This post will be a bit more personal. I should have seen this coming, and I suppose I should be thankful that the extent of it is emotional pain, and not physical suffering as so many of my brothers and sisters in Christ experience across the world for their lack of compromise.
When Paul told us to not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, I think he meant it. He also meant it when he said to return evil with good. What a struggle this is, to live by God's word, and to not compromise or stand by idly when we hear someone twist it. I've been thinking a lot recently, I am going to have everyone hate me, against me, and will have so many people not want to speak to me any more if I continue to talk like this. And yet more and more I run into Christians having a distorted view of the world, and it gnaws at me, and I cannot remain silent. So, I don't. And I anger people. I have been reading and studying the Bible, and several other books on these views that I have writing about in this blog. Almost nonstop. I consult the Bible on every whim I have. And there it is - plain and simple, telling me that what Jesus stood for is in huge contrast to what the vast majority of mainstream Christians today stand for. So I cannot remain silent.
For this, I am screamed at. Blown off. Or even worse, ignored. It's amazing that those who treat me this way are not atheists or people of another faith - they are Christians. I am a searcher of truth. I have been for a long time. And it is even more amazing that I am being treated in the same way by the same people as two years ago, when I considered leaving the Christian faith for another. Now I am trying to follow the Bible by its word, and I receive the same treatment. Amazing.
I will leave with you some words written by the Danish priest, Kaj Munk, in 1944, just before he was killed by the Gestapo:
"What is, therefore, our task today? Shall I answer: "Faith, hope, and love"? That sounds beautiful. But I would say - courage. No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth. Our task today is recklessness. For what we Christians lack is not psychology or literature... we lack a holy rage - the recklessness which comes from the knowlege of God and humanity. The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets, and when the lie rages across the face of the earth... a holy anger about the things that are wrong in the world. To rage against the ravaging of God's earth, and the destruction of God's world. To rage when little children must die of hunger, when the tables of the rich are sagging with food. To rage at the senseless killings of so many, and against the madness of militaries. To rage at the lie that calls the threat of death and the strategy of destruction peace. To rage against complacency. To restlessly seek that recklessness that will challenge and seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the Kingdom of God. And remember the signs of the Christian Church have been the Lion, the Lamb, the Dove, and the Fish... but never the chameleon."
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
What will people think when they hear that I'm a Jesus freak?
I find it interesting, and highly self-serving and hypocritical, that many Christians look to the Bible as their source of comfort, peace, and salvation, and use this very same book to justify the destruction of others. It seems as if they say: "It is my comfort and peace, but not yours. For you, you evildoers, will suffer at our hands for what you have done. For me, I have been forgiven freely by Christ. But I cannot extend that forgiveness to you."
Jesus tells us what happens to a person with that mindset. In his parable of the unmerciful servant, a master forgives his servant of his debts, but that servant goes out and does not forgive his brother. When the master hears, he "turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed." Then, Jesus says, "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." (Matthew 18:34-53) Jesus also said, "Freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8) Who are we to begrudge our neighbor or our enemy what was so freely given to us - what we could have never deserved?
Jesus was very clear about the fact that he had come to change everything - by his fulfillment of the Law, with love. Love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10)
So, love.
The greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)
So, love.
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the one to continue to love each other. (Romans 13:8)
So, love.
It's also interesting that people look to the Old Testament to justify a war, but overlook the New Testament, the change that commands our lives today. A commentary in my Bible reads:
"One fact about 'holy war' is very clear. We cannot argue from a war specifically commanded
by God in Joshua to any national situation today. In the Old Testament, God was dealing primarily with one particular nation, the Israelites, for a stated purpose. When the Messiah finally emerged out of that nation, everything changed.
Jesus' followers all lived in the same territory captured by Joshua, the 'promised land.' But
four times, in his very last words, Jesus commanded his disciples to go out, away from Jerusalem, into all the world. Go, he told them, not as conquering armies but rather as bearer of the Good News that applies to all people, all races, all nations.
Anyone who looks to the book of Joshua for rationalization of a "holy war" must also look ahead to Jesus. Although on a holy crusade, he chose against violent means. In fact, he chose suffering and death. Nothing in the New Testament gives consolation to a religious warrior."
Instead, several times the New Testament tells us that we are not to take an eye for an eye or to repay evil with evil or insult with insult. What do we replace this urge with then? What the New Testament tells us countless times to do in any instance - love and forgive, and have mercy.
We are to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world, a set apart people, a sociopolitical alternative, imitators of God. Then why do so many of us look like the world? If our lives don't make people wonder where in the world we came from, who are we, what are we doing, why are we doing that - then we are not being the Jesus freaks we are called to be.
Jesus tells us what happens to a person with that mindset. In his parable of the unmerciful servant, a master forgives his servant of his debts, but that servant goes out and does not forgive his brother. When the master hears, he "turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed." Then, Jesus says, "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." (Matthew 18:34-53) Jesus also said, "Freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8) Who are we to begrudge our neighbor or our enemy what was so freely given to us - what we could have never deserved?
Jesus was very clear about the fact that he had come to change everything - by his fulfillment of the Law, with love. Love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10)
So, love.
The greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)
So, love.
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the one to continue to love each other. (Romans 13:8)
So, love.
It's also interesting that people look to the Old Testament to justify a war, but overlook the New Testament, the change that commands our lives today. A commentary in my Bible reads:
"One fact about 'holy war' is very clear. We cannot argue from a war specifically commanded
by God in Joshua to any national situation today. In the Old Testament, God was dealing primarily with one particular nation, the Israelites, for a stated purpose. When the Messiah finally emerged out of that nation, everything changed.
Jesus' followers all lived in the same territory captured by Joshua, the 'promised land.' But
four times, in his very last words, Jesus commanded his disciples to go out, away from Jerusalem, into all the world. Go, he told them, not as conquering armies but rather as bearer of the Good News that applies to all people, all races, all nations.
Anyone who looks to the book of Joshua for rationalization of a "holy war" must also look ahead to Jesus. Although on a holy crusade, he chose against violent means. In fact, he chose suffering and death. Nothing in the New Testament gives consolation to a religious warrior."
Instead, several times the New Testament tells us that we are not to take an eye for an eye or to repay evil with evil or insult with insult. What do we replace this urge with then? What the New Testament tells us countless times to do in any instance - love and forgive, and have mercy.
We are to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world, a set apart people, a sociopolitical alternative, imitators of God. Then why do so many of us look like the world? If our lives don't make people wonder where in the world we came from, who are we, what are we doing, why are we doing that - then we are not being the Jesus freaks we are called to be.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Amish for Homeland Security
From "Jesus for President" by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw:
'Do you remember how the Amish responded to the act of terror in their school, when a gunman killed five Amish children in 2006? Our friend Diana Butler Bass wrote an article pontificating what the world would look like if the Amish had led us after September 11. Consider their response to the murders, a response that fascinated the world. Within the first week after the shootings, the Amish families who had suffered such terror responded in four ways that captured the world's attention. First some elders visited Marie Roberts, the wife of the murderer, to offer forgiveness. Then, the families of the slain girls invited the widow to their own children's funerals. Next, they requested that all relief money intended for the Amish families be shared with Ms. Roberts and her children. And finally, in an astonishing act of reconciliation, dozens of Amish families attended the funeral of the killer.
'Diana goes on to share that she talked with her husband about the spiritual power of these actions, commenting, "It is an amazing witness to the peace tradition." And her husband looked at her and said passionately, "Witness? I don't think so. This went well past witnessing. They weren't witnessing to anyone. They were actively making peace." Her article ends with these words, as she reflected on that truth:
"Their actions not only witness that the Christian God is a God of forgiveness, but they actively created the conditions in which forgiveness could happen. In the most straightforward way, they embarked on imitating Christ: 'Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.' In acting as Christ, they did not speculate on forgiveness. They forgave. And forgiveness is, as Christianity teaches, the prerequisite to peace. We forgive because God forgave us; in forgiving, we participate in God's dream of reconciliation and shalom. Then an odd thought occurred to me: What if the Amish were in charge of the war on terror? What if, on the evening of Sept. 12, 2001, we had gone to Osama bin Laden's house (metaphorically, of course, since we didn't know where he lived!) and offered him forgiveness? What if we had invited the families of the hijackers to the funerals of the victims of 9/11? What if a portion of the September 11th Fund had been dedicated to relieving poverty in a Muslim country? What if we dignified the burial of their dead by our respectful grief? What if, instead of seeking vengeance, we had stood together in human pain, looking honestly at the shared sin and sadness we suffered? What if we had tried to make peace? So, here's my modest proposal. We're five years too late for an Amish response to 9/11. But maybe we should ask them to take over the Department of Homeland Security. After all, actively practicing forgiveness and making peace are the only real alternatives to perpetual fear and a multi-generational global religious war. I can't imagine any other path to true security. And nobody else can figure out what to do to end this insane war. Why not try the Christian practice of forgiveness? If it worked in Lancaster, maybe it will work in Baghdad, too."
'Do you remember how the Amish responded to the act of terror in their school, when a gunman killed five Amish children in 2006? Our friend Diana Butler Bass wrote an article pontificating what the world would look like if the Amish had led us after September 11. Consider their response to the murders, a response that fascinated the world. Within the first week after the shootings, the Amish families who had suffered such terror responded in four ways that captured the world's attention. First some elders visited Marie Roberts, the wife of the murderer, to offer forgiveness. Then, the families of the slain girls invited the widow to their own children's funerals. Next, they requested that all relief money intended for the Amish families be shared with Ms. Roberts and her children. And finally, in an astonishing act of reconciliation, dozens of Amish families attended the funeral of the killer.
'Diana goes on to share that she talked with her husband about the spiritual power of these actions, commenting, "It is an amazing witness to the peace tradition." And her husband looked at her and said passionately, "Witness? I don't think so. This went well past witnessing. They weren't witnessing to anyone. They were actively making peace." Her article ends with these words, as she reflected on that truth:
"Their actions not only witness that the Christian God is a God of forgiveness, but they actively created the conditions in which forgiveness could happen. In the most straightforward way, they embarked on imitating Christ: 'Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.' In acting as Christ, they did not speculate on forgiveness. They forgave. And forgiveness is, as Christianity teaches, the prerequisite to peace. We forgive because God forgave us; in forgiving, we participate in God's dream of reconciliation and shalom. Then an odd thought occurred to me: What if the Amish were in charge of the war on terror? What if, on the evening of Sept. 12, 2001, we had gone to Osama bin Laden's house (metaphorically, of course, since we didn't know where he lived!) and offered him forgiveness? What if we had invited the families of the hijackers to the funerals of the victims of 9/11? What if a portion of the September 11th Fund had been dedicated to relieving poverty in a Muslim country? What if we dignified the burial of their dead by our respectful grief? What if, instead of seeking vengeance, we had stood together in human pain, looking honestly at the shared sin and sadness we suffered? What if we had tried to make peace? So, here's my modest proposal. We're five years too late for an Amish response to 9/11. But maybe we should ask them to take over the Department of Homeland Security. After all, actively practicing forgiveness and making peace are the only real alternatives to perpetual fear and a multi-generational global religious war. I can't imagine any other path to true security. And nobody else can figure out what to do to end this insane war. Why not try the Christian practice of forgiveness? If it worked in Lancaster, maybe it will work in Baghdad, too."
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Jesus is nothing but a nuisance
"Jesus lives next door. He's an eight-year-old girl and her three-year-old brother. The Son of Man looks like those starving Ethiopian children. He only gets breakfast and lunch at school, when he makes it. His mama is a crack whore. Nobody knows where his daddy is. I heard his mama lets her "Johns" do things to him.
Poor King of Kings.
Jesus is two houses down and has six children. Now he's pregnant with the seventh. I don't know if he hasn't figured out what birth control is, or what, but how does he expect his husband to feed all those babies on that salary? And you know with all those kids the Lord of Lords can't work. That means hardworking taxpayers' money has to go for Christ's foodstamps!
He needs to get fixed.
The Lord is a crazy man - paranoid schizophrenic. If he doesn't take his medication, he walks up and down the street, cussing and spitting on everyone he passes. He's homeless. Nobody knows where his family is - if he's got one. Digs out of the trash cans for food. Somebody ought to get him off the street.
Jesus is nothing but a nuisance.
I'm starting to see the Son of God everywhere I go. He's always crying or begging or looking pitiful. Why doesn't he pull himself up by the bootsraps? This is America! Makes me mad. He's ruining our neighborhood.
Somebody ought to do something about him.
Somebody."
- Claudia Mair Burney
Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (Matthew 25:40)
Poor King of Kings.
Jesus is two houses down and has six children. Now he's pregnant with the seventh. I don't know if he hasn't figured out what birth control is, or what, but how does he expect his husband to feed all those babies on that salary? And you know with all those kids the Lord of Lords can't work. That means hardworking taxpayers' money has to go for Christ's foodstamps!
He needs to get fixed.
The Lord is a crazy man - paranoid schizophrenic. If he doesn't take his medication, he walks up and down the street, cussing and spitting on everyone he passes. He's homeless. Nobody knows where his family is - if he's got one. Digs out of the trash cans for food. Somebody ought to get him off the street.
Jesus is nothing but a nuisance.
I'm starting to see the Son of God everywhere I go. He's always crying or begging or looking pitiful. Why doesn't he pull himself up by the bootsraps? This is America! Makes me mad. He's ruining our neighborhood.
Somebody ought to do something about him.
Somebody."
- Claudia Mair Burney
Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (Matthew 25:40)
Thursday, April 10, 2008
The foolishness of God
Why don't Christians listen to what Christ actually said?
Today, conservative Christians have been given another name - "values voters". These are defined as voters who pledge only to support candidates that are pro-life, pro-family, and pro-faith.
(Here, sign it if you want - it is of course, your civic responsibility: http://www.focuspetitions.com/135/petition.asp)
Boil that down, and the "most important" issues prescribed to these Christians are to be against abortion, against gay marriage, and for supporting religious liberties.
So, pro-life, eh? Why doesn't the fact that over 80,000 innocent Iraqi civilians have died because of the war outrage us to the point that the killing of the unborn does? When it comes to unjust deaths, you can't choose whom you will be upset over.
And pro-family? Gay marriage creates families, divorce destroys them. Don't get bent out of shape - I am not for gay marriage. But how many times did Jesus talk about homosexuality? Let's count: zero. Among his top priorities, apparently.
And lastly, pro-faith. Meaning?
I see Christians all up in arms when the taking down of the Ten Commandments in public places is discussed, yet - doesn't it say in there "Thou shalt not kill?" Oh, yeah.
Maybe we should listen and obey what Jesus really focused on.
In the gospels we have approximately 2,000 accounts of Jesus talking about caring for the poor, the sick, the least of these.
He tells a rich man that in order to be saved, he must sell everything he owns, and give to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven. (Matthew 10:21, Luke 18:22) So, why don't we see many Christians in this country eager to do that? Instead, we see church parking lots filled with BMWs and Lexuses, pastors owning airplanes, and congregations building bigger buildings to bring in instead of reaching out.
Then, in Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:25 he says it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God! (But he didn't really mean it.)
And then, to top it all off, Jesus separates the peoples as to how they have cared for the poor and the needy. (Matthew 25:31-46) Those who cared for the least of these (Jesus in disguise), he invites into his Kingdom, those who ignored them he tells to depart from him.
In the words of Jack Sparrow as he munches on his apple: "Funny little world, isn't it?"
Let's be followers of Jesus with our highlighters at the ready -
and if we don't like what he said, feel free to skip right over it, and highlight the parts that serve our agenda, our cause, our freedom, our comfort.
All else is regarded as "well, sacrifices must be made."
Today, conservative Christians have been given another name - "values voters". These are defined as voters who pledge only to support candidates that are pro-life, pro-family, and pro-faith.
(Here, sign it if you want - it is of course, your civic responsibility: http://www.focuspetitions.com/135/petition.asp)
Boil that down, and the "most important" issues prescribed to these Christians are to be against abortion, against gay marriage, and for supporting religious liberties.
So, pro-life, eh? Why doesn't the fact that over 80,000 innocent Iraqi civilians have died because of the war outrage us to the point that the killing of the unborn does? When it comes to unjust deaths, you can't choose whom you will be upset over.
And pro-family? Gay marriage creates families, divorce destroys them. Don't get bent out of shape - I am not for gay marriage. But how many times did Jesus talk about homosexuality? Let's count: zero. Among his top priorities, apparently.
And lastly, pro-faith. Meaning?
I see Christians all up in arms when the taking down of the Ten Commandments in public places is discussed, yet - doesn't it say in there "Thou shalt not kill?" Oh, yeah.
Maybe we should listen and obey what Jesus really focused on.
In the gospels we have approximately 2,000 accounts of Jesus talking about caring for the poor, the sick, the least of these.
He tells a rich man that in order to be saved, he must sell everything he owns, and give to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven. (Matthew 10:21, Luke 18:22) So, why don't we see many Christians in this country eager to do that? Instead, we see church parking lots filled with BMWs and Lexuses, pastors owning airplanes, and congregations building bigger buildings to bring in instead of reaching out.
Then, in Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:25 he says it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God! (But he didn't really mean it.)
And then, to top it all off, Jesus separates the peoples as to how they have cared for the poor and the needy. (Matthew 25:31-46) Those who cared for the least of these (Jesus in disguise), he invites into his Kingdom, those who ignored them he tells to depart from him.
In the words of Jack Sparrow as he munches on his apple: "Funny little world, isn't it?"
Let's be followers of Jesus with our highlighters at the ready -
and if we don't like what he said, feel free to skip right over it, and highlight the parts that serve our agenda, our cause, our freedom, our comfort.
All else is regarded as "well, sacrifices must be made."
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Why do we apologize for interruptions?
Thoughts and quotes from the book I've been reading: "Justice in the Burbs" by Will & Lisa Samson.
"Injustice is unconcious. It grows when we sleep comfortably." - Kester Brewin pg. 47
"So we stumble through life with unanswered and sometimes unvoiced questions, some X factor missing from our lives, but we fail to remember or just don't know what that factor is. Or we realize exactly what's missing but have no idea how to incorporate issues of justice into our lives, particularly in a way that would safeguard us against completely disrupting our everyday existence." - pg. 25
"As we have engaged in various ministries to assist people, we have established clear rules designed to protect ourselves from unnecessary risk." - pg. 55
"The suburbs seems particularly designed to avoid facing the bigger issues of life. It almost feels as if these communities were designed to avoid interruption by anything unpleasant or uncomfortable." - pg. 58
"[In our suburban home] there was no one to harm us, no one to cause us discomfort. But there was also no one to interrupt us. No one to show us an image of God in 'the least of these.'" - pgs. 59-60
The impression I get of suburban American Christians is one of routine, busyness, and no time to lend a hand to those who cry out from the depths. No time to feed, clothe, or assist Jesus disguised as a lowly person in need. America is the land of opportunity, and they've found it, it conveniences them, let others find their own way.
We need to be interrupted. We need to be disturbed.
"Perhaps this is a definition of faithfulness: allowing one's dreams to be interrupted."
- Kester Brewin
"He loved the poor and accosted the rich, so which one do you want to be?
"Who is this that you follow, this picture of the American dream? If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side, or fall right down and worship at his holy feet?
"My Jesus would never be accepted in my church. The blood and dirt on his feet might stain the carpet. But he preaches for the hurting and despises the proud, and I think he'd prefer Beale street to the stained glass crowd.
I want to be like my Jesus, not a posterchild for American prosperity, but like my Jesus."
- Todd Agnew
"Injustice is unconcious. It grows when we sleep comfortably." - Kester Brewin pg. 47
"So we stumble through life with unanswered and sometimes unvoiced questions, some X factor missing from our lives, but we fail to remember or just don't know what that factor is. Or we realize exactly what's missing but have no idea how to incorporate issues of justice into our lives, particularly in a way that would safeguard us against completely disrupting our everyday existence." - pg. 25
"As we have engaged in various ministries to assist people, we have established clear rules designed to protect ourselves from unnecessary risk." - pg. 55
"The suburbs seems particularly designed to avoid facing the bigger issues of life. It almost feels as if these communities were designed to avoid interruption by anything unpleasant or uncomfortable." - pg. 58
"[In our suburban home] there was no one to harm us, no one to cause us discomfort. But there was also no one to interrupt us. No one to show us an image of God in 'the least of these.'" - pgs. 59-60
The impression I get of suburban American Christians is one of routine, busyness, and no time to lend a hand to those who cry out from the depths. No time to feed, clothe, or assist Jesus disguised as a lowly person in need. America is the land of opportunity, and they've found it, it conveniences them, let others find their own way.
We need to be interrupted. We need to be disturbed.
"Perhaps this is a definition of faithfulness: allowing one's dreams to be interrupted."
- Kester Brewin
"He loved the poor and accosted the rich, so which one do you want to be?
"Who is this that you follow, this picture of the American dream? If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side, or fall right down and worship at his holy feet?
"My Jesus would never be accepted in my church. The blood and dirt on his feet might stain the carpet. But he preaches for the hurting and despises the proud, and I think he'd prefer Beale street to the stained glass crowd.
I want to be like my Jesus, not a posterchild for American prosperity, but like my Jesus."
- Todd Agnew
Monday, April 7, 2008
Health and Wealth
Poor men bound in persecution,
God's their portion everyday.
But we don't know anybody
who lives that way.
There the church grows stronger,
under politics and chains and whips.
They can't explain how they
slipped right through their grip.
in the politics of Mao Tse-Tung.
I think they got it right,
so maybe we got it wrong.
Health and wealth, we help ourselves,
and let them play the hand
that they've been dealt.
Health and wealth, indulge ourselves,
a big fat belly underneath our belts.
Health and wealth, we help ourselves,
and let them play the hand
that they've been dealt.
We'll never understand
the Christ they've felt,
if we keep on chasing
health and wealth.
Here we sit so comfy, rich.
us, me and you, the USA...
so far away from C-h-i-n-a.
We think they need freedom.
We're the ones in prison.
We don't have the time
to change the world.
It doesn't take long to figure out,
where all our money goes.
We're the poorest billionaires
Jesus knows.
And we ask God to refine us,
and pray that we would be freed,
from all our comfortable gods,
our straining and striving and
chasing the wind.
- "Health and Wealth" - the O.C. Supertones
God's their portion everyday.
But we don't know anybody
who lives that way.
There the church grows stronger,
under politics and chains and whips.
They can't explain how they
slipped right through their grip.
in the politics of Mao Tse-Tung.
I think they got it right,
so maybe we got it wrong.
Health and wealth, we help ourselves,
and let them play the hand
that they've been dealt.
Health and wealth, indulge ourselves,
a big fat belly underneath our belts.
Health and wealth, we help ourselves,
and let them play the hand
that they've been dealt.
We'll never understand
the Christ they've felt,
if we keep on chasing
health and wealth.
Here we sit so comfy, rich.
us, me and you, the USA...
so far away from C-h-i-n-a.
We think they need freedom.
We're the ones in prison.
We don't have the time
to change the world.
It doesn't take long to figure out,
where all our money goes.
We're the poorest billionaires
Jesus knows.
And we ask God to refine us,
and pray that we would be freed,
from all our comfortable gods,
our straining and striving and
chasing the wind.
- "Health and Wealth" - the O.C. Supertones
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