The God, the gods, heaven and hell

I have heard many arguments against universal reconciliation through Christ and it always ends with something like this: ‘well, some people don’t want to go to heaven’ or ‘they don’t want to be with God’. But which heaven do they not want to go to? Which God do they not believe in or want to be with?

Are atheists really atheists after all?

Especially nowadays, with the rise of the nones – or those who profess no allegiance to a specific religious group.

Could people be saying no to a God who is fabricated by religious groups to commit heinous acts of injustice and violence to humanity and all of creation? Or an angry God who needs to be appeased or will torture you for eternity?

Or how about the 8-year old boys who are brainwashed by so-called Muslims to believe that the only way they would ever get to see their dead family members (after a bombing that killed their family members) is to be trained and carry out a suicide bombing mission?

That is not God….

….as much as so-called Christians who blow up abortion clinics….

….or picket at military funerals….

….or hold up signs saying that you’re going to hell if you’re a ‘faggot’….

and on and on and on.

That is not God, and there is no semblence of God, especially the God of Jesus anywhere in those examples, period.

Oh, how far the human race has gotten away from the wisdom of ancient past.

From the Jesus who led a counter-cultural movement against religion which led Him and His followers to the death. A movement which Jesus inspired and ignited in order to bring humanity together. But instead the church, in His name, created an even greater rift between humanity and ourselves.

Fortunately, splinter groups are emerging within all faith groups who are realizing that we all come from a common source, God. Movements which insist there is a better way. Movements that take us back to our ancient roots, and back to what Jesus started.

So, then could it really be true that if you ask the right questions you would quickly find that those who don’t believe in god simply don’t believe in the gods they learned about in Sunday School, or in church, or from their parents, or other external sources. God, the One and Only, the Ultimate Source of life and truth and everything in the universe was, is and always will be here to be discovered as we move closer together in a spirit and bond of unity.

To lust or not to lust

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

The Temple of Aphrodite and the self gratification of lustful desires by using another human being through temple prostitution is one of the first things that would have came to mind when Jesus taught this principle.

Passage is about degrading another human being and not loving them like yourself, thus not loving God with all your heart.

There is grey area here. Jesus is not saying all lust is bad. The word lust is used in the NT in very good ways. It’s the abuse of and uncontrolled, unbridled lust that Jesus is talking about here.

Some examples of behaviors that Jesus is talking about as sinful is: pornography addiction, engaging in prostitution, using another human being to gratify your lust by having casual sex with them. On the note of casual sex, it’s about the heart of the people involved and is especially worse when a person lies and makes someone else feel loved and wanted in order to have sex with them.

A couple in a committed, loving relationship (especially with Jesus at the center of it), is not sin. Lust, again, is not inherently sinful or evil, like it has been propagated. Lust is what brings two passionate human beings together. Lust is a normal and even healthy emotion when kept in check and equilibrium is maintained.

Vote With Your Dollar To Free Women

From: Sojourners Magazine
To: Anyone who cares and values women not as objects but made in the image of the divine

Dear friend:

Women are created in the image of God, yet our culture constantly seeks to devalue them to nothing more than a body. Young women struggle with body image and feelings of inadequacy, unaware of the beauty they carry. Marketing campaigns that objectify women deny their value, sending the message that their worth is found in their sexual appeal. The results are well known: eating disorders, anxiety, fear, and a surrounding culture of rape and abuse.

Victoria’s Secret is expanding their sexualized marketing to increasingly younger girls. It’s time to take a stand and tell them that enough is enough.

Victoria’s Secret consistently and blatantly markets their lingerie to teen girls. The “Bright Young Things” marketing campaign for the PINK line they ran earlier this year is an egregious example, with young models in racy lingerie. Stuart Burgdoerfer, CFO of Limited Brands, which owns Victoria’s Secret, recently said of young girls, “They want to be older, and they want to be cool like the girl in college, and that’s part of the magic of what we do at Pink.” [1]

Tell Victoria’s Secret and Limited Brands that this marketing stratgy is unaaceptable by sending a message to their communications team and board of directors.

Marketing provocative clothing to girls is not magic – it is using the distortion of young women’s body image and insecurity as a source of profit. There are a variety of things teenage girls “want to be” — safe, respected, encouraged, valued, to name a few. Tell Limited Brands and Victoria’s Secret their value of making money is not worth exploiting the sacred value of women and girls.

In faith,
Sandi, Rose, Janelle, and the rest of the Sojourners campaigns team

[1] “Victoria’s Secret Draws Parental Ire over ‘Bright Young Things’” ABC News
abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2013/03/victorias-secret-draws-parental-ire-over-bright-young-things/

True Love

It happens so often that we say we love our wives, husbands, parents, siblings, friends and then in the next breath say we love In-n-Out.:-/ what the hell?

The word ‘love’ has lost its weight and value over the years. No wonder marriages are failing (especially Christian marriages which should be the example but it’s not), friendships are all about the good times but not bad, families are as dysfunctional as ever and on and on and on.

What is true love? We can find it in the bible in 1 Corinthians 13:

Love is patient,
love is kind.
It does not envy,
it does not boast,
it is not proud.
It is not rude,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects,
always trusts,
always hopes,
always perseveres.
Love never fails

Here’s an exercise: replace the word ‘love’ with your name and see if you pass The Love Test. How’d you do? I know I failed miserably and if you’re really honest you’re probably thinking the same. But don’t let that dishearten you because all this means is we’re a work in progress and we need help. That means cling to Jesus like never before, surrender your life to Him, trust and obey Him in all things, and let yourself fall more deeply in love with Him everyday for the rest of your life!
Lastly, find a community to be an active part of because we’re not created to do life alone! Jesus is the only one who has the power to transform us into the people we’re actually created to be by His grace and mercy – so we can love God, ourselves and others the way we’re meant to love – instead of faking our way through life!

What will happen with our marriages, relationships and our view of ourselves in this big, big world if we all started loving this way?

giving God your best

One of the biggest indicators of the health of my relationship with Jesus is in the area of finances. God wants our heart, plain and simple and it’s like the old saying – “put your money where your mouth is” which is absolutely true. If we truly believe, love and trust Jesus then that trust is going to lead to obedience in all areas of our lives, especially in the way we deal with our money.

The Jews that the prophet Malachi was talking too (last book of the old testament) were in the midst of a drought which means that nothing was going right and it was hard for them to provide for their families. They were dumbfounded because to them their spiritual lives were just fine, but was it really? or was it simply a facade? That’s when God raised up a prophet (Malachi) to speak truth to His people – truth that would surely be unpopular as it always is, even nowadays. Apparently, Jewish men were having sex with prostitutes in temples, not offering sacrifices in the temple, or half-heartedly doing so (which to God is even worse), and they were withholding all, or part of the tithe of their harvest (again, giving only half-heartedly when God gives with the whole heart is even worse than not giving at all). As you can see they were blinded to their sin because they thought they were meeting their “religious expectations or duties” (nowadays this might be equated to going to church once a week, giving a little bit at church, reading a little Bible everyday…you know what I mean?). I think we can easily get complacent and blinded to our own shortcomings and sin because we think we are doing the bare minimum and we got no issues with God. But Malachi slaps them on the face and says “NO!’ and especially hits home that they are ROBBING GOD! Still naive the Jewish people ask him how they are robbing God…and to that Malachi says, by not tithing and especially by withholding the full tithe.

Think about the situation the families back then were in. (And as I hope you will see the situation is not much different for us and the way the economy is in our generation.) The families were in the midst of drought which means less harvest, maybe even no harvest by the time they weed out the bad stuff and are left with scraps that they might be able to ration throughout the year. This meant that in order to tithe and give the whole tithe, they would have to trust God with all of their heart to provide enough leftover for the entire year. They didn’t and it is entirely understandable from a human perspective. When the going gets rough, even with me, the easiest (heartbreakingly so) thing to skimp on is the tithe. We make excuses like oh “God doesn’t need my money”, “God will understand because I have bills to pay”, “I just can’t afford it but as soon as I’m in a better situation I’ll give it all back”….what other excuses do you make?

But that’s not what God asks. He asks for the whole tithe. He asks for us to trust him with our whole heart and if we really do truly trust Him then we will obey Him in all things. See, it becomes a worship issue. When I’m not giving my all to God (time, treasure, and talent) and especially when I’m not giving the whole tithe then I am no longer worshiping God – I am now worshiping whatever “priority” I just put ahead of God (my rent, car payment, insurance premium, cell phone bill, on and on and on). Whatever it is that gets firstfruits and my best (which belongs to God and He doesn’t ask for much since all that we have belong to Him already!) now becomes my God – scary, eh?

I personally have the desire, as all believers united by the bonds of the Holy Spirit should and will have, to give my tithe as the first priority as soon as that money touches my hands and when I don’t I really do have a heavy heart and a burden that isn’t lifted until I finally give in and surrender it (at that point it’s not really firstfruits because you already put something ahead of it but it’s repentance and we should be repenting on a daily basis and God will honor our repentance!) and God is faithful and just to forgive!

So who do you give your tithe to? What if you feel like the church misuses your money? Well if that’s the way you feel then you obviously don’t trust yor community, it is not family to you and you’re not intimately connected there. To that I say, either start plugging in and getting to know your leadership (which will usually clear up any mistrust you may have had) or find a community of faith that you can trust and become intimately connected to it so you can share your time, treasure and talent with the people there. We were created for community and to have all things in common (including our money) so that we can see God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven! I love the community I am a part of because we are known in our city as the church the poor and needy can come to (whether that be someone in our community or someone on the outside) in order to receive the help. My community feeds about a thousand people every week, gives groceries to countless more and it all comes from the generous giving of those who are a part of our community.

 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6). May that be my prayer and your prayer that we trust God in all things and fall more in love with Jesus everyday, amen.

No Questions Asked

Luke 9:12-13
Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to Jesus and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.”
Jesus replied, “You give them something to eat.”

Pretty simple. Straight forward. No questions asked.

I had to chuckle a little at this picture but maybe it is one of those ‘funny cuz its true’ moments.

Jesus would never have said this. He would have just fed them. All of them. Actually that is exactly what he did!

So how do we, as Christians, have the audacity to say that we should not do what Jesus did because it causes dependency?

I actually do sadly hear this argument made by professing Christians with influence.

What do you think?

Conversion or transformation?

We need fresh approaches as to how we reach out to people.

We need to be communities where seekers can come and see and experience Jesus just as they are because Jesus ate with and hung out with all the “wrong” (according to the religious people of His day) people. But Jesus did something remarkable, that should be an example to us, in that he did not see these people as the “wrong” people. Instead, Jesus saw all people as made in the image of God with immense value and people desperate for God.

The first Christian communities embodied this ideal by welcoming all to come and see. And what they saw resulted in many being awakened and eyes opened to see the reality of a God who has been, is, and will always be at work to reconcile all things to Himself.

Simply put, many were transformed.

Conversion is not the goal. Transformation, from broken and lost to found and healed in Christ, is.

People saw a community where there was NOBODY in need. A community where people were healed. A community that – in the midst of severe persecution and trials and even death because they followed the resurrected Jesus – somehow experienced joy, peace and contentment through it all.

We need to stop shining a spotlight on certain sins (and not others) which alienate and make the minority in a community feel as though they are outnumbered and attacked. How would you feel if a sermon is directed towards you and no one else? Shamed…. Picked on…. No wonder some feel this way….

These kind of sins should be dealt with pastorally on a case-by-case basis. But there is always a root cause, like idolatry or identity-confusion that could be a great sermon which can build life into an entire community and even lead some to think deeply about themselves and their battles and reach out for pastoral counseling.

Sermons are supposed to build life (as opposed to tear down) and value into a community. Not sometimes. Always.