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Thursday, October 29, 2015

Time for a New Adventure

I have a deep need to find a community where I can be damaged, cynical, and really wrestle with what God is speaking into my life.  I have interacted with so many people who just need a safe space to really figure out where they fall on the question of religion.  We need a safe place to ask dangerous questions.  Questions that can lead to drastic change in our lives.  We need a sancutary for religious exploration and biblical learning.  One where we stop taking things at face value and learn to really dive in and think for ourselves.  


Where there is no vision the people perish. (Proverbs 29:18)  I don’t think that just means that we need good leadership.  If we are blind to truth for ourselves, no amount of preaching or predigested theology will help us.  We will wither and starve.  We need a place to learn to digest the Word on our own.  Where making mistakes and being broken are ok.  A place where authenticity is applauded, not swept under the rug.


We need a real community where we are all fighting to survive this together.  


That’s what I want to help create.  I don’t know who will come, but I trust God will bring the right people.  I can feel in my bones that I can’t just sit by anymore.  It’s time to try and build this community.  I’m not sure what it’s going to look like, but I just want people to feel loved.


I want people to feel safe to question and doubt.  I want people to not feel like they have to check part of themselves at the door.  I want to whole person, not just the cleaned up version.  I want them, warts and all.  I want this community to be an expression of the love and acceptance that God has for us.  No more feeling that they aren’t good enough.  No more thinking they aren’t worth love.  No more people forcing their beliefs on them, but rather them learning to live out their own faith.  

It’s time to get to work.  Let’s do this.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Heretic vs Hypocrites

I'm at a point in my life where I don't have time for hypocrites.  If one more person tries to explain the pain and suffering I've seen around me with a christian platitude (aka: "everything happens for a reason" or "God won't give you anything you can't handle") I'm going to punch them in the face!*

I'm tired of people who say they believe in Jesus, but they use him as an excuse to hate people because of their beliefs/race/sexual orientation.  I'm tired of people claiming that God want's them to be wealthy, and refusing to help the poor.  I have half a mind to leave the Church entirely.

God, I love you, but I can't stand your people!!!!

Seriously, what the fuck makes people think Jesus is cool with them completely ignoring his teachings on loving their neighbor (which includes the homeless guy who sits at the exit you take to get to work).  When did Jesus ever teach that hate/discrimination was an ok option?  Or, here is a better question, who did Jesus get the most pissed at?

He got seriously pissed at the hypocritial teachers of the law!  He said they were like white-washed tombs; pretty on the outside, but full of death on the inside.  (Matthew 23:27)  He had no patience for them.  One of the only times we see him get physically violent is when he drives money changers and venders out of the temple.  They had perverted his father's house. (Matthew 21:12-17) If only he was around to do that now.

I would rather spend time with people who are considered heretics, but are still growing in their faith.  My people are those who are asking questions, challenging the system they learned in sunday school.  The people who aren't sure what they believe, but they know that Love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)  Those who hope to one day have their shit together but know that it's probably never going to happen, and rather than stressing about that, they try to love everyone around them to the best of their ability.

I would rather spend my time with the people who may not know what they believe but try to love their neighbor.  I don't want to be around those who think they are 100% right all the time, and refuse to even critically think about their faith.

I think that's why Jesus called fishermen and tax collectors to be his disciples; they were willing to learn, and the students of the temple thought they already knew it all.

I'm tired of hypocrites... where are my heretics?



*I won't actually punch them.  But I will probably scream until I have no more voice.