• About

whosoeverperiod

~ A great WordPress.com site

whosoeverperiod

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Twisted Theology

15 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by whosoeverperiod in christian, gay, Jesus, Uncategorized, whosoever

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

#Christian, #gay, #whosoever., Jesus, salvation

What makes you a Christian is whether or not you really are in accord with biblical theology and whether you know Jesus Christ as your Savior.  Walter Martin

Sometimes I wonder what happened to honest, true biblical theology.  In society today there are all types of theology.  Even in the Christian community there are several types of theology.  Basically what happens is someone takes a point of view, searches for scriptures to support that point of view and then they have a “theology”.   A few types of theology are … fundamentalist, mainstream, King James only, gay, feminist, Red Letter, etc.  The troubling part about this is while in the Christian church we need to celebrate diversity with the love of Christ; many times these differing theologies create a wider division rather than creating a harmonious, loving community.  In doing so each subset often implies they have a better understanding or a clearer revelation of the truth of scripture.

This creates a huge problem.  First, we as mere humans are trying to interpret and know the meaning and mind of an omnipotent, all-consuming, all loving God.  Second, each and every interpretation of the bible has to be read with the knowledge that the individual interpreting the Bible, at best, was biased by their own person experience.  There are meanings to certain words in the Bible that not even the most learned theologians agree.

Salvation, the very root of Christianity, is one such theological sticking point.  What exactly must one do to be saved?  It is amazing to me that such a simple question can get so muddied in translation.  The Bible clearly states in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  Romans 10:9 is very similar “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  Christianity is the only religion I know of where you are saved or redeemed prior to and regardless of performance.

The bottom line is God demands 100% faultless, perfect obedience. If you can’t do that, you’d better find Someone who can do it for you.   Consequently, God sent Christ as the perfect and powerful Savior we so desperately needed.  An individual, ANY individual, who accepts Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice on the cross as sufficient and total is adopted into God’s family.  End of story.

Many Christian communities insist on adding to the requirements for salvation.  One of the hottest topics and most sensitive issues we face today is that of gay Christians.  How many times have you heard God hates gay people?  Gays are not going to heaven.  Gays are an abomination and beyond redemption.  There is no such thing as a “gay” Christian?  Being “gay” is proof positive God has turned his back on and given up on an individual.

Some are a little more compassionate and say you can be “gay” before your relationship with Christ began, but once you are saved you can no longer be gay.  Their theology will say if you remain gay after salvation you are not really saved and are bound for hell.  There is even disagreement and division within the gay Christian community about whether or not it is required for a gay person to be celibate in order to go to heaven.

The terrifying danger of what is being taught is the adulteration of the message of Christ substitutionary work on the cross.  If ANYTHING is required in addition to Christ’s death on the cross for salvation, then what we are saying and believing is that Christ’s death on the cross is NOT sufficient.  Think about it, if Christ’s work on the cross is not enough, if it is not the sole means by which to obtain salvation, then Christianity is a fraud.

Some will disagree vehemently with what I am about to say, but anything short of you denouncing Christ as your Savior; cannot “void” the salvation contract.   In short, heaven will be chocked full of people no one expected to see there.  A more disconcerting truth is heaven will be filled with people some Christian “theology” aggressively rejects.

Of course there is more to the Christian life than salvation.  There is discipleship, justification, sanctification, faith, grace, mercy, forgiveness, love, being molded and changed into the likeness of Christ … But all of this BEGINS with salvation.  The problem is many people do not move into the Christian life because they are discouraged from becoming “saved” in the first place.  Once a person allows Christ into their lives and heart; God can then go to work and do as He pleases.  He can make any changes He wants to make, transform and revitalize lives and hearts as He sees fit.  Not make the changes we as Christians believe He should.

Ask yourself, has anything of eternal value ever been accomplished by a theology of exclusion?  Has any amount of demeaning, picketing, protesting, yelling or being hurtful ever saved a single soul?  Are we being more like Jesus when we as a Christian community do those things?  And if not, why are we doing them?

As a church community we MUST stop excluding people from heaven by teaching salvation is not equally available to all.  As a church community we owe an apology to the individuals we push out and force to live in the margins of the faith community by trying to steal away or discount the authenticity of their relationship with Christ.  We owe an apology to those individuals who have to fight and are made to feel uncomfortable for simply trying to find a place to worship; trying to find a faith community to which to belong.  We owe an apology to those individuals who in an act of total despair and hopelessness, directly related to what we told them, have turned to addiction, or worse suicide.  We owe an apology to the family members and friends of those who we marginalized for our lack of compassion and understanding toward them.  Most importantly, we need to repent to God for diluting the sacrifice of His only Son on the cross.

It is amazing the Christian community is unwittingly playing directly in to the hands of Satan by destroying itself from the inside out.  By beating, bludgeoning and battering each other with the Word of God, we are doing his job for him.  I think it is time the church started to further the kingdom of Heaven rather than the kingdom of darkness.  How about you?

Open Letter to Jesus

14 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by whosoeverperiod in christian, gay, Jesus, Uncategorized, whosoever

≈ 2 Comments

Dear Jesus,

When I open my Bible, I read you LOVE me and have loved me since the beginning of time.  It tells me that you love me so much, you died for me just so I would have the choice of accepting or rejecting you.  This fact alone is mind blowing!  What kind of love is this that would count a human, not yet born, as worthy?

I have known you and loved you since I was a teenager.  As a teenager I promised to give you my whole being, my heart and my soul.  In turn you promised to guide me, lead me, walk with me and prepare a home for me in heaven.  We have a wonderfully, amazing and loving relationship.

There is nothing in my life that is more important to me than you.  My faith is my number one priority.  In my faith it is important to me to be honest, transparent and authentic.

You and I have had long conversations.  You have whispered things in my ear … You have quickened things deep in my soul and you have shared things with me during times of prayer that I could not have known otherwise.  You have given me the words to say to a perfect stranger who needed encouragement and you have helped me love friends on a deeper level and meet needs I did not even know existed.

A few of the things I have done as a direct result of our wonderful, loving relationship are feed the hungry, give to the poor, and provide for the orphans.  I have introduced people to you.  Some have welcomed you and some have not.  I have held the hand of dying friends and prayed with them as they took their final breath.  I have taken in a child that had no safe place to rest and loved him as my own.  I have paid the rent of strangers and the doctor bills of friends.  I have gotten up in the middle of the night to be with a friend when a pet was dying.  I have prayed with individuals whose spouses were abusing them and help them find the courage, through you, to leave a life of fear.  I have sung in the church choir.  I have taught Sunday school.  I have participated in church plays, as well as church ministries, etc.  As you already know, I am not making this list for my own praise, I am merely listing examples of things done, actions taken, not in my human flesh, but because your love and grace towards me is so amazing that I cannot contain it or keep it to myself.

I try very hard to live by your example and be a reflection of you to my own little world, as well as the world at large.  I fail on a regular basis, but each time you lovingly pick me up, tell me you love me and encourage me to keep moving forward.  But to be honest some of my brothers and sisters in Christ are making it very hard for me to carry on, have hope and share your name and love with others.

You see, all of this comes crashing down around me and is uttered as worthless garbage rather than heartfelt ministry by the vast majority of my Christian brothers and sisters when we discuss the fact I am gay.  Upon learning this one fact about me, I become a misfit, an outsider, and a deceiver.  Nothing more than a preying wolf among sheep.

Some automatically exclude me from places I was once welcome.  No longer am I allowed to lead. Minister.  Pray openly for others.  The option of church membership is taken off the table entirely.

Others say I can attend church and tithe, but not be intimately involved in any ministry or outreach until I am “saved”.  Which I sincerely thought was a relationship you and I entered into when I was a teenager.

But the really confusing part for me is some of these very people who say with conviction I am going to hell, still want to partake of my kindness and love.  They call me to pray for their needs.  Still request my money for their causes.  Still eat food I have prepared at my table.  Some will even go so far as to say I am very much like you, but yet they have no doubt, and make no bones about the fact I am going directly to hell.

Jesus, I have never claimed to be a theologian.  I have spent hours in your word, in prayer, getting to know you better and more intimately.  But as far as Greek or Hebrew goes, as far as what words originally meant I do not know.  I am weary of “fundamentalist” theology, “mainstream” theology, “gay” theology, “feminist” theology, “left” theology, “right” theology or any other theology that does not bear your name and your name only.

The deepest desire of my heart is to know you better and more intimately.  I want to be a richer, more accurate reflection of you.  I want to share your goodness, love and grace with a hurting and deeply wounded world.  Can you help me do that?

I would like to end this letter by asking you for your help.  Please give me the strength, courage and wisdom to listen for your voice.  The voice I have learned intimately over the years.  Please give me the grace to love those who would attempt to rip you from my life and cast doubt on the validity of our relationship.  Give me compassion for those who tell me you hate me and lie to me about my very soul.  In essence, help me be more like you with every breath I take.  I don’t need the road to be easy, I just need the strength to walk it.

Thank you for being my best friend.

Above all else, love,

Whosoever.

Are you sure you are right?

08 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by whosoeverperiod in christian, gay, Jesus, Uncategorized, whosoever

≈ Leave a comment

If there is equality it is in His love, not in us.  CS Lewis

You know people are funny.  Not so much in the ha-ha, belly laugh way … but from my experience, more so in a quirky, ironic way.   People, humans in general, love to be right about something.  Some are even driven to be right at all costs.  Which seems odd to me, because most people focus only on one side of the coin … the side that promotes their cause, their reason, their belief, their logic.

As we sit here in the 21st century people often wonder, how in the world Adolf Hitler successfully killed millions of people, and millions more sat by and did nothing.  The truth is frighteningly simple.  Knowing the Bible is the most revered book in most cultures, he became familiar with the Bible.  He held his Bible close to his chest and spouted verses that promoted his cause and ideology.  It mattered not to him if the verses where in context or not.  It matter not to him if he got to know the author of the Bible.  It mattered not to him if he was wrongly interpreting the Bible.  He was not seeking a relationship; his primary goal was to be right at all costs.  In essence, he wrapped a lie in the dressing of the Bible and people believed it. After all who can argue with God?

… people often wonder how men ever justified owning another human being.  The truth is frighteningly simple.  They found support for their belief between the covers of their Bibles.  They held their Bible close to their chests and spouted verses that promoted their position.  It mattered not to them if the verses where in context or not. In essence they wrapped a lie in the dressing of the Bible and people believed it.  After all who can argue with God?

… people often wonder how males ever believed and treated females as second class citizens.  How females were no more than property for many years.  Of course they were more “valuable” property than slaves, but property nonetheless. The truth is frighteningly simple.  They found support for their belief between the covers of their Bibles.  They held their Bible close to their chests and spouted verses that promoted their position.  It mattered not to them if the verses where in context or not. In essence they wrapped a lie in the dressing of the Bible and people believed it.  After all who can argue with God?

… people often wonder how in the world we could have ever believed that one race was superior to another.  How could white people believe and promote they are superior to other races? The truth is frighteningly simple.  They found support for their belief between the covers of their Bibles.  They held their Bible close to their chests and spouted verses that promoted their position.  It mattered not to them if the verses where in context or not. In essence they wrapped a lie in the dressing of the Bible and people believed it.  After all who can argue with God?

This list is endless.  Which poses a critical question.  What is it now, this very day, in your individual life, or our churches collective lives that we are promoting, protesting or betting our lives and the lives of others that we are right about?  What is it we are pointing a finger to in the scripture as an absolute truth, which we could be interpreting incorrectly, thus creating a lie in the dressing of the Bible?  What topic, issue, belief is it that we could, through interpretation which is not clear, be putting words in God’s mouth?

Christians and the church need to remember that following Christ is not about being RIGHT … The Word of God is not something which to brow beat an individual or group of individuals.  The Word of God is a love story of how God loves us so much Christ died for us.  The church, as well as individual Christians, need to learn to error on the side of mercy and love.  Christ has called us to be the BIGGER people … the more LOVING people.  We cannot go after groups of people aggressively and be surprised when they are not cordial and loving back.  It is the GOODNESS of God that leads mankind to repentance, not the hostile, sign holding, protesting, yelling group of self-righteous so called Christians.

Am I saying when there is injustice or wrongs being committed we need to become a door mat.  ABSOLUTELY. NOT.  What I am saying is we need to temper our moves and behaviors with love, mercy and grace; which is exactly what Christ did for every single person ever born or ever to be born.  By doing so He led by example and set the standard of how we should interact with His children.

As we sit here in the 21st century, it is time we began following His example … and by doing so lives will be revolutionized forever.

You Believe What???

26 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by whosoeverperiod in christian, gay, Jesus, Uncategorized, whosoever

≈ Leave a comment

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” – Aristotle

This is where I would like to begin.  What we believe and why.  Do we believe what we believe because it is true, or do we believe because we have been taught to believe?  There are numerous examples of this throughout life.  For instance, if you were raised in the State of Alabama and are a football fan, you are probably either a die-hard University of Alabama fan or a die-hard Auburn fan.  Depending on which household you grew up in, will depend which team you root for with reckless abandon.  This loyalty is passed down generation to generation.

If you were raised in an Episcopal household, there is a high probability you will be Episcopalian.  If you were raised in a Methodist household, there is high probability you will be Methodist. If you were raised in a Baptist household there is a high probability you will be Baptist.  If you were raised in a Catholic household there is a high probability you will be Catholic; and so on and so forth.

Each of these faiths uses the Bible as their guidebook.  Yet each faith has a different set of doctrines and beliefs.  I am not implying one faith is more accurate or true than the other; that is not the purpose here.  However, what I am saying is those faiths are very different.  Yet each believer fervently believes they are right and in most cases perhaps even closer to God.  I am challenging us to briefly set aside what we have been taught.  To temporarily leave what is our spiritual comfort zone and look at things from a different perspective and determine what we believe the truth to be for ourselves.

There was a time when a ship sailing on a body of water and reached the horizon, it was not only assumed but sincerely believed it fell off the face of the earth because the earth was flat.  We now look back and think the people who held that belief were not very smart.  But in fact, that vast majority of individuals living at that time believed it to be true.

I remember growing up in the South in the 60’s.  It was a turbulent time.  Civil rights was a heated issue.  Many churches were involved on both sides of the debate.  Many churches would not let those of different races enter into their worship services.  People were beaten and/or killed simply because of the color of their skin.  Now in the 21st century we look back and say that behavior was WRONG.  When we read of something like that happening now we are appalled and righteously enraged.  The question I want to pose here is when did the rules change?  Was it RIGHT back then and WRONG now?  Or was it always WRONG?  Did people continue holding on to the belief that Black Americans were inferior simply because the beliefs were passed down from generation to generation or did they seek out what God said?

God is never changing.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).  So who was it that missed the truth?  Of course, it was the humans. Why? Because a choice was made to believe the status quo and stay in the comfort zone of the time.  Humans took a few scriptures and interpreted them in such a way to make them mean what they wanted them to say, rather than investigate and believe what the Bible really said about the issue.

Isn’t it time we examined what we believe and why?  In this day and age of such hot button topics and great divides in the country not only politically, but spiritually, is it not of paramount importance that we sincerely search our hearts and ask God for direction, guidance and wisdom.  With hate spewing from every side, Christian and non-Christian alike, is it not time we searched and investigated what really is consistent with the character of God?  What is consistent with the character of Jesus?  Did Jesus Christ come to this earth, die for us and rise from the dead, to give us the freedom to beat and bloody each other in His name? I believe not.

I realize it takes courage to break your belief system down and examine it part by part. It takes even greater courage to admit perhaps you had a thing or two wrong.  But in the final analysis it matters not what man says, not what the preacher or priest says, not what the Pope says, not what momma and daddy always told me, but what does God say.  It is far better to recognize an honestly, non-malicious, skewed belief, than to keep beating Children of God over the head with our misconceptions and false truths because we do not have the courage to re-evaluate our beliefs and ask God for direction and wisdom.

If you find in your self-evaluation you were wrong, and most of us are wrong about something, then let’s pray we have the courage to adopt the truth and let that truth, in fact, set us free.  (Malachi 3:6; John 8:32)

Heaven’s Prerequisite

12 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by whosoeverperiod in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Heaven, Jesus, salvation

“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” C.S. Lewis

Heaven has been defined as a place where God lives. It is often described as paradise, a place to spend the afterlife. It is defined as the polar opposite of Hell.

A prerequisite is something that is required or necessary as a prior condition. So Heaven’s prerequisite by definition would be something that is required or necessary as a prior condition for entering Heaven.

You want to get a group of fundamentalist up in arms begin a Q & A on this topic. Pose this question, “What is required to enter heaven”? “What is required to secure a reservation in Heaven?” Those dragnet type folks who just want the bare facts sometimes ask “What must I do to avoid going to Hell?” All very good questions … all eternally important questions.

If you ask these questions you will receive a variety of answers with a plethora of biblical scripture to back up each point of view. This can be confusing at best and damning at worst. For instance, have you ever heard you must be baptized to go to Heaven? Many believe baptism is the right of admission or adoption into the family of God. Some believe you should be submerged in water to be baptized, some believe you need only be sprinkled with water, others believe you must be sprinkled with water as an infant and then at the “age of accountability” you must determine for yourself when is the appropriate time to be submerged in water baptism. As you can see the debate can be confusing.

Others believe you must not die with unconfessed sin in your life. I would agree confession is good for the soul. I would further agree that admitting to God we have fallen short of the mark is invaluable as a possible change agent. In order for change to take place, we must have knowledge that something needs changing right?
Others believe you must have a member of the clergy issue you last rites. Last rites are generally given to people who have knowledge of an impending death, i.e., those awaiting execution, mortally wounded or terminally ill. This has its origin in scriptures that talk about praying for the sick and anointing them with oil.

Some believe you must belong to and be an active member of a local church fellowship. Hebrews 10:24 says “do not forsake the assembling of yourself together”. I think most would agree church attendance can have a positive, life changing effect on a person.

Each one of these “prerequisites” is valid and good in their place. Baptism is a good thing. It is a choice, an outward behavior that signifies an inward change. It is a public acknowledgment that we are a new creature in Christ.

It is good to confess to God sins or shortcomings when they occur. This keeps honest people honest as they say. Admitting fault is a sign of maturity that signals a readiness to grow or change.

Laying on of hands and anointing with oil is good also; whether it is the sick or the dying. It is a display of faith. It is a signal of our acceptance that God is in control and our belief that He will do what is His best for the situation.

Belonging to a church fellowship is good. It surrounds you with a built in support group and allows you to be supportive of others. It provides an environment to grow and mature.

Each of these is important in the proper place, however; none are a prerequisite for Heaven. The ONLY prerequisite for Heaven is to accept and acknowledge the need for a Savior, recognized the one and only Savior is Jesus the son of God, believe he died on the cross for every sin ever committed or that will ever be committed in the future, He resurrected three days later and now sits at the right hand of God the Father. Nothing more … nothing less.

The Bible is full of scriptures about behaviors that can be added to make the Christian life more rewarding, more intimate, more productive, more fulfilling, more effective, more joyful. But there is nothing that can be added as a prerequisite for heaven. Nothing.

Some people are troubled by what happens to individuals who have never heard the name of Jesus. Which is difficult to understand in our Western world, but the very person we so often take for granted, the salvation we take so lightly was given freely by someone of whom some have never heard. In this case I believe the Old Testament holds the answer. For those whom have never heard the name of Jesus it is as if Jesus never lived and most importantly never died or rose from the dead. It is difficult to believe on the topic of salvation a loving God would hold a person accountable for knowledge he/she do not possess.

Having said that, we are each born with an innate sense of right and wrong. Some call it a conscience. Abraham in the Old Testament was called righteous and faithful without the blood of Jesus. So was King David, Moses, Noah, Ruth, Elijah, Elisha, Queen Esther, etc. None of these people could be cleansed by the blood of Jesus, as it had not been shed and many of them committed egregious sins. However, God called them righteous because of their faith and their desire to do good. Their willingness to follow and be guided by their God given conscience. I have even heard some say it is better to have never heard the name of Jesus than to have heard it and rejected it. But that is a topic for another day.

The good news is, thankfully for those of us who have heard the name Jesus we can choose to have absolute assurance. Once you have heard the name, once who He is has been explained to you, then the decision is yours. Jesus + Nothing = Salvation. #whosoever

Newer posts →

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • May 2017
  • April 2016
  • February 2015
  • September 2014
  • July 2014
  • April 2014
  • February 2014
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013

Categories

  • christian
  • gay
  • Gay Christian
  • homosexuality
  • Jesus
  • Marriage
  • servant
  • Uncategorized
  • whosoever

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • whosoeverperiod
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • whosoeverperiod
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar