Jesus is the what, now? (3)

warning: This is a brain dump and should be summarized and better organized.

BibleGateway.com - Passage Lookup: John 15:5,8

5"I am the vine; you are the
branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit;
apart from me you can do nothing.

So, in programming terms, Jesus is an interface? He's the IDL (Interface Definition Language) that defines the contract between the ineffable "Father" and the hairy (some more so than others), smelly mammals that NEED Him to sustain them in ways they cannot even fathom.

This metaphoric device would have Jesus marshaling and unmarshaling the
love between the Inneffable reality and the mundane organism. There's a proxy and stub that makes Two things separated by a vast distance and uncrossable barrier become conjoined.

Interesting, too, is the fact that the vine and branch are one organism, composed of the same stuff. The two things are primarily different in function, not substance.
By the above logic, Jesus might be though of as a specialized strutcure within the humanity organism.

So, thank you Mr. Obvious. Why does this all bear saying?
Well, I'm not searching for the role that Jesus plays in my own salvation. I think I'm wondering at the role He potentially plays in the salvation of, say, the "un-saved" ;-)>. Example: A devout Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, etc.

Here's my problem when it comes to Jesus:

I almost HAVE to reject the notion that just God would damn a good and devout person because he had not accepted, intellectually at any rate, the concept of Jesus as savior.

Combine that with the fact that I KNOW there are so many things we DON'T KNOW.

Makes me wonder - is there another way to find the Way? To walk through The Gate? To be grafted to The Vine? or to be found by the Shepherd? Is there a sort of salvation that we Christians might not recognize? For example, is it not possible that Ghandi was bearing fruit, somehow, through the Vine of Jesus?

Maybe Jesus is a REALITY as much as a savior? And here's where I can't express what comes next. *Frustration*

Or, maybe I'm reaching for something that just isn't there.

We Christians are taught that you confess with your mouth, but is there some deeper reality by which the Christ connects humanity with Divinity even when there is no profession of faith in the biblical Jesus? If a man (like Ghandi) follows the teachings of Christ and displays the heart of Christ but won't convert to Christianity, what does that make him? It seems arbitrary to say that Ghandi is in hell today because he didn't profess faith in Jesus as his personal savior, doesn't it?

But, I'm being presumptuous - who knows what God's really up to, and who am I to say what is just and what is not based on my fractional and fractured view of reality. Maybe that's really what I'm driving at. Maybe, just maybe, those of us who say Jesus is the way but really mean that my religion is the way aren't as correct as we think. But what would be the alternative?

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

I am the way, the truth, and the light. No man comes to the father but by me.

I am the Vine and you are the branches

I am the Gate

I am the Good Shepherd

Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hears my voice ...

My kingdom is not of this world
You are ever hearing, but not understanding

My ways are not your ways, My thoughts are not your thoughts...


So, Jesus is the what now? *fingers rapping...*