So what in the heck am I here on earth for? Who put me here and why did they put me here?
I am glad I know those answers for myself, but it concerns me that others don't. Specifically, those who call themselves and/or consider themselves to be christians. Christians. Can someone define that word? Webster definition:
Christian
adj.
1. Professing belief in Jesus as Christ or following the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus.
2. Relating to or derived from Jesus or Jesus's teachings.
3. Manifesting the qualities or spirit of Jesus; Christlike.
4. Relating to or characteristic of Christianity or its adherents.
5. Showing a loving concern for others; humane.
n.
1. One who professes belief in Jesus as Christ or follows the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus.
2. One who lives according to the teachings of Jesus.
So why is that such a dirty word anymore? Obviously not among christians, but more so among those whom christians call sinners. Is it possible that being a christian is not presented as something that is desirable? Is it possible that what a christian considers to be the most fulfilling type of lifestyle is somehow being misrepresented?
I had an interesting conversation with my friend last night. He told me that he has a hard time being around his cousins and aunts because he feels like they are constantly condemning him. He said he believes in God and he believes that Jesus lives in his heart, but he does not want to be whatever his family is.
Here's is his problem: He loves the taste of beer and he likes to smoke Marlboro cigarettes. On special occasions, when he is in a real good mood, he'll light up a spliff. To most christians, these things are sin.
off the cusp; I am quite aware of what scripture says in regards to drunkenness. By definition, drunkenness is the state of being intoxicated by consumption of alcoholic beverages to a degree that mental and physical faculties are noticeably impaired. I am not saying that he has never been in a state of drunkenness. Heck, I am not even saying that of myself. But scripture never really says, if you drink alcohol you surely will go to hell. The act itself is not the sin, but what it leads to. Drunkenness leads to an unclear mind and faulty decision making. This in turn leads to things like adultery, coveting and even murder (i.e. - drunk driving) which are indeed sins. So to me, the scriptural text is more about warning the person about the dangers of drunkenness as opposed to flat out saying, Thou shalt not part take of the evilness that is Budweiser (even though that stuff tastes so horrible, it should be a sin). In regards to the cigarettes and weed.... well, read on.
So his family considers these things to be sin and when he is around them they use the opportunity to make him feel bad. There is no regard for him in the fact that he is a good father, provider, example and hard worker. There is no pat on the back that he has never physically abused his wife or walked out on her for another life. There is no regard for the fact that he helps those in need and would give the shirt off his back if so needed. No, no.... just the cigarettes and alcohol.
---- and now a song about an evangelist.....
"Cold Beer and Cigarettes" - David Bazan
A white ghost, making his way up the west coast
Trying to focus his high hopes on a vagina or two
He's taking his chances
Meanwhile, back in his living room
Bright smiles are watching his toddler run speed trials
Over a grandmother's rug And nature advances
Up the interstate, he's been awake and pretty drunk for three whole days
No one wants to stop until they get to where they're going
I'll get to where I'm going pretty soon
So he takes another drink'
Cause watching the scenery bleed into each similar scene
Isn't as sweet as it had been in his dreams
It's faster to buy cigarettes and some cold beer
If you don't rattle the cashier by asking her back to your room
She's calling security
Our car's on fire in the parking lot and nobody wants it to rain
But God isn't listening, so all of the windshields glisten
The water and oil mix causing the fire to spread
To five or six innocent automobiles waiting in their nearby spots
What a cruel God we've got
Right on!
So he takes another drink'
Cause watching the formula bleed
Into each similar thing
Isn't as sweet as it had been in his dreams
So he spoke of his frustration as we stood on his front porch, each smoking a Marlboro and drinking a Corona.
off the cusp; I hate Marlboro's. They are disgusting. I much rather prefer a cigar or cherry tobacco in a pipe. But I need a good front porch or a big smooth rock on a mountain to enjoy either. For a cigarette type of smoking device I like Djarum Blacks. But I need to be surrounded by the incredible foursome that is "Aalivaer". Which now that I think of it, should have been the band name. Something like, "Daalivaer", (pronounced Doll-uh-fair) -- Ha! Nevermind. Oh, and I used to like Corona until I tried Bud Light Lime. I don't like Bud Light, but I do like Lime. Strange. But really, anyone should know that I am a fan of Guiness. Still, summer nights sometimes require a light watery drink like a Corona or Lime.
So his frustration made me think, "What in the heck is wrong with these people?" Whether or not they agree with his choices to consume alcohol and smoke cigarettes, he is their flesh and blood. Has not God called us to love others as ourselves? For the bracelet fans, I reference WWJD. Truly, how would Jesus have dealt with this guy. I am reminded of Zachaeus:
Zacchaeus the Tax Collector - Luke 19:1-10 (NIV)
1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a sinner."
8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."
9 Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
So here I am. Smoking a cigarette. Not because I love the taste of cancer dripping down my lungs, but because somehow I know that he needs me to be smoking with him in order to feel comfortable asking this next question. He looks at me and says, "They think I am going to hell because I don't think like them. What do you think? Am I going to hell?"
I immediately remember an interview I read with the bassist from the band Green Day. The bassist states that he doesn't believe in God because when he was a kid he went to a Sunday School and he asked the teacher if his mommy was going to hell because she smoked. The Sunday School teacher looked him in the eye and said, "Yes! The bible says Thou Shalt not smoke."
Ever since then I have dreaded hearing that question. The wrong answer constitutes an opening for complete blame on an individual for the other persons complete rejection of God. I fear the question because my first reaction is, 'Don't answer this wrong.' But in reality all i need to remember is this one fact. It is a lot easier to get into Heaven than it is to get into hell. I mean there is only one thing you have to do to get into Heaven and that is to accept Jesus Christ as your lord and saviour and believe his death and resurrection cover all your wrong doings. If you want to argue with that then please take it up with Jesus cos I would never argue that fact.
So the conversation ensues as such:
What do you think? Am I going to hell?"
"What do you think?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Cos I believe Jesus died for my sins. I Love God and I try and love others."
"And you think thats good enough?"
"You saying I need to do more?"
"No, I am asking you if YOU think that's good enough."
"I don't think anything I do is gonna be good enough. But He thinks its good enough."
"Then what the fuckin hell do you care what your family thinks?"
"I just want someone to tell me that I am okay to think like that."
"I can't do that for you man. You gotta know!"
"I know."
"Well then thats it. Subject done."
"Then why do they act like that?"
Why do they act like that..... hmm. What a haunting question!!! Well my first thought was this parable:
Parable of the Vineyard Workers - Matthew 20:1-16 (NLT)
1 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.
3 “At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. 4 So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. 5 So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o’clock he did the same thing.
6 “At five o’clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’
7 “They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’
“The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.’
8 “That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. 9 When those hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s wage. 10 When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage. 11 When they received their pay, they protested to the owner, 12 ‘Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’
13 “He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage? 14 Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. 15 Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?’
16 “So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”
Simple jealousy. Its not fair. I have been serving Jesus all my life (since the very first shift) and I never drank or cursed or smoked or cheated or lied or farted. How do you figure this dill weed who smokes and curses and drinks and farts (started workin at 5pm) gets the same reward?
Well what did YOU agree to?
Here is the gospel as I understand it. John 3:16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." Now what to say about the Ten Commandments and everything else Jesus Christ taught. Well thats very simple. Heaven is very simple to get into. It's the whole living thing where we get a little messed up. The Ten Commandments and everything Jesus taught were not set to be rules to define whether or not you can get into heaven. If we are required to follow the rules in order to get into heaven then why did Christ die? Think about it. Do you follow the word of God and what it says because you think if you don't then you will not get into heaven? If this is true then I hate you. I hate you because you shame my God. I hate you because you made him send his son here to die for us for absolutely nothing. Your belief makes a mockery of what Jesus did and that is absolutely disgusting.
So then why did God give us the commandments? What were all of Jesus' sermons for? Are they useless? NO!!! He set a standard of rules and guidelines so that life would be easier. How much more fantastic is life when you are not hiding in a pool of lies or feeling guilty for what you stole or hiding your lust for another person from your significant other? How much better do you feel when you are not harboring hate for another person or holding onto jealousy for what someone else has? How good does it feel to help those in need or to make some one feel better or just make someones day by giving them a joke or a hug?
My friends, my fellow believer of Christ, we are missing the point of life here. God does not judge us for how many times we do what is right versus how many times we do what is wrong. His deepest desire is just simply to know us. But I know that we all want to please him. We all want to feel like we are at least 'trying' to be right with him. Am i not correct? So that is to be honored. And what is that called? Righteousness. To be right with God. So how do we do that? Genesis 15:6 "And Abraham believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith."
So then where did my friends' family get so off track? Like i said, I was pretty sure it was more of a jealousy thing. That was until this morning. I was journaling and then I came across an odd statement. Let me post it for you... well, let me explain. My church does what is called 'journaling'. Basically you read scripture and then journal what you read. In order to stay on track with the process of journaling you follow simple guidlines under the acronym of S.O.A.P. Soap. Get it? Like becoming 'clean' through the use of soap? Yeah... anyways, it's soap because S.O.A.P. stands for: Scripture - Observation - Application - Prayer. So you basically write out the scripture, then your brief observation of what is going on in that scripture. Then you write out how to apply it to your life and end it with a prayer. I find it effective. Anyways, here is my journal entry from this morning.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Self Examination
(S) Philippians 3
--- {17} Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. --- {18} For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.
--- {19} They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.
(O) Paul is calling for a standard here. Like the blocks of the six sigma philosophy they teach us at work, to pattern one thing after the other so there is efficiency and consistency. Paul calls out to us as believers in Christ to "pattern" our lives after his and follow his example. He elaborates that there are people who are conducting their lives in such a way as to come off as enemies (strong word) of Christ. That their only thought is about the glamorous life that is life here on earth.
(A) I am not positive of what was exactly going on in this region of the world when Paul wrote this. I don't know who he was referring to. But when I read anything this guy writes I try to put myself on the receiving end and then count myself blameless. I pretend I am the one he is referencing. In this case, the enemy of Christ. So the evaluating questions in this particular scripture are what? Am I conducting my life in such a way that comes off as an enemy of Christ? Am I focused here on earth so much as to not even be looking forward to the reward of Heaven? Strong questions indeed. In my evaluation, I can only align myself one way. I would NEVER pattern my life after Paul. He was a great man who set a great foundation of the church and who wrote most of the New Testament in the bible. But my call is not to pattern Paul, but to pattern Christ. So how do I fair out? Well, I know that I like to hang out with sinners like Christ did. Not because I like to sin, but because that's who needs love. I have worked on my spiritual temperaments to love my neighbor more. To be a caregiver as Christ was a caregiver. To give the coat off my back if not my shoes and my hat. I seek out time in the morning to spend time with God everyday. I seek to abide in God so that he will abide in me. I love and forgive unconditionally and seek to amend broken bonds in every area of my life. As much as possible I fold all ten commandments under the blanket of the 3 most important. Love God, Love your neighbor and love yourself. And as to glorying life here on earth. I hate this place. I deep down inside pray that the book of Revelations is coming to fruition in the events I see around the world. The hurricanes, the floods, the storms, the global warming, the wars, the one world creation, the mark, the love of money, the christian overbearing mankind so as to be the condemner and judge as opposed to forgiveness and love. I don't want to continue in a life of debt and suffer here forever on earth. And yet, I try my best everyday to love God, be happy he loves me and make in the most enjoyable day that I can.
So what is my evaluation?
Now, I cut out the prayer part of my journal from this post so as preserve some holiness between me and God, but if you have made it this far I challenge to bear with me just a few more minutes.
I asked my wife, "Who should we be patterning our lives after?" She said, "I dunno... God I guess." Now she was tired, so I think the question was just too out of place for where we were at the time, but I pressed on the question. And we got into this discussion... actually, let me just write this all out.
Answer the question yourself. Who should we be patterning our lives after? Christ or Paul? I would really love to hear everyones thought on that question. See, I think the answer is pretty dang clear. It's Christ. Why Paul over Christ? So then why would Paul even write that? I have no answer to that. Like I wrote in the journal, I don't know what was going on in those days. But these days, I feel like everyone is acting too much like Paul and not enough like Christ.
Its like this. Paul was called to be Paul in the days he roamed the earth. Paul was a stern hard ass with an anger problem and what some say was a possible struggle with sexual addictions. God was smart enough to target this guy to be a hard ass for His glory. So here we have Paul writing all these crazy letters to different areas of southern Europe and surrounding places being a hard ass on people. I mean really, he was. He was calling them to a higher standard. But with right. God called him to do that and be that for that time. If you really take heed to a lot of what he is saying, it is actually stuff that is gonna better your life. But lets not lose sight of what his writings are. They are all testaments. They are a part of the new testament in the bible. They were Paul's creed, his beliefs about what God had shown him. And his overall purpose was not to condemn the church but to provide proof that God existed. He was testifying. In regards to his instructions to some of the churches in the areas of Ephesians and such, thats what they were. Instructions to those churches. If thats not true than women need to shut the heck up in church. Mind yo place yo!!!!
Seriously though, let us not get the gospel confused with the testament. Let us not get the commandments confused with instruction. There is actually a difference.
I am off point here....
Okay, so back to the main problem. Why are christians getting off track in regards to how we are handling our neighbor? Well, possibly its the jealousy thing. But I am convinced now that most of us are just patterning the wrong person. We took Pauls advice and started patterning him as opposed to taking pattern after Christ. So we feel like we need to instruct people to think like us as opposed to loving them and leading them to Christ. We tend to want to get on our neighbors case when they don't think like us as opposed to asking them if there is anything we can do for them.
I believe my friends family may be patterning Paul. So they feel like in some way they need to be the voice of concern for his life. Unfortunately, this is coming off as them being condescending.
---- and now a song about a preacher.....
"Condescending" - P.O.D.
This is not pretend
You have no reason to feel secure
Because this world it waits for no one.
So don't you fool yourself
Get out of this imaginary place you call reality
It's so deceiving
Condescending
If you don't get it your way
You're so condescending.
If we don't do what you say
You're so unforgiving
So tell me once again
How easy it would be if we'd listen to you and just paid attention
So what's the point in you
Showing us your way if we don't even care to be around you or even know you?
Condescending
If you don't get it your way
You're so condescending.
If we don't do what you say
You're so unforgiving
I cant do what you say
I can't do it your way
cant do what you say
I can't do it your way
Condescending
If you don't get it your way
You're so condescending.
If we don't do what you say
You're so unforgiving
So unforgiving
Patronizing
Overbearing
You're so unbending
You don't understand me
Let me wrap this up in lieu of going too long. Dear person who says they are a Christian. Please learn to love. Love you're neighbor as yourself. Don't judge lest ye be judged. Love God, Love God and Love God. Lets try and take the approach of Christ in regards to those who who think differently than us. Pull them aside like Jesus did with Nicodemus and share some enlightenment with them. Go hang out with them like Jesus did with Zacchaues, despite what others say. Hang with them and love them and invite them to see a better perspective. Be like Jesus when he spoke to the woman at the well and come down to their level. Let them know you are aware of their situation and help them make it better. Be like Jesus and die. Die to whatever you think you are, die to your principles and your mission and make Jesus' principles and mission yours. He came here to serve. To be the least. Not to dominate and over shadow.
You will recall that Jesus focused on loving the sinner. The only time he rebuked someone was when they were claiming to love God yet their hearts were out of sync with God's. We saw this a lot with the Pharisees. Men who made their own rules on how to be holier. Men who added rules to what God had laid out in order to make themselves appear to be something they weren't. People who said you can't do this and you can't do that because I can't do this and I can't do that.
I know I need to wrap this up, but for who? I am writing for me right now anyways.
This is what bugs me. I wish I had been with my friend at the time he was being condemned by his family. They tell him that our body is a temple and he is destroying his temple by smoking and drinking. They tell him that he is killing himself with these things and that murder is a sin. Well, I would invite them FIRST to read John 16:5-11. If you want the definition of sin then I would invite you to read that. There is only one sin and it is stated clearly there by Jesus himself. Still, if I was so ignorant to believe that God will condemn a person to hell for killing themselves with things they put in their bodies, then his family is screwed as well.
Why? Because they are all fat. They eat mayonaisse (mmmm mayo!) and drink nothing but pop and soda. They eat greasy bacon, and way too much sugar. They are overweight, over sugared, over greased, over carbed..... you get the point. They are just as addicted to food as my friend is addicted to cigarettes. Thats IF he is even addicted. And as he will die from lung cancer, so they shall die from a heart attack.
Others are addicted to gossip and slander. They tear down their other family members and despise members of their church. Did Jesus not link even just the hatred for someone as being the same as murder?
My god folks, we are really screwed up.
But isn't it great that God loves us so much. I almost think he made us so different so he could amuse himself with our petty disagreements.
My advice to any christian, or those who say they believe in Christ, is this. Don't pattern Paul. Pattern Christ. Do what Jesus did, and live what Jesus said. Love God first with all that is in you. And then love others as you love yourself. Christ called you to 'catch men', not clean them. Catch their attention with the love they see inside of you, not with your ability to make them feel worse than you do. If God needs you to step in and talk up some smack like Paul, believe me, he will open the door and create the opportunity. Otherwise, keep your lip zipped and love love love love.
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1 comment:
Thank you for writing this!
Ps I just listened to "Never Been Any Reason" by Head East in your honour...
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