Yep, that's Christianity.
Now, these are probably not your first thoughts when you think of Christianity. We don't often think of Christianity as a particularly spiritual religion; from the outside, it seems more about orderliness, decency, and good citizenship, with a special gold star for scolding others. Yet that's not what it's like from the inside--or, at least, not what it was like at the start.
"It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Galatians 2:20), Paul writes. Not mere metaphor here; the life of Christ would literally infuse and transfigure believers. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17), Paul says.
Jesus himself makes it clear that "Follow me" means not just following his teachings but surrendering to him personally. Jesus prays "even as Thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that [my followers] also may be in us...I in them and thou in me, that they may be perfectly one" (John 17:21, 23). Some kind of transformative union is intended here, and it lies beyond easy words.
In fact, if these scriptures weren't overly familiar, we would think they had an "eastern" flavor, redolent of mysticism. It's a reasonable association for a faith that, after all, began in the Middle East.
Here's how it was summarized by a seventh-century Middle Eastern bishop, St. Isaac of Nineveh: "Fasting and continual rumination on God give birth to the submission of the senses, then watchfulness of the intellect, and then the ferocity of the passions are tamed. Next comes meekness of thoughts, which leads to luminous movements of the mind, then to zeal for the practice of virtues. This gives way to subtle intuitions, then the flow of tears, the remembrance of death, and pure chastity which is remote from every imagination.
"From this," he concluded, "comes clairvoyance and then mystic perceptions which the mind can understand."
Now, next time you hear Billy Graham exhorting a packed stadium to anticipate luminous movements of the mind, give me a call. Somehow in the West, we stopped expecting mystical union with God through Christ; instead, we aim merely to be like Jesus. Unlike the early Christians, we don't even try to "take every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5), seeking a transformed, illuminated mind.
In comparison, a "What Would Jesus Do?" wristband seems pretty tepid.
