THE GOOD BOOK???

Here's today's revelation:
God says, "place your faith in me." But man is saying, "I believe this book (Holy Bible)." I'm a bit alarmed by how many Christians are falling back on the book rather than falling back on the Lord. Everything they do and say seems to be coming out of the book and not from a place of knowing.


I once had a friend who's teenage daughter got herself pregnant. My friend was so devastated that she decided to force an abortion. The following Sunday, she takes my hand and leads me to the preacher's office. We sit down together (I for support) and she begins to describe the scenario being played out at home. She tells him that she sees no other options if she's going to save her child from "destroying her future." To which the preacher replies, "well whatever you do, do all for the glory of God." That's a direct quote from the Bible. After I picked up my jaw, I compulsively spat out, "so you're telling her that abortion is ok as long as she does it for God's glory?" And he replied, "I don't question it, it's what the Bible says."


That's about the time I really started to question the teachings I was sitting under in church. Would God want her to force an abortion on her own child so she can give her child the future she wants her daughter to have? How would that glorify God? How do you tell others about the glory God gets for that? I mulled that over in my mind for a long time and never could I come to a conclusion. Was I right and he wrong? I don't know. I don't see abortion as a legitimate option when adoption is more plausible and will allow God's creation to live and have what we have....life. Ok, so I'm pro-life. That's easily explained.


Here's what I'm saying. I have a mind, heart, and a soul. That's pretty much where I believe I can find God. I know He gave us the book to refer to for answers. But that's not where He is. He is found within the heart. He dwells within in us. When it's time to meet with Him, we look within. We talk to Him. We search ourselves for truth and look to Him for confirmation or conviction. 


Reading the Bible is for reference. It helps to learn the nature of God and to know how things happened all those years ago. But, I'll go out on a limb here and say that God is not in the Bible. The Bible is of this world. It's solid. You can see it and touch it. It's temporal. There's no difference in that book and the rest of what we see here. It was penned by mankind. We have to be cautious about just looking to a book for all of our answers because we're throwing away God in place of the words in that book. He never told us that He can be found in that book or that when we need Him, open the book. He doesn't tell us that all He is can be found in the book. Or to look to the book for our answers. The devil is working daily to pull us away from God and he uses the book as a weapon against us when we don't look to God but look for our answers in the book. It is the good book, but it's not God.


I can also be found enjoying my life at my Google+ . I invite you to be a part of the community there. 

MAY I TAKE YOUR COMPLAINT?

One foot in front of the other. That's what I'm feeling today. I'm just exhausted for some reason. But, I have no right to complain. Which brings up the subject of complaining.

I was doing my dinner dishes when I looked over from the side I was rinsing in to see that the plug had been dislodged and my water was draining away. Grrr. That made me so mad! My mind immediately says, (quite out loud through my big mouth), "this house is such a money pit....like I can afford the hot water and soap for it to just trickle away....stupid plug (while I frantically tried to secure it in it's place)....Lord, can't you see that I need to move from here?....look at this nonsense....(and on and on for a bit).

Suddenly, a realization grips me. Was it God reminding me of what I needed reminding of? Or, was it me catching myself and helping myself to be reasonable and more understanding? I don't know. What I do know is that suddenly and without warning, I saw a mother holding her infant. The child is withered and losing its battle to survive. The mother has no milk in her breast to feed the child as she herself hasn't eaten in many days. Their future is uncertain. She doesn't expect her child to survive much longer and she has no hope of saving the infant.

That's a horrific mental image. That's a heart-wrenching scenario and I'm weeping with the thought of this mother..who is all too real. She is, and her child is. They two together are dying right now somewhere.

That's a typical scenario being played out daily somewhere in this world. And yet, I'm complaining because my hot, soapy water is draining away and I'll have to pay a bit extra for the hot water heater to generate some more, and then drizzle more detergent in. Why am I bothered with such chores? Because I have so many dishes from all those meals I get to eat everyday so that I have to get up from my leisure and do the things we Americans have to do. We have to drive our cars to the store and buy more food. We have to stand around in the horrible store and fret over which product is the tastiest. Then we have to dig around through our money to find the right change....so horrible a time consuming thing. Then, there's all that lugging of groceries into the house. Thank God the air conditioner is on because I think I would just die if I had to come into this house without air. (all said with sarcasm)

Even as I type those words, I feel a horrible disgust. Disgusting that I could complain over something so trivial. I have absolutely no right and no justification. I have earned nothing. God has blessed me a million fold. I don't have an understanding of hunger, or how it feels to have that nagging sensation that turns into an insane gnawing. I don't understand the misery of inescapable heat. I have never experienced the tragedy of my child being too hungry to lift his head to look at me with pleading eyes. I have never experienced that kind of helplessness.


In America, complaining is such a common and expected thing, that we have services set up to take someone's complaint. Customer service representatives get paid to sit on the phone for 8-10 hours a day and just take our petty complaints. "I paid $3,000 for this wide screen wall mounted television, and now the remote don't work. I want my money back, or I want another new television. NO..I don't want another remote..I want a new television." Says, the complainant.  

"I want," "I want," "I want." "I'm entitled." "You owe me." "That's not good enough, I want a new one." "I can't believe I'm being treated this way, who's your supervisor?" Pompous, arrogant, sense of entitlement. We should be hoping God doesn't reverse the roles and let us experience the other side of humanity. The darkest side. The side where there's little to no hope and no one is there to save us.

Lord forgive us. Forgive us our ingratitude. Forgive us our gluttony and sense of entitlement. Forgive us our greed and self love. Forgive us for serving ourselves to the point of fatness and then feeling like it's an injustice when we can't have what we want. Forgive us Lord, for it seems as if we know not what we do.

TO BASH OR NOT TO BASH

I'm posting tonight about my newest revelations and discoveries within my walk with Christ. For one thing, I'm discovering that the Kingdom of God has for itself many people who love God so much and want to help others find their way to Him. Unfortunately, the way they're going about it can be likened to bashing someone over the head with a club that has the words, "Here's why you should believe in God and follow the rules" carved into it. 

I don't have to remind Christians that this kind of zealous behavior drives people away from the Kingdom of God. It is not drawing them. They're drawn by the spiritual light. Like the proverbial moth to the flame, and not by our words. Remember, as well, that if you don't have the anointing of the Holy Spirit (which means you're speaking from a place of Biblical fact only) then as the Apostle Paul said, "if I have not the Holy Spirit, I am become as a tinkling cymbal and a sounding brass." It took me years to understand that verse. But I had to receive my anointing to understand it. People don't hear the words of man. They hear the words of the Lord said through the Holy Spirit's power to draw them. Coming from any other place/person, it's only a racket, noise, irritating sound, meaningless conversation.


I've met some wonderful people in my new Google+ venture. Most are proper and kind. Lot's of personalities and cultures combined make for interesting conversation. The atheists stand apart from the Christians but not in an extreme way so as to be very obvious. I'm not sure if this is bad or good at this point. I'd have to analyze that for a minute. For now, I'll focus on my role in the Kingdom and in that forum.


My role is to represent the Kingdom of God with love and compassion. I have chosen to do that by  declaring my faith on my profile first. Second, I let my speech be peppered with the things of God. Third, I show compassion, understanding, warmth, and love with everyone, unless and until they become a Troll !  In that case, I don't necessarily show them anything other than my backside on my way out the door. But that's after they've been shown love, compassion, understanding, warmth, and love. But the point in my post tonight is to say what I don't do and why.


I don't go from post to post and zero in on people who post things that aren't "Christian-like" and then bash them over the head with scripture. I don't judge them and tell them why they are in danger of hell fire and damnation. I don't zero in on atheists and start quoting scriptures to scare them into their senses. I don't argue the Bible with anyone no matter what they do to prod me into an argument. I try to respect every view and religion whether I agree or not. Why? Because that's love. Love doesn't judge or condemn.


The most controversial thing I've done in a long time was to delete and block an individual from adding his comments to my posts because he was doing all the things I don't believe we are called to do. My Israeli friend Jacob, has an affinity for Russian music videos. They can be far more risque than American videos. I felt this need to defend Jacob when the man told Jacob he needed to repent and get right with God. Jacob is a very generous and kind person and simply apologized for offending the man. But the man just sent forth a barrage of scriptures and ended up making Jacob anxious that he was about to be retaliated against, flagged, banned, and persecuted by this individual. This is a man representing God. If that's what people feel around me, then I'd rather not represent. So, I apologized to my barely English speaking friend and removed the individual from my circles.


I thought about my gesture and discussed it with God, of course. Did I over-react? Did I do the right thing? Why didn't I feel like he did towards Jacob? Why didn't I join forces with the man and bring persecution, judgment, and condemnation down on my friend and call it "right with God?" Because every ounce of my spirit was telling me that there's a difference between love and religion. Do I agree with Jacob's preferences for music videos? No. But I also don't have to view them. Do I deny Jacob compassion, love, understanding, warmth, sincerity, and/or friendship based on his choices? No. I simply accept him for who he is and let God do the judging.


In gist, the reason I'm not quoting scripture (compulsively and with every other sentence) is because it doesn't represent the Kingdom. Love does. The reason why I'm not "walking" up to every atheist I can find and starting a dialog with them about salvation is because, it doesn't work. What does work is waiting for those that are "drawn by the Holy Spirit" to come and ask questions and then address them with as much patience and truth as I can. Then, let them "walk" away from the conversation and make their choices. My newest revelation is that I belong where I am, not for religious purposes, but to show the kind of love that Christ Himself showed those who came up to Him on the streets. My example to follow. Praise God!

I CORRECT MYSELF

My good Christian friend Russ Martin stopped by and left an important comment on one of my posts today. So important in fact, that I feel the need to clarify something I said as well as come into agreement with Russ.


My comment was that, "the church is a liar." And Russ reminded me different. The clarification I feel that is warranted is that, he is right. It's not the church that is the liar. It's that percentage of religious people that twist the scriptures into their own doctrine and drive people out of the church and away from the Kingdom. That's the lie. Russ also said that there's more good than bad to be found in the church. I agree with him. This is why I want to reiterate that I'm not telling people through this blog that they shouldn't go to church or trust in the Lord to bring them there and see to them while they attend.


What I should be sure to clarify is that there is great worth and value in attending a good church. One that allows the moving of the Holy Spirit and teaches good sound doctrine. If you attend a church and you feel cold and unmoved, then perhaps that is not such a good church. If the teaching is centered around tithes and much doing instead of trust in the Lord and loving of thy neighbor, then perhaps that is not a good church either.


In gist, I want to thank my brother in Christ, Russ, for holding me accountable for my words and bringing good truth to my blog and the world. He's a wise man and I appreciate him very much.

NOT BY WORKS LEST I SHOULD BOAST

My walk with Christ is such a beautiful and mysterious thing. I'm not feeling melancholy at the moment however, I'm feeling that sense of knowing. Just that the things I've done in this last year to improve my walk, are paying off.

When someone has spent years and years attending church faithfully, there's a fear there when you wake up on that first Sunday morning and say, "no more, I'm not going." You immediately have that fear that we are each admonished to work our own salvation out with. I worried that a bolt of lightening was going to descend from the sky and fry me. Now, where would I have gotten that from?

I'm utilizing the social aspect of computing and meeting new people daily. Although they aren't sitting next to me in a church pew, I'm reaching greater distances and achieving deeper levels of fulfillment in Christ in this way. The church successfully convinced me that I would have no ministry if I was not connected to the congregation and the building. Not true. I still speak His name to all who will listen. I still hear His voice commanding me. I still feel His presence and I'm still forming Christian bonds. I do not mean to insult anyone when I say this, but the church is a liar.

No wonder Jesus never said, "go to church, your faith has made you whole." No wonder so much of the scriptures (new Testament) are about Jesus fighting the Scribes and the Pharisees. If that's not enough to convince you that He warns against religion, then what more do you need? I'm not writing this to pull people out. I'm writing this to warn you while you're in there. Don't follow. Lead. Don't listen only, but comprehend. Know what Jesus says for yourself. Pay closer attention to His actions while on earth. He was a deity, sent by God the Father to perform the most significant act of sacrifice a man can perform. There is no way to emulate that. We cannot achieve such a high standard or place in this world. We shouldn't be working towards that.

I want everyone that reads this to know that a TRUE relationship with Christ is not about the works you do. You will gain no ground by going to church. You won't become more righteous through much attendance. All you are doing is having yourself a social gathering before the man speaks. 

 The Bible says, "how can anyone know the gospel accept they hear it." What if we remove all rules and belief started by someone long ago with big dreams of heading up their own church congregation, and we simply take that scripture for what it means. I read it, then share that with another. Now, if the Holy Spirit has come into my heart, then when I share it, it has power. Not to mention that the one I'm sharing it with has been drawn by the same Spirit that is working through me. 

I just want people to stop fearing the lack of church attendance. It's not helping so many. My own landlord never misses a service. She is so dishonest, so rude, so uncaring about her renters. Church does nothing for her. I've known her for 8 years now, and still cannot bond with her. Lack of the Holy Spirit. She lives by her own righteousness.

I've said it before in my posts and I'll repeat it here, "What shall we say then that Abraham our father has found as pertaining to the flesh? If Abraham were justified by works then he has something to feel glory for? BUT NOT BEFORE GOD. For, what does the scriptures say? Abraham believed God and therefore it was counted to him for righteousness....but to him that works not, but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly, this faith is counted for righteousness." Romans 4:1-5 (paraphrased.)

It's a faith thing, not a works thing.