Does God favor Republicans over Democrats?

August 22, 2012 by 2 Comments

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It’s never easy for me to see vociferous protests fueled by anger. Oh they get the media’s attention alright, but is it always the best way? If I want people to accept me as a non traditionalist, should I picket in front of their churches with signs that condemn them for their views and stir up chaos for the media to set their circus up on their front lawns?

Would it be appropriate or diplomatic to insist they agree with my views and stop having their own views? Why do we protest? What message are we really trying to get across?

People often reject the notion of a one world government and a one world religion and even worse a one world religious government. It seems to me if we follow that philosophy we will be headed in that direction.

Are we just rebuilding another tower of Babel that is destined to fall apart and divide us further?

Why such a push to make everyone the same? I would think Christians would be against any idea that would lead us to a one world power.

Stop the presses!

Dear Christians, what in the world are we doing?

Why are we working so hard to create this nation into one massive Christian Republican nation where everyone believes the same things? Isn’t this what the ‘anti-christ’ does? I thought mixing religion with politics was a bad idea that led to destruction. Isn’t this what our founding fathers fled from to begin with?

Can’t we express our beliefs without bullying others to join us or be persecuted and condemned by our own words? Should we really be holding rallies condemning people for not eating chicken sandwiches? Do we really think we’re better than everyone else if we do?

“Look at us supporting the chicken sandwich company. God would be so proud of us.”

Really?

Have we gotten so sidetracked with supporting religious institutions that we now move onto business institutions as if they’re some idol that earns us brownie points with God?

He doesn’t care where you eat and he most certainly doesn’t care if we eat beef or poultry. He doesn’t care about the IRS or your fancy 501c3 with tapestries adorning the windows and sparkly chandeliers in the foyer.

He wants to know if we love one another and if we love our enemies.

Are we looking out for the interests of others?

There’s gotta be a more mature way of expressing our beliefs without condemning everyone else’s.

I used to condemn the buildings and what they stand for, but after taking some time to step back and think about the benefits a building can offer the people I had to approach it differently. It didn’t mean I had to agree with how some people run their organizations. It just means I can have a different perspective on it. They have the freedom to have a building and I have the freedom to not belong to one. I respect their freedom so I can also have my freedom. Buildings are good in the winter when it’s cold and can be good in the summer when the weather is too hot. Now, can we take this free perspective into the world today?

  • Can a religious group have the freedom to believe a traditional family is good?
  • Can another group have the same freedom to believe any type of family is good?
  • Is it possible to be supportive of both without condemning each other?

I think we can.

I am a traditional family. My husband and I have been married for 20 years and we have four children that are all ours. His sperm and my egg for each child. We have no step-children, no adopted children, and the grandparents aren’t raising the kids, we are. This doesn’t mean I am against other types of families. I am a step-daughter and a half-sister. My husband is a step-son and has a cousin who is adopted. We have relatives who are raising their grandchildren and relatives who are divorced single parents. We are still one family. So while my family unit appears to be traditional on the surface, deep down we are diverse and we still love each other.

The bible is full of examples of non-traditional families. Moses was adopted by a pagan mother, Jesus had a step-dad and half-siblings. Ruth was taken in by her mother-in-law. Esther was orphaned and raised by her cousin and Abraham had two sons from different women. Even Adam and Eve had dysfunction in their family, Cain killed his own brother. None of these examples are a perfect picture of Adam and Eve, but God still loves them and had purpose for them. He gave promises to both of Abraham’s sons. He allowed Pharaoh’s daughter to raise Moses. He had purpose for Ruth to meet Boaz. God used Esther through her forced marriage to the king to save an entire race of people. And even though Adam and Eve’s family fell apart, we’re all still here.

The argument is the fall of man. “In the beginning it was not so” Are Christians trying to re-create the perfect traditional family to bring forth a perfect people? Wait a second, if we could do that with just preaching and forcing laws into this land then why did Jesus die?

Christ is who brought perfection back to the world. He did so in spite of our imperfection and his perfection remains with us no matter how diverse we are.

Some think if we can get everyone on earth to accept Christ as their savior that he will come back and finally get them the heck out of this ol’ world.

  • Did they forget Jesus already is here within us?
  • Did they miss it when he said we are the Temple?
  • Have they not heard him say, “the Kingdom is within you”?
  • Is it a far off memory that the meek inherit the earth?

Other than all this wonderful reality of His Kingdom here on earth, why would they want to insist on their own way in religion and politics?

1 Corinthians 13:5  ”Love does not insist on it’s own way”

Does God really give commands on which political party to join? Are Republicans more in favor with God than Democrats? Are we really this petty?

Forcing people to be a traditional family is a law that doesn’t work. If you happen to be a traditional family, then great! But you can’t force people to be Adam and Eve. God never commands us to live up to that initial creation. Adam and Eve couldn’t even keep their ‘traditional family’ together as it is.

Keep your traditional views for your family and live peaceably with all men. I am thankful my marriage and family has lasted as long as it has, but it wasn’t without dysfunction. We live in a world where laws don’t preserve us in some perfected state. We live in a world where grace abounds. Attempting to force everyone to be traditional is motivated by failure to begin with. In Christ we live by faith that his grace covers every faulty frame. It’s pointless to try and make everyone be the frame of Adam and Eve. God knew we couldn’t do it, so Jesus came to mend us as we are. Trying to fit ourselves to a law doesn’t make us more mended. We already are mended.

Giving people the freedom to live the best they can means not forcing them to live by what you think is the best for them. Follow Christ as you believe he would have you to and let Him guide them the way they believe he would have them to.

Do we lack faith in him to be able to do so?

Sisterlisa

 


American Christians Can’t Claim Persecution

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Hellbound

August 18, 2012 by 3 Comments

It’s the traditional teaching of many of the 30,000+ denominations of Christianity in our world today, yet not a belief that is held by all Christians. In my interactions with my pagan neighbors, I discovered Christianity isn’t the only religion in the world who believes in some form of hell.

But should this even matter in the grand scope of Christ’s finished work?

In my earlier years of religious study in fundamentalism, hell was a major factor of doctrine. At the same time, I was taught ‘once saved, always saved’. So to me, hell wasn’t really an issue since I had faith in Christ. They teach you that once you believe in Christ by faith, that you absolutely will never go to hell. It didn’t need to be a concern for us as believers. However, it was still a concern if your loved ones and neighbors were on the road to hell.

I had to come to the place where I was going to trust God with whatever plan he had for humanity and follow his teaching of ‘love your neighbors as yourself’, regardless of what version of hell people did or didn’t believe in.

So does hell matter in the Christian tradition?

From the description on the website Hellbound? the Movie, we see a variety of perspectives from all sorts of spiritual leaders. My husband and I have studied diligently and can see how each denomination comes to their individual conclusions. We understand. However, we also take into consideration the testing of interpretations by measuring them against the fruit of the spirit (faith) and the works of the flesh (doubt).

It’s very important to understand many things when studying the bible from the era the writers lived in, their culture, the message from God for each of those generations, and how we grow or weaken based on those teachings.

When a teaching puts us in bondage to fear, worry, doubt, panic, restlessness, and anger then we would be wise to reconsider the teaching. However, that is not to say that we should totally disregard the passages, but rather look at them again and see if there is a different message than what we were previously taught.  If there is a different perspective then we should look for it. We should be better stewards with the scriptures than what we had been in previous generations. One no longer has to spend an outrageous amount of money to attend a seminary. We have a lot more free resources now and better ways of communicating than ever before. There is no longer an excuse to not study for ourselves.

Take the following questions and paste them into Word or on your blog and prayerfully answer them. Avoid trying to answer them with the scripted responses your church tradition has taught you. Answer them from the depths of your heart. From the place where you are truly you. Consider providing examples from your own journey. Avoid yes or no answers. Please give thoughtful soul widening responses.

  1. In the long run, how does the teaching of hell affect our lives?
  2. How has Christianity become complacent towards their fellow man, because their salvation is secure and have nothing to worry about?
  3. How satisfied are we with our evangelism efforts if our neighbors might burn in hell for all eternity?
  4. How often have we felt like evangelistic failures when our loved ones refuse to accept Christ, no matter how much we beg them, and they die not ever proclaiming faith in Christ? How does this affect us?
  5. How do we carry the weight of their lost soul for the rest of our lives?
  6. What kind of ‘accountability’ is there toward us when we face God?
  7. How will we feel if their blood really is placed on our hands?
  8. What sort of experience will we go through when we see them cast into the lake of fire right before our eyes before we get to walk through the pearly gates? What kind of rejoicing will we partake in after witnessing that?

This doesn’t sound like a very encouraging scenario nor does it sound anything like the abundant life Christ is said to have brought us into.

So I’ve gone back to the scriptures to see where we, as Christ followers, should find our foundation in this very important discussion.

  • If Christ has paid for the condition of sin once and for all, then why do I have to live in constant worry for others?
  • I thought faith in Christ ‘saved me from hell’ and if I’m saved from hell then why must I continue to fear hell?

This doesn’t sound like a ‘saving to the uttermost’ to me. Even the scriptures say that anything of fear is not of faith.

  • So do we really have total, absolute, faith in Christ and his finished work or not?
  • If we’re saved from hell then why must hell be the focus to get us to Christ and to living a Christ-like life?
  • I thought Paul said the Law (the former schoolmaster) was what led us to realize our need for Christ.

Isn’t a life in Christ supposed to be about love, faith, and grace? He said we would be safely grazing beside the rivers of life, well protected, and peaceful.

But this doctrine of literal eternal torment is anything but peaceful.

If we really believed in this literal hell, then why haven’t Christians all over the world given up everything in their lives to walk the highways and bi-ways of life and tell every single person out there about this hell and how to avoid it?

Maybe we have this inward voice asking us, “What if I’m wrong?” What if we are so wrong about this doctrine, what is it that we have done?

  1. Terrorized our neighbors with a make believe horror story with them as the star of the story?
  2. Disrupted any amount of peace they had in their lives with an image that causes nightmares?
  3. Created such a fear that near death experiences become more traumatic than the illness they already suffer?
  4. Sent people into severe depression when their loved ones die before the preacher can get to their house to explain the bible?
  5. Divided entire families due to the forceful begging and pleading to get them to recite a prayer and go to church with you?
  6. Isolated people in their churches and homes, afraid to live life to the fullest?
  7. Cause doubt of their own standing with God if they didn’t ‘get saved right’ or put enough faith in Christ to actually save them?

It seems to me that this is not the Kingdom in which Christ established for us.

  • Why would he die and resurrect only to bring us into such an awful place of worry, depression, and doubt?
  • How can we possibly trust him with our own salvation and believe that he will make us watch our loved ones get tossed in the lake of fire?
  • What kind of groom is that?

If something scary flashes on the TV screen, my husband covers my eyes for me, to protect me. Don’t we do the same for our children? But it is a popular belief that Jesus will make you watch your loved ones be thrown into everlasting torture. Many years ago, barbarians would force husbands to watch as they tortured their wives and children. They would force the wives and children to watch as they tortured daddy. This was equally torturous for the entire family. Is this really who God is?

Maybe this movie, Hellbound?, will help us to re-examine this teaching and broaden our own hope in Christ to a place where we can truly say, “Jesus is the Savior of the World”. Or perhaps it will solidify the belief of hell and we’ll all quit living our own enjoyable lives and start relentlessly banging down the doors of everyone in our towns.

If you decide to answer all the questions on your own blog, please come back and comment. Give us the link to the post so we can come read your thoughts on this controversial, but much needed discussion.

Sisterlisa

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Love’s Evangelism Method

August 15, 2012 by 6 Comments

In the many years I was in church world I looked into various forms of evangelism. My initial experience with Jesus was so life changing that I wanted to share it with the world. I have read countless books and attended many classes, workshops, and conferences to learn how to be a better evangelist. I kept finding pretty much the same methods everywhere I looked. While I have had hundreds of people recite the sinner’s prayer I sense that was all it was, a recitation. My experience with Christ was not like that so why was I pushing that method on others? I used books and pamphlets from

  • Billy Graham
  • Billy Sunday
  • D.L.Moody
  • Jack Hyles
  • Chick Tracts

and more, but none of them really resonated with what I had personally experienced.

fuschia white and pink by sisterlisa, on Pix-O-Sphere

Looking back now I can see what the difference was. My initial experience with Christ had nothing to do with a prayer or theological study. It had to do with the revelation of love. It was an awakening of him within, a personal resurrection. I can see now that trying to get people to submit themselves to a head knowledge of a perspective of Christ was not what true salvation is to me. For me, it was about a resurrection of his love within me and it had nothing to do with a theological pledge to follow the pastor’s interpretation of the bible and it certainly had nothing to do with condemning me to hell. Hell wasn’t even an issue. The revelation of Christ in my soul never spoke to me about hell, only about love. You see, love is what conquers everything.

  • Love wins
  • Condemnation loses

So then I read a book from Leonard Sweet called, ‘Nudge’. I love his philosophy on awakening the Christ within. How he describes it is how I experienced it many years ago. I also spoke with a Southern Baptist pastor once about evangelism and he was much on the same page with me. Jesus calls us to love others and allow the Holy Spirit to work in their lives through that love. Why is it that so many Christians don’t believe the manifestation of Christ’s love is greater than the words they say to people about how they view the bible? Perhaps because they haven’t really had a revelation of his indwelling and outpouring love.

“Awakening Each Other to the God Who’s Already There” ~Leonard Sweet

If you haven’t heard of Darin Hufford of the Free Believer’s Network, then please get acquainted with him through his book, ‘The Misunderstood God‘. His take on ‘God is Love’ is an excellent source of soul opening knowledge. He takes the Love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, and shows how God is everything listed in that chapter. When you look at it that way it’s easier to understand that God doesn’t insist on his own way as much as many Christians think he does. And while some Christians think God detests mankind, the Love chapter indicates his love believes in us!

“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”(1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV)

Traditional Christianity looks for an outward repentance beginning with a verbal public confession, whereas the love of God just lavishes us with grace. When a person experiences love that washes over them they will know that experience is spiritual. Their experience doesn’t mean God doesn’t love them yet, as some Christians assume. A lack of this experience does not mean the love is not true unless you believe in it. Believing in something doesn’t make it true, the truth is why we believe it. If belief made things true then why don’t we see the tooth fairy taking up residence in all homes of small children and Santa Claus coming down our chimneys? God’s love is true and that’s why we believe it.

Christians know the passage of God loved us first, but that doesn’t mean God loved them first, it means God loves all of us before we ever love him. Loves chose us before we chose love. When we know love it’s natural to respond with acceptance. Think about your newborn baby who has no ability to choose you. You love the child before the child knew of your existence. This is love!

Ephesians 1:3“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5he predestined usb for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” ESV

hydrangeas by sisterlisa, on Pix-O-Sphere

I do consider myself a missionary, evangelist, and ardent ‘soul-winner’. I have free reign to love everyone and no strings attached to try and manipulate them into pledging allegiance to my view of God. What better experience is there of proclaiming the love of God than actually living it out?!? It’s all about love! It’s not so much about winning their souls, as the term soul-winner indicates, it’s more about loving people into a reality of them receiving love.

So when you question my interaction with the GLBT and Pagan communities because you don’t see me condemning them to hell and pressuring them to recite a prayer and join a church, know that I am not called to do that to them. I get to love them, support them, and live out God’s love for them. I don’t need mankind’s stamp of approval on the ministry God calls me to. You can disagree with me all you want and it makes no difference to me. I know the message God has given me to preach to the world and it’s love. As Paul said so say  I, I received it not from mankind, pastors, or seminaries, but by the revelation of Christ my Lord.

The Message of Reconciliation

God has already reconciled mankind to himself through the finished work of Christ. So there is no pressure on me to try and make them believe this. People have the choice of what to believe and what not to believe. If believing in something doesn’t benefit them, then they won’t believe it. It’s no wonder they reject the condemning version of ‘god’, it doesn’t benefit them. However, a God who loves them and accepts them no matter what is worth hearing about! And if they know love, they already know God! When they freely accept true love, they are already accepting God. It doesn’t mean they are accepting God in the way traditional fundamentalists think they should. It’s a paradox! And isn’t that the way of Christ? His message is perplexing to self righteous people who look to please God in the literal realm with their religious works and practices of abstinence. But to spiritual people it is a message of life!

When you present God and the message you think he gives you to tell people, do they light up with joy or bow their head in shame? Real love has no shame! Not even a little bit! Presenting God as a lover with some hostility of threats if they don’t submit is abuse, not love. When real love is spoken and shown, the people know it!

If I didn’t truly love people, I wouldn’t bother trying to convince them. That would be manipulation. Because of the love God has lavished me with, I can’t help but to love others with that same love. When there is real love there is no need to convince. The Spirit of LOVE does the convincing. I’m not out to get people to accept me, to come to a church, or to take propaganda discipleship classes. I am free to love them as they are. If they desire to hear about the wisdom I believe to balance my life then I’ll gladly share that. If they want my personal counsel about something in their life, I will give it. But I am not out to get nosy into their lives and tell them how to live. If they want to know what I think about mentorship in Christ (by the way, I believe mentorship is not the same as discipleship), I will happily guide them through that. But again, I am not there to force, pressure, or insist on my own way.

Love is freedom and with wisdom we can navigate this life safer than trying to be free in foolishness, because that just leads to chaos. Love that does not insist on it’s own way is what will revolutionize the world. And isn’t that what Christ came to do anyway? I’d rather live my life in such a way that love nudges a spiritual revolution, than to exist in this world dying by every condemning word of tradition. Loving people can not be found in a cookie cutter type recipe with bullet points to adhere to. There is no religious tract to hand out and no script to follow. It comes naturally as you progress and mature in your spirituality.

Love’s evangelism ‘method’ is the best I’ve seen yet!

Sisterlisa

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Yes, We Can Prosper and Enjoy It

July 12, 2012 by 1 Comment

I grew up in a home that was financially stable and while our family wasn’t rich, we had all our needs met. I had never seen anyone really live in poverty before. We lived in a four bedroom home with two bathrooms and a large backyard. It was in a nice neighborhood in Southern California among other homes similar to ours. I did have a few friends who lived in small apartments, but in my childhood mind I never saw that as poverty stricken. In my limited understanding I figured that if someone had a roof over their head and a little black and white television then they were living pretty good.

When I got married, we lived in a small apartment in Reno, Nevada and I still didn’t think we were living in poverty. We didn’t have a car and couldn’t afford to go to the movies, but we had a roof over our heads and food in the fridge. We then moved to Northern California where our lives took a turn for the worse. We lived in a very tight budget and had to apply for welfare. I greatly disliked those years of our financial instability. If people tell you that living on welfare is a spoiled entitlement lifestyle let me tell you how our finances were. We had two small children and could barely cover the few bills we had, including rent. I often had to do all our laundry in the tub and hang the clothes and towels all over our apartment to let them dry. We had to ride the bus or walk everywhere we went until we made friends who had cars. I had to sign up for agencies that helped buy us food and baby formula. We would never have been able to afford diapers, wipes, and everything else a baby needs. Thankfully we had family help during those years. There were plenty of times I wished we could have given to the poor and during those years I realized that we were the poor. I grew to dislike asking for assistance and we had ran out of resources as agencies established rules that they could only help you once a year and some only once in a lifetime.

We had serious issues during the first six years of our marriage and battled with addictions that almost ripped our family apart. By the grace of God we began to work our way out of that pit and relied less on agencies and family as we grew more prosperous and practiced strict frugality. Eventually, we were able to be on our own financially and only needed help in emergency situations. One evening, we were out to dinner with a couple who asked why we lived so meagerly. The gentleman remarked that for a couple like us who were so smart and talented that we should be able to own our own home. We had invested a lot of our weekly paychecks into other people’s lives and not worried about owning a home. A large portion of our income was dedicated to our kids’ private school tuition as well as to the church.

We eventually found ourselves realizing how strict we had remained with our budget; to the point of going without basic needs just to be sure the church got that specific percentage of our gross income. Months would go by that we were wearing clothes with holes in them, worn out shoes, and no savings to help buy a new air conditioner (which is very important while living in a community where temperatures reach 115 degrees). There was no reason for us to be living that way.

We searched the bible diligently for financial principles to see if we had missed something along the way. Surely God would not want us to live so tight while the church building was lavished with crystal chandeliers, new décor every few months, and spoiling visiting preachers with brand new suits and vacations to Hawaii. It’s not that I wouldn’t want those preachers to be blessed and enjoy life, but in our minds we couldn’t figure out why God needed us to live like we were poor just so they could live off our money. It no longer made sense that the building ‘needed’ new carpet and fresh paint so often, while we desperately needed an air conditioner to survive the squelching summers.

We searched the bible diligently and discovered so much more than just the principle of sowing and reaping. We discovered the freedom that Christ gives us to choose where to invest our money. He fulfilled the Old Covenant of the tithe and we no longer have Levite priests to collect the tithes and offerings. Jesus is our First Fruit.

So we began to follow the Spirit’s guidance in how we believe Christ has freed us to give to others. This is when we started to really enjoy our giving more than ever before. We no longer felt bound in our giving, nor resentful. It’s too easy to become resentful about your giving when you don’t like how the leadership is spending your money. It’s even worse when the spending is lied about and the congregation is manipulated to give more than what they can even afford.

Now we make up our own minds who we want to invest in. Sometimes it’s a single mom, an elderly couple, or the children in our neighborhood. Our giving is our own business and we get to help people on the spur of the moment, because our money isn’t tied up in religious obligations to build yet another building with extravagant fixtures and debt inducing insurance policies.

We feel confident in our giving and in turn, we get to enjoy the spiritual reward of our giving as we enjoy our blessings with others. There are times when we bless a family intended for them to enjoy the gift and other times we join them in the blessing. We can have a family over to enjoy a meal with us instead of just giving them a gift certificate to the grocery store (even thought a gift certificate is a very good thing to give). For a family who doesn’t do a lot of cooking, a home cooked meal and fellowship is worth more than one bag of food. We enjoy giving in traumatic situations as well. It’s good to know that we have some available funds from time to time to speedily send some money to a family in crisis.

church by sisterlisa, on Pix-O-Sphere

While all this kind of giving is good and people are thankful for the gifts and help, we do not have to go without just to fund their need. There certainly is a deep satisfying joy found in sacrificing our own luxuries in order to help people in need, but we cannot possibly meet every need our there. If we work ourselves into debt just to provide for all the poverty stricken families out there then the budget gets totally out of balance. We need to provide for our own needs first. I liken this principle to an analogy from an airline stewardess. She informs the parents on board that if the masks fall from the panel they are to put their oxygen masks on first before they put them on their children. If the parents were to put them on their children first, they could pass out and leave the children stranded without their parent’s assistance. If we give all that we have away to everyone else, we would need someone else to bail us out again. This is a dangerous cycle of unwise and irresponsible financial giving. God does not ask us to lose our own homes just to make sure the church building can buy new pews or pay the electric bill on a building nobody lives in. We should never be so strapped by our religious giving that our first financial priorities to our own families are neglected.

Now we are at a place in our lives where we can both give and enjoy the fruits of our own labor. We own a home and while it’s a modest home, we have chosen to have a small home so we can travel more. We want to share our travels with others so we can enjoy these blessings together. I don’t think God ever intended that we live in poverty out of obligation. If people choose to do so because their hearts are with the people they serve then bravo for them. At the same time its bravo for us to live as we see fit as well. In Jeremiah we see that God told him that he had plans for him was to prosper. Why would God (who is the same yesterday, today, and forever) not also offer us the same prosperity? Who said that God would decline us the opportunity to prosper in the physical world? He blessed Solomon with great physical wealth! He gives us opportunities to become educated, he gives us wisdom liberally (as much as we ask for), and why not use our education and wisdom to prosper financially?

wish I had more by sisterlisa, on Pix-O-Sphere

I’m not saying that everyone can sign up for a “Get-rich-with-God-quick” scheme. I’m just saying: If we do become wealthy, why not enjoy it and help others to enjoy life too? We have the freedom to designate our giving by wisely investing into lives that we believe will benefit from it. It is at our discretion who we give to and why we give to them. I’m not boasting of our giving, for I believe we shouldn’t let our ‘right hand know what our let hand is doing’. I’m just exercising our freedom in Christ to spend our money the way we desire to.

This is what we believe about ‘giving’ in our journey through organic faith. No need to have a doctrinal chain of bondage to imprison us into obligations we can’t afford to live up to. In giving with this kind of freedom, we have come to enjoy the Kingdom so much more.

And no, this is not a ‘prosperity gospel’. I don’t believe that money saves a person’s soul. I just happen to believe that we have the freedom to enjoy what money can do for us.

Sisterlisa

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How to Become a Christian vs. Being a Disciple

January 13, 2012 by 2 Comments

There are many different views on what it takes to become a Christian and many times churches place too much of a check list in your way. It can become discouraging and thus hindering you from walking forward in your faith. It has been said that the Gospel is so simple that a small child can understand it, but when I look at the requirements of being a Christian (by many church’s standards) even an adult has to ask for a translation to understand it.

It’s as simple as this, God reconciled you to himself through Christ. If you believe that and embrace it as truth then you are a Christian. Everything else after that is part of discipleship.

Oftentimes, a church will put you into some kind of discipleship class then declare you a Christian afterward. They rely on you verbally and publicly claiming allegiance to a set of their ‘doctrines’. Some might even require baptism to ‘seal the deal’.

Some people like to learn as much as they can about God, Christ, and the whole story in the Bible before making up their minds about becoming a Christian. I can understand that. After all, one does take time to get to know someone before taking the step of a lifetime commitment. Why not give the same amount of time to understand God before making a decision to follow him?

There are some drawbacks in that, since each church has differing views on the teachings of Jesus, the prophets, and the apostles. It really all boils down to what Jesus asked Peter, “Who do you say that I am?”

There are some arguments about people who choose to follow a specific tradition of a church without the heart’s desire to know their Deity. Only you know for sure if you have that heart connection or not.

My desire in upcoming posts is to introduce you to the simplest way I have found to follow Christ and the traditions I have chosen to add to my connection with him. I will share some of the most popular traditions in the Christian community as well as some that may not be as well known.

Perhaps you are feeling like you’re drowning in a sea of busyness of religious practices, rules, and regulations and you just want to get back to the basics. I hope you’ll join me for some simple ways to approach your faith path in Christ instead of jumping ship and tossing the whole thing out. It’s ok to take a break from all the traditions and re-examine them to see if they fit in with where you are in your journey. God’s mercy is new every day and is grace is sufficient.

sunrise by sisterlisa, on Pix-O-Sphere

 

Sisterlisa

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Orthodoxy or Traditionalist

January 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment

After I placed my faith in Christ, I began learning of the perspectives of those Christians I was in fellowship with. It wasn’t until many years later that I even learned the word, Orthodoxy. I was told by the leaders in that group that Orthodoxy is what our authority was. It was described to me as the basis for having faith in Christ. It was the essentials to being a Christian. Over the years I have come to see a different perspective and thus was labeled a heretic, in other words, I was accused of being a false teacher. Some have taken what was supposed to be the non essentials and made them into essentials. There’s always going to be a varied response to that and yet I find myself wondering…where is the grace in all this?

cross by lady_jess, on Pix-O-Sphere

When Christ presented himself to me, he did not hand me a list of “essentials”, he simply embraced me in love…. everything else I learned came later. Something he has been discipled me in over the last few years is humility. It would be an incredible oxymoron to get a degree in humility as it is something that we humans can not achieve mastery in. However, my fellow minister, Monica Barden, pointed out that we can have degrees OF humility. Which means, we grow in humility and may find ourselves in different degrees of it. I’m not sure we can arrogantly claim to have a deeper degree in humility over another, for in the day we attempt to do so we may find ourselves so full of pride and totally blind by the beam in our eyes. I do think we can recognize when someone else’s humility surpasses our own though. We certainly can recognize that Christ is truly the most humble of us all.

Now lets get back to this idea of Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy is a word that many have come to accept as “right belief”. Within this realm are many beliefs in which they claim you must believe in, in order to be a “real Christian”. I have come to wrestle with this term Orthodoxy because it leads me to see pride involved. In the Orthodox view, the followers claim to be right and thus everyone else is wrong. This calls to my attention an argument of superiority and a serious problem with seeking to be a humble Christ follower.

Anyone who puts their faith in Christ becomes a Christ follower. Hence, they become a Christian. To attempt to disqualify someone as a Christian based on a set of beliefs creates a whole different realm of man led authority. When a person chooses to put their faith in Christ, that is all it takes to become a Christian. Everything else after that is theological study. Our academic education of all the diverse perspectives on the bible has nothing to do with our initial decisions to follow Christ.

I challenge the word and basis for Orthodoxy as an authority over who is Christian and who is not. I believe a better word for this group of people would be ‘Traditional’. The group that has followed their same old perspective of the Bible are Traditionalists. If they want to describe themselves as Orthodoxy then that is their freedom, however just because they claim to be Orthodoxy doesn’t mean they are. It also doesn’t mean they have authority to dictate to anyone else who is a Christian and who isn’t all based on their traditional views.

I am not against Christians who follow in their traditions, I’m just leery of them assuming authority over who is and is not a Christian. We are free in Christ and can follow him as HE guides us. When you place your faith in Christ, you then become a Christian. Everything else in your journey after that is called discipleship. So don’t worry yourself about what an “orthodoxy” group says to you about your journey in Christ. They are simply following an old traditional view and that is their freedom, they just do not have the authority to reject you from calling yourself a Christian.

SisterLisa

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Some Thoughts on Christian Universalism

November 16, 2011 by 2 Comments

Many times people who first come to study about Christian Universalism come from various church backgrounds and are mixing different interpretations and denominational theology together. So if you ask someone about Christian Universalism, you may get totally different perspectives from people.

There is a lot of misunderstanding about Christian Universalism and many times people automatically assume that all Universalists are in the same theological camp, but they are not. There is quite a bit of difference actually.

This is just my overview perspective of Christian Universalism, as I see it, within my own spiritual path. A Christian Universalist believes in the original Apostle’s creed. The belief of the abode of the dead has various interpretations, but the CU perspective is that this place in the Hebrew (sheol), and in the Greek (hades) is simply ‘the grave’. This is where Jesus descended to when he died, which is the same place everyone else goes when they die.

A Christian Universalist view is not a denomination per se, so you will rarely find a specific creed that they all unite under. The concept of the Royal Priesthood is taken seriously as our freedom to hear from the Holy Spirit directly and be our own judge of what to believe with grace as the foundation in our faith in Christ. This means we have the grace of Christ to search, question, and explore the scriptures and yield to the Spirit in areas that bring forth the fruit of the Spirit. As far as I can tell, most Christians believe in the Royal Priesthood, yet forget that they don’t need their pastor to be their mediator. But nonetheless, we believe in our spiritual equality among one another.

The term ‘universalist’ for a Christian Universalist does not mean everyone gets into the Kingdom no matter what their religion. But let me first explain that not all Christian Universalists adhere to a belief in the after life, yet we do all understand that the Kingdom is here and now..within us. This Kingdom we have now, is a place in which a believer in Christ has come into through grace. You see, a Christian can claim to follow Christ, but if they continue to live as if they need to obey the Law in order to enter the Kingdom then they have not yet understood this Kingdom. They might be ‘looking over the gate’ at the Kingdom, but walking freely within it is 100% by grace alone. It’s a spiritual concept and so long as a person is looking at the Kingdom as if it’s a literal plane of existence that will magically come down out of the clouds then they don’t understand that this Kingdom is already here.

Do not be confused with this Kingdom, Jesus said is already within us, with the after life. I’m not talking about the after life when I talk of the Kingdom. When it comes to the after life, I personally tend to hold all ‘doctrines’ about the after life loosely, because the only real descriptions we try to glean from the Bible about it, are hidden within parables that require ‘ears to hear’ and most people end up arguing over who really hears and who is still deaf. However, from what many Christian Universalists have come to agree upon is that God has his way of bringing all things into Christ so that balance (justice) can be obtained in the after life. How that plays out is somewhat of a mystery, but we do believe strongly in having faith in Christ.

The most often misunderstood belief among CU’s is that of hell, because we don’t believe in a literal fire and brimstone hell that tortures people forever. Over the many years of theological studies, countless theologians, and numerous debates, the interpretation of just what hell is or means is vague. But don’t let that cause you to fear for us, because we most certainly still believe that we reap what we sow. We don’t require a belief in hell to manipulate us into living a healthy and well balanced life of faith. We don’t believe in frightening people into choosing Jesus, in fact we are firm in our belief that he never intended such a thing either.

I have my own personal concept of what happens after we die and it is supported in scripture, but remember that I said the after life is vague in the bible so what I believe is really only for my own personal growth in Christ. How I view the after life has no bearing on what other people believe and my beliefs are not going to “send people to hell”.

Many Christian Universalists believe that God will purify all things through Christ. That means all things, life, animals, and people. Everything!

The book of Revelation is filled with metaphorical imagery that can seem frightening, but when we step back a bit to look at the big picture we see that this book is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. It is not the revelation of the “end times”. When we see it as a Revelation of Jesus we can see the bigger picture clearer and come to understand the metaphors for destruction, judgment, mercy, and reconciliation.

Many times people gasp in horror that we would say all people are reconciled to God, but don’t be confused. We do not think that this is some free ride for molesters, thieving pastors, or murderers to get into the ‘party’ with blood on their hands. Many of us believe that there is a process that takes place in the after life that brings us to the place of humility so we can receive his grace. Everything Christians believe about the after life is purely speculation since none of us has gone through it nor come back with any tangible evidence of it.

We believe that how we view God in this life, will manifest in how we treat others. Viewing God through the redemptive and finished work of the cross puts us all on equal footing and brings about humility. At any time a Christian thinks they’re somehow better than another person (or even other Christians) they have elevated themselves to a place of pride. There is no place for pride in Christ and therefore must be brought down to the foot of the cross. Jesus came to find every last and lost sheep. He leaves the ninety-nine to find the one, because his fold needs to be complete.

So before you spout off that Christian Universalists are from the devil and dragging people off to hell, maybe take some time to first understand what we believe and watch how we live out our lives in Christ.

It’s not a belief in hell that makes one a follower of Christ.

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Finding Grace in Sheol

November 14, 2011 by 1 Comment

With all the ongoing debate about the doctrine of hell, I’ve had to step back and re-examine this belief and what that belief does to our mental health, our emotions, and our spiritual growth. Regardless of what the popular crowd of Christianity says about what they believe, I am only responsible for what I believe…and what if they’re wrong?

Taking into consideration that in the Old Testament the word is actually sheol, which is simply the grave, then what does this mean? King David made his bed in sheol and God was with him. Jonah was in sheol and God heard his prayer and delivered him from that dark place. I’ve been in this kind of sheol before and He certainly lifted me up and put my feet upon the Rock.

I view this sheol as a place of torment, I should know… I’ve been there. It’s dark and frightening, but it most certainly is place where God still comes to us and lifts us out. His mercy endures forever.

This sheol is a place where we can find humility. Many have been brought low into sheol in order that they turn their eyes upward to see their day of salvation.

It seems to me that these many instances of sheol in the Old Testament is part of God’s design to bring us into greater depths of his grace. For it is in sheol that we realize we need his mercy and grace.

I believe this sheol is a valley of death where we find correction from what we think is the “right way” and discover that his rod and staff do indeed comfort us. The Great Shepherd leaves the ninety-nine to go find the one and when we are falling down into this sheol, his hook shaped staff is lowered down to bring us up into his warm embrace. Contrary to popular belief, the Great Shepherd does NOT break the legs of the sheep, nor does he condemn us…he saves us.

When I view sheol in this perspective, I am brought to the place where I understand the power that resides in all of our failures…the power to redeem. Without times of failure we would not understand redemption. Through all this we can sing praise to Him who sits on the throne. We can come to understand that all things really are in Christ and his ‘will’ most certainly will be done.

In the popular view of sheol, being a literal fiery torment, there is no restoration, mercy, or forgiveness. However, we know that King David and Jonah both received salvation from the Lord while they were in sheol. This perspective alleviates our mental anguish of ‘eternal torment’ and gives us the hope that in the darkest of valley’s he is still there. We can face the fact that we will suffer consequences in this life time, yet still reach out and grab the staff of our Great Shepherd, our Kinsman Redeemer.

The concept of what we will answer for in the after life is not only a continual debate, but an unproven one. Since I can not prove or disprove exactly what will happen in the after life (if there is one), then I will do the best I can to understand how sheol interprets into my every day life. While the popular crowd of Christians insist that sheol is an after life place of torment, they have no factual evidence of this and there is far too much wonder and enjoyment in this life to protect than to worry about what may or may not happen after we die. Their claims that you must believe in this place of eternal torment is a requirement in order to be a Christian is a fallacy. Scripture never indicates that we must believe in eternal torment in order to follow Christ. Following Christ is a narrow path indeed and one who desires to do so follows Him by faith, not under threat of fiery torture.

Remember that when someone insists that you believe ‘x,y,z doctrines’ in order to follow Christ, just remember that love does not insist on it’s own way.

Sisterlisa


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Filed Under: Grace Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Stop Shooting

October 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Sometimes we find images that are quite thought provoking. Movies, paintings, and poetry all have ways in which they speak to us about ourselves. Sometimes these things can trigger pain, sometimes they inspire us and heal. The bible can also trigger pain or inspire us…and Lord have mercy on those who use the bible as a weapon against people.

I think some folks see this image and think of it as a weapon of warfare against the dark forces of the air, which would be good as long as they don’t get sidetracked and shoot their own in the process.

People with weapons tend to get trigger happy sometimes.

What they fail to understand is that Jesus already gave us the victory. Why do they continue to shoot when there is no need?

What we need to do is stand firm in the victory and realize no weapon formed against us shall prosper.

Remember Superman? He never needed a gun, he stood firm, stuck his chest out there, and no bullet could penetrate him.

Shall we re-learn what we learned in grade school?

I’m rubber you’re glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.

We have the FULL armor of God, which is Christ.

We aren’t wrestling with people, the battle is in the realm of the unseen. When we use the bible as a weapon against people, shooting bullets of condemnation at fallible and vulnerable humans, we are not engaging in a battle with Christ, that is a battle of the flesh on the dark side.

The victory in Christ is grace. It’s his grace that wins and heals people.

Forming weapons out of the bible is not the way of grace.

A person who holds a gun, pointed at others, is in fear of their life. They think that holding a weapon to shoot with is going to stop their enemy from hurting them. By this, they reveal that they do not truly believe that Christ has the Victory. They think they need to kill ‘sin’ in others with their version of the bible, but they are forgetful that Jesus already covered sin.

If we’re going to use the bible, may we learn a lesson from Paul? He spoke of two ministries. The ministry of death, which was through Moses…and the ministry of reconciliation which is through Christ. So the choice is simple…Moses and death or Jesus and Life.

{photo credit is unknown}

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There Are No Denominations in the Kingdom

July 11, 2011 by 2 Comments

I have read many articles written by various people in assorted denominations about how they define legalism and I have often commented to let them know it goes much deeper than what they have described. Many have said that legalism is ‘commandments of men‘ that are commonly called “extra-biblical”. They intend to say that the only form of legalism among the churches is about whether or not to wear nylons to church or men not being allowed to wear pink ties. Legalism goes beyond that as they tie in the twisted scriptures of the Christian Religion and attempt to enforce that legalism, as if the Lord would have you adhere to it. In my intro article to Leaving Legalism, I explained that it’s the difference between the Christian Religion and the Christian Faith. It’s important to understand the difference between the kingdom of religion and the Kingdom that is within you.

In the kingdom of religion there are multitudes of denominations, while there are no denominations in God’s Kingdom. The kingdoms of the Christian Religion are always at war with one another, competing for the attention of the people, and accusing each other of being heretics. In previous years they have been known to threaten people who don’t convert, imprison them, or even burn them at the stake. It’s of no surprise to me that over the course of the latter years of the first apostles, we begin to see factions among the people and denominations beginning to form. God is so multi-faceted that people in various regions were growing, learning, and increasing in numbers. People learn and grow at different times and while one gathering in a city may be growing in leaps and bounds in their faith, those younger in the faith may not understand that growth. In the process the people began questioning the validity of the teachings the people were following.

Even the apostles warned the people about those who sneak in to steal their liberty, those who would cause divisions, and people who teach false doctrines. We’re obviously going to see varying doctrines and teachings among the churches and of course the denominations formed alliances and some become somewhat of the ‘heresy hunters’ in their attempt to prove who was ‘right’ and who was ‘wrong’. The problem with this, is that it puts mankind in the position to be the authority and only Jesus is our authority. I’ll write more on the topic of authority, but for now I want to challenge this idea of denominations.

The Christian Religion has over 30,000 denominations world wide. So the people are left with trying to decide for themselves which one is right and in turn they’ll believe all the others are wrong. Some have become wiser and come to understand that no one has the corner market on truth and each denomination could possibly have some things not quite accurate. At least these folks are humble enough to admit that, but eventually the people will become dogmatic in their beliefs and the unity of all the brethren diminishes over time. The Christian Religion is always seeking to be more right than the next and the competition between the churches has become ludicrous. Pastors hack away at pastors, deacons bash book authors, ministry leaders excommunicate each other through Twitter and Facebook. It’s an absolute mess!

In the Kingdom of the Christian Faith, the people strive to remain humble, allowing each other to question and sort through the so called heresies and come together with mutual love and respect. These people are growing! I believe we’re in an age of revealing, revival, and renewing as folks are coming together through online forums to discuss these matters. So while the 30,000+ denominations are at war with one another, the people of the Christian Faith are studying together and coming to a healthy balance of understanding the scriptures. The most exciting thing is that they don’t profess to have “the” ultimate denominational answer, although they do recognize WHO the answer is. As far as all these ‘heretical doctrines’ out there, they are cutting to the quick and re-examining old traditions taught through centuries of man made interpretations.

The difference between this ‘doctrinal war’ we have been seeing for thousands of years is that the Christian Religion continues to be at war with one another and those who have become tired of the bickering are finding one another outside of the Christian Religion, they are walking by faith, and getting along in love. It’s certainly a wonderful thing to become free from the religion, but ancient teachings have bore such a deep groove into many generations that it can be quite a wrestling match to have your mind renewed. Having a renewing of the mind is an ongoing process and it’s part of our journey to having Christ disciple us through His Spirit. It means he is not only challenging us to think differently, but he is changing us in the process. He said to repent, which means to change your mind.

Luke 10:27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

The Lord wants us to understand how important it is to use our minds. Sort through the traditions and commandments of men. Find out what is truth and what is not. But in all our getting we are to get understanding. It’s not about who has the ‘smarter’ doctrines, it’s about coming to an understanding of the Divine who resides within and how to walk wisely in this Kingdom.

Proverbs 4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all your getting get understanding

You see, people can chomp away at doctrines and they think they find their salvation in their theologies, but God shows us that the theologies are not what saves us.

John 5: 39You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

That word ‘eternal’ is not a definition that is to be taken lightly. In the Greek the word is ‘aiónios‘ and has a much broader concept that just a single English word can accurately define. Through the lens of the whole counsel of the scriptures, we find a much deeper definition that is spiritually applicable and has been at the root of the entirety of the teachings of God as, ‘partaking of the character of that which lasts for an age, as contrasted with that which is brief and fleeting.’ It’s about having  a particular character and quality of life. Even verse 40 reveals this truth as he says they refuse to come to the One the scripture points to, so that they may have life. This ‘quality and character of life’  is much better described as an ‘enduring, rich, and abundant life‘.

But what is the problem with these religious people Christ was speaking to? They were standing before their very Messiah, yet they refused to believe that the Truth was standing right there in their presence. Jesus explains exactly what the problem was.

John 5: 41I do not receive glory from people. 42But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.

There are many religious teachers in the world who come and go in their own names. They have built their own religious kingdoms and they receive one another in their own names. Religious leaders who have built up large church kingdoms become popular among one another and they seek after them to come and teach in their churches. They seek after notoriety! History is repeating itself. He goes on to let them off the hook. He is not condemning them.

John 5: 44How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.47But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

Jesus hit the nail on the head and He’s been hitting it on the head ever since then. The people chose to remain under Moses as their leader instead of learning of the One in whom Moses put this trust. They became so ‘well versed’ about the Law, that they forgot to see that the Law points to Christ. Instead of receiving the One who paved the Way for us, they chose to worship their own paved ways.

There has never been anything wrong with studying the scriptures in an effort to understand God’s amazing love, grace, mercy, and justice. When interpretations point people to religion then we have again missed the mark. When an interpretation of the scriptures point to Christ then it encourages our faith. This is the Way of the Christian Faith.

The Christian Religion points to the religious system, while the Christian Faith points to Christ and He points us to God and how to walk in the Kingdom.

We certainly have the freedom to study with whoever we feel God is leading us to and we also have the freedom to walk away and go study with another gathering when we realize their ways are leading the people into legalism. I have no qualms with denominations as long as they allow the people to come and go in love and keep the door open to freedom. The heresies are when the Christian Religion binds the people into isolated controlling environments and limits their freedom of conscience. This is precisely what many of the early Protestants stood up about. Here it is again, history repeating itself. Many denominations have allowed themselves to become that which their ancestors fled from. There are no denominations in the Christian Faith. Just people who are seeking to walk by faith, study together in love, and continue to walk in the liberty that set us free.

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