what?
What is the Matt712 project? Well, to rephrase the "why?" page a bit, it's followers of Jesus trying to obey and emulate Him in practical ways. Sure, there's more to following Jesus than just serving others, but He seemed to put a pretty big emphasis on it.
Our objectives are simple:
To do for others what we would want done for us (see Matthew 7:12)
To love our neighbors as we love ourselves (see Matthew 22:39)
what is the matt712 project?
Our objectives are simple:
- To do for others what we would want done for us (see Matthew 7:12)
- To love our neighbors as we love ourselves (see Matthew 22:39)
Perhaps you’ve heard people talk about Jesus and Christianity, and to be honest, they sound like two different subjects. If so, you’re not alone. Mahatma Ghandi once said:
“I love your Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
If that statement resonates with you, we hope that you will accept our apologies as followers of Jesus.
To be honest, in our quest to decide exactly what is correct, we have often forgotten to do what is right. And as followers of Jesus, what is right is to obey and emulate Jesus. That’s pretty much what is behind the Matt712 project.
Of course, there's more. If we're going to be followers of Jesus, we've got to follow all of His commands, and try to emulate Him in all facets of our lives. That's a pretty ambitious life-long project, because as one of his His disciples, John, noted:
"There are so many other things Jesus did. If they were all written down, each of them, one by one, I can't imagine a world big enough to hold such a library of books." - John 21:25 (The Message)
So yes, there is more to being a Jesus follower than just serving and loving our neighbors, but it's part of it, especially since Jesus himself called this the "second greatest commandment."
what else?
what do you believe?
This is where you might expect to find a "statement of faith," or a "doctrinal document." But you won't here.
It's not that there's anything wrong with writing down specifics of what we believe, or defining the intricacies of what we believe to be correct doctrine. In fact, many devoted Jesus followers disagree passionately over baptism, "spiritual gifts," the authority of church government, whether or not one can drink alcohol, dancing, the use of musical instruments, biblical interpretations, or even the dates of religious observances, among many other subjects.
It's not that those matters are insignificant. Following Jesus is a really serious commitment, and it should be taken seriously. And anything that is taken seriously will result in some level of debate and discussion.
It's just that although there are a lot of people in the world trying their level best to follow Jesus who might not agree on every single point, what really matters is that they are following the same Jesus!
So, what do we believe? We believe we're supposed to follow Jesus by obeying His commands and emulating His actions!
