Your Sins Don't Matter, You Do!

Today I want to share with you a beautiful story of the value Jesus gave someone who was otherwise criticized for her behavior. The story can be found in Luke 7:36-50 of a woman who was called a sinner, and likely was a prostitute, who came to a meal Jesus was having with a Pharisee and anointed his feet with her tears. The response from the Pharisee was one of condemnation as he said, "if this man was a prophet he would know what kind of woman this was he was letting touch him." The Pharisee immediately condemned the woman, whereas Jesus provided her with value. His response to the Pharisee was to share a story of two debtors, one who was forgiven a small debt and another who was forgiven a large debt. Jesus asked the Pharisee, "who loves more, the one forgiven a little or the one forgiven much." Of course the Pharisee's answer was the one who was forgiven much. Jesus continued by praising the prostitute's faith.

What I love so much about this story is how Jesus took a woman that was ridiculed and condemned by the religious establishment of his day, and instead provided her with value and worth. You see, that is what Jesus did. When he saw someone who was hurting emotionally or was alienated by the religious authorities, he accepted them and welcomed them into his circle where they received love and were shown a worth that they had never experienced before. We read of Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners who were rejected by the religious elite. We read of Jesus sitting down and listening to a Samaritan woman who was criticized by her community for living with a man out of wedlock. Jesus forgave an adulteress woman who the religious elite were ready to kill, and he touched lepers whose community made to live outside the city limits. Jesus never rejected a single person he encountered, but instead brought them acceptance and love, no matter what their position was in society. Whereas the religious leaders in Jesus' time would consistently take away from the worth of others, Jesus consistently provided worth to everyone he interacted with.

What we can gain from this story is two-fold: first, you are valuable as a human being. Nothing you do can take value away from you. Your worth is based on the fact that you are part of God's creation and has nothing to do with successes or failures you have committed. Your value is safe and secure in Jesus. So when you are feeling like you have done something wrong and are feeling guilty, just know that Jesus forgives you and values you immensely. As difficult as it is to forgive ourselves sometimes, it is something we have permission to do because God forgives us without any questions asked. If you are uncertain about this, just look at the many people Jesus forgave without any hesitation. Let me say it again, you are valuable as a human being no matter what.

Secondly, we are to show people that same worth that Jesus shows us. That means when we see someone who has sinned, or who we perceive to have sinned, it is our duty not to condemn them or shun them as the Pharisee did with the prostitute. Instead our duty is to show them the forgiveness, love, and value that Jesus showed the prostitute. That means instead of judging women who have had or are contemplating having an abortion, we should show them love and acceptance. That also means that if you view homosexuality as a sin (something I myself do not) you treat them as forgiven and accept them just as Jesus would have and does. It does not matter what other people do or what their background is. It does not matter what another person's faith is, we treat them as Jesus would have: we accept them. That is what Jesus did.

Thank you, and don't forget to stop by amazon.com where you can purchase a copy of my book What Did Jesus Do: Using Jesus' Interactions in Scripture as a Basis for Our Interactions Today, for kindle. Again, thank you and God bless.

-Brandon

Jesus and the Non-Christian with Great Faith

There is a famous story which illustrates perfectly the inclusiveness with which Jesus showed to humankind while he was here; it can be found in Matthew 8:5-13 and reads thus:

⁵ When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ⁶ “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

⁷ Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

⁸ The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. ¹¹ I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. ¹² But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³ Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.

First off, a Centurion was a leader in the Roman military who oversaw 100 men. The Centurion was of Roman, and not Jewish heritage and would have practiced Mithraism as a religion. Mithra was a Roman god who was worshipped by the Roman military and would thus have been worshipped by this Centurion. This man with greater faith than Jesus had seen in all of Israel was therefore a pagan and did not even worship the one true God. Yet Jesus declared that his faith was greater than he had seen in all of Israel.

The first thing I want you to notice about this passage is that Jesus, knowing everything I have just stated, did not even hesitate to start heading to the Centurion's house the moment he was asked for help. Jesus did not begin to question the man about his faith, he did not ask the man for reasons why he should help him. Jesus, with no questions asked immediately began walking toward the Centurion's house because Jesus saw a need, felt compassion, and wanted to help.

Secondly, the man did not worship Jesus or become one of his disciples. He simply knew what he had heard about Jesus and went to him like anyone who was about to lose a loved one would have. His intent was not to convert to another religion or drop everything and follow Jesus. We read elsewhere that the man went back home and we presume that he went back to his normal life. And yet Jesus called his faith "great."

My reason for going through this is that Jesus did not hold back his blessing due to the Centurion's religious background or what he did for a living. What mattered to Jesus was that this man was hurting and he needed help. So Jesus felt compassion. Jesus allowed his blessing to rest on this man despite what he already believed.

Secondly, Jesus called this man, who wasn't even a part of Jesus' own faith tradition, a man of great faith. It did not matter to Jesus what god this man worshiped, or even that this man chose not to follow him after the healing; he still found it prudent to call this man's faith "great."

So what makes us as Christians so exclusive in the way we act. Why when people need help is our first question often "do you love Jesus?" It does not make much sense to me that when Jesus was so inclusive in his message, that we have become so exclusive in our message. A person can only have incredible faith if they are a Christian, according to us. And yet this man was neither a Christian nor a Jew and Jesus was able to call his faith "great."

Today we exclude people even when they are Christians. If someone is a Christ-follower but gay they are allowed no part in our services. If they come from the wrong denomination we deny them entrance into our church. And yet Jesus was able to call this strict pagan man a man of great faith.

Henry Brinton wrote a beautiful article about the welcoming table of Jesus. In it he discusses how Jesus' meal table is so large that there is always a spot open for those who wish to join. He also mentions how we have tended to shrink that table over time. I think it is time we as Christians once again work to enlarge our table to allow for a much more inclusive Church.

There are people in our community hurting and needing help, love, and compassion. When they seek these things from the Church they are often met with condemnation for one reason or another. We tend not to look past their tattoos or drug habits, their homosexuality or their foul language, their crazy hair or strange outfits. Instead we see what we disagree with and treat them with disdain. Instead, let's be more like Jesus by seeing what we have in common with them: our humanity. When we view people as human, it becomes easier to look past those things we disagree with and include them in our houses of worship. Let's show more love and compassion to all people we encounter today!

Please take the time to stop by amazon.com and purchase a copy of What Did Jesus Do for your Kindle today.

Blessings,

-Brandon

What Did Jesus Do: The Book Release

I am proud to announce that I have finally published my book and it is available here, on the Amazon Kindle store. Currently the book is not available in print or on iBooks, but I am working on that. What Did Jesus Do? is available for $4.99 U.S. and looks good on all devices. The book description can be found below. Thank you for your support.

Blessings,

-Brandon

In What Did Jesus Do: Using Jesus’ Interactions from Scripture as a Basis for Our Interactions Today!, Brandon Parks utilizes in-depth Biblical interpretation to analyze Jesus' interactions with three groups of people in Scripture: 1. religious leaders, 2. those within Jesus' discipleship, and 3. those outside Jesus' discipleship. Using this information, Brandon gives the modern day Christian guidelines for interacting with similar groups of people today. With this information, Christians can foster better relationships with people and learn ways to interact with people that are more in line with the way Jesus interacted with people in his day.


 

Parable of the Unforgiving Servant: A Reinterpretation

I had a good response from my contemporary interpretation of the parable of the Good Samaritan, and so I thought the need for this kind of biblical study was enough that occasionally I would write up a modern interpretation of the original text. Understand that as I do this, my intention is not to replace the original message or to somehow say that my translation is superior. Instead, my intent is to take a passage that uses illustrations that will no longer make sense to most readers (as they are very tied to their cultural setting) and modernize them so that perhaps we can have a better understanding of what Jesus is asking us in these parables to do today. With that said, let's now look at my modernized translation of the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant which can be found in Matthew 18:21-35.

The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a lender who wanted to settle accounts with his borrowers. He brought in a man who still owed $200,000 on his home, even though his home was not even worth that amount any longer. Due to the recent decline in the economy, this man lost his job and was currently making slightly less than $20,000 a year at the only job he could find. He was behind on his payments and was facing foreclosure if he didn't pay $40,000 by next month. The lender called this man in and was told by this man that he didn't even have $4000 to give the lender. The lender, furious, called for the immediate foreclosure of this man's house and told him that if he didn't come up with the money in the next two weeks, he would take this man to court and seize all of his assets. The man immediately fell on the ground and begged, crying for a little more time, promising to pay the debt. The lender, having compassion on this man, forgave his entire debt and allowed the man to own the home outright.

This man left the lender feeling incredible relief and joy at having been forgiven such an incredible debt that would have been impossible for him to pay off in his own lifetime. This man also had a renter staying at his home who had been living there for the last two years and never missed a monthly rent payment until two months ago, right after he had lost his job. This man went directly to his renter and demanded that he pay him the two months rent. The renter pleaded with this man, asking for a couple more days to come up with the money. But the man immediately evicted his renter, called the creditors to seize the rent from his accounts, and got a restraining order so the renter could not come into the house to get his property.

When the man's forgiving lender found this out, he immediately called the man into his office. "I forgave you an impossible debt to repay," he exclaimed, "and yet you cannot even forgive a small debt? You will regret this." He immediately reissued the debt, tripling the interest rate and doubled the amount the man owed by next month. The lender also froze all of the man's assets until the debt could be fully repaid.

Jesus finishes up the parable by saying, "My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.” This parable teaches us that the debt (the sin) each of us are forgiven by Jesus, is greater than anyone of us can repay in a lifetime of effort. Nothing we can ever do can ever repay the debt we have incurred due to our sin. That is why Jesus died on the cross, providing the forgiveness of our debt. Therefore, it is wrong for us to be unforgiving of the sin of others. We should be forgiving of the sins of others because no sin anyone has committed is ever as great as the sin we are forgiven in our own lives. This should make us pause and think about what we are doing when we are judging another person of their sins. We are saying that since their minuscule sin should not be forgiven, then neither should our great sin. But since God is willing to forgive us of our own sin, we should be willing to forgive others of their sins.

Finally, this parable also teaches us that we are misinformed regarding the sin of others. Often we exaggerate the extent of others' sins, making them greater than they really are. Either that or we make something a sin that is not really a sin. For these reasons also, we need to be forgiving of the sins of others. Otherwise we risk losing the incredible forgiveness we are offered from Jesus. What you consider a sin, may not be considered so bad by God. So if you are met with someone who does drugs or drinks to excess, if you meet a homosexual or someone who has had an abortion, if you meet an illegal immigrant or someone who is covered in tattoos, treat them as Jesus has treated you, with the utmost of compassion, love, and forgiveness. That is what Jesus did.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Anthony Weiner and Jesus: The Biblical Response

When big events occur in our time, I often wonder how Jesus would have responded. When I see church leaders on TV proclaiming the message to repent, I wonder what Jesus would say to them today. When athletes outspokenly thank God for their superstar performance, I wonder what Jesus might have to say to them. And when politicians are caught in a scandal and our leaders fall, I wonder if Jesus would be condemning of them or merciful.

Just about everyone in the United States is familiar with the scandal surrounding New York representative Anthony Weiner. Today he admitted having sent lewd photographs of himself to a young woman over twitter, one of many it turns out he has sent over the previous few years. In the weeks since the tweet was made (publicly instead of privately like he had intended) he lied to several media outlets, claiming his twitter account had been hacked and that he had not sent the tweet.

Christian Hypocrites

One of the most common critiques of Christianity about its adherents that I hear coming from the mouths of detractors is that "Christians are hypocrites." Christians, of course, are aghast at being called hypocrites, thinking our antagonists are claiming that we continue in our sin when we adamantly admonish the sins of others. This may be where some of the criticism comes from, however I believe there is a lot more to it than that, and that Christians are completely blind to why others are calling us hypocritical.

The term "hypocrite" comes from the ancient Greek and was the term used for an actor. A hypocrite was one who put on a mask and acted in the Greek dramas or comedies. A hypocrite has therefore come to be known as someone who is putting on false airs about them. It is someone who acts in a way opposed to who they really are.

Therefore, it does not seem to me that we Christians are being accused of hypocrisy for admonishing sins in others while we are being sinful ourselves. One thing Christians are really good at is admitting our own sinfulness. (Admittedly, we are also really good at pointing out the sins of others also). What would be hypocritical is claiming ourselves to be perfect (putting on the air of perfection) when in fact we were out lying, stealing, cheating, and doing all kinds of sordid behavior. But this is not what is going on. We admit our sinfulness while also admonishing the sins in others, which is not what makes us hypocritical. So what do we do as Christians that others see as so hypocritical?

Christians are hypocritical in that while claiming God's grace for ourselves, we neglect it when it comes to other people. We consider ourselves to be saved by the grace of God, while withholding his grace from others when we see them as sinful. Even though we claim God's grace for ourselves, affirming that "even though I am still a sinner I know that God's grace provides me with forgiveness and salvation anyways," we deny it to others who we perceive to be sinners, such as homosexuals, illegal immigrants, those who have had abortions, and so on saying that they cannot be part of the body of Christ and be saved without first giving up their sinful behavior. How can I affirm God's salvation apart from works for me while denying it to another who I think is a sinner? I cannot do this without appearing the hypocrite.

But maybe you will say to me, "how is this putting on an air? How is this acting in a way opposed to who we really are?" This hypocriticism takes place in two ways. First off, we are putting on the air that others cannot receive salvation without first putting an end to their sin. The foundation of Christian doctrine is that we are sinners and need God's grace apart from our works to save us. So when we tell "sinners" that they need to stop sinning (which is usually what we wrongly mean by "repent and be saved") we are acting in a way opposed to who we really are. We make the claim that we are so unworthy and need Jesus' free forgiveness to save us, and then demand others to save themselves before Jesus can; this is hypocrisy.

The second way in which this is hypocrisy is that when we claim grace for ourselves while denying it for others, we are really denying grace for ourselves also. If I make the claim that I am saved freely by the grace of God, but ask another person to change before they can enter into the body of Christ or be saved, I am really hindering God's grace to work in my life. I said in the previous post, To Be Forgiven, We Must Forgive that we are told by Jesus that if we do not forgive another, God cannot forgive us (Matthew 6:14-15). In the same way, if we do not show grace and acceptance to others, we do not allow God to show us grace and acceptance. Therefore, when we claim for ourselves grace while denying it to others, we are really putting on an air of grace that we in reality are denying to ourselves.


So how do we end this hypocricy of ours? The first thing we must do is to truly experience the infinite love and unconditional acceptance Christ has for us. When we can truly look at ourselves and the things we have done, and can see that God still forgives us, even when we are continuing on with our bad behavior, we can come to a full understanding of God's awsome compassion. Having done that, we then need to practice having that same compassion for others, doing our best to show them the unconditional love and acceptance that Jesus has for us. If this is a struggle, make this issue a part of your daily prayers to God. It is too important of an issue not to pray about. Maybe if we can all practice this in our lives, we will no longer be seen as hypocrites, but as genuine and loving people who provide support and comfort when no one else will.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Mother's Day and the Love of God

Isaiah 66:13 As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you;
And you will be comforted

In the gospels, Jesus teaches us to pray saying, "our Father," but as the above verse illustrates, God is also likened to a mother in the Bible. This often occurs when God's more tender side is being described, like above where Isaiah is telling Israel how God desires to comfort them, the way a mother comforts her child.

God's fatherly side is much more awe-inspiring than his tender side. The fatherly side is the side that protects and defends his people, the side that goes to war against his people's enemies. The fatherly side is the side that encourages his child to stand up and walk it off if he gets injured. The fatherly side is the side that judges and the side we often fear to turn to because, let's face it, our own fathers were a little rough and gave us that tough love.

But the motherly side is different. When we think about our own mothers, they were the one's we often went to because they were softer and more gentle with us. We would turn to them first because we knew that dad may not be so kind when we told him something.

God's fatherly side is often emphasized, but how much is his motherly side preached? We hear hints of God's tenderness in the Bible, but it is not often preached. For instance, Jesus says in Matthew:

Matthew 23:37 How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.

God's desire, like the mother of a teenager, is always to cover us under her protective wings to comfort us and take care of us, when all we want to do is run away. When a father is usually the one to show tough love, the mother is the one always to show unconditional love towards her children. Where the father's response to a rebellious child is often anger and sometimes even abandonment, the mother's response is always one of heartache and tears wanting to make it all better and even to bring reconciliation between father and child.

When we talk about God's unconditional love, it is her motherly side we are referring to that loves us no matter what we do or who we are. It is God the Mother who accepts us as we are no matter what. We know that we can turn to God the Mother, and she will never leave us nor forsake us. We can rest in her tender arms and know that nothing can touch us there.

As I think about my own mother, and how in a moment's panic, no matter what the crisis, I always turn to her first and know that she will have the answer, and that she is always able to comfort me. I know that no matter what goes on in my life, my mother will always be there for me and will never turn me away.

God's motherly side shows her tenderness and care for her people. God's motherly side condescends to be at our level so we are not afraid to approach her. God's motherly side holds and hugs us when we are upset because she knows we are hurting. God's motherly side is the all forgiving, all loving, all merciful side that forgives all sins. God's motherly side is the side we never have to be afraid to turn to.

This is the kind of person the above verses are describing when they describe God as a mother. We can turn to God during any crisis in our lives, we can tell God anything and be who we are around her, and God the Mother will wrap us in her tender and loving arms, and comfort us, and accept us.

It is difficult at times for us to remember God in this way. I think we often liken God to a critical father we had, or a legalistic pastor, skewing our perception and preventing us from seeing this motherly God who loves us so much. We may make mistakes sometimes, we may not always live to the standard we think God has created for us. But God the Mother loves us regardless. To God the Mother, every mistake is overlooked, every misdeed is covered and hidden by her. Maybe from time to time, when you think God the Father is displeased with you, or feel that you have committed a gross error, remember God the Mother and know her love and acceptance for you. I hope you know God the Mother like you know God the Father, and I hope you know God in this way, as a loving, caring, and accepting God. Happy mother's day.
Blessings,
-Brandon

The Jesus Response to Homosexuals

I was reading through the forums today and happened across a post from a Christian man who is struggling with his sexuality. His question was essentially this: "how do I come out to my straight Christian friends without losing their friendship?" Let me say how heart-wrenching it is for me to hear someone fear losing a friendship for being true to himself. No one should have to fear ending a relationship for being oneself; especially if one's friend is a professed Christian. Jesus of all people felt the hurts of humankind and grew closer to people in such a situations, instead of moving away from them. If you are a Christian and have shown any sort of judgment on a person for being gay or for having had an abortion or for having gotten divorced or for anything, if you have acted in a way that pushed someone from the Church, know that Jesus would have reacted differently, and that he calls us to act contrary to that. Jesus calls us to support other people and love them, even if we disagree with something they do.

I would like first to address Christians who believe homosexuality is a sin and who, therefore, feel it necessary to exclude the LGBT community from worship and/or leadership. I am not going to argue with you here that homosexuality is not a sin. If you want to see my argument you can go to Is Homosexuality a Sin? What I am going to argue is that we are interacting with so-called sinners in a completely unbiblical way. We are treating homosexuality as an unforgivable sin that precludes a gay person from being a Christian. When a Christian comes out of the closet we immediately void their Christian membership card and exclude them from all things Church related. I know a man who was involved in a Church ministry who as soon as he came out of the closet was expelled from that ministry and banned from leading any ministry from that point on. But did Jesus exclude people from ministry because of sin? Absolutely not, that was the job of the Pharisees. That was what Jesus criticized the Pharisees for doing. We read in Matthew 23:13 (if you haven't figured out yet, one of my favorite chapters in the Bible) "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in." This applies not only to the afterlife, but to this life as well. When Jesus describes cutting people off from the kingdom of heaven, he is also describing cutting people off from the Church, which is what we tend to do with sinners.

Jesus dined with all kinds of sinners and selected them as his inner circle of twelve. I described in the post Reaching Out to the LGBT Community that Jesus selected tax collectors and prostitutes (the worst of all "sinners" in Jesus' time) as his closest disciples. So why do we pick out a particular group, call them sinners, and treat them differently from all other sinners. For instance, we call divorce a sin, yet we allow two divorced people to marry. We consider premarital sex a sin, yet we allow two people who have partaken in "fornication" to marry. Why do we not allow gay people to marry? Why do we lift up one group of people as sinners, and place them above every other group of sinners?

But most importantly, why do we create an atmosphere where gay people do not feel comfortable being honest with us? Why do we create an environment where no sinner feels comfortable coming clean. Sinners had no difficulty coming to Jesus with their sin, and that is because Jesus did not treat them with condemnation or judgment. That is because Jesus did not respond with shock and awe at their sin. Jesus simply smiled, told them all was forgiven, and changed the subject. Jesus showed love and compassion and made people feel comfortable and safe to be honest around him. And that is what we need to do as Christians.

For my gay brothers and sisters, I know that it is difficult being honest with your straight brothers and sisters about who you really are; and I am sorry that is the environment we have created for you to come out in. You know that I do not believe homosexuality is a sin and you can use my article on that when discussing your homosexuality with your straight brethren. I want you to know that I am here to support you when you make the leap of faith to come out to your friends, and that I know of many other Christians, gay and straight, who are here to support you too. Most importantly, know that Jesus is here to support you and he will not ever let go of his tender grasp on you. He will hold you up forever.

Let me suggest that when you come out to your brothers and sisters in Christ, that you do it individually with each one. Let me suggest that you make them aware of how difficult this is for you and how much you need their support. Let me suggest that you tell them the acceptance you have experienced from Jesus and how much you need their compassion and love as you make this difficult step in coming out. Let me suggest that you then pray together. Be completely honest with yourself and with them during this process. If they accept you, then all is well and you can ask for their support as you tell others. But if they do not accept you, do not argue with them. Do not fight with them. Give them some time to think and some time to come to an acceptance of what they have heard. If they do not, and they desire to end the relationship, grieve over the loss of the friendship. But do not give up hope in finding a community of believers that will accept you and love you for who you are. If it at all helps, you may use my letter entitled A Letter to My Gay Brothers and Sisters as a tool to assist you and support you.

To all of my readers, know that I love you and that Jesus loves you.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Osama bin Laden's Death and the Christian Response

In yesterday's post I started off by saying that I was not going to tackle such a difficult topic as the killing of Osama bin Laden. I am glad I did not address the topic yesterday since I needed some time to think about it. But I now think it is my responsibility, as one who professes to explain the contemporary Christian response based on Jesus' interactions in Scripture, to address this complex issue.

I had someone ask me yesterday, "as a religious person, what do you think about bin Laden being killed?" Thinking I had to give her an immediate response, I vomited up a response I am not proud of, without having had time to think about it. Now that I have had time to think about it, I can give a more thoughtful response.

But before I get all spiritual on you, I must say that my first response was joy. I was happy to hear that that murderous (insert profanity here) was finally taken from this earth. Good riddance, I thought; one less evil in this world. I want to let you know that I think this is an extremely natural response and one that I do not condemn. The kind of response (the Christian response) I am about to advocate for, is a hard one to develop, but a necessary one. I will tell you why it is necessary in a moment. But first to the response.

As for the model of any Christian response I turn to Jesus who is above and beyond the exemplar of all things in relation to how we respond to our fellow human being. The question is, which responses of Jesus should be our example for how we should, as the body of Christ, respond to Osama bin Laden and his being killed? I think many would look to Jesus' interactions with the Pharisees, and particularly to Jesus' diatribe against them in Matthew 23 where he comes just short of spitting on them. Today we would say that Jesus ripped them a new one. But the reason Jesus treated the religious leaders the way he did was because they were given the truth through the Jewish law and they twisted the truth they were given and manipulated it to oppress the Jewish people. They had drifted from God and the true faith, and were abusing their authority. It was because of these things that Jesus railed on them the way he did. (For more on Jesus interactions with the religious leaders of his day, go to Jesus and the Religious Leaders in the Bible).

Now, I do not believe Jesus ever intended us to use his railing as an example for our own interactions (though it is nice to use this passage to justify such railing sometimes), but it is for another post to discuss how to interact with our own religious leaders. What is important to know for this current post is that this type of reaction is intended for our own religious leaders and not for those outside of our religious perspective. It would be absurd for us to expect someone from a different ethical world-view to act according to our own ethical belief system. Bin Laden held to an extremist, terrorist worldview, so it would be absurd for us to expect him to adhere to Christian ethical practices which alone would justify such a railing. That does not mean that we should stand by and let that person do harm to others. If that person's behavior (i.e. bin Laden) was harmful, we are justified in doing everything necessary to prevent that person from doing more harm. But does that mean we should rejoice in their death? I think the answer is "no."

When Jesus came across an enemy of his from outside of Judaism, he was sorrowful. We are even told that Jesus lamented over Jerusalem. When he was being crucified, he prayed for those nailing him to the cross saying, "forgive them Father, for they no not what they do." Jesus told his followers to love their enemies and to pray for those who persecute them.

Evil begets evil, and when evil is killed it begets evil through the rejoicing of something terrible: the killing of another human being. I am not saying that bin Laden's death was not justified or necessary. I think his being killed was necessary; but it was a necessary evil that should not be celebrated, but mourned over.

Proverbs 24:17 states, "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles." Instead of rejoicing that Osama bin Laden was killed, it is the Christian response to lament that there was no other way; it is the Christian response to lament that he had to die so others may live; it is the Christian response to lament that he had to be killed because he caused so many deaths.

It is the terrorists' response to rejoice when his or her enemy dies. So for us to do the same, sinks us to their level. It is the Christian response to love at all times and to forgive our enemies. Forgiving does not mean that we forget what has happened. Forgiving does not mean that we diminish the severity of the evil committed. Forgiving does not mean that we forego punishment. Forgiving is simply not letting what someone else did hold us back from living our lives. When we fail to forgive, as atrocious as the crime may have been, we hold ourselves back from being who we really are, and we let the criminal win.

If more people practiced the Christian response of love and compassion, if more people forgave and let go, maybe there would be more peace; maybe more people would get along.

I do not rejoice that Osama bin Laden had to die. Frankly, now that I have had time to think about it, it makes me sorrowful that he had to die. It makes me sorrowful that one more soul is lost. It makes me sorrowful that his life had to be a waste. Maybe if more people felt sorrow over the killing of a person, there would be less killing in this world. Maybe, if we practiced what Jesus taught, it would be contagious and the whole world would feel sorrow at the loss of a life. Imagine living in such a world.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Christians Shooting Our Wounded

Yesterday I finished my series on core doctrines of the Christian Church, and concluded that one of the major issues in the way Christians interact with each other today is the lack of distinction between core and marginal issues. Today I want to point to the other major issue that causes problems for Christians in their interactions with each other, a lack of compassion and understanding.

Let me start our with a scenario: you are in a bible study group that meets every Wednesday night. There are six of you and you all get along together really well. You have been together for about seven months and all of you feel like you can rely on your other brothers and sisters in the group for support. One of the group members, Jason, comes to group one night and everyone can tell that something is on his mind. Near the end of the study, the group leader, Phil, finally turns to Jason and says, "is something bothering you, it's apparent you've been upset all night?" Jason looks up with tears beginning to well up and tells your group that he fears he will not go to heaven because of some "sin" in his life. After some prodding Jason finally reveals that he is gay and that as much as he has been trying to repress it, it is just too hard. After some waiting, Phil finally responds by saying that Jason is right to be concerned because the bible is clear that homosexuality is a sin and that he needs to repent and stop sinning. At this point Jason is sobbing and the tension is felt throughout the whole group.

Many of you reading this blog may see nothing wrong with this encounter. This kind of thing happens every day in the Church, driving numerous people away from the Church and away from a relationship with Jesus, and yet those within the Church find this completely acceptable. But now I would like to point to how Jesus handled similar situations in Scripture.

In Luke 19:1-10 we have the story of Zaccheus the tax collector. The passage describes Zaccheus as a tax collector and a sinner (vv 1, 7; in those days tax collectors were seen as terrible sinners not to be associated with, and were always associated with prostitutes). When Jesus saw Zaccheus he said, "Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house." Before Zaccheus repented, and without any word of warning to Zaccheus about his sinful lifestyle, Jesus showed acceptance to Zaccheus for who he was. Jesus knew the hurt Zaccheus dealt with being a tax collector and was able to emphathize with him, having compassion for him, and so he asked Zaccheus if he could dine with him. The Pharisees were upset that Jesus would eat with a sinner (a big no-no to the religious leaders who felt that would make a clean person unclean). Instead, Jesus showed the man love, without judgment or ridicule for his sinful lifestyle, and it was just by being in the midst of such love that Zaccheus decided for himself to change.

In a similar story in Matthew 9:9-13, Jesus pick Matthew to be one of his twelve disciples. Matthew happens to be another tax collector and is reviled for his sin, except by Jesus. Jesus showed him acceptence, picking him, a sinner, as one of his inner circle. Again, Jesus dines with Matthew, along with some other sinners, and is criticized by the religious authorities who said to his disciples (the very sinners they are referring to), "Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus himself responds, and responds classically: "But when Jesus heard this, He said, 'It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. 'But go and learn what this means: "I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE," for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'"

Jesus' concern was not people's sins; his concern was people's hurts and his desire to heal those hurts, bringing them love. I love that last line, "I desire compassion, and not sacrifice." It reminds us that all the sacrificing we do (sacrificing salvation of others, sacrificing our relationships with others, sacrificing other people's sins) is not what Jesus commands. What Jesus commands is that we have love for one another, showing compassion to each other.

This requires us to look at things not from our own perspective, or bias, but to allow ourselves to look at things from everyone else's point of view. We do not need to sacrifice our own beliefs or even our own presuppositions. What we need to do is to recognize that many things that we often take as fact (e.g. that homosexuality is a sin) are actually our own presuppositions that blind us from emphathizing with others, and therefore from feeling compassion for them. Our role as Christians is to love one another, those outside the Church and those within.

In the above scenario, it would have done Phil right to place himself in Jason's shoes, to shed his own bias about homosexuality and to really see things from Jason's perspective, in order to better handle that situation. For, if homosexuality is a sin, Jason may be able to overcome it just by being around the love and compassion of the bible study, just like Zaccheus did by being around Jesus. And if homosexuality is not a sin (to see my views on homosexuality and Scripture, see "Related Posts" below), then Phil placed an unnecessary barrier between Jason and God. It is not our role as Christians to point out other people's sins. It is our role to be loving and compassionate, because it is only then that we assist a person in their salvation.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Related Posts
http://whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com/2011/03/homosexuality-robert-schuller-crystal.html
http://whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com/2010/10/being-compassionate-without-ulterior.html
http://whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com/2010/10/jesus-shows-compassion-to-outsiders.html
http://whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com/2010/10/manipulating-scripture.html
http://whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com/2010/10/gay-christians.html
http://whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com/2010/10/jesus-and-religious-leaders-in-bible.html

End Times, a Marginal Belief: A Series on Christianity's Core Beliefs

Beginning our series on core vs. marginal beliefs, I have decided that I will start by discussing marginal beliefs and end the series by discussing core Christian beliefs. That was the easy part as I planned for this series. The difficult part was deciding what marginal beliefs to discuss. As I discuss the marginal beliefs, I want to pick out the ones that Christians today tend to fight most over. It would do no good to point out marginal beliefs that most Christians already agreed were marginal. What is important is that we establish what marginal beliefs we most argue over with the hope that, knowing they are not part of the core of what we believe, we will no longer view them as worth arguing over. One of the most divisive of all of these marginal doctrines centers around end times theology, or eschatology.

I have seen churches split over end times theology. I have seen members thrown out of churches because of their eschatology. I have seen Christians attack each other in the name of the end times. When the number two commandment in Scripture is to love your neighbor as yourself, defending end times theology to the death is wrong whether it is a core belief or not.

There are several different beliefs regarding the end times that have caused many splits and many different factions within Christianity. There are churches that devote every worship service to preaching the end times. But is end times theology all that important? Does it make a difference in the lives of Christians? Does our salvation depend on having a correct eschatology? The answer to the last question will determine whether eschatology is a core doctrine or a marginal one.

As I read Scripture, though it is important for us to know that Jesus will come again, it is not important for us to know when or how. Matthew 25:1-13 is a parable that many interpret as a parable about the return of Christ at the end of time. Verse 13 is especially insightful: it starts our by telling us to "be on the alert" for his return. So we are asked by him to acknowledge that he will come back and to be aware that it could be anytime. But the second part of the verse warns, "for you do not know the day nor the hour." This verse assumes that even we today do not know when his return will be, or even if we will still be here on this earth. Therefore, to conjecture about when Jesus' return will be is fruitless, and to argue over the details and fight with other Christians about it, is to miss the point of the end times: we do not and cannot know when it will be.

Finally, Jesus' words in Matthew 24:36 are informative: "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." If not even Jesus himself knows about the details of the end times, who are we to think we can? If only the Father knows, is it that pertinent for us to attempt to attain such high knowledge? Our eschatology, our knowledge of the end times do nothing for our salvation and say nothing about our position in the Church, within the body of Christ. The Bible is clear on this, end times theology is a marginal belief that should not be defended to our utmost. If there is any core doctrine in Christianity relating to the end times, it is that Jesus is going to return, and I question even if that is core. Whether we believe if Jesus will return or not does not effect our salvation according to Scripture.

So as we interact with other Christians, let us continue to engage each other with an attitude of love and compassion, and when we are debating about the end times, let us be willing, for our edification and theirs, to let go of arguing, knowing that this is a marginal belief.

The Bible and the Will of God: a Series on Christianity's Core Beliefs

From the beginning of Church history, all the way up until today, the most divisive issue for us Christians is doctrine. One person believes in infant baptism and another does not, so you fight. One person believes in having communion every week and another does not, so you fight. One person believes Jesus will return before Christians are taken up another does not, so you fight. I have been staying away from the Christian message boards because instead of being places of love and compassion, acting out Jesus' example, they are more like theological boxing rings where Christians try to knock the other person out with their best argument for their particular theology. But this is not how Jesus intended for Christians to treat each other. 1 Thessalonians 5:10-11 says "[Jesus] died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing." This is the purpose of the body of Christ, the Church, to build one another up in mutual encouragement, not to tear each other down for bad theology.

That does not mean that we are not to beware of false teachings, however. We are taught in 1 John 4:1, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." The Bible is clear in many places that we are to beware of false teachings. Paul himself wrote many times to defend against false teachings that were being brought into the Church.

During Jesus' ministry, he warned against false teachings that came from the Pharisees called "the tradition of the elders." We find this in Mark 7 where Jesus and his disciples were eating. While they were eating, we are told that the Pharisees came up to Jesus and asked him why his disciples had not washed their hands properly before eating. This had nothing to do with germs, and everything to do with spiritual cleanliness. The Pharisees believed in the traditional teachings from older scribes who interpreted the Old Testament law in such a way that they believed it taught that one had to wash their hands a very specific way before they could eat. There were many such laws that came from the tradition of the elders, that the Pharisees believed in and was much of the reason they went around criticizing Jesus and his disciples, because they were not abiding by such traditional laws, which the Pharisees felt they needed to in order to maintain their Jewish identity against the foreign occupation of Rome.

In much the same way, Christians today hold on to interpretations that come from tradition of men rather than from the Bible, and argue for their beliefs in such a way that if you do not believe in them, you are not a good Christian. The problem is two-fold. First of all, it comes from a lack of distinction between core and marginal beliefs. Core beliefs are those beliefs that one truly must believe in order to consider oneself a part of that world view. For Christians, a core belief is a belief that is necessary for one to believe, in order for that person truly to be a Christian. Marginal beliefs are beliefs held by Christians that one can change, reformulate, or even drop, and still be considered a Christian. What often happens is that marginal beliefs are confused with core beliefs and people argue for these beliefs as if they are the most important belief one can hold. This often happens with end times beliefs. End times beliefs are really a marginal belief that many people count as a core, necessary belief, and they get enraged if you call yourself a Christian and do not believe the doctrine as they do. I will discuss this more later this week as we go through this series on core vs. marginal beliefs.

The second problem for Christians is there argumentative style. We are reminded in 1 Peter 3:15 "but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence." It seems like we all too often forget that "with gentleness and reverence" part.

As we argue for our beliefs, we need to match our tenacity with the kind of belief it is. The more core a belief, the more tenacious we can be in how we argue. If it is a marginal belief, give-in if it is obvious the other person is being stubborn. It is not worth the argument. If it is a core belief, you don't have to give-in, but remain loving, gentle, and reverent through the entire debate.

We are supposed to be Christian brothers and sisters in Christ, present for the mutual uplifting of one another. For the next three or four days I will discuss certain core beliefs that we should remain strong on, and certain marginal beliefs that we need to begin being less strong on. Remember as I go through these core and marginal beliefs that what is most important is that we follow the two greatest commandments taught to us by our Lord Jesus Christ: "to love the Lord God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength; and to love our neighbor as ourself." Never lose sight of the greatest commandments: the commandments to love.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Now Go and Sin No More

Recently I was involved in a debate with some other Christians regarding how to address the problem of sin. An acquaintance of ours was struggling with a particular sin and explained that he was discouraged because he has done everything his Christian friends have told him to do and nothing seems to be helping; he is enslaved to this sin. The advice he received was classic. He was told numerous times by numerous people that he just needed to try harder and give it up to Jesus and that he would overcome his sin. When the other Christians whom I was debating with heard this, their response was as classic: they said that sin is bad and that he needs to keep trying and to have self-discipline in order for him to overcome it. I agree that sin is bad, but telling someone to keep trying harder when they have tried as hard as they can and are at their wit’s end is like telling someone who is falling out of a tall building to not to get so close to the windows; it may be true but that is not what they need to hear right now. As the saying goes, Christians too often shoot their wounded. David Kinnaman relates this story in his book, UnChristian: He tells of a woman, Lisa, who went to a Christian event and was sitting with some of her Christian friends at a table discussing the topic of pregnancy. At one point Lisa brought up that she had a friend who was pregnant and really going through a rough time. Her boyfriend left her and there were some other things going on in her life. When Lisa told them that her friend was contemplating abortion and that she, herself, could empathize with her, Lisa’s friends turned on her. They condemned the friend for wanting an abortion and condemned Lisa for her empathy. Lisa was left out of the conversation for the rest of the event. Lisa had not even told them that she had an abortion earlier in life (Kinnaman, 2009, 181f). Instead of showing compassion to Lisa and her friend, the women immediately jumped on her saying that it is a sin even to empathize with a woman wanting an abortion. There are other situations in churches where a person reveals a sin of theirs, already feeling bad about it, and then is immediately jumped for being such a sinner.

What is wrong with this way of approaching people? Aren’t we to help out other people if they are sinning and point them in the right direction? Isn’t that one of the jobs of a Christian? Absolutely not. That does not mean I believe we ought to go on sinning because, hey, we are saved by faith not by works, right? I believe as a Christian it should be our goal to overcome our sins. Notice I said “our sins,” not “other people’s sins.” As Christians, we are so ready to point to other people’s sins and tell them they need to try harder so they can stop sinning, while at the same time we continue on with our sins, as hard as we are trying to give it to Jesus and overcome it. I think Matthew 7:3-5 is helpful here: “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your eye? You hypocrite, first take the log our of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” But people most often interpret this passage to mean that once you no longer have a log in your eye, you can help another person take the speck out of theirs. This assumes, however that we can remove the log from our eye. I believe, however, that we are intended to understand that as long as we are alive, we will have a log in our eye. Therefore, we will never be in a position to tell another person that they need to stop sinning or to try harder, because we will always have a log in our eye until we leave this earthly life.

Romans is particularly relevant here. Reading through Romans 7, Paul is clear that while we live, there will be a constant struggle between the spirit and the flesh. He was honest about his own struggles, saying, “I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate” (v 15). Paul could not overcome sin in his own life. It is this statement he uses to build up to the conclusion of his argument where he says in Romans 8:1 “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We will always have sin in our life. There will be times when we are doing better; there will be times when we are doing worse. What will help us get through the difficult times is the knowledge that my sin in no way affects the amount of love God has for us. God love and accepts us just for who we are, and no sin can limit in any way God’s love for us. If we have sin in our lives, all our lives, we have the confidence to know that there is no condemnation.

But what about when Jesus tells a person to “go and sin no more?” Shouldn’t we follow that as our example? This is one situation where I would say no. Jesus taught us not to judge another person or to point out their sins (unless it directly relates to you, and you need to speak to that person as directed in Matt 18). Jesus could deal with people’s sins because he was perfect and sinless. But notice how Jesus did deal with people’ sins: he dealt with people and their sins in a very gentle and loving way. He did not push anyone to try harder or to have a stronger faith. Jesus simply told people to “go and sin no more.” But this was after he showed them no condemnation. The best example of this is found in John with the adulteress woman who was brought to Jesus by the religious leaders. Jesus stated, “let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.” When they had all walked away and Jesus had asked the woman, “has no one condemned you?” She responded, “no” to which Jesus replied, “then I do not condemn you either.” Let us no longer condemn people for their sins, as if they separate a person from God. If they are stuck in sin, the best way to help them out is not to tell them to try harder, or to give up completely to Jesus; the best thing we can do is give them an environment of grace where they are loved despite their sin. A person cannot overcome sin in the midst of pressure to overcome it. A person overcomes sin only when they are shown the love and grace that Jesus himself showed to people.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Related Links
http://whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com/2011/03/church-and-society-to-judge-or-not-to.html
http://whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com/2011/03/charlie-sheen-grace-of-god-and.html
http://whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com/2011/03/threat-of-punishment-or-promise-of-love.html
http://whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com/2011/03/rob-bell-love-wins-and-universalist.html
http://whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com/2010/11/christians-voting-without-judging.html

The Power of Presence

Friends,
When the angel Gabriel told Mary she was going to have a baby, conceived of the Holy Spirit, we read in Matthew 1:23 that he says, "'Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,' which means, 'God is with us.'” Jesus represented God in our midst, he brought God's presence to the world. As we read in Scripture of Jesus' life, we come to realize that the greatest gift he gave to humankind was not any miracle he performed, it was not any word that he spoke, but the greatest gift Jesus gave to us was his presence. Sure he performed many miraculous things: healing the blind and the lame, bringing the dead back to life, and turning water into wine. But the purpose of God's incarnation in Jesus was not to heal physical ailments or make a boring party more exciting. Jesus' purpose in becoming one of us was to give us spiritual healing through the gift of God's presence. One of the examples of this in Scripture can be found in John 4 where we read about Jesus' visitation with the woman at the well. Jesus did not perform any miraculous healing in this story, and he didn't even provide any kind of teaching. Jesus gave his presence and brought acceptance to a woman who, as we read about her many husbands and how she was currently living with a man that was not her husband, we realize was not familiar with acceptance. She probably had many people in her village that did not accept her because they saw her as an adulteress because of her lifestyle. But Jesus showed her acceptance, kindness, and love; and most importantly, he showed her God. By providing his presence, God's presence, he gave the woman spiritual healing. Another story that illustrates this is found in John 8 when the religious leaders of Jesus' day brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery, before Jesus. They questioned Jesus about stoning her, since that is what their interpretation of the law required. Jesus' reply was, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." When Jesus had looked away, and then looked back, he saw that there was no religious leader to condemn her. Jesus then asked, "did no one condemn you." Upon hearing the woman reply "no," Jesus responded, "then I do not condemn you either." Once again, Jesus does not perform any miraculous healing or provide any fantastic teaching, he simply gives himself, giving the gift of God's presence, by showing compassion and mercy. By being present with others, Jesus gave the gift of the presence of God, which encompasses love, compassion, and mercy.
One of the metaphors used in Scripture to refer to the presence of God is the Temple. In the Old Testament, the Temple represented God's presence in the midst of Israel. When the Temple was built by Solomon, we read in 1 Kings 8 that upon completion of the Temple, and once the Ark of the Covenant was placed inside, "It happened that went the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. Then Solomon said, 'The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud'" (vv 10-12). To the Jews, the Temple held God's presence in the midst of Israel. When Jesus, in all four gospels ransacked the Temple, overthrowing the money changers and announced that he would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days, he was illustrating that God's presence no longer dwelled in the Temple, but dwelled in himself. Jesus was announcing that wherever he was, God was. But something remarkable happens when Jesus dies, resurrects, and ascends. He told the disciples that his death and resurrection and ascension would be necessary in order for us to receive the Holy Spirit. We read in I Corinthians 3:16 "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" Paul tells the Christians in Corinth that because we have received the Holy Spirit, that we are now the Temple of God. In other words, being Christ-followers, we now house God's presence bring God's presence into the world wherever we go.
What this means for us is that as we interact with other people, it is our responsibility as Christians, as those who house the presence of God, to bring compassion, love, and mercy to others. This means that instead of the judgmental, condemning attitude Christians often bring to others, it is our duty to bring mercy and compassion, bringing God's presence to others by showing them his infinite, unconditional love. It also means that we can stop trying to fix every problem, and help people to rest in God's presence despite the problem they are in. It seems that we too often, when we have no solution and no ability to solve a person's problem, we try to solve it anyway by giving advice and trying to work out a solution, instead of helping the person to rest in God's peaceful presence. As a Hospice Chaplain, I often visit people who are moments from passing. Often what is manifested is what is called "terminal agitation." This means that just prior to dying a person will experience high anxiety and become restless. The typical response is to try and do something to help them. Caregivers will run around like a chicken with their head cut off trying to come up with a solution. Medication is given, blankets are put on them, blankets are taken off them, 911 is sometimes called. The best thing to do in this situation is just simply to be with the person. To provide one's own presence, thus providing God's presence, without trying to perform some miraculous cure or relief, is the best gift a person can give. Sometimes just being their is all that is needed in many situations. Stop trying to give a miracle, stop trying to give the best advice, and learn to simply be. The power of presence, and the relief it can give is amazing and is truly the greatest of all miracles if we just give it a try.
-Brandon

A Call to Christian Leaders

I have spent much of this afternoon reading through various blog posts about the recent gay suicides that just occurred. There is much consensus that church leaders need to do something to help stop the hurtful bullying that is directed toward homosexuals. Some of the blogs (e.g. Religious Gays tell Teens, "It Gets Better") explain how some church leaders are doing their part in speaking words of encouragement to the gay community. I have discussed in many of my past blogs how Christians are at least partly (I would say much) to blame for the anti-gay attitude that is prominent in the world today. This has much to do with explicit anti-gay treatment of church leaders (which I define loosely enough to include anyone who represents the Church and knows better than to act in such judgmental ways). One of my readers explained to me how 2 of her women co-workers consistently tell a lesbian coworker that she is going to hell. One of the things I am going to continue to explore in this blog and am writing about in my book is where this behavior and attitude came from. What is important for this post is that the only people Jesus ever said were going to go to hell were the religious leaders of his day who were treating people the way those 2 women are treating their lesbian co-worker. The religious leaders of Jesus' day were constantly going around and judging people for their sinful behavior. Jesus purposed to put to a stop to that, saying things like, "do not judge lest you want to be judged," "do not attempt to take the splinter out of your brother's eye before you have first taken the log out of your own eye," and why he told the parable of the good Samaritan. The parable was intended to show that we are to love all people, regardless of whether we agree with their beliefs (The Jews and the Samaritans were notorious enemies because of opposing religious beliefs). Jesus was saying that it does not matter if the person laying on the ground is someone whom you disagree with; you pick him up, you place him on your horse, and you get him help, meeting his need. In this parable, Jesus is speaking to a crowd of Jews who hate Samaritans. By making the hated Samaritan the hero of the story, Jesus is saying that the Samaritan is more worthy of the love of God than the priest and the Levite in the story. Place today's Church leaders in the story as the Levite and the priest and place a gay man in the story as the Samaritan, and we can understand the story as it relates to us today. (Who says the bible is not relevant anymore). Dr. Janet Edwards talks about the Good Samaritan parable in her blog Gay Teen Suicides: People of Faith, Step up for our Youth. In it she rightly calls many of today's church leaders the priest and Levite from the parable that step around and avoid the man laying on the road. And I think this is the other problem.

The first problem is Church leaders speaking out explicitly against homosexuals. The second problem is that the Church leaders who are for showing love and compassion to the glbt (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) community are complicit because they avoid the issue and remain silent. They do not speak out against the gay lifestyle, but they do nothing to speak out against the anti-gay rhetoric of the church. Many Church leaders choose to remain silent because they do not want to offend anyone in their church. But by remaining silent, they are offending the glbt community and remain accomplices in the offenses of the Church leaders who speak out loudly against the gay population. Whenever I see a situation in which people are afraid to speak out against an issue, I think how between President Andrew Jackson and President Abraham Lincoln, there was not a single two term president. Andrew Jackson served from 1829 to 1837 and there were eight single term presidents until Lincoln was elected in 1860 and elected again for a second term in 1860. The reason no president won a second term between these two presidents was because not one of them had the courage to stand up against slavery. It was not until Abraham Lincoln came onto the scene that someone spoke out boldly against slavery. We need church leaders to be bold today and to stand up with a loud voice and decry the bullying that is being directed at the gay community. We need church leaders today who have the character and integrity to stand up for what is right and preach the gospel of love for our neighbor that Jesus preached, which means preaching love to all people, regardless of beliefs, background or sexual orientation. Church leaders need to do what Rabbi Jason Miller writes about in his blog and Preach Tolerance, Compassion Toward LGBT Community.

Here is my call to Church leaders around the country; I'm asking you to do 3 things. Stand up as representatives of the church and apologize on behalf of the Church for failing the gay community and being complicit in the bullying of the GBLT community that led to the suicides a month ago and to countless other suicides. Bishop Gene Robinson, in his blog How Religion is Killing our Most Vulnerable Youth, says in an extremely powerful way, These bullying behaviors would not exist without the undergirding and the patina of respect provided by religious fervor against LGBT people. It's time for "tolerant" religious people to acknowledge the straight line between the official anti-gay theologies of their denominations and the deaths of these young people. Secondly, reach out to the gay community and invite them into your churches, allowing them to be a part of your church community; giving them an environment of love and care that will foster much needed healing in their lives. Finally, as much as you can, educate the your churches and the public about the fact that Jesus never preached a message of hate or intolerance towards sinner, but that he never showed anything less than the greatest love for all people, regardless of whether they followed the letter of the law or not. As a matter of fact, the people Jesus showed the most love towards were the greatest sinners in the community. He ate with tax collectors and prostitutes, those considered the most unholy by the religious leaders. So as one Church leader to others, I am calling to you, come forward and do these three things. It will make for a more Christ-centered nation.
God bless,
Brandon

For further resources, go to the following blog which I was not able to cite in the post: Christians and Bullying: Standing with Gays and Lesbians and The Christian Call to Civility.

Christians: Take Responsibility So You can be the Cure

It is the greatest feeling to finish another chapter, and I just finished the fifth chapter in my book, discussing how Christians today should interact with contemporary outsiders. One area where our interactions have fallen short of the desire of Christ, is in our interactions with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender crowd. Ask anyone on the street what the Christian perspective on homosexuality is, and they will say Christians view homosexuals as sinners who are going to hell. This comes from the outspokenness of Christians about gays being responsible for all of the tragedy's that have taken place in the last ten or more years. 9/11 was blamed on the gay population, Katrina was blamed, the death of American soldiers over seas is blamed for the homosexuality in America. Christians have a bad reputation when it comes to how we interact with the gay population.

Jim Daly has a wonderful article entitled "My Take: Christianity not to Blame for Anti-Gay Bullying" in which he says that Christianity is the cure for this type of anti-gay treatment of homosexuals. He is referring to the recent suicides of some gay teenagers that made the news last month. I agree with Jim that Christianity, as it was meant to be, is the cure. But I highly disagree (can one mildly disagree I wonder) with him that Christianity is not to blame. I think the biggest problem is that the Church is not standing up and taking responsibility for itself. The blaming of homosexuals for the recent disasters in our country was done by prominent church leaders, not merely nominalist Christians. If Christians cannot stand up and take at least some of the blame for the anti-gay treatment, taking responsibility for its part, it will never be able to take the position as the cure for the accepting of gays and lesbians. When Christian leaders can stand up and say, "we are sorry for preaching hatred and judgment against homosexuals, and we ask for your forgiveness so we can begin the healing process," Christians can then begin to be the cure by exemplifying Christ Jesus in showing long deserved love and compassion to the gay and lesbian, the bisexual and transgender population of the United States. This is what Rev. Mark Tidd, Sr. Pastor of the Highlands Church in Denver, Colorado did. You can read about his remarkable transformation in a blog entitled Evangelical Changes His Views on Homosexuality and Church Grows as a Result. This pastor was deeply effected when he experienced first hand the love God had for a family with a gay child in his congregation. He changed his views and his church grew from 80 to 300. That is a stamp of approval from God on this pastor and his change of belief if I ever saw one. Remember, God loves and embraces all of humankind, whether it be straight or gay, black or white; He accepts all who desire to enter into His kingdom.
God bless.
-Brandon

Christianity and Culture

As I have been working through my research and writing my book and these blogs, one question has been eating at me: "How can we treat all people with love, and still be responsible citizens and advocate for the right laws?" In other words, how can we be non-judgmental and loving toward someone who has had, or is contemplating having an abortion, and still vote for anti-abortion laws? Or, how can we be loving and compassionate toward gays and lesbians, and yet still deny them the right to marry? I think these are very challenging questions that have to be answered in order for us not be internally divided. As whole and complete human beings it is important for our health and well being, not to allow us to become internally divided, thinking one thing while doing another, or doing one thing in one situation while doing a completely different thing in another situation. And the questions needs to be asked, "can I treat gays and lesbians, women who have had abortions, and others with compassion and love, while voting for anti-gay and anti-abortion laws?"

Think about it this way: If you have a friend or an acquaintance who is either gay or has had an abortion, and they have just received judgment and harsh words from someone and need consoling, and you are that person who is giving them extra love and allowing them to vent and cry, how would you respond if they ask you if you think gay marriage or abortion should be legalized, or if God is going to judge them for their behavior? How can you show them the love they need, and answer their question honestly? It will be important for you and me to sort these problems out if we are going to be the salt of the earth and the light on a hill for these people.

What I would like to do before I give my thoughts on this is to hear from you the reader. I think this is an excellent topic for a discussion among us and so I would like very much to hear what you have to say on this topic. I'm sure some of you that read this believe that you can show love and compassion while voting in an anti-gay/anti-abortion way. Some of you think this is impossible and the two cannot be reconciled; you either have to be judgmental toward gays while continuing to vote anti-gay, or show love to them and vote pro-gay. Whatever your view, please give your reasoning in argument form. Please post your comments below and look for a followup post in the coming days where I will give you my thoughts on how to respond to this difficult issue.
God bless.
-Brandon

Being Compassionate without Ulterior Motives

What I love most about the way Jesus responded to those who were not students of his (see my previous blog post) was that he showed them the greatest compassion without any ulterior motives. Think about how many Christians respond to outsiders today. We view them as a body, a number to be gained for the church. Our desire is to convert them. This was the big thing on my college campus. Out on the square, I would see Christians each day going up to people and asking, "are you a Christian?" This is the first thing they would say to them. No "hello," no introduction, just "are you a Christian?" If the answer was "no" the evangelizer would start going into a speech about how they need to become a Christian because of their sins. I see the same thing from time to time when I am out and about. Going into Starbucks the patron may ask the barista "Are you a Christian?" Sitting in Barnes and Noble, two people sitting next to each other may strike up a conversation. Not too far into it one asks the other "Are you a Christian?" I think I mentioned in a past blog that I was reading a book by a psychologist who had a woman in his office crying about some distress. This was her visit, and the very first question the psychologist asked the woman was, "Are you a Christian?"

Since when did conversion become the task of Christianity. Matthew 28:19-20 does not say "go and make converts of all men," it says, "go and make disciples." A disciple is literally a student, someone who spends time learning from you. Yet we act like we are to convince a person of the truth of Jesus and once that is accomplished we can walk away and leave the convert to find a church of their own. (Or if we are lucky, convince them to go to our church). I liked Jesus' method of making disciples. He did not ask them first time around, "do you believe in me." How could they? He did not yet have a relationship with them. And that is the key. Jesus spent time with people. He cared about them and showed them how much he cared. He would spend time with people without asking about their background, without finding out about their religious affiliation. The Centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant and Jesus was willing to go immediately to his home. Jesus spent time with people and did not have any pretense. The greatest part is that Jesus did not try to convince people to follow him. From time to time he would ask them to follow him, in special cases, like with the twelve. But mostly, people followed him without him needing to do a thing but care. If people chose not to follow Jesus after Jesus spent time with him, he was fine with that and never pushed the issue. If people wanted to follow, he was fine with that. (There is the rare exception where Jesus asked a person not to follow, but this was always because that person had a greater purpose where they were at).

In our interactions with outsiders today, we need to possess the attitude of Jesus, caring about people and developing relationships with them. We needn't bring up the issue of religion with people until it seems right, appropriate in the context of conversation and relationship. After all, we do not know what kind of attitude a person has toward Christianity until we have developed a relationship with them. If we open up with, "Are you a Christian," we might get a fist in our face and lose the person for good. But if we develop a good, trusting relationship with them, then we can bring up the subject of Christ in a safe and secure environment where they can explain their anger and hurt toward Christianity in a relationship where they know they won't be judged and where maybe some mutually understanding can arise. This is true discipleship and what Jesus desired when he asked us to make disciples of all nations in Matthew 28.
God bless.
-Brandon

Jesus Shows Compassion to Outsiders

Good day to everyone out there in cyber world. I hope you are having a good day. I have been really looking forward to today's post as much of what I say hear on out hinges on today's topic. Yesterday we learned who the outsider's were (I did not go into as much detail as I could have because of the nature of the blogosphere. I will let everyone know when my book comes out. In it I explore in much more detail who the outsiders were and why that is important for us today). Now that we know to look for Jewish, Gentile, and Samaritan outsiders in Scripture, let us see how Jesus actually responds to the outsiders in Scripture.

Let's look first at Matthew 8:5-13, the story of the Centurion who had great faith (Yesterday I said we would look at Luke's version in chapter 7, but I decided this version would be more fun). I will not write out the whole story hear, but in it Jesus is walking with his disciples in Capernaum when a Centurion comes up to Jesus and request that Jesus heal his servant who is extremely sick and dying. Jesus, without hesitation, offers to come to the man's home and heal the servant. The Centurion, however, feels shamed and tells Jesus that he is not worthy to have the Lord come under his roof. So Jesus, again without hesitation, heals the servant then and there. What is remarkable about this story is that Jesus does not question the Centurion one bit about the sins in his life or his background or religion. Jesus does not say "do you believe in me" or "have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior." Jesus, without the slightest questioning or concern for how this man lead his life, responds to the request and heals his servant. (I am reminded of a book a read by two Christian psychologists who explained that when a patient comes in and is experiencing a great deal of distress, the first question they ask is "are you a Christian?" That is not the most compassionate or caring way to work with someone having emotional issues). It is important to understand that the Centurion was likely a Zoroastrian which many of the Roman soldiers were (if not a stoic) who believed in dualism (two gods of equal power, one good and one evil) and was not even close to being Jewish. Jesus had no concern for that; the fulfillment of the request came immediately after the request, no questions asked. It was this non-Jew, this man who was apparently such a sinner that he was ashamed to have Jesus under his roof, that we are told has greater faith than anyone Jesus has seen in Israel. Imagine Jesus today saying about a non-Christian, "I have not seen greater faith than this man's in all of America."

The Next story takes place in Luke 7:11-17 and is the story of the widow of Nain's son raised from the dead. As the story goes, Jesus and his disciples were journeying toward the city of Nain where a funeral procession was coming from, having a dead boy/man (the story does not indicate the age) with a grieving mother at his side. We are told in v 13 that as soon as he saw her he had compassion on her. Immediately he healed the son. Again we have a situation where Jesus saw a person in great need, in great distress, and had no concern for her background, nor did he question her at all. He simply, having compassion on her, healed the son. He did not question what religion she was or what sins she has committed. Jesus did not ask her to confess her sins first. He simply saw a need and immediately met it.

The first story was of a Gentile outsider (we know this because he was a Centurion), the second was a Jew (we know this because the funeral rituals resembled that of a Jewish funeral), so let us now look at a Samaritan outsider in Luke 17:11-19. In this story Jesus is approached by 10 men who have leprosy and when they see Jesus approach, they shout out to him, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" Immediately Jesus shouted to them to "Go and show yourselves to the priests." Immediately these men were healed. What is striking about this story is that only one came back to thank Jesus, and this we are told was a Samaritan (v 16). What is even more striking is that the other nine were Jews, indicated by the fact that Jesus singled this man out as a "foreigner" against all the rest (v 18). The Jews did not return to glorify Jesus, but the Samaritan did. Again we have a story where Jesus did not question the background or the religion, or the sinfulness of the lepers, but was made aware of a need, and immediately met the need.

This just goes to show the compassion with which Jesus treated people. When there was a person hurting and someone in need, Jesus did not hesitate to help that person out, to meet the need where the person was at. He did not ask anything of them. He did not give them any requirement they had to follow. He did not request their conversion or devotion. He simply met the need with compassion and went his way. Sometimes the outsider followed him and became a disciples, sometimes he/she did not. But it did not matter to Jesus. His concern was to show them love and compassion regardless of what they had done in their life or what they believed or what their nationality was; and we see this time and again in Scripture without exception. Is this the example we have been following? Is this the example the church has been following? In my next blog I will look at who today's outsiders are.
God bless.
-Brandon