In this world we live in, we usually have to work for everything we have. We’re used to earning trust, love, money, friends, forgiveness, etc. It’s in our nature to want/need to earn things.

I think Christ’s death on the cross was going against the grain in that manner. He died and therefore bestowed grace upon us. He earned the grace for us. Our human nature wants to keep trying to earn that grace; our ticket into Heaven. We want to tell people that they need to change themselves in order to be worthy of the grace Christ gave us.

Can’t any of us begin to see that there is no earning of this grace? If we had to work our way into Heaven then there wouldn’t have been a cross. We can’t possibly earn it! It’s impossible!

It makes me sad to see guilt-laden sermons where they continue to tell us we need to change ourselves in one way or another to be a Christian.

I looked Grace up in the dictionary and this is what it says “a.the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God.”

Freely given, unmerited.  Does that sound conditional to you?  Did you hear somewhere in the Bible where it says “I forgive you but…”?

The direct translation of forgiveness is to permiss or to let be.  Yes, permiss.  To give permission.  Christ died on the cross and by that was saying “I’m doing this all for you, it’s ok you’re a sinner, I’ve taken care of everything for you”.

Because seriously, if we had any ability to work our way in then Christ’s death was in vain…no?

Now most people get frazzled (like I did when I first opened my eyes to this) and think “well now people are just going to go and sin and do whatever they want”.  Could be true, doesn’t have to be true.  Christ will still love you if you do though .

God gave us direction for a purpose and it wasn’t to get us our Heaven key.  What would God want for us?  He created this beautiful earth, he created love and laughter and millions of good feelings.  He didn’t give us rules to follow to make us not enjoy our life.  If you follow God’s word then you’re going to lead a happy and healthy life.  Your relationships will be healthy, your body will be healthy and you wont create as many problems for yourself.

You know how it feels to give you child a new toy and see them really enjoy it?  Isn’t it worship when we treat our lives with care and great enjoyment?  Don’t you think that’s what God really wants from us?  To see us happy?  Just how we want to see our own children happy but in an even more pure, honest and wholesome way?

I’ve never felt as free in Christ as I did when I truly began to completely believe in the wholeness of grace.  I’m finally at rest.

Why does everyone put on their best game face in church? Shouldn’t it be a safe place to show all of your garbage? I think it is. We’re always told to dress up nice on Sunday but do you think we dress ourselves up in other areas? Why can’t we just lay it all out there and actually become a community that’s healing, relevant, helpful, non judgmental?

I wish we could put on stickers at the front doors of the church that say “hello my name is…”

depressed…in debt…alcoholic…porn addict…marriage falling apart…in pain…etc.

But, we make out outsides look great while out insides are hurting and little do we know, the girl with the nice shoes beside us is dealing with the same thing. Too bad we’ll never know because we’re taught to look perfect and sinless. So we can’t share or else we’ll be found out.

I saw this on Aaron Ivey’s blog and thought it too funny to not post here.

Sorry if the title was offensive…I don’t want to offend any homosexuals in what I’m about to say.

I’m going out on a limb when I say this, but I don’t think Christ intended us to be so awful to homosexuals. It’s a weird thing amongst Christians though, it seems like the sin of all sins. The thing you DON’T want to EVER be is gay because then you’ll go to Hell for sure!!

I totally think gay people can be Christians. I totally think they aren’t the worst of the worst and I totally think that Christ would love the church to accept them more. Not because being gay isn’t “sin” (I don’t think it isn’t and I don’t know if it actually is), not because they need to be current and get with the times but because we are all with sin. We are all in denial of how sinful we actually are.

You can’t say that a gay person cannot be accepted because they refuse to change. I’m sure most of them, especially Christian ones, have tried their very dandiest to change and have no been able to. Like a lot of us have tried and failed at being “sinless”. Not an easy task. Not a realistic goal.

Christ wants us to have joy and happiness in our lives. I can’t see how a loving God would condemn someone to hell because they couldn’t help themselves. I truly believe that some/most homosexuals are born that way. They feel so deeply for the same sex, just as heterosexuals feel for the opposite sex. I can’t say that I wouldn’t give into it. I’ve never been there or felt that way. I definitely give in to a lot of sin every day. Humans can’t help it! Just because I didn’t win the “genetic lottery” doesn’t mean I’m more worthy of going to Heaven!

What disgusts me is that I know for a fact that most Christians would be more offended to see a very committed gay couple walking hand in hand down the street than to see some hetero dude picking up a chick in hopes to put one more notch in his bed-post. Unreal.

I think most Christians feel that gay people are inherently promiscuous. Which might be a very big reality for some of them but I’m pretty sure the sexual immorality is about even on the gay/hetero scale. How many of you Mennonite kids did the math and realized that you were either born early or Mommy and Daddy are hiding something? I know a few of you already.

My theology teacher in Bible college told us something very interesting. That when they did talk about gays in the Bible they were speaking more into the idolatry that was going on at the time because the two of them went together. She suggested that it was more the religions they were following and the crazy orgies and things they were doing than it was the idea of being homosexual. Something to think about at least.

At any rate, Christ didn’t come for those who can help themselves. He came for the weak, for the sinners, for the prostitutes and I’m sorry folks but I really think he came for the homos too! If church is meant for the ones who have it all together, I shouldn’t be going and neither

should you!

I couldn’t believe my ears when I found out that Westboro Baptist church was going to protest at Heath Ledger’s funeral. Why the heck? The pastor of this church is this guy Fred Phelps. He’s an anti-gay extremist. Maybe it’s because he’s over-compensating for his own primal urges?

Who in their right mind would protest at a funeral? I don’t care if it’s a freaking ax murder. Let the person rest in peace!! That’s just downright rude! Heath isn’t even gay for goodness sakes, he played a gay person. They’re saying he supports gays by playing that role. So then Anthony Hopkins is also promoting cannibalism because he played one, Hannibal Lecter, in film Silence of the Lambs. I’m sure.

Sometimes I don’t even want to say I’m a Christian anymore. What the heck does it mean to the public anyway? All they see of us is these wackos that are out there thinking they’re doing God some sort of favor. Their behavior is a lot less Christ-like than that of Heath Ledger. I think hate mongering might be a little worse than playing some roll about love in a movie.

Perhaps I shouldn’t call myself that anymore. I guess I am just someone who accepts the free grace that Christ provided of me. To be a Christian these days seems to be something way different than that. Showing disrespect to the dead, being biggot assholes, teaching people to hate. Christ didn’t picket anywhere. Sin isn’t an outward thing, it’s all inside of us. You may think you look tasty my friend but no one likes biting into a rotten grape. Picketing at some funeral isn’t going to get you a shinier crown in Heaven my friends. In fact, I’m not sure you’ll be wearing one, you might decide that once you get there that you’re too good for the place.

 

So, in my last post I kinda went a little nuts flam-basting WWJD bracelets. I kinda did it with good reason, in my own mind I guess.

I HATE Christian paraphernalia. I hate it with a passion. I hate seeing it on people, I hate having to look at it, I hate it being in my own possession. Perhaps hate is a strong word. I really dislike it…a lot. Perhaps loathe.

Reason #1: People are making a profit off of this stuff. Christians see this great shirt or Bible cover or ooo look a neato bumper sticker or whatever and they eat it up. It’s just more stuff to buy buy buy, more stuff to accumulate. People are getting rich off of you and this frivolous stuff!

Reason #2: It just seems arrogant to me. There’s a contemptuous air about it all. Like I have this Jesus Rules shirt therefore I am better than you. Holier than thou. The bumper stickers just seem the same to me. They seem arrogant. They never seem very loving to me at all. It seems to me like all this stuff is to lead other people to Christ. But how is a bumper sticker going to get you in a relationship with a person where you’ll actually lead them to Christ?? I’m sure it has happened but I really think money should be spent on other things.

Reason #3: I’ve been made to feel like I SHOULD own this stuff. All of that stuff is thrown in the face of kids and teens. I remember feeling guilty that my clothes weren’t the

Christian kind or whatever. I’ve had church leaders talk me into smashing all of my amazing music because it wasn’t Christian. I regret that to this day. Oh how I wish I hadn’t done that. It felt like I SHOULD know all the Veggie Tales songs and I SHOULD have the latest and greatest Bible cover. Like having Christian paraphernalia will make you a better Christian. Sorry poor little boy, you’re not welcome in our group because your mom can’t afford the True Love Waits Bible (I soooo had that Bible as a teen).

Reason #4: It just seems like most Christian music isn’t really that good. It seems like the strive for excellence isn’t always there because if you knock it then it’s not longer “spirit led” or whatever. Therefore…it aint that good. Not always, but a lot of the time it’s just not very good.

Reason #5: Some of it’s just very wrong. Like a bumper sticker above said “No Sin Zone”. Ya freaking right. And the sticker below…it’s being really awful to a certain man, is that loving and Christ like? Should Darwin really be remembered in THAT way? Would Jesus do that?

That’s my reasoning for hating all this stuff. I don’t care if you like it or wear it or want it. Just perhaps let this be something to help you think about why you want it. If you want to lead people to Christ, I think the non-passive aggressive way is the way to go. Create relationship with people, love them wholly. That I think is a much better thing to do. You could then spend your extra money on a starving child who’ll never be able to even afford a Bible let alone an amazing Footprints bookmark or a car to stick their “NO SIN ZONE” bumper sticker.

PS I used to have all that kinda stuff…I’m reformed from the Christian paraphernalian ways. I even have a trinity tattoo on my leg…which I still like though

Christians are constantly striving to be more spiritual. They’re working hard at doing spiritual things like raising their hands in church or doing their daily devotions. They’d be seen as EXTRA spiritual if they got up reeeaaalllly early to do their devotions. That’s way more spiritual than doing it in the afternoon right? Good thing you’re not one to do it at NIGHT TIME and fall asleep while it happens.

Some people are seen as being more spiritual than others because of their daily actions. Perhaps they pray more, perhaps they have a nice and shiny Jesus fish eating a Darwin fish on the back of their car. Perhaps they read their Bibles a lot and they can read it in the King James version and actually understand what’s going on. The uber spiritual most likely do it with a concordance at hand so they can exegete every word they read.

I’m here to say something shocking. Something that might make you GASP and then make you hungry to buy and extra WWJD bracelet for your wrist just in case.

I think everything is spiritual. I also don’t think anyone can be anymore spiritual than the next person. Before you start your nasty response in my comment box, please turn down your WOW 2007 CD and listen up!

I don’t think a lot of Christians believe this. They’ve given in to the gnostic idea that there’s a sacred/secular split. That there’s music out there that’s not spiritual therefore labeled “secular”. I don’t think secular exists anywhere.

I’m sure you’ve said it yourself, the HS is omnipresent. Therefore the HS is everywhere, in everything, amongst everything, a part of everything. Otherwise, the HS wouldn’t be omnipresent…agree? Of course you do

I believe with all my heart that I am worshiping God as I write this. I believe with all of my heart that when I’m out running errands, I’m being spiritual because the spirit is with me. When a person would ask me how my walk with Christ goes, I love saying things like “well I made an amazing supper last night, my house isn’t very clean but at least I got the laundry done, Ikey is growing so fast and Brent and I made love last night, it was great”. What the heck?

I believe God resides in the mundane. I am being spiritual by washing my dishes because the spirit is in it with me. I am made by God, my world is made by God and it is fully and wholly occupied by him. I’m communing with God at every moment whether I like it or know it or not. My life is my worship. I enjoy what God has placed before me. I love His creation. Anyone who is a part of God’s creation is spiritual because, like we all agreed on before, the spirit is everywhere.

All of creation cries out to God, whether it likes it or not.

So, sorry to say this but in my opinion, your early morning KJV Bible read didn’t get you any spiritual brownie points. Although, it wasn’t in vain…I’m sure you learned something right? My mad packing furry I’ve been doing today was just as spirit filled though.

Begin verbal slaughter.

I grew up in what I call “freaky floppy churches”. The kinda church that perhaps a Mennonite or Lutheran would go to and feel completely uncomfortable in. It’s the slain in the spirit, dancing, speaking in tongues, faith healing, miracle working, prosperity preaching, demon fighting, hands shaking kinda church. People fall on the floor and shake, people moan or laugh or cry. I’ve even heard very very loud growling which frightened me beyond belief.

There were many time that I thought this was happening to me, many times I wanted it to happen to me, many times I KNEW it was happening to me and many times I was told it would happen more just if I were more _______.

When I went to Bible college I thought I would be amongst what I called “spiritual giants” (which is so funny to me now) and these people would most likely ALWAYS be flopping on the floor like a good Christian should. I didn’t really know what the word “Mennonite” meant when I went to college.

Our first chapel was about to begin and I was revved up. We were gunna get in some good worshiping, we were going to dance and cheer and lallygag about the place in the name of Jesus Christ. I was eyeing for the flags…where the heck did they keep them? Once the music started everyone just stared at the front, blank faced, serene, bored even. I was astonished at all the spiritually “dry” people around me. Where was the Holy Spirit in this boring kind of worship? Didn’t they know that you were supposed to get excited for it to REALLY be worship? I thought my school needed a revival. How come no one held their hands up high?

After spending two years in that college with a bunch of Mennonites and MARRYING a Menno I learned that there was another form of worship, more serene, more thoughtful, more whatever. I learned it was still worship though, that you can just stand there blank-faced and still love Jesus. As crazy as that might sound.

It got me thinking. How come the HS didn’t knock these people over as He did in other places? Was it because they didn’t welcome it? I think it was a mixture of a lot of things.

I began to reflect a lot on my emotions in those freaky floppy worship sessions.  I began to ponder the POWER of those emotions.  Could this be all in my head?  Is this just loads of hype?

When my husband and I were dating, I took him to a faith healing conference one evening, just to show him what it was like.  As we seated ourselves, the lady in front of us was already convulsing in her seat.  The seats filled, we sang worship songs and then the speaker came up.  By then most people were pretty revved up.  There were many people yelling and growling and moaning in the crowd.  One thing I noticed, though, is that their moans grew louder as the speakers voice got more excited.  Whenever the speaker yelled, the people also yelled and shook and moaned.  Like the HS gets stronger with a louder voice?  This made me really think it was a LOT of hype.

I can count a few times where I know it was real and a few times where I know it was ALLLL hype.  I’ll admit, my mind is pretty powerful, I, too, can give into the power of suggestion. But I KNOW some times were real.  I know it with all of my heart.

I think God speaks our language.  If we need certain things to feel loved by God, I think he’ll provide them for us.  Some people really feel his love by flopping on the floor and others feel it in a instrument free environment where they can chant and sing and not be bothered by the opposite sex who’s sitting on the other side of the church.

My beef with the freak floppy movement is that people start to feel like they’re doing something wrong when nothing happens to them.  If they aren’t so easily fooled by the power of the mind, they’ll never flop or shake or moan.  I know someone who left the church because she couldn’t feel anything like the rest of us did.  How sad.  How sad to suggest to a person that they need to do MORE for God to make them shake about like the “normal” church goers.  How sad to suggest that something is indeed wrong with them if they’re not babbling along in tongues.

Let me tell you, I’ve found many a great Christian in my time who’s never flopped or babbled, and they don’t feel like they need to either.  I love the peace that comes along with feeling like I don’t need to anymore.  In fact, I’d find that church setting rather uncomfortable now.

A lot of us believe that if we behave nicely then we are not as much of a sinner than other people who don’t. Most of us think that if we aren’t killing people we are less of a sinner than someone who has killed someone else. A lot of us feel good about that.

Lets think about this for a moment:

What has been your life’s journey? Have you had a cookie cutter Christian life? Have you been abused? Were you part of a divorce? Were you molested? Did your parents love you unconditionally? Has someone you loved died?

How about the genetics in your family? Is there lots of alcoholism? ADHD? Schizophrenia? Depression?

I think all of these things have a MAJOR impact on who we become and how we rate on the wonderful “sin scale” that we tend to hold other people to.

The thing is, I can’t believe for one moment that God’s going to hold a person to their outward way of sinning on “Judgement Day”. We all have the same sin inside of us and you can’t say that we don’t because you haven’t walked in someone else’ shoes. You have no idea what it is to be like another person so you have no freaking CLUE if they’re worse of a sinner than you are. You may have been way worse off than them if you had their life.

I don’t think a loving and fair God can judge us by our actions. He knows our life, he sees inside us and he knows we all don’t have the same chances at being an upstanding citizen. Weather it be nurtured or our nature, we’re not all equal in the genetic lottery. Any God I would want to worship would not look at what our hands do but would look at how much he loves us on the inside. Because on the inside we are all the same. We are all sinners, we are all loved beyond anything we can imagine and, call me what you may, we are ALL forgiven. Christ came to save all. If our actions could save us then Christ wouldn’t exist.

So next time you start judging a friend who turned to drugs or a hooker on the corner, take a moment and reflect on what you would have become if your dad beat you senseless or your mom brought home a new man every night. Perhaps your dad did beat you senseless but you’re still OK, well be happy you just have that nature because not everyone does. Perhaps a little reflection would spark a whole lot of humility in our Christian circles and a lot more inclusion.

The Old Testament shouldn’t be used to preach morality.

Nothing bothers me more than people who use verses about morality from the OT and then say I should follow it.  I remember these people once told me that my lip piercing and tattoos were bad and they quoted me a verse about not tattooing your body.  That night I went and found the verse and there it was, in the OT right beside “don’t clip your beard or hair at the sides”.

I get why some people think tattoos are wrong and that just fine but they can’t be wrong because THAT verse said so.  Otherwise we’re going to stop eating pork, get a menorah and starting celebrating Hanukkah.  Nothing against my fellow Jews, you’re beautiful people but us Christians, we’re not Jewish.

The purpose of the OT was to set the stage for Christ.  People lived by the law then, having to get into Heaven by their own good works.  Christ came a demolished all of that on the cross.  He fulfilled the law for us so we no longer have to.  We can’t live by the OT these days, we’re not going to get together and sacrifice a cow, God’s not going to demolish cities because of immorality.  It’s not relevant to us any more in that way.

There are though, many wonderful lessons to learn from the OT.  The commandments in there, if followed, will actually help you be really healthy.  They wont make you better in the eyes of God though.  You’re already better in his eyes, you’re already perfect.