What if…?

Much of Christian religion appears to “worship” Jesus but refuses to follow him. This disconnect is readily seen by those outside Christian religion.

Jesus wasn’t trying to convert people to a new religion.
Jesus wasn’t marketing or selling anything.
Jesus wasn’t looking for popularity or fame.
Jesus wasn’t looking to be worshipped or adored.
Jesus didn’t use common strategies and tactics.
Jesus wanted people to follow his WAY of living.

It was less about him and more about his WAY of:

• Love
• Trust
• Humility
• Generosity
• Mercy
• Accepting, not condemning
• Making peace, not retaliating
• Forgiving, not canceling

These are the things that heal a broken society.
These are the things that heal a broken world.
The lack of these is why we are stuck in this deep divide.

What if all of the church buildings just… closed?
What if these ego-kingdoms of many men were no more?
What if megachurches were sold and the money donated to the poor?
Would that be the end of the Jesus experiment?
Or might it be a NEW BEGINNING?

What if people actually developed the kind of character that he lived?
What if people started caring more about others than themselves?
What if people didn’t buy into the lies the rich use to enrich themselves?
What if people rejected the manipulative fear used to weaken the masses?
What if people actually believed in the incomparable power of LOVE?
Would it be the end of society as we know it?
Or might it be a NEW BEGINNING?

I’m not talking religion.
I’m not talking believing in a Creator.
I’m not talking about Jesus actually walking this planet.
Believe what you want to about those things.

I’m asking this:

• what if this mythic character actually unveiled a better way to live?
• what if this way is the only valid path to peace and harmony?
• what if this way leads to nobody lacking what they need?
• what if this way is the best path to a personal fulfillment?
• what if this way leads to the kind of life that never gets old?

I know it’s difficult with all the noise these days to contemplate this.
I also know there are people with vested interests who want it that way.

Maybe that’s why I think these thoughts in the silence of the early morning.
Maybe you might contemplate this, too.

We’ll see.

The Big Reveal

Apocalypse.

The word brings to mind the end of the world. Meteors crashing to earth, volcanoes and earthquakes, tsunamis and sea monsters. But that’s not what it means at all…

The word Apocalypse is often associated with the last book in the Christian Bible: Revelation. It was a great example of First Century Apocalyptic Literature (yes, it is actually a unique genre):

“A product of the Judeo-Christian tradition, apocalyptic literature is characteristically pseudonymous; it takes narrative form, employs esoteric language, expresses a pessimistic view of the present, and treats the final events as imminent.”
– Encyclopedia Britannica

Think of it like an ancient version of Lord of the Rings or Star Wars or other modern epics. The wild characters and metaphors this kind of literature employs serve a purpose, and are not intended to be understood literally. What it does is reflect the zeitgeist of the day back to us like a funhouse mirror. We are supposed to see our world and perhaps even ourselves in it. But back to the word Apocalypse…

The title of the last book of the Christian Bible really explains it: The Book of Revelation. Or in today’s home makeover TV lingo, “THE BIG REVEAL”. It’s intended to show us what was going on all along that we could not see with our eyes or imagine in our minds… but it was always there. 

So what is the Big Reveal? What was hidden all along and we couldn’t grasp it?

Dad’s not mad. 

And by Dad, I mean God, the Creator, the One, the Divine – whatever title you prefer.

Dad’s not mad.

Never was. 

We humans are wired like the rest of creation to have a survival instinct. A fight-or-flight response. We are triggered to react to perceived threats, and to do so with immediate and powerful action. Our trigger sends a rush of epinephrine and cortisol from our adrenal glands that enable and empower us. It takes 45 minutes for that rush to finally dissipate from our system… especially when we’re terrified. 

The ancients felt that with thunder and lightning, with tornadoes and hurricanes, with anything they couldn’t explain that they attributed to “the gods” or “the powers” or “the universe”. The idea of placating these gods with sacrifices – something costly to them – was a way to barter with the gods for peace and success and prosperity and their own sense of power in a universe too great to understand. 

As cultures arose, these gods and sacrifices became different cultural institutions around the world. One particular Middle-Eastern culture began collecting stories of their version of God (and assigned various names depending on their felt need at the time). Their sacrificial system included offerings to secure blessings of prosperity and health and harmony by showing their gratitude. It also included offerings for doing things they felt guilty for that they believed could bring poverty and sickness and disharmony to their culture. These offerings were usually in the form of something quite costly to this agrarian society: their livestock. 

Specifically, bulls, sheep, goats, etc. To put it simply, their offerings because of their felt guilt provided all the meat needed for the priest class of that culture. They had giant barbecues several times a year, and the priests didn’t have to worry about gathering food. 

The problem is… Dad’s not mad. 

Some of the authors of their sacred literature caught a glimpse of that and tried to communicate that their god wasn’t really interested in these sacrifices. They argued that sacrifices did nothing for guilt or prosperity and certainly didn’t correct the injustices in their society. The priest class grew in abusive power and aligned itself with the ruling class which also grew abusive in power… both enabled by the big business class that shared in the spoils in ways the mere commoners did not. While these prophetic authors made a big deal about it, they were usually ignored.

When that culture finally encountered an army more powerful and more violent than theirs… they were led across deserts to a new location and their old homes and property became the possession of others. 

“How could this happen?” they asked themselves. 

“Why couldn’t our god save us?” they moaned.

They thought deeply about this. 

As transplants to a new culture, they encountered the idea of a god that opposed their god, and evil presence in the face of divine good. An accuser… a demon… a Satan. During their time in a foreign land, they integrated the idea of a Satan into their belief system. They borrowed that idea from another pagan culture as a way to explain how things went wrong for them… but refused to listen to the voices of their own prophets who told them in advance that this is about injustice, wickedness in high places (religion, commerce, and government). 

While their tribe had been quite decimated over the centuries, their priestly class endured along with the lineage of the ruling class (and I assume with the posterity of the commercial class who survived, possibly with some of their money). They were able to return to their homeland and begin rebuilding their society… hopefully in a way that promoted justice and mercy and humility.

But that hope was not to be. They simply repeated the mistakes of the past, as their prior generations did. They expanded upon their religious laws and invented even harsher requirements to “appease God”. They oppressed their own people. And they continued to do so even after other empires subdued their homeland but allowed them to live there so long as they paid their taxes and didn’t cause any trouble. 

Caesar Augustus was one of ancient Rome’s most successful leaders who led the transformation of Rome from a republic to an empire. During his reign, Augustus restored peace and prosperity to the Roman state and changed nearly every aspect of Roman life. He, as well as other Caesars, assumed the following titles:

• King of Kings (because they ruled over the lesser kings of lands they conquered)
• Lord of Lords (because they ruled over the wealthy and powerful)
• Son of God (claiming a divine right to have this authority from God himself)
• Savior of the World (because he rescued primitive cultures from themselves)

The Caesars claimed “neither is there salvation (rescue) in any other name but Caesar.” And with the Roman military might, that brag felt reasonable to them. 

It was into THIS culture that an obscure Jewish carpenter entered the scene. He was assumed to be a shameful bastard child of some kind, and he was assigned to a lesser class than the other poor folk who lived in a fishing village north of Jerusalem. But even as a boy, it became obvious there was something different about him.. He had an understanding of their culture and an awareness like the prophets of old about the nature of their problems.

When he was old enough, he assembled a group of young men who weren’t intelligent enough for rabbinical studies and who likely would have been stuck in their generational family businesses and began to show them what was really going on… 

It took them a while to “get it”. They followed him around for over three years and started to learn how to do what he did, though imperfectly. They started to see the power of justice, mercy, and humility. They saw people healed and rescued from impossible situations. But so did the powerful priests… 

Now some priests were intrigued and wanted to know more. Some even started following him (though some did so quietly in their own way). 

And some of the wealthy folks were intrigued and even funded his “ministry”. Those who had gotten their wealth from injustice divested themselves to evidence just how much they bought into his better way of living. 

Even some of the Roman military couldn’t unsee the beauty and power of this non-violent peacemaker and began to follow his way as best as they could in their position. 

But in the end, the powerful priests – in bed with the interests of the wealthy – appealed to the government for help with this rebel who was quietly deconstructing their power of the people and their means of acquiring it. At first the government wanted nothing to do with that… but ultimately relented. First, some private torture with fists and a cat of nine-tails, then public humiliation in an exceedingly torturous death invented by the Romans: crucifixion. There, that should silence these poor folk who were upsetting the powers that be and their system. 

But this son of a carpenter, this mamzer, this scapegoat who exposed the ways of religion, commerce, and politics… he saw them as victims of the evil system they served. He saw what it made them. He understood that they ultimately had no idea what they were really doing as they rejected him and the beauty he was bringing to their region. And he prayed out loud from the cross intended to humiliate and conquer him, “Father, please forgive me – they don’t know what they are doing.” He was an innocent victim of the crimes of the religious, the wealthy, and the powerful. He exposed them for what they really were. 

THAT was another Big Reveal. 

It is a timeless Big Reveal… because we always let ourselves get sucked back into that kind of society. 

In fact, we are in that very kind of society right now, right here in 2024 in the United States of America. Big Religion is in bed with Big Money and Big Government committing incredible injustice against the people while enriching themselves and destroying the earth. TVs, radios, and streaming services continue to spout their fearful tirade to trigger us into obeying unjust nonsense when we could simply ignore them and use the power supposedly provided in our own Constitution to rid ourselves of these leeches and insist on LIBERTY… and JUSTICE… for ALL.

Armor Up

“So then, take your stand! Fasten truth around your waist like a belt. Put on God’s approval as your breastplate. Put on your shoes so that you are ready to spread the Good News that gives peace. In addition to all these, take the Christian faith as your shield. With it you can put out all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Also take salvation as your helmet and God’s word as the sword that the Spirit supplies.”

‭‭- Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭14‬-‭17‬ ‭GW‬‬

A follower of Jesus doesn’t look for battles to fight. A follower of Jesus is too busy doing good in the world. A follower of Jesus isn’t looking to cause trouble or revolution or to “take the nation for God”… but sometimes they still come under attack.

Paul wasn’t writing to his friends in Ephesus to tell them to Build Rome Back Better or Make Rome Great Again. He just knew by personal experience (since he was writing this from prison) that following the way of Jesus will piss off powerful people because it costs the money and control over the lives of other human beings. Spiritual wickedness in high places. Principalities, powers, authorities… Follow the money and you know who these people are.

Are we supposed to fight them? No, we carry with us good news of peace and healing. But sometimes we do need to defend ourselves. And so Paul lists different items at our disposal. Let me unpack this…

• A belt around my waist prevents my pants from falling down and tripping me up, leaving me embarrassed or humiliated in public. I will never be embarrassed or hindered by the truth.  
  
• A breastplate protects my heart. If my heart seeks the approval of men and they don’t approve, I can be easily misled. When only God’s approval matters then my heart is safe.
  
• Shoes help me to travel wherever I need to go. The question is why am I going?  To bring good news peace – that dad is not mad and we don’t have to be afraid anymore. I will speak this good news wherever I go.
  
• A shield protects different parts of me as needed. I just have to be aware of where their arrows are coming from. Fear will lead me to lower my guard. Faith is the willingness to enter a dangerous battle with open eyes, knowing that there is nothing to fear. God has my back, God has my front and my sides, and God has my destiny. If I am confident in that, it will help me to face any risk put before me.  
  
• A helmet protects my head, my mind. Knowing that the one who called me into this battle is the one who will rescue me and heal me, keeps my mind from succumbing to fear and taking myself out of the battle. 
  
• A sword can be used as a defensive or offensive weapon. The Bible wasn’t written yet when Paul wrote this letter so the Bible is not the word of God that he’s talking about. He’s talking about the voice, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Muse who inspires and empowers. My songs and poems and essays and the story of my life are words from God that I wield and deploy necessary.  Sometimes those words include scripture. Sometimes they include words from others. I have to hear the message. God is speaking to me in all of this so I can apply it appropriately.

It’s not my job to pick fights. But it is my job to be aware that fights can happen… and that I don’t need to retaliate with the same kinds of weapons that are thrown at me… nor with the hate that they are thrown with. Fear and hate are the opposite of faith and love.

Don’t worry about embarrassment or humiliation. Don’t worry about the approval of others. Just keep going where you’re going… with the confidence that the risk is worth it, with a mind that repels fear, and with the message of peace and healing despite the backlash.

Having done all… just stand.

Be Ready

1 Peter 3:15b

Wycliffe Version
…evermore be ye ready to [do] satisfaction to each man asking you reason of that faith and hope that is in you, but with mildness and dread

King James Version
… ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear

New KJV
…always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

English Standard Version
…always being prepared to make a defense to anyone
who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;
yet do it with gentleness and respect,

New International Version
…always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you
to give the reason for the hope that you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect,

New English Translation
…always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks
about the hope you possess. Yet do it with courtesy and respect…

God’s Word Version
…Always be ready to defend your confidence in God
when anyone asks you to explain it.
However, make your defense with gentleness and respect.

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If you have hope, then… Always be ready to give a defense, a reason, and answer.

But do it courteously… gently… meekly.

And do it with respect, with reverence (“fear”).

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Here’s the context from Peter’s first letter (chapter 3)

“Finally, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, affectionate, compassionate, and humble. Do not return evil for evil or insult for insult, but instead bless others because you were called to inherit a blessing…

…For who is going to harm you if you are devoted to what is good? But in fact, if you happen to suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. But do not be terrified of them or be shaken. But set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and…

always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess. Yet do it with courtesy and respect…

keeping a good conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame when they accuse you. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if God wills it, than for doing evil…”

And why?

“…Because Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust…”

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Is this the kind of conversation we see from those who proudly call themselves Christians in the political and social and commercial arenas of life these days?

If not, what does that say about their real “hope”?

This especially applies those who want to turn the USA into a “Christian Nation”.

WWJD?

Did Jesus try to turn Rome into a Christian Empire?
Did he think political and military power were what was needed?
Is that how he waged his war against “spiritual wickedness in high places”?

WWJD?

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One funny thing I notice across these translations is the different ways they translate a particular word:

• Defense
• Reason
• Answer

This is an English translation of the Greek word “apologia”, from which we get our word “apology”. An “apology” in classical times had nothing to do with saying, “I’m sorry,” but rather was a reasoned argument (defense) that presented evidence (supplied compelling proof).

And who is this reasoned response to be provided to? Anyone who asks.

The Greek word “aiteo” used in scripture is translated the follow ways and times:

• ask (36)
• asked (16)
• asking (7)
• asks (7)
• beg (1)
• called (1)
• making a request (1)
• requesting (1)

Strong’s Concordance states that the usage of “aiteo” included to “ask, request, petition, or demand.”

There’s some emotion involved in this asking. Perhaps even an urging or sense of urgency. A real desire to understand, to receive what is being requested.

How do bumper stickers and front lawn banners and mult-million dollar advertisements factor into this? Who is “asking”, “petitioning”, “begging”, “demanding” to see this?

You already know the answer. NOBODY.

Jesus didn’t shove his message into anyone’s face.

Rather, he went outside of town into the wilderness or on top of a hill or in a boat offshore and spoke his words only to the people who really wanted to hear it.

His goal wasn’t to get “converts” to his way of thinking to build up a new religion.

His goal was “disciples”.
People who bought into his way of seeing the world.
People who actually lived a pattern of life like he did.
People who valued what he valued.
People who didn’t value what he didn’t value.
People who saw through “the system” but didn’t start a revolution over it.
People who just lived good lives full of kindness, generosity, humility, and mercy.
People who helped heal others.
People who didn’t retaliate with violence.
People who forgave.
People who made peace… even with those considered “enemies”.
People who spoke blessings rather than insults.
People who didn’t just talk about love, but actually did it.
And in ways that were costly to them…

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“What’s up with those kind of people?
Why do they do what they do?
Why would they take such risks with their lives?
Why can’t I unsee what I see in them?

I’VE JUST GOTTA KNOW…

Maybe I’ll ask them…”

---

Be ready for THAT.

Joy!

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this age,
against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭12‬ ‭NKJV

I do not wrestle flesh and blood, but with spiritual powers. 

It is to wrestle with the powers devoted to the violent and calculated enslavement of humanity. It is to identify the darkness hiding in the shadows, and to not fear it, to not fight it, but to simply stand against it in the power of love. It is to see the world, and what it offers for what it really is… and to not buy into its lie that would ultimately enslave us all.  

To “preach Christ crucified” is to focus on the stronger power of forgiveness in the face of our deepest fears (including societal rejection, persecution, scapegoating, torture, and death). 

It is to be who we are humbly, gracefully, and unapologetically in the face of threat and condemnation, and without resorting to threat and condemnation. 

It is to see, believe, know, and act on the principle that only love can overcome fear. 

It is not focusing on some “cosmic legal transaction” or on feelings of guilt and shame and unworthiness. Rather, it is to reckon with the power and destiny of those who are willing to stand with love and grace and compassion and mercy against all that life has to throw at them. 

It is to see others as victims of the same deep-seated fears, and not to blame them for their conditioning due to their upbringing and trauma. It is to make peace with them because we see that, in the end, they are not our enemies and we are not theirs.  We are all one. We were all victims. We can all be free.

This is the kind of love we will be known by.
This is the kind of love I will be known by.  
And perfect love casts out fear because fear has torment. 

Our sin is to miss this point. 
Our repentance is to embrace this point with joy. 
The joy of the Lord is our strength.
The joy of the Lord is my strength   

Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. 
Doubt is the loss where the world overcomes us. 

Doubt is the faith that the worst is likely to happen. 
Doubt is the trust that things will never work out the way I hope. 
Doubt leads to despair and death.
Doubt is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Doubt is focusing my energy on a negative outcome.

And focused energy manifests itself.  

Faith is not the certainty that I will get what I want. Rather, it is the certainty that it will all work out for my good in the end no matter how difficult and no matter how long.

Faith is focusing my energy on a positive outcome.

And focused energy manifests itself.

Faith leads to joy, peace, and life. 
Faith is the victory that overcomes a world rooted in fear, in mere survival instead of flourishing. 

Faith, neither flees nor fights, nor freezes.
Faith does not fawn or fret.
Faith unites. Faith befriends.
Faith expands. Faith multiplies. 
Faith flourishes. Faith explodes into JOY!

The joy of the Lord is my strength.
The joy of the Lord is our strength. 
The joy of the Lord is YOUR strength.

The Dance

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is— his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
– Romans 12:2-3 (NIV)

I suggest that being “conformed to the pattern of this world” means operating under the same principles, approaches, and ways of judging things that everybody else does. Sure your particulars may be different, but when you do it the same way, you’re just like them – you just think your version is best. But there is no fundamental difference in your approach.

Those who operate under this pattern use the same approach to market their view, to express their view, to defend their view, and to judge those who will not accept their view. The only difference is the definition of “normal” for their tribe.  

Transformation comes from a completely different way of thinking, from a renewed MIND. It doesn’t operate under the same assumptions and principles that everyone else does in their safe little tribes. I contend that this transformed mind is one that is different in that it rises above the fear that causes us to divide up into tribes in the first place and to seek the growth and dominance of our own tribe. 

Isn’t it obvious that when you judge others by your definition of “normal” and “good” (like the rest of the world does), threats are shouted, bridges are burned, walls go up, and arrows fly? Look at the violence in the world across gender, race, ethnicity, language, religion, money, individual freedoms – can you see it? Fear is the engine that drives the violence and injustice in this world. Even religion traffics in divisive fear.

But God loves the world (literally, the cosmos). The Creator loves what he designed and the way it is designed to work, because it is all based on love in the first place. It’s an interrelationship at the sub-atomic level, at the super-galactic level, and at every level in between. The Creator wants us all to join in this cosmic dance just like the protons, neutrons, and electrons dance within every atom of our being.

The Creator loves this design so much, and wants us to participate in it so much that Jesus was sent a long time ago to show us how to do it. We needed a living example. He was it. But please humor me and set aside any claims of miracles and wonders and instead just focus on what he said and did for a bit. Notice some essential, practical things with me if you will…

Everything that he put forward as The Way was in direct contradiction with the Way of the World. Whether you are looking at the way that Jewish religion in his culture approached and judged things… or the way the Roman Empire with its military might controlled things… or even the commerce in that high-traffic area and its organized crime in the form of mafia-like tax collectors… All of these operated under the same principles.

The Way of the World is to control our view of “normal” through the strategic use of fear. Sometimes it’s emotional fear and sometimes it’s fear of physical violence. But it’s the same fear in the end that causes people to flee or to fight. And if neither of these options is appealing, if they can’t run away and if they don’t have the strength to fight, then they either play nice and fawn , or they live in despair and fret.  

Those who use fear to manipulate you are not your friends.

Jesus exposed that. He peacefully spoke truth to power while teaching a better way built on forgiveness and mercy and peacemaking and nonviolence and gentleness and humility and generosity. He showed what real love from an actual friend looks like. And the “powers that be” didn’t like that one bit, so they did what they always do: try to overcome “that threat” with violence that most people would fear. But Jesus wasn’t afraid.

And Jesus saw past how those individuals were conditioned and manipulated into reacting against him… and while being tortured to death in public, he forgave them. He realized they were just victims of the same system that everybody else was. They didn’t grasp how they were being manipulated by a “normal” that was anything but normal. They needed a real transformed view of the world in order to embrace what he taught, but most were too conditioned into their tiny lives of fearful submission, too stressed by daily needs, to even see it. In a sense, they were victims who were naively victimizing him.

But some saw it. A small band of people did. And they learned to live in line with this different Way that Jesus lived and taught. And they had a significant impact on the Roman Empire. So much so, that the Roman Empire after a few centuries, used its other classic technique to dominate a people: bring them close and offer them safety, power, and protection. And thus Christian religion was formed, and the way of Jesus was ignored in favor of some miraculous narrative with a blessed afterlife and a God who you better love… OR ELSE.

I think the world right now is at a crossroads, pun intended. We’ve seen it over and over and over where Empire promises peace and prosperity for everyone, only to find that “everyone” doesn’t include you, it only includes the already rich and powerful. It’s just a lie. It’s just a marketing tactic. It’s just a way to get your hopes up so that you fear that it won’t come true and you’ll play by their rules. Fear drives the Way of the World.

Those who see through it, those who understand we are all being lied to, and that there is a way above and beyond fear (costly, but worth it)… those people with the “eyes to see it”… apply themselves to the mental renewal and transformation necessary. They learn to live that reality regardless of current events. It’s almost like they’re foreigners wherever they are, and maybe even ambassadors of a “better country”. 

And perhaps their reality will function like yeast in a big lump of dough. Perhaps their reality acts like a single seed that turns into an orchard that ultimately feeds the world. Perhaps individual transformation ultimately heals the world, and like the protons, neutrons, and electrons that dance within each of us, we all dance together in harmony, without fear, with love for the design of creation and love for its Creator who made it so. What a dance that would be!

Faith is the Victory

The world is held captive by Fear. The “lizard brain” threat response – aka The Flesh, The Old Nature, The Carnal Mind – seeks to survive by either fighting or fleeing. Violence is the means to survive and to gain the resources believed to vanquish that Fear… but it never really works. We see the effects of this play out and refer to it as “evil”. Yes, it’s a problem, but a different kind of problem than the Baptists taught me.

Violence in the form of sacrifice was the way that pagans, and later Christians, believed would eliminate their fear with the gods/God.

Rene Girard and his thoughts on Mimetic Rivalry, the Scapegoat, and “redemptive violence” casts a sharp light on that across time, culture, and scripture. Sacrificial violence has long been the “way of the world”, an effort to eliminate existential Fear. We’re on the verge of several different kinds of wars right now as different groups try to point fingers at different “bad guys” as if the demise of their scapegoat will make things better. Then we distract ourselves with rivalries in sports and entertainment as if they will satisfy. But they can’t.

Jesus spoke of a Way that could actually eliminate the need for a scapegoat: forgiveness.

Actual forgiveness. Not the payment of a debt, because that is merely a transaction. True, costly, forgiveness… accompanied by mercy, humility, patience, grace, generosity, love, and making peace with those who consider us as enemies.

This brings to mind all kinds of quotes from scripture: “That they may all be one as we are one. Love one another. Love fulfills (is the point of) the law. God is love. By this shall all people know that you are my disciples.” Only love can overcome fear. It takes a confidence, a risky trust, in this Way. We call that kind of trust “Faith”. It’s not merely belief or intellectual assent. It acts. It’s alive and vital and effective.

Unfortunately, after several centuries, followers of the Way fell into the open arms of Constantine’s Empire and experienced a false vanquishing of fear. But it was naive, because Empires always use fear to control things. Soon more and more fear polluted the Way and infected their creeds and doctrines. It became just another violent religion with violent themes about a violent God. It was the illegitimate child of Empire.

But that view of God is not the Father that we see in Jesus. That Father waited with arms open for his lost son to return, and didn’t want any apologies or excuses or begging for mercy. He just hugged him, got him some fresh clothes for him, and threw a PARTY!!! THAT is the heart of the Father toward us ALL.

No, Jesus wasn’t some sacrifice… that’s a narrative invented by religious folks to retain their power over people. No, Big Religion empowered by Big Business got in bed with Big Government to SILENCE Jesus because people were learning to not be afraid of these “powers that be”. He threatened their power and their resources, so they banded together to have him tortured and executed. THAT is what happened, not some sacrificial fantasy as if the God whose “mercy endures forever” was no longer merciful. 

I was raised in that narrative and it took a long time to see how absurd and ineffectual it is. As others learn to rise above the fear that binds them through the power of faith and love – whatever belief system they currently hold, whatever labels they use – they experience the joy and peace and freedom, the “life of the ages”, the abundant life, the good life, the life that never gets old… the eternal kind of life.

It’s real. I’ve seen it across a variety of belief systems and lack thereof. I took the leap of doubt almost 20 years ago… and I found freedom in not having to be certain of my mere “beliefs” because certainty is the opposite of true, risky, compelling faith. 

When we as a species learn that “faith is the victory that overcomes the world”, when we trust the Way of the Creator and rise above our threat response triggers and realize there is nothing to fear… we can let go of our former ways and learn to be in the unity and harmony that Jesus prayed for. Fear is what prevents this. We’re not there yet… but I do see the beginnings of a groundswell…

Faith – rich, loving, nonviolent, merciful faith – is the victory that overcomes the Fear that drives the world.

Love Liberates

My deconstruction – questioning the narrative and paradigm I was conditioned into – was intense. I’ve been on this journey now for almost 20 years. Trying to explain it to others is challenging because, if they haven’t taken a lot of the steps I have, if they haven’t asked the questions I have and received the unexpected answers I have, it’s too much to unpack in a soundbite. I started to think about those steps, and I decided to list some of them to show the impact (not entirely in order, but close):

1. Gaining the understanding the gospel is regarding the kingdom of God, not the afterlife.
2. Taking seriously Jesus’ claims to be a King. However, his titles were subversions of titles Caesar claimed for himself. Technically, there was more than one Son of God, Prince of Peace, King of Kings and Lord of Lords at that time.
3. Learning that ALL are invited into his present and borderless kingdom, and are called to serve as ambassadors (and to not worry about the political affairs of their former citizenship).
4. Seeing that his kingdom operates on a completely different paradigm than world empires. He was not interested in Making Rome Great Again nor did he care to Build Rome Back Better. The injustices of Rome were not his mission to correct.
5. Realizing that Jesus is like the Father and vice-versa. Jesus wouldn’t do anything the Father wouldn’t do and vice-versa. Jesus is the litmus test for whether something is “of God” or not.
6. So… concluding that the genocide/jihad against the Canaanites that Joshua declared was NOT of the Father. Who would Jesus slaughter? NOBODY. Therefore, this scripture passage shows us something real from our world: a man in power claiming to speak for God when he really wasn’t.
7. The inclusion of this story in the Bible meant for me that I had to approach scripture differently and “rightly divide” it to distinguish between the voice of God and the violent voices of humans.
8. Learning Girard’s concept of Mimetic Rivalry and the human demand for a scapegoat clarified the voices I see side-by-side in scripture – some that are very human, and some more like Jesus.
9. Realizing the fundamental problem in the world is fear – a spirit God hasn’t given. It’s how the world, the flesh, the carnal mind operate. Only deep trust in the face of risk (faith) can overcome our innate lizard brain fear. We are constantly told in scripture “Do not fear…” and instead, we weaponize it.
10. Recognizing that he doctrine of Hell is a deception and a lie. It is used to control people through fear (which is not of God). There are many who have written on that topic; seek and you will find.
11. Seeing that Eternal Life isn’t about the afterlife, it’s synonymous with the Abundant Life, the Good Life, the “Life of the Ages”, the kind of living that never gets old. I trust the Father with my afterlife.
12. Understanding that humans wrote scripture. Inspiration does not imply perfection or infallibility. When God “breathed into dust”, man certainly wasn’t perfect or infallible, just “good”. Same for scripture, and the same for anything anyone has created under inspiration. I’ve been inspired and created thousands of times. It’s noteworthy that non-Christians from all over space and time attest to the exact same experience. The Muse is likely synonymous with the Holy Spirit. But in the end, labels don’t matter – the reality and essence is what matters.
13. Realizing “The Word of God” is Jesus, not the Bible (John 1). The Bible contains the testimonies of men, and is held sacred and profitable to study. However, it isn’t perfect download from God – that’s a form of idolatry based on unsupportable logic that requires magical explanations. In the end I realize that the magical view of scripture is a power-play where men equate their interpretation and understanding of the Bible as if their thoughts equaled God’s thoughts. And now we have over 40,000 “Christian” denominations who all think they have the one right truth.
14. Accepting my role is to humbly serve others with my unique gifts and talents (not to serve myself). I’ve failed at that for most of my life, but I’m finally getting the idea and having a little success.
15. Seeing that religion clearly operates under the same principles as Empire (both political and economic) – it leverages fear to manipulate and control, and tells a false narrative of who we are in relation to others and to the powers that appear to be. Fear controls; The Way of Love liberates.
16. Whether or not Jesus actually existed historically (I make no claims either way), what I am drawn to is the Jesus story… the way of love, mercy, generosity, humility, equality, forgiveness, non-violence, sacrifice, and making peace with our enemies. Only that can subvert a world system based on fear.
17. Understanding that he Way of Love isn’t limited to Christianity… or to Judaism (Torah literally means “The Way”, though their way had an angry God who demanded blood sacrifice, like pagan gods did).
18. Noting that “sin” (hamartia) is an archery term. It’s not a gross, heinous offense against God where he demands blood… sin is missing the bullseye. We all do. But we don’t give up… we have a change of mind and heart to keep trying (metanoia/repentance) so we can master The Way. Love, not fear. I can’t tell you how liberating that has been to this old KJV-Only hellfire & brimstone Baptist.
19. Realizing that much of Christian religion’s power is based on redefining words in scripture away from their original historical and cultural understanding. I no longer trust creeds and doctrines (written by men) that in the end just define the walls of their religion. I don’t trust hierarchies because they are a division created by men and are inconsistent with the 3D illustration of creation that the Creator left for us that teaches us about interdependence, harmony, equality, and cycles.
20. Indigenous peoples who for millennia studied creation to better understand the Creator arrived at the same conclusions and teachings Jesus taught as The Way. Christian doctrine is the veil put over this fact. We need to tear down the walls so we can live in harmony, unity, and equality. We must stop looking down on others because of differences and instead identify the common reality and respect the unique gifts everyone brings to the table. Love liberates. Fear controls. I choose love.

Now, does this make me superior to others who think differently? Absolutely not. This simply makes me honest with myself. However, it has been beneficial in a number of ways…

I’m not trying to change other people. I’m learning to accept and love others where they are, realizing that each of us is on a unique journey, and that we are endowed with unique gifts that can uniquely bless the world (if we can just get out of our own way). But I’m learning that this choice must come from within.

I’m learning to not put pressure on others to choose some path that I imagine is best for them, because I am not God. I simply and gently speak my truth with love and respect for their choice… and sometimes I don’t speak at all, entrusting them to the Spirit who is promised to guide each of us into the truth we need. I am becoming more like Jesus in the process.

I’m learning to actually see other people instead of living in fear of being exposed as an imposter, a failure, someone “less than”, and trying to cover it up by talking big about myself. I was always the guy saying to other people at parties “Hey, did you know I’m in a BAND?” and things like that to prop up my fragile self-esteem. Now I accept myself, warts and all with no apologies for who I was, who I am now, and who I’m becoming. And I can therefore accept others in the same way. I am becoming more like Jesus in the process.

Seeing others better has helped me realize that the surface issue is rarely the actual issue. There is almost always something being covered up that needs its own “personal apocalypse”, it’s own unveiling. That can be traumatic, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz realizing that the man behind the curtain isn’t an actual wizard after all, and that he, like most people, doesn’t want to be unmasked. But there is such FREEDOM, such liberation when we can be honest and accept and love ourselves. We learn to love our neighbors in the same way that we have learned to love ourselves. We are becoming more like Jesus in the process.

This has helped me to put more positive energy into the world with my prayers, my attitude, the insights that sometimes come to me “from out of the blue”, and the truth I’m learning to speak with compassion yet without adding pressure or fear or other negative energy to manipulate the behavior and thoughts of others. I’m not trying to force issues or make something happen before it’s proper time because I’m not God and I don’t know what the ideal time is. Trust helps me walk in peace. I’m becoming more like Jesus in the process.

I’ve seen where some have let others walk all over them and I’ve been able to gently and patiently help them see it and respect themselves in ways that heal and free them to be true to themselves. Instead of resenting those who had been taking advantage of them, instead of wanting revenge, I saw them simply and firmly say “no, I’m sorry, I can no longer do that” and experience tremendous self-respect and freedom. They were becoming more like Jesus in the process.

I’ve seen where some have been attacked for no legitimate reason and helped them navigate the feelings of hopelessness and despair that could end badly. Instead, they were able to stand in their truth and trust the Creator to fight that battle on their behalf. Because in the end it was all about their fear. It was like a storm raging around them menacingly, but they had the proper gear to withstand it. They had an opportunity to learn to trust in what really felt like a desperate situation without taking matters into their own hands. And they survived. They were becoming more like Jesus in the process.

I still fail. I still blow it. I still get angry. I still rant. I still get self-absorbed. I still succumb to ego. I still lie. I just do these things a whole lot less. And when I see it in myself, I am honest about it. I don’t weep and wail, I just pick up another arrow and try to hit the bullseye again. I turn from what I got sucked back into doing, and turn to a better way with relief… and sometimes even with joy.

I don’t expect to reach perfection… but then, perfection isn’t even the goal. Perfection isn’t on the radar at all. Maturity is the goal. Competence that leads to mastery is the journey. But perfection? What a ridiculous joke! Perfection is an impossible ideal that stokes fear and inferiority and divides us from others. Perfection puts us in a position to judge and condemn others as we ignore our own imperfections. Perfection leads to all kinds of trauma and chains us to the unachievable.

Only love can liberate us from the fear of our imperfection. The kind of love that accepts us, warts and all, as a beautiful and unique creation possessing the capacity to create things ourselves with gifts, talents, a voice, and a perspective that is all our own. Free to be me… but not for me. I am here for YOU.

Insidious

I’ve noticed an insidious pattern.

When people speak truth to power, when they have found words that help them express injustice or corruption or ways of healing was is broken…

… the people who support that power, from grassroots to the top leaders, do this to try to defuse the message:

• They redefine/misdefine the message

They ignore the message and the people and instead diminish and dismiss them. Instead of responding with curiosity and a desire to understand, they dig in their heels ready to fight anything that threatens their ways and powers.

I noticed this with topics such as:

• Occupy Wall Street
• Love Wins
• #MeToo
• Black Lives Matter
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
• Deconstruction

I could go on and on, but the one I want to focus on now because I’ve been in the midst of this for almost 20 years is the last one – Deconstruction.

My dear friend Mo Thomas stated this about it:

“The massive evangelical outcry against “deconstruction” these days
is simply a poorly masked protest against authentic “metanoia”…”

He’s right.

For those of you who don’t normally traffic in Koine Greek, “metanoia” means a “change of mind/heart”. It’s turning and heading in a direction with enthusiasm because you realize it’s a better way. Unfortunately, this has gotten translated into English bibles as “repentance”… and there the pattern continued because people of a certain narrative redefined repentance as something done with great sorrow and weeping. Hand-painted signs by curbside prophets scream out “REPENT!”… and most of us just shake our heads and cross to the other side of the street.

For me, deconstruction was the beginning of being honest with myself. It was the decision to no longer cover up the doubts and questions and outright evil I experienced in normative Christian religion. It was being willing to be brutally honest… but honesty wasn’t a destination, it was a commitment to an ethos, an approach, a method. I was done with the cover-ups and wanted something truly authentic.

This led to questioning all kinds of things – heaven, hell, sin, God, Jesus, angels, demons, and the nature of the Bible itself. I came to VERY different conclusions than I anticipated at the start of this journey. And yet… I wouldn’t have the capacity to take this journey if I hadn’t been conditioned deeply for decades in that mindset. I couldn’t see the patterns if I hadn’t studied and meditated and devoted myself to it.

It was recognizing the patterns that led me to see that, whether it’s religion or politics or commerce, they ALL function based on the same principle of FEAR in order to control and sustain it’s power and protocols. These systems rely on triggering our fight/flight response and inducing that rush of adrenaline and cortisol that makes us unable to think clearly but cause us to take IMMEDIATE action to survive as is.

This is how “they” (whoever the “they” is) manipulate. Stoke the fear and watch the victims run back into their arms. It’s abusive. It’s traumatizing. It’s grooming. It’s INSIDIOUS.

It’s a challenge learning how to rise above that instinctive fear, those intentional triggers, to let the epinephrine and cortisol that normally takes 45 minutes to dissipate instead leave the system quickly so you can see the pattern and respond accordingly.

I notice a pattern that is a combination of intentional and ignorant redefining of “deconstruction”.

In actuality, deconstruction is more like the process a caterpillar endures in order to leave its cocoon, spread it’s wings, and gloriously FLY. It’s a metamorphosis.

Our bodies are constantly deconstructing as cells shrink and die, as our skin becomes the dust that coats our fine furniture. And yet… we reconstruct… we are created anew.

Every seven years all of our cells die off and are replaced with newer cells. Physically speaking I am not the same physical person I was when I was 6 years old quoting Bible verses on WJBK on a Saturday TV show my church aired as a weird form of marketing. I’m not the same person as the awkward pubescent 10 year old in a new school, or the relatively skinny 16 year old who fell into a love that lasts to this day. And I’m not the same guy as the worship leader I was 20 years ago – cellularly or spiritually.

We change. We grow. We adapt. We unlearn. It’s nothing to be afraid of.

Unless, of course, someone desires to control you and wants you to stay the same and like a high school yearbook inscription urging you to “Never change”.

But we will. We do. And it’s OK.

I hope you’ll start to notice the patterns.

I hope you’ll recognize the use of fear to control you and to enrich and empower others.

I hope you’ll learn to resist them, to think for yourself and to be brutally honest so that while your body continues to deconstruct and reconstruct, so does your spirit.

Questions. Responses. Etc.

Preface:

A good friend of mine wrote me recently with some questions about what I think about a few things. We have both been involved in different forms of Christian religion, and some of the things I’ve posted here and there left him wondering. I enjoy conversations like these because they can either raise new questions that I haven’t considered or can help reinforce things I’ve discovered along the way. I really appreciate this friend and have no desire to “change his mind” – that’s not my job. Rather, I just wanted to articulate meaningful responses based on where he is coming from. Some things in this conversation are shorthand references to things we both implicitly understand; if any of that throws you off, then feel free to ask your own questions in the comments below. I’m not saying I have “the answers”… but I’m always happy to respond.

Questions:

Q1. If it took you years of study and research to fully understand the inaccuracies of the Bible, how are the far less intelligent humans among us to know God?  

Q2. Does He not speak to them in a manner that they can easily understand or does He speak only to those of higher intelligence?  

Q3. Is there hope for those who couldn’t comprehend or learn all the information you’ve learned and have simply accepted the traditional and easily understood gospel message?  Or, if they don’t understand what you do now, are they lost forever?  

Q4. Is there hope, in your belief, for someone like me who will remain in the faith as I believe it?  

Responses:

1. My years of study had to do with unlearning my conditioning and getting to a point where I could deal with asking questions that I had refused to ask before because of it. It wasn’t about adding intelligence, it was about stripping back the “magic” I was taught and starting from simply what actually happens here. People get inspired and create stuff… everything beyond that is a projection, and inference.

2. How are we to know God? We LIVE in a glorious, harmonious 3-D illustration that speaks to God’s character at every level from the subatomic to the super-telescopic. We study that, as the ancients did. The more I’ve done that, the more I see the Spirit and my mind is regularly blown by it. We just have to WANT to see it… and then LOOK. Our Western civilization takes creation for granted, as though we are the masters of it; that arrogance blinds us to the reality of God all around us and the harmful nature of our arrogant and violent ways. 

3. The gospel message preached in churches is not the gospel message that Jesus preached. The church gospel is complex and requires “belief” rather than trust. It’s an intellectual proposition, which is why so many get to the point where they can trust the Creator, but can’t believe what men tell them about the Creator because it doesn’t make sense upon deeper inspection. 

4. Dad’s not mad. That’s one of the problems with the church gospel – it paints a Janus-faced God who looks nothing like Jesus. Like I said the other day, Jesus is my litmus test, and if he wouldn’t do it, then it’s not of the Father. So there is no need to invent a “Hell” (based on the frozen underworld of Norse mythology called “Hel”); and there is no need to translate four words that mean distinctly different things (Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, and Tartarus) as if the original audience thought of them as the Hell of Christian religion. It’s not. That’s a belief founded on fear that has unnecessarily traumatized people since its human invention. Dad’s not mad. Just come home. Leave the pigpen, he won’t beat you up or shame you or torture you in fire. In fact, there’s a party waiting for you. THAT is a simple gospel. 

5. Everyone is invited into this kingdom/family/household. But we do things differently here – no retaliation, no violence, no condemnation, no greed, no hate, no elevating anyone over anyone else… just love, mercy, grace, generosity, humility, cooperation, etc. The Beatitudes. It’s Beautiful. If you don’t want to participate in it, that’s your choice, but you’re still loved. You’ll just be outside of your own volition, and you won’t like it because we call that place Gehenna (the  dump outside of town where they burn the maggot-filled trash and dogs are looking for scraps to gnash their teeth on). It’s a smelly place. But you do you.

6. Personally, I think you’ve already made the choice to live in the household. So have many people who don’t even realize it because they thought it was a religion when it wasn’t. It’s actually a relationship, one we choose. And whether you “believe” in a God or not, your actions show what you really believe deep in your heart anyway. The Creator sees that and blesses that. 

7. “Even as by one man all die, by one man ALL are made alive.” This Pauline reference is not about the afterlife… it’s about “eternal life”, the “life of the ages”, the “abundant life”, the “good life”, the kind of living that never gets old and boring. And brother, you and I are living that RIGHT NOW. Right now. Think about it? It’s AMAZING. EVERYONE gets in in the end. It’s what the early church believed and it’s what the oldest strain of Christianity (Eastern Orthodoxy) STILL believe to this day. ALL get reconciled in the end. Hallelujah!

Postscript

In short and using terms appropriate to you, God has clearly expressed who He is in creation. Paul made a big deal about that in Romans 1. Jesus himself was constantly using illustrations from creation, and only really referenced scripture when talking to the religious leaders who were trying to trap him in his words.

The Bible, on the other hand, is ancient humans in ancient places with ancient Eastern thinking grappling with that in the context of their lives. Only ONE of those ancient people used the Greek word “theopneustos” (and he only used that word ONCE in passing in letter to his younger friend Timothy). “Theo” is translated as God, and it’s where we get words like “theology” (the study of God). “Pneustos” is alternately translated as breath, wind, spirit, ghost, and other ephemeral things. It’s where we get modern words like pneumatics, pneumonia, and where Rob Bell got the idea for his “NOOMA” video series. Put them together and you have “breath/spirit of God”. In the King James Version, it was translated as “inspiration”, which makes sense – it’s the idea of “breathing IN to someone”, and that concept was well-known at the time in Greek culture as “The Muse”. Songwriters like you and I still reference that. Inspiration is a universal experience across time and cultures.

Some theologians took that word and concept out of its normal use and inferred that it meant somehow God was magically expressing God’s own thoughts through these people. But why invent a magical explanation for a well-known reality? It’s an unrealistic expectation based on a single use of a word in passing in a letter written 2000 years ago.

When we bring unrealistic expectations to what men create and then we expect God to operate in a way that is based, not on God’s expression in creation, but on what men inferred about the writings of other men based on ONE passing mention of “theopneustos”… well, that is eisegesis (reading your own ideas into the text) rather than exegesis. Human doctrines were invented based on inference. By claiming the Bible is the word of God rather than Jesus (“in the beginning was the Word… and HE…”), men have made their interpretive skills the mediator instead of the one Jesus promised would guide us into all truth (the Holy Spirit, not a book). 

These men wanted something perfect, infallible. But what about that other time “God breathed” into something? You know, in Genesis 2… where God breathed into dust and it became a “living man”. Was that man perfect and infallible? Obviously not – that man proved it in short order. So we see that God breathed into dust and it wasn’t “perfect” or “infallible”… but it was GOOD. Regarding “inspiration”, God breathed into “dust men” and what they created wasn’t “perfect” or “infallible” either… but it was GOOD. 

Pardon my language, but realizing that was a real “mind f^@&” for me. It was being at the castle in Oz and seeing this guy screaming “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”. It’s realizing that politicians and media are all bought and paid for by the same elite rich folks who are selling us fear in every area in life. It’s the unveiling of all of that (which is what the word “apocalypse” actually means – ripping off the veil to see what was there all along). 

That’s why I’m so passionate about this, but I know how hard it was for me to see this because of my conditioning. So I don’t expect my words to “convince” anyone. They’re just seeds that may or may not sprout at some point.