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.

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.

All You Need is Love

The title of this post reflects a popular song by the Beatles, but it also reflects the key component that was intended to fuel the Church: love. Somewhere along the line Christians have fallen into the trap that all we need is right and wrong. But believe it or not, the purpose of the Bible is not to teach morality; it's purpose is to teach love.

The problem comes from such passages as Matthew 5 where, after a long string of apparent do's and don'ts, Jesus says, "be perfect as my father in heaven is perfect," or other passages which seem to explicitly tell us to be holy as God is holy. These passages have confused a lot of people through the years. Some have wanted to just throw them out of the bible or downplay them saying Jesus was exaggerating for dramatic effect. Others have taken these passages literally, pointing to them and saying, "see, we need to do good. Good works are important." I think there has just been a gross misunderstanding of these passages.

The Matthew 5 passage uses the Greek term teleios which literally means, "complete" or "finished." It does not mean perfect. Jesus wants us to be complete. In order to be complete, or to work towards the proper end (purpose) for which we were created (which is how this passage should be translated), we must love one another. Jesus says the two greatest commandments are to love God and love one another. Jesus said that his followers will be known by their love. Jesus said that we need to love our enemies. Our proper end is love, and the admonitions that preceded Jesus' command to "be perfect" describe how this kind of radical love works.

The passages that ask us to be holy have the very same purpose. Western culture has taught us that holiness means to follow the rules perfectly. The less we follow the rules, the less holy we are. But this is not what holiness was in the Bible. Holiness was love. Holiness was having a proper relationship with God in love that spilled out into your love for your fellow human being. When Jesus told us to be holy, he was telling us to have a deep, loving relationship with God, and to let that spill over into our relationships with one another.

I do not know where churches got the idea that Christians were to be the moral police and that being a Christian was about doing right and abstaining from wrong. If a person's focus is on sin, they will fall into sin. If a person's focus is on love, it is amazing what good they will do. The focus of the gospel time and time again was on love. The example Jesus gives us in his interactions with such people as the lady caught in adultery, or the Samaritan woman at the well, or the woman who bled for twelve straight years, or the Centurion, or a thousand other people is the example of love. The fact that Jesus showed love to everyone he came across and made them feel welcome and accepted should wake us up to the way the Church should be today.

While listening to Dr. Tony Campolo, a sociologist and Christian social activist, he told a story that really touched me. You can find the video imbedded below and I encourage you to watch it. He tells a story of being down in Hawaii and going for breakfast at 3:00 in the morning. While at this restaurant some prostitutes came in and sat beside him. One said to the other that tomorrow will be her birthday. The other one gave her some grief about it, and the birthday girl, Agnes, revealed that in her 39 years of life, she has never had a birthday party. So Tony planned a birthday party for her at 3:30 the next morning in the restaurant. Over thirty prostitutes showed up and they threw her her very first birthday party. She was so touched she couldn't even describe it. Tony ended up leading the prostitutes in prayer, to the shock of everyone there. When asked what kind of church Tony belonged to, he responded, "the kind of church that throws birthday parties for whores at 3:30 in the morning." That is the kind of church I want to belong to. Not the kind that would say, "you shouldn't do that, prostitutes are bad people." If whores are worthy enough for my Lord, Jesus Christ to eat with, then certainly I am wrong to exclude them from my dinner table. In my Bible, Jesus teaches us to bring love to those who are unloved and to throw celebrations for those who don't feel they have anything to celebrate.

Jesus never taught that the church should be the moral police. Jesus never taught that we need to focus on doing right and avoiding wrong. Jesus reprimanded those who did such things and taught them that the law was about love, justice, and mercy, not rule (Matthew 23). Jesus taught that we are supposed to love on another. And that is what I am trying to practice. And that is what I think the Church should practice too.
Blessings,
-Brandon

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

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

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

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

Charlie Sheen, the Grace of God, and Compassion of Jesus

Forgive me for riding on the coat tails of the recent spotlight Charlie Sheen was in. I realize that it has been two weeks or more since he held the attention of America as he seemed to spiral more and more out of control. But I thought this would be a great opportunity to illustrate the grace of God and compassion of Jesus in a contemporary setting. I am sure that Christians everywhere who were paying attention to the news looked at the life Charlie was living and in harmony shouted what a sinner he is. I am sure that in certain circles an abundance of condemnation and judgment were heaped upon him for his misdeeds.

But is this the biblical approach to how we should respond to Charlie Sheen? Looking at Scripture, Jesus spent his time with, and gathered his followers from those perceived to be the worst in society. It was scandalous that Jesus spent his time with adulterers and prostitutes. The Pharisees even asked Jesus' disciples why he spent time with such vile people. Jesus' response was classic, "those who are seek need the physician, not those who are well." It would later be understood that no one is truly well enough not to need a physician. Paul wrote, "all have sinned and have fallen short." Jesus spent time with these "wretched" people because they needed him. He did not avoid them because of what they did. Jesus befriended and showed love and compassion to these "worst of sinners" because no one else would.

But these people, you might object, repented of their sins, which is why he spent time with them, right? Actually, the answer is "no." These "sinners" only repented after Jesus showed them love and compassion. Let us look at the story of Zacchaeus from Luke 19:1-10. In this story, it was not until Jesus accepted an invitation from the tax collector to come eat with him, and it was not until Jesus had spent some time with Zacchaeus, that he agreed to give his ill gotten earnings back, and to give some to the poor. It was not a requirement that Zacchaeus repent before Jesus would accept his invitation. It was only when Jesus showed him love and acceptance without ulterior motives that the man repented.

That is interesting because in today's Church, we expect repentence to come before a person is accepted in. But it seems that in Jesus' day, acceptence came first, followed by repentence. Maybe that is why the Church is losing numbers today, we have things backwords. We expect people to change their lives, showing them judgment and condemnation, which does the counter of what we want by preventing them from changing their lives. We see someone like Charlie Sheen and critize and ridicule him, and then are surprised when he gets worse. If Jesus were around today, Charlie Sheen would be the one Jesus would be spending time with, showing love and compassion, even accepting his two "girl friends" into the fold, knowing that by showing him that love and grace, the true medicine of the physician, Charlie would find the healing he so desperately needs for his wounds. Meanwhile, I am sure that Jesus would reprimand many within the Church for being so condemning, and for not providing the much needed medicine of love, mercy, and grace.
Blessings,
-Brandon

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

How Christians have Strayed

Hi Friends,
Sorry I have not posted for some time. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. For those who are wondering, I have now completed 7 out of 8 chapters of my book and will begin working on the final chapter next week. Of course, this does not mean they are ready for the printers yet, as their is much editing that will need to be done. For today, I would like to share chapter 1 with you. Please remember this is copywritten material and any reproduction of it can only be done with permission from the author. If you use ideas from this chapter, please provide a direct link from your site. Thank you very much and God bless:

Chapter 1 How Christians have Strayed.

Mary felt ashamed because of what she was about to do, but she did not feel like she had a choice. Her husband had left her and her family had disowned her and she had no means of making any money. She had to eat. Her children had to eat. “I have to do whatever is necessary to feed me and my children,” Mary reasoned. But it did not take away the shame that she felt as a prostitute. It was not the job she wanted to be in and she despised doing what she did. She tried getting other jobs, she tried earning money in a more legitimate way, but times were hard and the system was broken. The only other option left for her, so she thought, was prostitution.
As Mary was preparing to engage in an act that would have brought her shame for years to come, something even more shameful occurred, she was caught by her religious authorities about to partake in a terribly sinful act, causing another to commit adultery. They seized her and dragged her off to a man whom, if he was who he said he was (so they thought), would condemn her and enact the appropriate punishment: capital punishment. He then began to write in the dirt, building the anticipation of the religious authorities, as they thought they had trapped him. Instead, he displayed grace in a most extreme way, he instructed that the one among them who had not sinned should begin the process of putting the woman to death. After writing in the dirt one last time, Jesus looked up to find only the woman. Jesus asked her, “Did no one condemn you?" When she answered that they had not, Jesus responded, “I do not condemn you either.” Though we do not really know the name of the woman in this story (which takes place in John 8), or her back story, the remainder of it is true, and it illustrates an attitude that is no longer reflected well in the Christian culture: the attitude of grace that Jesus possessed so strongly in his ministry on earth.
In Jesus’ time the worst of the sinners were prostitutes, adulterers, and tax collectors. Yet these were the exact people he spent the most time with. We read of Jesus sitting and dining with prostitutes, adulterers, and tax collectors and telling the religious authorities who opposed him that “the kingdom of God was made up of people [like them].” Jesus took those who were considered the most sinful of his time, and gave them the highest place in heaven. This is the common reversal we see in Scripture that Jesus often made of the received norms of his time, encompassed in such sayings as “So the last shall be first, and the first last” (Matt 20:16). Jesus showed grace and mercy to people who never received grace and mercy from anyone else, exemplifying what he wanted from his followers. We see from Jesus over and over again throughout the Bible this forgiving attitude reflected in the way he approached people, bringing compassion instead of condemnation, love instead of judgment. When Jesus was here on earth sinners flocked to him, wanting to be with him, because he accepted them for who they were. Sinners felt Jesus’ love and compassion for them which is why they wanted to be around him.
Yet today, Christians who are supposed to represent Christ on earth, reflecting his attitude, are viewed as judgmental, critical, and condemning of others (Christian and non-Christian alike). Among the vast majority of non-Christians, Christians are viewed as judgmental and condemning. This is backed up by polling done by Christians themselves through the Barna group and discussed in David Kinnaman’s book, UnChristian. Within the abundant amount of polling done by the Barna group in its research of the view of non-Christians of Christians, the three most common negative perceptions about Christianity among non-Christians aged 16-29 are that it is antihomosexual (91% of those polled), judgmental (87%), and hypocritical (85%) (Kinnaman, 2009, 27-28). Eighty-seven percent of those outside Christianity, view Christians as judgmental. I understand that some will argue that it should not matter what others think and that it was prophesied that Christians would be judged and condemned and the target of much ridicule; but when eighty-seven percent of non-Christians feel that they or others are heavily judged by a group that is supposed to be exemplifying Jesus’ grace and forgiveness, we have to question whether we have been approaching non-Christians appropriately. Christians, then, are placed in the role of the religious leaders in the above story, as opposed to the role of Christ. Instead of exemplifying Christ on earth through grace, forgiveness, and love, it seems that Christians are exemplifying the condemnation of the religious leaders who Christ so often came up against.
We find that those most viewed as sinners in our culture feel judged and rejected by the Church. The number one negative perception among outsiders of Christians, as seen from the poll above, is that we are anti-homosexual. Homosexuality is highly attacked today by the Church as one of the most prominent sins in the world today. Popular evangelists blame natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and acts of humankind such as 9/11 on the sinful behavior of homosexuals, calling those acts punishments for our toleration of such sins. We occasionally read of the members of Westboro Baptist Church protesting outside a veteran’s memorial service with banners that say, “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” because they believe the death of our soldiers is God’s way of punishing the United States for tolerating homosexuality.
This majority perception of outsiders is not based on fiction, but is based on actual, widespread, judgmental behavior within the Church of which the examples in the above paragraph are just a sample. In the movie I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, the main characters who are faking a homosexual relationship are leaving a gay pride event where outside a man is yelling slurs on a bull horn and surrounded by people carrying signs indicating that gays are going to hell. As it turns out, the man yelling the slurs through the bull horn is the pastor of a church and those with him are the members of his congregation. This is not a mere caricature of the Church, but an accurate (and a sad) portrayal of the way most churches function.
We see this type of condemnation on a large scale where Christian leaders state in large venues their negative view of certain sinful behavior or where other Christian leaders perform acts of terror such as the bombing of abortion clinics. We see this also on a smaller scale within our own churches where a person is shunned if a particular sin is revealed or where a Christian speaks words of condemnation against an outsider in a context outside of the church. Regardless, this type of judgmental attitude is widespread among Christians, as evidenced by the poll already cited by the Barna group. Christians, instead of showing forgiveness and love, are casting stones first. The Church, instead of being a place outsiders and insiders (Christians) want to come and be a part of, is a place seen as unwelcoming and unloving that many people, Christians and non-Christians alike, want to avoid.
How did Christians go from being the source of grace and love and forgiveness, to being the source of judgment and condemnation, the moral police of society? How did Christianity transition from being such a welcoming and accepting group, a group all people ran to be a part of, to being an unwelcoming, alienating group that many people, now, want nothing to do with? These are the questions this book intends to answer and the problem it intends to correct.
This condemning attitude now so prominent within Christianity is due to a misunderstanding of how Jesus interacts with different people in Scripture. In the Gospels, Jesus interacts with three main groups of people: 1. The religious leaders of his day, 2. Outsiders, and 3. Insiders. This group can be divided differently by different people for different purposes; different groups can be added, some can be taken away. But in the Bible, we find that Jesus interacts with three different kinds of people: 1. Those who associate themselves with the religious elite, 2. Those who choose not to associate themselves with Jesus’ group, and 3. Those who do associate themselves with Jesus’ group. When reading how Jesus responds in different circumstances, we find that he is interacting with one, two, or all three of these groups.
Who Jesus interacts with determines his style of interaction. This point is often lost on those interpreting Scripture. They simply see how Jesus interacted without consideration of who Jesus was interacting with, leading to false assumptions about how Jesus wants us to interact with people today. So when people read passages where he is being condemning and judgmental, without noticing who Jesus is interacting with, they create a universal rule which says this is how we should react at all times, using Jesus as their example.
I will discuss throughout how to identify each group as Jesus responds to them in Scripture, and how we should translate that interaction in the Bible to our interactions with the same category of people today. This is necessary because of a “category mistake” we have made. We see Jesus interacting with a certain category of people in one way, and use that as our model for interacting with a completely different kind of person in our day. This has created a culture in which secular society and Christ-followers alike label Christians as hypocritical, judgmental, unfriendly, anti-homosexual, and the like because we are interacting with people in an unintended way, mixing up categories of people in our everyday interactions. This book aims to fix this category mistake.
Many remember the popular Christian mantra of the 1990’s when faced with a dilemma: “what would Jesus do?” I am sure some of the readers wore bracelets or necklaces with the saying or wrote WWJD on your backpacks. I remember friends who would recite the question to me without elaboration when I brought a problem to them, as if they had just given me the whole secret of life. My response? Well, I would nod back to them just like they gave me the whole secret of life. As I look back, I see the well meaning intention behind the trend. Jesus is our ultimate example of how we should behave and interact with people. Asking the question, “what would Jesus do?” to help bring clarity regarding a tough decision is admirable. The problem is that the direction of the question is wrong. The question should not be asked, “what would Jesus do in this situation,” but “what did Jesus actually do?” The first question assumes we already know what Jesus actually did. But as we look at many of the actions the Church has backed through the years, from slavery to apartheid, from the crusades to the inquisition, from violent attacks against abortion clinics to hated protests against gays; we can see that often we have not answered that first question correctly. As we hear or read today of Christian leaders speaking in judgment and condemnation against a person or group, as we hear the news stories of Christian groups protesting and name calling and acting out violently in the name of Jesus, as we perpetrate some of these actions ourselves, we will see the need to ask the second question: “what did Jesus actually do?”
As we look at the different groups Jesus interacts with and discuss the ways he interacts with each group, we will start to see that Jesus is consistent with the way he responds to each group. To the religious leaders of his day, he is consistently harsh because of the way they have abused their power in first century Palestine. To the outsiders Jesus is consistently gracious and merciful, concerned more about the person than what they have done in the past or who they have associated with. To the insider, Jesus again is consistently loving and gracious, concerned with their growth and well-being as they remain with him. As we discover the consistency of Jesus’ response towards others, we too will become consistent in the way we treat other people. We will no longer need to ask the question “what would Jesus do” because the answer to the question “what did Jesus do” will make clear what we should do, and will ring through our lives like the clang through a church bell.
As we explore Jesus’ approach in his interaction with the insiders and outsiders, we will notice that Jesus’ approach is never aggressive, never judgmental, never exclusionary. Instead, Jesus’ approach consistently is inclusive, welcoming and accepting of everyone, breaking down boundaries so others would feel his love. Nothing in a person’s past or present excluded them from being welcomed into the arms of Christ. Jesus’ approach was consistently filled with grace, not counting a person’s misdeeds against them, but instead showing them mercy and love, not even considering their failings. Finally, Jesus’ approach was consistently gentle, never forcing anything upon another person that they were not ready to accept. Jesus did not aggressively try to “win converts” but gently tried to help people feel loved and important and cared for. His approach was consistently characterized by one word: “compassion.” Jesus cared nothing about his own agenda, but instead sympathized with others, feeling what they felt, hurting when they hurt.
Beginning in the following chapter I will discuss how Jesus interacted with each group mentioned above: 1. Religious leaders, 2. Outsiders, and 3. Insiders. After we look at how and why Jesus interacted with a particular group, we will then look at how we can identify the contemporary version of that group. We will then formulate a method of approach for that group of today that is wholly and completely based on the way Jesus approached each group of his day. In the end, we will have a clear picture for the proper Christian approach to people in our day; an approach that comes straight from Scripture, direct from the method of the ultimate example himself, Jesus Christ.

Choosing Herod's way or Jesus' Way

God made himself weak for one purpose: to let human beings choose freely for themselves what to do with him.
Philip Yancey

Another provocative quote from Yancey. This is only provocative because Christians do not typically follow this kind of thinking. For some reason, Christians have since Christianity's inception, believed that compulsion was the necessary method for bringing people to Christ. The method of compulsion has differed through the years, taking such forms as violence, argument, and today, providing a sense of shame and guilt for sin. If sin is prominent in an outsider, we refuse to talk with them and instead curse them and ridicule them and try to fix them. If they are an insider, we shun them and remove them from our circle of friends and kick them out of church. We refuse to associate with them until they have proven they have quit their sin.

Yancey in his book The Jesus I Never Knew, shows us a portrait of Jesus that is unrecognizable to most churches, yet is the most accurate portrayal of Jesus since the Bible was written. Maybe it is not that people have a misperception of who Jesus was/is, but instead choose to ignore him because his method seems weak (see Ivan's story in the Brothers Karamozov). Either way, we need to follow Jesus' technique. His method for bringing people to him was weak, but that is because that is the only way genuine relationship can develop, by putting the ball in the court of the person you want a relationship with. Jesus came and showed love to people of every class and character without discrimination. Yancey tells us, "In short, Jesus honored the dignity of people, whether he agreed with them or not. He would not found a kingdom on the basis of race or class or other such divisions. Anyone, even a half-breed with five husbands (the Samaritan woman from John 3) or a thief dying on a cross, was welcome to join his kingdom. The person was more important than any category or label" (Yancey, 245). Jesus loved all people. He did not come to people by force, but came to them to provide for their needs. He came to them to love them, and if they wanted to follow him, that was their choice, not his. Yet we come at people with shouts of "you sinner," "you faggot," "you baby killer." Can you imagine these words coming out of Jesus' mouth? Jesus never once labeled a person a sinner (other than religious leaders). Yet he was ready and willing to forgive people.

In discussing Jesus' temptations in the wilderness, Yancey explained that Jesus had the opportunity to compel people to follow him by strength. He had the option to obtain power by giving everyone bread, he had the opportunity to compel people by ruling over every kingdom, and he had the opportunity to compel people by an amazing feat. Jesus could have, three years later, chosen to call forth all of the angels to destroy the Roman empire; instead he chose to die on a cross. Jesus chose the weak way, and we have chosen the strong way. Jesus chose to bring love to people, we have chosen the way of power. Jesus chose to forgive, we have chosen to hate. In the words of Yancey, "Despite Jesus' plain example, many of his followers have been unable to resist choosing the way of Herod over that of Jesus" (Yancey, 246). Herod's way was to kill everybody who did not follow him. Jesus' way was to love and forgive everyone who did not follow him. It is not our responsibility to bring people to Christ. My call to Christians is to stop bearing the heavy burden that the salvation of humanity rests on you. Christians make for poor saviors. Jesus Christ makes for a perfect Savior. Let him do the work. Do the work that you were called to do, "love your neighbor as yourself," "love your enemy," etc... This is what we were called to do.
God bless.
-Brandon

Is the Christian God to be Feared?

"In Jesus, God found a way of relating to human beings that did not involve fear."
Philip Yancey

Yancey's statement is a beautiful sentiment that needs some explaining. Until Jesus walked the earth, the only perception of God that existed was that he was a fearful, angry being that one needed to appease in order not to be punished. One only needs to look at the ancient depictions of the Babylonian, Mesopotamian, or Egyptian gods to see there animalistic faces with sharp teeth and blood dripping from their mouths to understand what I mean. One reads the ancient mythologies and discovers that people were fearful of the gods, some of whom might be warring against them. Then we come to the Hebrew Scriptures and we read, “Thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves? . . . Why do you provoke Me to anger?” (Jer 44:7-8) (cited from blog entitled "My God is an Angry God"; an excellent blog showing God's depiction as angry in Hebrew poetry). We read other verses such as: "Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you," (Deuteronomy 9:8), "Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you" ( Joshua 23:16), "Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it" (Isaiah 13:9), and "While the food was still in their mouths, the anger of God rose against them, and he killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel" (Psalm 78:30-31) (cited from "An Angry God"). Prior to Jesus, God was seen as an angry and judgmental God. Essentially he had what they would call in the Public Relations department a "perception problem."

Then came Jesus. What is unique about Jesus (one of the many things) is that he came on the scene in a very unexpected way. He was born into a dirt poor family in a dirt poor environment. He was an illegitimate child living in a neighborhood where rumors swirled about who his "real father" was (We often read the account of the response Jesus got when he returned home as a positive response, which is ironic since the people nearly threw him off a cliff. Reread Matthew 13:54-56, but put a nasty tone into the people's mouths and you will really understand what they thought of Jesus' family life). Jesus was incarnated into the situation in which he was, so that he could relate to people in that same situation, and so he could approach people as God without them fearing Him. Philip Yancey gives us this wonderful illustration where he talks about how the fish in his aquarium react to him. He feeds them and makes sure their water stays clean. He is the sole reason they are alive, yet everytime he nears them, they react like he is about to murder everyone of them. This is how people have responded to God. We do not understand him, and so we have depicted him as this giant, nasty, evil, angry, wrathful, vengeful God. He finally decided it was time to become like one of us so that we would not run away at his approach. What was Adam's first response to God after the first sin, he hid because he was afraid. When Adam and Eve sinned, we no longer understood God's love and compassion. It was not until Jesus came along, gentle and loving, caring and compassionate, that we became free to approach God once again without fear.

So why do Christians still perpetuate this image of God being a God to fear. Being an angry, malicious, wrathful God? Why is it that so many people are so afraid to approach Christianity? We have forgotten what Jesus represents. We have misrepresented his teachings. Jesus came to say to everyone, "come unto me, for I love you and want to be with you." Many Christians perpetuate this message: "stop sinning or you'll go to hell." Jesus' emphasis was never on hell. He mentioned a place like hell occasionally, but it is my belief that on these occasions, Jesus was speaking about the religious leaders of his day that were going down to hades due to their oppression of the people. Hell was never intended as a motivation to turn to Jesus. Jesus' love and the lack of fear that he brings to those who come to him was all the incentive he needed. Yet, as Feuerbach said, "It is owing to the egoism, the vanity, the self complacency of Christians, that they can see the motes in the faith of non-Christian nations, but cannot perceive the beam in their own." Rev. Dr. Jerry states the problem eloquently in his blog "Hate-Mongering Among Professing Christians" when he says, "The ignorance and biases of the haters and hate-mongers who claim to speak for God, the Bible, and Christians hammer home God’s plea to each and every one of His children, 'O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.'" (Isaiah 3:12) We need to remember that Jesus was not a representative of fear against those perceived as sinners. Jesus was a representative of love and kindness and acceptance for those perceived as sinners. To read how Christians are perceived by non-Christians, to read how people view Christianity and "sin" as incompatible, read the blog: Not all Christians are to blame, but Christianity is. It is a shame that Christianity is perceived as incompatible with those we were intended to bring love and acceptance to. Let us work together to change that perception.
God bless,
-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

Christians: Voting without Judging

It has been nearly a week since my last post and I left you all with a difficult question to ponder: "How can I reconcile my voting record with my faith and my treatment of others?" In other words, if I think homosexuality is a sin, would it not be wrong for me to vote to allow gay marriage at the polls. But if I vote to ban gay marriage, how can I look my gay friend in the face again? How can I treat him or her with compassion when it seems I have voted in such a judgmental way? I think the answer is simpler than it might first appear. I want to look at 3 things mentioned in another blog I came across by Tom Davis called Where do I vote? Election Day 2010:

The first thing to understand is that as a Christian one of our responsibilities is to vote according to our heart. If you do not feel right voting against gay marriage, then do not vote against it. If you do not feel right voting for gay marriage, do not vote for it. No one can judge you for voting according to what feels right to you. That does not mean that if it is a difficult issue, that you should not wrestle with it. Wrestling with difficult issues just shows how much you really want to do the right thing. But ultimately a country's laws are guided by its individual's personal beliefs and values which are largely shaped by their religious beliefs (see: Jim Daly's Voting an American right, a Christian responsibility)

The second thing is that you should pray about how you should vote. As a Christian we are not led purely by rational thinking (which is finite) or by our feelings (which can be faulty), but by God. Let the Spirit guide you in the right direction as far as your vote goes.

Finally, whatever the results of the election, know that God is in charge and that regardless of whether you won or lost, God is still watching over our country and ultimately will guide in the right direction.

The other issue is how can you remain non-judgmental when your vote seems judgmental. Forgive me for quoting this oft too used cliche, but it is true, "Love the sinner, not the sin." You can be loving toward homosexuals, you can be loving toward pro-choicers without giving up your beliefs. In this blog, we are talking about how we treat these individuals regardless of whether or not we think their behavior is a sin. What too often has happened is that Christians believe homosexuality is a sin and end up treating the homosexual like the spawn of satan; we want nothing to do with them. Jesus taught that regardless of the wrongfulness or rightfulness of a person's behavior, they should be treated with love and compassion. So do not be afraid to vote according to what your heart is telling you. But we should be cognizant of our behavior towards individuals we perceive as sinful and make sure we are not treating them judgmentally or with any sort of condemnation.
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