Does Christ Have to be the Son of God?

There are very intelligent people who consider themselves devout Christians but do not follow a literal reading of the Bible. Their faith comes out of choosing to believe that there is a power in the universe greater than ourselves, whatever that power might be and the story of Jesus provides a moral and ethical foundation for that belief and a spiritual guide on how life should be lived.

In a historical context, there had to be validity to accept the teachings of Jesus, especially to Jews who followed a strict, ancient set of rules. To teach ways of living that modified or contradicted those rules required the acceptance that he was not just a prophet but of God itself and not just by magical feats, such as healing the sick, walking on water, and turning water into wine, but by rising from death himself.

Of course, any of those events - including the virgin birth - can be explained away with very convincing arguments which leaves the question: do we need to deify Christ in order to follow his teachings? And if we can dismiss the supernatural aspects, is there purpose or value in the rituals of the Christian churches in which we participate, such as Baptism and communion?

I think there is, and I will tell you why and leave it to you to decide whether the analogy is valid.

A number of years ago I heard about a study of school districts that had taught elementary math using modern methods, stressing understanding of mathematical concepts, and others that used more traditional rote methods where the times tables and basic rules were drilled into the students rigorously. They found that the students who had been taught with the traditional way fared better when studying higher mathematics.

The point? Perhaps the rituals of repeated reminders of the events that formed the person whom we choose to follow is such a not a quaint waste of time.

Randomness

Do we love God because we fear randomness in the world? If the universe is more orderly than chaotic does every event have a purpose? Fear of randomness informs our politics. Do we love computers because they are predictable and only logical?

How did we become so shallow and superficial?