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| A perspective about "The Passion" PART1 |
| 02.29.04 (8:10 pm) [edit] |
Now that I have had 5 days to reflect upon "The Passion of the Christ" I think that I have found some words. Several thoughts dominate my mind. My primary observation is that Jesus loves no matter what. The secondary observations about His strength of obedient conviction, and also the artistic symbolism will be touched in subsequent messages.
Can you love no matter what?
When things are at the worst ... that is when people need you at your best, but when I experience things at the worst, often what people get out of me is the worst. That is why I say that my true condition is not revealed when everything is fine. Our true conditions are revealed in stress, and calamity.
The movie depicts the worst circumstance that I can imagine ... the whole thing is grossly unjust. Wrong, wrong, wrong ... is the feeling as justice is skirted in the haste to do away with Jesus. Then the flogging, scourging, mocking, abuse, taunting, and brutal violence heaps despair upon gut-wrenching despair. And as the atrocities climax ... what comes out of Christ? What is revealed about Him at the worst circumstance?
"Father, forgive them." He prays over and over.
Do you sense the gravity of that remark or has frequent repetition muted the meaning? Surely there is more to that statement then the impression that underwelms us, who have heard it hundreds of times at church.
Forgive them why? ... because they deserve it?
I want to be loved by someone who is not going to wait for me to deserve it. I want someone that won't retaliate, and stubbornly loves selflessly even when I am far from innocent. I want the Jesus depicted in the film ... that I can strike and wound, scratch and kick ... and His eyes pierce me with radical love.
It is that quality of Love that I have found in Christ ... hundreds of times. It has broken my rock hard heart. I have become a broken man, as a rebel who has been forgiven of much by God's reckless love for me.
I am David ... I would murder the innocent to have what I desire.
I am Peter, who would drown, out of faith, though I walked upon the water.
Black as coal, but made white as snow, but the red blood of Christ. There are no secrets in that love, nor do I wish for there to be. Love, Joy, Peace, without a mask to hide a single flaw. I am so grateful.
(stay tuned for my other perspectives)
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| Do Christians Know the Way? |
| 02.29.04 (4:53 pm) [edit] |
Does your way work? Has your doctrine, methods, meetings, retreats, seminars, proper teaching, emotional experiences, and self examination, and what-have-you done anything to free you from anger, old-habits, slander, the desire to be something, and self-centeredness, and frustration?
Has your way set you free? Has it brought you peace and contentment? Where is the way to the perfect life?
Jesus gives a sermon on the perfect life. What are the ingredients?
be poor in spirit
mourn
be meek
hunger and thirst for righteousness
be merciful
have a pure in heart
make peace
have joy when treated badly
be the salt and light of the earth
be devoid of anger
be prompt to reconciled to your brother
hold nothing against another
have a spirit of agreement
have truth in speech and attitude
turn the other cheek
go the second mile
love enemies
pray for those that persecute you
Does your way produce the kind of life that Jesus was talking about?
What Jesus does not mention as part of the perfect life is this:
understand how you have been a victim
understand why you react to certain people in certain situations
be justified in what you do
be doctrinally correct
memorize scripture
understand co-dependency / and self-realization
never fail
change your behavior
obtain new and painful realizations about yourself
know what denial means in relationships
hand out tracts
defending Truth against the heretics
get a divinity degree
Some of you are going to say that you think the second list is an important list. Well, I did not say that it is not important. But, the second list is full of secondary - lesser truths. They are eclipsed by what Jesus says is important in the sermon on the mount.
I'll be happy to talk to any of you about the second list. We can also discuss homosexuality, and political science and abortion, but first I want to know if you have discovered the answer for the 18 things that Jesus says is important first. Have you found that life?
If you say that your way works then your way better result in the manifestation of the sermon on the mount. If we emphasize anything less then the sermon on the mount as the proof of the validity of the way that you live then you are just avoiding a deeper issue.
Will your wife confirm the things that you say matters, and the things that you hold dear when comparing the impact of those things on your life to the 27 things that Jesus mention? Will your neighbors confirm that? Will your children confirm that?
Jesus' simple sermon reveals the effectiveness of your method. And any other method will be revealed by comparison as something carnal, (maybe pious and nice) but nothing more then a false hope and despair.
Are you learning to love your enemies? Are becoming meek? Are you making peace? Do you mourn? Are you developing a pure heart? Then don't tell me about your church or doctrinal proof. You are unaffected by your way, if you are not being moved into the life that Jesus describes. What is included in your creed, and how does it differ from what matters most to Jesus?
I've read my share of "creeds" over the years, and the best I can tell ... Jesus was left out, for the sake of the purity of a doctrine (which amounts to mere info/data, not a person.)
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| punitive exclusivity - (backbone of organized religion?) |
| 02.28.04 (11:00 pm) [edit] |
There is no more destructive philosophy then punitive exclusivity. This is the backbone of organized religion and the bane of humanity.
Everywhere there is suffering in the world there is punitive exclusivity. Every war between nations, and nearly every war of words on any religious forum, has this main element. Is this what Jesus came to establish? Did He come to establish a group of people to overtake another, or threaten them with mortal and spiritual destruction? Did He come to condemn the world or save the world? Did He teach His followers to suspiciously despise or mistreat their neighbors in Samaria? Who are your neighbors?
Look at the strife in Bosnia, Ireland, Sudan, Ethiopia, India, and everywhere there is death and suffering. Each one of them is a prime example of punitive exclusivity, whether it is Christian against Christian or Hindu verses Muslim, or Muslim verses Christian, or what have you. If you are not in “the group,” you are fair game.
At the heart there is a mindset that non-conformity means license to harm. It is sick, and twisted. It is the motto of the Talaban, and the theme song of the radical fundamentalist fringe. This will destroy the world, if allowed to run its course. Do we need another 9/11? Do we need another crusade? Is there a more excellent way?
This travesty is that Christians use it, and when they do it is encouraged and praised. militant gracers attack militant legalists, and if you don’t believe exactly as they do then you are a belief piñata: the striking object for the candy of their peer’s esteem. They swing away, blindly. If you dance in their way, the blows will eventually land, and cut you through. I have been on the receiving end, and regretfully on the sending end as well. Lets repent from punitive exclusivity!
Jesus taught the more excellent way. We can have oneness apart from sameness; unity without uniformity. We can reach out to our neighbor in love. And when we have done this to the least of them, we have done it unto Him. How can we say that when we hurt our neighbors that we are not also doing it to Him as well?
Side note: If you want to know who is unrepentantly “God’s hand of judgment on the infidels,” just look at who respond to this post with disrespect and wrath.
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| how can I change God? |
| 02.28.04 (10:40 pm) [edit] |
Thursday I went to San Antonio for a business trip. On the way there, I got 3 miles less per gallon of gas. The wind was in my face one way and at my back on the way back home .. so the difference was not that the wind changed, but that my direction changed.
It is written that God gives grace to the humble and resists the proud. So if God resists us and we want His grace instead, what can we do to change Him?
Well, hopefully I've made the point that He remains the same like the wind that resisted me in one direction and pushed me in the other direction ... my experience can change with God .. as I humble myself. God is always the same, yesturday and forever ... He will always resist the proud and bless the meek ... then I want to change from arrogant to lowly.
Did you know that I have to humble myself? Nobody can do it for me. God refuses to do it. He might bring me low, in order to break up the hardness of heart, but ultimately I must take the broken top soil, and soften it with tears ... and humble myself.
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| 13 Words |
| 02.27.04 (10:54 pm) [edit] |
13 Words
The Christian life is so simple that it can be summed up in thirteen words. In those 13 words I can tell you the goal of the Christian life, process of the Christian life, and the security of the Christian life. But, if I move away from the simple, simple, incredibly simple things in my own unbelief, then I find out why there is so much complex confusion.
Why do we have the commentaries and the books? Why did my Sunday school teacher draw from 13 books about marriage to prepare for the lesson yesterday? Why are the books that he used less then 1% of the ones that can be found out your Christian book store?
I started out with something incredibly simple when I started out with Jesus, and I had to move full circle to find the simplicity that I found on day one.
So, what are the 13 words that describe the whole thing? What is the simple truth that needs to move from our heads to our hearts?
Gen. 5:24 "And Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him."
Could it be that simple? Could the goal of Christianity be that we walk with God, and that when we walk with God we become a "not," and that as I become nothing I find security in Him and then He takes me?
Did you know that for years I did not want to walk with God to be a "not?" I wanted to "become." I wanted to use God to build my image and my kingdom. I used God to become something. I wanted God so that I would increase, and that is the opposite of the goal. God wants me to walk with Him, and be "not."
Where I hold my image, it is at that point that I am a threat to the glory of God, therefore I began to find out that I would fail at every place that I held my glory. I have failed at being a husband. I have failed at being a son. Failed at being a Christian by the standards of Christians. Every faculty that I have has let me down often when I put the most hope in it. There is a lot of criticism about me on forums and the only thing about the criticism that is wrong is that it has always been too generous, too kind. If they knew me better, they would be able to continue to describe the deficiencies of my limitations indefinitely. Bankrupt ... but not without worth.
Ever hear about a Stanley Steamer [link]/)? This is a steam engine car that they made many years ago. The problem was that the steam would get going and then it would always run at the same speed. In reverse and forward, it would run at the same speed, and of course there was the problem that when you were out of control in reverse, you might crash, and then get burnt with all the pressurized steam. The car was great, but the engine was found to be inferior to the gas engine. So, the answer was that they exchanged the motor and discarded the steam engine.
Christianity is unbelievably simple. We need an inner exchange.
So, I have an outer life from my parents and an inner life from Adam, and it is the inner life that is the faulty motor. The trouble is found in the inner life. If I try to develop an image that I am intellectual, sweet, generous, spiritual, and everything nice, then I want to maintain that image. If I have a image that I am abused, worthless, ill-tempered, stingy, and whatever is unlovable I have a simpler problem, but instead of maintaining that image, I want to improve it, and that makes me a slave. I need other people to validate my good image and tell me that I am not my poor image. Pretty soon, everything that I do centers around my image whether to change or maintain. I need you, to buy into the the good, and excuse the bad, all because my image. ... all because I want to "be" instead of a "not." So I can't live to God, I have to live to you. I become a pleaser of men, and assume the great burden of projecting the image that I want you to buy. If I can make you believe it, then I have to maintain it.
The goal of Christianity is Christ, and for Him to become your life, you have to walk with God and become a not.
So ask yourself: "Why do you walk with God?"
Do you think that God will want to know how good of a parent that others thought that you were? Do you think that God will want to know about how popular your ministry was, or how many people looked up to you? Do you think that your precious kingdom with impress Him? What if He asks how important He is to you, and how big of a roll He plays in your everyday life? What if He asks about how you have been available for Him, or if you have been too busy polishing the image ... trying to become something?
Walk as Enoch did with God - to be ... not.
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| Never Delivered ... and allegory |
| 02.27.04 (10:46 pm) [edit] |
******I have been delivered from many sins, but never while I was trying to be delivered.*******
A odd fellow rode into town and claimed that he had found the secret to instant wealth. The impoverished town was fascinated, so they watched his demonstration with great anticipation. Could the man make gold out of nothing, and could this help the town out of its dire circumstance?
He commanded that one of the ladies bring a pot and boil some water in the town square. Then he handed her a flask and said to add only a small amount to the boiling water. "Patience!" he said, as he stirred the strange brew. Then with slight of hand, he dropped three nuggets of gold in the pot, and as the lady drained the dark brew onto a cloth, the nuggets of gold appeared on the cloth!
A powerful man in the town demanded that he sell the remainder of the "potion." and they fixed on a price. Just before the odd fellow left town he gave a stern warning: "I almost forgot to tell you the secret. If you do as I tell you not to do, then you will never make any gold." Slowly and clearly the odd fellow continued, "What ever you do, never think about elephants when you are stirring the potion otherwise the brew will not work."
Well, you know the rest of the story of that man's life. He was wasted to nothing as he did all he could to get elephants out of his mind. Never did the potion work, and soon he went mad.
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| W.W.TW.D. ? |
| 02.26.04 (7:51 pm) [edit] |
I think that Christians all want godliness. It has been said, and I agree, that there should not be any reasonable explaination for a redeemed person's activity other then that Jesus Christ is actually the cause of the activity, and anything short is wood, hay and stubble.
But, often the mystery is lost. We strap on a WWJD braclet and take on divinity in human effort.
I saw Tiger Woods line up a ball around a tree from 150 yards away. He had the perfect backswing and the perfect follow through. And it looked impossible but he hooked it within 8 inches of the pin. So, I got me a WWTWD (What Would Tiger Woods Do) braclet and lined up around the tree. I had the perfect backswing, and follow-through. The ball soared around the obsticles and hooked to softly land next to the pin - exactly 8 inches, right?
WRONG! That doesn't work, it never will. WhatWould Jesus Do? Give me a break!
The Man that did everything, did nothing. Everything that He ever did, was everything that He never did. He said, "I can do nothing" and He said, "We will do greater." Do you think that you can rise to the challenge to do nothing? THAT is the mystery!
I firmly believe that the only things of which I will be rewarded is the very things that I did not do, because I couldn't do them. What is wood, hay, and stubble? Is it any more then the good, bad and ugly of what man can make by the sweat of the brow? Is that what we want to face the fire with ... what a human can fabricate? What is precious stones except that of which man cannot produce because it is impossible? And what will make it when the quality of our works are tested?
Let it not be said that we WWJD'ed on the day of our union. Let it be said that as the Father sent Jesus, so did He send us:
John 5:19
"I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself;" - Jesus
John 5:30
By myself I can do nothing; ... - Jesus
John 15:5
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." - Jesus
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| Threat to God |
| 02.26.04 (5:40 am) [edit] |
The funny thing about God's glory is this: "You cannot separate God from His glory." Wherever God is; there is where you will find His glory, and wherever His glory is; there He is. But that is not the whole glory story.
The funny thing about God's glory (where I am concerned) is this: "God will not give His glory to another," and I am an other, so I am a potential threat to the glory of God.
I love banks. I give my money to banks. Now, the bank can do almost anything they want with my money. They can count it, stack it, fold it, store it, sniff it, microwave it, and roll around in it (but that is getting pretty weird,) but there is one thing that I don't want them to do with it. It is unacceptable for them to pocket the money.
There are times when I am an unacceptable vessel for God's glory. There are times when I want it for myself. The real war is not between good and evil. The real war is between the Creator's glory and the creation's glory. Too often, we are like the fallen angels. We act like the bank that takes the money.
It is said that Billy Graham has led millions to the Lord. It is said that the Apostle's healed thousands and raised the dead. It is said that Moses lifted up a staff, and the sea parted before him. Now, why am I not a vessel of more of God's glory? I'll tell you the reason. The reason that I am not a vessel for that much glory, is because on the other side of the Red Sea, someone would have said, "Great job!" And I would have replied, "Thanks."
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| I saw "The Passion of the Christ" tonight. |
| 02.25.04 (9:37 pm) [edit] |
... and I don't have any words for the place that I am in.
:!:
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| Self Exaltation 101 (the covert kind) |
| 02.25.04 (10:38 am) [edit] |
Overt self exaltation is seldom taken serious. Who cares if someone wears a shirt that says "world's greatest dad." Such statments are mostly deemed silly, and usually uttered as an obvious absurdity for the sake of humor. The real problem is the covert self-exaltation. It is like a spider web ... you may not see it coming but once you walk through it, it is hard to remove .. and it just feels iky.
A basic example of this might be football fans. They say that the Cowboys are the best, so that as they associate with the team (as a fan) they get the exaltation by association. Thus, we have people that exalt emersion baptism, and others that exalt sprinkling baptisms so that they can practice what they exalt and receive exaltation by association. Same goes with those that exalt the Bible, so that they can view their ownership of a Bible or the "right Bible" as a lofty perch to condemn the poor saps that don't. Same goes with people that extol the greatness of speaking in toungues. What are they really trying to exalt? ... and would they be exalting that gift if they could not demonstrate it to the satisfaction of others?
This can even go as far as dogma, or theology, or even distinctions of association (i.e. I am a Mason). I can exalt the Masons and then ascribe to the tennents of that path to exalt myself.
But, with Christ there is no exaltion of self when we exalt Him ... for it is not us that chose Him, but He that chose us first. My association with Him is not according to my activity, but His!
We recieve the work of God with humble thankfulness. ... and even those that think that they came to belief by the autocratic activity of reason, but recognize their mind's origin also ... for Who imbued them with the ability to reason anyway, and Who was the architect of their faith?
2 Thessalonians 2
13But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So, I say "Exalt Christ!" (wherein lies no self-exaltation) for He alone deserves the glory.
1 John 4:10
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as the one who would turn aside his wrath, taking away our sins.
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| The Word-Creates, Reveals, and Redeems |
| 02.24.04 (8:34 pm) [edit] |
How many ways are there to know that I am alive?
When I recently went to get my wisdom teeth removed (which explains alot of things) ... I was hooked up to alot of equipment that checked vital signs. One would beep, another would draw lines on a chart, another made a blue blip that went across a small screen, and to top it off the nurse took my pulse and anyone could feel the warmth of my skin. Before they knocked me out, I would have shook your hand, and if I wasn't sitting down then I could step on your toe, and all of these things would have shown you that I am alive. Each one was a witness to the same reality - though some of them appealed to the sense of hearing, sight, touch, and ... ahem ... smell.
Such is the nature of God's Word.
The Word is God's vital sign. We know God is alive, because of His Word. The Word is not just text on paper, Jesus was the Word, and indeed we are surrounded by the Word, as the whole of the universe is held together by God's Word.
Isaiah 55:11
so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
When we read the scriptures we are reading the little written chart of God's vital signs, it tells us through another method, the exact thing that Jesus tells us, and that the creation tells us, that a shake of the hand or our finger on the pulse would tell us.
The evidence for God's existence is manifold around us, all witnessing to the same reality - which is the firm conclusion that God creates, God reveals, and God redeems.
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| SUPER substitution |
| 02.24.04 (7:38 pm) [edit] |
Einstein is my educational substitution. He was a genius and revolutionary thinker and that is why he is smart enough to stand in for me and think in my place.
Also, Samson is my athletic substitution. He was tough and stronger then one-hundred men and that is why he is athletic enough to stand for me and take my place.
Oh, and Jesus is my sacrificial substitution. He was perfect and holy and that is why He is sinless enough to stand in for me, and die in my place!
I can go on, if you want me to. Can a more arrogant statement exist? Jesus was crucified before the foundation of the world was laid. He took HIS place, not mine.
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| 23rd Psalm - Welfare Version |
| 02.24.04 (7:36 pm) [edit] |
The Twenty-third Psalm
Welfare Version
Society is my shepherd: I shall not work.
It alloweth me to lie down on a feather bed;
It leadeth me beside the still factories.
It destroyeth my ambition.
It leadeth me in the paths of a goldbrick for politics' sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of inflation and deficit spending,
I will fear no evil,
For the welfare agencies are with me.
Their generosity and their staff they comfort me.
They prepareth the requisitions that filleth my table.
By mortgaging the earnings of my grandchildren
My head is filled with mirth
That my cup runneth over without effort.
Surely, the taxpayers shall care for me
All the days of my life,
And I shall dwell in the house of a parasite forever.
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| I am in alot of danger. |
| 02.24.04 (4:51 pm) [edit] |
I am in alot of danger.
I can't cope with the challenges today. I can't live a life of peace. I can't find fulfillment.
Today is too big of a day for a man. Today is too big of a day for me.
With hand placed over heart, Lord Jesus you are welcome here, come be my strength. Lord, be my peace. I am out of love. Lord, you be my love today.
I don't want to go a single moment without You.
(I am getting in the habit of saying this, at first sign of pressure, because this similar sentiment has been the beginning of some of the best days of my life.)
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| I don't agree (with myself) |
| 02.24.04 (2:26 pm) [edit] |
I don't agree (with myself)
There are many parts of me, but they don't agree with each other.
Haven't you ever been doing something that you know you shouldn't and it is like you are standing outside yourself watching it occur? Have you ever been feeling something you know is wrong? Have you ever been thinking something you know that you don't want to think about?
Now God tells me to love Him with all of my being ... heart, mind, soul, strength. In essence, God is saying to be like Him and be in perfect peace together with oneness in my whole being, and this is the highest calling for us. Well that sounds good to be in perfect oneness and peace within myself, but the problem is that I have many parts, but I am not one. God, on the other hand, has many aspects and He is One.
He is always in perfect peace. Can't you see why God says, "let us make man in our image" with the plural usage ... because whatever God does is done with divine agreement with His whole being ... He is never divided in any way. God's intellect agrees with God's wisdom, which agrees with God's justice, which agrees with God's love, etc. etc.
God tells me to invite His Spirit into my life. That is a scary thing to invite a Spirit into your life, so wouldn't it be nice to know what manner of Spirit I am inviting in?
Well, I thought that I would mention that I have experienced perfect peace as a result of the Spirit of God. As I abide in Him and keep centered on the Way, then I don't know how, but peace seems to be in reach. Now, I know something is wrong when the peace is gone.
Isaiah 26 (The Message)
3People with their minds set on You,
You keep completely whole, ...
Isaiah 26 (NASB)
3"The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace,
Because he trusts in You.
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