Experience Jesus Today

Jesus seemed really cool, dying for us and all, when he was a long time ago

But I don’t appreciate him in my neighborhood.

First thing, he tells a guy with AIDS that he’s healed.

I mean, you KNOW what that guy is going to do and pretty soon it’s disease everywhere.

He tells a couple people who have local markets to quit and become mystics.
Great.  Where am I going to get my fish now?  They had good fish.

He walks into a mental health ward, says some mumbo jumbo and then sets them all free,

Telling them to go downtown and tell everyone what God did for them.

So the town is full of psycho fanatics now.

Worst of all, he went to every drunken bum, every lazy chick in an RV, every single mom on welfare, every illegal stealing jobs from good folks and he told them that the mayor is a rat, the local CEOs are immoral, the bishops are corrupt and that THEY should be in charge instead.
I mean, I don’t like the mayor either,
But what I hate
Really HATE
Is to see these good-for-nothings walking around town as if they own it.

I preferred it when Jesus was meek and mild.

Weather Conditions

Some are Tornadoes, sucking all things toward themselves, because of their deep inner need. They leave destruction wherever they step.

Some are Hurricanes, who destroy broadly because of their rage against "evildoers". Many honor them because of their clear divisions and because they have a calm center. They ignore the massive body count.

But there are also Clouds who spread little pieces of themselves as far as they can, sustaining life. They know that life is short, so they never cease their work until there is nothing left of them.

I love hanging with Clouds. They have the best parties.

Thoughts from a Cis Male on "Me Too"

The women's movement has shown they know how to use social media, and the latest indication of this is the "me too" reaction to the many sexual assaults of Harvey Weinstein.  The producer and mogul of Miramax Films has been called out for his multiple sexual assaults over decades.  More and more women declared that they were also victims of his attempted or successful assaults.  On social media, then, more women declared "me too", publicly acknowledging that they were victims of sexual assault.

It has been amazing to see.  Sure, I knew that the majority of women have been assaulted, but it is another thing to see my friends, women of all personalities and powers, announce that they have been attacked.

The cis male response has been less than stellar.  

I see some men standing up saying, "I'm guilty" for leering or participating in porn, which is kind of right, but I don't know if they got the point.  Other men are saying "me too", acknowledging that they have also been sexually assaulted, and this is good, but I would like to see a separate time focus on their abuses.  Other men are giving the equivalent of "you really wanted it," which I find disgusting and encouraging the evil we live in.

So here are some of my own thoughts, which I hope work toward building a better world for women.

1. 

 I need to recognize that we live in a rape culture and I participate in it.

It amazes me how many people perpetuate the myths of rape.  Assuming that someone is lying about sexual assault without evidence.  Claiming that a woman “deserved it”.  Thinking that the way a woman is dressed has anything to do with whether they deserve to be assaulted.

And I have participated in that rape culture.  I have paid for movies that perpetuate the myth that if a woman says “no” she doesn’t really mean it.  I have ignored men who openly and lightly objectify women.  I have, in the past, approved of churches who insisted that “forgiveness” means a wife must accept back a husband that abused her and that “submission” is a one way street.  I have ignored and supported the ocean of objectification and reductionism that women swim in.

2.
As men, we need to realize what the problems really are.  First, it is the limiting of women to objects of our own enjoyment or pleasure.  Of course, when our only relation to a human being is as an entertainer, then we can judge their performance as to whether they have given us something.  But women in general are often treated as a male gaze display.  Thus do men catcall and tell women to “smile” or advise them to dress better or to wear makeup.  These are all indications of a context in which men see all women as on a stage for their own benefit, instead of equal human beings who are allowed to look as they wish, according to their own desires and goals.  When that

Second, men consider their sexual satisfaction as something they “deserve,” and to not obtain that satisfaction is to suffer something unacceptable.  Look guys, if you aren’t getting the sex you want, you have another option: jerk off.  It may not be the first option, but it is better than driving oneself crazy failing to obtain the specific kind of satisfaction you choose.  Women, whether individuals or in general, have no responsibility to make sure every man is satisfied.  When a man thinks that their sexual pleasure is more important than respecting another human being, their priorities are screwed up. 

3. 

In the past, a man’s sexual limits were limited by a concept of purity.  Then it was by a principle of faithfulness.  Then it was a matter of law to determine what a man could and could not do.  In our society, the key principle is consent.  We cannot assume that women are on board with our plans or desires for them, whether they are strangers or girlfriends or wives.  We have to ask and obtain agreement.  If we have no agreement, then there is no place for any kind of sexual activity, from a catcall to a slap on the ass to a kiss.   We need to train our boys to back off until agreement is reached and we need to train our girls that they don’t have to accept any kind of intimacy unless they agree (even if that’s a kiss from their rich aunt Zelda). Consent is a huge part of respect, something we all want and expect. 

4.

A number of people (almost all cis males) claim that women are as aggressive sexually as men. That is certainly true, and it isn't good. But it means something different.

99% of all sexual assault happens by men. Women know this, even if men don't. Women protect themselves from the inevitable onslaught by some man, and they don't know which one. Most threats from men are small, the off-hand comment, the lingering leer. These mosquito bites mean nothing, unless you are in an area in which a quarter of those mosquitoes have malaria. Then you get scared, because one of those mosquitoes will really harm you.

This is the life that women have in a rape culture. Up to 25 percent of men have sexually assaulted someone. Less than one percent of women have. Frankly, women have something to be scared about. Men might get unwelcome sexual attention (I have), but we don't live in a context of sexual assault.

And sexual assault usually happens by friends or family, people women trust. This makes the whole situation more frightening. Because the ones who are closest to women are more likely to be the ones to harm them.

The issue is less a single event, but the constant fear that it could happen any moment, by a trusted person. Most cis men don't have to worry about that.

(BTW, 45 percent of all gay or bi men also experience sexual assault, 99 percent of which are also caused by men).

5.

I just had a man post under the last section, "you are so brainwashed."  If he means that I have looked at the facts and listened to women to come to a reasonable assumption, and he calls that "brainwashing", then yes, yes I have.

But if he means that I have dismissed out of hand the assumptions that the world has stuffed down our throats about the sexual "needs" of men, the lesser status that women have been handed, the disrespect that women have suffered for millennia, and the excuses men have given in order to act immorally... well, I guess I have done that too.

No apologies.

Working toward Freedom

We all have two people:

A free person and a person under slavery. 

Our freedom is where we can love beings around us. Our slavery is when we have to focus on something other than love.

We could be under slavery to mental health issues, to selfishness, to emotions, to addictions, to oppression, to financial burdens, to a belief system, or many other things.

The first goal of our lives should be to free ourselves so that we can love and help others. The second goal of our lives should be to help others free themselves so they can love others.

Questions I Must Ask Myself Today

Did I speak to support or to tear down?

Did my silence encourage or discourage listening?

Did I have an opportunity to save a life today? Did I take it?

What I hope for today?  What actions did I do that indicate my true desire?

To which god did I offer service today?

Whom did I love today? How did I show that love?

For what am I grateful for? How can I speak that gratitude?

Did I give someone a chance to thrive, or did I take that away?

How did I respond to my anger, to create or to destroy?

Did I step up to my fear, or run away?

Did I equip myself to help another person tomorrow?

For whom must I pray?

Denial

I've got a friend named Dave.  Okay, that's not his real name.  But he's real, even if his name isn't.  I mean, it's a real name.  My brother in law is called Dave.  But it's not the name of my friend.

Dave is a great guy.  He goes out every day, seeking the homeless to help them out.  He'll serve meals, connect folks with resources. help people move, get people housing and so much more.  He has been a comforting voice to those in need, a help in time of need.  He is also a strong Christian, reading the Bible, and a believer in prayer.  He is known as a hero, a philanthropist and a savior.

He's also a pedophile.

He was convicted in 1995 of an act of incest and pedophilia and was sent to jail for twelve years.  When he was released, he had to reveal his conviction, keep away from children and stay in a certain apartment under a curfew.

I didn't have a problem with him being a pedophile.  I mean, it is possible for people to change.  It is possible that under certain restrictions that someone can repent of their actions and do good.  Dave certainly seemed to be a great candidate of that.  I never had problems with him all the time I was working with him.

Except I didn't know.  Because he never told me.  I didn't find out until he had crossed a line sexually with a fellow advocate who was under care because of past abuse from a partner.

After this, Dave denied he had crossed that line.  He said that he was "framed" about his conviction.  He also denied other things he had done, or denied that he was wrong.

Anyone can change.  It usually takes a situation in which they can avoid their weaknesses and be encouraged to love.  Anyone can be a better person.  But it doesn't happen if we deny that we had ever done anything wrong.

I wonder if I use my relationship with Jesus to excuse wrongdoing?  I wonder if I excuse myself when I should really be taking a closer look?  I wonder if my salvation and knowledge is used as a wall to keep myself from blame instead of being the catalyst of change, so I can be a conduit of grace?

Independence Day in Church

This Sunday in churches all over the United States, many will hear songs of patriotism and much speech about "our nation." Much of the speech will be positive, some will be critical, but almost all will talk about the crisis of "our nation."

The issue I have is that Jesus called all of us Christians out of the nations of this world. He died on a cross displaying the folly of empire and oppression in the name of "security and solidarity." And he was raised to establish another, unique nation.

A nation where the only law is love.
A nation where the economic rule is giving to the most needy.
A nation where leaders sacrifice themselves for their people, not the other way around.
A nation that is known for welcoming the outcast, especially those in deepest need.

Jesus doesn't call us to fix this broken nation we were born to be a part of. He calls us to immigrate to a nation of forgiveness, grace and peace.

What Did Jesus Resist?

Lots of people repeat the cliche "What would Jesus do?"

That's a pointless question.  We shouldn't speculate as to what Jesus would do when we have so much evidence to indicate what Jesus DID do.  

Jesus DID resist immoral authority.  He made public pronouncements against them, held protests against them and threatened their power to such a degree that he was killed.  What exactly was he resisting?  What is the example of Jesus in resisting authority?

Power for power's sake

Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.
Jesus opposed leaders who desired positions of authority simply because of the respect and power they had.  This is one of the forms of covetousness that Jesus warned against-- desiring something that you had not earned.  Jesus taught that power should be given to people who show that they will use their resources or power to help those around them, not to just bolster themselves.

Accumulation of personal wealth
"Woe to you who are rich now, for you have already received your comfort!"  

Jesus rejected all who kept wealth for themselves, because they were flaunting their hatred of the poor.  If one has extra resources and refuses to provide them to those in need, then God rejects them as stewards of His provision.  God does not provide wealth for personal use, but for community use.  To misuse the resources of God, to not give generously to the poor, is to be unworthy of that stewardship. 

Those who support the killing of the innocent
At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully. He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed. He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’  

According to the Mosaic law, killing the innocent will infect the land.  According to Psalm 82 killing the innocent is the one thing a nation can do which God will step in and destroy a government.  Jesus recognized that although the leaders of his day praised the martyrs, they were actually acting like those who killed the martyrs-- retaining power at any cost, even the cost of the lives of the innocent.

Political or religious oppression of the poor
"Beware of the scribes: They devour the houses of widows. They will receive a very severe condemnation.”

Jesus pointed out how the temple encourages the poorest to give their last cent to a project that will not benefit them.  Thus, they are making the vulnerable homeless and hungry, while not providing for them at all. Jesus condemns all who have power-- the wealthy, lawmakers, religious and political leaders-- for using their power to be poverty pimps-- people who take from the poor for their own benefit.  These, Jesus says, deserve the worst punishment.

Selecting certain groups as outcast
The Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them....”  "I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance."

Jesus stepped out to welcome those whom his society refused to welcome, and then rebuked the leadership for rejecting them.   Jesus' society dehumanized tax collectors and those who did not follow their purity laws, as well as the disabled, lepers, gentiles, the poor and women, considering them all unclean, and in some cases outcast from their society.  Jesus rejected leadership that rejected people according to standards of ethnicity, class, sex or arbitrary purity standards.


Hypocritical leadership
“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If one swears by the temple, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gold of the temple, one is obligated.’  Blind fools, which is greater, the gold, or the temple that made the gold sacred?" 
When Jesus claimed that leadership is hypocritical, it is usually because they claim to represent the God of love and justice, but they reject love and justice in their lives, allowing themselves to be the exception of the rules they are imposing.  But leadership Jesus opposed also would establish laws which give their disciples special knowledge as loopholes for justice.  In this way, those with this special knowledge could avoid the obligations that those without knowledge have to follow.


Systems which perpetuate inequality
"It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be a house of prayer'; but you have made it 'a den of robbers."

Jesus held a protest at the temple, because they were excluding worship for women and gentiles in order to establish support for worship for adult men.  Jesus rejected this practice, even though it was approved by the high priest, the mediator of the people to God.  Jesus resisted authority that made no space for all people. 

Lawmakers that only create burdens for people

And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.

Jesus opposed those who wrote laws for ideologies, without considering how that would negatively affect the average person.  Such people become narrow-minded to their own tribe or class, ignoring how they harm society as a whole. 

Because he rejected this kind of leadership, publicly and authoritatively, he was forced to carry a cross, to die as a revolutionary, as an outcast of his people, as much as a leper or traitor.   Jesus, in turn, said that if we were his followers, we too would have to carry the cross of punishment from the powers that be for resisting them.  If we resist authority for hating the poor and weak and for their hypocrisy, Jesus tells us we will be rejected and punished.  

Amen, Lord, let it be so. 

Selected Agrapha

"Agrapha" are sayings of Jesus not found in the canonical gospels, but still early enough to possibly be a true saying of Jesus, or a reflection of something he said.  The most famous agrapha is the story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery, with the famous saying being "Him without sin cast the first stone."  It doesn't belong in John, where it is usually placed, but it is an important story that gives us insight  about Jesus.  Here are some other sayings of Jesus that are significant, and gives us insight: 

Blessed is the one who has suffered and found life. (Gospel of Thomas)

Let him who has grown rich be king, and let him who possesses power renounce it. (Gospel of Thomas)

For the sake of the sick, I became sick
For the sake of the hungry, I was hungry.
For the sake of the thirsty, I was thirsty.  (Origen, quoting an ancient gospel)

How can you say, 'I have fulfilled the word of God'? It is written, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' But look, your neighbors are covered with filth and are dying of hunger and exposure, but your house is full of many good things and unused rooms and none of this is given to them.   (Gospel of the Hebrews)

He that is near me is near the fire. He that is far from me is far from the kingdom. (Gospel of Thomas)

Hear me, you lambs whom I have chosen, and do not fear the wolves. (Gospel of the Egyptians)

The American Dream

The American Dream seeks prosperity.
Jesus says "Woe to you who are rich."
The American Dream says work hard and you will succeed.
Jesus says "Seek the kingdom and you will be given what you need."
The American Dream believes in freedom.
Jesus says "Blessed are you who are persecuted."
The American Dream supports keeping what you earn.
Jesus says, "Sell your possessions and give to the poor."

Jesus said, "You cannot serve two masters." You cannot serve both Jesus and the American Dream.

Responding to a Sermon

"I went to church the other day and heard a sermon. It was like many sermons I’ve heard in the past, giving a very moral point of view. The point was: “Love your neighbor but hate your enemy.” Well, that’s one point of view. That’s one morality. Here’s another: Love everyone, even those who hate you.

"If someone is in the process of destroying you, pray for their peace.
 If someone insults you, say good things about them.
If you don’t get along with someone, do good things for them (especially if they don’t deserve it)
Do this because this is what God does.

"You see, God sees the hearts and actions of every person, and knows who they really are. And he looks down and gives them all sunshine and rain and blessing. Every. Single. One. Even ISIS. Even the thief who took your car. Even the guy who curses God’s name on a regular basis. Even the cop who arrested you for no good reason. God grants them all peace and food and love. Every. Single. One.

"Now, we claim to be God’s children. But are we? If we only love people who love us, how can we claim to be godly? If we give only to the people who are in our in group, how can we claim to be like God?

"Here’s the deal, if you want the fullness of what God has to give you, then show love to everyone, without exclusion, like God."
-Jesus 

 (Matthew 5:43-48 with some help from Luke 6:27-30, SKV)

Jesus Lives!

Last Friday at a public transportation stop a couple miles from my house, two teenage women with hijabs were standing. A rough man came up to them, yelling at them, telling that Muslims don't belong in this country.  The train rolled up, and the quickly got on, but he followed him, continuing his insulting tirade.  Three men heard this confrontation and stepped in, protecting the two girls from their verbal assailant.

Suddenly the brash man pulled out a knife and quickly stabbed the three protectors.  One died there in the train, another died in the hospital and the other is recovering.  The man was captured by the police because another person followed him from a distance, calling 911. 

I've read a number of statements from some of my friends stating that they are disappointed with Portland, in wake of yesterday's attack on two Muslim women and the injury and death of three men trying to defend them. They are disappointed that anyone would feel comfortable enough to yell at or attack people of another ethnicity or religion.

It is true that we are in an hour in this the whole nation where the open, violent racists feel comfortable to verbally abuse and attack people on the open street. It is true that our city government treats the racist protesters better than the anti-Trump protesters.

But you know what? On that random MAX train stop last night, there was ONE violent racist, and THREE anti-racists putting their bodies on the line to stop the evil. And TWO people were able to arrive home safely. For Portland, that some decent math to occur on a random public transportation stop. This means that there's a fight, but it is a fight that we can win.

To those who insist that the Muslim women/community should be grateful to these men, that may be true. So should we all. Because they weren't just sacrificing themselves for those women, for Muslims in general (although that is true), but for all of us to live in freedom and peace in our community. They died for all of us.  Sound like someone you know?

I pray that we are all ready and practiced to stand up to abuse and violence against any oppressed people. Against Muslims, against African Americans, against Native Americans, against the homeless, against LGBTQ, We need to stand up against anyone who is directing threats against others, even if they are police, in a peaceful but firm rejection of prejudiced.

And may we stand against the just as ugly prejudice against these people created by our structure: the national and local governments, businesses, non-profits, lobbying agencies that separate a group and say, "These are the people we don't want in our society."

Let's use these three heroes as our model. Let's all stand to defend the outcast.

And if we stand, with out lives, then we can say that Jesus is here. Jesus who laid his life down for the rejected, overcoming the system that oppressed them through his sacrifice.  If we stand up for the outcast and the "sinner" ready to lay down our lives for their sake, then we become Jesus in that moment.

Jesus only lives if we live out Jesus.

King of the Perpetual Revolution

"Later guys, I'm outta here"

The ascension of Jesus, him leaving us with the Most Mystical God is a mystery. Why leave us without clear direction, a clear line of leadership, a clear set of commands that do not need to be interpreted? The presence of Jesus is assurance, it is all our questions answered, it is knowing exactly what our nation and religion is. And that's exactly why Jesus left.

The ascension is Jesus' guarantee that people won't put a temple around him, to centralize him and to stabilize him. The ascension means that our nation will never have a throne, a building or a city from which all commands must come. The ascension means that leadership won't be passed on through a lineage or a bureaucracy. It means that every generation must find their own leaders, reflected by Jesus' demand that they primarily lovers of the people and servants of the poor. It means that the only teacher we have are the commands of love and humility, and we have to work out the application for every sub-culture. It means that religion cannot be standardized.

The ascension means that Jesus is and always will be the perpetual King of the revolution. The Lord of change. The master of the always applicable law and government. He will always be the center of the nation that we immigrate to. Exactly because his physical presence is with the Father, and so we must always deem the earth's governments as inadequate, and we are seeking for the perfect love, the perfect rule, the perfect leader, always out of our control.

Irony

A famous businessman became president and he invited thousands of peers to come to his inauguration.  Instead of being overjoyed, they made excuses.

"My job requires me to be in the office," said one.

"I just got married and... well, I'm too busy," said another.

"I promised to take my daughter out that day," said another.

The employees who took the RSVPs explained this to the President and he fumed and ranted.  Finally, he said, "Fine! Go downtown and invite every beggar, bum, cripple, wino and homeless to the inauguration." 

After a while, they returned, "We did as you requested, Mr. President, but the greens still look pretty empty." 

"Okay, then," he replied, "go to the day labor stations and the street corners. Find every immigrant looking for work or any foreigners who happen to be standing around. Give them some money, do what you must until the whole area is filled.  Let me tell you, though, not a single one of the ones who offered excuses will stay in my country."

Luke 14:16-24, SKV

Jesus' Death and Revolution

We often spend time interpreting Jesus death on the cross by analyzing Paul, John or the book of Hebrews.  But we should spend time looking at what Jesus said about his death, understanding how he interpreted his death.

1.       Free the abused
“The Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost.”
Jesus looked around him and he saw masses of people who were suffering.  People who were running around insane, desperately poor, horribly sick, blind, and imprisoned for their debts.  Instead of helping these needy people, the leaders of his people punished them more.  Preachers spoke to the abused, claiming it was their fault they suffered.  Priests kept them from God because their suffering was seen as a punishment.  Elders passed laws that made their plight more difficult.  Jesus saw the oppressed as “sheep without a shepherd”, a people without a leader, and the leaders as “whitewashed sepultures”—containers of death with a fresh coat of paint on them.  So Jesus had a plan to deliver these people—to give them a new exodus, a deliverance from slavery.  And that deliverance plan included his own death.

2.       Martyrdom
“Blessed are you when men hate you… be glad in that day… for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way the fathers treated the prophets.”
The first deliverer of Jesus’ people, Moses, was a shepherd who had a deep connection with God, and God enacted the deliverance of the oppressed using Moses as a conduit.  There were many like Moses offering deliverance through the years: Deborah, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Esther. These were prophets, people whom God used to deliver his people from oppression.  However, these people, every one, suffered horribly.  Their lives were miserable.  But the misery of their lives was worth the deliverance they brought, and also because they were given the opportunity to live at peace with God after this life was over. Jesus knew that he was to live like these: be led by God to deliver people, suffer horribly, to be resurrected to be at peace in the end.

3.       Demonstrate Love
“Greater love has no one than this: that one lay his life down for his brothers.”

Jesus declared that the law is all about love.  Not just any love, but love for all people, love which helps those in need and love that sacrifices oneself.  Jesus lived out this love every day.  He healed the sick, brought sight to the blind, fed the hungry, raised the dead, delivered the mentally ill, and gave to the poor.  This was good, but he needed to provide a final demonstration of how one should live.  When Jesus died on the cross, he showed what real sacrifice was, and the kind of love we all should share with one another.

4.       Jesus On the Campaign Trail
“This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased”
At the moment Jesus was baptized, he had a vision of God the Father quoting Psalm 2 to him, declaring him to be the Son of God, the new king of the Jewish people, the leader of the people of God, and the next emperor of the world.  From this point on, Jesus was campaigning to be this king, to prove himself as more worthy than the current rulers.  But Jesus was never campaigning to the people of God, but campaigning for God himself.  He was showing himself to be more compassionate than Moses, more obedient than David, and having more faith than Elijah.  His death was the ultimate expression of all of these characteristics.

5.       Principle of Humility
“If anyone exalts himself, he will be humbled. Whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
There was one principle, however, that Jesus needed to demonstrate above all.  If a person was to rule under God’s power, the one aspect they had to demonstrate above all is humility.    Jesus understood humility to not be an inner sense of unworthiness or lowliness, because he considered himself the next emperor of the world.  Rather, humility is accepting a low standing and allowing God to give you a higher one.  Jesus had to accept the lowest place, the station of ultimate shame and rejection, and then God would establish him on high.  In Jesus’ time, the lowest station he could take on is to be hung in shame on a cross.

6.       Kick the Bums Out
“The vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir, come let us kill him…”
Like David before him, there were already God-appointed rulers over God’s people: the Sanhedrin and the priests of the temple. Jesus couldn’t establish a revolution and kill them, for that would prove him to be unworthy of rule.  Instead, Jesus had to demonstrate the unworthiness of these rulers, and then God himself would take them out of power.  So he established a situation in which they would kill someone making a claim that was true.  That despite their laws and focus on justice, they would kill God’s representative because they didn’t like his claims.  Jesus, of course, put himself in that situation.  He declared himself king by riding on a colt into Jerusalem with followers honoring him as a great conqueror.  He undermined the high priest’s rules by kicking businessmen out of the temple.  He publicly declared them killers of the innocent.  And then, only to them, he admitted that he was king and would be judging them in God’s name.  That was enough for them to crucify him, causing them to be set aside as rulers.

7.       Establishing a new nation
“This is the new covenant in my blood.”

After delivering the people of Israel from slavery and giving them a new law, God asked for an eternal agreement between him and his people.  On the day of ratification, Moses had a number of bulls sacrificed.  Moses read the law of God and said, “God wants to be your king and you will be his nation.  Do you agree to these terms?”  All the people agreed.  So Moses had a number of bulls killed and the blood was put in a basin.  Moses then sprinkled the blood on God’s altar and then on all the people.  He said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you.”  Jesus used the same words, speaking of his own blood which was to be spilled on the cross.  Jesus made it clear that he was re-establishing the kingdom of God, a new nation established on the dust of the old, with Jesus as the king.  This is a kingdom whose law is love, who gives an opportunity for repentance, who gives the Spirit to empower one to love.  And Jesus’ blood is the ink with which the constitution is written.

8.       Risen
“He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things… and be killed and after three days rise again.”
All of this was contingent on God’s response.  Jesus had said all along that his death was significant only if God raised him from the dead.
If God raised him from the dead, then Jesus was truly the King, as he claimed.
If God raised him from the dead, then the many scriptures that said God would raise the humble would be fulfilled.
If God raised him from the dead, then the path for the oppressed to live a new life in God is established.
If God raised him from the dead, then the sentence of death upon Jesus is reversed.
If God raised him from the dead, then the old system of temple, priests and elders are declared unworthy and set aside.
If God raised him from the dead, then the law of love is established.
If God raised him from the dead then the new covenant is accepted and the new kingdom of God is established.

God did raise him from the dead.  There is a new nation without abuse or oppression.  It is not led by the church, but by Jesus himself.  And anyone who follows Jesus’ path of humility and mercy to the needy can be a part of it.  All nations are set aside, rejected by anyone who lives in this new kingdom.

A School of Fools

Today is April Fool’s Day, the day of jokes, pranks and attempts to deceive.  A “fool” on this day, would be considered the butt of a joke, the one who is deceived or pranked.  In the range of meaning of “fool” we would include the uneducated oaf, the intelligent person who is unwise in everyday matters and the one who ignores the path of everyday society, usually to their own detriment. 

Paul called himself a “fool for Christ”, not in the sense that he was uneducated, but that he ignored the wisdom of the world to embrace a philosophy and a way of life that was damaging to himself and his very life.  He recognizes that there are those who would be “wise” for Christ, those who walks a careful path not to disturb either their religion or their society.  He was never like that.  He jumped in, both feet, into the abyss that is Christ, not looking to escape with his life.   And so he changed the world.

He was not the first.  Peter spoke out against the powerful body that killed Christ, was arrested, threatened and eventually killed.  Stephen spoke boldly before his enemies who brutally and immediately killed him.  James was arrested and killed, mostly on a whim.  All this within a year of Jesus’ death.  To continue on this path of martyrdom was foolish, but these early followers of Jesus were passionate and determined to bring justice into a world that did not deserve it.

The path of foolishness did not end with this generation.  Although the movement became more than a group of fools, there were always the minority of extremists who pursued the cross, who swam in the pond of non-conformity.

The Pilgrim

An anonymous, barely literate peasant wandered throughout villages of Russia, begging for his bread and praying a single prayer every minute of every day.  “Jesus, Son of God, Savior, have mercy on me a sinner.”  Although he seemed uneducated and worthy of mockery by some, others saw him as a fount of wisdom and his inspirational biography is read to this day.

Francis of Assisi

He began an order of monks who would own no money or possessions.  You might think, “Well that was easier in the 13^th century than today”, but it was not.  Francis was just more determined, and his followers lived in caves and what churches would allow them to sleep in pews.  He would beg for himself and for his fellow monks, singing and preaching foolishness. Occasionally Francis would be invited to a dinner and he would not even sit down at the table, but find the proudest bishop and beg that man for food, as the wealthy one sat down to eat. He finally died of open wounds that he begged from God so that he might be more Christ-like.

Ignatius of Loyola

A disciplined soldier who was injured in war, he was in bed for months with nothing but a bible and a book of saints to focus on.  He dedicated himself to Christ as his master and attended classes at the University of Paris for years, while he lived in the fields, homeless.  He collected a few followers who began the Jesuit order.

Damien of Molokai

Determined to help the needy, this Belgian priest served at a leper colony on the island of Molokai.  He cleaned wounds, buried his friends and created a joyful community.   Of course, he died of leprosy.

Anthony of Egypt

Ashamed of the “Christian” society that developed in Alexandria, Anthony chose to live in a cemetery instead, and eventually left the safety of the city altogether and lived in the desert. Some would come and seek counsel and then others came to live his hermit-like existence in nearby caves.  His foolishness became the Christian monastic movement.

Keith Green

A rock star who dedicated himself to Jesus, he sold his albums for what people could afford and wrote radical Christian articles for his very popular newsletter. He sang and spoke of radical hospitality and of self-sacrifice.  On a private plane in his organization’s property in Texas, he overfilled it with his children and friends and they all died.  But millions were inspired by his powerful message and music to follow Jesus.

So many in the cloud of witnesses we could name: Martin Luther King, Jr., Conrad Grebel, Mother Theresa, Meister Eckhart, Maximillian, Vincent Van Gogh, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Grandma Moses, Claire of Assisi, Stephen Biko, Mimosa, and more that time does not allow me to speak of.

***

I am proud to call myself a minor fool for Christ beside these martyrs and saints.  I will not boast but in my idiocy, my poor attempt to follow the path Jesus created on his way to death.  I quit my job, making me and my family homeless for months in order to better appreciate and serve the homeless.  My life was threatened and my body was attacked for wanting to serve.  I held poorly attended services, proclaiming the peace, love and power of Christ, which few wanted to hear.  I gave opportunities to serve to the poorest of the poor, some of whom were felons, drug dealers, prostitutes, addicts and thieves.  I invited some of these to live in my home. 

One of my great projects over the last few years was to transform a mostly empty church facility into a vibrant community center for the homeless, immigrants, poor and destitute.  Four separate church groups, of different denominations, met there, and for many hours a day there were showers, food, clothes, garden, shelter, work opportunities, and contacts with other services.  It was known as RedBarn (because of the large red barn on the property) and it was loved by those who used the services.

But the project was hated by many who lived around it and the police, for they saw the poor as reducing the value of their homes, as a center for criminals to gather, as enabling the very people they wanted to drive out of their community to remain.  A few worked for years to drive us out, reporting us to the city for crimes they could not actually see. 

Eventually, one of the people I helped get off the street located his drug distribution business on the property, bringing in the very criminal element that the neighbors and police were so concerned about.  I shut it down, and the city eventually fined the property 3000 dollars for not cleaning it up quickly enough.  I quit managing the property due to the stress of managing the expectations and needs of the poor, the city, the denomination who owned the property and my vision of the peace of Christ. 

I understand now.

There is a reason that the community of Christ is a community of fools.  It is because to fight to meet the needs of the outcast is to declare war against an entire society, and they will not accept it.  They will fight and eventually kill you.  If they can’t tear you down quickly, they will do so slowly.

So I will follow the command of Christ: when they persecute you in one place, go to another.  I will rest, and gather my wits.  But I have not given up on the outcast, who need support.  And I have not given up on foolishness.  No, I am in a lull, but I already feel the foolishness of Christ rising up in me again.  Watch and see. 

6 Reasons the Bible Sucks (but is Essential as well)

Ever pick up a full Old-and-New-Covenant Bible lately?  It’s pretty heavy.  Now, think about how big and weighty it would be if the book had normal pages, instead of the thin ones you can’t turn and single columns with normal margins and a normal font size instead of the tiny-omg-who-could-possibly-read-this-text monstrosities?  By the way, you know that complaining about text size is the primary sign of aging? 

Anyway, the point is, the Bible is a big, big book.  Bigger than we generally think.  And that’s because it’s not a single book. It is a bunch of books, a library of ancient texts, collected over a thousand year period of time. We don’t actually know how many authors it had, because many of the texts had a number of writers and editors.  The book divisions have a complex history, as some books are clearly a number of shorter texts (Genesis and Psalms, for example) and some books wouldn’t have been divided if they could have fit on a single scroll (I and II Samuel).  These texts are thrown together because of their history of being read together in synagogues and churches and because of a general theme of people influenced by Jewish culture and their experience of God.

Not creepy at all.  Thanks for the flowers, though.

The Bible isn’t exactly unified in theme, though.  While each text seems to present God as a unique person, when put together, God seems like a schizophrenic nation-abuser.  He speaks of his loving  kindness and mercy in one chapter and in another he is killing off masses of people because they ate the birds he gave them to eat. Sounds like God should be walking around in boxers and a wife-beater some of the time and at others he is dressed in a tux, waxing eloquent.

Perhaps we just don’t understand God’s ways?  Perhaps we need to look at God throughout the Bible to get the whole picture? Or perhaps each writer is just expressing their opinion of God, based on their limited experience?  And perhaps the authors of the Bible only understood the bits and pieces of the spirit world that they could comprehend in the midst of their difficult, struggling existence?

I think we need to give the Bible a break.  Putting on it such words as “inerrant” or “infallible” are heavy words to a text that we tend to see in it the likeness of our own opinion.  That’s the convenience of having such a big book written over a thousand year period of time, is that we can find most opinions somewhere hidden in there, both loving and racist, both philosophical and inane.

I have intensely studied the Bible as the word of God and the source of devotion for almost 40 years now, and I have studied it enough that I have a few concerns that I just can’t shake.  Like these:

1. The Bible Teaches that No Woman is Good
Ecclesiastes is a pretty on-the-edge text, one that’s tough to accept in the canon at times, but this passage is really disturbing:

“I have searched and found one upright man out of a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all.”

Certainly the viewpoint that people generally suck is found occasionally in the pages of the Bible, and especially in the pages of patriarchal theology.  But we don’t find this point of view very often: Men generally are pretty bad, but every single woman is just plain evil.  “A hundred percent of women are the dust of the ground that I walk, but I found seven and a half million men that are pretty okay”
This theology is disputed in other parts of the Bible, which have people like Tamar, the daughter in law of Judah, and of course Mary the mother of Jesus, but it is just crazy to say that women are absolutely worse than men.  But there it is, right there in your Bible.

What did Luke REALLY do?

2. The Bible says a Woman’s Hand should be cut off
If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.  (Deuteronomy 25:11-12)
Again, it’s not if anyone touches a person’s genitals in a fight, but if a woman does it.  According to the Bible, women are special.  Here’s another example:

3. The Bible Says its Okay to Rape Women after Battle

In Numbers 31, the Israelites were battling the Midianites and whooped their butt.  But they kept all the innocents alive, you know, the people who weren’t fighting.  Moses smacked his generals around, “What were you thinking of?” He gave very specific instructions.  “Kill off all the boys and all the sluts… I mean women who have been with a man. But any virgins—go ahead and keep them.  Sleep with them for a while.  If you want to keep them permanently, then marry them.  Otherwise, send them away to do… whatever.”  According to this passage, there were 32,000 young women who were raped and then treated this way.  In general, this is the policy for women of an opposing nation in every battle, according to Deuteronomy 21.

"These are real beards, yeah, sure they are"

4. The Bible says prove a bride is a virgin or kill her
In Deuteronomy 22, there are some regulations about marriage.  One of the first is that right after the “bridal night” the couple must present “proof of virginity” to the community—meaning, blood from a woman’s genitals due to first intercourse.  We now know that the hymen can be broken in everyday activity and that intercourse does not always result in a bleeding hymen.  But even so, the consequence of a non-virgin bride is the death of the bride.  “The community shall stone her to death.”

5. The Bible says genocide is required

The Bible doesn’t only abuse women, although they are their most frequent target.  The Canaanites were also supposed to be killed, without exception.  The Canaanites were descendants of Canaan, a huge portion of the world, as he was the grandson of Noah.  So there were a number of peoples who fall under this blood pact, including the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.  These nations were supposed to be burned, every man, woman, child, cattle, building… not even the virgins were spared, so they must be pretty bad.

Of course, if these folks looked back in their own history, they’d see that their own genetic line was full of Canaanites (wives of Judah and other sons of Jacob).  So if they’d kill all the Canaanites, they’d have to kill themselves.  And one nation that they are sometimes friendly with, Edom (decendents of Esau and his Canaanite wives).  But hypocrisy didn’t seem to be a big deal in the early part of the Bible.

6. The Bible has a hard time distinguishing between God and Satan

In II Samuel 24, David is tested by God putting the desire for him to take a census so he knows how big his army could be.  It’s a minor sin of a king to number his army, a sign they are not trusting in God to defeat their enemies.  So, according to Exodus 30:12, any census must include a ransom for the life of the person counted, the money, it is assumed, would go into the priestly treasury.  But David, it seems didn’t take the tax, and his conscience pained him, so God gave him an option of punishments, all of which results in a massive loss of life.  David took a plague. But that’s not the point.

The point is that the same story is told again in II Chronicles.  That’s not unusual, as Chronicles and Samuel/Kings often tell the same tales with few variations.  But the variation here is that in Samuel it was God who tested David, while in Chronicles it was Satan who tested David.  Same sentence, different subject.  Now, theologically it isn’t such a problem because Satan is the prosecuting attorney of God.  But it feels weird that in Chronicles, as well as Job, that Satan, the enemy of God, is the representative of God in some places.  It’s a part of the Bible I wish would just go away.

***

The point is this: there are many parts of the Bible which disturb me and just about everyone in our modern society.  Parts of the Bible that feel very tribal, very hateful and about as unloving as one can get.  There are aspects that feel that they would reflect the worldview of a serial killer rather than the God who is Love.  I’m not using this as proof that the Bible is wrong or evil.  I’m saying that a clear look at the Bible recognizes that we can’t just accept it, point-blank, for what it says.  That idea, if truly pursued, goes into some very dark pathways.

I think that the Bible shouldn’t be accepted, swallowed like a multi-vitamin, as if it will all be good for you.  Because even if most of it IS good, there’s still the cyanide put in the mix that is destructive.

Why I Still Accept the Bible

I accept the Bible, but not as a whole.  I pick and choose what I like.  And frankly, so does everyone else.  I haven’t seen any religious group march on Washington demanding their rights to rape virgins (only virgins, mind you).  In fact, that seems pretty monstrous.  Even though it was a pretty common right in the ancient world, post-battle.  Today, slavery seems generally counted as an evil, and no one is demanding that their slave submit to them, despite both biblical and legal precedent.   Jews follow the Rabbinic interpretation of the Bible, which is a softer, more kind version of Moses.  Catholics follow church teaching, which even softens the ten commandments (like pointing out that wives aren’t possessions, for example).  This is just what Muslims have done with their Qur’an, providing a layer of teaching which helps us interpret the Scripture in a kinder way, which is easier to fit into modern morals.   This doesn’t compromise the basic teaching of the Scriptures, but it does strip away the stuff we can clearly see as evil.

For me, I don’t go for complex teachings over centuries.  I’ll just stick with Jesus, and work with his interpretation of the Bible.  Which is exactly what the New Testament says to do, anyway.

“No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him..”

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things…”

“You are not to have teachers, for you have only one teacher and this is the Messiah.”

“Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.”

In summary, these passages are saying that the Bible, as a whole, is inadequate to represent God.  Only Jesus accurately represent God.  Which is why I think that having a general Bible approach to theology or truth about God is misbegotten.  The Bible is a bunch of people like us, writing down their experiences of God.  Only Jesus-- the gospels, the teachings that tell us what Jesus did and said while on earth-- can show us who God is really like.  The rest is all guesswork.  And sometimes pretty shoddy guesswork at that.

Some will say, at this point, that I’m using the Bible in a willy-nilly, non-objective manner.  And I am.  I’m okay with that. As long as I keep Jesus central. 

 I have Jesus as my savior, not Moses, David or Paul or John.  And so I might ignore some things you might think I should pay attention to.  On the other hand, you might ignore some things I think are essential.  But that’s one of the great things about life.  We get to figure things out.  I’m trying to understand and follow Jesus, not anyone else and certainly not the Bible as a whole.

I’d be happy to have you join me in this quest.