"Believing all the lies to keep the dream alive"

I spend so much time
Believing all the lies
To keep the dream alive

Those are lyrics from a song from the 80's by Billy Idol, Eyes Without A Face. I'm intentionally ripping those lyrics out of the context of the song because they speak to me in another context that others will probably relate to in one way or another.

In this case the lies I'm thinking about are those of legalism and religion and the 'dream' I'm referring to, whether consciously realized or not, is the delusional and fruitless fantasy of self-preservation. I'm thinking of the lies that are preached and taught - and believed - to keep the dream alive of having people remain allegiant to any given church or ministry. Those who preach these lies end up believing them themselves, and it's all rooted in the protection and preservation of "their" ministry, "their" church, "their" institution, "their" cause. Manipulative lies are taught about "tithing, "hierarchy," "covering," "church membership," "behavior modification" (performance-based acceptance), etc, in order to keep the masses loyal to a certain leader or ministry.

Two thousand years ago, the Pharisees were a prime example of this, being hard nosed about keeping people strictly under God's law, and even adding myriads of additional rules, laws, interpretations and traditions on top of it all. And of course during the past 20 centuries, this has moved into the church setting. I fully understand that sometimes these legalistic lies are taught because the teachers and preachers honestly don't know any better, and are simply teaching what they themselves have been taught. But I'm talking about those who are caught in the very tangled web of self-interest and self-preservation, who purposely teach manipulative lies in order to "keep the dream alive," with the dream being the success and growth of whatever system or institution they've created and built.

This is also true in many other areas of life, such as in household situations and other family matters and relationships, finances, jobs and vocations, social activities and so on. Whatever the case, the pursuit of self-preservation is very often the root of the legalistic and religious lies that keep people in bondage and keep them from experiencing the freedom for which Christ has set them free.

Not one to remain stuck only on criticism of the system, I offer up a solution or two to all of this, and I look for input from others as well! My main focus would be to keep on remembering that we were bought with a price, and that we are not "our own." Our "ministries" are not our ministries. They are the work that God Himself is doing in and through us for the good of everyone, not for our own individual self-preservation and self-centered success and prosperity. God didn't "purchase" us so that He could keep us in chains but so that we'd be free! This is also our "ministry" to one another. It's not about building "a ministry." It's not about coming up with ways (lies and manipulation) to keep people faithful to US so that OUR dreams stay alive. It's about building one another up (edifying) and ministering to (serving) one another!

Any thoughts? (including additional criticisms, solutions)?





:)

The wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace!

Steven Curtis Chapman - The Great Adventure


View higher quality video on youtube (embedding disabled)

Saddle up your horses!

Started out this morning in the usual way
Ten thoughts inside my head of all I had to do today
Another time around the circle, try to make it better than the last

I opened up the Bible and I read about me
Said I'd been a prisoner and God's grace had set me free
And somewhere between the pages it hit me like a lightning bolt
I saw a big frontier in front of me and I heard somebody say "let's go!"

(Chorus)
Saddle up your horses
We've got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace
Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown
This is a life like no other
This is The Great Adventure!


Come on get ready for the ride of your life
Gonna leave long faced religion in a cloud of dust behind
And discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored
This is what we were created for!

(Bridge)
We'll travel over, over mountains so high
We'll go through valleys below
Still through it all we'll find that
This is the greatest journey that the human heart will ever see
The love of God will take us far beyond our wildest dreams

Oh saddle up your horses
Come on get ready to ride!

Religion vs. Relationship - Part 1

This week we talk about how life in Christ is not about religion, but about relationship. Religion is man's attempt to get to God. It's based upon self-effort and performance. It puts the focus on us. Relationship is based upon faith and trust, and relying upon the finished work of Jesus.

A little leaven can go a long way. A little legalism, or a little religion, worked into our lives in Christ can blur our perspective of the perfect relationship we have with God that is based solely upon His love and grace.

gigcast.graceroots.org

Go Go's - Head Over Heels

Follow up to yesterday's Trust Your Divine Dance Partner post, which featured the great advice given to Belinda Carlisle earlier this week on Dancing With the Stars. Here she is with her band the Go Go's, singing the song Head Over Heels. These days this song speaks to me about the busyness, craziness and deceit of religion - and its ultimate failure - and the finding of freedom in our rest in Christ and in the new heart we've been given.

Oh yeah, and it's just a fun song!

Go Go's - Head Over Heels


Been running so long
I've nearly lost all track of time
In every direction
I couldn't see the warning signs
I must be losin' it
Cuz my mind plays tricks on me
It looked so easy
But you know looks sometimes deceive

Been running so fast
Right from the starting line
No more connections
I don't need any more advice
One hand's just reaching out
And one's just hangin' on
It seems my weaknesses
Just keep going strong

Chorus:
Head over heels
Where should I go
Can't stop myself
Outta control
Head over heels
No time to think
Looks like the whole world's out of sync


Been running so hard
When what I need is to unwind
The voice of reason
Is one I left so far behind
I waited so long
So long to play this part
And just remembered
That I'd forgotten about my heart

Metal Mayhem Monday

Ok, so Monday is almost over, or may even be completely over by the time you read this, but I liked the title. :) Just something off the beaten path. (Not that I never post odd videos)!

In the last day or two I've been in an email exchange with John Fincher in which we're sharing "religious" lyrics with each other (from bands such as Jethro Tull, Soundgarden, etc). I mentioned to him that I had heard the song "Whatever" from Godsmack 3 times in the past week, and I had thought about posting the video here, but wasn't too sure how far I wanted to push things. LOL. Anyway, I heard the song one more time today, so I thought, OK, let's do it! It's a song from 1998, so it's kind of 'weird' that I would hear it so many times in one week, especially when I'm only a very casual (not daily) listener to the two rock stations that I heard the song on.

I've also got a couple more songs to share as well... both are comical in their own ways, and they're songs I heard on the radio today.

Godsmack - Whatever (click link - embedding disabled) (radio version: swear words edited out)

I don't know if there is any 'religious' intent in this song, but to me it smacks of religion. There is angst in the lyrics that seems to me to come from a place in which someone has been under the pressure of religious performance. By the way, the name of the band supposedly comes from an incident in which one of the band members was making fun of someone with a cold sore. The next day he himself got a cold sore, and someone told him that that was a godsmack (God getting him back for making fun of someone else). Talk about a sad religion!

I won't post all the lyrics because they even make me blush, but the chorus goes:

I'm doing the best I ever did
I'm doing the best that I can
I'm doing the best I ever did
Now go away!

Drowning Pool - Bodies (Let the Bodies Hit the Floor) (Benny Hinn)


I heard this on the radio this week. A while back this Benny Hinn version was posted on Meeting of One and it gave me a good laugh. :-D

Steel Breeze - You Don't Want Me Anymore


Keeping with the "metal" theme (Steel Breeze)... This is a song from the 80's that I loved singing along to. Heard it on the radio today for the first time in many, many years. Something that will never be true of God: "You don't want me anymore." :)

A couple of items about The Shack

1) Paul Young posted a link to this via his Myspace page (and I would guess in other places as well). If The Shack has affected you, Good Morning America wants to know. They're asking people to upload videos of themselves describing how The Shack has affected their lives, or reading a favorite passage from the book.

2) Over the course of a few days, James over at Idle musings of a bookseller has posted a few quotes from the book. Check out his last one, entitled "Rules!" (and while on his blog, check out the past ones too).

The whole quoted section on that post is good, but here's the bottom line: "It is true that relationships are a whole lot messier than rules, but rules will never give you answers to the deep questions of the heart and they will never love you."

-----

Related: Free Spirit's pithy blog post from today entitled "Religion is Resorted To..."

Just say NO to religion!

It's easy to see that there are many, many religions in the world. But... God never intended for mankind to live by religion! Christ didn't even come to start the Christian religion. The word "religion" itself appears in the Bible only four or five times, usually with a negative connotation. The Apostle Paul talked about his past religious life that he converted from (see Acts 25:19, 26:5). He converted from religion to LIFE. In Colossians 2:20-23 he talked about the do's and dont's that people try to live by (he called them the "principles of the world"), and he said "these things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion... but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh."

Paul talked in great detail about his former life in the Old Covenant religion, and how he came to the realization that, in my own words, all of his Old Covenant religious training really showed him that all the religion in the world would never and could never please God! Religion is not what God wants from us or for us. James is the only one who used the word "religion" in a positive light, in James 1:26-27, and I believe he was simply showing an example of what Life looks like when expressed outwardly.

When God created Adam and Eve, did He say, "be fruitful and multiply... and make sure you're very religious people?" Of course not! He gave them a choice, though. The choice, if you'll let me word it this way, was a choice between life and religion. The Tree of Life was there for them to eat freely from, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was there as well. The latter tree - the tree that opened them up to religion (the knowledge of right and wrong) - is the one He didn't want them to eat from. But they ate from that religion tree... and forfeited LIFE. Their first act of religion? They tried to cover their 'shame' with fig leaves.

Since that fateful day, there has never been ONE ACT of religion that has ever brought man closer to God. There is no act of religion that has ever restored man to Life. Why doesn't God want our religion? Because it doesn't work! Our very best religion is filthy to Him (Isaiah 64:6). God Himself is the one who brought us near to Himself... not through religion, but through the death and resurrection of a Person - Jesus. Through Jesus, God restored us to Life... after having killed us to religion.

God created you, not for religion, but for Life. He loves you, and He doesn't desire your "sacrifices and offerings" (Hebrews 10:8). He wants YOU... just because He loves you!

"The Unforgiven" (repost)

I first posted this about a year and a half ago, which is before I got to know a lot of you. Some comments about freedom and prison walls on another post from today reminded me of this song, so I just thought I'd repost a shorted version of this post.
____________________

About 3 or 4 years ago, I was listening to "The Black Album" (by Metallica). I was brought to tears, not only by the music, but by the lyrics of one particular song. I had never really paid much attention to what the lyrics of any of their songs actually meant, but this one really captured me on this day. I cried for what my life might have been, if not for people having told me about God's grace, and helping me out of the bondage of religion and its many effects. I cried for people who are still trapped in deadly religion.

I understand if you don't care for the music, so perhaps the lyrics will get the point across. But there is something about the "mood" of the music that adds to the emotion and the intensity of the subject matter, so I invite you to watch it if you want to. Don't worry, you won't have to brace yourself too much. It's one of Metallica's "slower" songs. :)

Metallica - The Unforgiven


New blood joins this earth
And quickly he's subdued
Through constant pained disgrace
The young boy learns their rules

With time the child draws in
This whipping boy done wrong
Deprived of all his thoughts
The young man struggles on and on he's known
A vow unto his own
That never from this day
His will they'll take away

What I've felt
What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never be
Never see
Won't see what might have been

What I've felt
What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never free
Never me
So I dub thee unforgiven

They dedicate their lives
To running all of his
He tries to please them all
This bitter man he is
Throughout his life the same
He's battled constantly
This fight he cannot win
A tired man they see no longer cares
The old man then prepares
To die regretfully
That old man here is me...

What I've felt
What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never be
Never see
Wont see what might have been

What I've felt
What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never free
Never me
So I dub thee unforgiven

You labeled me
I'll label you
So I dub thee unforgiven

Works - Part 3 of 4

We've evolved into a body of believers who don't know what to do or how to do it apart from being told what to do - through reading various biblical instructions, through reading books, through listening to preachers and teachers, and so on. We've evolved from a Spirit-based Life to a performance-based religion. Do we really know God - or who we truly are in Him?

We're so used to equating "doing" with doing teaching - exhortations, methods, principles. In other words, we don't know what to do or how to live unless we're "instructed" on what to do. We've made church that way. We haven't taught identity, but rather "saved by grace, now get to work" - with little or no foundation of where the work really comes from - the life of Christ in us.

And so... what you see coming from me is what I believe is the root of the Christian life. The root is not works. The root is Jesus Himself. The root is grace. The root is our true identity in Christ. The root is all those things intertwined in such a way that they are "one." From the root springs a natural plant that bears natural fruit.

Paul was accused of teaching licentiousness (grace is a license to sin), which is far from what he was doing, so I'm never surprised when the pure message of God's grace, and resting/abiding in Christ is misconstrued by others to mean being couch potatoes. But when the abiding life is lived out, the result that's shown can hardly be said to be the life of a couch potato! However, I wonder if the "doing" is always what the church makes it out to look like!

I Want To Break Free

A few weeks ago Meeting Of One posted this video in relation to the question of whether to O.R.E.C. or not to O.R.E.C. (Organized Religious Entertainment Centre). (I'm sure people who read this blog "get" it). ;) Going along with the fun, I posted this video.

Well, I know there are some who are still pondering the question, and there are those who have other things in their lives they perhaps are 'struggling' to break free from. Some of it may be quite serious. Spiritual abuse, religion, legalism, lies, bad relationships, a job, a coworker, a church, a church member, you name it. NOT to minimize any of the seriousness of any of those issues, but here's a lighthearted look at the struggle people may be going through, from the boys who call themselves Queen. I don't know about you, but I think this is quite hilarious. :) The actresses... um, actors... play their parts well! The rest of the stuff is, what... art?

I Want To Break Free

Tradsville - Should I Stay Or Should I Go? / Ponderous

Meeting of One brings draws out some very ponderous things from a video today on his post "Sunday - Tradsville...mmm...". ;) "To O.R.E.C* or not to O.R.E.C"

It really got me thinking... Should I stay or should I go?!

*O.R.E.C. - Organized Religious Entertainment Centre (...or Center, in places where they don't have theatres).



And now for something completely different and unrelated... all based upon the word "ponderous" above. Anyone remember this song from the 80's? I couldn't find the original band (2NU - pronounced "too new") with a video, but at least two people have done their own. Ponderous, man. Really, really ponderous.

2NU - Ponderous

Joyful living and joyful giving - Part 2 of 2

In Part 1, I left off by saying that there was more to the stories about joyless giving that I had briefly mentioned. Check out that post to see the stories.

In story number one, the host of the program made things worse for the woman, in my opinion. It was obvious to me that he was a supporter of Christian tithing, and so instead of addressing the fact that tithing is a non-Christian principle (again, stay tuned and I'll eventually lay out a series of posts, showing how tithing is not a New Covenant principle by any means), and freeing the woman up to simply give freely from her heart as she determined to do on her own, which would by nature involve nothing less than cheerful giving, he gave her a list of rules and principles she could try to follow in order to have more joy in her life.

This is the type of thing in which I tend to have more verbal communication with my radio than I otherwise would have. ;)

And worse yet, in story number two the woman and her husband were commended by the host for what they did. I will mention that the woman said that she and her husband were very happy with what they had done and that they were thankful that they were in a position to be giving to something that they really wanted to give to. If they were truly changing their lifestyle because in their hearts they had decided that this was a way to give, and they did it cheerfully, then I can't argue with that.

But yet the whole story seems to me to be based more on legalism and religion - and not just a small wiff of it. This couple did feel obliged to "pay a tithe" to their local church. It didn't seem like they thought they had a choice in the matter. The root of their actions, it seems to me, was obligation, not giving freely.

When it comes to both joyful living (an overall life of joy) and joyful giving, the root can never be obligation. It can never be religion. It can never be rules. It can never be law. Christ came to set us FREE from all of that! I think that many Christians are living joyless lives, or at least seem to have very little joy, because they are mixing either a little or a lot of law and Old Covenant principles into their Christian lives. It only takes a little leaven of the law and religion to leaven the whole lump (see Gal 5:1-9).

Someone (well, ok, a LOT of people) might want to take some New Testament words and make "rules and principles" out of them. I'm thinking of words such as Peter's words, "What kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives..." (2 Peter 3:9). I recently heard an entire sermon on the radio based upon this passage. It basically turned out to be a list of do's and don'ts for the Christian life.

But the more I find out about my freedom in Christ, I find that the "oughts" of the Christian life are rooted in something much deeper. We can't simply yank passages out of the Bible and make rules out of them. Peter, in the above passage, continues with words that are often overlooked. "...as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming." This "ought" was rooted in joyful expectation of the coming of the Lord. It wasn't rooted in any kind of obligation to "be a better Christian" by following the rules. Joy wasn't going to come as a result of trying to live by "oughts."

Rather, the types of lives we live are rooted in the fact that in Christ we have freedom and we have joy. We have a wonderful Savior and Friend, and as we get to know Him intimately and freely, not through rules and oughts, but through His grace and love, then we won't be obliged to change our lifestyles in order to try to do better for Him. Instead, our growing process will be much more natural, over a period of time, as we rest in Him. It deeply saddens me that for many, the Christian life is not much more than futile attempts at rules and oughts.

As you read through other New Testament epistles, note how Paul and the others lay a foundation of life, love, grace, etc. And much more than a foundation, life, love and grace are also the makeup of the entire Christian life. And the actions of the Christian life, such as giving, kindness, love, holiness, etc, are not the root of the Christian life. They are the legitimate fruit of being grounded firmly and deeply in God's love and grace!

Joyful living and joyful giving - Part 1 of 2

I don't quite understand it (ha ha), but for some reason churches seem to make a priority of teaching on the topic of giving. And many of the teachings I've heard on this topic just make me sad. This is stuff I've heard all throughout my church life but I can't say that I ever get any happier when I hear it.

Here are two sad stories I've heard lately that I believe are direct results of how giving is taught in churches today.

1. On a Christian radio talk show, a woman called in with a problem. The gist of her problem is that she gives money to the church but she just can't seem to do it joyfully. She said something like, "We do pay our tithe to our church, but it just isn't a joyful thing for us."

2. Another woman called into a Christian talk show (I can't remember if it was the same program) and said that there was a time when she and her husband couldn't afford to pay their tithe to their church, because they wouldn't have enough money left over for other necessary things, but they felt guilty about it. So what did they end up doing? They SOLD their house, and in her own words, they took a huge loss on it. But, she says, now they are in a smaller house that costs less and they can now afford to "pay their tithe" to their church.

OH

MY.

Why do things like this surprise me? It probably happens far more than we can imagine.

But the point is... what has the Christian religion done to us??? We take Old Covenant laws and practices that served specific purposes for Old Covenant times, we stretch them and manipulate them to fit into the ways we've devised to do things in the church, and we call it "Christianity." I've written full commentaries on "the tithe" in the past and I've shared bits and pieces of my thoughts in various newgroups, and even more recently on other blogs, and I have in mind to do a full series here on "the tithe."

But for now I'll just say that I'll bet there are many similar stories to the ones I shared above, with people dealing with joyless giving, changing their lifestyles so they can "pay a tithe" to a church, and other problems rooted in legalism, and this is one of the areas of modern day legalistic Christianity that really gets under my skin.

The stories above didn't end where I left off. I'll pick up where I left off in Part 2.

Butterfly Church

Wow... I came across three great blog posts yesterday that really resonated with my heart. I'll post them individually.

The first one, over at With Unveiled Face, is called "The Butterfly Church." In it, 'Free Spirit' writes about how she has recently discovered "an entire subculture I knew nothing of" in which people are breaking out of the bondage of religion and finding the freedom for which they were created.

She writes:

This new culture I've found, seems to reveal a groaning of sorts. Yeah, like a groaning of the soul, too deep for words. It's both birthed in, and driven by, this groaning. Like baby chicks needing freedom from the encasement of their shells... pecking, pecking, pecking, and then pecking some more. Compelled to discover what's on the other side of their confinement. It's the caterpillar, turned butterfly, breaking out of its chrysalis and making its way to freedom. It's stunningly beautiful! They, too, have an inward knowing in their knower that there's more for them than what they previously knew. It's as natural as a bird flying.

And she continues with a profound statement that knocked me off of my feet:

The main difference between their species and ours is that they don't have their own to contend with.

Oh my! How true. Check out the entire post (link above).

Jesus is Not a Religion - Part 3

"Christianity is one of the great religions of the world," or at least so say many well-meaning people. But no matter what anyone has previously thought about Jesus, or how they've previously understood Him, what I'm attempting to do in this series of posts is simply to point out that the scriptures, which tell about Jesus, do not point us to some religion called "Christianity," but they point us to the very Person Himself, Jesus. My hope as I lay out what the scriptures reveal about Jesus, is to show how they reveal a Person who is personally, intimately involved with us (individually and corporately), and to contrast this with the idea of "religion."

"Jesus is the way" was the subject of Part 2, and I'd like to carry that out just a little more. Specifically, I'd like to discuss why a "way" was needed in the first place (and why religion is not the way).

God did not create mankind for religion. When we read the creation account in Genesis, we don't see God creating Adam and Eve and telling them, "Ok, now, worship Me and follow a prescribed set of religious rituals and precepts. My goodness! We see Him creating them "in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Gen 1:27). We see Him setting them in a garden paradise and giving them free reign. In the next few verses we see God blessing them, telling them to "be fruitful and multiply." We see Him giving them dominion "over every living thing that moves on the earth." We see God giving, giving, giving to man, blessing him. No signs of religion. No signs of man working at trying to earn anything from God. Mankind was blessed and had a free and trusting relationship with God.

It wasn't God who created religion. It was man. Although what I'm about to say is obviously my opinion with no exact scriptural wording to back up my point, in the end the result is the same. In the beginning, Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with God, but when presented with a different option, they chose religion instead. God gave them all things, and they were never meant to die, and they walked with God freely and openly. In the midst of the garden was the Tree of Life (to which they had free access) and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (which was the only thing forbidden to them). Note, it wasn't simply the "tree of the knowledge of evil." It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Well, they "saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise..." (Gen 3:6), and they took of its fruit and ate. And a dramatic change took place. Their eyes were "opened," and for the first time ever they knew that they were naked, and they covered themselves with fig leaves. Before eating from this tree, they had free and perfect fellowship with God. They had Life. They had no religion. Now suddenly they knew good and evil and also for the first time ever, they hid from God (Gen 3:8). God did not create man to hide from Him! His purpose for them was Himself and His creation - and Life. His purpose for them was not the religion tree (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil), but we do see that by setting the forbidden tree there, He did give them a choice.

(Let me just point out that in the culmination of things, as revealed in the book of Revelation, we find the Tree of Life "in the midst of the Paradise of God" (Rev 2:7, 22:2, 22:14) but we find no tree of the knowledge of good and evil).

We see the result when they at from the forbidden tree. The curse began. (Gen 3:17-19). "Death reigned." (Rom 5:14). "Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned." (Rom 5:12). Man became alienated from God (Col 1:21).

As I set out saying, my purpose in spending some time here talking about Adam and Eve is to set up the understanding of why a "way" was needed in the first place. Because of sin - which spread to all of mankind - man was cursed and had no chance of eternal life. Ever since that time, man has tried to find various ways to reach out to God and "find" Him. Many people, for various reasons, think they have found Him through various methods, religious practices, feelings, emotions, strivings to live right, law, rules, meditation, etc.

But the same scriptures that reveal the above problems (the "bad news" of sin, death, separation from God, etc) also reveal that the answer, or the antidote, or the "way" is never going to be found in man's attempts to find God or reach out to Him. "Doing good works" is not the way to God. A "feeling" of love or happiness is not the way to God. Religious activity - which can be defined in all kinds of ways - is not the way to God. Many of these things may feel good or seem right, but a person can do all of those things and still remain separated from God! The issue, as the scriptures tell us, isn't a matter of whether we're good or evil. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the problem! Through that tree came death, and mankind was separated from the Tree of LIFE. It doesn't matter how good your good is if you're still eating from that tree! The issue is that man needed LIFE.

God so loved the world that He gave Jesus. Through Jesus, all who believe are restored to Life.

"God... who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel..." (2 Timothy 1:9-10)

I'm sure we'll delve further into "Jesus is the Life" in the future, but for now I hope it's been made at least somewhat clear as to why a way was needed and why Jesus is the Way and why there is no other way.

Jesus is Not a Religion - Part 2

Jesus is the Way
When the Apostle Paul was in Athens, he "stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, 'Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.'" (Acts 17:22-23)

What's interesting is that, even though Paul perceived these people to be"religious," he neither affirmed their gods nor the objects of their worship. He did not say, "Hey, that's great. I'm just glad that you are worshipers and that you've found some sort of religion. All ways lead to God, anyway."

Rather than going along with and affirming their ignorance, Paul went on to proclaim to them the One True God. He said, "Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God who made the world and everything in it..." For the sake of time, I won't get into Paul's entire speech, but he ends up by saying, "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead." (Acts 17:30-31)

There is no doubt that Paul, instead of succumbing to a tolerance of all religions, was proclaiming Jesus Christ to them.

Paul was referring to the One who had said of Himself, "I am the way, the truth and the life." Here is a larger portion of the conversation that Jesus had with his disciples in which He spoke those words:

Jesus is speaking:
"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know."

Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?"

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."

Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."

Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. (John 14:1-11)

The question asked of Jesus was, "How can we know the way?" Jesus' summarized response: "I am the way."

Again, along the lines of what I previously said, is Jesus being haughty or arrogant or condescending when He makes this claim? Far from it! Let's remember what scripture says about Jesus! From Colossians 1 - "He is the image of the invisible God." "By Him all things were created..." "He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." "For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell." From Philippians 2 - Jesus, "being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God..." He "made Himself of no reputation, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!"

Out of His love and out of His grace... Jesus did all this for us! Jesus is the Way because out of His love and grace He made Himself the Way. "No one comes to the Father except through Him" because He has graciously and lovingly given Himself up for us.

More on "Jesus is the Way" coming up...

Jesus is Not a Religion - Part 1

As I share my thoughts about Jesus and religion, I realize that this will amount to much less than an exhaustive account. However, I do hope to cover some things that I think are of significant importance. Mainly I want to point out the stark contrast between Jesus and religion. As I said in the introduction, God didn't give us a religion. He gave His Son. I hope to show how Jesus is much more than simply some great historical figure and much more than some spiritual or religious leader.

There is indeed a lot to know about Jesus! But just because He is "big" and the reality of His being covers more than we'll ever know, that doesn't mean that everything that people think about Him is true. There are a lot of things that are not true about Jesus. Religion (and "non-religion") have cast Jesus in so many different ways that may or may not seem good and right, but either way are far off from what the scriptures reveal to us about Him. I personally don't want to invent my own "truth" about Jesus. I don't want to believe what I believe about Him just because it sounds good or feels good. In other words, I don't want to invent a Jesus who is suitable for me, but I want to look at what the scriptures actually say about Him.

I realize a wide variety of people may be reading this. Whoever you are - it's up to you whether or not you believe what the Bible says. But if we can at least agree that the Bible does say a lot about Jesus, then we at least have a common denominator to look at in order to get our information about Jesus. If I'm simply preaching to the choir here, then I hope you'll enjoy and find great encouragement here as we're reminded of just Who our Savior is! And if you're someone who has somehow come up with your own preconceived notions about who Jesus is (as opposed to actually looking into the scriptures) or if you're someone who hasn't really given Jesus much thought, then I think you'll be quite surprised to hear what the Bible actually says about Him!

Jesus is I AM
Let me start by pointing out that Jesus didn't simply appear on the scene 2,000 years ago! We all know the Christmas story, and how Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit and gave birth to the baby Jesus. That was simply the beginning of Jesus' 33 years on earth as a man. Any religion can make the claim that their leader was born as a human being!

But can any religion make this claim about their leader? "...Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." (Phil 2:6-8)

There is so much to draw out of the above passage of scripture, but the thing I want to point out is that if Jesus was in the form of God before He came in the likeness of man, that means that Jesus existed before He came in the likeness of man. Before He was born as a baby, He already "was."

And let me tell you, it gets even better than simply knowing that He "pre-existed." There are many scriptures that show us that Jesus was and is more than just a man, but let me highlight just a few.

When Jesus was being questioned by some Jews about who He was (as recorded in John 8), they said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?"

Jesus's response to them was, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."

That might sound like a strange answer, but it might make more sense in light of an experience Moses had. When Moses had asked God who he should say was sending him to the children of Israel, God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM... Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, "I AM has sent me to you." (Exodus 3:14)

That might start to give a picture of who Jesus is. But how about this:

In Isaiah 44, the LORD YHWH (Yahweh) reveals Himself, saying, "I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God."

Then in Revelation 1:18, Jesus is speaking to John and He says, "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore."

This same voice (Jesus) had just finished saying, in Revelation 1:11, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last." Later, in Revelation 21:6-7, God is speaking and He says, "I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End... He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.

Are there two Alphas and two Omegas? Are there two Beginnings and two Ends? Are there two Firsts and two Lasts? How can both YHWH and Jesus refer to themselves as all of these things? It's pretty simple. The two are one. It makes quite a lot of sense that Jesus would say, "I and My Father are one." (John 10:30). Again, Jesus is not a religion!

The last bit of biblical evidence that I'll share that shows that Jesus is more than a mere man is found in Colossians 1:15-17. This is perhaps what would amaze people the most, who don't already know this about Jesus:

Speaking of Jesus, this passage says, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

You want to know who created all things? You want to know for whom all things were created? You want to know who holds all things together? It's in the above passage. Jesus!

Jesus is not a religion. Trusting Him or believing in Him is not a matter of being religious or following a religion. It's a matter of knowing the One who is the Creator. God didn't create us for religion. God created us to know Him. (More on that later). Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Are Christians being exclusive or intolerant or self-righteous or arrogant when they claim Jesus is the way to God? Of course not. They are simply pointing to the good news of the One who was alive and then died and then is alive again forevermore! He is the One who provided the way (who is the way) for anyone and everyone who will simply trust in Him to have eternal life.

Jesus is Not a Religion - Introduction

I'm beginning a new series here. The hardest part of writing this particular series was coming up with the title! I had originally planned on simply writing about who Jesus is, and to somewhat contrast Him with what religion teaches, but as I thought about it and prepared it, I found myself in "contrast" mode more than I thought I would. So I thought of titles such as "Jesus vs. Religion," "Jesus is not a religion," Jesus contrasted with religion," "Who Jesus Is," "Who Jesus Is Not," "Who is Jesus?" and so on and so forth. In the end, I guess I cover quite a bit of stuff here, so I couldn't settle (in my mind) on one title!

I've done a lot of thinking this past week on all of this. I've read a little bit about what people think about various religions (as well as "non-religion"), in comparison with the "religion" of Christianity. I also received an email from an atheist, asking if I wanted to take part in a podcast in which an atheist and a Christian discuss things pertaining to Christianity and atheism. That's not quite my bag, particularly, so I'm not going to do that but it added to my thinking about religion and religious mindsets. Particularly, my thoughts have focused on the reality of who Jesus is (what the Bible reveals about Him), as contrasted with who people think Jesus is and what the "religion" of Christianity is all about. To some, Christianity is simply that - a religion that is not too different than any other religion. To some, all ways lead to God. To some, Jesus was a great teacher and a prophet, but is not "the Way."

To me, there is no such real thing as a religion called "Christianity." What I mean by that is, God so loved the world that He gave His Son, not the Christian religion. Some have turned this into a religion, but when we read the New Testament, as well as the Old Testament prophesies regarding Jesus and the New Covenant, we find it pointing to a Person, not a religion. The things that the scriptures reveal about this Person are fascinating! But one thing I want to do here, apart from simply talking about this fascinating Person, Jesus, is to present Him not as a religion or as a set of rules and tenets and principles, but as the Person who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Christianity is not the way, the truth and the life. Religion is not the way, the truth and the life. The law is not the way, the truth and the life. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

Persecution

After a recent post of mine, and some comments that followed by Matthew, many thoughts came to mind. I remembered that in the past I had written about what I was thinking about, so below is a repost of my "Persecution" post from January 9, 2007. This was written before I had come to know many of you!

I should note that I do realize that Christians have been and still are persecuted for many different reasons around the world, and persecution is by no means limited to what I'm focusing on here. My focus here is on persecution from legalistic, religious people towards grace people. It's been going on a long, long time, going back even as far as Cain and Abel, although I don't go back quite that far here. :)

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Why were Jesus and the disciples persecuted? Why were the people of the early church persecuted? And another important question - who persecuted them?

In Western Christian culture, we tend to think of persecution as "good Christians" being put down or made fun of by "sinners." But I guess I just don't see that happening to Jesus or to the early church. The persecution that Jesus, the disciples and the early church received was from the religious people! Jesus was not put down and mocked - and ultimately killed - because He went around telling "bad" people to start being "good." He was hated by the religious people because He put His arms around sinners. He supped with them. He loved them.

Jesus told His disciples, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you" (John 15:18). It's true that many people today hate Christians. We've done a good job of making sure that's the case! But... I think we've gotten them to hate us for the wrong reasons! In fact, I think we've gotten the wrong people to hate us!

Jesus told His disciples, "They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service" (John 16:2). The people who hated Jesus and the disciples believed in God and wanted others to walk in His ways. But there was something "unsynagoguish" about Jesus and His disciples. I often think they would be kicked out of many of today's churches, too.

Again, who is it that did the persecuting, and why? Why was Saul standing there holding the coats of those who stoned Stephen? Then later, after Saul became a Christian (now known as Paul), why was he so heavily persecuted? Why was the early church so persecuted? Was it because they were "standing up for what is right!" (?) Was it because they were living such good, clean lives, that sinners all around began mocking them and calling them "goody two shoes?" Was it because they were protesting all the anti-Christian behavior that was going on around them, attending rallies and carrying signs and trying to get "moral" laws passed?

I realize that the point I'm making flies in the face of the modern church... :) But the people doing the persecuting were often the goody-two shoes, the religious, the law-abiding legalists! The ones being persecuted were persecuted for rejecting Moses and embracing Jesus. "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).

Saul had been a man who had great confidence in his flesh. Later, when he became known as Paul, he would testify about his past life, before coming to know Jesus: "If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless" (Phil 3:4-6).

Saul had gone around persecuting these new Christians who had rejected that way of life and instead embraced Christ. But then Jesus came to him. "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" (Acts 9:4). After his conversion he realized how he had been so far from the truth. Saul's former "testimony" was cleaner than that of the squeakiest clean of today's squeaky clean Christians! But he turned away from that testimony to that he could have Christ instead.

He went on to share about his turning away from that law-abiding way of life: "But what things were gain to me (the things listed in Phil 3:4-6), these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as dung, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith..." (Phil 3:7-9).

Paul turned from his law-abiding life (he counted it as "dung") to a Christ-abiding life. There is a huge difference. The first way seemed like it should bear good fruit, but it only bore fruit unto death. "For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit unto death" (Rom 7:5).

Paul may have spent the latter part of his life in the chains of men, being persecuted by his own people for rejecting their ways, but he lived in perfect freedom, the freedom for which Christ had set him free!

Result of grace - I can see clearly now

Something wonderful has happened since I've begun to grow in the grace of God. I've slowed down. Not physically, but mentally. And yes, this is a good thing!

I don't mean that my mind can't or doesn't process information like it used to. I mean my mind has grown more calm and I see more clearly now. I've found myself rethinking a lot of things, but I've found that I'm not over-thinking things nearly as much as I used to. Grace... which means rest for me... has allowed me to step back and not try to get everything figured out, and not be 'right' about everything, and not try to get everything done, and not try to save the world, etc, etc. Grace means that I have slowed down, and instead of trusting myself to accomplish all the things of the Christian life, I'm trusting God more and more to "work in me to will and to do according to His good pleasure." Slowing down has helped my mind to be less fuzzy, and vice versa. It's all a result of growing in grace.

Back in 1999, I tried the "Atkins Diet" for the first time. I won't get into the details of the diet, but in short it's a low-carb diet. I did this "diet" for six weeks. And I really did lose a lot of weight and I really did feel a lot better. Of course, after I got off the diet I gained all the weight back and then some! Same with each subsequent time I've tried the diet. Which is why "diets" don't work. But I won't get into that right now!

The one good thing about this experience is that during this short period in my life I cut out all sugars, starches, flour, etc. In doing so, I cleared a bunch of "junk" out of my system and as a result my mind became more clear and more sharp. I was quite amazed. I hadn't realized how fuzzy my mind was until I got rid of the junk in a rather quick fashion! I noticed a stark contrast.

I compare this to what happened in my life when I began growing in grace - except for one major difference, of course. Grace is not a fad! Grace is not a "diet" that I try from time to time when I get the unbiblical notion that my life needs a "spiritual boost." Grace is the ongoing power and presence of God in my life. Grace is the foundation of my life, because Grace is a Person named Jesus.

I've definitely got a lot more growing to do - as we all do - and I can say that happily and with joy because I'm not the one who's in charge of my growth! My "job" is to rest in Jesus, and as I do the Life of the Vine naturally flows in me and through me - a branch - and I continuously experience His life. (Technical note: I purposely chose the word "continuously," not "continually." "Continuous" means "uninterrupted in time; without cessation." "Continual" means "recurring regularly or frequently." See the difference? The Vine's life doesn't only flow through us "regularly or frequently." We experience His life continuously, without cessation - whether we realize it or not!).

Back when I was running around always trying to figure out God's perfect will for my life, and trying to make sure all my "spiritual t's were crossed and i's were dotted," and trying to make sure I did my daily Bible reading and said all my prayers and witnessed to everyone at work, and struggling to apply every last principle that I was taught... and so on and so on... my mind simply had too much going on and the Christian life was pretty much joyless! I had no peace. It was a miserable rollercoaster ride with many emotional highs and lows (mostly lows) and many twists and turns.

To grow in grace I've had to get a lot of the 'religious' junk out of my life. Grace has released me from the pressure to perform and has cleared my head to actually see Christ! Jesus is a Person, not a set of disciplines or principles to live by. About 12 or 13 years ago I was able to take a step back and take a long, deep breath, and my journey of growing in grace began to take root.

I've since found that God's will in my life is not realized as I stress myself out over it! Bible study and prayer are not disciplines as much as they are expressions of a loving relationship with my Father as I grow in His grace. Sharing Jesus with other people is no longer a duty. Rather, I'm resting in the Life of the Vine and He leads and guides as I trust His life in me one day at a time... and all of these things are fulfilled much more naturally, not forcibly, as He sees fit. And much more slowly... but with much more substance.

How has growth in God's grace affected your mind / thinking / thoughts / actions / joy / peace / etc?