Greater Love

by David Hayward

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."

- Jesus, (John 15:13 ESV)

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.

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.

What if Jesus Meant All That Stuff?

Quote by Shane Claiborne, from this article.


"The more I have read the Bible and studied the life of Jesus, the more I have become convinced that Christianity spreads best not through force but through fascination." 

- Shane Claiborne

Clanging Cymbals...

“See the light in others, and treat them as if that is all you see.” - Wayne Dyer 

This thought that I came across today, was a good reminder for me. 

Focusing on darkness, soils one's mind. Unchecked, it morphs into another manifestation of a "right-er/better-er than thou" mentality. 

Thanks, but no thanks. 

It's no news that religion has always put people in bondage, under the banner of God. But fighting negativity with negativity has never yielded freedom for anyone. 

Rocked by the revelation of grace, the German priest Martin Luther broke out of the Catholic system (this, by the way, triggered the Protestant movement, which is now splintered into thousands of denominations). But since he was primarily driven by dogma and his rightness, rather than love, he was known for his deep anti-Semitism. 

So, the ultimate goal is not about having a "correct" theology (Christianity has plenty of versions of what "correct" is and isn't). It is, and has always been, love. Without love (who God is), we are merely clanging cymbals, whether we are proficient Bible thumpers, or “deep” contemplatives.

One Of The Criticisms That Grace Faces...

One of the criticisms leveled against the message of Grace is, that it is lax on "sin". The assumption is, "it's all Grace now, so you can do whatever you want, without any consequences." 

Not one Grace preacher I know of, says that. 

Regardless of whether anyone says that or not, I think, this criticism stems from the belief that people can be controlled by the Law; sadly, without realizing the fact that the Law actually empowers one to sin (see 1 Cor 15:56). 

A lifestyle of destruction destroys us, but it does not affect God's love for us. There isn't a big enough boulder that can separate us from His love for us (see Rom 8:38-39). 

Despite what we feel about the man, God unconditionally loves Ariel Castro, the man who, for a decade, imprisoned and used three young women as sex slaves, in his basement. While God's love is offensive to most people, it does not negate the law of sowing and reaping - which is why Castro is in a jail right now. 

God's love towards the human race has nothing to do with one's good or bad actions. He loved us from before the foundations of the world. Unlike most of us do with each other, we don't earn God's acceptance with our actions. We are already accepted and reconciled in God (see 2 Cor 5:18-19), whether we have the experiential reality of it, or not. It's a gift - it is called Grace (see Eph 2:8-9). 

Regardless, I love all the heat that the message of Grace is getting now. It simply means that nerves are being struck left and right, for the better. You can't make a good chicken curry without stirring the pot. : )

Rest

"Rest. Rest. Rest in God's love. The only work you are required now to do is to give your most intense attention to His still, small voice within." 

- Madame Jeanne Guyon

The Heart Wins

I'm looking forward to the day when more and more people will see, and boldly proclaim about the gaping holes in the empty and the fear-based doctrine of the eternal torment in the mythical and a very mistranslated word called "hell".

The heart knows that answer, that a "loving Father" would never do that; but it's the pre-conditioned mind that hinders the light from flooding in. 

The good news is, given time, the heart wins.

"......two thousand years of religious tradition have inculcated in us the mistaken notion that God’s love is something we earn. If we do what pleases him, he loves us; if not, he doesn’t. Giving that up isn’t easy. Moving from a performance-based religious ethic to a relationship deeply rooted in the Father’s affection is no small transition."

- Wayne Jacobsen, He Loves Me! Learning to Live in the Father's Affection

"The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them."

- Thomas Merton

Mirror, Mirror.

We mirror our understanding of what God's nature is.

If our understanding is that God is angry, judgmental, schizophrenic, a conditional lover and discriminates, we become that.

If our understanding is that God is love (without any but's), we become that.

Pray without Discriminating

"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." - Galatians 3:28 NIV

If we are praying regarding the crisis (which has abated for the time being) in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians, let's pray without discrimination, for everyone - the Jews, the Palestinians, the victims and the perpetrators. 

"God so loved the world…" That 'world' includes the "other" side, the side we see as the "enemy", depending of who we side with (or not) in this crisis.

Jesus said, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,.."

We may love our labels, the traditions, the Bible, our interpretations and all the associated religious activities. All those things may identity us with a religion or a denomination, but love is the only thing by which people will see that we are the disciples of Jesus. 

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - Jesus (John 13:35 ESV).

Is God an Abusive Husband or a Deadbeat Dad?

"The main problem I have with the mainstream Christian view of hell is that it's starting place is that God's wrath must be satisfied against sinful man. 

I think before we can come to any conclusion about hell, our starting place needs to be "God is love." God's wrath needs to be defined in the context of love and our view of hell needs to be set within the context of love. God's very nature is love and he cannot violate that. 

If our view of hell turns God into an abusive husband (marry me or else) or a deadbeat dad (some are predestined for eternal torture), it can't be the right view because love is never abusive nor does it force itself on anyone, nor would love ever bring children into the world that it did not want and that it wouldn't die for." 

- Annette Hunsberger Presley

Related posts:

The Cosmic Turtle
Love is...
My Thoughts on Raising Hell

Love Trumps all the -isms

Knowingly or unknowingly, everyone is associated in some way, shape or form with an -ism. Arminianism, Calvinism, Universalism, Atheism, etc.

Without love, however, our isms have zero value, regardless of how well researched we think our findings are. 

Love trumps all the -isms. 

He may not speak in Christianese, but with love, an atheist experiences and becomes a conduit of God, without him being consciously aware of it. 

Love is God. 

God is Love.

Did God send Sandy?

Warning: If you are easily offended, please do not read any further.

I can't believe some still believe that storms are from God and that it is sent so people might repent. Another popular interpretation is that storms are happening because America is not supposedly standing with Israel. 

i. If the storms are from God, Jesus was defying God's will when he calmed the storm.

ii. 'Repent' is one of the most misunderstood words in Christianity. It is associated with guilt, deep remorse, beating one's chest, wailing and all the associated actions.

The word 'repent' comes from the Greek word Metanoia, which simply means "a change of mind". Disasters do not make one repent; it is the GOODNESS of God that leads to repentance (Rom 2:4).

Think about it, who in their right minds would want to have a "relationship" with a god who is looking forward to "test" them with natural disasters?

iii. As for the Israel connection, Obama has said time and again that under his leadership, America is and will continue to stand with Israel. And given his penchant for drones, there is no doubt that he will bomb Iran, should Iran act on their dumb idea to "wipe Israel off the map." But I applaud Obama's strong stand for maintaining diplomacy. 

What else does the religious zealots need? Go ahead and bomb Iran without any solid proof that they have nuclear weapons? What was the excuse again, for invading Iraq?

Forget about international politics, do we realize how colossally stupid we sound to 'the world' (that we so love to judge and condemn) when we scream "pro-life", but are for war (regardless of how overt or passive we are in our support)?

iv. This is the New Covenant. God is not angry, as we are led to believe from the Old Testament.

v. God is love. Love does not destroy lives and property. How simpler could it get?

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear..." (1 John 4:18). Any teaching, interpretation and/or prophecy that promotes fear is not from God.

At the end of our lives, may we not say, "I was a faithful parrot all my life". We may not have all the answers, but let's not blindly believe something because "that's what my favorite preacher says" or "that's what I've heard all my life, so it must be right".

God gave us a brain, to think.

The future belongs to...

"The future must not belong to those who target Coptic Christians in Egypt – it must be claimed by those in Tahrir Square who chanted “Muslims, Christians, we are one.” The future must not belong to those who bully women – it must be shaped

 by girls who go to school, and those who stand for a world where our daughters can live their dreams just like our sons. The future must not belong to those corrupt few who steal a country’s resources – it must be won by the students and entrepreneurs; workers and business owners who seek a broader prosperity for all people. Those are the men and women that America stands with; theirs is the vision we will support.

The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam. Yet to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn the hate we see when the image of Jesus Christ is desecrated, churches are destroyed, or the Holocaust is denied. Let us condemn incitement against Sufi Muslims, and Shiite pilgrims. It is time to heed the words of Gandhi: “Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.” Together, we must work towards a world where we are strengthened by our differences, and not defined by them. That is what America embodies, and that is the vision we will support."

- President Obama, from his speech at the UN General Assembly, Sep 25, 2012

Here is the link to the full text of President Obama's speech at the UN General Assembly.

TURN or BURN?

"TURN or BURN", the passionate, well-meaning evangelist screams at the top of his/her voice. 

In other words, fear is the tool that is used to connect a person to God. 

But the scripture says, "perfect love casts out fear" (1 Jn 4:18). 

Perfect love is God (1 Jn 4:8). 

So, to me, it is common sense to conclude that God will not scare a person into accepting him. Love will not coerce and will not be coerced. 

Since God is love and he created us in his own image, and if a loving human being would never want to see someone being roasted forever and ever, why would we assume that God would allow that to his creation?

Are we saying that Adam's offense is greater than Jesus' redemptive work on the cross? (see Romans 5:18)

Please do not receive my words blindly. This is merely a gentle nudge to seek. You have nothing to lose.

Truth can withstand any amount of scrutiny.

Related posts:

The Cosmic Turtle
Love is...
My Thoughts on Raising Hell
Paul has a chit-chat with Calvin and Arminius

Hospital vs Courtroom

"We paste on the outside of our churches that we're a "hospital" yet when people come inside, they find out we're more like a courtroom." 

- Ted Haggard

Without love, unconditional love, we are nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate, as Eugene Peterson puts it.