Constantine is the Reason for the Season

Constantine is the reason for the season. Read more, here.

This does not mean I am "anti-Christmas". I celebrate Christmas because I was raised in an ultra legalistic background that shunned all forms of celebrations.

Happy Xmas!

Keeping the “X” in Xmas: it’s not some secular conspiracy

Read more - here. 

Bethlehem vs. Rome

Jesus was Born in Bethlehem, NOT Rome: Choosing to Lose the “War for Christmas”, by Kurt Willems.  

Read more - here. 

How Religious Clubs Are Formed

Christian denominations (around 40,000 and counting) and religious clubs that have formed over the years, came into existence, because people stopped walking in the middle of their journey with God.

They get an explosive revelation of a minuscule aspect of God, and declare: "This is it! We've got it all!". And after the the initial euphoria dies down, the newly-discovered revelation is cemented with a long-faced, "Those who differ with us, are heretics!"

This is what I call religion.

Religion is not a group of people, or an organization. It is a sincere, closed, dogmatic and an insecure mindset.

This is also how close-minded traditions are formed.

While it's fashionable to look down on traditions (while presuming "we" are on the cutting edge of God's revelation), we become Traditionalist 2.0, the moment we pitch the tent.

Humility and simple logic acknowledges the obvious - that, the elephant is indeed, much bigger than what our limited senses can comprehend.

Love vs. Judgment

"If you’ve found what works for you then, celebrate the wisdom in your journey and don’t make it a law for everyone else." 

- Stacey Robbins

Read more, here.

The Box

Cartoon, by David Hayward

Study

I keep seeing people imploring others to not go see the new Left Behind movie. Despite their well-meant intentions, 'Thou Shalt Nots' usually result in bringing about the opposite effect. People will want to go check the movie out, simply to see what the hoopla is all about. 

Regardless of whether one decides to go watch this movie, or not -- the most important thing to do, is to study, to see if the theology of Dispensationalism that backs the Left Behind books and movies, holds any merit.

There is No Bad New in Good News

If fear is used as the impetus for a person to receive the Gospel, then it ceases to be the Gospel. Gospel, by definition, is 'good news'. 

Perfect love (God) casts out all fear. Fear is anti-God. 

It is the goodness of God that draws a person to God. 

Think about it -- which sane woman (a prospective bride) would want to live forever with an abusive, manipulative, judgmental, terrorizing, impatient, controlling, vindictive, demanding and a conditionally "loving" husband?

And yet, for years, we have inadvertently been (or was it purposeful, based on the interpretation that we chose to believe?) portraying God as the aforementioned husband - whether this portrayal is blatant or subtle.

Martyrdom

“Martyrs die because they refuse to deny the Truth, they are unwilling to force their ways upon others, and they are unwilling to fight back when fighting back would deny the Love they are trying to show those hurting them. This is how martyrdom changes things: It stands up as the witness of the One who is Truth and Love, and the One who is Truth and Love can do little else but stand up and surround them with His presence. And His presence changes things.”  

- from the book ‘Jesus Freaks: Revolutionaries'

ISIS

"One changed heart within the inner circle of leadership would forever change the direction of those hell bent on the destruction of humanity. “that’s a pipe dream” some of you might say. It is only a pipe dream inasmuch as Saul becoming Paul was a pipe dream."

- Caleb Miller

Read the rest, here.

Ferguson

This has to be one of the most potent posts from Frank Viola: 

A Jesus Response to the Race Problem & Ferguson

The Validity of the New Testament

Dr. Daniel Wallace explores the validity of the New Testament.

The best teachers...

"The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don't tell you what to see."  

- Alexandra K. Trenfor

"It's the goal of an oppressive institution to..."

"It is the goal of an oppressive institution (religious or otherwise) to keep their participants small and immature. For once a participant desires maturity, he/she no longer wants to be "on the bottle" that they are being fed, but wants to discover truth for themselves. This is a threat to an oppressive institution that thrives on the backs of those who are too afraid to question but believe that the institution itself has all the answers."  

- Aimee Dassele

Water Bearers

"A world of water bearers, 

filled with thirst. 

Rejecting their personal flowing fountain, 

preferring to drink from public baths." 

- Larry Leake

Said Jesus, Never

"Thou shalt not use your God-given intellect", said Jesus, never.

"Thou shalt never ask questions, and if you dare question the conventions and traditions, be ye satisfied with the typical pat answers", said Jesus, never.

"Thou shalt blindly and unquestioningly believe your favorite preacher", said Jesus, never.

"Thou shalt not study for yourself", said Jesus never. 

"Thou shalt have no other gods before thee, except your tradition", said Jesus, never.

"Thou shalt never read a book aside from your Bible", said Jesus never.

"The indwelling Holy Spirit shall never guide you into all truth. Therefore, always depend on an external source to guide you", said Jesus, never.

"Start Christianity", said Jesus, never.

"Thou shalt never be bold and step out of your bubble. Always be intimidated by the voices that keep you tamed and chained to the lifeless religion", said Jesus, never.

"Judge, condemn and be vitriolic to those who don't agree with your interpretation of the truth", said Jesus, never.

"Thou shalt never follow your heart", said Jesus never.

"Allow yourselves to be bullied and shamed by people who act under the guise of "spiritual authority"", said Jesus never.

"Thou shalt keep the 10 Commandments and the 613 Laws", said Jesus, never.

"Thou shalt choose your favorite laws to police others (and play victim, when being pushed back), while conveniently ignoring the laws you can't, or choose not to keep", said Jesus, never.

"Be ye justified by keeping the Law", said Jesus, never.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and also, to be self-righteous", said Jesus, never.

"Thou shalt be the Sin Police and Fruit Inspectors", said Jesus, never.

"Love thy neighbor, only if he or she belongs to your same religious tribe. Love everyone else with the sole intent of converting them to your tribe", said Jesus, never.

"Even though you will not give a stone to your child, when she asks for bread, my Father would school you through sicknesses or other negative circumstances to make you pure", said Jesus, never.

“While you walk through the valley of shadow of death, be ye fearful and obsessed about the evil", said Jesus, never.

"Build ye citadels in my name, and employ gimmicks, to lure people in", said Jesus, never.

"Freak out, at all times, for my peace, will I not leave with you", said Jesus, never.

"Ye shalt build my church", said Jesus, never.

"Be ye exclusive, for I have not come to save the world, but to condemn the non-conformists", said Jesus never.

"God so loathed the world", said Jesus, never.

"In this world you will have tribulation; be very pessimistic, for I am a weakling", said Jesus, never.

"God is love; however, minimize His love to the best of your ability. Let your words be peppered with copious amounts of ifs and buts", said Jesus, never.

"Amen, amen, I say unto to you - intimidate, control and oppress", said Jesus, never.

"I am the Truth, but I so desperately need you to defend me", said Jesus, never.

We Were Risen!

Technically, we too, were risen, along with Jesus, and seated at the right hand of the Father (Eph 2:4-6; 1:20). 

Oh, and by the way, we = all (Rom 5:18).

Also, note that the Father did not wait for anyone to "pray the prayer", to make us alive together with Christ (Eph 2:5). ;)

Happy Resurrection Sunday, to those who are celebrating.

Ten Thousand Kids in Two Days

"...a large number of so-called born again Christians treated their relationships with their kids like they were little more than a subscriptions to HBO. Sure, some people probably stopped sponsoring their kid and began sponsoring another kid through a different organization. But that’s not any better. A child sponsorship is not a product that can be returned and exchanged for a different brand. There’s nothing “moral” about using a kid as a bargaining chip to punish a Christian organization for making a decision that you don’t agree with. There’s nothing honoring about using children to force an organization’s hand. There’s nothing “pro life” about that. There’s nothing remotely “Christlike” about that. It’s downright disgusting, manipulative, and sad. If I was a Pentecostal, I might even call it demonic."  

...  

"May we wake up from our intolerant slumber…" - Matthew Paul Turner

Read the rest, here - Ten Thousand Kids in 2 Days

Grocery Store

Bargaining Tools

"Christians can disagree about what the Bible says (or doesn’t say) about same-sex marriage. This is not an issue of orthodoxy. But when we begin using child sponsorships as bargaining tools in our debates, we’ve lost the way of Jesus.” - Rachel Held Evans,  

Read more, here - How evangelicals won a culture war and lost a generation   

:: 

I, too, watched this ugly episode in shock (but not too surprised), as it unfolded. This has to be the lowest point for evangelicalism, in recent history; if not, ever.

Valuable

"In the world, if the value of something is always determined by the price that was paid for it, and heaven went bankrupt to get you back, how dare you look in the mirror and say you're worthless?!"

- Todd White

Nobody likes to be manipulated or controlled...

"Nobody likes to be manipulated or controlled except for unhealthy people who exchange their submission for supposed protection." - Donald Miller

Read more, here.

The Mirror

"There’s only one interesting thing about Phelps: He was the mirror that respectable evangelicals hated to look into." - Frank Schaeffer

Read more, here.

Fear

"So much of religion seems to be about fear:  

fear of going to hell; 
fear of having bad theology; 
fear of not satisfying your end of the bargain so God will favor you and bless you; 
fear of others finding out how much you're not really like the person you project and pretend to be; 
fear of trusting your own inner guidance and fear of thinking for yourself; 
fear of not upholding the expectations of your religious sub-culture; 
fear of sexuality; 
fear of people who are different; fear of the world; 
fear of messing up; 
fear of not being good enough... spiritual enough... godly enough.  

I don't know which is worse - the way religion makes us afraid to die, or the way it makes us afraid to live."  

- Jim Palmer, Notes from (Over) The Edge

The secret of a good sermon...

“The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, and to have the two as close together as possible.”   

- George Burns

Spirituality and Religion

“Spirituality is man’s relationship with the Divine. Religion is crowd control.”   

- Unknown

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority...

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect."  

- Mark Twain

10 Reasons

I just wanted to share a beautiful article that resonated with me - 10 Reasons I’m Glad I Came Out As A Progressive Christian, by Benjamin L. Corey.

While I emphatically refuse to be associated with any labels (while taking in the best from most), I am at home with people who are open to look outside the bubble, those that have the humility to admit, that they don’t know it all.

Tithing Vs Heart-led Giving

If you know someone who believes and teaches that you will be cursed, for not tithing, or that the Old Testament tithing is relevant for the New Testament believer, gently, point them to this e-book - Should The Church Teach Tithing - A Theologian's Conclusions About a Taboo Doctrine, by Dr. Russell Earl Kelly.

If you are not into e-books, here is the link to the paperback.  

If you are not into reading, the video series starts here.    

Lest it be misread, I am not against cheerful, heart-led giving (which is not necessarily limited to a set %) and/or financial abundance.   

What I am not for, is misinformation and/or manipulation. There shouldn't be a place for either, in this information age.   

I also, do not believe that everyone who teaches Tithing are manipulators. Some people simply do not look beyond what they have been taught. But, that does not excuse the rest of us from studying the subject.

The Bible was 'clear'...

A good reminder, by Rachel Held Evans, to bookmark and revisit, whenever we feel tempted to declare that the Bible is “clear” about issues and topics, that (surprise!) coincidentally reflect our views.

The Bible was 'clear'...

Sin Police and Fruit Inspectors

"Thou shalt be the Sin Police and Fruit Inspectors", said Jesus, never.

Love the Sin, Hate the Sinner

A hilarious take on the mainstream Christian obsession with the so-called "culture wars".

Love the Sin, Hate the Sinner, by Blimey Cow