an exhortation..as
a lay Christian examines his faith..

By James Ross Kelly

For post modern westerners among a diversity of worldviews,  there is only one moral discourse that remains resolute through time—this is the Christian worldview in its orthodox sense. You may disagree with this statement and this worldview as you perceive it, but you may not adopt another that has held sway for as long without leaping out of your own culture and shakily into another.

There is however a nominal view of Christianity that academically operates outside this orthodoxy and considers itself scholastic, vital—and at the same time considers itself valid in its own formality. It must be said that now, this scholastic endeavor and its formality has little, or no basis of really calling itself Christianity—for it has little or nothing to do with Christ Jesus. Where once the university system held the Christian paradigm sacrosanct it is now relegated…

Oil painting of Christ Resurrected painted from
the Shroud of Turin–2004 by Patricia Baehr Ross
from James Kelly collection

John 10:6-10

Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

The Message (MSG)