I am being led to write this now. I do not really know where it is going to go, or how long it will be. The more I think on it the more important it becomes. This is stemming from the fact that my father and brother-in-law are pastors, and have different trains of thought on how to live for God than I do. Both of them are always talking about staying in God's laws and sinning. I on the other hand pretty much pay no attention to the laws, and focus on listening to the Holy Spirit and how he is guiding me at this moment, everyday, all the time. Each of the pastors has what they believe to be the answers on the actions one should take to be in God's will, and what is outside of his will. Most of these based in scriptures that they subscribe to. Believing if it is not in the scriptures, then it is not of God.
When looking at the Old Testament prophets, before there was a bible, how was it that they followed God? How were they to know what to do? How could they be in God's will if the be all and end all bible were not there? The answer is simple. They listened to the Holy Spirit. For in the bible, many times, it says that God told so and so to go here and there, and they went. Who was speaking to them actually? Very few times did God send an angel to show themselves to even the prophets. God did not actually show up, because as the bible says, no one on this earth can look on God and survive. The bible does not say that a being physically took form next to them and spoke words to them, it just says God spoke to them. Before the day of Pentecost, God gave the Holy Spirit to some, and at a measured amount. They were the chosen of God, and he used the HS to communicate to them. Sometimes audibly, and sometimes in compulsions, but he did communicate with them.
If God is unchanging as the bible says, then would he stop communicating to the people that he has given the HS to? No he would not. So when I say that I try to listen to the HS in all things all of the time, would I then be outside of God's will by listening to the HS even though what I am asked to do is not in the bible? NO, I would not. Law based faith was replaced by Grace based faith. Grace based faith is basically listening to the HS and obeying God in all that he asks us to do. Will God then ask us to do something outside of his law? NO. So by obeying the HS and God in all things, I then keep all of God's laws, and do his bidding at the same time, no matter what it is. Amazing. The best part about it is, I do not have to learn one law, do not have to worry if I am doing it right, and the freedom felt from that is AMAZING. It is truly just something else. That is the only way to describe the feeling. The great liberty that is in that feeling is terrific.
As Paul admonished, do not allow your liberty to cause others to fall. Just because God will forgive when you go outside of his will and his laws, does not mean you use your liberty to feel comfortable to do so. This is why the law based faith is no longer there. Men would just do what they pleased, then once a year, do what was necessary to earn forgiveness. But with no real repentance in their heart. That is why Jesus will judge the intent of the actions. If the intent was to follow God, then the action was within his will. If the intent was anything else, you are outside of his will, and will be judged accordingly. Intent of the heart, is what God replaced the law with. Because it is the only true measure of which to judge the character of the action. Again, even though the people would do the action to gain forgiveness, they were not doing it in humble repentance, but in resentment. They resented having to do these actions to get their reward later. But since they wanted the reward, they did the action. That is clearly outside of the will of God.
So, following God through the Holy Spirit, because it is what you want to do with all of your heart will keep you in his will, and within his laws. When I stand before Jesus, I do to want to say, "Lord, I knew where the Holy Spirit was leading, but what would my pastor think if I did such a thing." I want to say, "Lord, I followed you the best I knew how, and you blessed me more than I deserved. Thank You." And Jesus will say, "Yes, I know you have. Welcome into the Kingdom of Heaven. For here you will serve me still, until the end of time."
February 27, 2007
February 11, 2007
Being Like Jesus
I have rejected christianity because I do not want to be associated with the Doctrinal Organizations whose goal is to be perfect, just like Christ Jesus.
Well in my rejection of the Doctrinal Organizations I set out to just obey God in all things.
Through study I have found that all Jesus did in his time on earth, was obey God in all things.
I have become closer to the ideal by rejecting the organized religions, than by embracing them.
That should make me feel vindicated and proud.
It only makes me sad.
As to where no one will really listen to me, they will listen to the Big Organization, and never reach as close to the ideal as possible because of all of the stumbling blocks there. The ignorance will continue unabated.
Well in my rejection of the Doctrinal Organizations I set out to just obey God in all things.
Through study I have found that all Jesus did in his time on earth, was obey God in all things.
I have become closer to the ideal by rejecting the organized religions, than by embracing them.
That should make me feel vindicated and proud.
It only makes me sad.
As to where no one will really listen to me, they will listen to the Big Organization, and never reach as close to the ideal as possible because of all of the stumbling blocks there. The ignorance will continue unabated.
I Am Good, AND Worhty
"For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." I do not know where that particular scripture even comes from, but I know it. "Though we live in Sin", who the hell is we? "Confess your sins for the forgiveness of God." Why? Didn't Jesus sacrifice already forgive my sins? "We are bad by nature, and only God can save us from ourselves." Who comes up with this crap anyway?
For all of the life I spent in a church. I was constantly told how horrible of a person I was. I was a sinner. Always was and always will be. You will never be good enough for God, you are soooooooo lucky he is merciful, otherwise he would let you lie in the gutter like the piece of trash you are. WOW what motivational, uplifting, positive feelings these sermons invoke. My favorite is, you are not worthy. YOU ARE NOT WORTHY. I think the most damaging statement of ALL, is that statement right there. It plays upon almost all peoples small fears of their self esteem. Those with self esteem issues will never be lifted up, and those without them, will develop them in the face of not being able to be the ideal. Thus the oppression that most people feel when going to church.
Now, unless I have a completely different God from the rest of the universe, mine is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. Omniscient means that he knows all, so he isn't dumb. So If he isn't dumb, why would he give up his most prize possession to save me? Because I am worthy.
The next thing that I want to talk about is our nature. It is said that the nature of all humans is evil. Mine is not. So, since mine is not. That statement is not true. There are some who are so innocent and wonderful, that anyone that make a stupid statement like that, does not look for the good in the world, just the bad. That person may be bad, but that doesn't make everyone like them.
What is the point of all of this. It is about GUILT. We are taught to be ashamed of who we are, what we do, what we think, what we say, what we eat, who we speak to, what we laugh at, who we are seen with, where we are seen, what we are seen doing, what we wear, how we cut our hair, etc........ No matter what doctrine, they ALL have a prescribed behavioral pattern that is accepted, and not accepted. Then, if you step outside of that, someone some to you and says, "Because I love you, I need to tell you...." and then they proceed to tell you why you suck. But the worst part of the guilt, is not because they told you this. Maybe you do suck. But, from the fact that you let down someone you love, so much. God. The feeling that you are not making him happy is devastating. That is used against us way more than it should be. Trying to keep us on the straight and narrow. Basically, following the Doctrinal Organizations behavior pattern. But not Martin Luther, Billy Graham, The Pope, Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts, or anyone is going to be standing with me on judgement day. Just me. So it is between me and my God. If this is so, their opinions of me DO NOT MATTER AT ALL. I can brush off a pastor telling me I am going to hell, a priest excommunicating me,(that one actually makes me laugh, a dumbass little priest telling God who he can and cannot accept, that is hilarious) anyone telling me I won't go to heaven, that I am a blasphemer, heretic, sinner or a devil. Why can I brush this off, because God's opinion is the only one that matters to me, so screw 'em. Yeah there is a little venom there, but DOs are the only place you will find people knifing their wounded. knifing the healthy, knifing the young in Christ, the Old in Christ, hell, they knife everybody. Ridiculous.
Luckily I am a good person, so I refrain from all of that stuff by ignoring those fine established religions.
In the end, it comes to this. We are all basically Good people, Decent people, who love our families and try to do what is right. This makes us something that is valuable, not just to those around us, but to God as well. So valuable in fact, that he gave to us, his most valued thing, his son. Not only did he deem us worthy enough to give us his son, but to allow him to be sacrificed, on earth, and tortured in hell. For me that is a lot of worthiness to live up to, and I strive everyday to live up to God's expectations of my worthiness.
For all of the life I spent in a church. I was constantly told how horrible of a person I was. I was a sinner. Always was and always will be. You will never be good enough for God, you are soooooooo lucky he is merciful, otherwise he would let you lie in the gutter like the piece of trash you are. WOW what motivational, uplifting, positive feelings these sermons invoke. My favorite is, you are not worthy. YOU ARE NOT WORTHY. I think the most damaging statement of ALL, is that statement right there. It plays upon almost all peoples small fears of their self esteem. Those with self esteem issues will never be lifted up, and those without them, will develop them in the face of not being able to be the ideal. Thus the oppression that most people feel when going to church.
Now, unless I have a completely different God from the rest of the universe, mine is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. Omniscient means that he knows all, so he isn't dumb. So If he isn't dumb, why would he give up his most prize possession to save me? Because I am worthy.
The next thing that I want to talk about is our nature. It is said that the nature of all humans is evil. Mine is not. So, since mine is not. That statement is not true. There are some who are so innocent and wonderful, that anyone that make a stupid statement like that, does not look for the good in the world, just the bad. That person may be bad, but that doesn't make everyone like them.
What is the point of all of this. It is about GUILT. We are taught to be ashamed of who we are, what we do, what we think, what we say, what we eat, who we speak to, what we laugh at, who we are seen with, where we are seen, what we are seen doing, what we wear, how we cut our hair, etc........ No matter what doctrine, they ALL have a prescribed behavioral pattern that is accepted, and not accepted. Then, if you step outside of that, someone some to you and says, "Because I love you, I need to tell you...." and then they proceed to tell you why you suck. But the worst part of the guilt, is not because they told you this. Maybe you do suck. But, from the fact that you let down someone you love, so much. God. The feeling that you are not making him happy is devastating. That is used against us way more than it should be. Trying to keep us on the straight and narrow. Basically, following the Doctrinal Organizations behavior pattern. But not Martin Luther, Billy Graham, The Pope, Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts, or anyone is going to be standing with me on judgement day. Just me. So it is between me and my God. If this is so, their opinions of me DO NOT MATTER AT ALL. I can brush off a pastor telling me I am going to hell, a priest excommunicating me,(that one actually makes me laugh, a dumbass little priest telling God who he can and cannot accept, that is hilarious) anyone telling me I won't go to heaven, that I am a blasphemer, heretic, sinner or a devil. Why can I brush this off, because God's opinion is the only one that matters to me, so screw 'em. Yeah there is a little venom there, but DOs are the only place you will find people knifing their wounded. knifing the healthy, knifing the young in Christ, the Old in Christ, hell, they knife everybody. Ridiculous.
Luckily I am a good person, so I refrain from all of that stuff by ignoring those fine established religions.
In the end, it comes to this. We are all basically Good people, Decent people, who love our families and try to do what is right. This makes us something that is valuable, not just to those around us, but to God as well. So valuable in fact, that he gave to us, his most valued thing, his son. Not only did he deem us worthy enough to give us his son, but to allow him to be sacrificed, on earth, and tortured in hell. For me that is a lot of worthiness to live up to, and I strive everyday to live up to God's expectations of my worthiness.
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