(Un) Holy Sheep Shit

 
Intermission: “Just when I thought I was out – They pull me back in (again)”

It’s been several months since I posted on this blog. I was in the middle of a rant.

But it appears that I got lost in harmony and chilled out for a while or as Leonard Cohen put it:

“I was 60 years old—just a kid with a crazy dream. Since then I’ve taken a lot of Prozac, Paxil, Wellbutrin, Ritalin, … I’ve also studied the religions and philosophies, but cheerfulness kept breaking through”.

So it has been with me since I last put fingers to keys – I just cheered up for a bit and decided that I didn’t need to keep “having a go”.


Unfortunately though there’s a story that’s been floating around FaceAche and other social media platforms for a couple of days now that knocked off one of my healing scabs.

“Pastor Jeremiah Steepek (pictured below) transformed himself into a homeless person and went to the 10,000 member church that he was to be introduced as the head pastor at that morning…………..

Read it here:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151544320186935&set=a.10150901926356935.415097.26433931934&type=1


It’s not because it’s not a good story, but because to all intents and purposes it seems to have been created to as a sledge hammer to crack a nut. That’s not really the main beef with me either. My main concern is that it appears that it is a made up story by some pastor somewhere as a manipulative tool to crow bar in a piece of scripture into their weekly sermon. That too aint that bad - modern parables for modern times – it makes sense to me. BUT I have 2 major problems that have rattled my cage.

1: The way that the story is being bandied about by would be do gooders who haven’t even bothered to check out the facts and are happy to accept the story at face value with whoops of delight of “Amens, hallelujahs, brilliants and awesomes (this is in the UK so god knows what happening in the States).

I couldn’t help myself and I got a little involved on a friends thread where some people were getting quite moist over how wonderful the story was. My point was that it was actually a terrible story a terrible indictment of the state of the church. This was met by a “ah, but it wouldn’t happen in my church”…………. How naive.

I was going to let it go, but I couldn’t, so instead of upsetting folk on my friends thread I have taken to my own blog instead to get it off me chest.

Just a couple minutes today, searching the web confirmed what I had thought. This is a scam, a hoax. There is no such pastor, there is no such church. I was angered that the story was incomplete, that we do not find out if there was an actual transformation in the pastors congregation and to what extent and for how long? Too many unanswered questions. It is as a suspected just another case of manipulation by the church to its followers.

The message on the surface “seems” sound. The methodology of telling lies is shit.

This leads neatly into point 2:

2: The pastor and his “elders who were in on it” used the scam to entrap their own congregation. To catch them out. Then as if that wasn’t bad enough the pastor used his illustrative sermon to shame his congregation. Well shame on you Pastor Sheepshit. Shame on you for taking a bunch of imperfect people (your church) and making them feel shame. As if that was going to motivate them you hypocritical prick. Sure maybe they came back next week with a new attitude and intent to be more kind (just in case they were caught out again) but that would be a temporary response a knee jerk so as not to be embarrassed at church (again) rather than permanent transformation.

But that begs a question doesn’t it?        Did they come back?


I certainly wouldn’t have. I wouldn’t want to be part of a church AND give it my money if I thought the leader was going to beat me up, shame me, embarrass me, make me feel guilty and then try and justify it with a piece of scripture from the bible. What a shit, and I would have told him where to put his tramps outfit in no uncertain terms.

Jesus used many methods to get his points across but to my knowledge he never lied to or abused those who had chosen to follow him.

No doubt, the congregation and the leaders had a problem concerning their attitude to the poor or less fortunate and that it needed to be addressed, maybe that’s why they had needed a new pastor, maybe that is why Steepek was recruited, but how did a church of 10,000 get to be into such a sorry state? The whole leadership was at fault and that must’ve infected the whole church.

But unfortunately the new pastor put himself on a pedestal. He tells his new congregation that they are not yet disciples of Jesus, thus implying that he is, thus implying that he is better than them………….. Pastor Sheepshit doesn’t deserve to lead anything, let alone a church full of vulnerable people. Pastor Sheepshit is a disgrace, a terrible role model, abuser and manipulator and given that he was able to persuade his elders to go along with his scam, then one can only assume that they are just as bad.

                               The church was out of the frying pan and into the fire.

It is several years now since I began the deconstruction of my faith :   It began when I lost my trust in the leadership of my church organisation and became suspicious as to their motives. Suspicious that they appeared to carry agendas and that those who had the biggest badge we're offered the greatest support.

I realised that if I stayed then I would become as religious as they had become.

I realised that their biggest marketing fault was to call themselves a movement. They are not. They are as static and self centred as the churches they appear to eclipse. Their disguise is “growth”. Creating more churches (they call it church planting). They are not new churches really though, merely homogeneous reproductions of clones with near identical shiny restored plasticine pastors who are compliant to the pruning of their leaders.  - I would spare those new plants the reality of abandonment and the removal of support and friendship if their vine fails to grow - I've witnessed it several times.

Since leaving the church I have lost my sense of certainty about the theology of black and white thinking and the surety of absolute truth.

I have learned that the freedom that the church teaches is not absolute. The shackles that are removed by joining the Christian club are replaced by the bonds of their leadership’s authority.

It appears that freedom is just a different cage. A cage of illusion where different food is provided on condition that one conforms and performs.

One of my favourite authors, Paulo Coelho said this:

“Absolute freedom does not exist; what does exist is the freedom to choose anything you like and then commit yourself to that decision.”

And this is true. The control of the churches is only possible if we allow them to control us, to feed us and train us into replicas of themselves. We do have a choice.

I suppose what I am trying to explain is that I am not against the concept of freedom of religion or more accurately of religious conscience but quite the opposite ; freedom FROM religion - freedom from the controlling rules of those who would tell us that they know best because of the way they choose to read and interpret the bible.

I suppose I’m looking for freedom of people to follow their god and to practice their faith in their own way should they choose to climb inside a church shaped cage - for whatever reason that might be, for example company or community.

The church I used to be part of had the tag line, "belong before you believe". I used to whole heartedly support that phrase. I still do on one level in that people should be free enough to attend church meetings without the fear of agenda. But as I look at the phrase now I see it filled with agenda. It is incredibly presumptuous that one day you will believe.

For all the years I was a member (whatever that means) and for the years I lead a church, my wife attended as a non practicing member i.e. as a non believer. She was accepted as part of the family, but there was always an under current of " isn't it a shame" from certain quarters of the community.

Why? Certainly she had not accepted Jesus as her “personal Lord and Saviour” nor said the precociously patronising "sinners prayer" - all church traditions, not biblical by the way - but Audrey was every bit as committed to the ethos of Jesus teachings as ANY other in our church. But in the eyes of the religious she is going to hell to burn in the eternal flames of damnation along with Ghandi and probably Oskar Schindler.

My arse! (I refer you to a book from my earlier blogging by Rob Bell - "Love Wins" which deconstructs the religious concept of heaven and hell).

CONCLUSION: Maybe I’m being too harsh….. The STORY was true – Jesus told stories to illustrate points and allow his followers to rethink (repent) – we call them parables:

“There was a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him…”
“A sower went out to sow…”
“A man found a treasure hidden in a field…”
“A woman took some leaven…”
“There was a man who had two sons…”
The modern parable we began with was made up to make a point and allow a congregation to make a change.

The big difference was that Jesus did not set out to fool people nor to make them feel unworthy, quite the opposite – people were taught to think for themselves and seek to change.


Neither did Jesus set himself up as Lord – others attempted to elevate him but he rejected status – we and certainly our pastors should never ever suggest that we / they are better than their congregations – even if they outwardly appear to do better things.

“I’m not a big fan of guilt. In John 10:10, Jesus says He has come to give us life to the fullest, not guilt to the fullest” - Shane Claiborne.

All of which will finally lead me to the final instalment of this 4 part trilogy: 

The Concept of "Life to the Full"………………………..

The Rhetoric of Unity (What would Bobby Do?)

Musical Interlude:

 St Bob

The Rhetoric of Unity

(What would Bobby Do?)

Oh, my name it is nothing,

My age it means less.

The church that I come from

Is all but gone West

I was taught and dragged up there

Their laws to abide, and

That the church that I lived in

Had God on its side.

Oh, the big black books tells it,

It tells it so well:

The Angels they charged,

And Lucifer fell.

The Christians are still charging,

Though believers have died 

Oh, the religion was young then,

With God on its side.

The Romans and Anglo's

had War had their day,

And the Civil Church Wars, too,

were soon laid away.

And the names of the leaders?

Too many to memorise,

With the truth in their hands

And God on their side.

The First Wave of War, boys,

It came and it went;

Of their reasons for fighting

They simply repent

But I learned to support it,

Support and not hide;

For you don't count the lost ones

When God's on your side.

The Second Wave War, boys,

It came to an end.

We forgave the Catholics,

Now we're half brothers if not friends.

They murdered many millions

In the crusades with lies

The Church it must seem to

Have God on their side.

In the 1960s, it came down,

The Conversion War;

When somebody told me

What Jesus died for

Many young men they cried,

Of heir sins they were tried;

And they asked me the question,

Is God on your side?

Now they've learned to hate the sin

That ravages life.

If another faith comes,

Then it's them we must fight.

To fear them and hate them,

To scorn and to chide,

We'll never ask questions

With God's on our side.

We'll wield godly word weapons

It'll be dust to dust.

Into fire they'll be cast down,

In fire we trust.

One more charismatic,

And we'll take the world wide;

And we never ask questions

When God's on our side.

Through many a year now

I been thinking about this,

How Jesus the Christ was

Betrayed by a kiss.

Though I can't think for you,

Its for you to decide

If Judas Iscariot had

God on his side.

Oh The Vine Yard hooked Dylan

How deep? - you decide

The Scientists caught Tom Cruise

It seems you can't hide

Now a slow trains a leavin'

To vanilla skies

But in Gods eyes we're all famous 

With Him on our side

As I get closer to leaving

At this moment, to hell.

From confusion I'm reeling

Under religious spells

The truths fill my head

And they drip to the floor;

And if God is on my side then,

There will be no more war.

RCB 2013 -        Borrowed a smidgen from Bob Dylan

Pretentious Moi?

Jesus Wore Silk Knickers Part Deux -  Guilty of Hubris

 

                                          I follow Jesus but other saviours are available

Praise Thee Lawd!  It would seem that some people these days are actually thinking about what they believe, and why. That got to be a good thing, yes?  It’s good that those who do think sometimes sign up, voluntarily and thoughtfully to christianity. I’d add that it’s also good that folk sign up to other faiths too.   It’s the God realisation thing I’ve written of in the past.  I think that if one should choose to acknowledge their Spirituality and follow God it is important that they do so not passively or traditionally like congregations of old, but as an active, engaged worshipper.

I follow Jesus but other saviours are available.  Or are they?  It’s a very contentious statement that.  But it’s no more contentious or arrogant than to claim that “There is only One road to God”.  To claim that my faith is bigger than your faith or that my God is bigger than or God, or that “Your God does not exist”, it’s the stuff that gets folk killed.  And for what?  For daring to have a different thought process.  For taking a very brave step of faith to accept that you actually believe in the things that cannot be seen.  To follow to the letter, fervently and fundamentally a book of rules and regulations.  Outside of the consideration of people who believe in the same things as you, except that they wear a different kit.

The concept of the Saviour is in fact in the main, the property of Christianity.  Other faiths are still waiting ( I admire their patience), or they do not subscribe to the need for rescue.

Salvation.  Saved.  They are words of Christianese. Phrases like “saving the lost” really get on my tits.   

Not because I don’t understand the merit or the significance of the stuff that is recorded that Jesus spoke.  No. It’s the way that the traditional Christian church has stolen and bastardised the power of the words and turned them into a call to arms (literally over the millennia) to convert people into their way of thinking.  To get people saved seems to be the raison d'être for many purporting followers of their Personal Lord and Saviour.  Lord!  There’s another word that would be totally lost to a non believer – what’s a lord?  Lord Jeremy Archer?  Bugger that for a game of soldiers.

My point is this – whilst the faithful evangelist might have sincere motives, they have gotten the cart before the horse.  I’ve lost count of the number of times and the notches on crucifixes of those who modestly boast of how many people they’ve gotten saved.  I might be wrong, but I thought it was Gods job to be the messiah.  There’s a limit to how much we can mimic Jesus as instructed.  Feeding and clothing the poor and needy is one thing, praying for the sick and dying is another but to step into “the redeemers” shoes is pushing the envelope a bit too far.

Don’t get me wrong.  I believe that we are equipped by faith to be a conduit to the miraculousness of Jesus (been there, seen it, can’t explain it, believe it), but not to be literally “Christ Like”.  That would put us on an equal footing with the Almighty. Christ – The Anointed One – God come down.

Whilst the jargon often annoys me (it always did, even when I was leading a church), I think it is often something for people to hide behind, saves them thinking too much.

Why is it that all too often evangelical speak comes across as being so patronising, judgemental, as if we know it all?  I can think of nothing more patronising or arrogant as to tell someone that they are “lost”.    

Evangelical jargon stands out to us because it is often so out of tune with the prevailing culture. I accept that every group or tribe has its language and customs, its in jokes, its focus points and USP‘s but surely in terms of marketing (that what evangelism is) if the people you are selling to don’t understand your lingo or worse still feel insulted or threatened by what your are telling them, then it’s no wonder that the uptake of new recruits is on the decline.

It’s not as if the product is rubbish either.  Eternal life?  No pain, no sorrow?  Get out of jail free card for all the bad stuff I’ve ever done?  Fuck me, yes please, sign me up, I’m in.  It’s a no brainer.

Perhaps the problem with is not so much the language but the attitude which sometimes accompanies it, because it is about being exclusive, a kind of club that is only open to people who can say ‘washed in the blood’ without any sense of discomfort.  “Washed in the blood?  Whoa….. you nearly had me with the free gifts, but on second thoughts, nah, no thanks”.

Any one who thinks that they have the "answer" can be patronising if it is in their nature to be so. There are very few people who believe that they have the "answer" to life and are humble about it. I know from my own past evangelical behaviour – arrogant in the extreme.  Maybe it is human nature for most of us to be arrogant or patronising. Sad eh?

I’m being particularly critical and I’m fairly certain that the Christian friends I still cling to and love, don’t talk such overt crap.  However, there’s still some inherent Christianese that happens behind closed doors. I’m certain of that and as long as the people to whom they are speaking really understand the jargon then it shouldn’t be used at all.  In any case why do we need certain phrases that are culturally hundreds if not thousands of years out of date?  

Certainly there is still slavery and we must continue to fight against it.  But on a personal level, the average person we meet and greet outside Tesco’s or in the pub, doesn’t really grasp the concept of being under servitude (apart to the IR – Bloody Romans!!!)  let alone being lost to God.

“We can tell the world that there is life after death, but the world really seems to be wondering if there is life before death”. ― Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical : READ IT

So.  Back to the rant. Being lost, Salvation and all that

Tom Wright said this: “My anxiety about what has now been seen as the traditional Reformed view (though there are many traditional Reformed views!) is that it focuses all attention on ‘me and my salvation’ rather than on ‘God and God’s purposes’, which – as we see in the Gospels, and in e.g. Romans 8 – are much wider than just my salvation”.


To Paraphrase Wright - What’s missing is (St) Pauls big picture of God’s gospel going out to save the whole world, all of creation, with Christians  as part of that. What’s missing is the big, Pauline view of the church, Jew and Gentile on equal footing, as the sign to the religious powers of the world that Jesus is God and they aren’t. Bold type and emphasis mine.

I’m harking back to part 1 of this 4 part trilogy here.  Stripping back the focus of the “personal relationship”.  If God is interested in we plebs then he’s interested in us all whether we believe in Jesus or not.


Preachers and teachers often speak about the “lost,” the “unsaved,” or non-Christians, but who are these people?  What does it mean to be lost?  What does it mean to be a non-Christian?  In simple terms all these descriptions to Christians mean people that are not in a right relationship with God and they will be punished for their sins (Ill take up that hot potatoe in part 3).    Both the Old Testament and the New Testament teach that the lost (unsaved) will be fallen from Gods Grace, favour and protection, unless that is they turn to Him and worship his son Jesus (according to the New Testament (NT) writers.  They also claim that the OT points to this also).


To prevent this from happening, Christians teach that we must repent (think again and change) of all bad ways (sins) that do not conform to their teaching.  We are also told that we must also be “Born Again”.  Born Again!  Another thorn in the side of those who don’t understand the language.

In reality it’s a good image, a great metaphor that Jesus used to illustrate a brand new start in life or in reality a new way of looking at life and religion, i.e. just like being a new born.


Unfortunately the Christian church has seized upon this phrase and overloaded its meaning to only include those who haven’t made the commitment to be a Christian.  Many believe being born again to be a one off exercise.  I’m here to assure you that it’s actually a regular if not daily discipline.  Why?  Well in my case, since I got reborn for the first time, I have screwed up many,  many times and given that I need to be “made new” to keep my Christian badge, I reckon I’m in a constant state of sticking my head through the spiritual birth canal of god.


Shane Claiborne (Christian Hippy, Eco Warrior and all round good egg, remember him) said this:

 “We do need to be born again, since Jesus said that to a guy named Nicodemus. But if you tell me I have to be born again to enter the Kingdom of God, I can tell you that you have to sell everything you have and give it to the poor, because Jesus said that to one guy, too.

But I guess that's why God invented highlighters, so we can highlight the parts we like and ignore the rest.” 


Jesus only ever used the phrase "you must be born-again" twice - and that was in one conversation with the bloke Claibourne mentions above - Nicodemus. And yet it has become the basis for one of the most confusing, misused and abused, misunderstood and despised ideas in the history of the Church. For huge numbers of Christians, being 'born-again' has become the expression they almost invariably use to speak of the moment when they 'found Jesus' and as I suggested above their subsequent ongoing state.  However, for the vast majority of people outside the Church, the term has come to symbolise everything about Christianity they most despise and fear.  For them it sums up a type of Christianity that is not only judgemental, bigoted, arrogant and narrow-minded but is also about a 'them' and 'us'; 'in' or 'out', exclusive approach to life.


The truth is that when Jesus spoke to Nicodemus (a sincere, questioning and spiritually-seeking religious man), he was not using the term 'born-again' in the same sense we have come to do today. Jesus was simply saying that entering into God's Kingdom or Shalom (ultimate peace – Nirvana?)  is about seeing the world differently and adopting his (Jesus) new agenda.  It's about dropping the crushing, life-draining, religious dogma and discovering the freedom that God loves you as you are and that his Kingdom is available to you. And the point is, this was the journey Nicodemus was already on already.  Why else was he secretly seeking Jesus out in the middle of the night? He is already searching, asking questions; he is catching some of the fire, but he wants to get closer.  So do I.


Obviously then,  I’m not attempting here to ignore the things that Jesus said.  Indeed I’m a huge fan.  The thing is though, is that we need to contextualise stuff and look for its meaning in our societies today in the 21st Century.


A few years ago I really bought into the concept of being a Red Letter Christian (in some Bibles the words of Jesus are printed in Red).  “Red Letter Christians” are those “who take the radical teachings of Jesus seriously and who are committed to living them out in our everyday lives” and every generation has had to do the dirty business of figuring out exactly what that looks like”. – McLaren & Campolo


Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo wrote one of their controversial books called Adventures in Missing the Point, in which they in conversation invite you join them on an adventure that's about uncovering and naming faulty conclusions, suppositions, and assumptions about the Christian faith.   It’s a good read also. Lots of chuckles from me in ant case.


I still maintain that we need to question everything if we are to keep our faith fresh.  To really challenge the big issues of the faith that we claim to believe in, follow and practice.  Just because I ask questions and voice my doubts, doesn’t mean that I don’t believe that Jesus is God.

To finish off this bit.  Try this for a bombshell:

 A bit of backtracking here but I just found this quote from CS Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity.

 "The world does not consist of 100 per cent Christians and 100 per cent non-Christians. There are people who are slowly ceasing to be Christians but who still call themselves by that name . . . There are other people who are slowly becoming Christians though they do not yet call themselves so. There are people who do not accept the full Christian doctrine about Christ but who are so strongly attracted by him that they are his in a much deeper sense than they themselves understand. There are people in other religions who are being led by God's secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in agreement with Christianity and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it."


HANG ON!!!  Check out that last line “who thus belong to Christ without knowing it”!  Bloody hell – Is one of the greatest Christian champions say that Jesus (The Christ) recognises people of other faiths?  Does the Saviour thus offer Salvation to non Christian believers?  Are Muslims and Hindu’s (technically The Lost) Saved, without following the Christian Religious Doctrines and Rites?

To be continued......................

Jesus Wore Silk Knickers

Jesus Wore Silk Knickers Part One: The Rose & St Cliff

I’ve been chewing something over the past couple of days since Christmas.  Listening to Radio 4 on Christmas morning Aled Jones (the lad who actually didn’t walk in the air with the snowman) interview Rosemary Conley of the diet fame about her faith.  Nothing wrong with that.  She explained as many do how she came to God during a real dip in her life; Divorce, death,  illness and business problems.  It’s not uncommon.  My own faith story includes some of the major fuckup scenarios that lead people to ask the big questions about life and to seek the answers through spiritual doorways.

It was a typical interview full of clichés (she even selected a Cliff Richard song!). 

“I suppose I considered myself a Christian but I was really just going through the motions,”   “I didn’t have a personal relationship with God. After I came to him, my whole life changed. Now prayer is the most important part of my day, not something I rush through mechanically. “I love morning prayer and reading Scripture. I often pray before important business meetings. God is my guide in every aspect of my life, whether personal or business.”

The thing that annoyed me most though was her presumption that you have to all but down and out before you begin your soul search or can live a happy life.  This is a common theme that runs within the christian faith.  The presumption is that everyone who “doesn’t know Jesus” must be having a really crappy life, that those who don’t “accept Jesus as Lord” are “Lost”.  Rubbish evangelical statements like “life to the full” is only available to christian believers is dished out relentlessly.

This is not true. Let’s take those three themes (and there are many more) and just unwrap them a little over the next couple of weeks:

Knowing Jesus:  Christians are in the main talking of “the personal relationship” with Jesus.  It’s sold as a true 1 to 1 relationship, face to face like the Pete and Dud monologues.  Total trust is put in the “fact” that when they talk to God then he hears every word and responds, just as if you were sat across the table from him.  It’s a lovely thought isn’t it?  Very comforting.  Especially if you are feeling delicate, lonely and vulnerable.  To be fair it’s also taught that even when you are in a good place you should “bring everything to the Lord”.  

"The fing is God - I'm not sure you exist like this"

My point in this section is that I reckon in having faith (total belief) that Jesus hears your prayers and responds to every request is setting yourself up for disappointment. 

When the prayers and requests fail to be fulfilled we are told, “ah but God’s ways are not our ways”.  The more fanatical Christian will tell you that “everything happens for a reason”.  Try telling that to the parents of the children massacred in the U.S. just before Christmas.  I’m sure even if the Right To Bear Arms was completely revoked (which it won’t – sale of guns and even armour plated kids backpacks have gone up!!) they would think the bloody murder of their infant was worth it.

My personal relationship with God is just that – Personal.  It goes much deeper than the my little pony, touchy feely relationship of a Father God and me his child.  Spiritually, I’m certain that I have had personal contact with the Almighty, even down to hearing an audible voice on a couple of occasions.  However, despite that I reckon that my day to day life goes on without the interference of a well meaning cuddly father xmas figure saying in a Harry Enfield voice “you don’t want to do it like that”.

Only Me!

For far too long I took (and offered) the advice of people who the church told me were well placed to offer me that advice and “authorised” to do so. -  Even when they had no experience of a particular life problem or situation.  -  Duff advice was therefore on occasion dished out.  The usual get out clause of some that had no real advice to offer was to “give it to the Lord” – pass the buck in effect – “take it in prayer to God and all will be well”.  In minor situations, the relief of worry by faithfully passing the buck, was indeed sufficient to bring a bit of peace to the situation.  But in truly serious situations the ramification of faithful abdication can be disastrous.

Some of faith have icon’s, figures of “saints” to whom you can offer prayers to who will intercede on your behalf to God.  This is a strange one to me as it immediately puts a barrier in front of the 1 to 1 personal relationship.  

The Christian commercial industry makes a literal fortune of selling merchandise to bring us closer to God.  Pennants, posters, bracelets, DVD’s and music, all designed to assist us in focussing in on the one “we love and who loves us”.

I can see a value in looking towards the wisdom of the Almighty, but I’m fucked if a fluffy Easter chick saying Jesus Loves You, will convince me of such a fact.

I have bits and bobs stuck about my study, pearls of wisdom, some from the Bible, some from Richard Branson, Winston Churchill, Nelson, Mandela, Gandhi, Mother Theressa.  I don’t worship any of these people as God, neither do I worship Jesus as God due to the hard sell of the Bible.  As I’ve said before, the Bible helped to teach me about Jesus but it aint Him.

My faith is in a Spiritual God ( I believe Jesus WAS a human manifestation of God).  Putting my faith in the Spiritual does make a difference because it assists me dealing with the negative thoughts in my mind and replacing them with those of a higher order and importance than my measly existence.  

Sometimes when I’m in a difficult “life situation” I look at all the people on my study walls, my mentors alive or dead and ponder that they all took a chance of doing what they really believed in.  I take comfort in  that this is the same for me, be it in my understanding of “Knowing Jesus” or in the day to day events of life, no matter how hard either of those things may be.

To finish this Part 1:  I recently read a book by John Suk, “Not Sure”.  It’s about a pastor struggling with doubt and faith:  He takes no prisoners when he turns to the widespread belief that the essence of Christianity is a personal relationship with Jesus. His contentions are the following:

1. There is no theoretical consensus what this means.
2. Different religious denominations don’t offer official ideas on what it means.
3. Personal relationship has become what the person says it is.

 “The bottom line is that the huge emphasis contemporary evangelicals put on a great personal experience of and with Jesus as the be all and end all [don't overcook this "be all and end all"] of Christian faith has little or nothing to do with Scripture and everything to do with taking from our culture [individualism precipitates a longing for the personal] what it thinks human happiness is all about”   

In other words, they are creating their own designer religion.

The Personal Relationship demythologises God, it humanises God, it diminishes God, and makes religion cuddly and therapeutic.

Suk has pondered the Bible concerning this and says:
1. God is present; Jesus is present with us.
2. Jesus is especially present when we serve others.
3. God is sometimes distant; Jesus spoke of his absence (John 7:33, 34; 8:21).
4. Jesus’ absence means the presence of the Holy Spirit.

We want the same kind of relationship we have with a spouse but, Suk says, we can’t.  I agree.

Me and my bessie Big J

So what is faith? Faith is trust in the promise of God, a promise that says in Ray Bramfords case “ I believe that Jesus proved the existence of an Almighty God”  Instead of saying “I have a personal relationship with Jesus” I say “I believe in Jesus”.   My Faith is to believe in God and to love others (1 John 3:23). 



Next Time: Midnight at The Lost & Found.