A Logical Christian: Finding Your Faith in Christianity Through the Wisdom in the Teachings of Jesus Christ and Understand God's Desires in This Polarized Social, Economic, and Political Environment.

By Lloyd Weitkamp

It all started about ten years ago when I wanted to renew my faith in God. Unsure of all the generated media, talking heads, and constant onslaught of commentary between various Christian and non-Christian groups, I decided to study the Bible and history on my terms. I wanted to know what the Bible actually taught and how Christianity has played out through history. I wanted to put at ease any doubts and concerns that I had regarding many of what I saw as alarming aspects and practices. It is my assumption that the teachings and guidelines of an Omnipotent Creator would have depth, logic, and refined wisdom. These teachings would transcend time and advance society through foresight and reasoning. The teachings of Jesus Christ would be as relevant today as they were then. His teachings would promote unity and understanding that is needed to develop a Christian society. These teachings and guidelines would be constructed to advance not only Christendom but the entire world through knowledge and understanding.
In these writing, I will try to show my understanding of Christianity. My perspective requires that logic and morals, and common sense must accommodate the teachings of Jesus Christ and Paul. I will try to do this by using not only scripture but by using our history and present social and economic conditions. In this I will try to show the correlation between how Jesus taught and his concept of Christianity and how to advance social and economic conditions.
When you read the teachings of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, you will find the highest degree of moral values, ethics, and civility.
Everything about the teachings in the New Testament is set up to propel Christians to work with love, compassion, understanding, empathy, and equality so that society can advance together. Being a Christian is a commitment of dedication to living a life defined by the love of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice to the well-being and salvation of every person who has ever lived. Christianity is a higher level of maturity and dedication of responsibility to living a life free of the destructive influences of this world. This is so that you can better use your time and resources to helping and guiding others that are in need.
That is what being a Christian is all about.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514453636

Lloyd Weitkamp

I’m in my fifties and have seen a lot throughout my life, and I can say that I have made my share of mistakes along the way. Although I can say that my life has taught me a lot over the years, I have lost my wife, my son, my father, and the family business along the way. Being born and raised on a farm in Central Missouri in a rural community didn’t offer much for opportunities growing up. I was fortunate enough to become a pilot navigating vessels on the waterways throughout the United States. These writings came about through my desire to finding my faith and understand the love and wisdom of God. There is so much more to life if we can just find the opportunity and a chance for happiness.

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Copyright © 2016 by Lloyd Weitkamp.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016901343

ISBN:      Hardcover           978-1-5144-5365-0

                Softcover            978-1-5144-5364-3

                eBook                 978-1-5144-5363-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 01/25/2016

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Contents

Preface

Chapter 1.   Love and Charity The Foundation of Faith

Chapter 2.   Advancing and Honing A True Christian Doctrine

Chapter 3.   God’s Authority and Creation

Chapter 4.   Judgment and Condemnation Salvation and Teaching

Chapter 5.   Racism and Bigotry and Prejudice The Arsenal of Satan

Chapter 6.   Materialism and Greed and Economics

Chapter 7.   Christian Duties and Family Values

Preface

It all started about ten years ago when I wanted to renew my faith in God.

Unsure of all the generated media, talking heads, and constant onslaught of commentary between various Christian and non-Christian groups, I decided to study the Bible and history on my terms.

I wanted to know what the Bible actually taught and how Christianity has played out through history.

I wanted to put at ease any doubts and concerns that I had regarding many of what I saw as alarming aspects and practices.

It was my assumption that the teachings and guidelines of an omnipotent Creator would have depth, logic, and refined wisdom. These teachings would transcend time and advance society through foresight and reasoning.

The teachings of Jesus Christ would be as relevant today as they were then. His teachings would promote unity and understanding that were needed to develop a Christian society.

These teachings and guidelines would be constructed to advance not only Christendom but the entire world through knowledge and understanding.

In these writings, I will try to show my understanding of Christianity. My perspective requires that logic, morals, and common sense must accommodate the teachings of Jesus Christ and Paul.

I will try to do this by using not only scripture but by using our history and present social and economic conditions. In this, I will try to show the correlation between how Jesus taught and his concept of Christianity and how to advance social and economic conditions.

When you read the teachings of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, you will find the highest degree of moral values, ethics, and civility.

Everything about the teachings in the New Testament is set up to propel Christians to work with love, compassion, understanding, empathy, and equality so that society can advance together.

Being a Christian is a commitment of dedication to living a life defined by the love of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for the well-being and salvation of every person who has ever lived. Christianity is a higher level of maturity and dedication of responsibility to living a life free of the destructive influences of this world. This is so that you can better use your time and resources to helping and guiding others that are in need.

This is what being a Christian is all about.

The problem is that we have molded Christianity to fit our needs and desires. The key essential elements that make Christianity the highest degree of moral guidance and civility has been lost.

Christianity has been molded to fit the desires of their followers more than the desires of Jesus and is led by people who have a very unchristian agenda. These Christian leaders sell people what they want to hear and promote dysfunctional concepts that are destructive to America and Christianity altogether.

We have allowed hatred, greed, racism, bigotry, and the desire to exalt ourselves and devalue others to take control of America and Christianity. These are the very sins Jesus condemned the most and taught the most about.

I must add that this was a very large failing on the parts of Judaism at the time of Christ. It was the fact that his doctrine did not coincide with their beliefs and desires and how they had molded their doctrine that caused them to rise up and crucify him.

I wonder if Jesus were to return today and start teaching again, would he meet the same fate, only this time at the hands of Christians.

In the teachings of both Jesus and Paul, everything, every action, and the value of our salvation is based off the degree of love and charity that we have for every person who has ever lived. This is a constant throughout the entire New Testament.

So how is it that America, a Christianity-based society, has allowed these unchristian emotions and desires to control everything we hold dear?

We have allowed these emotions to diminish our commitment to Jesus Christ and each other and America.

Throughout these writings, I will try to show how following the wisdom and guidance of Jesus Christ can propel America forward and on the path of being the greatest country in history.

I will also show how the challenges and stages of my life have shaped my concept of Christianity and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

In my life I have seen and experienced a wide range of challenges and interactions with both good and evil.

It is from the exposer to various segments of my life that has given me my interpretation and understanding of the teachings of Jesus.

We must understand the effects of sin and the challenges that God has given to us to understand how we are to work as Christians.

My view is that a true Christian doctrine must follow the teachings of Jesus and Paul along with being logical and practical. A true Christian doctrine would be subjugated by morality and a strong code of ethical values toward everyone.

This is the top priority to being a Christian according to Jesus Christ. We have to infuse these desires and concepts in to our churches and homes and families and society if we want America to be a Christian society and to prosper.

These negative and destructive desires aren’t anything new and have been a constant throughout history. We must learn from our mistakes and challenges if we want to advance America and Christianity forward. I believe that combining accurate data and practical concepts and a true Christian doctrine has to be implemented for America to prosper and survive.

I believe in using our history and science and statistical data to help us with our understanding of God’s creation and how to serve him and advance society.

God is not a fool, so to think we can interpret the Bible and his design with ignorance is in itself ignorant.

When it comes to understanding the separation of good and evil, I believe that good represents acts and beliefs that bring you closer to fulfilling your duties as a Christian. Good represents acts and views that unite and propagate unity and a functioning society.

This would be actions and views that propel the individual and the family and society together both temporally and spiritually. The more unified a society can become the greater it can progress forward. This is why love is the highest mandated principle.

Evil is simply the opposite.

Jesus knows how evil can take over our emotions and can lead us to hateful and destructive concepts.

These would be actions and views that distract us from our duties and commitment to God, Jesus, and all our brethren. Evil relates to things that take away from our quality of life and propagate hatred and animosity such as greed and condemnation and racism and bigotry and slothfulness and any other form of exaltation over others.

Jesus knew that these actions were the greatest forms of evil that stirred up violence and murders and wars. These sins cause destruction to life and drew people away from God and each other.

Once again, we must learn from our history to understand how to be a Christian. If you look at the history of the world, the greatest destruction was caused by evil and hateful emotions. This is why love and charity is the highest and mandated qualifier in determining how to live and act as a Christian.

The crazy thing is Jesus knew this, and all his teaching were centered on this concept. So why is it that so many religions seem to design their teaching to accommodate these destructive desires?

Once again, every action has to be performed with absolute devotion of love and charity to be Christian. We are the ambassadors of Christ and Christianity.

We are to do his works in the way he taught and according to his design. To help everyone. To teach everyone. To love everyone.

1

Love and Charity

The Foundation of Faith

Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:17–18)

The first and foremost principle mandated of Christianity is love and charity. Every verse, every commandment, and every teaching is subjugated by these defining values. In fact, almost all evil and sin derives from the absence of love and charity.

So let’s start with defining the depth and wisdom of what is the quintessence of Christianity and Jesus Christ.

Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. Love is also a virtue representing all human kindness, compassion, and affection—the unselfish, loyal, and benevolent concern for the good of another. Love may describe actions toward others or oneself based on compassion or affection.

In my view, love is a complete absence of ill will or the desire to do harm to someone.

You only want what is best for them.

You are devoid of any of Satan’s power over their well-being.

You must put their needs on the same level as your own.

You can’t desire to do or have things that will bring harm or grief upon someone if you truly love them.

To truly love someone is to be dedicated to fully understanding them and to come to know and understand the things that have shaped who they are and the challenges they have faced. To come to know the person that was created by God before the evils of this world became a burden and pulled them away from God and his design.

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto nations. (Jeremiah 1:5)

From the moment of our birth, our development was set in motion. Meaning, the events and struggles and challenges we face changed us and our perspective. Just as calluses on our hands from years of labor or scars from former wounds, life changes us for the better or the worse.

Inside we grow, and it is left up to God to judge us because only he truly knows what we have faced and endured.

He is the only one that truly knows what is in someone’s heart.

This is the person that God sees and loves, knowing the things that are hidden.

To truly love someone is to be dedicated to helping them with compassion, understanding, kindness, and above all else, with the commitment to see them through whatever challenges they may encounter.

I was lucky to have been raised by some truly great people in a family environment. It was a family farm were my parents and grandparents worked together. They were not rich or owners of a corporation like the farms you see today.

People who believed in values, respect, manners, discipline, and hard work raised me. My family knew things didn’t come easily but only through hard work and perseverance. They knew following the principles of Christianity was essential to having a successful life. They had more adversity in their lives than anyone deserved.

Faith and Christianity isn’t to protect you from adversity but is to guide you through them. It is the challenges we face as Christians that are to advance us in our faith and understanding. It is the challenges that we face in our lives that are to make as humble and have understanding for others who are struggling with both physical and spiritual adversity.

By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope; And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. (Romans 5:2–5)

We must understand that the challenges we face here are for a reason. They are to teach and guide us and test our faith and knowledge. They are to give us humility and understanding and prove our values and commitment not only to God but our brethren as well.

My grandmother, Velma, or better known as Dot, was my babysitter, and she was as good a Christian as I have ever known.

I remember as a child always seeing the Bible on the corner of the kitchen table.

She would stop and read from it periodically as she was cooking our meals throughout the day. She would teach me as she studied, explaining the verses from the perspective of someone who had a life rich with seeing the true nature of adversity.

I remember, as a child, listening to her tell stories of both her life and from the Bible.

She was born in 1895, just outside St. Louis, Missouri. She and my grandfather, Oscar, got married, and my father was born in 1926.

I remember her talking about trying to survive the Great Depression, how bad the economy was, and having to struggle to have enough money to survive.

I remember those stories and the details that she gave of the Great Depression and her life and the fact there wasn’t hardly any government help or intervention or social programs to help save your business, home, or farm.

She made it through the Depression, which was then followed by World War II.

Let me add that they had just survived Would War I at the onset of their adulthood.

There was also the fact that they were born just thirty years after the Civil War.

Then in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s, our great country was coming to terms with understanding racism, bigotry, and the need to treat all Americans with equally.

During a large portion of their life, America was facing turmoil and readjustment due to a continually changing social, political, and economic environment.

One must understand the severity of the times in which my grandparents lived.

A problem we have today is that the reality of how hard life was in those days and how hard people had to work to survive is forgotten. Everything they needed required hard work and labor. The bare necessities were all you had, and you had to struggle to have that.

My grandparents started their lives and their family facing these challenges, and yet, through all these, they were still loving, kind, and generous people.

Think of the uncertainty and despair that my grandparents faced in their day-to-day lives, unsure of the future of America while still adjusting from the Civil War and World War I.

As I said, her stories of how hard life had been for them and to see how it affected and shaped her as a Christian was a very deep insight to what true faith and confidence in God is.

She was the main influence on me in my early years. While everyone else was working in the fields or at their job, she was taking care of me.

I owe my concept and understanding of Christianity to her. It is from these stories that she showed me the degree of devotion required to be a Christian.

My father was kind, loving, and generous and had a gentle personality, and I tried to base my values on him. He was a very honest and hardworking man. He trusted people and was always willing to help others. I never saw him corrupted with greed, and he was humble and caring and was my hero growing up. I try to have the personality he had and to be like him. One day, I hope to achieve my goal: become like my father.

My mother is kindhearted and wants nothing but to help others. She will give everything she has if needed to help someone.

I dream of the day that I can break free from materialism and the desire for better things and be satisfied with mediocrity.

Mediocrity is a virtue in the eyes of Jesus. It is the desire not to be better, have more, or overshadow others. Jesus Christ and John the Baptist and the apostles did not come here and live in mansions, dressed in the finest apparel, or have jewels and riches but lived a very modest life, wanting nothing but to serve their mission and to help and teach in the name of God.

But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they, that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. But what went ye out to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and far more than a prophet. (Matthew 11:18)

Someday, I want to be able to give and help people, use what God has given me for the reason he gave it to me in the first place to be like my mom.

As a child, I was surrounded by faith, belief, and love for Jesus Christ. I was taught being a Christian is about love, compassion, and dedication to family.

I got to witness how a family is supposed to work together. How the unit as a whole is to support each other.

Through good times and bad times, the commitment to each other was always there. I witnessed my parents suffer some burdens and hardships that were truly monumental.

I started farming with my parents in the early ’80s. It was one of the worst farm economies in half a century. Prices were extremely low, and the weather was destructive. It was either flooding or a draught.

Nineteen ninety-three was the year of the flood that took everything we had left. After fighting for over a decade trying to endure, hoping that we would prevail, we had to concede to defeat.

My whole life I watched my family endure what seemed was one debilitating heartbreak after another. Yet they stayed strong. They worked together, suffered together, and stayed together through it all. Later on in life, I would come to realize how far they would go when it came to this commitment.

For a while, I was one of their greatest challenges. For ten years, my parents suffered due to me being lost in sin. That was ten years of me being lost in drugs and alcohol and unable to pull myself out. I was lost in the evils of life and being dragged down by the sufferings that I had brought into my life. That was ten years of them committing to whatever it took to see me through. I would not have made it if it wasn’t for their sacrifice and their love. That is the true definition of love and of being a Christian. To place the needs of others above your own and to give of yourself at any cost in order to help someone in need.

This is placing a greater value on others than material possessions.

That is why in Matthew chapter 6 verses 19–20, Jesus speaks of the importance of sacrificing yourself for others.

Lay not up yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shall be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. (Luke 14:12–15)

So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one; and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God; ye are Gods husbandry, ye are Gods building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth there upon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:7–11)

And that servant, which knew his lords will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes, For unto whosoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

You build yourself treasure in heaven by doing works for God and showing that you have a loyal and loving perspective of God and all your brethren.

The old adage that you cannot take it with you, with love and charity and sacrifice as you wealth you can and will.

One day, after my father had passed away, some overzealous church ladies stopped by to preach. They had never met my father or knew anything about him yet found it in their hearts to tell my mother that he had to have gone to hell.

For these church ladies, deciding to bring it upon themselves to condemn my father, a man they never met, is the opposite of love and understanding. It is the opposite of being a Christian and the teachings of Jesus.

Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and destroy: who art thou that judgeth another? (James 4:11–12)

This is why judging is not allowed. It is imposable to understand all things or know all things. We cannot fully understand the challenges or sacrifices someone has endured. Once again God knows