Sin Is Disunity with God

Sin Is Disunity with God

Who Gets To Define Sin?

In response to a post from Abby Johnson:

“No one gets to choose what’s sinful and what’s not except for God. He has the full authority on morality.”
~ Abby Johnson

Correct.
It’s not so much that God chooses what is sinful or not, as much as disunity with Him is sin and causes death… Physical and spiritual.
God is the Author, Sustainer and Source of Life, therefore anything we do outside of His will separates us from that Life. The natural result is death, just as unplugging any device from an outlet would cause it to stop functioning.

This world has been unplugged from that Source of Life and the battery is running out, so to speak. We are born into a sinful (disconnected) world, being sinful (disconnected) from birth. We can’t reconnect to that Source of Life on our own any more than a lamp can plug itself in.
That’s why we need a Savior: One who is connected/unified with God, to save us from the death that results in our separation from God, and reunify us with Him, our Source of Life!

As we cannot dictate God’s will to Him, we most certainly can not change what is and is not in His will. Anything outside of His will is sin. He has made known a great deal of His will to us, and in the vast areas in which He has not revealed His will to the masses through His Word, the Bible, He reveals His will to individuals through His Holy Spirit, in the grey areas of Grace.

Until next time,

Go in Christ’s Love

 

 

 

Two Different Gods

Two Different Gods

Two Different Gods

Two Different Gods

God In A Box

I find that people in the church tend to get a little too wrapped up in their version of God; sometimes to the point where when a conflict (or multiple conflicts) arises between what they THINK they know of who YHWH is and who He reveals Himself to be in Scripture arise, they choose the version they’ve got in their minds instead…

That’s not worshiping YHWH.
That’s idolatry.

…or they realize that they haven’t been truly following YHWH as He reveals Himself in His Word, and they walk away from the church entirely, which has been happening a lot lately too.

This is why I so strongly believe that it’s important to move away from denominational theologies, which do more to limit the scope of how we see God through the Bible and in our daily lives, and return to a model where if we believe that the Bible IS the Word of God, meant to be an example of how He interacts with us, His beloved creation, then we should expect Him to continue to interact with us as the example He gave us says He will… And like He does elsewhere in the world today and throughout history.

The Western church’s sanitized versions of God, Jesus, and even the Bible as a whole, do more harm than good as people end up believing that their versions of YHWH are somehow better than the real YHWH; a ludicrous concept, chocked full of subconscious heresy! This is exactly why people would choose to stick with an ethical god of their own design over a Holy God who they just don’t understand, because they haven’t been properly taught how faith, hope, or love, as God defines them works; instead, operating only on a worldly definition of each of these.

Until next time,

Go in Christ’s Love

 

 

 

Actionable Love Begins with Actionable Faith

Actionable Love Begins with Actionable Faith

Actionable Love Begins with Actionable Faith

Actionable Love Begins with Actionable Faith

Faith Is What Now??

At this point, I think it’s safe to say that many Christians know that “luv is a verb,” to quote DC Talk, meaning that love isn’t a feeling, but an action. But how many of us know that faith is too?

“Just as the body apart from the soul is dead, so too is faith without [action] dead”

James 2:26

Let me ask, how many times as a Christian have you had a good idea, and acted on it, hoping that God will bless your efforts because it’s a nice idea, only for it fizzle… or worse, for it to blow up in your face?

Did you know that as a Christian, it’s not just enough to do Christiany things once you are saved? Jesus warned that many will come to Him in the end pleading with Him, telling Him about all these wonderful things they did in His name, but He will sadly tell them that He never knew them and to depart from His presence! That should sober any churchgoer who thinks that their eternity is secure.

But if people did things in Jesus’ Name, then why would Jesus say that He did not know them?

There’s a lot that goes into adequately answering that question, but the simple answer is because they did not know Him.

We will spend several posts unpacking this, and other related topics, but first, let me ask you, if on your own accord you:

Met a celebrity once, would you say you know that person? If you’re honest, probably not.
Went to fan clubs for that celebrity afterwards, would you say you know that person? Still no.
Read that celeb’s biographies, would you know that person? Ok, you’d know an awful lot about them, but would you… KNOW… them? That’s sadly a no… still.
Went out into your community and raised money for charities, helped widows and orphans, fed the hungry, visited prisoners, and brought hope to sick and dying kids in the hospitals in the name of this celebrity, would you know this celebrity? Probably not.
Why would you not know that celebrity? Because you didn’t spend any one on one time getting to know them. You didn’t go to the fan club with the celebrity, or talk with them about their life. The celebrity didn’t go with you to do any of the charitable work, nor did they ask you to do any of it. To them, you’re just a fanatic. When you meet them again, and you tell them about all the wonderful things that you’ve done in their name, they’ll say something like what Jesus will say on that day, “Get away from me! I don’t know you!”

How would that situation be different?

Perhaps if you knew the celebrity before you did any of those things. Perhaps if you asked the celebrity how and where you could serve in their name to advance their cause. Perhaps, if you spend time getting to know the celebrity and having fun both while doing charity and during each other’s free time.

Now read this all again, but substitute “celebrity” with Jesus.

Would you say you know Jesus if you’ve:

only met Him once? (Said the “saving prayer”)
gone to church every week?
Read the Bible and maybe some Christian books
Went out into your community and raised money for charities, helped widows and orphans, fed the hungry, visited prisoners, and brought hope to sick and dying kids in the hospitals in the name of this celebrity, would you know this celebrity?
While all of these are good things for Christians to do, it’s not a guarantee of salvation. In fact, it’s not even a way to be saved at all, because only our faith in Jesus can save us. While we will talk about saving faith in another article, and we do not advocate works of any kind as the seal of salvation, the Lord is clear that faith is not inactive.

So, what kind of faith is God looking for?

God wants us to Love like Him. We know that everything Jesus did was an act of Love. Later we will go into how Jesus didn’t act on His own, but where God lead Him. He called it Unity. We’ll dig deeper into that Unity and how Jesus asked that we all experience that same Unity with the Father that He did through the Holy Spirit, which He sent to us. It is here that actionable faith comes into play; a faith in what God is telling us to do in the moment to the point of acting on it, not just blindly doing good-ish deeds in Jesus’ name and hoping something good results and not being surprised when it doesn’t.

In order for us to Love like Christ, we first need to learn how to have a faith like Christ which unified Him with the Father. It is my hope that this website, with the articles, podcasts, videos and any other media, will help you along the way to a closer, unified relationship with the Father through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Until next time,
Go in Christ’s Love

 

 

 

God’s Love is Liberating, Not Restrictive

God’s Love is Liberating, Not Restrictive

God’s Love is Liberating, Not Restrictive

God’s Love is Liberating, Not Restrictive

Just A List of Don’ts?

Many people try to sum up God’s Law with the word “Don’t” or maybe “Thou shall not….” Fill in the blank. As a result, many people view His Laws as restrictive instead of what it actually is: Loving. Yeah. Think about it; when you have information about harmful stuff, do you stay silent about it to those you care about, or do you give them a warning? Chances are, if you’re not cruel, you would want to ensure that they avoid the harm they are not aware of.

For instance, when I was learning to drive, I was given the incredible opportunity to go wherever you wanted. With that set of wheels came a seemingly limitless number of possibilities! However, in my optimism about my new horizons, I was not thinking about all the ways my newfound freedom could hurt me. Family and friends, on the other hand, were. I was reminded of the hazards of speeding, passing on those two-lane country roads and even going up blind hills on those barely paved, one lane back roads.

These people were not trying to restrict my freedom but attempting to ensure it! If I had been pulled over for speeding, while fun in the moment, the financial and judicial penalties are not so fun. Passing in a two lane road, or not proceeding with caution at every blind hill, while hindering my need for speed, could mean a much worse fate for myself… or someone else.

The same can be said with God’s Law. He didn’t place restrictions surrounding finances, work, communication, relationships, worship, and others to hinder our desires, but to allow us to enjoy them to their fullest potential! Anything outside of these boundaries are harmful to us, regardless of whether we realize it right away or not.

What is also sad is this idea that God directly punishes everyone that ignores these boundaries, when it is the natural order of this world, fallen though it may be. Just as if I had ignored the boundaries placed on my driving, it’s not my dad punishing me that caused me to get a speeding ticket or a wreck when I passed when I shouldn’t have. It’s the natural consequences of my actions, that both my family and God are trying to help us avoid!

Although perhaps it’s BECAUSE this world is fallen that these Laws are SO IMPORTANT! It’s vital not to blow all our money on entertainment and alcohol so that we can meet our financial obligations and still have financial freedoms. It’s important to stay active, not lay around and eat all the time, otherwise we get fat and have a ton of health problems that come with it. But God also tells us that it’s important to rest regularly. Remember that the Sabbath was meant for US.

It’s important to not deceive people around you so that you can form trusting relationships with friends, family, and coworkers, Otherwise you end up on your own, isolated from others. God knows that even introverts need community. It’s important for a man and woman to keep intimacy between only themselves, in a marriage. Else, you open each other up to diseases, broken hearts, broken families, and given enough time, degradation of the overall gene pool. It’s important to worship the Creator, Jesus, instead of worshiping what He created, like stars, nature, other people, teams, or institutions.

In a world growing evermore lifeless, these Laws bring Life into our innermost being. The more we stray from these Lifegiving Laws, the more dead we become inside. But these Laws ultimately are meaningless without a relationship with God’s only begotten Son. If you have not placed your faith in Jesus, you can follow all the Laws you want, but it won’t matter one bit beyond this life, because while these Laws are of God, and bring Life into areas of our lives, they can not bring us back to Life. However, we will explore this later.

Until next time,
Go in Christ’s Love

 

 

 

Introduction

Introduction

Intro

Greetings

my fellow seekers of Truth and followers of Jesus. Welcome to this ministry which has been years, decades even, in the making.

 

Not Another Christian Blog…

Well, kinda, but also not like you know it. This blog is not intended for the “spiritual elites,” as it were, but like Jesus, this is more for the everyday person.. The Point of this Ministry is to unpack God’s Word, both written in the Bible and spoken to my heart (where His Spirit lives), through the journey of my heart, mind, and soul toward God through my relationship with Jesus. In this journey I will share of my interactions with God, His movements in my life, the explicit and implicit realizations which He reveals to me, my musings about His work in this world. I will back up what I am learning with Scripture, natural processes (which were established by Him), and reason. …and the wayward Harvard Comma or two.

 

Before We Begin

(and if I may be so dry, here at the beginning), I strongly believe that it is important to understand the difference between the explicit and the implicit when seeking God and His ways in Scripture. The explicit are things stated plainly in the Bible and are irrefutable, depending on translation, intended audience, and several other situationally specific variables. For example, in John 14:6 where Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” He literally means that NO ONE can reach YHWH apart from Him. Anything or anyone that says otherwise is LYING. There IS NO arguing with that.

Whereas the implicit is an understanding gained from implied information, which we can reason to be true. For instance, the concept of free will is never EXPLICITLY stated in the Bible, its implication IS there! Free will being of course Man’s ability to make reason-based decisions on their own, without the direction of an outside agent. We see this in Deuteronomy 11, among other locations in the Bible, where God places the choice to follow Him squarely on the shoulders of the community of individuals. God tells them “Faithfully follow my commands, and these good things will happen. Or don’t and these bad things will happen” (dramatically paraphrased, of course), laying out the consequences for each decision.

If that isn’t a demonstration of free will, I don’t know what is. But back to the larger point, we are able to develop spiritual understanding from Scripture that is both stated directly and indirectly which we can infer using the reason and understanding that He gave us (meaning our mind). We are also able to gain a deeper understanding of the spiritual through nature and natural processes, as Jesus demonstrated through His parables and when He would chastise those with Him when He openly muse upon their lack of understanding when His creation is all around them; a creation which God designed for us, to allow us to learn about Him and His glory and goodness.

And lastly, there is the issue of those seemingly large contradictions in the Bible, particularly when the implicit comes up against the explicit. We covered a moment ago how God acknowledges the free will of humans. However we can not ignore the explicit writings of Paul who tells us that our salvation was predestined before the world was made. The long-going argument between Calvinist’s and the rest of Christianity has been “do we have free will to choose or are we predestined in all our ways?” The fact is that both can be true at the same time. We can try to understand and come up with theories, but the fact of the matter is that we just won’t always know for sure with certain things until we come into all knowledge in the next Life.

 

Perspective Matters

Then there is the unpacking of all of scripture through my own unique perspective. Just as the Prophets and Apostles experienced God in different ways due to their unique life experiences and varying amounts of openness to God and His Will (Jonah), I have a very unique vantagepoint of God and His ways, having been made with a very cerebral, technical perspective, with LOTS of experience in technologies of various kinds. I see or figure out how things work, and God has used this about me to reveal to me answers to questions that I have had about Him, this world, the next, people around me, and other deep mysteries of the Bible. You have a unique perspective on who God is too. It was Jesus’ desire that we followers gather regularly to share our unique perspectives regularly, to uplift, encourage, sharpen and build each other up. He called it… Church. So I invite your perspectives, to help broaden ours and uplift each other.

 

This Blog IS Centered Around THE Most Excellent Way

As God says through Paul in I Corinthians 13, if I have everything but have not love, then I am nothing! (…paraphrased again) That is where God has worked on me the most! He has taken my heart of stone and replaced it with one of flesh. I FEEL more with Jesus living in me than I did without Him! Oh, and feeling is not a bad thing. Many christians unfortunately believe that the heart is wicked beyond hope, but that is not what God tells us. Why would God make His dwelling place in the most wicked part of a person without first transforming it? That is why those in whom He lives have a new heart. That is where He tells us to find Him after all, once we have accepted Jesus as our Savior and Lord!

He gave us a body, mind, heart, and soul, and He expects us to use each aspect in our pursuit of Him. I have been made more aware of the world we are in due to the understanding He has given me, and others through His instruction, about Himself, His creation and the nature of sin in this creation and the nature of how He overcame sin and its effects on our behalf. Allowing my heart to become excited and overcome by Him, to feel the swells of joy at His many graces and mercies, in my life and the lives of others, even in the face of the ravaging effects of sin, all because I have allowed God’s Spirit to live in my heart, healing it from all the hurt and pain caused by sins I have committed and sins committed by others which affect me. I am free to think, to feel, to glorify, and to act, because of Christ in me!

 

Simply put, the following blog merely contains the logs of my pursuit of Him.

 

If you are not me (another joke…I hope), and you are reading any part of this, it is my hope that you will be brought to a deeper understanding of, appreciation of, and love for God though Jesus, and to a closer active relationship with Him through His Spirit who lives (or can live) in your heart too!

 

Until next time,
Go in Christ’s Love