Browsing through the internet news today, my eyes crossed over the following headline:
"Attackers strike sect mosque in Pakistan, 80 dead..."
While unfortunately there's nothing shocking about reading such a headline due to it's common frequency, it's easy to detatch from such happenings and dismiss the violence and murder as mere political reprisals. A member of one sect killed someone from a rival sect so the rival sect responded in kind with a reprisal murder to "even the score".
The problem with this isn't hard to see. It depends on who is keeping score as to whether or not the score is ever "even". In fact, since the reprisal murder is usually based on killing any member of that group rather than seeking justice against the ones who perpetrated the original crime, a new "innocent" is killed each time. In essence, the score is never even. As Mohandas Ghandi wisely observed, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
When I was a child I remember hearing about the clashes between the catholic and the protestants in Ireland. The enmity and mistrust was deep and one killing inevitably was met with a counter-attack and so on. I recall asking my mother why these two groups of Christians were killing each other, as they both belonged to a larger "group" of followers of the same God and that God had firmly instructed them not to engage in the behaviour that they were engaging in. Similarly in Pakistan many muslims kill other muslims somehow thinking they are doing the work of God in the process. I know this is forbidden in the Qur'an teachings. India's militant Hindus also have their own back and forth battles against the minority Christians and Muslims. This type of reprisal is not condoned in hindu scriptural teachings, yet the battles are usually waged in the name of God and often focus on attacking people at their place of worship.
One of the reasons I am so drawn to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is because of the wisdom and love that he displayed for all of mankind. He said "you have heard the expression 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' but I tell you this: Do to others what you would have them do to you." He followed that with a statement of old, reminding us that it is not we who do the work of God, but God himself: "Vengeance is mine," says the Lord, "I will repay." He went even further to say, "You have heard it said to love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say to love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you. For even the worst among us can love those who show them love".
His words, if obeyed, literally break the unending cycle of reprisal. They leave the judgment of a man's heart to God, where it belongs.
Sometimes I get a little passionate about uncovering the truth. I try to do so because the world is clouded with lie upon lie. If I believe a lie, I will adjust my behaviour accordingly. I sometimes see my own "group" engaging in activities that seek will perpetuate a new circle of reprisals - and new eye for an eye - oftentimes based upon questionable evidence to begin with. Whether it is credible or not, every action has a consequence and must be understood as such. If I seek to call myself a follower of Christ, I must understand that the enemy is not fellow man, but that I wage war against principalities in the spiritual realm that seek to blind men to the truth. This is true not just on a wider level, but on a personal level as well. When I am hurt by someone, I must learn to let it go and not try to even the score.
As an aside, I do not think that this doctrine precludes legitimate self-defense. It simply indicates that one should not hold a record of wrong against another. In essence, each day is a new day.
Something to shoot for, anyway.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Of Truth and Deception
Few things make me angry anymore. I certainly grew up with many expectations of how things should be, and when they didn't turn out as planned - be that poor customer service, perceived injustices that I suffered at the hands of others, political wranglings that I thought were patently unfair, or simple opportunities that always seemed to land on someone else's doorstep - I was always ready to pounce with a well-rationalized righteous indignation against whatever perceived problem existed. Over the years, I've learned to let most of my expectations go and with those expectations, my anger has largely gone, too. But one thing still makes me very angry, and nothing can compare to my anger against blatant lies.
Lies are particularly offensive to me because they not only disturb our ability to trust (thus causing unnecessary disharmony), they distort our picture of reality. They make the truth relative, and seemingly elusive. And after a while, in the absense of truth, we begin to believe the lies - accepting them as defacto truth, even though we once knew differently.
The most profound lie is one whose seed implants in our soul and is watered by others so frequently that it takes deep roots, wrapping itself around our heart to the point where we see it as indistinguishable from who we are and who we can become.
Such lies commonly are planted from the words of others. Statements such as "You're ugly", "You're such a clutz", "You're an inadequate parent", "You're so prone to sickness", or "You just can't do anything right, can you?" permeate our thinking and after the initial impact wears off, we begin to accept these statements as truth. Once we've accepted the lie as truth, we begin to make other decisions in our lives that are based upon those underlying premises - and as such we then compound and validate the lie even more.
The longer we accept the underlying premise of the lie, the more decisions we take that provide validation to its existence, and the more it becomes a fundamental part of our belief and value system. What follows, then, is that once we have accepted the lie as truth for ourselves, we begin to propagate it to others. In essence, we harvest the fruits of the lie from our own life, then unknowingly plant it into the lives of others. Such is the consequence of not taking the time and opportunity to refute the lies in our own lives - we not only harm ourselves, but we also harm others.
So often these untruths initiate from a careless choice of words that another person uses in our presence. It may have been sarcasm, or it may have been said from selfish motivations or frustration by another, but the effect is the same. I believe that words are spiritual and that if they are not blessings, they are curses. Having seen familial patterns play out, I believe that many curses are generational. When we speak, we must realize the power that our words have to potentially effect generations of people.
I know from personal experience that the words that have hurt me the most, and the ones that have had the greatest impact on me, are usually the little things. Things that I have remembered for a lifetime, but the person who said the words probably forgot they said them five minutes after they left their mouth. This experience has led me to try and monitor the things that I say very closely, because once a curse is uttered, you can't take it back. All that's left at that point is the ability to ask forgiveness - an opportunity that not all of us will have. Will you ever really see that person in the Wal-Mart checkout lane again? Tell them they're ugly, though, and your words will potentially pierce them for a lifetime.
In the Garden of Eden, God created mankind "in His image". A mirror image is a perfect reflection of the original. Yes, God created us as a pure spirit. Our disobedience and pride has soiled that reflection. The lies that we have believed make the reflection harder to identify. But the good thing about a mirror is that no matter how soiled it becomes, when we take a little Windex and some old rags to it, it washes right off and you can see your reflection in it again.
My encouragement to anyone who reads this is to examine the utter shit that we have come to believe is truth. Discard it to where shit belongs. Then begin to live your life again modeled upon the truth...the truth that you have intrinsic worth - worth that does not come from the things you've done in the past (or will do in the future); worth that does not come from the attainment of some goal or the possession of some phyical feature; rather, worth from the fact that you are not an illegitimate spiritual bastard child, but that you were literally created in love. Your worth comes from the beautiful and utterly perfect creation that you are. Dusty as the mirror may have become from a lifetime of believing and acting upon deceit, the truth is that you are beautiful. Accept it. Then share it.
Seek forgiveness from whom you are led to seek forgiveness. Ultimately, though, I'm certain that that list of people will surely include yourself.
Lies are particularly offensive to me because they not only disturb our ability to trust (thus causing unnecessary disharmony), they distort our picture of reality. They make the truth relative, and seemingly elusive. And after a while, in the absense of truth, we begin to believe the lies - accepting them as defacto truth, even though we once knew differently.
The most profound lie is one whose seed implants in our soul and is watered by others so frequently that it takes deep roots, wrapping itself around our heart to the point where we see it as indistinguishable from who we are and who we can become.
Such lies commonly are planted from the words of others. Statements such as "You're ugly", "You're such a clutz", "You're an inadequate parent", "You're so prone to sickness", or "You just can't do anything right, can you?" permeate our thinking and after the initial impact wears off, we begin to accept these statements as truth. Once we've accepted the lie as truth, we begin to make other decisions in our lives that are based upon those underlying premises - and as such we then compound and validate the lie even more.
The longer we accept the underlying premise of the lie, the more decisions we take that provide validation to its existence, and the more it becomes a fundamental part of our belief and value system. What follows, then, is that once we have accepted the lie as truth for ourselves, we begin to propagate it to others. In essence, we harvest the fruits of the lie from our own life, then unknowingly plant it into the lives of others. Such is the consequence of not taking the time and opportunity to refute the lies in our own lives - we not only harm ourselves, but we also harm others.
So often these untruths initiate from a careless choice of words that another person uses in our presence. It may have been sarcasm, or it may have been said from selfish motivations or frustration by another, but the effect is the same. I believe that words are spiritual and that if they are not blessings, they are curses. Having seen familial patterns play out, I believe that many curses are generational. When we speak, we must realize the power that our words have to potentially effect generations of people.
I know from personal experience that the words that have hurt me the most, and the ones that have had the greatest impact on me, are usually the little things. Things that I have remembered for a lifetime, but the person who said the words probably forgot they said them five minutes after they left their mouth. This experience has led me to try and monitor the things that I say very closely, because once a curse is uttered, you can't take it back. All that's left at that point is the ability to ask forgiveness - an opportunity that not all of us will have. Will you ever really see that person in the Wal-Mart checkout lane again? Tell them they're ugly, though, and your words will potentially pierce them for a lifetime.
In the Garden of Eden, God created mankind "in His image". A mirror image is a perfect reflection of the original. Yes, God created us as a pure spirit. Our disobedience and pride has soiled that reflection. The lies that we have believed make the reflection harder to identify. But the good thing about a mirror is that no matter how soiled it becomes, when we take a little Windex and some old rags to it, it washes right off and you can see your reflection in it again.
My encouragement to anyone who reads this is to examine the utter shit that we have come to believe is truth. Discard it to where shit belongs. Then begin to live your life again modeled upon the truth...the truth that you have intrinsic worth - worth that does not come from the things you've done in the past (or will do in the future); worth that does not come from the attainment of some goal or the possession of some phyical feature; rather, worth from the fact that you are not an illegitimate spiritual bastard child, but that you were literally created in love. Your worth comes from the beautiful and utterly perfect creation that you are. Dusty as the mirror may have become from a lifetime of believing and acting upon deceit, the truth is that you are beautiful. Accept it. Then share it.
Seek forgiveness from whom you are led to seek forgiveness. Ultimately, though, I'm certain that that list of people will surely include yourself.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Random thoughts
I had traveled to a distant Texas town over the weekend and got the chance to talk at long length to a type of person that I normally wouldn't find myself engaged in conversation with. He, in many ways, reminded me of my younger years. What I saw was a decent guy who seemed to have absolutely no sense of purpose in his life. He knew there was a right and wrong but was content not to worry about why it existed so long as he could keep chasing the pot of gold at the end of his rainbow. Until he found it, he would keep chasing the skirt of the woman in front of him. I was reminded that to have a blind or empty faith is as pointless as having no faith at all.
When I got home from my trek across the state, I decided it was time that I changed the oil in my car. It was way overdue and I still had some time left in the day, so I pulled the car up on the ramps, drained the dirty old oil from my car and replaced it with new, clean oil. Since we're supposed to recycle our used oil, I funnelled it back into the oil jug. I had some space in the jug left over and I remembered that I had an open container of used motor oil that I had kept on my back porch the prior year to lube my chainsaw. As I began to pour that oil into my jug, a big lump coalesced in the bottom of the container. On closer examination, I saw that it was a bird... and that bird's nest. I remember seeing a big splash of oil on my back porch last year, but I didn't realize the bird had fallen into the oil container and died. Apparently, the bird had built a nest just above the oil container and had seen the oil and thought it was a water birdbath. She went for a dip and then got covered with oil, so she couldn't fly. Her flailing knocked her nest into the oil, drowning her eggs and herself. It was kinda sad.
All my life I have been an "idea man". I've always looked at things and wondered "What if..." I consider that my gifting, my raison d'etre, so to speak. But I seem to see things so differently than the rest of the world, it's sometimes a bit discouraging that so few other people seem to give a rat's ass about my ideas. Well, tomorrow someone's giving me their ear. And not just anyone, but someone who can actually help my idea come to fruition. Maybe it'll be like all the other opportunities gone by the wayside, but at the risk of sounding like the 30 something that never found a mate, I'd like to think that this opportunity will be "the one". I'm certain that God has given me this odd brain for a reason, and I'm also certain that there's a reason why things happen the way they do, so I don't begrudge past "failures" if you will. I'm just ready for a success.
A while back, my good friend Rina introduced me to a book written by an Indian doctor/philosopher named Depak Chopra. In the brief amount of information that I have gleened from Chopra, some amazing new paradigms have formed in my brain. He speaks, for instance, of our cells and DNA - the essence and base building block of who we are as people - essentially being a story book of our lives, containing information about our past and our present and our predispositions of our future. From the study of these cells and DNA structures, scientists can often tell people what areas of one's genetics are weak and susceptible to disease. Chopra's basic assertion is that while our parents birth us with a copy of their DNA, we are continually in the process of writing our DNA with our lives. Thus, if we make a major life change, our DNA can actually change. This statement, to me, is congruent with the process of spiritual re-birth - a born again religious conversion, a revelation which can fundamentally alter someone's viewpoint on just about everything. It also backs up the statement of the Bible that says "the sins of the father are visited on the third and fourth generation, but the mercy of the Lord is everlasting." Negative patterns of behaviour do indeed often last for several generations, but the hope that I find in this scientific research is that the DNA predisposition towards these negative behaviours can actually shift when someone makes a conscious and meaningful decision to see things differently and align their lives accordingly. Thanks for the book recommend, Rina. I hope your back is feeling better.
Well, as I said earlier, I am hopeful that tomorrow might be "the day" that this lifetime of dry ideas ends. I should get some rest for it. If you're so inclined to pray for things like this, I could use the favor of the Lord on my life right now. I will covet your prayers.
When I got home from my trek across the state, I decided it was time that I changed the oil in my car. It was way overdue and I still had some time left in the day, so I pulled the car up on the ramps, drained the dirty old oil from my car and replaced it with new, clean oil. Since we're supposed to recycle our used oil, I funnelled it back into the oil jug. I had some space in the jug left over and I remembered that I had an open container of used motor oil that I had kept on my back porch the prior year to lube my chainsaw. As I began to pour that oil into my jug, a big lump coalesced in the bottom of the container. On closer examination, I saw that it was a bird... and that bird's nest. I remember seeing a big splash of oil on my back porch last year, but I didn't realize the bird had fallen into the oil container and died. Apparently, the bird had built a nest just above the oil container and had seen the oil and thought it was a water birdbath. She went for a dip and then got covered with oil, so she couldn't fly. Her flailing knocked her nest into the oil, drowning her eggs and herself. It was kinda sad.
All my life I have been an "idea man". I've always looked at things and wondered "What if..." I consider that my gifting, my raison d'etre, so to speak. But I seem to see things so differently than the rest of the world, it's sometimes a bit discouraging that so few other people seem to give a rat's ass about my ideas. Well, tomorrow someone's giving me their ear. And not just anyone, but someone who can actually help my idea come to fruition. Maybe it'll be like all the other opportunities gone by the wayside, but at the risk of sounding like the 30 something that never found a mate, I'd like to think that this opportunity will be "the one". I'm certain that God has given me this odd brain for a reason, and I'm also certain that there's a reason why things happen the way they do, so I don't begrudge past "failures" if you will. I'm just ready for a success.
A while back, my good friend Rina introduced me to a book written by an Indian doctor/philosopher named Depak Chopra. In the brief amount of information that I have gleened from Chopra, some amazing new paradigms have formed in my brain. He speaks, for instance, of our cells and DNA - the essence and base building block of who we are as people - essentially being a story book of our lives, containing information about our past and our present and our predispositions of our future. From the study of these cells and DNA structures, scientists can often tell people what areas of one's genetics are weak and susceptible to disease. Chopra's basic assertion is that while our parents birth us with a copy of their DNA, we are continually in the process of writing our DNA with our lives. Thus, if we make a major life change, our DNA can actually change. This statement, to me, is congruent with the process of spiritual re-birth - a born again religious conversion, a revelation which can fundamentally alter someone's viewpoint on just about everything. It also backs up the statement of the Bible that says "the sins of the father are visited on the third and fourth generation, but the mercy of the Lord is everlasting." Negative patterns of behaviour do indeed often last for several generations, but the hope that I find in this scientific research is that the DNA predisposition towards these negative behaviours can actually shift when someone makes a conscious and meaningful decision to see things differently and align their lives accordingly. Thanks for the book recommend, Rina. I hope your back is feeling better.
Well, as I said earlier, I am hopeful that tomorrow might be "the day" that this lifetime of dry ideas ends. I should get some rest for it. If you're so inclined to pray for things like this, I could use the favor of the Lord on my life right now. I will covet your prayers.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
I am blessed
Sometimes I'm blessed with the opportunity to just sit back and think about how many ways that I've been granted a wonderful life. Often times that opportunity comes when I get the chance to tell part of "my story" and I get to reflect on where I've come from and where I am today. Time has brought many people into and out of my life, in various capacities. Some were there in my youth, some in my early adulthood, and some are here now. Others have come, gone, and come back into my life. Regardless of when, the tapestry of experience that they all have brought to me is invaluable and beautiful.
Some have taught me what to avoid, while others have taught me how to overcome that which I am trapped in. Some have helped me to uncover just who I am while others have taught me who I am not and should not be. Some have given me a reason to cry for them and others have given me their shoulder as a means to transfer some of my burdens to them. Some have been the model of sacrificial love to me.
I am humbled by the people whom have come into my life. Humbled by the undeserved love that I have been shown, and humbled by my opportunities to share my life with them, and by the respect that I have been given. I have no question that there is a God, because I have seen him work through people in my life.
Some have taught me what to avoid, while others have taught me how to overcome that which I am trapped in. Some have helped me to uncover just who I am while others have taught me who I am not and should not be. Some have given me a reason to cry for them and others have given me their shoulder as a means to transfer some of my burdens to them. Some have been the model of sacrificial love to me.
I am humbled by the people whom have come into my life. Humbled by the undeserved love that I have been shown, and humbled by my opportunities to share my life with them, and by the respect that I have been given. I have no question that there is a God, because I have seen him work through people in my life.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Empty Religion
Caution: This is a spiritual blog entry...
Philippians 3:17 Brothers, be imitators together of me, and mark those who walk this way, for you have us for a pattern.
Those words were penned by the apostle Paul to the early church of Jesus Christ some 2000 years ago.
There is a temptation among those in the church to deify the apostles and other biblical figures - or at least make them into mythological super humans. When Paul wrote that the people of Philippi should be imitators of him, he was urging them to adopt the level of belief, faith and trust that he had come to know in the Creator. He wanted them to live their lives in accordance with those beliefs. Fast forward 2000 years. A typical church service today will spend an hour trying to convince "Christians" that if they don't start living their lives differently, the "non-believers" will not come to know Christ and will spend an eternity in hell. They see the great commission as some sort of traveling Lincoln-Douglas debate in which evidence is mounted on one side to counter the evidence of the other side. At the end of the debate, the non-believing foe will either concede defeat or will somehow manage to present evidence that the believer was unprepared to defend against, and the believer will concede that the unbeliever has "rejected God". Then this pseudo great commission goes on, and another debate partner (potential convert) must be found. In this scenario, the believer's mission is to get the non-believer to admit that Jesus really did live, really was God, and if he prays a prayer that says he believes in Jesus, he's "saved", an event which, depending upon which church the evangelist/debater belongs to, may or may not be able to be undone...and the new convert will now be assured a spot in heaven. God forbid the non-believer actually be allowed to present evidence that's compelling and thought provoking, causing the believer to want to examine it. That's very dangerous, as faith is fragile and the words of our religious leaders should not be challenged lest the people be deceived.
Such is the church as I see it today. Totally detached from what the Lord Jesus was teaching - encouraging neither a true relationship with him nor a seeking heart after the truth. Instead we are told that "when we can walk on water, we would be allowed to do some of the things that Jesus did". Or we are told of our arrogance if we claim to be, like King David, living a life after God's heart, because no one can really do that until we "reach the other side in glory".
My main contention is that the whole concept of salvation has been bastardized and grossly twisted. It should be quite simple. To "believe in Jesus" is no different than somebody today asking you to believe in them. To trust in Jesus is no different than someone today asking you to trust them. The idea that salvation is an intellectual exercise that can be debated into existence is ridiculous and misguided. To trust in Jesus means nothing more than to examine what he taught, said, and did and believe it based upon the same means that we would evaluate whether or not to trust anyone else in the world. Test his message, test his statements, test his character. One simply CANNOT do that without knowing what his message is. To claim trust without doing so would merely be blind faith and blind faith in anyone or anything is unwise. Salvation, as I see it, is not when someone prays a prayer or says some words, or avows some historical facts. Salvation to me is when a person finally realizes that creator God is indeed trustworthy and they decide to submit their will and ways of understanding to the ways of God, even if they don't make sense at first. Even if they don't know of Jesus, salvation occurs when a person of any faith comes to humble their pride and submit in full to the creator God that is behind the rituals and regulations that their faith encourages them to practice (so long as those rituals actually reveal God's character). This is a way of being, a lifestyle. And while the decision to submit one's life may occur in an instant the experience of proving it out through personal testing cannot be taken away nor can it be debated away, because it is something that develops bit by bit over time. It is not some silly script from a biblical scholar.
Paul encouraged people to act like him. We are told that to say a similar thing would be arrogant and completely out of line. But I tell you that those "Christians" who cannot say to you that you should act like them (and believe it in their hearts) are liars and do not know the God that they say they have a relationship with. They use the cloak of imperfection as an excuse to remain lazy and unaffected by God. They claim that Paul was a superhuman man of faith and we will never achieve his stature - after all, he did write half the New Testament Bible. This cop out is a damnable lie and encourages people to declare and proselytise a faith in a God-spirit that they indeed do not possess.
I want people to act like me. I've spent a number of years proving the gospel, and I now know that the laws of God are good laws, designed not for punishment, but for order, not for restriction, but for safe boundaries in freedom. The faith that I have in my God is not blind faith. I have read the words of Jesus and have tested them in my own life. They are true. Following them brings me peace, even in the midst of extremely difficult times. I have not become perfect, and I do not desire to deify myself - that's not what this is about. I do seek forgiveness, however, when I know I've wronged someone. I do not try to gain at the expense of others bit if I do, I seek to make it right. I want people to do these things. I want them to know the freedom that I know. I want them to seek the God that I have sought, and find his peace and direction for their life, and to know the depths of love that he has for us.
When I believe in, and live out (submit to) the message and teachings of Jesus, God is lifted up and draws men unto himself. THAT is the great commission. People come to God because they have seen his work in my life and want the same for their own. Not because I'm a compelling orator...not because I'm a good debater and can wow people with my facts...not because I'm something "special"...but because they can see the evidence of change in my own life. They can see the power and hope in my own life. Any other reason for coming to a declaration of faith is misguided, built on a sandy foundation, and doomed to fail.
I want you to be like me. If you claim to be a person of faith, ask yourself the question "Can I say that about myself?" If you can't, why not? Perhaps its merely a misunderstanding of the faith that you're trying to represent. Put away your list of do's and don'ts and check the condition of your heart. Do you submit yourself to the teachings of Jesus Christ because you realize that those teachings ARE life? If you do, then you have found salvation. If you don't, if you don't trust him, then no matter what words you have said, what aisle you have walked, what prayer you have prayed, you have nothing but empty religion.
Philippians 3:17 Brothers, be imitators together of me, and mark those who walk this way, for you have us for a pattern.
Those words were penned by the apostle Paul to the early church of Jesus Christ some 2000 years ago.
There is a temptation among those in the church to deify the apostles and other biblical figures - or at least make them into mythological super humans. When Paul wrote that the people of Philippi should be imitators of him, he was urging them to adopt the level of belief, faith and trust that he had come to know in the Creator. He wanted them to live their lives in accordance with those beliefs. Fast forward 2000 years. A typical church service today will spend an hour trying to convince "Christians" that if they don't start living their lives differently, the "non-believers" will not come to know Christ and will spend an eternity in hell. They see the great commission as some sort of traveling Lincoln-Douglas debate in which evidence is mounted on one side to counter the evidence of the other side. At the end of the debate, the non-believing foe will either concede defeat or will somehow manage to present evidence that the believer was unprepared to defend against, and the believer will concede that the unbeliever has "rejected God". Then this pseudo great commission goes on, and another debate partner (potential convert) must be found. In this scenario, the believer's mission is to get the non-believer to admit that Jesus really did live, really was God, and if he prays a prayer that says he believes in Jesus, he's "saved", an event which, depending upon which church the evangelist/debater belongs to, may or may not be able to be undone...and the new convert will now be assured a spot in heaven. God forbid the non-believer actually be allowed to present evidence that's compelling and thought provoking, causing the believer to want to examine it. That's very dangerous, as faith is fragile and the words of our religious leaders should not be challenged lest the people be deceived.
Such is the church as I see it today. Totally detached from what the Lord Jesus was teaching - encouraging neither a true relationship with him nor a seeking heart after the truth. Instead we are told that "when we can walk on water, we would be allowed to do some of the things that Jesus did". Or we are told of our arrogance if we claim to be, like King David, living a life after God's heart, because no one can really do that until we "reach the other side in glory".
My main contention is that the whole concept of salvation has been bastardized and grossly twisted. It should be quite simple. To "believe in Jesus" is no different than somebody today asking you to believe in them. To trust in Jesus is no different than someone today asking you to trust them. The idea that salvation is an intellectual exercise that can be debated into existence is ridiculous and misguided. To trust in Jesus means nothing more than to examine what he taught, said, and did and believe it based upon the same means that we would evaluate whether or not to trust anyone else in the world. Test his message, test his statements, test his character. One simply CANNOT do that without knowing what his message is. To claim trust without doing so would merely be blind faith and blind faith in anyone or anything is unwise. Salvation, as I see it, is not when someone prays a prayer or says some words, or avows some historical facts. Salvation to me is when a person finally realizes that creator God is indeed trustworthy and they decide to submit their will and ways of understanding to the ways of God, even if they don't make sense at first. Even if they don't know of Jesus, salvation occurs when a person of any faith comes to humble their pride and submit in full to the creator God that is behind the rituals and regulations that their faith encourages them to practice (so long as those rituals actually reveal God's character). This is a way of being, a lifestyle. And while the decision to submit one's life may occur in an instant the experience of proving it out through personal testing cannot be taken away nor can it be debated away, because it is something that develops bit by bit over time. It is not some silly script from a biblical scholar.
Paul encouraged people to act like him. We are told that to say a similar thing would be arrogant and completely out of line. But I tell you that those "Christians" who cannot say to you that you should act like them (and believe it in their hearts) are liars and do not know the God that they say they have a relationship with. They use the cloak of imperfection as an excuse to remain lazy and unaffected by God. They claim that Paul was a superhuman man of faith and we will never achieve his stature - after all, he did write half the New Testament Bible. This cop out is a damnable lie and encourages people to declare and proselytise a faith in a God-spirit that they indeed do not possess.
I want people to act like me. I've spent a number of years proving the gospel, and I now know that the laws of God are good laws, designed not for punishment, but for order, not for restriction, but for safe boundaries in freedom. The faith that I have in my God is not blind faith. I have read the words of Jesus and have tested them in my own life. They are true. Following them brings me peace, even in the midst of extremely difficult times. I have not become perfect, and I do not desire to deify myself - that's not what this is about. I do seek forgiveness, however, when I know I've wronged someone. I do not try to gain at the expense of others bit if I do, I seek to make it right. I want people to do these things. I want them to know the freedom that I know. I want them to seek the God that I have sought, and find his peace and direction for their life, and to know the depths of love that he has for us.
When I believe in, and live out (submit to) the message and teachings of Jesus, God is lifted up and draws men unto himself. THAT is the great commission. People come to God because they have seen his work in my life and want the same for their own. Not because I'm a compelling orator...not because I'm a good debater and can wow people with my facts...not because I'm something "special"...but because they can see the evidence of change in my own life. They can see the power and hope in my own life. Any other reason for coming to a declaration of faith is misguided, built on a sandy foundation, and doomed to fail.
I want you to be like me. If you claim to be a person of faith, ask yourself the question "Can I say that about myself?" If you can't, why not? Perhaps its merely a misunderstanding of the faith that you're trying to represent. Put away your list of do's and don'ts and check the condition of your heart. Do you submit yourself to the teachings of Jesus Christ because you realize that those teachings ARE life? If you do, then you have found salvation. If you don't, if you don't trust him, then no matter what words you have said, what aisle you have walked, what prayer you have prayed, you have nothing but empty religion.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
As one political cycle has just gone and the primaries for the next are now being held, my mind, lately, has been focused on freedom - what it is, and what it isn't - and why the founders of my country worked so hard to ensure that the role of our government was largely limited to guarantying the freedom of its citizens.
It is human nature to seek to deny others their own freedom. One need not look too hard to see the examples of this. The obvious examples of slavery, the sex-trade, and ruthless dictators come quickly to mind. But lest we point our condemnatory finger of blame at others while washing our own hands in innocence, let's consider some other ways that we deny freedom in socially acceptable ways.
Religion:
I've spoken many times about my own experiences with religion. I was raised in a church-going family and have been active in my faith from the time I was four years old. I attended a Christian elementary school, a Christian college, and a Christian seminary. During that time there was never a shortage of well meaning people who were quick to point out when my actions were offending God. They presumed to know what was gonna piss God off and what was gonna be pleasing to him and they were sure going to get me straightened out lest I take the wrong path and spend my eternity in hell. Some would even quote bible verses to make sure I knew that their words were actually emanating from God's lips himself. They would tell me what to eat and drink, what to wear, what to listen to, how to keep my hair, how to worship, what emotions I could feel, who I should tell my "sins" to, what words were acceptable and which were not, what to think, what not to study, who to talk to and who to avoid. They even told me how to think politically and which way that I should cast my vote. Frankly, there isn't an area of my life that they did not try and control. It did not make me a loving follower of a kind God, it made me into a judgemental, arrogant, condescending, blind and soulless follower of a rigid rulebook that could not be challenged. This being all I knew about God, I was controlled and made a slave to my "good" religious mentors in the hope of escaping a damnable life in hell. Worse than that, I was told that I needed to "convert" my friends and neighbors to believe the same way so that their souls could be spared.
It was not until I started speaking (actually listening) at length to people of other religions that my eyes were opened to a central truth that seems to escape most. God is. Yeah, I suppose I should have already known that, since he called himself "I AM". But God is. He's there in the midst of the Muslim who seeks his face and there in the midst of the Buddhist who may have never heard of Jesus, yet still seeks to know and merge with "the source" of all that is good and right and full of life. His character can be identified in Hindu mythology, seen clearly in their scriptures, and witnessed in practice through the great servant leadership of Gandhi. God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end. Yet despite being found in all religions, like the modern Christian church, each of these other religions contain vast leadership structures that widely twist Him and make discipleship more about following a rigid set of rituals than about seeking the spirit of the God who is behind those rituals. Truly, as Jesus said, wide is the path that leads to destruction but narrow is the path that leads to life and few shall find it. People the world over are more interested in controlling others according to their own perceptions, desires, convictions, and beliefs than they are in encouraging freedom and teaching people to seek after the spirit of God for their own life. In the end, what suffers is the relationship with God. It becomes tainted by rigidity and people end up rejecting Him - when they should instead be rejecting the religious systems. We can control a person's behaviour through threats and force, but only through voluntary submission does a person's heart change.
Relationships:
Yeah, let's bring this on home. I've talked to a lot of people over the years about relationships. If there's one thing that I see that negatively affects a relationship more than anything else, it's one partner desiring to control the other. Manipulation schemes can be overt or covert, direct or passive-aggressive, but the end result is that one person usually wants to force the other person to be or feel differently than they currently are and is willing to go to extreme measures to make sure that it happens.
"Love me, damnit! Or I'll make your life miserable!"
Sounds kinda silly, but how true is it?? A woman is caught flirting so the husband responds by scrutinizing her phone records then sequesters her from other men so she'll be true to her husband and her heart will be his only. Really?? A man has wandering eyes so the spouse quickly cancels their internet service so he won't be "tempted" to look at porn. This way his heart will be true to his wife. Really?? A significant other decides to have lunch with a friend of the opposite sex and is subsequently put on a short leash so that they can be closely monitored.
If the end result is to have a person that we love, love us back, none of these things work. There is not a person in the world that becomes trustworthy by not being trusted. There is not a person in the world that falls more deeply in love with another because they are told they must. Just like with religion: We can control a person through threats and force, but only through freedom - voluntary submission - does one obtain another's heart. Anything else is just fake and pretentious. Is that what we desire? The human soul not only desires freedom, it will have it. The question is only when and how will it be obtained?
Freedom is so misunderstood. People think that if you give someone else freedom, they will run amok and abuse it. While that might indeed be true with some people, I would much rather be in the company of a person who tells me to my face that they hate me than to be in the company of those who stroke my ego while wielding a knife behind their back. There's an old saying that if you love something you should set it free. If it doesn't come back it was never yours to begin with. While that may be cliched, there is nothing more true. Putting it into action simply requires a huge amount of faith in something higher than us to begin with. Something that has a plan for us and will not abandon us regardless what circumstances life deals us. Faith that we actually possess value in and of ourselves. Faith that we will not be abandoned or forsaken or without purpose. It is likely that lack of faith that causes us to take things into our own hands and try to control our circumstances and the people around us to begin with. True change may be affected from without, but it only happens from within.
It is human nature to seek to deny others their own freedom. One need not look too hard to see the examples of this. The obvious examples of slavery, the sex-trade, and ruthless dictators come quickly to mind. But lest we point our condemnatory finger of blame at others while washing our own hands in innocence, let's consider some other ways that we deny freedom in socially acceptable ways.
Religion:
I've spoken many times about my own experiences with religion. I was raised in a church-going family and have been active in my faith from the time I was four years old. I attended a Christian elementary school, a Christian college, and a Christian seminary. During that time there was never a shortage of well meaning people who were quick to point out when my actions were offending God. They presumed to know what was gonna piss God off and what was gonna be pleasing to him and they were sure going to get me straightened out lest I take the wrong path and spend my eternity in hell. Some would even quote bible verses to make sure I knew that their words were actually emanating from God's lips himself. They would tell me what to eat and drink, what to wear, what to listen to, how to keep my hair, how to worship, what emotions I could feel, who I should tell my "sins" to, what words were acceptable and which were not, what to think, what not to study, who to talk to and who to avoid. They even told me how to think politically and which way that I should cast my vote. Frankly, there isn't an area of my life that they did not try and control. It did not make me a loving follower of a kind God, it made me into a judgemental, arrogant, condescending, blind and soulless follower of a rigid rulebook that could not be challenged. This being all I knew about God, I was controlled and made a slave to my "good" religious mentors in the hope of escaping a damnable life in hell. Worse than that, I was told that I needed to "convert" my friends and neighbors to believe the same way so that their souls could be spared.
It was not until I started speaking (actually listening) at length to people of other religions that my eyes were opened to a central truth that seems to escape most. God is. Yeah, I suppose I should have already known that, since he called himself "I AM". But God is. He's there in the midst of the Muslim who seeks his face and there in the midst of the Buddhist who may have never heard of Jesus, yet still seeks to know and merge with "the source" of all that is good and right and full of life. His character can be identified in Hindu mythology, seen clearly in their scriptures, and witnessed in practice through the great servant leadership of Gandhi. God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end. Yet despite being found in all religions, like the modern Christian church, each of these other religions contain vast leadership structures that widely twist Him and make discipleship more about following a rigid set of rituals than about seeking the spirit of the God who is behind those rituals. Truly, as Jesus said, wide is the path that leads to destruction but narrow is the path that leads to life and few shall find it. People the world over are more interested in controlling others according to their own perceptions, desires, convictions, and beliefs than they are in encouraging freedom and teaching people to seek after the spirit of God for their own life. In the end, what suffers is the relationship with God. It becomes tainted by rigidity and people end up rejecting Him - when they should instead be rejecting the religious systems. We can control a person's behaviour through threats and force, but only through voluntary submission does a person's heart change.
Relationships:
Yeah, let's bring this on home. I've talked to a lot of people over the years about relationships. If there's one thing that I see that negatively affects a relationship more than anything else, it's one partner desiring to control the other. Manipulation schemes can be overt or covert, direct or passive-aggressive, but the end result is that one person usually wants to force the other person to be or feel differently than they currently are and is willing to go to extreme measures to make sure that it happens.
"Love me, damnit! Or I'll make your life miserable!"
Sounds kinda silly, but how true is it?? A woman is caught flirting so the husband responds by scrutinizing her phone records then sequesters her from other men so she'll be true to her husband and her heart will be his only. Really?? A man has wandering eyes so the spouse quickly cancels their internet service so he won't be "tempted" to look at porn. This way his heart will be true to his wife. Really?? A significant other decides to have lunch with a friend of the opposite sex and is subsequently put on a short leash so that they can be closely monitored.
If the end result is to have a person that we love, love us back, none of these things work. There is not a person in the world that becomes trustworthy by not being trusted. There is not a person in the world that falls more deeply in love with another because they are told they must. Just like with religion: We can control a person through threats and force, but only through freedom - voluntary submission - does one obtain another's heart. Anything else is just fake and pretentious. Is that what we desire? The human soul not only desires freedom, it will have it. The question is only when and how will it be obtained?
Freedom is so misunderstood. People think that if you give someone else freedom, they will run amok and abuse it. While that might indeed be true with some people, I would much rather be in the company of a person who tells me to my face that they hate me than to be in the company of those who stroke my ego while wielding a knife behind their back. There's an old saying that if you love something you should set it free. If it doesn't come back it was never yours to begin with. While that may be cliched, there is nothing more true. Putting it into action simply requires a huge amount of faith in something higher than us to begin with. Something that has a plan for us and will not abandon us regardless what circumstances life deals us. Faith that we actually possess value in and of ourselves. Faith that we will not be abandoned or forsaken or without purpose. It is likely that lack of faith that causes us to take things into our own hands and try to control our circumstances and the people around us to begin with. True change may be affected from without, but it only happens from within.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
For God so loved the world...
I got a rare opportunity to talk with an old childhood friend this afternoon. It always does my heart good to hear from old friends, especially those people whom have touched my life in some capacity. This friend has been through some unfortunate hell in her life and as such has many understandable questions about the role of God in her own and other people's lives.
As is usually the case when I get posed hard questions, I usually just stand there and look cute, so as to not arouse any suspicion that I might not know the answer. Since that doesn't tend to work over the telephone, though, I had to face the alternative reality that she had some pretty good points that I needed to think about.
From the time I was a little boy I've heard the expression "For God so loved the world, that he sent his son to die for us". I always accepted that at face value and simply thought, "wow, that must be a lot". Other scriptures (The words of Jesus himself) state that "greater love has no man than this: than to lay his life down for his friends". Wow... the tough part about that is that you can only really show your love to one person that way, as you can only die once! I never really gave the teaching much more thought than that. Jesus and God loved us so much than they collaborated in heaven for a murder/suicide mission to save mankind.
Hmmmm. Now that you say it like that, it does sound kinda sick, doesn't it? As a matter of fact, in the Old Testament Bible, God repeatedly condemns the foreign nations who "sacrifice their own children to the altars of their gods". Hmmmm again. Would our God be engaged in the very same practice that he condemned? I don't think so.
If one reads the message of Jesus carefully, he spends most of his time and effort telling us (in a variety of ways) to stop being self-centered. Just stop it. The golden rule is the most oft quoted example of this, but if you look to the core of most of his teachings, they center around realizing that there is more to life than satisfying one's own desires. One should humbly exist, not striving to find one's meaning or purpose in possessions, position, or popularity.
I was talking to someone a while back about how much a spouse had given up for the sake of her husband. She was a very bright and capable woman who had chosen to bypass her own dreams, desires, and opportunities so that she might make a new life with her husband. The words, without thought, popped into my head that she had "laid down her life for him". Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, the connection hit me. Greater love has no one than to lay their life down for their friends. Wow...it's not a message about death after all! It's a message about life! It's a message about living a life that's not selfish (perhaps even unto death, but I don't think that's the focus).
I think that many of us, in a rationalization for not living that "laid down" life will cite the shitty and unfair circumstances that we have endured. Many good people are forced to endure much undeserved hell on earth because of the actions of the ungodly. I think this is where Jesus' death comes in to the equation. Here's a guy that spent his lifetime healing people, teaching people, and living a sinless life and what happens to him? People plot to kill him, they falsely accuse him (smear his good name), they torture him and kill him. Moreso than a blood sacrifice, I think his death is a revelation to us of how selfish we really are. Let's face it, none of us enjoys enduring hardship. But if a guy who did nothing but good all his life can be treated this way, I'm not sure that I've got any legitimate gripes that should cause me to turn from his teachings. He essentially said, "I'm gonna do what's right by God even if you guys try to destroy my character and my body for doing it."
God didn't send his son to die for us, God sent his son to live for us. His life was the perfect example of what God intended humanity to look like - how he intended it to function. The fact that Jesus endured his living sacrifice unto death is even more telling of how we should live our own lives. And it makes a bit more sense than the other nonsense that I've been taught since I was a boy about a God that seemed to love others more than his own son. That teaching just doesn't line up with his character as it is described in the scriptures, and frankly it's just kinda sick.
God sent Jesus to earth to live. While he was here, Jesus voluntarily laid down his own aspirations for a life of luxury, unrequitted pleasure, family, stature, etc., for a life of complete abandonment to the spirit of God. It was this voluntary action that displayed his devotion to God. God didn't sacrifice Jesus, mankind sacrificed him for our own redemption. It was our depravity and debauchery, not God's, that caused Jesus' death.
As is usually the case when I get posed hard questions, I usually just stand there and look cute, so as to not arouse any suspicion that I might not know the answer. Since that doesn't tend to work over the telephone, though, I had to face the alternative reality that she had some pretty good points that I needed to think about.
From the time I was a little boy I've heard the expression "For God so loved the world, that he sent his son to die for us". I always accepted that at face value and simply thought, "wow, that must be a lot". Other scriptures (The words of Jesus himself) state that "greater love has no man than this: than to lay his life down for his friends". Wow... the tough part about that is that you can only really show your love to one person that way, as you can only die once! I never really gave the teaching much more thought than that. Jesus and God loved us so much than they collaborated in heaven for a murder/suicide mission to save mankind.
Hmmmm. Now that you say it like that, it does sound kinda sick, doesn't it? As a matter of fact, in the Old Testament Bible, God repeatedly condemns the foreign nations who "sacrifice their own children to the altars of their gods". Hmmmm again. Would our God be engaged in the very same practice that he condemned? I don't think so.
If one reads the message of Jesus carefully, he spends most of his time and effort telling us (in a variety of ways) to stop being self-centered. Just stop it. The golden rule is the most oft quoted example of this, but if you look to the core of most of his teachings, they center around realizing that there is more to life than satisfying one's own desires. One should humbly exist, not striving to find one's meaning or purpose in possessions, position, or popularity.
I was talking to someone a while back about how much a spouse had given up for the sake of her husband. She was a very bright and capable woman who had chosen to bypass her own dreams, desires, and opportunities so that she might make a new life with her husband. The words, without thought, popped into my head that she had "laid down her life for him". Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, the connection hit me. Greater love has no one than to lay their life down for their friends. Wow...it's not a message about death after all! It's a message about life! It's a message about living a life that's not selfish (perhaps even unto death, but I don't think that's the focus).
I think that many of us, in a rationalization for not living that "laid down" life will cite the shitty and unfair circumstances that we have endured. Many good people are forced to endure much undeserved hell on earth because of the actions of the ungodly. I think this is where Jesus' death comes in to the equation. Here's a guy that spent his lifetime healing people, teaching people, and living a sinless life and what happens to him? People plot to kill him, they falsely accuse him (smear his good name), they torture him and kill him. Moreso than a blood sacrifice, I think his death is a revelation to us of how selfish we really are. Let's face it, none of us enjoys enduring hardship. But if a guy who did nothing but good all his life can be treated this way, I'm not sure that I've got any legitimate gripes that should cause me to turn from his teachings. He essentially said, "I'm gonna do what's right by God even if you guys try to destroy my character and my body for doing it."
God didn't send his son to die for us, God sent his son to live for us. His life was the perfect example of what God intended humanity to look like - how he intended it to function. The fact that Jesus endured his living sacrifice unto death is even more telling of how we should live our own lives. And it makes a bit more sense than the other nonsense that I've been taught since I was a boy about a God that seemed to love others more than his own son. That teaching just doesn't line up with his character as it is described in the scriptures, and frankly it's just kinda sick.
God sent Jesus to earth to live. While he was here, Jesus voluntarily laid down his own aspirations for a life of luxury, unrequitted pleasure, family, stature, etc., for a life of complete abandonment to the spirit of God. It was this voluntary action that displayed his devotion to God. God didn't sacrifice Jesus, mankind sacrificed him for our own redemption. It was our depravity and debauchery, not God's, that caused Jesus' death.
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