So let's start at the beginning of the book.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

John 1:1

Verse one stresses the importance of one God. This is important because it reinforces the foundational principle that the worship of God in Israel was founded upon one God. Since John's readers knew this, it is important that we know it too. This very important precept is what separated Israel's worship from all other nations – Israel only had one God. This is pivotal-key-foundational. And you can't miss it. One God. One. There is a word that describes this concept: monotheism. Mono = one. Theism = God.

We must begin reading John with the right understanding of who the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is. If we don't get that, the whole rest of the gospel will be seen in error. So verse one is establishing that the Messiah would lead Jewish believers; a Jewish sect if you will. The Jews never thought the Messiah would be God. The Jews believed the Messiah would be sent by God and that he would be a man. Certainly a man could never be God! (See Numbers 23:19)

So here in verse 1, chapter 1, John is getting ready to introduce the Messiah. He realizes that first he must establish the present truth. He must state the obvious – that there is One God- to the audience he is trying to reach ..." Hear 0 Israel, the Lord our God is one" (Deut 6:4).

So we read - in the beginning was God. We begin with God. God is the word. God is a spirit. John is establishing that God's word is in fact God, and that his word is creative. After all, saying "Let there be light" was a creative act. John is setting us up for Jesus' language -his discourse, his teaching. The words that Jesus speaks are the words of God. It's not the man speaking, it is God speaking. This word was first. All of this meaning in this one little verse.

Perceptions

Oh, it seems obvious that the man, Christ, with the fullness of God inside, the visible image of the invisible God, would be just like him. But what about our perceptions? Certainly even Matthew, Mark, Luke and John had different perceptions, and as we read through our male and female lenses, our different personality lenses, we all see a different Jesus. I admit my propensity for what is right and wrong, from my perspective, overrides any feeling of mercy or compassion. Not saying I don't have any, but I would be merciful, patient, and compassionate if it were acknowledged that you were wrong and therefore needed grace. However, whenever I point out that someone is wrong, immediately someone else feels the need to tell me I was wrong (or have a bad attitude or was rude) to tell someone that he was wrong. So often we spend more time evaluating another's behavior based on what we would do, which in turn is based on what present society and political correctness dictates to us how we should speak, behave, etc. Jesus chased people with a whip, calling them children of satan. He called Peter satan himself and told him he had little faith. He said to his mother "what is that to me or you, that they've run out of wine?" All these statements would be politically incorrect today. My compassion and mercy? My patience? What about His?

There may be no excuse for my bad attitude in traffic or the grocery store line, but there is a right and a wrong way to express my frustrations. Should we always be silent like sheep led to the slaughter, or do we have a responsibility to point out wrongs? At the checkout, if someone has twenty items in the 10-item express lane, why is it such a social insult to say "Hey, you're in the wrong lane?" Some things are just wrong. The decision is not IF it is wrong, but whether it is worth bringing up, or even arguing about. It's wrong to go over the speed limit but law enforcement officers do it all the time for non-emergencies. They give courtesy to selected people by not writing tickets and even allow us to go over the speed limit, depending arbitrarily on their mood, the time of the month or whatever else they may have to do. What about those who are abiding by the speed limit? Other drivers will honk, flash their lights and give 'sign language' if you don't get out of their way, even if it involves breaking the law. Wrong. But nothing will ever be done about that. We learn to accept what we think will never change. Even in the so-called serenity prayer – I would change "accept" to endure.

We also learn to accept our religious beliefs, whether they are right or wrong, because of political correctness, in the name of being human and tolerant. We have been taught to accept all religions and be tolerant of all lifestyles. Should we? Is there a right and a wrong way to worship? Is there a right and a wrong gospel? And then the question changes to "Who died and left you in charge? What makes you think you are right?" But these questions don't probe the facts and sift information. They are hormonally- charged feelings to defend one's self and side step the real issue.

"The bible says" is the initial opening statement for many well-intentioned but ill-informed preachers who care more to speak than to hear. We should eliminate "the bible says". It doesn't mean anything. The bible is a collection of many different writers with many different personalities from many different time periods in many different cultures, all inspired by the same God. We should be careful to say "God said." Clearly I can say that in the New Testament - what Jesus said is what God said. All the rest is subject to agreement with what He said. After all, He is the only one who spoke in God's personality. But even Jesus' words must be heard in context. When he said "Destroy this temple", he was speaking of his body – but no one knew that until after he rose from the dead three years later (John 2: 21-22).

If we stick to our beliefs as Christians, we will be intolerant of other religions. If we stick to our particular denomination (or non-denomination, which is denominational in practice) then we are intolerant. If we are Calvinists or Arminians, then we are intolerant. If we believe and teach a different gospel, we are heretics and intolerant. So who's right or wrong? Or are we all just trying to get along and not have any dogma or doctrinal disagreements?

I think we should hear the words of Jesus first. Everything else must meet that litmus test. I am a follower of Christ. I believe that's what Christianity means. But it has come to mean many other things in the past 2000 years – things that don't have anything to do with God's character.

In the beginning - Chapter intermission

Ok, before we go on, I have to pause with some explanations. You know how we talked about the difference between how we think and how the people to whom John was writing think? Let's look at that again. The people that John wrote to were Jewish. Jesus was Jewish. By that, we mean culturally as well as biblically. He was raised in Nazareth in the Jewish culture and Jewish religion by Jewish parents. This cultural setting was different than that of Moses in the Wilderness, but also different from that in Jerusalem in 30 A.D. By this time, Palestine had become Hellenistic (Greek influenced) and under Roman rule. The Jewish people–Israel- were no stranger to having others rule over them. In some instances, God makes reference to these countries as her...