I have discovered somethings about my faith in the last 2 years that have begun to shock me.
1) There are NO rules. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is punctuated by Jesus himself saying, John 14:16 - And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. That's the promise of direct and permanent communication with the Spirit of God. We don't have ANY rules. We have God.
2) Christians spend more times talking about the rules we don't have, but really want, than about the Gospel or living the Gospel. Jesus warns us about following the doctrine of man, the rules we all assume are right, when he says: "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?"
3) We tend to spread the rules; telling people what we hate, what we fear, what is wrong with the world, instead of keeping calm, and showing our Love for the Lord.
As it turns out, these cards, shown above, are 2.75" x 4.25 inches, and shiny card stock, and were designed to pass out to people who ask about Jesus; who complain about pretty much anything and are Christians, and to explain to people who express interest or ignorance, that one of the benefits is to "Keep Calm."
If you want your Name or Website on the front of the card, the Keep Calm side, then enter it on the order form when you order. Please allow for 14 days after proof approval for delivery.
Back when AIDs was still a plague that was killing all it touched, I was wrapped up in trying to learn how to deal with my own issues brought on by my still existent TBI, and what was said about AIDs didn't effect me, and was not part of my world. After all, I have always been heterosexual and I am still married to the same awesome women I married in 1979.
Not my monkeys, not my circus, so to speak.
Then my wife and daughter took me to see Rent right off Broadway in New York City.
I have learned much since then about my own prejudice, institutional prejudice, societal pressure, about my own discernment of the scriptural text and most importantly what the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of God, wants me to do and understand.
All of that, however, was not enough for me to write this blog entry, until my recent family trip to watch my nephew receive his baccalaureate from the University of Oregon in biology.
Caveat Lector - The Truth Shall Set you Free, but it will Hurt.
We arrived in Eugene Oregon at 6:30 in the morning and went straight to bed, after 12 hours of traveling. When we woke up, this was the view from the porch. Pretty awesome that the home my sister had rented was in such a fantastic setting.
It was a Sunday early afternoon, and we were in a house with 5 females and 12 males, all pretty much relaxing all over the place. The numbers of people would also fluctuate radically during the day, as friends of the family and the graduate came by to enjoy the company and the celebration of my nephew's accomplishment. It was, even for me, a paranoid anti social person due to TBI, a joyous time.
We went shopping as a team, went to Starbucks as a team, came home and cooked and ate as a team, or at least what passes for a team in the Northwest, where personal freedom of action is not just a nice concept, but a reality of every day life.
After dinner, it started to get cold, so the groups got tighter and the fire on the porch was ignited. As it turns out, one of the genes from my nephew's other side of the family was music, so many of the people there were musicians. And then, most of the older attendees, and by older I mean old enough to remember JFK, rather than remember who he was, were sitting around the fire swapping stories of my sisters' (Both of my sisters live in the northwest and were there) and my life, since none of them had ever met me (the friends that is - I knew my sisters).
Off hand, one of them said, "I would have died from aids way back then if Robin had not been there."
Alarm bells rang in my head, but not at first from the "I would have died" part, but from the AIDs part. That meant that they were probably gay. Wait a minute, I was already informed that they were gay, and was taking a low profile on my faith, because the gay community, as a rule, pretty much distrusts Conservative White Christians. Me. They distrust me I thought, so I avoided any apologetics for the first day of our trip.
Yet, even so, it had not really occurred to me that people I knew actually had AIDS.
I stupidly said, as it sank in, "Then you must have seen many of your friends die?" I meant it as sensitive, and fortunately they took it that way, but in retrospect, it was loss of impulse control, as the real fact that these were gay men, looking around, most of them were gay men, that had AIDs.
I then heard stories of just how my sister had "saved" them, and it was those stories that prompted this video.
I heard story after story of personal encounters with who I know as God, but they called "Higher Being" or "Spiritual Encounter." Everything they said was in line with scripture and had the feel of genuine encounter with the Spirit of God.
Everything they were told in their encounters showed the Love of the Lord.
This did not confuse me because of the assumption that they were an abomination, according to a tight and blind reading of the scripture, but it did confuse me because of the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives, as they did not profess to know Jesus. To be sure, I was jealous.
But, the Power of the Love of the Lord overwhelmed me non the less. I have felt this a couple of times in my life. At Church on Christmas Day a few years ago; when my daughter accepted the Lord, though at the time I had not; when I was baptised for the 3rd time; When I decided to give up on using TBI as a crutch and a few times when my wife ran "Run to Homebase" for others with TBI. I'm prone to emotional events, but these events were not emotional but rather total life altering extra vision, on your knees noticing the Power of God spiritual. I recognize the Spirit of the Lord when it moves now, and this was one of those events.
Suddenly I saw God working in these people, and in one of their encounters with the Holy Spirit, God told them they "were ok, just they way they were."
I could give you dozens of reason why many read the "clobber" phrases in the bible as a condemnation of homosexuality, but I won't. That's the wisdom of man, rather than the wisdom of God. I will just say this. Love the Lord your God and Love your neighbor as your self. Love is an action, and it does not have condemnation or judgement in it. Condemnation is God's job, not ours. We are called to the Gospel of Jesus, the Christ. That is Love in spite of Sin, to obliterate condemnation. Do that. Just Love people.
Be the Little Christ that Christian means, rather than the little demon in other people's lives.
So I crossed the line that day. Before Monday June 15, 2015, I supported Gay Rights, because I "thought" and my biblical research supported Gay Rights. I had long ago stopped saying "life style choice," because I am a physicist, and science has shown without doubt it is not choice. Just like it has shown that the earth is not the center of creation and that African Americans are NOT inferior to anyone. All of these bigoted choices have at one time or the other been supported through selective and gymnastic interruptions of the Bible. I had already crossed that line, but on Monday, I crossed another line. I felt that I had been called to stop living in the shadows, performing random acts of love. I had been called to make a stand.
This scarred the heck out of me. I had not idea what I could do, or what would happen.
Then the rest of the story happened. Anne and I spent the rest of the week at my sister Robin's house in Seattle Washington. I told her what some of her friends had said about her work with them.
She then told me a little more about what she had done in the last few decades. She called the early years of HIV a plague, and if you remember, 100% of those with HIV were supposed to die, and most actually did. She and her colleagues created a group, I believe it was Team Quest, in Portland Oregon, and it's purpose was to create protocols that would keep the gay community with HIV alive, against all odds, until medication was invented that would keep them alive. Fortunately, that day has come, which was also news to me. However, keeping people alive against a virus that is 100% fatal seems like a fools quest. It was not. They not only keep people alive, but they are one of the primary reasons that people are not afraid to be tested for HIV in the northwest. They provided the love, the care, the concern and the counselling that was necessary and never before done for a community that was being obliterated by a plague and shunned by the people of God. They became God's hands. The were Love. There is far more to the extent to which Robin personally went, but this is enough to see the Love. Love is sacrifice, and it only come from God.
So, this is my call. To bring God, though Love, to this community. They already are more spiritual than I. Many have talked directly to God. But our bigotry, our hate, our fear has caused them to turn for the Lord, and approach him from a different angle. How can we let that stand. Salvation and Love is the gift of God to all people, and we are called to be bring the gospel of Love and Forgiveness, not the gospel of Hate. Examine what you believe, about the gay community, then ask yourself, what would Jesus do. I can't see him with posters saying he hated gays. I can't see him trying to get the Romans to execute, disenfranchise and destroy them. I can't see him not selling them cake.
I can see him walking into their community, as he did with leapers, who were believe to be sinners in their time, and Loving them, touching them, feeding them.
We have been playing for the other team. Stop it. Be Gods light, not the darkness.
I am reading a series in science fiction and I am on "book" 72. Actually, it more like booklet, and it's on amazon, but if I don't read every day, thanks to my Brain Injury, I rapidly forget how to read, or, as I am told, lose the focus to read. So every day I read. This morning, at 4am, I read a line in the Swarm: Star Force Series #1 "The truth doesn’t mind verification. Only lies want you blind to other possibilities.”
That line kept me up the rest of the morning, because it combined with another line that I heard in the Joan of Arcadia - The First Season series. This one I can not quote, as my memory is not that good, but it was spawned when Joan was talking to God about a situation in her life where she had been studying Joan of Arc. She was studying Joan of Arc with A+ focus because God had told her to apply herself to her history class like never before. In the process, she became convinced that it was Joan of Arc that was the point of the exercise, and found her self in a situation where she was accused of cheating. She had not cheated, and the school gave her the option of taking the test again, with them watching, to determine if she had cheated. She refused, and a protest within the school was born defending the unfairness of the school accusing her without proof. She decided that this was her chance to stand up, as a martyr, as Joan of Arc did, and get expelled for the "right cause." God told her to stop. He said that being the martyr is seldom the easy path, as refusing to take the test was the easy path. She could be a Godly martyr if she bent her will, her sense of indignation, and bowed to authority, and took the test. God told her that humans get the martyr thing wrong all the time.
Speaking of myself, looking back at my life, and the difficultly my TBI has caused, and the friends I have lost, even the ability to teach Sunday School because I stood up for the right of something that they did not agree with; all these things were not about God, but about me, it turns out. I had twisted my view of the world to defend myself, the whole time thinking I was being the Godly martyr. It actually hurt me to see this side of myself. Was I right in my view of scripture that caused my church to freak out. Probably. Pretty sure I was more right they they were. However, that was the easy way. The hard way would have been for me to swallow my pride, and just skirt the issue all-together. But no, I had to take a righteous stand for God's sake. Like he needs me to defend him. Anyway, this one episode of Joan of Arcadia opened up my eyes to the possibility that I was being a dink.
Then, unbidden by me, I remembered something my wife had said that really "pissed me off." She had said, "It's always about you." "No Freaking Way," I yelled, "It's about what's right. I don't need to hear this anymore."
So, at 4am, right after my wife's cat jumped on my face, making sure I was awake, I read "The truth doesn’t mind verification. Only lies want you blind to other possibilities.”in the Swarm: Star Force Series #1;series,, book 72 I think.
Boom. Head ache. One of my pet peeves for Christians and non-Christians alike, is refusing to have their views challenged, as if God needs us to have a stiff back about interpretation issues in the bible. As if God is not powerful enough to exact his own vengeance, if necessary. Had I been guilty of the same thing. Was it about me, and I was afraid to verify what I thought and said?
So I ran though my head the things that really upset me.
All that I can remember.
It took hours.
I'm really that messed up.
And...
I was being a fake martyr. My wife was right. Worse, I was afraid of the truth.
Sometimes, God speaks to us in the strangest ways.
Sometimes I am wrong.
Today is the first day of me being a citizen of the Kingdom, but one who recognizes that God loves EVERYONE, even fake martyrs like me.
-Peace
_____________________________________
By the way, I recommend both the DVD set and the books, especially if you like Sci-Fi.
1 Peter 2:21 ESV "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps."
Jesus used every method that were common to Jewish teachers and prophets of his time, including mass meetings, bold teachings and circuit preaching from place to place. He lived his ministry unafraid and out loud.
From time to time, I see fellow Christians living out loud, but mostly obnoxiously, getting in peoples faces, condemning them to hell or failure or sadness, but not teaching them of the love of God, as our Lord did. He feed them, then preached, He healed them, then preached. We tend to preach, then condemn.
Today I saw an advertisement on a place mat at a restaurant my family was eating at for lunch. I was pretty cool, because it spoke of what was missing in peoples lives FIRST, and it spoke out loud in public. Here it is.
Your Guide to Living Life Out Loud
“A powerful story that reminds us that we serve a powerful God. I commend Dave’s … inspirational message.” -Rick Warren - Author of The Purpose Driven Life
Jesus Did It Anyway(The Paradoxical Commandments for Christians) by Kent M. Keith is a book about how to live a life a faith in Jesus by coming face to face with the contradictory nature of being a disciple of God and living in the world. The very nature of the "commandments" that Keith draws from both the bible and observation of human kind were so astounding that Mother Teresa borrows them for her own work.
The book starts with a chapter that is titled "The Call," reminding us that God is asking us to follow Jesus. Keith then reminds us that following Jesus is NOT about doctrine, or about a list of rules or commandments, but about the Gospel of Jesus itself, and he does that by illustrating Good Friday and it's meaning. Then, mirroring the 10 commandments of God gave Moses, Keith draws 10 commandments summarizing both Jesus' actions and behaviors as he outlines how we too can follow Jesus' example and change the world us. Keith's first Paradoxical Commandment is "People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. LOVE THEM ANYWAY. Think about that for a moment. People really are illogical and they really do ask and expect us to do unreasonable thinks because they are more concerned about themselves than others. Narcissism runs rampant in our world today. It's all about the "Selfie." It would to me, seem must easier to be disappointed, angry and retaliatory to these mean people, to prevent them and others from taking advantage of me. But both Keith and the WWJD bracelet asks, "What Would Jesus Do?" Well, he would love them anyway. And so goes the other 9 commandments, all of them explaining to the reader how paradoxical Jesus', and his followers', behavior within the world really is or ought to be. It's actually rather shocking, as he not only says what we should do, but why, biblically, and how. Keith's book is not only interesting, but for the last 5 years I have continually returned to it help me organize, recover and plan my reactions when I have been hurt or confused by the World's behavior. He has written it so well that you faith is stoked, you life is enhanced and Jesus comes deeper and deeper into your life.
It has taken me 5 years to write this short review, because I have not begun to be done with this book. Instead of it being something I have read, and enjoyed, it is still something I am reading, using and growing with, along with my bible. This is a 5 star book. Get it! Now. _____________________________________________ Want to Order Jesus Did It Anyway? Click the book cover below.
This entry is all about what this song means to me, the very first time I heard it.
"Jesus, Friend Of Sinners" - Casting Crowns - Lyrics
Jesus, friend of sinners, we have strayed so far away
We cut down people in your name but the sword was never ours to swing
A month ago I started play a local Christian Radio station whenever we were in range in our car. It was a hard thing for me to do, because the vast majority of Christian Music makes no sense or worse, is directly contradicted by a wide view of scripture. In other words, I would get a couple of lines into a song, and be confronted with something that invalidated the song, meaning I have to listen to it anyway, waiting for the next one. Never enjoyable and certainly not worshipful. So this was a bold move on my part.
This was the first song on the first day.
The first two lines, telling me that we "cut down people" in Jesus' name, and we were never meant to so so.
Yes. Yes. Turn the radio up. I thought I was the only Conservative Christian on the planet that was struggling with main stream faith ripping the heart our of people because they were sinners, especially ripping the heart out of other Christians.
We are all sinners, I thought, and here this song is starting with that, we are sinners, and that Jesus is our friend. Wow.
Jesus, friend of sinners, the truth's become so hard to see
The world is on their way to You but they're tripping over me
Again, Jesus, friend of sinners. That's another reminder that we are sinners. And, there is ONE truth that matters, and that is the Gospel.
Yes, Loving this song. Then, 4 lines in, hit right between the eyes. People are headed toward him because that is the way they were made, but they are being stopped, slowed down, damaged by ....
wait for it...... ME. Oh man, not so cool anymore.
Always looking around but never looking up I'm so double minded
A plank eyed saint with dirty hands and a heart divided
Then a pretty clear reminder that I am being human, and in my own power. Looking around in the world, using my own knowledge, rather than looking to the Holy Spirit. I Do have a plank in my eye, and I missed it.
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners
Open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers
Let our hearts be led by mercy
Help us reach with open hearts and open doors
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours
Again, Friend of sinners, a reminder of what we are, and who he is. And then, a bold declaration that we are pointing out the weaknesses in others and not worrying about them, other than there sin. More worried about their language, their behavior, their doctrine than we are about their state of grace. Hardly the sign of Love we are told should be seen in the church.
Then, the second most powerful plea in the song. Break our hears for what breaks yours. That means I'm not listening to the Holy Spirit, but, rather, seeing with my own eyes.
Yeah...
Jesus, friend of sinners, the one who's writing in the sand
Made the righteous turn away and the stones fall from their hands
Again, friend of sinners, us. Then, what did he do to those sinners. I forgive you. Love. Not law.
Help us to remember we are all the least of these
Paul said this, and if he is the least, there is no way to describe where I am.
Let the memory of Your mercy bring Your people to their knees
Nobody knows what we're for only what we're against when we judge the wounded
How true is that. EVERYONE knows who Christians hate. I know, we say we don't hate them, just their sin, but get real. Bigotry is hate. Everyone knows who we hate.
If they don't know what I'm for, I'm not a follower of Christ.
What if we put down our signs crossed over the lines and loved like You did
To me, this is the most powerful line in the sing.
What if we did what Jesus did? If instead of hating some politician, we loved them. If instead of hating some people group of life style we helped them? If instead of fighting for our rights, we fought for theirs? What would that do?
Wow.
Guess I will be listening to more now that I get it.
God Rocks! -----------------------------------------------------
Nope, not an oxymoron, though 10 years ago, most thought it was. I could throw some scripture at you, but that is always suspect, since it's always out of context, so instead, I'll demonstrate how this church threw the Gospel at 600 kids and their parents. Yep, that's right. Over 600 kids and parents showed up from
the community to High Pointe Church's Harvest Party, which had a pretty dead on Gospel presentation, BEFORE they went trunk or treating. Let me break down the potential good and bad of it as I have seen it or had it explained to me. Potential Bad 1) Halloween is about boiling babies in pumpkins or any of the the other neo-druid rites that are not Godly. (Historically, there were no pumpkins in England, so this is false from the beginning, but "Druid" rites are pretty much a mystery thanks to Julius Caesar destroying 100% of the druids, and creating these stories in the process to scare his army into fighting harder.) 2) It is going into the world, doing worldly things, rather than trusting the Gospel. 3) If you act like a demon, you invite demons. Potential Good 1) Halloween is a religious rite that is generally misunderstood and distrusted by the Protestant church because it is a Catholic tradition. Exploration of the truth is good, and knowing what the tradition is to begin with is also good. We are all the Church of Jesus the Christ. 2) You get the opportunity to provide a SAFE and NON-DEMONIC atmosphere for both your own children and families but also for those who don't come to church. 3) You get to Preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 4) You get to Love on people. 5) It's Fun. The main building only holds 600 so the overflow was in the smaller building which only hold 200ish, I would guess. There, they sang to Lord, with the High School youth group leading them in the words and hand motions. No kidding. Everyone SHOWING the gospel, not just reading it.
At 6:15pm, in 40 degree weather, with the NE Patriots beating the tar out of the Broncos, 60 plus cars and not a few ministry groups showed up with simple to elaborate decorations just to pass candy out to kids. Not even,
necessarily their own kids. Just kids. What struck me was that this is a conservative bible thumping evangelical, church building, fire and brimstone preaching baptist heritage church, doing Halloween. They laid down their hard earned paradigm about Halloween for the chance to have the pastoral team bring the Gospel, the truth, to 100's of people who never would have come into any church, much less a Conservative one. That's how much they believe .... sorry here comes the
Since I go to this church, I can assure you that Doctrine is preached, though not everyone agrees with doctrine. We have people who think many things are sin and many who think all things are lawful. We have many that think women can preach and we have women who preach, though not in the church. The superintendent of church schools is a women. That's a hard job, one that involves preaching even if it's not recognized as such. I once held that position in another church so I really know the difficulty. Very demanding. We have dress arguments and giving disagreements. We have music discussions about to much show and not enough show. Normal church, except....
No one disagrees that We are to Love the Lord our God and
Love his people, and the best way to do that is preach the gospel. Some do it with words and some with actions, but we all agree;
The truth will set you free, and Grace is more powerful than everything in the world.
So, we do the pumpkin thing, and bring the word to 100's that never heard it and 100's who never felt it. I Invite Your Comments - I really love learning from other's hard earned view points. I challenge you to speak out.
Books that will either add to your conviction, explain other's convictions or bring the light of truth and history to the discussion. Knowledge sharpens the sword, and it is sharpened well indeed if you are seeking it for the Kingdom of God.
The Conservative Christian View on why Halloween is bad:
The historical view on what Halloween is from a scholarly point of view:
"The truth doesn’t mind verification. Only lies want you blind to other possibilities.”
series. This one I can not quote, as my memory is not that good, but it was spawned when Joan was talking to God about a situation in her life where she had been studying 
“A powerful story that reminds us that we serve a powerful God. I commend Dave’s … inspirational message.”
(The Paradoxical Commandments for Christians) by 
