attempt at duplication. Methodist pastor, Maxie Dunnam,
explained that,
“...to see the patterning of lives after Jesus as the essence of
Christianity misses the point. This has been the major failure of
the Christian Church since the second century on. To emphasize
following Jesus as the heart of Christianity is to reduce it to a
religion of morals and ethics and denude it of power. This has
happened over and over again in Christian history—the
diminishing of the role of Jesus to merely an example for us to
follow.” 23Ortiz admonishes Christians to,
“Stop trying to copy the Jesus of nearly 2000 years ago, and
let the living Christ flow through your character. You are an
expression of the glorified, eternal Christ who lives within you.” 24The Christian life is not an imitation of Jesus’ life, but the
manifestation of His life and Being in our behavior. The
Apostle Paul was desirous that “the life of Jesus should be
manifested in our mortal bodies” (II Cor. 4:10,11).
Explaining to His disciples their inability to reproduce
the Christian life, Jesus indicated, “Apart from Me, you can
do nothing” (John 15:5). There is nothing that a Christian
can originate or activate that constitutes or demonstrates
Christianity, that qualifies as Christian behavior, or that
glorifies God. “I am the vine, you are the branches” (John
15:5) was the analogy that Jesus utilized to illustrate the
necessity of allowing His life sustenance to flow through