Why I Despise "Traditional Christianity" but Love Jesus

Amena Brown took the words right out of my mouth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R1HB6yasYg&feature=related

This is the true story of ONE poet picked to stand behind a mike
To find out what happens when you stop being RELIGIOUS and start getting REAL
This is my Real World and you might think you know but you have no idea
So let this poem be the pages of my diary
Cuz I’m about to share my secrets
Brothers and sisters lend me your ears and if you have some, lend me your tears
These are intimate fears of an ex-religious fanatic who was like a recovering addict
Just trying to stay clean but my religious ROUTINE kept leaving me feeling FILTHY like dirty magazines
Just call me Jacob, cuz I walked with that limp
But don’t call me out of my name cuz even though I was mentality pimped
I was living in a bubble, kind of like, kind of like the dice in the game trouble
And if this is the game of life, I tried to play my cards right
But you got to play the hand you were dealt right?
So I came to a fork in the road and took the hard right towards freedom
I was on my way to the Emerald City
Trying to find the courage to have a heart and use my brain
So I followed that yellow brick road only to find that everything that glitters ain’t gold
I figured that nobody would believe that I had to LEAVE the church for a time to SAVE my soul
See I worshiped God, THE INSTITUTION
Cuz I didn’t have enough mental constitution
And this is about more than yielding to a building
Or PIMPING the Holy Spirit for just one more GOOD FEELING
NARROW is the way and so was MY MIND
Cuz I like to get high…as long as it was “HIGH and MIGHTY”
And I wanted to tell the truth as long as it meant that I was HOLIER than YOU
Thought I knew HIM cuz I wore his T-shirt like I was part of his crew
Even had the keychain that said “What would Jesus Do?”
But I DIDN’T know what Jesus knew
Jesus knew that freedom was as simple as taking in a breath
He knew that if I found HIM then I would find myself
Cuz if you STRIP religion NAKED all you’re left with is PRIDE and TRADITION
It was my way of creating my own highway to heaven
As if God wasn’t nearer to me than the sound of my voice
And I wanna know HIM, I want to know the sound of his voice
Cuz if you listen he speaks in the sway of trees
And I don’t want to miss a single word he has to say
This is a true story of ONE poet picked to stand behind a mike
To find out what happens when you stop being religious and start getting real

The Difficult Message of Christianity

Peace beyond all understanding.

In a recent "discussion" with a fellow seminary student I had to convey a difficult concept in Christian Pacifism which I had not yet really formulated beyond the recesses of my mind. The more I thought about it later at night the more I couldn't help but toss and turn about this difficult task in the Christian message...which has led me here.

I cannot help but understand and read the message of Christ and see an overwhelming need to fight the traditional world conquering mentality that we are born with. Most fundamentalist Evangelicals will tell you that they could never vote for a candidate who is in favor of abortion. Admittedly I am equally opposed to the practice of abortion...I am pro-life. Yet, I am not pro-life in the sense that politicians use the phrase to divide and polarize society...I mean, I am really pro-life. I am pro-American life, pro-Christian life, pro-atheist life, pro-Iraqi life, pro-Muslim life, and yes...even pro-terrorist life. You see in all of this tangled web of hate we have jumped on the Old Testament vengeance train with so much vigor and intensity that we seem to have put all those pesky little annoying Jesus quotes on the back burner. You know the one's "bless those who persecute you," "turn the other cheek," "pray for your enemies," "if someone wants your coat, give him your cloak as well," "if someone forces you to walk a mile, go two," "do not resist the one who is evil." You know all of those things seem to get in the way of our desire for vengeance...which really doesn't even belong to us but is "Mine, says the Lord."

You see it seems to me that in our nice little Christian suburban minds we easily force out those things which leave us with cognitive dissonance about our beliefs. We water down and belittle Christianity to a system of beliefs which we don't really have to deal with. We make the Bible nothing more than a good advice book about our moral superiority as good evangelicals. We make Christianity...for lack of a better term...easy. Because I mean cummon, isn't it ridiculous to not exact revenge on someone who breaks into your house. I mean you have rights...as an American to have that person arrested. You aren't going to ask that person to take your car too are you? If someone kills your wife or child...you certainly have a right to demand that this person be given the death penalty for taking something precious of yours...don't you?

I mean to not have the thief arrested, or the murderer convicted...or the perpetrators of massive violence like the kind we saw on September 11th avenged would just be complete insanity wouldn't it?

It would.

It is insanity.

It is difficult.

It is impossible.

Well...kind of...

Isn't it, however, the life we are called to. Where in the world did we get this idea that Christianity was supposed to be easy. It is more than just a religion that we can fit into our system of beliefs...jammed, folded, and pushed like an overstuffed suitcase. It is hard. It is difficult...to forgive when you have nothing within you that wants to forgive. To sacrifice everything you have worked your whole life for...so that someone who doesn't deserve it can come and take it all away. It is beyond difficult...it is insane.

I mean...who lives their life in such a way that they sacrifice everything they have earned to a thief? Who lets someone kill the one they love and get away with it? Who allows themselves to be so taken advantage of that the rest of the world would look upon them and say..."My God...this is injustice if I've ever seen it before!"

Oh yeah...there was that one guy. Jesus, was it? Hmm...the center point of the faith. Yeah...I seem to remember reading something about him. You know...the guy...the turn the other cheek, don't resist your enemies, walk two miles guy. Yeah...him.

You see when we morph our belief system into one that fits our world we bastardize it. We water it down. We reduce it...until it's worthless. Until it's worse than worthless...until it's propaganda. The kind of which a culture hates. Because it's contradictory, not in it's inherit nature...just in the way we make it... you know...easy. When at it's core Christianity is not easy. It is...difficult.

Very Difficult.

If a preacher can't preach...

So I've had these overwhelming desires to start preaching again. I don't know where, when, how, or even what I would say really. Frankly, many times when I feel an urge to preach the opportunity just manages to present itself. I told Lisa that I might start looking into going places to preach with John and Curtis...camps, conferences, local retreats and what not. Her response (as expected) was simply to "behave" which means not to mention anything controversial from whatever pulpit is offered to me.

It's good advice actually...and I appreciate it...I know she only has my best interest in mind. I just wonder, if preachers can't preach now and days...who can? If a preacher is not willing to take a stand in a public venue and say something like "War is wrong...murder is wrong...materialistic selfishness is wrong" without fear of getting fired, or of pissing of the Republican, conservative, capitalist base of this country...then who will speak the truth?

True preachers have been dying all across this country for decades. Men (and women) who are willing to stand up and call a spade a spade regardless of what popular Christian opinion says. And I'm not talking about morality, gay marriage, prayer in schools, or any othe crappy half-assed issue that we in the American church beat like a dead horse. I'm talking about taking the dangerous and complicated issues of the Bible, slapping them in front of the face which much of modern tradition has ignored and say "what about this?" Speaking honestly, without fear of being outcast from the Christian community. I recognize some are doing it...and I am grateful for them...but it isn't it time for us to stop patronizing the ignorant (not uneducated people...actual ignorant people who chose not to know better) and force them to see the realities of God?

If a preacher can't preach...then who can?

Superhero Jesus?

I wish I could take credit for this idea, but credit must be given where it is due.

I was carpooling back from Greek on Thursday and Tony shared with me about a blog he read from a pastor who had recently seen THE DARK KNIGHT. This pastor said that it was interesting to see how flawed and authentic Batman seemed in this movie. He was not evil in any sense of the word, just...human. He was as raw and hopeless as any of us are. He made good decisions and bad decisions. He wrestled with his demon's and questioned his identity. He was, in a word, real.

The pastor went on to note about how he routinely listens to a popular Christian radio station whose tag line is "Positive, encouraging...something the whole family can listen to." He made the comment that this radio station, and all of its DJ's seem to always give off this "everything in the world is great and as Christian's we are always happy" vibe. While this is a positive message of joy it is commonly received (by Christians and non-Christians alike) as disingenuous, fake, and inauthentic. And it is seen in more than just our radio stations, it is seen by our preachers, pastors, televangelists, church secretaries (ok, maybe not them...but you get the point.) The message sent by the Christian community is loud and clear. If you are not always smiling and happy then something is wrong with your personal and spiritual lives.

When will we (the pastor stated) as a Christian community wake up and realize that what this society is craving is flawed, imperfect, and genuine beings? (See Batman, Hancock, recent Superman, Iron Man, Maxwell Smart, James McAvoy in Wanted.) Those who struggle with the same doubts, demon's, imperfections, problems, insecurities, and shortcomings that we all have.

When will we wake up, stop the act, and start being real?

So...here's a note

When I first started writing in here I don't know if I ever planned on having anyone else read it. Frankly I am too insecure with my personal writings and the theology expressed within it. So if you by chance find this...through a link off facebook, a random conversation, or in another way...I ask for your patience. I don't claim to be a theologian (at least not anymore than all of us are in the sense that we have all thought about God at one point in our lives.) Nor do I claim to be a good writer...I can speak and prepare sermons well, but proper grammar should be left to those who didn't doze off in 8th grade English.

Regardless, I welcome your opinions, thoughts, opposition...and anything else you wish to offer.

I hope somehow to drastically change the world and simultaneously blend into its background unrecognized. If you can make sense of that please help me to also.

Who is Jesus?

He is more, yet he is less…he is more than a man and yet less than a man, the son of men, the subordinate unto all creation...he is God, but not God, a man, a man who made himself in the likeness of other men, and that is what makes him so great…because he is great he is greatness, and light and purity and perfection, and yet this man, this being who in the very nature of God believed that equality with God was not something that he could or should grasp. So he made himself less than, less than God, less than perfection, less than purity, less than man, he poured out all that made him God and greatness and awesomeness. He became less so that we could become more, he became less so that we could see more, he became us so that we could see him because we were so full of ourselves that we could not see God, so he became us. He became imperfect, flawed, he became what we are, who we are, experiencing what we experience so that we could know him. So that he could know us, he became the imperfection of man, he became blood, sweat and tears, pain and anguish, hurting and dying, death, even a death on a cross, the most humiliating of all deaths, and for what, for freedom, not his freedom, our freedom. Freedom from oppression, rules, regulations, systems telling us that whatever we do we can never be HIM because HE is so great, greater than we are, than we could ever be, than we could ever hope to be or accomplish. But at the same time, in our imperfections, in our flaws, in our weakness he is made strong in us, because he became one of us, loved us, lived with us, cried with us and died with us. He came to us that we could know Him…not just about him, but know him, who he is…everything about who he is what he is, when he is, how he is, where he is. He is within us because he loves us, we love him, but only because he loved us first, he is light, in him is light, he is our light, the light of men, without Him there is nothing and we are nothing, he us our light, the light of men, he is light and word, the word of men, the word of life, the word of love, the word of being, the word of action, the word of reason, he is more than word or words could comprehend, he is love, and beyond love, the epitome of love, a love with such a surpassing greatness that the love we think we have pales in comparison to this love, his love, the love of a parent to a child, unending love, undying love, unfailing love, uncompromising love, the kind of love that would never use, abuse, misuse, reuse or exist merely to amuse you…but the love that brings more, fulfillment, completion, creation, regeneration, life, light, hope, power, and all things good in the world. All the things that we could be, now can be, now will be, because of him and who he is, how he is, what he is. He is…Jesus.

What's in a word?

So I'm taking greek this summer and my vocab studies and my translations have revealed a few things that are really getting my wheels turning theologically. There are two things in particular...one, just somewhat interesting, and the other rather spiritually transforming (at least to me.)

ODOS: Way, Road, Journey, Conduit
When I first came across this word I began to wonder if it is the same word used in John 14:6...(somewhat of the pinpoint of all modern evangelical thought.) "I am the Way the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except by me." Sure enough it is. Now I am not challenging the theological construct that Jesus is the way to God (at least not yet completely)...but what I am saying is that perhaps our understanding of this concept changes a little when the word chosen to represent the greek is altered. What is the difference between:

"I am the way (or conduit), the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me."
and
"I am the journey (the road), the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me."

Many will say...well it's basically the same thing theologically. And for the most part I agree. However, I feel perhaps our destination centered American mindset almost changes what could be interpreted as the true meaning of the first part of the verse. What if it is not the person of Jesus who is our conduit (our ticket out of hell and into heaven) but rather our road trip companion. What if he isn't the car that gets us to our destination...but rather the entirety of the trip. He is the soft quiet moments of joy when the sunset approaches, he is the source of the laughter at the high moments, and even the frustrations of getting lost along the way. What if he is more than simply an intellectual portal through which we must pass...but rather the life long experience through which we find our greatest fulfillment?

PSUCHE: Life, Self, Soul
This one was really interesting to me...when you place each of the three words (particularly the last) into the translation of Luke 9:24 (to me) it really changes up the idea:

"For whoever desires to lose their life will save it, but whoever desires to save their life will lose it."

Obviously this is the more widely accepted translations of which we admire (rightly so) martyrs who have given their lives to God. But what happens when the other two concepts are injected?

"For whoever desires to lose their self will save it, but whoever desires to save their self will lose it."

or my favorite...

"For whoever desires to lose their soul will save it, but whoever desires to save their soul will lose it."

This last one completely blew me away. In the face of modern evangelical theology where the resounding anthem has seemed to become..."Do you know that you know that you know that you are saved?" That statement becomes more than heresy...when seen in this translation you almost emphatically want to answer NO! How transformed would the mission of our churches be if we truly adhered to the later translation. If every Christian would truly be willing to say "I believe in the teachings of Jesus, I have lived them out...and in the afterlife I desire to lose my soul if it means that another can come into a closer and meaningful relationship with their creator. If it is this degree of genuine sacrificial love to part with the very essence of who we are...the "reward" of the Christian life live...all because that sacrifice brings us into the very essence of the nature of God. Would you be willing to lose your soul?