is heaven boring?

It’s around that time of year that we pick up the bible and remember some pretty crazy things. My parents relayed a story about my sister’s household that underlines the difficulty of the Christian story.
K: “mommy I want to go see the baby Jesus.”
E: “Um who told you about the baby Jesus?”
K: “Johnny did at school. I didn’t know about the baby Jesus, but I can’t wait to see him. Can we go see him?”
E: “We can’t go see the baby Jesus.”
K: “What? Why not?”
E: “Because the baby Jesus is dead.”
K: “how did he die?”
E: “Some people killed him.”
K: “How did they kill him?”
My mom heard this conversation from my sister, and promptly told her that she needs to bring Katy to Sunday school so that she doesn’t get into these sort of pickles.

Many of us just relax into the season, letting the pickle melt away into presents, stress, and glowing little children on the lawn. As I was reading the Christmas story last week, instead of focusing on the virgin or the birth or the baby, I brought my eyes to the torn piece of air in which the angels peered through. Apparently to the shepherds it was something that might make you crap your pants. According to a psychological survey of most religions and people without religion… most everyone believes that they will go to heaven when they die. And most people have some sort of idea of what heaven is like. But in light of the inquisitive nature of my niece, what if we were to look at some of the scriptures about heaven and ask some questions.

Why is heaven so scary to the Shepherds? Why are the Harold Angels so excited?
In Isaiah What is the whole deal with coals in heaven? What’s with the holy chant?
In Revelation what’s with the crown tossing? Why in heaven is there this constant chant of praise?

After looking at the various heavenly passages I asked myself, if you could complain about heaven, what would you complain about? I polled my church, and some people felt like it might be too bright. Or the gold would be too slippery on wet days. Another chief complaint that caused us all to not think so jocosely was that someone would miss their family… Ouch. On a lighter note, I found with the above heavenly passages, a major theme is that of incessant praise. When the herald angels rip open the air you hear praise in the highest. When Isaiah sees the lord in his temple, he hears praise. Which makes me wonder after about a week of constant praise, if some get a little bored. So my question is:

Is Heaven Boring?

Because in heaven apparently I’ll I do is praise! And to some this seems weird. Religious people end their sentences with praise God. Praise God. They seem to place it in inopportune moments during your conversation. Praise God. Like a tick. Praise God. Personally I’m not a huge fan of those that need constant reassurance of my approval. Praise God. I’m not a huge fan of dictators that demand my loyalty. Nor do I have much respect for those that crowd around them. Praise God. That suck up to the millionaire. That sit close to the celebrity. Yet from his mouth we read in the psalms “Whoever offers me thanks and praise, he honors me.” Like he is saying ‘What I want most is to be told that I am good and great.’

It’s almost like in this context God craves, our worship like a vain woman wanting compliments, or a vain author presenting their book to people who have no idea who they are, or a vain preacher that wants to be told that their message changed someone’s life. Praise God.

In the bible it seems there is an excessive amount of praise going out from his people. And not only that urging us to praise him. Or perhaps being commanded and demanded to praise him. And it makes one think that heaven might get a little tiresome.

What about Golf? Or the ducks that you are tethered to? No … in the bible we just keep seeing praise. And the urging and surging of more praise.

It might make someone say If that’s all you do… that’s boring… I’ll take my six-pack and you can join me in hell. Because hell has sex, and cupcakes (a lot of them), and my six-pack of beer. And it’s free from all of this out of control praise.

Little Shop

In the musical little shop of horrors, we meet a nice boy named Seymour, and he is in love with Audrey. He meets up with an alien plant is carnivorous. He begins nursing the plant to health with his own blood. Soon the plant grows and needs more blood, and the only thing that can satisfy it is murder.

There is a point in the play where Seymour can’t do it anymore. The murderous lifestyle that the plant has demanded is too much so he comes to a crossroads and says “NO MORE.” But then he remembers his love of his girlfriend, who is with him now because of various plots the plant has developed, one being her ex-boyfriend was dinner. He thinks her love is based on the plant, and so he unwillingly begins killing again.

It is his praise of the thing he loves that turns him, and justifies him feeding his famous plant. This is a great example of Jesus’ Truth that says: “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Unbenounced to Seymour, Audrey loved him prior to his fame. Prior to his plant. Yet the tragedy was that he felt her love was contingent on his status. And his love, praise, and treasure of Audrey moved him into a life of service to death.

Cute baby alert!

I’m a ridiculous dad. Out of the gates I was enamored by my baby to the point where I wasn’t even sure she was mine. I would study her features that I thought were flawless and said. Hmm don’t see any bulgy eyes or awkward body shape… Are you sure she’s mine? I had heard every parent thinks their baby is cute. But I wasn’t prepared to actually think it. Someone would come up to me and say she is so cute… and I would graciously say “yes I think so too” But not long after, someone said to me “wow she’s really pretty.” And I didn’t have any issue piping up “Oh my Gosh! I know!” And be so excited that someone could see what I could see. The thing is … I spend a majority of my time with my daughter saying things like “you are so cute, I love you so much, you are the best, you are …” And blather on about something complimentary. I’m sure a psychologist can argue that this is great for a baby’s formation and security. But I’m not doing it so that she can have a great self esteem. I’m doing it because I want to. It is a natural outflow of who I am. Here I am praising my baby. You’re cute you’re cute you’re cute. It’s enough to bore anyone but me.

CS Lewis helped me understand this a bit more when he writes in his reflection of the psalms:

I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless . . . shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise — lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game — praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars. . . . Except where intolerably adverse circumstances interfere, praise almost seems to be inner health made audible. . . . I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: ‘Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?’ The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about….

I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete until it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you are with care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with. . . .

If it were possible for a created soul fully . . . to ‘appreciate’, that is, to love and delight in, the worthiest object of all, and simultaneously at every moment to give this delight perfect expression, then that soul would be in supreme happiness. . . . To see what the doctrine really means, we must suppose ourselves to be in perfect love with God — drunk with, drowned in, dissolved by, that delight which, far from remaining pent up within ourselves as incommunicable, hence hardly tolerable, bliss, flows out from us incessantly again in effortless and perfect expression, our joy is no more separable from the praise in which it liberates and utters itself than the brightness a mirror receives is separable from the brightness it sheds. The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him”

So is it boring to enjoy a life of praise? Is it boring to enjoy an eternity of praise? Is heaven’s chant, and call and refrain tiresome? An unending expression that completes our delight; Inner health made audible? Full enjoyment, and demands and commands for you to enjoy. Surely this is only boring and ungenuine, if we don’t see the reality of who we are praising.

Yet it was that boring silly chant that compelled the Angels to rip open the air. Blaze with their glory. In front of the shepherds and yell at the top of their lungs “glory to God in the highest.” They could see a reality that was worth telling somebody about. Just like the good joke, or the lovely mountain, or the cute baby, It isn’t fully enjoyed until you have ripped open the air with your heart expressed how wonderful this is, and asked “DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE.”

They knew who they were praising. The reality was made known to them that this child would stand forth among humanity as the light of the world. What did this mean? “In him was life and the life was the light of men.” A light of such power that the darkness in the world cannot extinguish it. Light means both energy and knowledge. The Angels knew that from this baby born there came the energy and knowledge by which human beings could be delivered from evil and enabled to live life as it ought to be lived.

That with this child, the alcoholic, prostitute and poor would gain access to the kingdom of heaven. Those that trusted in this child would become virtuous and happy, easy in themselves, and useful to others. They would gain eternal life now that would lead them to heaven; to God the Judge, the lover of all, and to the man himself Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant. They would participate in the religion of love; the law of kindness brought to light by the good news. They were celebrating the reality that all who receive this son will enjoy God and themselves: and this would begin to give them the character of the one they praise, make them like God; lovers of all; contented in their lives; and crying out at their death, in calm assurance, ‘O grave, where is your victory! Thanks be unto God, who gives me the victory, through my Lord Jesus Christ.’”

Through this baby a worldwide moral revolution would take place. And what that would mean is that the population of the earth would become transformed into the “Children of light.” Ordinary human beings in their ordinary positions in life were appointed and empowered by this baby born to be in each of their peculiar places, “the light of the world.” It would be no more possible to hide them than it is possible to hide a city on a hill.

It is this, that these Angels in their Boring little scary voice praised “Glory to God!” because they knew that at in the birth of this child the WAR WAS WON!

And though the Shepherds probably didn’t know the full expression of what the Harold angels sung. They knew what a king was, and they knew that some pretty strange creatures were excited about it. So they decided to look for themselves. And they got to see a newborn king.

Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!

Why are Christians so Mean?

As thanksgiving and the holidays approach, it’s important to get ready to spend time with those people who we call “family”. Many of us get ready by cooking up a turkey or another special dish; others carefully polish their body armor to dawn as they enter the battlefield known as the living room.

The holidays have a tendency to bring out the fight in us. Mom, Dad and the siblings crawling all over each other… cutting on each other… each knowing the RIGHT way to go about things, and are clear about the fact that you didn’t do it that way. It’s in these moments that we sometimes call upon our faith.

It’s been said: “Jesus SAVED me from my family.” And someone might read the passage in Luke 14:26 and say “Hate your mother and father… wow this disciple thing is for ME!” or Luke 14:12 and say “hallelujah Jesus said I shouldn’t invite my family for dinner.” And so they flee to the church because their family of origin seems to be a monstrous place where they cannot measure up, or they just need a break.

Yet within the walls of the church we find things are not so different. Some may find solace in the faint glow of stained glass; however, it probably won’t be too long before they run into a Christian that is mean. It seems everyone has a story where someone who was “of the faith” slimed them with their “good intentions”.

I’ve been mean before. I know it’s hard to imagine, but as I was thinking about family and the holidays I remember the very first couple years that I was getting to know my brother in law. I was a new Christian, a university student of the bible. And though I learned many things I still draw upon, I also learned something else: The RIGHT way to live. Or more importantly: The right way to TELL people how to live. I was a little copycat at the time, slurping up the gems from school and radio, and anything anyone could tell me about my faith. And with that massive ingestion of knowledge, I got a hefty amount of opinion. That I in tern dealt out

Now, I never was really into my sister’s boyfriends. It wasn’t really a territory I felt like chumming it up around. It might have been I felt protective, or perhaps I felt like it wasn’t really my place to say. Regardless, as a basic principle, I just disapproved. I wasn’t as vocal about my disapproval as my friend Tim was of his sister’s boyfriend where they would weekly TP his car. But the disapproval was still there.

As my sister’s boyfriend became more and more a fixture, I began to try to find more and more wrong with him. This, I can attest, is not a good solution for budding family relations, because you will find what you look for. Well, one day, I found it. My sister and he stated that they would “live together” in New York. My mom wasn’t pleased and she phoned my sister saying “I know you are adults, but I don’t like this plan.” She knew that she wasn’t about to change the mind of her 27 year old daughter, but she could at least say she stood up for what she thought was right. My sister made her decision, and my mom being wise, left it at that.

I, on the other hand, KNEW what was RIGHT, and studied what was RIGHT, and probably even had statistics to back up what I knew to be RIGHT. And what my sister was to about to embark upon was WRONG. And to me, it all pointed to one thing: My sister’s boyfriend was not godly!

Well, this had major implications to my treatment of him. I found ways to badmouth him when I got the chance. I didn’t really engage him when he came over. And all the while, I was very vocal about my faith.

Little did I know how destructive these tendencies were of mine; especially to someone I would see more and more often. I had learned by my Christian trainers that a way to get someone to feel bad about their sin is to be mean. Eventually Eric became my brother in law. I tolerated him, but I used my faith to make sure he was distant from me. “He wasn’t Godly… I was… and this is why…” (Very Luke 18:11 yuck) It was only a couple years ago that I found out that his dad had a similar reaction to his faith. His belief structure allowed for him to belittle, and find reason to cut you down… and out. Surely Eric, with mine and his dad’s example, has never seen a glimpse of Christianity that didn’t have a mean streak.

I think being mean is one of the big things that causes fights during the holidays, and really causes people within the church to never want to go back. So I ask the question: Why are Christians so mean?

Below, in the comments, I would love to hear your answers on why Christians are so mean. Also I would love to hear your survival stories (or confessions) on how you were treated.

It’s freaky to write this history of contempt down. At the time it was justified, and now it’s just embarrassing. Thankfully my brother in law is a good man, and never turned the tables on me. He very easily could have pulled out the Sermon on the Mount when I went through a divorce years ago. He could have told me “Judge not lest ye be judged…” and he would have been right. Maybe not necessarily for kicking me while I was down, but rather, telling me the state of my heart when I judged him.

It’s interesting that in my contempt and Judgment of my brother in law’s actions, I still wanted him to see me as righteous. And, at the same time, I wanted him to act in a similar fashion as I did. How sad that I wanted him to “Come to Jesus”, if you will, through my ways of disrespect and contempt.

Perhaps the reason why so many people found healing in Jesus is he didn’t disrespect them or hold them in his eyes as less than. He was a master of the heart. And when someone’s heart was full of shame, he showed them that there was a kingdom for them as well: a heavenly father who cared for their soul, and desired for them to know that they were accepted. Jesus wasn’t mean to mean righteous people either, he was clear. He delivered a sermon on the top of a hill that showed people how you might go about living if you wanted to have the love of God. At first he dealt with someone’s anger and contempt of others. For if we remove our anger and self righteousness at our brother we are almost halfway to life in the kingdom. But listen to what he has to say about condemnation of those you feel are not “living the RIGHT way.”

Matt 7:1-6: "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”
“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.”
“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."

This is a passage that hits at the very core of mean Christianity. This passage shows that how we view others in our hearts is the key to helping them.

Judging
initially, someone might see the flaw in Jesus’ logic if we were to simply not to judge. To be clear, Jesus is not talking about discernment. Could you imagine if you had a dentist that told you when you opened your mouth: “I’m sorry my faith prevents me from telling you about your teeth. I just can’t make that judgment call anymore.” When Jesus uses this word judge, he is specifically using the word that implies condemnation. Condemning someone is writing them off as a person. When you condemn a house, you are stating that the house is no longer truly a house. An example of a condemned person at the time of Jesus was a leper. Today many condemn the homeless, the elderly, etc. They see them as “less than.”

We can underline what Jesus is talking about by using the example of our dentist: what if he despised those who didn’t take care of their teeth? The scenario is: you open your mouth and all of the sudden he yells at you “GET OUT! I can’t work with someone who doesn’t have the same values about tooth care that I do.” This is a ridiculous example, but the words of Jesus still apply: as a dentist, you would see him as unprofessional, and you would probably warn your friends to not go to him. Isn’t it interesting in light of this passage, that we regularly see preachers condemning certain people to hell, or to heresy, yet they aren’t considered unprofessional. It is the preacher’s job to tell a clear story, and it is important to be able to discern what heresy is and what are characteristics of darkness that will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But to condemn, cut off, or write off a person as a person because of their behavior, means that you have demeaned their humanity and their potential. By putting them in this place, you have for fitted your ability to help them. And that is why Jesus makes fun of what you are trying to do with his next example.

Logging
Using a silly picture of someone with a log in their eye helping get a speck out of someone else’s eye, Jesus shows us how our condemnation of someone is really a deterrent to our helpful motives. Many have interpreted Jesus’ LOG as “your sin”, using this passage to explain that you need to be sinless to cast the first stone; Looking within for your own LOG before being justified in condemning someone else. But with the understanding of the condemning Judgementalism that exists in the passage before it, we see that the log is in actuality the condemnation that you have for the other. Jesus is clever in saying condemnation, especially with its usual accompaniments of anger and contempt and self righteousness, blinds us to the reality of the other person. We cannot “see clearly” how to assist our brother because we cannot see our brother. We will never know how to truly help someone until we have grown into the kind of person who does not condemn.

Pearling
But some may say:”I’m RIGHT though.” And they might be… And their self worth is mixed into telling someone how WRONG they are. Why does correcting someone fail as a strategy for helping them?

Jesus addresses this with some animal props. He uses dogs and pigs to show how important it is to help others with strategies that are helpful. Looking at the text at the time things that were holy and set apart for God were things that were in the temple. Things like lampstands, alters, and curtains. A simple question: What sort of help is it to give some curtains to a dog? Same question different animal: Does it help a pig if you feed in pearls? The answer is no help. Someone said to me that at most the dog would have a place to pee. It’s not about the worthiness of pigs or dogs, rather it’s about their needs. Pigs can’t digest pearls, and a dog doesn’t understand “holy.” When we offer things that have no relevance, the object of our offerings may turn on us, devouring us! Our attempt to offer our “pearls” and “holy things” actually keeps us from paying attention to those whom we are trying to help. Many well intentioned Christians have been taught that it is better to deliver RIGHT pearls of holy wisdom than to be kind. And so they become mean. Making sure that the one condemned knows why they are condemned.

So this is my answer:
The reason why Christians are so mean is because they have learned that it is better to be RIGHT than it is to be Christ like. They’ve learned to condemn and cut off others because of their beliefs, and would be happy to share their RIGHT beliefs with you so that they can justify that they are better than you. Thus completing the rejection

It just so happens that I am going to see my brother in law next week. And I think it’s time, after more than a decade, that I eat some humble pumpkin pie, and perhaps apologize for my monstrous behavior in our early relationship. UGH how embarrassing!

We don’t have to be mean. We can set aside our anger and condemnation. And even set aside other’s condemnation of us. (Can you imagine?) We can choose to be discerning without judging, and we can keep our good things to ourselves when they won’t be understood.

Is It Spiritual To Be Poor?

Luke 12:13-21

Someone in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me."

But He said to him, "Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?" Then He said to them, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions."And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man was very productive."And he began reasoning to himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?'"Then he said, 'This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."'"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?'

"So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

I grew up in an upper middle class home. My dad was a good lawyer and businessman, and a good steward of his money. As a result we had a nice house, we ate 3 square meals a day and probably to a majority of Portland we were considered “rich.” Though I didn’t know anything else. As I entered grade school I found that people were considered “rich” and people were considered “poor”. It was good to be rich and bad to be poor. It was also bad to be a bully.

Poor Bullies

I’ve only been in one fight in my life and it was with a bully in 3^rd grade, and I picked that fight. For some reason my sense of justice over “cuts in line” overcame my understanding of getting my ass kicked, and so I made an effort to put Dan Clark back in his place by calling him “superman.” I was belittling him with his own name “Dan Clark -> Clark Kent -> Superman” Which doesn’t sound like a bad name to be given, but I was trained at chiding by my sister. So if you were there, you would have seen me using superman’s name in vain. Well, Dan wasn’t interested in being belittled, nor was he interested in giving up his cuts in line. So he got me in a headlock and swung me around until I started crying. Bully 1 Geoff 0.

Another instance of a bully winning and me losing was much more socio-political. Thankfully my little neck didn’t get rung, yet my brain learned a great lesson. I believe we were in science class and Matt Ducher was doing something that caused my justice alert to blink. Matt was strong, mouthy, and bullying someone in some way, and it was up to GeoffreyNeill (Since there were 3 Jeffs in my class I was one word “GeoffraNeill”) to put Matt back in his place. Well, Matt had one deficiency that I could exploit that he couldn’t help. His family was POOR. Realistically, the guy lived in the same neighborhood, and it seemed like they had some trouble financially. Matt wasn’t on school lunch program, nor was he in rags, but I knew I could put him in his place with this weakness. And so not knowing the political nightmare in which I was entering, I uttered the words in a very evil “girl in a back-to-school-special” type of fashion. “Well… You’re Poor!” Matt’s bullying didn’t overshadow what I had just done. It was like the record scratched and everyone knew that I delivered a blow lower than the balls.

Peter Ventrella, was there at the time. He wasn’t best friends with Matt. He was friends with everyone. He was sort of like the fonz of gradeschool. Also he was a part of the “poor” crowd, but because he was so cool, and not a bully he wasn’t a target. However my low blow brought into full swing the power of Peter’s tongue. It wasn’t 3 seconds after my comment that peter said with authority: “Well at least he’s not a RICH BITCH.” (Keep in mind this is gradeschool, and bitch hadn’t been accepted by radio and TV yet)

I knew I was out of line. Peter had got me, and I was the gradeschool Dick. I very quickly learned that economics weren’t one to mess with someone about. Because making someone feel bad because they were poor was like pissing on someone’s grandma. So I learned my lesson. I didn’t want to be that kind of guy that put down others because of their economic standing. Another lesson that I learned at the same time, however, was someone could easily be made fun of for being rich. Being poor was being street, and edgy. Being rich made you a BITCH.

Hiding in High School

As a freshman in High School I rolled with the poor kids. I felt like I had to hide because of my neighborhood. My clothes were purchased to blend in. I didn’t dare get a ride home. I learned that to be poor was the way to be regular, if they knew I lived in my neighborhood they would treat me differently. They wouldn’t be my friend any more. They wouldn’t joke with me. Wealth had social implications to it. Rich hung out with rich kids, poor hung out with poor kids. I was the odd one trying to blend into a NON-BITCH environment. Our economics teacher who was a full on socialist would add fuel to the fire by singling out the rich kids and making them feel like fools for their parents decisions to pursue capitalism. Realistically, though I cannot say that there was one person who would tell me this without getting in trouble, I learned in school that being rich is evil and being poor is good.

Christian Underline

When I became a Christian at 20, life changed for me, and I had many things to work out. One thing I didn’t have to figure out, though, was my view of wealth. As I listened to a constant haranguing about the virtues of giving, I was also inundated with the beatitudes of “blessed are the poor”. I was influenced by John Wesley who said that if you don’t give all you have he has no more hope for you than that of Judas Iscariot. I was taken by Jesus’ decision to tell the rich young ruler to sell all and then in the same breath tell everyone that it’s nearly impossible for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. It reinforced something in my upbringing that said: “The rich are bitches.” Money is evil. And it is spiritual to be poor.

So I ask that question: IS IT SPIRITUAL TO BE POOR?

We are affected by finances every day. It is a super personal thing. It is no question that Jesus was right when he said where your treasure is there your heart will be also. And so it is because of the link to our hearts that I ask “is it Godly to have no money?” Below are some Christian misconceptions that have been taught in my life, telling me that I should hate money because it is evil.

• · In Luke’s Gospel Jesus says “Blessed are the poor.”
• · In Luke 12 We run across a farmer whose life is taken because he has a whole lot of crops
• · Rich Young ruler being told he needs to sell everything and follow him to have eternal life
• · Jesus not too long after says that it is as easy for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven as a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
• · In Timothy we hear that money is the root of all evil
• · Outside the bible we see St. Francis and Dominic taking vows of poverty

Very quickly I want to address each of these because I think we have to be informed, you can skip ahead if you don’t care.

• · Luke’s Gospel - Blessed are the poor: Their poverty is not the contingency for blessedness… their trust in Jesus is what gives the poor “POSSESSION of the kingdom of God”
• · Farmer – God’s going to kill you if you build silos –wealth is deceptive and makes us think we have it put together (that was the message Jesus was getting at.)
• · Rich Young ruler – We need to sell all – If we allow our wealth to keep us from trusting in God, we really will not inherit the eternal life from above. Because something is more important, and will take precedence
• · Camel Eye of a needle –It’s important to see here that Jesus didn’t say “it is so much easier for the poor to enter the kingdom of heaven.” It isn’t. It’s specifically difficult for the rich in this instance because they have been deceived by their finances into thinking that their future is secure and their soul can be at rest with their savings.
• · Timothy: Money root of all evil. Here’s where reading the passage helps “ LOVE of money is the root of all evil” Paul is showing Timothy if you Love money than you will be poised to do what it takes to get money, hence even do evil.
• · Vows of poverty. Francis’ vow was a political statement for the time, like Gandhi’s fasting. Today we have people taking vows of poverty. But really they are vows of non-possession. Their order or church takes care of them. We think of it as better because there is simplicity about it, and they are taken care of. But it really isn’t poverty; if it was poverty they would very quickly be feeling not-spiritual.

Below I have devised a wonderful question that allows us to see a little more clearly:

Answer the following:
Who is more spiritual?

A Jesus following Businessman who lives an upper class lifestyle, is a good steward of his money, and allocates his finances towards the various good that he has prayerfully decided.

A Jesus following person who works 9-5 in a diner and gives most of what he has away.

These points out our economic bias. It also points out what we really think. Some of us would love to have wealth so that we can get the stuff we want. But we are working off of software that is saying. Wealth is evil.

Some of us might think this because we haven’t really thought through the guilt by association. For instance: there are people out there that are putting their efforts towards banning guns, because guns kill. But in reality guns just sit there. Or they look cool. It takes someone picking up that gun and pointing it at me that kills. So we’ve heard the slogan, Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. We also have to be real with the fact that a gun accelerates the matter. But without the intention to kill, we see a gun acting very docile.

The same thing works for money. Many have witnessed finances accelerating the process of evil. Yet this is only a reflection of the person holding and using that money. If the money were to sit in a bank somewhere it would simply accrue interest.

Poverty

To become poor to be spiritual is sort of like wanting to itch your back so you put on a straightjacket. You might accomplish your purposes but there are better ways. When someone spiritualizes poverty they really are not describing poverty. They are actually describing non-possession. They are saying “ahh to be homeless is to have it so good.” But really what they are saying is to be free from the responsibility of possession is a great idea. But anybody who has lived in poverty knows that Poverty is uncool. It makes people feel like God isn’t helping them. Poverty moves people to true desperation where there is no hope. We need to be real with what it is. Non-possession on the other hand can be awesome if you are taken care of, but realistically you have given over your own responsibility to someone else to take care of you. This is not poverty. Poverty is not spiritual; it is the lack of resources that strangle one into desperation

Wealth
Money is easier to live with but it can be deceptive. But just like poverty it isn’t spiritual either. Because you are wealthy doesn’t mean you are IN the Kingdom of God.

Both are statuses that have nothing to do with functioning in the Kingdom of God. There will always be the poor and always be the rich. If you remember when Jesus was on this earth there were poor people and rich people. When the early church was established there were poor people and rich people. There was a distribution of wealth but that didn’t mean that there weren’t those people who needed that wealth, and the others who provided that wealth. There were poor churches in Jerusalem, and rich churches in Corinth. I am not saying that if you are poor that is your lot in life and vice versa if you are rich. You can do whatever to become whatever. But what I’m saying is: that neither is more righteous. God uses both. People who are in Poverty, God will work on removing your entitlement, and it also makes for an environment to cultivate thankfulness. When you have Abundance; God will work on removing your hoarding or greed, and it also makes for an environment to cultivate generosity.

So each isn’t more spiritual or less spiritual but God definitely uses both to develop our character.

Three words:

Possession – Possession is not evil. According to Genesis 1:28 it is actually part of the blessing of being created in the image of God that we would govern over the land, the zoological creatures, etc. To govern over something is to be human. Possession is an extension of our “rule.” Our finances are an extension of our bodies. The issue is we can’t have our possessions possess us. That’s where most of us run into difficulty. But to actually possess a house, a job, a family, a bank account, is not an evil thing. If you think giving is a good thing, yet you don’t like possessing, consider that you cannot truly give something unless you first possess it.

Use – I’m using this word in its negative context. Like someone would USE drugs or USE another person. In a financial context using money means that they use it to accomplish THEIR purposes, not functioning in a greater good. An example of using money would be buying a sex slave, or World War II atrocities like Auschwitz. The German people paid for that. Using money in this context IS evil. It has varying degrees obviously. But here’s the interesting thing: You don’t have to POSESS in order to USE. The reason why this is because you might not possess any money, yet you can still manipulate others that do have money. So whether you have money or not, the opportunity is there for you to USE it to get YOUR WAY.

Trust – Trust in riches is the issue that Jesus is trying to get at with the parable of the farmer. Trust means that you are relying on it to take care of you. Jesus would say that a fool does that. That the farmer didn’t have a clear picture of reality. The reason why someone would make this leap, though, is because wealth is very powerful. You have the ability to USE it to accomplish your purposes. And many would say that if they got a million dollars. They would be set. This is trusting that their money will take care of them. Which realistically it will buy opportunities. But Jesus was trying to let us understand that our father in the heavens has the ability to take care of us much better than paper.

Possession isn’t evil, Using is because it disregards the greater good, and trusting money is letting your USING move you into a fantasy world that is delusional.

There are two spiritual disciplines that are the opposite of Using and allow your Possessions to be allocated towards Good.
Frugality – Not being wasteful, prudently saving, spending smart.
Stewardship - Managing property, finances, or other affairs well.
With both of these I am implying that you are interested in loving God with your possessions and finances.

Today
Today I do not live in my parent’s neighborhood. I don’t have my parents’ money. I don’t consider myself rich or poor, but I am ONLY scraping by. I dove into the bible to see what God has to say about money and I feel like I have a better perspective on finances because of it. Today I see wealth for what it is: an opportunity to do good. I see poverty for what it is: a difficult situation that when looked at properly is tragic. Poverty isn’t a spiritual bump on the god totem pole. The best thing that I have learned is that Just because someone is rich doesn’t mean they’re a bitch; their possessions don’t make them evil.

The sad thing is that one of the reasons I dove into the bible is because I wanted to learn what God had to say about money. So I could have more. Totally trying to USE God to suit my needs. Thankfully he has helped me with this understanding. What I realized is that if I want more money (which actually isn’t an evil thing as long as my heart is in check) I better start living frugally. I better become a good steward of my finances. So by studying the bible I realized that my first step towards more money was to make a budget and keep it. That was my first spiritual step toward not Using money and not Trusting in money. It was to learn where my money was actually going and allocate it properly. It seemed very high school personal finance, but since then, we have been living within our means, less out of control. And we have even been saving.

So today, I wanted you to know that it is good to possess. And with this information I give you, you can do with it what you wish. You can USE it to buy a new silo. Maybe you want to TRUST in it. Maybe you just want to give it away. But today I would hope that you take this information, and be a good steward with it.

Life Beyond Mere Profession

I talked to a friend a while ago who had just finished getting a divorce from a huge clusterfuck of a marriage. He had just come from Las Vegas and he told me. Geoff I’ve been really bad. But it’s been really good. He did all the things that need to stay in Vegas. Hookers, drugs, you name it. And the guy could afford it as well. Now this guy has had a hard past, but he also went to seminary and has a degree in theology. He knows all the ins and outs of the Trinity, and systematic Christology. He believes the right things, but is this translating into a With God Life?

I talked to another person a while ago who is a minister of Christianity. He believes it, and he would be the first to tell you so. And boy is he orthodox! He knows all of the creeds and the reason behind the creeds, and would be the first to call you out if you said something off. There’s nothing wrong with this until you get in a room with him. You see, it seems his need for correct doctrine stems from a deeper insecurity. Years ago he was rejected by a church several times, and one of the reasons for them rejecting him he has concluded is because they were heretical. So … “he will never be like THEM.” “He will never believe wrong things again.” Today he has a problem socially. He leers at women, and creeps them out. He is usually oblivious to it, yet there are some people that have been hurt by his obliviousness. His friends make excuses for him saying “well that’s just him... you have to look around his bull in a china shop behavior.“ Yet there have been instances in which those pieces of china have been people that he has broken. His strong desire to convey a message, is not exactly to convey a message, but to be “right”… to feel good about what he is putting out. He believes the right things, but is this translating into a With God life.

We all know them. The Hippocrites. The ones who say and know all of the right advice, but really gross us out when it comes to their life. The people that we know are “smart” but their life is ugly. They are the epitome of Irony. Like rayeyain on your wedding day. The ethics professor that treats the custodian with contempt. They are the ones who would say “I know the right way to live”, yet when you apply the magnifying glass you see that they don’t really practice it. They believe in Jesus, yet They are the THEY that we talk about who give love a bad name. The fish bumpersticker that just cut us off or flipped us the bird. What are your stories of some hippocrites that you know?

They believe in Jesus, yet is this translating into a With God Life?

Some have allowed their belief in Jesus to give them license for their perpetuated wrong doing. And in their wrongdoing the With God Life has vanished. Some have allowed their belief in who Jesus is stop them from being kind so that they can be “right.” And in their anger or meanness the With God Life has vanished. They are the professors of Christianity, without the chutzpah to witness to his light. They are the city set on a hill without electricity.

It’s in this vien that I agree with Thomas a Kempis who says “It’s better to have contrition then to be able to define it.” The definition of Contrition by the way is: the sincere remorse for wrongdoing. Just so you know I am not anti intellectual. I think it is a great thing to understand God, and Theology. Some people maintain that you can’t know about God, but I would maintain that those people haven’t read the bible. I am also orthodox in my thinking and I think that it is important to maintain that. But When we are confronted by believers who don’t take on the traits of their heavenly father, It makes me ask what is it that Causes the With God life? Can it be done? Some people don’t think it can… especially our hippocrite friends. I think it can, but I think you need to add something to your mere profession of Jesus as Lord.

Now these stories are good examples of hippocrites. But to some extent they may be a little unfair. I am sure if you applied the right magnifying glass to my life, and phrased it properly, at certain times in my life I would make this list as well. It’s easy to throw the “RUINERS of the CHURCH” under the bus. But then I ask us who are so eager to throw stones. Are WE living the “With God Life.” It’s for sure that our hippocrite friends are not living up to the eternal life standards that Jesus talked about. But Are we?

We know how to live. They don’t.

There were some people who knew how to live. They were Godly people. They knew the ten commandments. They knew that one shouldn’t commit adultary. They knew that that was bad behavior. They saw a guy living it up with prostitutes in Vegas and knew that he wasn’t living the With God Life. And it is to these “knowledgeable ones” that Jesus is talking to when he says this in Matthew 5

"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

Jesus ups the anti and gives them (the people who know the right way to live) something more intense than prostitutes in Vegas. More than adultary, the cultivation of lust is equally bad. Then he goes into underlying the need to participate in mutilation for heavenly purposes. Some have used this teaching to allow them to boast in not seeing a women for years. Some have used this teaching to justify self mutilation. Some have used this teaching to hate their body, and wish it dead saying “One day I will be rid of my body and its EVIL FLESH.”

But… Just so you know Jesus wasn’t adding a more intense law to the ten commandments, he doesn’t function in rules to live by… he functioned in teaching. He wasn’t advocating not seeing women, or even mutilating yourself. BUT HE SAID IT… He was teaching in a manner that would show the people what was behind the commandment. You see the God followers at the time wanted others to participate in THEIR lifestyle. But Jesus knew that their lifestyle was empty. It was a life of good intentions but a life absent of love. He went overthetop into mutilation to show their lack of understanding about the kingdom of the heavens. He showed them. If you think all it takes is not doing the wrong thing to get into heaven, you’ve missed it. He shows this by being jacose. Say your eye or your evil arm causes you to sin. Well remove it and you will roll into heaven a bloody stump! YAY you’ve made it to heaven because you didn’t do anything wrong! GETTING INTO HEAVEN isn’t about doing the right thing, or not doing the wrong thing. Doing the right thing is a simple outflow of a life within the Kingdom. If you are loving your nieghbor you are not lusting them, nor are you diddling them with your hand. This was a jolting teaching just like it is today. He is saying to become the kind of person who lives within the kingdom of heaven, you aren’t worried about doing anything wrong lustfully because you are interested in loving your neighbor. What’s behind Thou shalt not commit adultary, is loving your nieghbor. That is life in the Kingdom of the heavens.

But some people say “I can’t help it.” I pray and I pray and I continue to “struggle with lust”

And it is in that vien that they agree with Paul who says in Romans 7

For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

There are a couple things that come into play here. Spirit, Law, Flesh, Sin

Spirit - is the unbodily personal power, the life from above, that comes from God.

Law - is the law of love, the law of loving God and Neighbor.

Sin - is living your life in a manner in which you do not love God or your neighbor.

Flesh – This is the one that people get confused about:

"Flesh," on Paul’s understanding, consists of the natural human abilities, considered in themselves and on their own, unaided by Divine assistance and direction. Flesh is not necessarily bad, and it certainly is not "fallen or sinful human nature." Which is how some bible translations interpret it. For one thing, it is not human nature, but only one part of it. For another it is not essentially sinful, fallen, or bad. It is a good creation of God, and needs only to be kept to its proper function in life before God.

In galations 4 Paul explains this by using the example of Hagar and Sarah. "the son of bondswoman (Hagar) was born according to the flesh" (Gal. 4:23)—that is, from normal human abilities. You guys understand the Birds and the bees that’s how Ishmael was born. But "the son of the freewoman" (Sarah) was born through the promise and action of God, along with her and Abraham’s normal human abilities. Spirit and flesh.

So our flesh isn’t inherantly bad. It’s a creation that when coupled with God’s spirit can make for beauty. The problem comes in when we, like Abraham, go about making it happen on our own.The "mind set on the flesh" is death paul says in romans 8, because it draws upon natural human abilities alone, not upon the gracious actions of God in our life. That is why in Galations 6 Paul says Those who invest solely in their flesh get back only "corruption" for that is the only outcome of natural human abilities on their own, dominated by their desires. To be corrupt means to be broken into pieces, to perish through internal disintegration.

And that is the main weekness of the flesh: its internal desires. When you don’t have the spirit and the law of love guiding your way, you only will hear from your desires. And they are LOUD, and twist your understanding of what is right and what is wrong. Some of your flesh desires are healthy. It’s important to eat. Important to sleep. Others are not so healthy. It’s not cool to sell your child into slavery for instance. Yet if someone is hard up for money, it has been done.

I had another friend who really messed with a lot of people because of his stated desires trumping his understanding of God’s law of love. He is a christian. Involved in a church. And has a faith very much like all of us. He also had a fantasy that if he could have two women at once, he would take it. Well the opportunity lent itself and he took it, as a result he hurt his marriage, his relationship with his friends. And now he can say he’s been with two women. YAY. And I’m sure he says today that Jesus has forgiven him. Some of his friends are not so forgiving.

And that’s how the flesh moves into internal disintegration. If we only rely on our natural human abilities, there will be a point in which our desires will be more interested in what we want than the over all good. Our flesh will be poised to do evil if necessary to fulfill what it wants. 2 women? what would you do for a million dollars? how about wanting someone dead? This is life without spirit and God’s law.

It is in this capacity that the law is contrary to the flesh. It allows us a guide for loving each other. The desire of having sex with anyone, then rubs up against God saying, hey maybe human intimacy means a little bit more than that. The desire for the person in the car in front of you to drop dead, rubs up against you doing unto him what you would have him do unto you.

I think it is here that we are running into the issue of our first hippocrite examples. We have someone saying I love Jesus. But is overrun by their desires so that their life doesn’t reflect that they love Jesus.

Again… we have to remember back to Jesus’ teaching that we are not interested in correct behavior, that is only a byproduct of what happens when someone is living within the Kingdom of God. We are interested in a whole life where love of God and neighbor is the goal. Remember…Why would we choose to lust this person if you could intend the good for them. We don’t want empty behavior. Empty behavior that is good is still empty.

One thing that I’m noticing is that our profession of love of Jesus is somehow converting us, but not moving us to truly live the life from above that Jesus promises. And as a result we love Jesus’ forgiveness because it allows us to maintain our desires as is. Thus we love Jesus for what we get out of the relationship which is a clear conscious, but realistically he is not our Lord.

Don’t get me wrong I am all about conversion. Which is us finally believing that Jesus might be who he said he is. To consider him Lord. To know him as savior and messiah. But I’m pretty sure that many of us can see where someone allowed their conversion to stay put. They profess Jesus as Lord, but in reality their love of their desires trumps their love of God. Their desires are more important than their pursuit of being a part of what God is doing. And that includes being a part of the “right” sort of crowd, called a church.

Could it be that we have allowed our conversion in christianity to stop us from understanding our actual need for transformation. Could it be that our understanding of God needing to save us has allowed us the excuse to do nothing. It is true we cannot do anything without his spirit. But if we do nothing we do that without his spirit as well. Our Flesh’s roll in our own redemption is one that has been swept under the rug. We need to move from Conversion to Transformation. This is difficult and not new.

There was a man called peter who outlines the possibility of such transformation. He shows that it is not impossible, to have our flesh aligning to its natural calling with God’s Holy spirit to create our own little Issac. At the same time, it isn’t an overnight process, it takes Jesus calling him out, his spirit failing due to his weak flesh, through failure, through dilligence, and finally through transformation into the boldness of someone who has the spirit of the easy yolk powering him.

It’s Passover and the disciples are all at a dinner with Jesus. Peter is a convert. He has said to Jesus he knows who he is. The very son of God. And he has been following this guy for quite some time. He is “in” As Heidi Klum might say. Yet his profession and his conversion doesn’t mean that embodied within his flesh is the desire to not go to jail. Embodied within his flesh is the desire to “Do Evil If Necessary.” Even though he is “IN” Very much like paul in Romans 7, there is something that is in it for himself. That he doesn’t want to do, but he do do.And Jesus sees this.
Then Jesus told them, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: " 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee." Peter replied, "Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will."
"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times."

Regardless of his own profession, and his own zeal, Jesus could see the embodied sin embedded within Peter’s flesh. Peter had a need to make HIS will come about. Jesus had nearly the same will as he prayed in the garden. Yet in his prayer, he relinquished his way, for a better way. But he went to check on the others who were sapposed to be praying with him, he caught them sleeping. He told them "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." This is not a dig, this is a matter of fact statement. They should have prayed as we will see later. Also they really did want to pray, and they really did want to stick up for Jesus. But their flesh was weak from their continued feeding of Their way. Could it be that to give into our fears, and our sin, we weaken our body. Possibly this is what doctors tell us all the time in our checkups.

But why should they pray so they don’t fall into temptation? Well… We see as Judas betrays his Lord with a kiss. The others scatter like Jesus fortold, and Peter sticks around and falls into the temptation of his flesh. He draws his sword and slices the priest’s assistant’s ear. When we don’t have the guidance that comes from prayer and the Spirit, our desires twist our view of right and wrong, into seeing what is good FOR US is right. Our flesh that is Poised to do evil, Poison’s our ability to see the bigger picture. Peter thought what was good was to defend his Lord by force. This was his spirit utilizing his weak flesh. Yet the bigger picture was that Jesus was giving his life freely. And Jesus remedies this “weak intention” by healing the ear. We can obtain guidance by watching and praying so that our intentions are guided by wisdom, and not our twisted desires.

With Peter’s tenacity, we still see his body upholding what he said. “I will not fall away!” And He follows the party. Yet every time he is confronted on his connection to Jesus, his mouth begins following his weak flesh. Denying 3 times before the dawn.

We all make mistakes. Like the bumpersticker says “Christians aren’t perfect… Just forgiven.” But for peter, this was his bottom. He used this realization of his betrayal, to not “JUST BE FORGIVEN.” But there was something more to his Lord that inspired him to be more than the Guy who will sell his friends down the river. Instead of just being that Guy. And finding forgiveness. When Jesus did raise, and Jesus did empower him with the Holy spirit. It was Peter who risked his life to witness to the truth.

His flesh met spirit and transformation occurred. The story is not new obviously.But I do want to point out is that even the demons or pre-pentecost Peter Think Jesus is the son of God. You might think that Jesus is the son of God, You might believe, and you might be baptised in his name. But you cannot rest upon your profession of a truth. If you say Jesus is Lord. Than you must think that he is Lord. You must move in transformation in order to live a With God Life. You must let Spirit meet flesh in order to live a life filled with Love of God and Neighbor. If you rest on your memory of God knowledge you will most definitely be living a life struggling with your desires which is a life of death and guilt. Instead, let your knowledge be a biblical type of “knowing” which means interactive relationship with a living God who promises the easy yolk to the one who has chosen that Jesus is Lord.

Jesus came that you might have life and have it to the full. We must make efforts to rid ourselves of weak flesh that has within it the embodied sin that paul talks about. We can no longer give ourselves license to be poised to do evil. We aren’t interested in our behavior, but are interested in loving our God. We Must make true efforts to move from simple profession, and conversion, into being transformed into the children of the light. This means that as children we have the basic nature of light: that light is our parent and has passed on to us its nature, as any parent does. The apostle John summed up the message that he and his friends had heard from Jesus as this: "God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all." (1st John 1:5)

Now, the people who have moved into the light of Christ are not perfect and do not live in a perfect world—yet. But they are remarkably different. The difference is not one of a pose they strike, either from time to time or constantly, or of things they do or don't do. They are not "performing"—though their behavior too is very different and distinctive. Where the children of light differ is primarily and most importantly on the "inside" of their life. It lies in what they are in their depths, in what they would do and could do.

The only way we can do this is through keeping the importance of this before our minds. To see the urgency behind the need to be a part of God’s Kingdom. This importance is what Jesus means by carrying our cross. Where it is primary, above even our own life. This is most important thing that we can do. To begin disciplining ourselves into christlikeness. Joining our flesh with his spirit. Putting to death our embodied sin which wields our corruptive desires. We can only do that if we see it as the mose important. And our efforts towards transformation will be void unless we desire to seek the kingdom above all our desires.

I noticed recently that there are a lot of scriptures in which Jesus was touching people to heal them. And Paul remarks that the laying on of hands in prayer is a very powerful thing. Then I realized that we do that, but it doesn’t have the same results as they had. It made me ask, is this not happening is because I haven’t made the effort to transform myself into his character. Is it because I haven’t done what peter has asked me to do in his second letter. Where he says that I need to apply all my diligence (how much dilligence does that leave out) to adding virtue to my faith, and in my virtue, I need to add interactive knowledge, and in my interactive knowledge, I need to add self-control, and in my self-control, I need to add perseverance, and in my perseverance, I need to add godliness, and in my godliness, I need to add brotherly kindness, and in my brotherly kindness, I need to add love.

Could it be that if I DID apply all dilligence to these things, that my body would function differently when it is fused with the unbodily personal power of the Holy Spirit. Would laying on of hands actually weild something?

Here’s the deal: I am so excited to Pursue God. To pursue the disciplines of the spirit, and to somehow see change in my life and in my community where I and others are no longer poised to do evil. But to do good, to do right, to do love, to function effortlessly in the law of love because we are wanting something called life in the Kingdom.

I want us to be smart and knowledgeable. But I would rather people know me and our people by the love that they put out, the reflective good that it places towards others for the influence of Good that it does. I don’t need others to ascend to a particular dogma if that dogma is laden with excuses on why we aren’t any different from anyone else.

Today I challenge you to take a look and see if you believe that the kingdom is among us? Do you believe in a risen Christ who urges you on to love and do good and empowers you to do that with living streams of refreshment welling up from inside to power your easy yolk.

Or do you just believe in a Jesus that forgives you of your sins so that you can feel guilty and the next time you do it thus asking for more foregiveness.

Forgiveness is great. But is only the first step toward the turning into the kingdom of life that Jesus has set in front of you today.

To trust Jesus is right. To follow him is right. To allow him to take your profession and conversion and move you into transformation is right. To allow your flesh to meet spirit is devine.

If this is for you… talk to God about what’s next for you. And begin the steps of transformation. I for one have decided to to make efforts so that God’s will and love becomes easy and natural for me.

Will you join me?

What Not To Believe Follow up... (beyond the 360)

Last week I said some things that were intended to offend. I said words like sin, evil, lost, Not-God and hell. I said that the human soul is something that is easily corrupted, and like it says in the bible all have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one! I showed how the human soul loves to take the throne of its life and begin composing a new reality. A reality that the individual soul becomes its own god, so that it can get what it wants. I said what it usually wants is sex and violence because that gives the corrupt soul the largest kick, but realistically it can cultivate anything that will make it feel stabile. Because the house of cards that is built on the foundation of you being God needs some stability. I said we are lost. LOST… Men and women who are not where they need to be. I said our pride is the thing that keeps us lost. Sitting on our throne getting what we want. Basically I stated a very bleak reality: I’m not OK and you’re not OK. We’re all in serious trouble.

I also did something that perhaps some of you didn’t appreciate. I didn’t talk much about the hope in Jesus. I figured we have done quite a bit of that already. Rarely do we analyze where we are, who we are and where we’re living… which seems to cultivate what I stated earlier. So it was my intention to leave you there. Those of you who know Jesus realize there‘s hope. Those of you who don’t may have just thought I was a dick for not giving you a way out.

So here I am today, doing a follow up to what I said, about the ruined soul. Apparently you didn’t get enough abuse last week. So here I am again.

I say abuse because that’s where this can go. I don’t want to abuse anyone with these very hard, bleak, concepts. Yet if we don’t have a concept of our need. The truth is: we will stay in our denial until it ruins us. And I don’t want that. And hard knocks is not my Job.

So to help us today I have a series of cards to pass out that are in the shape of a dress. Last week I took the concept of what not to wear and I thought it would be cool to stick with that same theme. I want to ask you a couple questions so I will pass out some pens as well for you to answer the questions.

Is your soul lost? (Why?)

How are you righteous/moral?

Do you anticipate that God could be harmful? (Why)

I’m not where God wants me to be because?

How are you like God?

Briefly get into groups of 2s and 3s and talk about the question that was hardest for you. (5min)

Back: which one was the hardest? Why?

OK so I have some fun other cards to give you. They are little people. And what’s fun is you can have the little person wear you little dress. Now I want to show you what usually happens when someone wears this dress.

(paper Doll)
“Oh this thing looks kick ass.” “I love how it looks and feels… and I bet when I put it on everybody will love me”

“I’m not lost Pastor Geoff I’m exactly where I need to be.” “Because God is with me he knows exactly where I am and as a result he would change things if I was in the wrong place.”

“I don’t need morals because they are how society kept people in line and that’s bullshit.” “I’m good because I’m not fucking Hitler or some shit.”

“God’s not harmful because he’s cool… he’s nice… he’s docile… In fact doesn’t the bible say that we are all children of God. So if I am God’s child. I think he’s pretty excited for me”

So realistically I am exactly where God wants me. Which makes me a lot like him. I’m a creator he’s a creator… I’m a lover he’s a lover. In fact isn’t there some sort of philosophy out there that says that we all are god. Which is pretty much true.

Hey I’m pretty much sure that god wants me to be a star.

Hey why on earth did a loving god give me such a fucked up life and not fix it.

Really is he loving? Really is this god thing real? Jesus said he saved us but I see nothing of that in church today.

Church people are hypocrites. I’m not a hypocrite because I don’t profess to know anything about God. Because realistically God can’t exist. I haven’t seen any evidence.

Fuck church, Fuck God. I’m going to be a star. Look at my clothes look at what I wear love me you love me.

When I’m around these people they don’t judge me, they help me. They love me. They give me things like wisdom, drugs, friendship. Things that god never gave me. He just rejected me. And so fuck god, fuck my life, everything is bullshit except for my friends that don’t judge me. They love me. They don’t tell me I’m wrong, or I need help, or I need therapy. They tell me I’m cool. And they love me."*

What would be a kind of garment that would do this to someone? Going from a basic middle of the road lifestyle and philosophy, to a bitter, angry lifestyle with no accountability to anyone but those who would tell you that you are right? Could it happen? Has someone seen it?

What could turn such a wonderful person who seems to have it together, into someone who is in it for themselves? (Sharpy “Pride” on the dress)

Do you agree?

When we wear pride. We are doing it for us. We begin spinning our reality to keep #1 on top. Usually any god talk that happens is to spin yourself back on top. Pride gives you a stance asking “what can you give me?” Love from a concept of pride is always consuming never giving. When it does give, it is so that reciprocation can happen. Joy when someone is wearing pride is reduced happiness. Peace doesn’t exist because you are always needing to satisfy the next thing to feel good.

Knowing this about this dress… why would you want to wear it? 

Here’s the thing that I think is so rough about this. We first have to want to wear it. So even before we are the dude saying all that with this dazzling dress on. We have it written here. (Write PRIDE on heart). In order to be the Person wearing this dress, we have to be the kind of person that wants to put it on. This garment isn’t about the garment. It’s about who we’ve decided to be.

And Pride is such a dismissed word here. I’m not prideful so I go one step further. Someone who would wear this dress has this on their heart. SELF = #1

And that is why we see the world becoming a place where people are used, abused, and taken advantage of. Because people are looking out for #1. Usually when they look at the daily news and see the bad news. They scream at the sky… “WHY?” but when you look at the state of people living their life today we should be asking “what is wrong?” when we see good news. A world full of SELVES wanting their way. This is the life of the ruined soul. And this is what Jesus came to change.

John Calvin said “for as the surest source of destruction to men is to obey themselves, so the only haven of safety is to have no other will, no other wisdom, than to follow the Lord wherever He leads. Let this, then, be the first step, to abandon ourselves, and devote the whole energy of our minds to the service of God.” This mind change starts here (Jesus=#1) So that you begin to be the Kind of person that would choose to wear different clothes.

This is called “death to self… or Self denial.” Which goes hand in hand with the restoration of the soul and eventually the whole person. It sounds like something dreadful. And from the point of view of the ruined soul, it is exactly that. The ruined life is not to be enhanced, but to be replaced. We must simply lose our life – that ruined life about which most people complain so much anyway.

Jesus said those who have found their life (or soul) shall lose it while those who have lost their life (or soul) for my sake shall find it. Whoever aims to save their life shall lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake shall find it. For what have you gained by possessing the entire world if in the process you forfeit your life (or soul) – lose yourself.

When we hear these words of Jesus he is teaching on the negative side, that we must not make ourselves and our “survival” the ultimate point of reference in the world. In other words when Jesus says that those who find their life shall lose it, he is pointing out that those who think they are in control of their life will find that they definitely are not in control: they are totally at the mercy of forces beyond them and within them. They are on a sure course to disintegration and powerlessness, they are lost to themselves and God. They must surrender.

In contrast, if they give up the project of being the ultimate point of reference for their life – of doing only what they want – there is hope. If they (in that sense) lose their life in favor of God’s life, for the sake of Jesus and what he is doing on this Earth – the revolution of Kingdom come he is conducting – than their soul (or life) will be preserved and thus given back to them.

What does this mean? It means that they will for the first time be able to do what they WANT to do. Of course they will be able to steal, lie, and murder all they want – which will be none at all. But they will also be able to be truthful, transparent, and sacrificially loving with joy, and they will want to be. Their life is caught up in God’s life. They will want good and be able to do it, the only true human freedom. 

So to lose your life means: Life as you have normally understood it: where the point is to secure yourself, promote yourself, and indulge yourself, that life is set aside.

And Jesus pointed out the bargain. To let go of a life filled with obsessive partial desires: a little illicit sex, money, reputation, power, self righteousness. For freedom to be who God designed you to be. A Man or Woman who is immersed in the Kingdom of God. Bringing sacrificial love to this world on Jesus’ behalf. Which is his Kingdom Come on earth as it is in Heaven. Trading a life of looking out for number one for becoming the kind of person who Jesus would be if he were you today.

Being Dead to yourself is the condition where the mere fact that I do not get what I want does not surprise or offend me and has no control over me. Is this the “apathy” of the stoic or the elimination of desire of the Buddhist? No. Apprentices to Jesus will be deeply disturbed about many things, and will passionately desire many things, but they will be largely indifferent to the fulfillment of their own desires as such. Merely getting their way has no significance for them. It does not disturb them.

They know that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose” They don’t have to look out for themselves because God – and not they – is in charge of their life. They appropriately look after things that concern them, but they do not worry about outcomes that merely affect adversely their own desires and feelings. They are free to focus their efforts on the service of God and others and the furthering of good generally, and to be as passionate about such things.

In your hands you have a dress. Some have decided to put it on. The Dress is pride. It’s what the world wears. It’s common. It’s what someone who is looking out for #1 wears. It leads to a life of obsessive partial desires. We choose to wear what we want.

But Here… I have some other clothing available. They are blank. And have the potential to look the same as your pride. Because it’s not what you wear and what you do on the outside. It is your heart that dictates what you are wearing.

So for the next couple minutes I want you to consider giving up your pride. Coming up here, and putting it in the trash. Stop the spinning, the self promotion, the I’m OK, and consider the world and see it for what it is. A Sham. 

After losing the dress. Look at the person who chose to wear pride. Is getting your way working? Is looking out for #1 doing well for you? Maybe it is. But if you are ready, change that etching on your heart to put Jesus there. Lose your life. Then choose some new clothes. Losing your life will make you wear something different. Spend some time in prayer and then write down some new words on your new clothes. Write down what life without self might look like for you. Write down what security looks like if you are out of the picture. Write down what love looks like when it expects nothing. Then if you’d like to share I think that that would be amazing. What would you wear when you have let go of your pride and life? What would you wear?

*OK so when I finished this tyrade of the paper doll. I looked up and everyone was quiet. Or maybe one or two said "OK" like I had just gone so far into my inner world that everyone was witnessing a mental breakdown. It was exactly like one of those movies where the record scratches and everybody either has their jaw down or is just quiet. I still think about this and laugh because I wasn't really out to disturb anyone... but it was apparent that I went too far.

What Not To Believe.

The point of this talk was to show the reality in which we live. How our pride is cultivated by our self love and our culture, and enthusiastically distorts our view of what is real. This view denies God's placement as God in our lives and replaces it with us. Which then is held up by a wavering reality that we need in order to keep mentally stable. Yet within this world of self worship we become most interested in what gives our pride the most kick. which is what we see in our world today. (the answer to this in my understanding is letting Jesus redeem all parts of our soul (heart mind body etc), Letting God be God, and moving out of self and into christlikeness)

---

I like to learn. That’s why I watch the learning channel. TLC. This is a channel that got popular with trading spaces. And now airs a show that is very transformational. Every person in there changes from dreadful, to dazzling in one hour. It’s called What not to wear.

Here, Stacy and Clinton sneak up on a person who has been nominated by their family and friends and give this person 5000 dollars to get a new wardrobe and look. They show secret footage in front of their friends of what they have been wearing. And then take them and show them how to dress.

One of the most tearfelt moments is when Stacy and Clinton take them into their 360 mirror. Where they actually show them what they look like. What do they look like? Awful. Yet it is an amazing tool of transformation. Confronting someone in denial with lights, and visuals.

Today I am going to attempt to do the same thing. Now I don’t have 5000 to give you, I have something far more precious.

But my hope is to transform you. By revealing truth. Like the 360 mirror. Tough love. And as a result I’m going to offend you today. I’m not going to offend you by saying fuck or shit. I am going to offend you by poking holes in your pride.

I’m going to do that by saying words that your pride can’t handle. Words like sin, evil, lost, not God and hell. And I’m going to use just those words because I’m exactly what your pride wants me to be. A dick pastor. I’m going to use those words because they’re offensive. They are painted on TV, and in the papers and in social circles as only words that manipulative dick pastors like me would use. And the reason why is: they do what they are sapposed to do. Offend a very delicate house of cards of denial that is destructive, awful, and if it was wearing something it would be close to badfitting spandex from the 80’s.

Psalm 14:2-3 The LORD looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God. 3 But no, all have turned away; all have become corrupt.[a] No one does good, not a single one!

Let me let you in on my thinking. Last time I spoke to you I gave you a cup of water on behalf of Jesus. It was fresh, cool, and refreshing. Except for the first one that deborah got which was rusty… yick. Today I want to bring out the 360 mirror to show what we are dealing with. We live in a world that is not good. And has created underpinnings to make it stay that way. And it encourages you to stay that way. Some of us are fighting with all that we have. Others are blind.

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

Bible is filled with these passages, they are so depressing. They talk about hating the world. How God hates the wicked and…hell. What a downer. We have people crying and saying they are sinners, can’t people who read the bible just get some self esteme? Why do they talk about evil so much. Evil…

In the bible it is starkly clear and repeated over and over by Moses, Samuel, Paul, John, and Jesus that the human soul is lost. Lost. In a world of where manson can explain his killings through the meaninglessness of life, and even churches find themselves with people cultivating secretive behavior that underlines their lack of christlikeness, we might be able to see a little bit of what God is saying. But it’s just so depressing. Where’s the hope? Where’s the love? Why is God so angry? Jeeesh Bible.

Here’s where hole number one is poked. The bible is stating that the soul is lost, not to depress you, not to make an embarrassing religion out of Christianity. It is stating it because I’m not OK and you’re not OK. We’re all in serious trouble. And that must be our starting point. We are placed in the 360 and told. You aren’t where you need to be.

Denial – usually in some rationalization – is the primary device that humans use to deal with their own wrongness.

I was in journal class and I was spouting off how most of the pastors of the bridge have a type b personality so there is less ego centrism. My friend Rachel who is a masters in psychology gently says to me. Type B's have an ego too. Which really was her way of saying... Geoff you don't really know what you're talking about do you. And ... You have some pride there that you may want to look at.

Denial – usually in some rationalization – is the primary device that humans use to deal with their own wrongness.

We love to hate the pharisees of Jesus time, being people who worried about appearances rather than what was inside, trying to be famous, how they were unable to believe in Jesus because they saught to be honored by each other. They desired to be popular. Yet these people when you look at these traits are not really talking about a pharisical condintion. They are talking about a human condition. We love to hate them the same way I love to hate the people on dateline who aren’t saving the fake baby from the boiling car. But in reality we are the kind of people that would not save the fake baby.

Paul sums it up in Romans 3

"There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues keep decieving. The poison of Asps is under their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; detruction and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.

This last statement actually goes to the core. The fear of God Proverbs tells us is the beginning of wisdom.

I was in boy scouts and one of my friends thought it would be funny to pee on the electric fence outside the horse park. I thought it would be funny too. I was right. Right when the stream hit the fence he got a shock downstairs that knocked him back and there he was on the ground pissing all over himself. He didn’t have fear of the electric fence. Now he does. Thankfully he's fertile.

Fear is the anticipation of harm. The intellegent person recognizes that his or her well-being lies in being in harmony with God and what God is doing in the “kingdom.” God is not mean, but he is dangerous. It is the same with Electricity and nuclear power. They are not mean, but they are dangerous. One who does not “worry” about God is just not smart (poke). And that’s the point that this proverb is talking about “the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.” (fear of god – poke poke)

True understanding is knowledge of God. (another proverb) Not head knowledge… but having experiential involvement with. Actual engagement of God. This is what brings about true understanding. But it is the lack of involvement with God that leads to life around us. When we aren’t participating with God, we begin wanting something else in our heart, which then deflects our mind, and we create a denial.

Tolstoy wrote There are two Gods, There is the God that people generally believe in – A God who has to serve them (sometimes in very refined ways, say by merely giving them peace of mind). This God does not exist. But the God whom people forget – the God whom we all have to serve – exists, and is the prime cause of our existance and of all that we perceive.

This is life today. We are so interested in being taken care of by our god. The god of our bellies. That we aren’t interested in serving the real one.

The historian of Alcoholics Anonymous titled his work NOT GOD (poke) because that stands as the most important hurdle an addicted person must surmount: to acknowledge, deep in the soul, not being God. No mastery of manipulation and control, at which alcoholics excel, can overcome the root problem; rather, the alcoholic must recognize individual helplessness and fall back in the arms of the Higher Power. “First of all, we had to quit playing God,” concluded the founders of AA; and then allow God himself to “play God” in the addict’s life, which involves daily, even moment by moment, surrender.

The sin (poke poke) of Pride uproots the reality that God is God. Instead pride allows you to function in the denial and the delusion that you are God. You are the great one. So that you can psychologically maintain that house of cards … keep it balenced. As you slowly get more and more lost, bitter, prideful, hard hearted. As an aside, sensuality plays a major part in soul ruin because people worship the creation rather than the creator… sex gives the biggest kick and violence probably comes in second. And most of us arent even aware that worshiping the abs buns, and guns of today are slowly making us into monsters.

CS Lewis in the weight of glory writes that we need “to remember that the dullest and most uniteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare… There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.

When we think of hell (poke poke)… many times we think of it in terms of its outcome. Which is an awful thought. But the condition of lostness is not the same as the outcome. We are not lost because we are going to wind up in the wrong place. We are going to wind up in the wrong place because we’re lost. To be lost is to mean “out of place.” Jesus uses the term Gehenna because it was thought of as the cosmic dump for the irretrievably useless. Do you know what would it mean if your soul was irretrievably useless. I’m not saying God doesn’t hold you with great value. Its just you are useless to him.

I can lose a winning lottery ticket. And That ticket has great value to me, yet that value means nothing when it is lost. Same thing goes for my keys. They could be great keys ... very well crafted keys. But lost... they are worthless to me.

When we are lost to God, we are not where we are sapposed to be in his world and as a result are not caught up in his life.

Essentially being lost means you are obsessed with yourself. Paul writes “their god is their belly,”. Slaves to their appetites and feelings. Because it is their feelings that become unsatiable. As a result no one chooses to be the kind of person who belongs in hell. But their self orientation leads them to become the kind of person whom “Away from God” is the only place for which they are suited. It is a place that someone would choose for themselves rather than humble themselves, and put away their pride and accept God for who he is.

Am I poking holes in your pride? Is it insulting to call someone lost? These topics we need to be kind about. But truth have an edge to it. Is it insulting to give someone a diagnosis of a disease that needs treatment. Maybe… but if they get treatment they live. Lostness is a factual condition of the self, of the ruined soul. You either have it or you don’t. You probably wont know it if you have it. Because it’s blindness. But you need treatment, if you aren’t going to be lost forever. And being informed can help you find relief.

So there’s my 360 mirror. Pretty rough to face the lights and the visuals. I wanted to show you how ugly pride is and how it ruins our souls and makes this world an evil place. Do you see how our hearts naturally cultivate the love of ourself, which blooms into pride where it emits the fragrences of denial of true reality that smells like shit. God is God. We are powerful Souls that can participate or not participate in his kingdom. And we live in a world that currently is not “his kingdom come” because not all of us are doing our job.

We have rags on. Jesus Christ allows us to have his pristine clothes. And lets us follow him into the town to do some really great things on his behalf.

Do you want to hold onto the rags because they are yours, or do you want to bow deep let go of your pride that holds up a chinsy reality of insatiable hunger. Let’s have some remorse today. Let’s have some fear of a very powerful God. Let’s rework our realities to serve a God who can save us from ourselves. So that we can be the people that he wants us to be.