I am not a "Christian"

A priest shared the following story:

Two women were being honored in church for their decision to become nuns and thus be "married" to Christ. As the congregation was settling in for the service, the priest noticed two rabbis sitting in the back row. The priest welcomed everyone to the service including their two unexpected Jewish guests. "To what do we owe this honor of your presence this morning?" the priest asked the two rabbis. The elder of the two slowly rose from his seat and plainly said, "We are family of the groom."

This is a great story and drew some laughter from the pews. The moral of the story is a bit sobering however. You see, Jesus was not a Christian. Jesus was born and Jew, lived as a Jew, and died as a Jew. Never once did he claim to be a Christian. If Jesus wasn't a Christian, I suppose it's not too bad if I'm not one either. Jesus was not only Jewish, he was a radical Jew. He was an extremist in his day and would still be an extremist today. He didn't try to find the middle of the road for issues that concerned the public, he came to save the public. He loved us so much that he surrendered his own life that we might be free. Guess what? He accomplished his purpose.

There is no doubt that being a Christian today carries preconceived qualities not all of which are Christ-like. Being a Christian is more like belonging to a system of beliefs than being a follower of the Word of God. What's interesting is how Christian systems of beliefs can closely resemble political party platforms. For example, supporting the death penalty and denying evolution seems to have become battle cries of many Christians.

I know that might raise some eye brows, but Jesus is the Word of God - not our interpretation of scripture. The very purpose of scripture - old and new- is Jesus. All scripture points to him and; therefore, our interpretation of scripture should be filtered through him. As I have said before and I'll say it again, I am really bad at following Christ AND I am very grateful he still calls me his own. None-the-less, it is my responsibility to be Jesus to the world. As such, I cannot support the death penalty knowing what Jesus teaches us through his own words.

Furthermore, I find it puzzling how someone can insist on literal interpretation of some scripture while rationalizing or ignoring others. For example, how can anyone ignore Jesus direct statements concerning murder and yet insist on the literal interpretation of the Genesis creation account?

Another point of contention among those who claim Jesus is sin - what it is as well as how Jesus dealt with it. Some say sin separates us from God as if somehow we, by our actions, could possibly undo what Christ has done on the cross. Some say it is necessary to call certain behaviors sinful so those that are sinning will repent and turn away from their sin. This sounds a lot like the old covenant to me.

I'm not saying repentance is not necessary. I'm saying some have a distorted perspective of repentance. The old covenant would say repentance is to turn away from sin. The new covenant says repentance is to turn towards Christ. Our sin is forgiven - it is as far away as the east is from the west - sin is no longer an issue. Sin cannot separate us from the love of God anymore than I can earn my way into heaven by good works. I would say that sin never was the issue. The purpose of the law was and is to point to Christ. It's purpose has been fulfilled! How do I know? Jesus told me so! He said, and I quote, "I did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law." There it is - a done deal.

While I don't like the connotations that go along with being a Christian, I am repentant. I have turned towards Christ who has already forgiven me of my sin. Guess what? Your sins are forgiven as well.

So, let's do as Christ did. Let's take sin off the table and love God and our neighbor. In case you are fearful the world will fall apart with rampant thievery, murder and rape, just remember what Jesus said. He said that all the law can be wrapped up in two commandments. One - love God and two - love our neighbor. Now that sounds like a pretty good place to live to me.

God's not dead!

Jesus is Grace, Grace is Jesus, and Jesus is alive. This is good news!

His death was the final payment for the sin of the world - past, present and future. This means the entire world is forgiven and sin no longer requires atonement. "It is finished" and He did it for us - everyone! "God so loved the WORLD ..." The good news is that includes you and me! We are forgiven and sin is no longer an issue. He fulfilled the law and we are free indeed. We don't have to do a single thing - it is finished! These aren't my words; Jesus said it.

Better news is Jesus is no longer dead. Indeed, as the title of a popular song and movie states, "God is not dead!" We don't have to bring him back to life, back into our government, or even our schools. On the contrary, He has always been and will always be. He put everything into place and with reason - his will not ours. This is amazing news! Why - because He loves us. He is our heavenly daddy and made us just like him. He wouldn't make anyone like him and not like them. That's too many 'likes' so let's just say, he loves us all.

If you can believe that, you're in. That's right, you're saved. You're already forgiven and now you will be with him in paradise forever. If it is no true, then I am the biggest fool of all. I'm okay with that.

War on Poverty

We need to change the way we do "church" or get out of the church and start being Jesus to the world. Both would be ideal.

More than 2.2 million people are incarcerated in the U.S., a number that has quadrupled since the 1980s. If current incarceration trends continue, one in every three black males born in America today can expect to go to prison at some point in their life, compared with one in six Latino males, and one in 17 white males, according to a recent report by the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based justice reform group.

Of the countless drug related convictions each year, almost half are for low-level offenders. Almost all low-level offenders come from poverty and almost all of them end up in prison accounting for much of the incarcerated since 1980. While I don't condone their offense, I understand why they do what they do. Instead of trying to help these people, we stigmatize them. If they are not hardened before incarceration, they will certainly have plenty of opportunity while in prison. In a very real sense, the "war on drugs" has become a war on the poor.

Consider your own life for a moment. How many of us would choose an easier way to make more money if we were shown how to do it? How many of us already take a non-drug related easy way out? The poor have a choice. They can make an "honest living" by flipping burgers or make a whole lot more money by selling something else. Perhaps we are not so different.

As we remember the death and resurrection of our lord and savior Jesus Christ, let us remember those in need. Let's follow up our songs of praise this weekend with outstretched arms to men and women in need. How do we find them? They are the poor, the marginalized, the outcast, the addicts, and they will likely not be sitting next to you at church this Sunday.

Why aren't they in church? That's an excellent question!

Evolution of Love

I am a scientist by training. I majored in biology in undergraduate and physiology in graduate school. As such, I have studied evolution and appreciate it's basic definition - change over time. The driving force of evolution is natural selection as environmental change acts on variability within a population of individuals rather than the individual. For example, data suggests that giraffe's necks are longer today, not because a single animal's neck stretched, but rather because those with short necks died out due to their inability to reach food. In short, the short necked giraffes died off and the long necked giraffes lived to pass on their genes.

I am a narcissist by birth. I majored in myself for much of my life. To be perfectly honest, I still feel and act as if the world revolves around my needs and desires. Self focus can have positive outcomes even for others. That is, if the focus is honest and results in change. Given my bent to focus on myself, I will temporarily divert from the proper definition of evolution and talk about my personal changes in regards to love. Let's dive in and stretch our necks for a moment.

I was raised in a conservative family. I guess you could say that both sides of my family were, and are, religious in the sense that they practice what they have learned about Christianity. It was no surprise that I, too, would become a Christian - which I am. I learned of one God, his son Jesus Christ, and the holy spirit, which was always a bit vague to me. But that's not the point. I learned God is righteous and we can be forgiven by asking his son Jesus into our heart, which is still a bit confusing. Again - not the point. I guess you could say, my exposure to religion was more works oriented as compared with grace. While I believed Jesus had saved me from my sin, I always seemed to think something was wrong when I would keep on sinning. As a result, failure was a common feeling and I learned to pretend that I was good and denied my sin, or at least the dirty little secrets. I held high standards for myself and even higher for those around me. Each time I screwed up, I buried the guilt and let it turn into shame. That, in a nut shell, was my perspective of Christianity as a youth.

Fast forward. A good friend in college expressed his concern for my future children. This through me for a loop as I was a straight A student, involved in lots of productive activities and generally respected by my peers and superiors. Why would my good friend be concerned for my future children? I let him get just close enough to know I had expectations that could not possibly be met by anyone - including himself. He is a pretty smart man and I wish we were still friends. But, we are not and that is another story.

Fast forward. While playing some ball with my son and his buddy, I noticed my son backing away from his friend. When I encouraged him to be aggressive, he would not. It just wasn't in him to do so. At that point when my son was all of 5 or 6 years old, I set out to change him. If acting like a man, or at least what I thought a man should be like, then I would change him. So, I coached, he played. I pushed my expectations, he failed to meet them. While we had different ideas of what a man should be, we were one in our frustration. Rather than loving my son, I though I could change him into an idea of what was lovable. I began to bargain with God as I feared my son may be gay. I told God in no unclear words what MY expectations were for MY son. Needless-to-say, I am not proud of my parenting.

Fast forward. As my son entered sexual maturity, he indeed was gay. Still not ready to accept this (neither was he by the way), I set out to fix him once again. I blamed myself for having "made" him that way. So, naturally, I thought I could fix it if he would just try hard enough. We went through thousands of dollars and years of "reparative" therapy with mixed results. The first therapist exasperated the shame and failed to change his sexuality. The second therapist was awesome however. He informed us early on his goal was to help my son love himself and thus repair any damage done to his psyche. Sadly, I went along with this not because I thought their was a chance to change his sexuality. Needless-to-say, this therapist helped my son learn to love and accept himself regardless of his sexuality. If only I had learned the same lesson. Perhaps I should have been the one in therapy, which I have been and, again - not the point.

Fast forward. My fairy tale world came to a screeching halt as my own real problems finally caught up with me. All the while I tried to change my son, I denied the pain in my life that had nothing to do with him. While I tried to "fix" what I did not meet my expectations in my son, I failed to be honest about falling short - way short - of my own expectation. I was indeed a hypocrite. Like all hypocrites, I had a perfect excuse for everything I did wrong and didn't do right. Remember natural selection - an environmental force causing change? My environmental force was being called out by others with no place to hide.

Having to take an honest inventory of my own life - the good, bad and ugly, helped me to love myself. Not because the good outweighed the bad, but because I could accept my own personal failures and imperfections as a part of my life. I began to accept that I couldn't meet my own expectations no matter how hard I tried. I am learning to love myself for who I am - nothing more and nothing less. Loving others comes easier for me now. I am by far perfect and I am getting better. As I have sad many times before, I no longer see my son through the filter of sexuality. I see him as my son, the man that God created him to be. Being created in God's image far exceeds any expectations I could ever have.

In summary, my love, or at least my definition and practice of love, has changed dramatically over time. Change did not come easy for me and likely doesn't come easy for anyone. Don't get me wrong, I still have expectations, but my love is not conditional on myself or anyone else meeting those expectations. God's plan was always better than mine.

A mountain out of a molehill?

A little over a week ago, World Vision reversed its decision to accept employees in same-sex marriages. It is no surprise this decision came after massive protest on the part of the largely right-winged evangelical church. I agree with many in that World Vision did what needed to be done for the sake of those who stood to loose their support, namely children. However, as the conservative church breathes a sigh of relief for having dodged a bullet, those already alienated from this same part of the church, namely the LGBTQ community, are left to feel even more unwelcome.

The message is clear - many whom call themselves Christians would use children as hostages to get their way. And what way is that? To not allow members of the LGBTQ community to help take care of orphans. This is shameful and full of hate. For this reason, I will continue to speak about this travesty.

Many of my fellow Christians would rather I leave this alone as many people and groups weighed in before the decision was made. These people might even say I am making a mountain out of a molehill as far more children will benefit from the continued support of World Vision due to their reversal decision. How many persons are really affected anyhow by the decision to exclude members of the LGBTQ community? If they make up between 1 and 10% of the population depending on the data you look at, then World Vision is not excluding that many people. Some Christians would rather we just leave this topic alone and focus on other, more important, issues within the church such as poverty and evangelism. That is worth consideration.

Consider the fact that very few verses deal with same-sex intimacy. Of the 30 thousand plus verses in the Bible, only 8 or 9 can be said to have anything to do with homosexuality. And yet the conservative church screamed out in "defense of the Gospel" in response to World Vision's decision to include the LGBTQ Community in their work. Who's making a mountain out of a molehill?

Okay, let's deal with poverty. Scripture is very clear about feeding and clothing those in need. This is a real problem and we can all agree on helping the poor - right? Think again. Many of the same people that oppose including the LGBTQ community oppose change that would benefit the poor including raising the minimum wage, extending unemployment benefits and providing health insurance for all.

In my opinion, this is not about making a mountain out of a molehill. Rather, the emotions and conflict come when we step outside of our comfort zone. People may say "everyone is welcome" when it comes to attending church, but there's still a special place for the LGBTQ community. Many churches are uncomfortable with them teaching Sunday School, serving on the elder board, singing in the choir, and they certainly wouldn't approve of two members of the same sex showing affection in a church service let alone recognize or perform their marriage. We may sing songs with tears in our eyes about taking care of the orphans on Sunday morning, but scream about unfair taxation when legislation is proposed to help them. We may be all for sponsoring a child through an organization such as World Vision, but only if they don't challenge our comfort zone. In short, we are willing to be "Christ-like" when it fits within our cultural understanding of right and wrong even though scripture tells us to trust in the Lord with all of our heart and not to lean on our own understanding.

I realize my words won't mean much to those that don't share my opinion. I would not have listened either some years ago. I get it. Sometimes, change requires a personal connection to those that are hurt.

Confessional Celebration

"Confession is not listing your sins to get forgiveness, it’s coming to God in the midst of your sin and agreeing with Him that He’s already forgiven you and doesn’t not hold your sin against you." Phil Drysdale Ministries

The Greek for confession means to "agree with" or to "say the same thing as". In light of this, confession should be a time of celebration. We are agreeing with God's decision to erase our sin. We are free indeed as he is faithful and just to forgive (1 John 1:9). As we confess, we agree with what he has already done.

James 5:16 calls us to confess our sins to each other so we can find healing. This implies that something is broken or damaged and in need of repair. Fear of rejection might hold me back from being honest about my damaged human nature. When people don't reject me, but rather listen and understand, I find healing. I begin to "agree with" the Truth - I am worth of receiving and giving love. I begin to "say the same thing" God has already said about me, "You are my child and I created you in my image!"

Silence is not enough

Our daughter heard these words yesterday, "black girls are stupid". I am infuriated that these words would be spoken by anyone. It breaks my heart that my daughter had to hear them. Nobody should have to deal with this.

Last night she said (in tears), "I have had to deal with this every year since I have been here. Will it ever go away?" Well, here is America, here is your home town, and here includes us - You and me both!

It is not enough to simply disagree with hateful words. It is not enough to agree with others that support love and acceptance. I am almost certain that whoever said these hateful words, heard them from someone else. Please be proactive in spreading love and acceptance.

How far have we come as a society and how far do we need to go? The answer is simple - All the way!