Tag Archives: #whosoever.

Fear, snakes and other unwanted things

24 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by in christian, gay, Gay Christian, homosexuality, Jesus

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We have some friends who had a beautiful home on a lake. The only problem was out of that beautiful, peaceful lake came some very unwanted snakes. In the summer snakes would come out of that lake and take up residence in their back yard. One of their puppies and a snake tangled up more than once. Fortunately, the puppy got the best of the snake every time. The last time was very touch and go, very costly for them financially and emotionally, but the puppy eventually recovered. The snakes were such a problem that they decided to sell their home and build a new one. It had gotten where in warm weather they could not enjoy their beautiful backyard. Even though they had a large fenced yard, they had to take the puppies out on a leash every time they went outside.   Their backyard went from being a paradise they frequently enjoyed, to a fenced in prison no one could visit without being very conscience of their whereabouts. The snakes made them re-adjust the way they lived their lives and what they were comfortable doing.

Their experience with snakes made me think of the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden. You know the serpent in the story lied to Eve about who she was. The serpent further lied to her about who God was. Which made me wonder just how many voices do we allow to speak into our lives to tell us and help us develop our own personal stories. Stories about ourselves, about how God sees us and about how God feels about us.

This world is filled with voices, speaking into our hearts and lives. Some are of God and some are not. I suspect God allows multiple voices to be alive and well because he places such a high premium on freedom of choice. The problem is we have to be careful about which voice we allow ourselves to listen to.   Which voices we decide to believe.

There are a couple of things about the Garden of Eden story that strike me. First, Adam and Eve were in the garden, naked, unashamed and enjoying a personal relationship with God. Then they tangle with the serpent and become ashamed and afraid of God. Which makes me wonder exactly what happened. But I think the secret could be found in the third chapter of Genesis, when God is calling out to Adam and Eve and they hide from him “because they are naked and afraid”. Then God asks an important question, they never really answer. God says “who told you that you were naked”. I suspect it was the serpent who told them. But regardless, it certainly was NOT the voice of God that told them. You see I think the lesson here could be that when we allow voices, other than God or godly voices, to speak into our lives, we become afraid. The serpent told them they were something other than what God told them they were … they believed it and their reality took a 180 degree turnabout. Lies have a way of undermining faith and breeding fear. And be clear, faith and fear cannot co-exist. When we hold tight to beliefs that are not of God, even if we think they are of God, we live in fear. God is love and perfect love casts out all fear. The parallel here is if you are living in fear, you are listing to the wrong voices. People who self-identify as Christians, yet spew out hatred, are simply living in fear. People who self-identify as Christians who do not love their neighbor, are simply living in in fear. People who self-identify as Christians, yet kick their gay child out of their home, are simply living in fear.

Which brings me to my final thought. What is it you have been told, that I have been told, that is something contrary to what God has said? Instead of God calling out to us and saying “who told you that you were naked” He is calling out saying “who told you that you were unlovable? Who told you that you were an abomination? Who told you that God does not love you? Who told you that you are unworthy? Who told you that you are not welcome at the table of God? Who told you that you must abide by a list of rules in order to gain favor with God? Who told you that you are going to hell for something innate, inborn that is out of your control? Who told you??? Who. Told. You.

Just like it did at my friends beautiful home … The snakes in our lives make us re-adjust the way we live our lives and what we are comfortable doing. So if voices in your life begin to instill fear in you. Begin to heap shame on you. Do not listen to them! They are lying as sure as the serpent in the Garden of Eden lied.

Do not accept lies about yourself. Do not accept lies about God. And certainly do not accept lies about your worth or relationship to God. The truth is God loves you inexhaustibly, unconditionally, and relentlessly just as you are right this moment. If someone tries to tell you differently, look them straight in the eye and see them for the serpent they are and quickly separate yourself. Quickly. Because your soul is FAR too precious to be sacrificed on the altar of someone else’s fear.

 

 

Twisted Theology

15 Friday Nov 2013

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

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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?

Does God Love Me?

17 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by in christian, whosoever

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“But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, God’s love for us does not.  It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless.”  C.S. Lewis

Does God Love Me?

The answer to that question is absolutely, without reservation or doubt.

There is nothing any human can do to entice God to love him or her more than He already does.  Likewise, there is nothing any human can or cannot do to make God love him or her less than He already does.  Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrated His love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”.  At a point before you were born, before you heard of God, before you loved anyone, Jesus Christ died for you on the cross.  This scripture not only implies but clearly states that God loved you before you loved Him.  He loved you before you existed or did anything good or bad, positive or negative.  So even if this is difficult or awkward for you, just for a moment choose to accept the fact that God loves YOU; right now, right here, in your current state.

Since you now know God loves YOU, not just everyone but YOU specifically, the next question is do you have a relationship with Him?  This part is YOUR choice.  God will pursue you, ruthlessly trying to love you, but a relationship with Him is impossible until you say you accept His love.

How do you accept His love?  John 3:36 says “Whosoever believes in the Son of God (God’s sacrifice of love) has eternal life, but whosoever rejects the Son of God will not see eternal life.  The often quoted John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  So to accept God’s love, you accept His Son Jesus Christ and his sacrifice of love on the cross.

Now you know God loves you and how to enter into a relationship with Him.  But still you are cautious or doubtful because maybe relationships are not your strong suit.  Perhaps some relationships have ended badly for you.  Perhaps someone has told you because of something in your life or lifestyle you cannot have a relationship with God.

Because of things you have read, been told or taught you have this recording playing in your head that says “God will never accept me because of this or that.”  The bible repeatedly says WHOSOEVER.  But your heart screams, you do not understand I had an abortion … God says you are whosoever; I had a baby out of wedlock … you are whosoever; I was abused as a child and no one wants used goods … you are whosoever; I am a prostitute … you are  whosoever; I am gay … you are whosoever; I am an alcoholic … you are whosoever; I am an addict … you are whosoever; I am a self-injurer … you are whosoever; I attempted suicide … you are whosoever; I killed someone … you are whosoever; I have been an unfaithful spouse … you are whosoever; I committed a crime … you are whosoever.

When you say “but you do not understand, I _______________ (you fill in the blank)” or better yet, fill in the blank with what you find the most disgusting, vile, repulsive of all human behavior … and YES even that person is a WHOSOEVER.  There is NOTHING you can put in that blank that has the power to keep God from lovingly looking at you and saying you are WHOSOEVER … you are MY CHILD … I want YOU to be part of MY family.

Some will say those are strong words; how do you know that.  You cannot possibly know what God thinks.  What I do know, and the Bible (Romans 8:38) supports is that NOTHING can separate us from the love of God.  The only thing that can prevent a relationship with God from materializing is not accepting His love, not accepting His Son’s death on the cross as complete and total payment for your sins. Short of that, you qualify as whosoever. So replace what you have been defined as in the past with the truth … say and begin to believe I AM WHOSOEVER.

Many people are frustrated because they try to find favor with God based solely on what they do or don’t do.  They attempt to follow a list of spiritual laws or rituals.  The truth is these things will produce one of two things; at best, if you are honest, you will suffer defeat … at worst, if you are deceitful, you will be a hypocrite.

I suppose the reality, especially for a ragamuffin like me, is that it can be hard to comprehend and believe that through grace we are already accepted.

So the answer to the original question is without a doubt or reservation, God relentlessly, compassionately, inexhaustibly loves YOU!

They will know we are Christians by …

15 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by in christian, servant

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I had a conversation this week that would have made me angry if it were not so tragic and heartbreaking. I have heard this or very similar conversations many times … Paraphrased it goes something like this … an individual finds a faith based, mainstream church … Begins attending … Begins to make close, heartfelt relationships … Time passes … Friendships are made … Tithes are paid … Prayers are prayed … Attendance is regular … Bible studies are attended … Individual is faithful and serious about God and wants to become more involved in the church and ministry out reaches of said church … Wants to be allowed to do things like sing in the choir, help feed the homeless, volunteer time in the food pantry.  So this person goes to church leadership to determine how one becomes more involved … Only to be told they CANNOT until they are SAVED. The leader of the church bases this lack of Salvation on one thing and one thing only … This individual asking to become a servant is part of the gay community.

Now if this were a non-gay individual living with a girlfriend or boyfriend outside of marriage would their lack of Salvation be assumed and a disqualifying factor … In fact it would not and is not … This is evident in the congregation population … If this individual was a divorced person or an unfaithful spouse would their lack of Salvation be assumed and a disqualifying factor … In fact it would not and is not … This is also evident in the congregation population.  But because a person is gay they are not saved and cannot be a servant to others.  PS you cannot become a member either, but we will gladly continue to accept your 10% tithe and offering.

So now this individual is made to feel unworthy … Is made to feel less than … Is made to feel unwanted … Like Grace is for everyone, EXCEPT those who are gay. Consequently this individual no longer has a church home … A faith based safety net … and somehow we are supposed to drink the Kool-Aid and believe Jesus Christ is ok with this? That Jesus died on the cross for this? That Jesus looks down from heaven and looks at His Father and says I am so proud of my people who are called by my name … they are EXCLUDING all those for whom my death was not sufficient … NOT!!!

How can people who identify as Christians get this SO wrong? How can other Christians be so SILENT?  How can people be so comfortable showing such a distorted reflection of Christ?

Many of these very same Christians want to know why individuals are leaving the church or showing no interest in getting to know Christ … Honestly I want nothing to do with their Christ either … In fact rather than stating I am a Christian … I now say I believe Jesus Christ was and is EXACTLY who He claimed to be and is exactly who He continues to claim He is … I am not a Christian … I am a Christ follower … I strive daily to be more Christ like and introduce more people to my best friend and Savior … But I want NO part of being a Christian by their definition … On that point let me be crystal clear.