time when we prepare for the birth of the divine in the human. But our focus should not be on what happened in Jesus but on what should be happening in us. He is mentor and model for what needs to happen in us.

Atonement theology bothers me too. It suggests that Jesus did something INSTEAD of us, whereas I would say that he did something FOR us, in the sense that he is our mentor and model for dealing with the suffering involved in all deep living and loveing. So this really takes us back to the last three paragraphs here. When you hear the words about Christ dying for our sins etc., try thinking of them in the light of this other kind of theology in which Jesus is our Reminder rather than our Redeemer.