Like if you think Jesus reads Facebook

Today I saw my last acceptable Picture of Jesus, with the words, "Like if you think Jesus ______, Share if you ________ Jesus.

Give me a break. Back in the 1500's a monk named Martin Luther nailed 95 points where he felt the church had missed the boat, and slipped back into Pharisitical behavior. (He did not know at the time that the world would come unglued when he did it.  When they put him on trial for his life, he refused to back down.) You know, the pharisees; the guys that made rules up so you could follow the rules, instead of the word of God. You know, the people who caused Jesus to say "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?" Matthew 3:7b NIV. Luther's main point was people were being sold indulgences, a piece of paper to get them into heaven. They actually stopped going to church, because they would bring him the paper, and it "proved" they were getting into heaven without accepting Jesus as their savior.  They just bought it. Just like God read mail. Just like it really mattered. Just like the rules of man bound God. Just like Facebook making you feel compelled to ______ Jesus, or suffer the wrath of God. Again, I say Give Me A Break.

Many people complain that there is too much God on facebook. That is not what I am writing about. Seriously, if you don't want God to show up on your News Feed page, just tell facebook not to post to your news feed from people who are talking about God. If you want to be extreme, de-friend them. It's not like facebook requires you to read posts. I have either un-liked every page that has sent me one of these guilt trip post more than three times; or if it came from a friend more than 3 times, I went to their page, pushed the friend button, and unchecked the "News Feed" button. That way I am still their friend on FB, but don't have to read this stuff.

Am I saying you should NOT post about Jesus. NO. Post away. I love the Lord and I am a Jesus freak extreme, and if you are a friend of my page, or our Christian Page, Does God Serve You, you will see that I use facebook to spread the word. It is at least as good as standing on a box in a mall, and this way the people who want to know, can hear, and those who do not want to know, do not hear. This is America after all, and we are founded on the principle of individual freedom and religious freedom. That includes, by the way, the freedom not to be bothered, pestered, damned by man or forced to hear the word of God. 

Someone else allows you to pick your faith too. His name is Jesus. He died so you could be forgiven you sins, if you chose to be. He allows you to pick too. If he did not, we would all be dead. Viva la Choice.

Book Review: The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer

Book Review: The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer

A.W. Tozer starts and ends with the premise that much of modern Christian behavior is centered on the individual Christian's needs rather than on Christ himself. In one place in The Pursuit of God he says, "Promoting self under the guise of promoting Christ is currently so common as to excite little notice." Wow. I feel like that a lot. I was surprised to see it in print, but he had me from that moment to end of the book. Unlike most books I have read about how to live the life of a Christian, he does not throw around Christian Ease, buttressed with personal stories illustrating how it applied in his life. Rather, he supports his suggestions with scripture and scholarship. This is a book that tells you how to pursue God, and when you are done, you will understand the bible better than you did we you began.

The Key Character in this book is God. Most books about God these days are about YOU, rather than God. If you want to know how God is going to help you, this book is not going to tell you that, beyond the gift of Grace that leads us to salvation.  As he puts it, "Essentially salvation is the restoration of a right relation between man and his Creator, a bringing back to normal of the Creator-creature relation."

What will you learn? You will learn what it means to posses Jesus. As Tozer puts it, "I desire that I may feel no sense of possessing anything outside of Thee."  

He spends many pages on the dis-assembly of modern evangelical fundamentalism, pointing out its trend toward legalism and away from the freedom that Jesus life, death and Resurrection bought us.  Tozer feels that we are once again losing our way, and becoming the Pharisees that Jesus taught against.

This book reads as a scholarly text of our era combined with the letters of the apostle Paul and the early fathers of the Church.  It also gives the feel of a New Orleans Baptist Church, where you feel challenged by the authors obvious faith and spirit and yet compelled to ask more questions, so you too can share in the fruit that he so obviously has. You also feel a little out of your element.

Have you already made up your mind about what Jesus wants you to do with your life?  If you have, then you will not like this book, as it challenged most of my closely held ideas on doctrine and attitude.

Do you feel comfortable living in an environment where the expectations, behaviors and attitudes are well laid out in advance?  If you do, this book will rock your world, because this book is about live a spirit lead life without limits or rules.

A.W. Tozer was a turn of the 20th century Christian author and pastor who lived a non-materialist life of sacrifice and study, as well as attempting to lead the world to the Jesus of the first century with missionary zeal.  This book is true to that life.

I have to be honest.  I find easy Christianity to be, well too easy. Do this, don't do that.  Easy and boring. The sinners prayer strikes me as an incantation to invoke Saving Grace from God, as if we could compel him.  This book explained to me, for the first time, why I feel that way and what to do about it.

Read this book if you want to know Jesus better, but leave your doctrine and your previous plans on the back burner, because this is going to change everything.