Respecting Other Faiths

I am learning to value and respect other faiths, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Judaism, etc. They have much value and a great deal from which I can learn. I am, however, a Christian by birth, language, culture, training, etc. By Christian I mean more than Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, etc. By Christian I mean a Jesus follower especially Jesus’ “Sermon of the Mount” and specifically the Beatitudes. I also mean Jesus’ sense of judgement as revealed in Matthew 25’s judgement of the sheep and goats. A Jesus follower is dying to self or ego which I interpret to mean becoming unattached or clinging to self or ego. Being a Baptist, Methodist or Catholic does not make one a Christian and claiming the label of Christian does not make one a Jesus follower. I have friends of other faiths who seem more like a Jesus follower than some of the Baptists, Methodist or Catholics, etc. whom I know. It is easy as well as culturally appropriate to remake Jesus into the image or person I want him to be, so I end up following my image of Jesus. In other words, I remake Jesus to be like me and reflect my values. This is not following the Jesus of the Scriptures. Jesus said to sell everything, give it to the poor and then, follow Him. Yeah, I’m not quite ready to do that either. I think it is best to leave any sense of judging who is right or who is wrong up to God, or the I Am. I have sufficient worry and work about myself, let alone any others.