Love Your Enemies

Jesus taught that we should love our enemies and pray for them.  He taught we should turn the other cheek.  Jesus practiced this to the extreme when he allowed himself killed by his enemies and prayed for their forgiveness at the very moment they were killing him on the cross.  How difficult we have found it to practice this in our own lives.

The political atmosphere today is a perfect example of how we fall short of this everyday.  I used to pay close attention to the news, and prided myself in my knowledge of current affairs.  The divisiveness of the 2016 presidential campaign turned me away from the news and social media.  I could not tolerate all of the hate and negativity I read on a daily basis coming from both sides of the political aisle.  It is as bad two years later.  

I, for one, find it easy to love those "enemies" of mine I have no personal contact with.  Whether it's politicians, celebrities, or facebook friends who I disagree with, or people who are blatant opponents of mine, if I have no personal connection to them I have no problem praying for them and turning my other cheek.  However, when it comes to people I have direct contact with on a regular basis, I have a very hard time turning the other cheek.

There is a person in my life with whom I have had a very adversarial professional relationship.  I have felt unjustly criticized by this person.  Frankly, this person has never liked me much.  Sometimes no matter what we do, there are people we encounter who we just rub the wrong way.  I have done what I could to keep this relationship amicable, but it is now at a point I can no longer continue my relationship with this person.  

I keep thinking of all the possible scenarios that might result when I tell this person I am breaking off our professional relationship.  I imagine how good it would feel to tell this person off to his face.  I imagine the nasty things he might say to me, and how I might give back a stinging retort.  There is a lot I could say to him to call him out on his hypocrisy and unjustified criticism.  But what good would that do?

It might make me feel good for a short period of time to be nasty to him for once.  But in reality, it would not serve him or me good in any way.  He will not change or apologize because of my criticism of him.  It would do nothing but lower me to his level.  How much better would I feel leaving as the better man?  I will break off our professional relationship by thanking him for all he has given me during our professional relationship.  I will shake his hand.  I will do everything on my part to live up to the call of Jesus to love our enemies, to turn the other cheek, and to pray for him.  I will wish him well.  I will be the better man.

The Gospel of Mark According to Me

I started a project today translating the Bible be more understandable for the contemporary audience, while also trying to portray more scientific accuracy and provide a more accurate meaning of certain passages.  I also provide some notes in passages I feel need some explanation.  I intend to do this with all of the Gospels at the very least, and will publish the four Gospels from my translation.  I do not pretend that my translation is in any way inspired by God or that my translation is intended to replace more authorized versions of the Gospels.  At best my translation is a paraphrase, intended for purposes of making the Gospels clearer to a contemporary audience.  I hope you enjoy.  Below is the first chapter of Mark according to the translation of Brandon Parks.

1:1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus, the chosen one, the Son of God; 

1:2 As it is written in the prophets, take notice, I send my messenger before you, and he will prepare the world for your arrival.

1:3 The voice of one calling out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight.

1:4 John baptized in the desert, and preached the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of our failings.

1:5 And everyone from the land of Judaea, and from Jerusalem, travelled to see John, and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their imperfections.

1:6 And John dressed in camel's hair, with underwear of animal skin; and he ate locusts and wild honey; 

1:7 And preached, saying, One is coming after me who is greater than me, whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.

1:8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with his own Spirit. (Meaning Jesus will fill you with his Spirit that will clean you any failings.  See Psalm 51:10-12.).

1:9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan River.

1:10 And immediately coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: 

1:11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, You are my beloved Son. I am very proud of You.

1:12 And immediately the Spirit led Jesus to pursue solitude in the desert. 

1:13 And he spent forty days in the desert, struggling with temptation; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels took care of him.

1:14 John was put in prison, and Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the good news of God’s perfect government, 

1:15 And saying, The time has come, and God’s perfect government has arrived: turn to God, and believe the good news.

1:16 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishermen.

1:17 And Jesus said to them, Come with me, and I will make you fish for men.

1:18 And immediately they abandoned their nets, and went with him.

1:19 And when he had gone a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship fixing their nets.

1:20 And immediately he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went with him.

1:21 And they went into Capernaum; and immediately on the sabbath day he entered the synagogue, and taught.

1:22 And they were amazed at his teaching: for he taught them as one with authority and personal knowledge, and not as the teachers of the day.

1:23 And there was a man in their synagogue who was sick and misunderstood (likely someone with paranoid schizophrenia); and he cried out, 

1:24 Saying, Leave us alone; what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Are you here to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.

1:25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be quiet, and leave him.

1:26 And when the illness hurt him, and the man cried with a loud voice, the man was cured of his illness.

1:27 And they were all amazed, and questioned among themselves, saying, What is this? what new doctrine is this? For with authority Jesus commands even sickness, and even ailments obey him.

1:28 And immediately his fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.

1:29 And immediately after leaving the synagogue, they went into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.

1:30 But Simon's mother-in-law lay sick of a fever, and soon they told Jesus of her.

1:31 And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she waited on them.

1:32 And in the evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Jesus everyone who was sick, (the original said “and those possessed of demons.” To reflect our knowledge today, I have removed that phrase as those “possessed with demons” likely had illnesses the people of the time were unfamiliar with).

1:33 And everyone from the city was crowding the door.

1:34 And Jesus healed many that were sick of diverse diseases; and asked that no one speak of him being the Son of God.

1:35 And in the morning, waking up before dawn, Jesus went out, and found a solitary place where he prayed.

1:36 And Simon and they that were with him followed him.

1:37 And when they had found him, they said, Everyone is looking for you.

1:38 And he said to them, Let us go into the next towns, so I may preach there also: for that is why I came here.

1:39 And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and Healed those who were sick.

1:40 And a leper came to him, begging him, and kneeling down to him, saying, If you want, you are able to heal me.

1:41 And Jesus, feeling immense compassion for this man, put forth his hand, and touched him, saying to him, I will; be clean.  (Note: at this time touching a leper made a person unclean.  This man likely had not experienced a loving human touch for many years.  Jesus showed that a person does not become unclean for touching someone, but that by touching someone who is unclean, we can make that person clean).

1:42 And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was clean.

1:43 And Jesus immediately charged him, and then sent him away; 

1:44 And said unto him, Make sure to say nothing to any man: but go right away and show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

1:45 But he went out, and began to tell everyone who would listen, and to spread everywhere the details of his healing, so much so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside the city in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.

Maturity and the Christian Faith

This week I turn thirty and I thought it would be fun to look at the changes in my own belief system and the influences that have brought about such significant changes. I hope this can be educational to show that one's belief system should not grow stagnant and remain the same throughout a person's life, but that as a person matures so should their faith.

I was raised in a Christian home with a fundamentalist bent. I was taught to read the bible, to love Jesus, to pray, and to go to church every Sunday. I was taught that I was a sinner who needed forgiveness and that without Jesus I could not be saved. I went to a conservative church growing up that taught us to "witness" to people (a term that means proselytizing, or gaining converts). I was taught to feel guilty about my sins and to always ask Jesus for forgiveness when I sinned.

My first major crisis of faith came when I was a senior in high school. I was raised in a religious bubble where I just assumed that what I was taught was right and was never exposed to anything beyond my Christianity. Imagine my surprise when searching the internet one day I came across a website that "proved" the bible wrong. I felt like the earth was crumbling around me and I didn't know what to believe; my faith had never been challenged before. My bible teacher in high school (I went to a conservative Christian high school) introduced me to Josh McDowell, thus beginning a major shift in my belief system where I fell in love with Christian apologetics (defending one's faith) and desired to become something of a theologian.

During this period in my life, while in my early 20s, I was an outspoken fundamentalist college student, defending such doctrines as the trinity, the inerrancy of the bible, and the salvation only of Protestant Christians. When someone supported a belief I felt was unbiblical, I jumped on them with such an attack that I'd make Pat Robertson proud. I was outspoken against gay marriage, against abortion, and against any religion that was not remotely close to looking like orthodox Christianity. Then would come the most significant moment in my life.

In 2009 I became a hospice chaplain and would meet my mentor Dr. Lynn Euzenas. Both have had the biggest impact in my life. Ministering directly with the sick and dying has made me change my priorities in life. For the first time in my life I was in a position where my heart would be impacted even more so than my head. As I have worked with those who are sick and dying I have realized that many of the arguments for particular doctrines do not matter because what is important to God is not right teaching but right love. I Corinthians 13 teaches that love is the most important attribute of a Christian, and I finally understood what that meant. What is right doctrine without love of one's fellow human being? What kind of Christian are we if we would rather criticize a gay man for his orientation than love him for being a child of God? This is what I learned from my mentor and this is what I have learned from my ministry with those who are in the greatest need of love, those who are sick and hurting and fearful.

I no longer find it necessary to focus on sin, mine or another's. I still believe in the trinity but don't feel that God needs much defending. I think he's got a thick skin and can handle things himself. I no longer believe in the inerrancy of the bible because, frankly, it talks about the sun rotating around the earth which is scientifically incorrect. I no longer believe homosexuality is a sin and instead feel it important to show my love to my gay brothers and sisters in Christ because they are as much children of God as I am. I still believe abortion is wrong, but I will love those who have had and who have performed abortions as much as I love anyone else, because that is what Jesus says is right.

What I hope we can learn from this is that by sticking with a particular belief for the sake of being right we end up wrong in the end. By holding to a belief for one's entire life a person is so arrogant as to believe that he cannot possibly be wrong. We cannot grow stagnant in our beliefs but must constantly monitor for outmoded beliefs that especially hold us back from loving anyone. Our guideline for tossing out a doctrine should be this question: "is this doctrine preventing me from showing love to my fellow human being." If it is the case that a doctrine is causing love to be held back, we must toss it out and forget it, because it is not what Jesus would want us to believe. Let us therefore be mature believers and love one another as Jesus has loved us.

Blessings,

-Brandon

P.S. Don't forget to stop by amazon.com and purchase my book What Did Jesus Do for your kindle. It is still free for the next four days.

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.


 

Judge Not: Jesus, Homosexuality, and the Bible

I'm not sure at what point Christians decided to take upon themselves the task of cleansing other people from their sins. But at some point it happened: Christianity saw itself become the moral police who would call out people for their sins and institute practices such as excommunication. It became the task of each individual Christian to make people aware of their sins and bar them from participation in certain church activities such as being involved in leadership. Now, obviously if someone is involved in sinful activities that could actually do harm to someone else, those people should be barred from participation. However, we as Christians haved missed a crucial teaching of Jesus' that often goes unheeded. That injunction was to not judge sinners, and that we should remove the log from our eye before focussing on the splinter in someone else's eye.

 

Jesus was clear that when he spoke against sin, we were to take the information he provided us as a way of being self corrective instead of being critical of others for their sins. That of course does not mean we need to be guilt laden, since Jesus' death and resurrection atone for our sins. But we are to take the commands of the Bible as ways of instilling obedience in our own lives, not other people's.

 

When Jesus criticizes us for "looking at the speck in our brother's eye instead of focusing on the plank in our own eye" in Matthew 7:3, he is criticizing those who condemn others for what they perceive to be sin while ignoring the very real sins in their own lives. It is important to remember that God will judge us the way we judge others, which means that if we judge people for sinning, God will remove his grace from us and judge us for our sins. The converse of this is that the more we show compassion and acceptance to others, the more compassion and acceptance God will show to us.

 

I just read an article which discusses an ad that the mayor of London rightly removed which praised the curing of homosexuality. The ad was placed by conservative Christians who call homosexuality a sin and work to cure homosexuals of what they call the "disease" of homosexuality. This is a direct violation of Jesus' words in Matthew 7 asking us not to judge others. This is a more prominent form of what happens in the Church everyday. There is a profound problem in the Church today involving the criticism of other people's sins and the desire among Christians to "fix" sinners. Many of us make it our role to be the moral police of our community. It is important that we realize that regardless of what we perceive to be a sin in another person's life, that which is in our eye is always bigger than that which is another person's. Therefore, we should do our best to focus on improving our own lives instead of obsessing over the sins of others.

Blessings,

-Brandon

 

The Good Samaritan: A Reinterpretation

In Luke 10:25-37 Jesus tells the Parable of the Good Samaritan in response to the question "Lord, who is our neighbor?" Jesus had just told the crowd that the second greatest commandment was to "love your neighbor as yourself." Whether the Scribe who asked Jesus who his neighbor was, was trying to trip Jesus up, or if he genuinely wanted to hear Jesus' answer, I cannot say. The text says the original intent of the Scribe was to "test" Jesus and that the follow-up question was to justify his original question, so we cannot truly say why he asked; but it will become evident that he needed to know. Unfortunately, Jesus uses an illustration that is better suited for biblical times than our own. This may explain why so many Christians seem to forget who their neighbor is today. That is why I am giving an updated version of this wonderful parable, instead of simply explaining the parable, in hopes that whoever may come across it, may gain some valuable insight into and a fresh perspective from these classic words of Jesus. Enjoy!

A Christian man was taking the subway in New York, going from Brooklyn up to Queens late one night, when he was jumped by a group of muggers. He was beaten very badly, beyond recognition as a matter of fact, and was barely breathing. The muggers grabbed everything and left him for dead.

Not far from where this man was left, bleeding and bruised, a Catholic priest was leaving his rectory. It had been a long day. He made no less than four visitations that day, providing the sacrament of the sick to some shut-ins, and providing counseling to a couple that was contemplating divorce. He was tired and had one last visit he had to make before he could end his day. As he passed the beaten man, he contemplated stopping for help, but knew he just did not have the energy in him, and he had to get to his visit. "Mustn't keep people waiting" he thought to himself as he day dreamed about the comfortable bed he hoped to get to soon.

At the same time as the priest had crossed this man's path, a Baptist preacher was leaving a death visit where he had helped a family cope as their loved one passed away. For him also it had been a long day. Between board meetings and sermon preparation, he barely had time to gather his thoughts. Not to mention his time spent counseling a young drug addict, and writing up a short article for the local paper about why gay marriage should not be allowed in America. He too saw this fellow brother in Christ laying near death, but decided not to stop because God would bring by someone to help soon. After all, he had done plenty that day and needed to think about himself at this point. "Whatever happened" he thought, "it must have been for a reason."

Not long after the preacher passed by the young, dying man, two men who were on their honeymoon (having just been married in Massachusetts) were approaching the young man. These two men, raised Christian but currently agnostic, had quite the day themselves. As they ate breakfast they attracted quite a few dirty looks and few slurs from some of the patrons at the restaurant. They were threatened as they walked down the street holding hands that day and nearly escaped with their lives. The very man who was beaten and bruised was involved in a protest that same evening that these men walked by, and it was this man's spit that landed on the two gay men. But this couple looked on this man with compassion as they saw him clinging to life. They thought about his own family who must be wondering where he is. They thought about this man's emotions and the terror that must have been running through him as he lay close to death all alone in the subway tunnel. So they lifted this man up and took him to the nearest emergency room. They paid for all of his medical bills and stayed with him until they were sure he could speak for himself and oversee his own care. The gay couple never asked for anything and, when the man was well enough to take care of himself, they went off into anonymity.

You see, what makes this story so remarkable, and what makes it still so relevant for us and necessary for us to learn, is that the hero of the story, our neighbor, is always the person/people we typically most hate. It is this person we are told to love, and this is the second greatest commandment, right behind the command to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." Any group can be placed in the role of the Good Samaritan: Muslims, Abortion Doctors, Illegal Immigrants, etc. But the story does not end there. Many people miss the very end of the parable where Jesus says, "now go and do likewise." The only thing Jesus could be referring to is to be like the Good Samaritan. So we are to view those we tend to hate the most as those who are willing to help out when no one else will. But we are also to help out everyone, even those we consider our worst enemies, just as the Good Samaritan helped out the man beaten along the roadside. In other words, our examples for doing rightly, are the very people we often consider to be the worst sinners. Isn't it amazing how Jesus turns our traditional morality on its head? It is my prayer and my desire for us no longer to consider others our enemies, but to remember when we start to feel that way, that these people are in fact our greatest examples, and those neighbors to which we are supposed to love so deeply. That is what Jesus did.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Top 10 Jesus Quotes

10. "Love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength." (Matt. 22:37)
This is a great quote reminding us that our main love, our top priority in everything should be God and to bring him glory in everything we do.

9. "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Matt. 22:39)
This quote reminds us that it is important not only to maintain an amicable relationship with God, but to maintain a good relationship (as much as is within our power) with our neighbor. And who is our neighbor? Our neighbor is the Samaritan, the person who represents the ones we tend in our personal lives to consider our enemies. For the straight Christian it is the gay man. For the gay Christian, it is the straight Christian who constantly condemns him. It is these people we are asked to show love and gentleness towards.

A Letter to My Gay Brothers and Sisters

To My Gay Brothers and Sisters,
For too long the Church, Protestant and Catholic alike, has kept the doors of the kingdom of God closed to you. We have ridiculed you and criticized you, and we have asked you to change. We have come to you promising a "cure" from homosexuality, as if it were a disease that made you less of a person. I cannot imagine how that has made you feel. I know that it must be awfully hurtful and degrading.

I want you to know that not everyone in the Church feels this way about homosexuality. Many of us recognize that being gay does not make you any less of a person or any more of a sinner than anyone else in the Church. Many of us do not even consider homosexuality to be a sin. There certainly are passages in the Bible that people point to, to show that your lifestyle is sinful; but those passages are so often taken out of context and misunderstood that Christians use them to wrongfully judge you. I am sorry for this.

I want you to know Jesus in the way that I know him, as someone who accepts you for who you are. I know that when many of you came out to your family and friends as being gay, you were met with intolerance, and judgment, and nonacceptance. I know that many of you lost relationships with people you cared about greatly because you took the courageous step of being honest and truthful with yourself. I know that you have undergone a great deal of hardship and adversity because of this honesty. I am sorry for the pain and hurt you have experienced simply for being true to yourself and others.

I want you to know that if the whole world, Christian and non-Christian alike, disowned you, Jesus would swoop you up in his arms and hold you close, showing you acceptance like none other you have experienced before. You see, you are part of God's beautiful creation, and he loves you in a way that cannot even be expressed in words. Romans 8:37-39 says, "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." In Jesus Christ, you are more than conquerors against all that comes up against you in this life, including the adversity you face because of your honesty. And there is nothing that you can ever do that will separate you from the love of God. Even when the world turns against you for doing what is right, even when the Church turns its back on you, even when your family shuts the door on you, Jesus remains with you by your side. When I read the stories of Jesus in the New Testament, I do not read about a harsh person that has high demands for you and asks you to change who you are; I read about a person who loves and accepts you as they are, unconditionally, who understands your hurts and wants to heal them. I read of a Jesus who doesn't see people who need to be fixed, but sees people who are hurting that need love, acceptance, and support. This is the Jesus I read about and the Jesus I love and worship.

I want you to know that I am sorry for my brothers and sisters that have misunderstood Scripture and misunderstood the words of Jesus. I want you to know that I love you and accept you for who you are. But most importantly, I want you to know that Jesus loves you. He loves everyone and accepts everyone just as they are. Remember these words about the love of God: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life."
Blessings,
-Brandon

Related Posts

Reaching Out to the LGBT Community

Homosexuality, Robert Schuller, the Crystal Cathedral, and What Jesus Did

Being Compassionate without Ulterior Motives

Jesus Shows Compassion to Outsiders

Manipulating Scripture

Gay Christians

Reaching Out to the LGBT Community

Hello again, and thank you for stopping by. I wanted, today, to address a positive issue and highlight a church that I think other churches should aim to emulate. I came across an article about Central United Methodist Church in Toledo, Ohio that is working to unite people, showing acceptance and helping others to feel like they are included in the church. They are working to undo the perception many have of Christianity being judgmental and condemning. They are working to be more like Jesus, bringing love to people, especially those who are more often than not shown hatred from the Church.

What is it this church has done: it has placed a billboard beside the road that reads, "Being Gay is a Gift from God."
This is a far cry from the way many churches treat homosexuals, condemning them as sinners and asking them to leave the church if they won't seek "treatment," as if homosexuality is a disease. One person, in response to this billboard, even said (as if this makes him a saint), "I am not against gays worshiping in our church, just against them holding leadership positions and teaching that being gay is okay with god." I do not recall Paul saying that one could not be gay and be a leader in the Church. Jesus certainly never even addressed homosexuality. So I am not sure why someone from the LGBT community would be allowed to worship in the church, but would not be allowed to take on a leadership role.

In fact, when we read Scripture, we realize that it was the Pharisees going around and being the sin police that had Jesus in such an uproar against them. Read Matthew 23 for a real understanding of what Jesus was upset about. It had to do with the Pharisees missing the point of the law. The law was meant to bring about love and mercy (v 23), not hatred and condemnation which is what the Pharisees were using it for. Jesus was fighting the Pharisees for doing the very same things the Church does today: picking out specific laws and judging people for breaking them.

What Jesus did was an amazing thing though. By being with people who "broke the law" he made them innocent, without ever needing to effect a change in them. But this assumes the point of my argument is that the "sin" of homosexuality needs to be cleansed. The more I read Scripture the more I realize that it is not clear about what "homosexuality" being a sin means.

What I do know is that Jesus took those who were perceived as sinners, and he took those who were not perceived as sinners, and he showed love and acceptance to them all. Most of all, he took those who were perceived as sinners by the religious elite and showed that they (the religious elite) were wrong, showing instead that it was the so-called "sinners" who made the best religious leaders. Jesus took a man who denied him and made him the rock on which the Church was built. Jesus took two tax collectors and made them leaders in the Church (if you have read previous blogs or the Bible, you will know that tax collectors were perceived as worse sinners than homosexuals are perceived today). Jesus took prostitutes and made them leaders in the Church. Jesus even took a murderer of other Christians and made him a leader in the Church. If he can do that, I think it is an easy task to take a homosexual and make them a leader in the Church.

Jesus was really good at reversing things. He said, "those who are first will be last, and those who are last will be first." He said, "those who try and save their life will lose it, but those who are willing to sacrifice their life, will gain it." He said, "in order to lead we must become servants." Jesus also turned "sin" on its head by showing people that they are wrong to judge others for what they perceive as sins.

Let us start emulating Central United Methodist Church, as it truly is doing the work of Christ by bringing his love and acceptance to those who need it the most.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Church and Society: To Judge or Not to Judge

It is a common approach for Christians today in their interactions with people, Christians and non-Christians alike, to focus on and emphasize sin. To bring people to Jesus in the first place, we inform a person of their sin, telling them they have done wrong and therefore need Jesus in their lives. Once a person is a Christian, more veteran Christians seem to monitor the new Christian's lifestyle and whenever a sin is uncovered, it is pointed out and the newer Christian is asked repent in order to remain in the church. If a Christian confesses a sin, or something they are told is a sin, they don't receive loving hugs, and offers of support, but scoldings and admonitions to confess to God and stop sinning.

One of the major areas we see this today is with the issue of homosexuality. If a person is gay, apparently the Church thinks them unworthy of Jesus' grace and love. I read a recent article entitled Bishops Push Back On Allowing Gay Couples In Housing which discusses how Catholic bishops do not want HUD to prevent the discrimination of homosexuals to receive aid for housing. In other words, HUD wants to prevent the discrimination of the LGBT community to receive federal housing assistance, while the Church wants the LGBT to be discriminated against because of their "sinfulness." To many this may seem extreme and not representative of most mainline churches or of orthodox Christianity. Unfortunately, as I have perused the internet, watched the news, and listened to those within the Church body, I have discovered that condemnation against homosexuals, as well as against others outside and inside the Church, runs rampant in Christianity. No wonder Christianity has such a bad reputation, it does the exact opposite of what Jesus' message called us to do.

I can point to many passages that will illustrate my point, but there are a particular few that will do just fine. First I want to point to Matthew 7:1 which says, "Do not judge so that you will not be judged." Many Christians quote this passage, but few ever practice it. When Jesus says not to judge, he means we are not to condemn people based on their actions. A person's actions are not necessarily an indicator of their heart, and therefore cannot be used to assess a person's spiritual status. Since we cannot know a person's heart, and only God can, it is outside of our scope of practice to say who will and will not enter heaven based on their actions. It was this practice that Jesus condemned the religious leaders of his for doing. Matthew 23:13 says, "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." The religious leaders were seeing the behavior of people and condemning them to eternal punishment, even though they had a relationship with God. That is what we are doing when we condemn a Christian for being gay (even though homosexuality may not even be a sin), we are locking them out of the kingdom of heaven, even though Jesus has made them right with God.

Another passage that we need to remember is Matthew 7:3, "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?" We are constantly trying to point out the fault in others, but are blinded because of our own sin. It seems that focusing on someone else's sin is a sin in its own right. Christians unfortunately think that when they reach a particular spiritual status, overcoming certain sins, that places them in a position to point out other people's sins. But the point of this passage is the log is never out of our eye. If we are focusing on other people's sins, we are blinded to our own. Jesus never intended for us to change other people and point our their sins, he intended for us to change ourselves and only focus on our own sins. Only the Holy Spirit has the authority to do this work, we do not.

Finally, I want to point to Matthew 25:31-46. In this passage Jesus tells of his return when he will separate the sheep on his right and the goats on his left, and where he tells the sheep on the right that when they helped out the unfortunate and the unaccepted in society, they had actually done the same for him. Jesus explained, "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'" (25:40). When we help out people, especially when they have sinned (or we perceive they have sinned), we are helping out Jesus. The contrast to this, and explained in this passage, is that when we do not help out these people, we fail to help out Jesus. Therefore, when we judge people, we are judging Jesus; something I am sure we all understand is wrong.

When Jesus was here, he showed a radical love for people that were constantly rejected by the religious leaders. This does not mean they were necessarily sinners, some were and some were not. The point is that regardless of their sin, Jesus ate with tax collectors, prostitutes, and adulterers. He ate with those that were condemned by the religious authorities of his day, showing them acceptance and love. In his blog Radical Love: Why Christianity Is A Queer Religion Reverend Dr. Patrick S. Cheng illustrates this point beautifully: Christianity is compatible with homosexuality. Being that the LGBT community is the biggest group unaccepted and condemned by the religious authorities (i.e. Christians) today, it should be the most loved and accepted group by genuine Christ-followers today.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Related Links:
Charlie Sheen, the Grace of God, and Compassion of Jesus

Homosexuality, Robert Schuller, The Crystal Cathedral, and What Jesus Did

How Christians have Strayed

Jesus and the Religious Leaders in the Bible

Westboro Baptist Church Hellraises at Elizabeth Taylor's Funeral

As everybody has heard by now, Elizabeth Taylor passed away last week. Immediately following the news of her passing, Westboro Baptist Church spokesperson and legal advisor Margie Phelps began tweeting that the church would be protesting the funeral, as they have done not only to funerals of war heroes but also to other celebrities. According to the Huffington Post one of the things Margie tweeted was, “No RIP Elizabeth Taylor who spent her life in adultery and enabling proud fags. They cuss her in hell today.” Apparently Margie did not feel it was appropriate for Elizabeth Taylor to support AIDs research and stand up support of the gay population. I wish I could say this is simply a marginal group with too much time on their hands. Unfortunately, this is far from the case, as most mainstream Christians, although not so blatantly slanderous, think and act in ways that show they stand alongside the Westboro Baptist Church, if not physically, in the spirit.

I have begun frequenting ChristianForums recently and have found my worst fears realized: many of the posters at the site write things that, when reading between the lines, sound similar to the espousings of the Wesboro group. As a matter of fact, one poster has proved my thesis by pointing to Jesus’ judgmental and critical interactions with the religious leaders in the Bible as justification for his judgment and criticism towards homosexuals and those who have had abortions. No matter how much I explained the category mistake he was making, he could not see the error. Jesus criticized and condemned the religious leaders because they were in a position to know that the Torah (the Jewish Scriptures which was the sacred text at the time) was meant to promote “justice and mercy and faith” (Matthew 23:23), and yet they used it to oppress people and condemn them. One of Jesus’ harshest criticisms of the religious leaders was that they “lock people out of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 23:13). His criticisms were against the religious leaders and no one else. His criticism was not against those perceived as sinners, his criticism was against those perceived as “righteous” because of their poor treatment of those perceived as sinners. So to use Jesus’ interactions with the religious leaders to justify our interactions with those perceived as sinners is a total category mistake.

What groups like the Westboro Baptist Church are doing is acting like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day by locking people out of the kingdom of heaven by condemning them for their homosexuality, for having had abortions, for saying they do not believe in a hell, and so on. Christians are too busy criticizing that we do not even realize we are doing the exact same thing the religious leaders were doing that Jesus criticized them for: “[crossing] sea and land to make a single convert…[looking] righteous to others, but inside are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness…[tying] up heavy burdens, hard to bear…but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them…” (Matthew 23). This chapter in Matthew is a good read because it gives us an accurate picture of why Jesus criticized the religious leaders: it was because they continually condemned others, acting perfect themselves, and excluded people from the kingdom of heaven.

In Matthew 12:7, Jesus responds to the religious leaders’ criticism of him and his disciples for breaking the Sabbath by saying, “But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless,” quoting Hosea 6:6 (some versions say ‘compassion’ as opposed to ‘mercy’). Jesus came to bring mercy, where everyone else wanted to bring condemnation. As Christians, we strive to have compassion for people, being empathetic to their situation, and showing them the love and acceptance that the world so often hesitates to give. Jesus’ revolutionary message was that forgiveness is here, and the restoration to wholeness can once again be achieved through him. Let us strive more to bring the love of Jesus to people through a more caring, more compassionate attitude.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Unbelievers in the Bible

I am back today and would like to discuss outsiders. Now, before I get any backlash about that term, it is not meant as derogatory whatsoever. It is simply a term denoting the position of a group or groups of people. When I talk about outsiders, I am simply talking about those people who were not followers of Jesus. Everyone of Jesus' followers was an outsider before becoming an insider (a follower of Jesus). So who were the outsiders in the bible. They fall into three separate groups.

First, there were Gentile outsiders. These were people who were not of the Jewish faith. Jesus did not encounter many Gentiles during his ministry, mainly because there were not nearly as many Gentiles in Palestine during Jesus' lifetime as there were Jews. Jesus came into contact with the Gentiles in one of two ways. They either came to him while he was in Jew territory, such as when the Centurion came to Jesus to ask him to heal his servant (Matt. 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10), or he went to a pocket of Gentile territory and encountered them there; such as when he went with some of his disciples to Gerasa/Gadara and ran into the man with a legion of demons (Matt 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-40).

Secondly, Jesus ran into Samaritan outsiders. We see this in John 4:5-38 where Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman at the well. What is so remarkable about Jesus' encounters with the Samaritans is that the Jews and the Samaritans were essentially at war with each other. There was no military fighting going on, but each claimed to be the right religious heirs to the kingdom of God. The Samaritans claimed to be the lost northern kingdom that had been captured by the Assyrians in the 7th century B.C. and had never been seen again. The Jews claimed that was a lie. So the two groups hated each other. Jesus only runs into this group when going through the land of Samaria which is between Jerusalem and Galilee.

The third kind of outsider would be the obvious Jewish outsider. Being in the land of the Jews, Jesus encountered many Jews who were not yet (some did not become) followers of his. If the person Jesus encounters is not specifically called a Samaritan, or somehow identified (by region or occupation) as a Gentile, then it is safe to assume that they are a Jew.

Jesus' encounters with all of these outsiders is remarkable, and as I will discuss in the next series of blogs, the traditional Christian way of communicating to and with outsiders completely counters the way Jesus communicated with them in Scripture. We will see that where Jesus welcomes and accepts, we often exclude and reject. In the next post I will be discussing Luke 7:1-10; 7:11-17; and 17:11-19 if you want to read ahead.