WHO I AM IN CHRIST
Over the past several weeks I have received a fair amount of backlash from people within the Christian community who feel that my walk with God is somehow under scrutiny by human beings. That I am somehow against God because I don’t interpret the Bible according to their own idea of how it should be read. This is not an issue I had planned on encountering so early but it is also one I absolutely have to address. Zealots and xenophobes have plagued religious circles for far to long. A large part of my covenant with God has to do with reaching out to parts of the secular society these sorts could never reach. See, the second we put up walls or pass judgement on another persons beliefs we are cutting ourselves off from them and are no longer able to help them find God.
Between Christians who think that anything outside of their interpretation of the scriptures is right and occultists who claim we can become divinity in the flesh I don’t know which one is more damaging. If Baptists and Catholics can’t even see eye to eye then how could we ever expect someone outside of the church community to do so? If Christians can’t openly discuss why occult science is an abuse of spiritual law then how can we ever reach the people who need Christ the most?
I believe in Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. I am not outside of my belief when I use vague terminology recognizable to the secular world that is turned off by modern Christians. I lose nothing of my own faith by having Turkish coffee with a Muslim and discussing the Koran. When I speak with people who adhere to a new age philosophy of energy being the building blocks of existence I’m not losing myself in Christ. Gods love is given freely. Grace is afforded to all of us regardless of race, color, or creed. I will not apologize or allow my walk with God to be demeaned by people who cannot accept that.
I love the Lord my God with ALL my heart, ALL my mind, AND ALL.. my Spirit. I love my neighbor as I love myself. The whole sum of the law hangs on these two principles. I am doing Gods work because I pledged my life to God. What you are seeing on this website is the beginning of my ministry. The whole reason I am launching a company is so I can have the freedom to do what God has called me to do with compromise. There are people out there so immersed in darkness that desperately need these words. That desperately need to remember that God loves them and there is NO SUCH THING as a lost cause. We are never beyond redemption. That’s who I am in Christ.
2020 VISION
The largest problem with spirituality is human beings. We could literally get ourselves thrown out of a Utopian dream to live and suffer in our current condition. We have different languages, different cultures, different ideals and different values. I mean, we all know Rav Yeshua was God born in the flesh of a middle eastern man but the Jesus on my mothers Bible is decidedly white. The Jesus on the candles at the local Michoacana is decidedly hispanic and that Jesus on the wall in Good Times definitely didn’t look like the other two. Now why on Earth would any of us try to convince other people that everything they know is wrong and our interpretation is right? How presumptuous do we have to be in our own superiority to even try and convince others of that? Yet somehow here we are knee deep in the debate convinced that everyone else is going to burn in Sheol, or one of the 7 Chinese versions of Hell.
The days of preaching fire and brimstone from the pulpit are over. This whole “if you died today where would you go” bit has to stop. Scare tactics of this sort are exactly why people have turned away from God and walked out on the Church. This isn’t helping people heal or draw nearer to God. It’s telling them that God condemns them and that they deserve whatever punishment they get. Does that even sound like Divine Love? Absolutely not and it’s certainly not what Rav Yeshua taught. “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.” I hate to point this out, but this is kharma being taught by Christ Himself. “How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the splint in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye?”
Yes. Our Faith is unique in it’s own right. Yes. We are to be fishers of men. Yes. The goal is to lead people to salvation. No. That will never happen by judging or condemning another based on our own understanding. The last time I checked we are ALL sinners who fall short of the glory of God.
If our goal is to be fishers of men then we have to be willing to put ourselves out there. Some of the most enlightening ways I’ve personally found to make this happen is by allowing myself to be available to others and open to what they believe. By allowing the conversation to take on a life of it’s own and adhering to the whole “where three or more are gathered bit” the Holy Spirit can use us in a very genuine way. By finding the common ground we can cultivate a sense of respect for one another that doesn’t feel forced. “For out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.”
I urge all of you, from all walks of life, from all religious views to sit down with one another and to engage one another. We have so much to learn from each other. What the world needs more than anything is Gods love. We will never share in that if we can’t accept one another as we are. I promise you it will not take away from how you worship. You will not lose your identity in doing so. You don’t have to deny Christ in order to understand how Hindus believe the Cosmos were formed. You won’t cease to be a child of God. All you will accomplish is effectively show people who contest religion in general that we are not all xenophobic monstrosities who stone homosexuals and free thinkers.
We would do well to remember our walk with God is noted in exactly that, the way we walk. People will notice we carry ourselves differently and be compelled to ask why. Be living examples of what God can do instead of a reminder why most people won’t openly discuss God in polite company.
“Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.”
-St. Francis of Assisi
Mystical Mindstate 
I do not think you have to beleieve that JC was the son of “god” or that he was the product of a female human who had not mated with a male. I do not think one has to believe in bodily resurrection or a “trinity”. I do think, like Pascal, that we should act as if there was a gid even if it turns out there is not. Bishop Curry said all that can ever be needed to be said at that recent Royal Wedding. The Beatitudes are all that I care about.
LikeLike
Thank you for your feedback. I’m glad to see people unafraid to voice their views and feelings on faith. I feel we can learn from each other regardless of how we view spirituality as a whole. We can talk of cultural differences and all the little idiosyncrasies that come with it but at the end of the day it’s all completely subjective. Who am I to force others to feel what I feel to be correct? We can not agree on something and still learn from each other. Now, I’m going to look up Bishop Currys speech.
LikeLike
He was such a lovely old boy. No dogma, no nonsense, just “love”. How right he was. If only we could all show that to each other all if the time. Or even some of the time!
LikeLike
Oh that speech was phenomenal. I really enjoy that brand of sermon. Straight forward and easy enough for everyone to digest. I may be a bit of a dreamer but I hope to see this sort of love start to come into fruition. Thank you for recommending it.
LikeLike