Offend the Right People

"If you're gonna give Jesus a bad name... please, at least do it for the right reasons! And please offend the right people! The people who should be offended by Jesus are not "sinners". While sinners flocked to Jesus, it was the Pharisee-types, the duty-driven, finger-pointing, behavior-based people who couldn't stand Him.

The self-righteous performance-based religious people are the ones who should rightly have a problem with the unconditional-lover of the world. If we're gonna turn anyone off, let's do it the way it should be... by loving and accepting others and showing them how God loves and accepts them, thereby offending the ones who truly should be offended by the gospel."

- Joel Brueseke

Religion Is Not The Culprit...

by Colin Lagerwall

Religion only has a leg to stand on when you think you are missing one...

Many of us are taking a swing at religion as if religion is the enemy...
Religion will only have a landing place of there is one available.

And whilst religion is despicable, it is not the culprit... The culprit is the lie that we believe about ourselves, which causes us to think we are 'missing something' and therefore needing an extra leg...

We blame Hitler for his despicable acts, yet the major issue was not with Hitler, it was the self-perceived deficiency in the people of Germany that caused them to follow his promises of becoming a super-race...
If the people of Germany knew who they were, they would have flicked off Hitler's promises as the ridiculous drivel that it was...
And so it is with every controlling or governing body; it only has control if it is perceived that something is missing in our own selves...

Whilst seeing and standing against the false promises of religion is good, it can be a futile waste of time and energy if we do not tackle the real issue, and that is the identity of Man...
When this Identity and all that it entails is intricately known in the width and breadth and depths of us, the lie of religion will be flicked off of us like the booger it really is...

We are One with He who is Life, we are Loved by Our Father, we are honored beyond measure by the Most honorable, we are served by the Greater because He thinks we deserve it, we are the Living Dream of our Creator...

We have two legs to stand on, do not let a lie think you are missing anything, for in believing that lie, something will find it's home in that perceived gap, and it will not be good

.......
Nothing missing, nothing broken...
Mankind is in Him and of Him who is true, and we are Complete in Him...
Jesus' death burial and resurrection and our inclusion in that process is ample proof and a wide open display of God's only thoughts of us...

He is so confident in who we are that He gave us two legs to run on...
So run with the Wind!

Thou Shalt Circumcise!

This comic strip nails it. One of my favorites from the Searching for Grace series, by Mick Mooney.

"Abraham tithed before the Law, therefore, thou shalt tithe", is a popular line among ministries that know tithing is from the Old Covenant, but still overtly or subtly imposes tithing. This is done while conveniently forgetting that Abraham circumcised before the Law as well, and yet, we don't see the same zeal for preaching about circumcision. 

Secondly, Abraham did not tithe "to be blessed", as it is popularly led to believe. What he gave was from the spoils of a war. Abraham was blessed simply because God conferred the blessing upon him. Period.

Fast forward to Moses. Under the old covenant, blessings or curses hinged on one's actions. Under the new covenant, however, a person is blessed because of Jesus' finished work on the cross. It's called Grace. Under the new covenant, giving (to whoever the heart guides) is done cheerfully, whether it is 0.1% or 100%.

18 Mistakes I made as a Senior Pastor

by Jim Palmer

Putting church over community.
Putting orthodoxy over love.
Putting certainty over wonder.
Putting teaching over conversation.
Putting polished over real.
Putting answers over questions.
Putting membership over friendship.
Putting Christianity over Christ.
Putting knowledge over action.
Putting style over substance.
Putting appearance over authenticity.
Putting functionality over beauty.
Putting religion over spirituality.
Putting holiness over humanity.
Putting accountability over acceptance.
Putting heaven over earth.
Putting reputation over risk.
Putting charisma over compassion.

Spurgeon's Cigar

Allegedly, Charles Spurgeon invited D.L. Moody to speak at an event he hosted.

Moody accepted and preached the entire time about the evils of tobacco, and why the Lord doesn’t want Christians to smoke.

Spurgeon, a cigar smoker, was surprised at what seemed to be a cheap shot leveled by Moody, using the pulpit to condemn a fellow minister.

When Moody finished preaching, Spurgeon walked up to the podium and said, “Mr. Moody, I’ll put down my cigars when you put down your fork.”

Moody was overweight.

 

“Christians get very angry toward other Christians who sin differently than they do.” - Philip Yancey

The above story and the quotation is an excerpt from Frank Viola's new book - Beyond Evangelical.

 

One may argue that Spurgeon was not right to respond to condemnation with condemnation (actually, someone did mention this in a thread on Facebook). My take on that opinion is that there is a difference between condemnation and popping the self-righteous bubbles. Jesus constantly popped the Pharisees' self-righteousness when they judged and condemned from their high thrones (I'm not implying that one has to make a vocation out of popping the bubbles). 

We can only speculate if Spurgeon was doing either here. Regardless of what his intent may have been here, the best antidote to self-righteous judgments is the Law itself - the same tool that is used to pronounce the judgement. This is one reason why the Law is a greasy slope. The moment I judge or condemn a person using the Law, I slide myself alongside with the same person, for the Law is partial to no one.

Fortunately, we don't have to judge or condemn anyone, because sin was nailed to the cross and without the sin, there is no need for the Law. Without the Law, we do not have an ammunition to judge and/or condemn another.

Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin?

I believe that the popular statement "love the sinner, hate the sin" is hollow.

It is rooted in self-righteousness. It implies that, "since I am not doing that particular sin, I have the license to judge his/her actions".

No, the person who is making the statement is merely parroting a popular line, because pure love is unconditional, and it does not look at a person through the filter of his/her action, regardless of how good or bad it is.

Religion is...

Religion, to me, is about creating boxes. Boxes contain and they create exclusive divisions.

Religion is about having a rigid and a black and white view - "I have the answer. And this is the only way for everyone."

Religion is a master at creating caste systems. I'm not referring to the caste system seen in the Hindu religion. The point is, instead of acknowledging the divine in a fellow human being, religion looks down at the supposedly less-enlightened.

Religion is religion, no matter how conservative, liberal or nouveau the label on the outside is.

Amazing Grace - Remix

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a well-meaning, self-righteous, judgmentalist like me,
I once was a parrot, but now I'm a seeker,
Was blind, but now I'm beginning to see…

Religion and Friendships

A friendship that is based solely on doctrinal agreements is no friendship at all. In this case, the allegiance is only towards the doctrine and not the person, because the moment one of the parties in this relationship starts to think differently, the true color of the said "friendship" emerges.

When that happens, don't be surprised when 'friends' get offended or leave you. In fact, it is actually a blessing in disguise. Life is too beautiful to be wasted by playing religious games.

The Cosmic Turtle

A beautiful quote that I discovered the other day.

"If you shout to the world that you have the truth and then threaten and try to silence anyone who offers a different point of view, it is a good call you don't have the truth.

Here is a simple example of what I mean: If you know the earth is round and someone comes up to you and says, no, the earth is flat and riding on top a cosmic turtle, you would not feel the need to threaten or silence this person. The reason is, you know the truth and are not offended by someone who believes differently.

So remember, if what another believes makes you angry, or you feel the need to force them to believe what you believe, you don't have the truth! - because the truth cannot be offended and does not need to be defended! The Truth sets people free."

- Jacob Israel