While centuries of religious tradition have skewed and blunted Christ's testimony, many Christians are left with the idea that Church is a place, that a building is God's house (a literally Pharisaical teaching), the Church is all around us. You see, human beings were designed to be together.
God made Adam, and then he made Eve. The first Church. "When two or more are gathered in my name," God said, "I am there." They had perfect communion with each other and with God, and since they ate of that tree, the last supper, all of Christianity is trying to arrive back to the Garden of Eden. Even Christ's message was to pursue what Adam and Eve had; he said "Love God, and love each other." Communion with God, and communion with others.
Unfortunately, pride has poisoned the Church. Even people who are aware of the problem are sometimes at fault, myself included. We try so hard to create the illusion of the perfectly loving church that we forget to love. We try so hard to be the image of the Body, that we forget to fill our roles as Body Parts.
So much can be learned from unbelievers though. Why? Because they don't have the temptation of religious pride; they don't have the social status based on outward righteousness. They are free to love whomever they please, and often they do a better job at it too. They don't have the temptation to try to "fix" others, or to change a lifestyle to match their own. They are free to meet the lost where they are, and are free to love them, no matter what.
I recently met a group of eleven strangers - none of us knew each other. Within a week, we were a close-knit clan of literary geeks. We had bonded over our poetry, and this bond surpassed social status, class, religious affiliation, political viewpoints, and diametrically different lifestyles. We sat around a great table, enjoying one another and each's individual uniqueness. Each one of us brought something different to the table.
I thought to myself, this is what the Church should be like. Sure, there were lesbians, there were bisexuals, there were atheists, home-schoolers, Jews, Christians, and Catholics. There were Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. There were those who loved Tarot cards, fortune telling, and there were alcoholics. But it didn't stand between us, or our love for one another.
Why is it that an expression of beauty (poetry) can unite people better than the beauty itself? Why is it that we who have found Grace and Great Love cannot be brought together as well as though who write from a place of pain?
The answer, I suspect, is because we - followers of Christ - too often attempt to be Christ himself. We try to cast the first stone, while we hide our depravity from our neighbors. We lay upon our brothers and sisters the guilt we have been saved from, and judge without forgiveness under the shadow of the cross of Christ, who died to atone.
We are supposed to be a model for others to see His goodness and glory. Instead, we ought to look out upon the lost, and open our eyes. Many of the people we judge are closer to living like Jesus than we. We must cast aside what divides us and gather, in his name.
If we cannot recognize the Christ in others, who are we even trying to emulate? Who do we even worship? The answer is our religion. The answer is Christianity.
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Saturday, October 8, 2016
Christianity is Dead - Excerpt from "The Book of Hell"
Christianity is dead.
Yes, it still walks around, corrupting the standards of acceptable locomotion with its scraping shuffle, groaning in abject misery as a disease more fatal than the Black Plague overpowers its bloodstream.
Yes, it speaks, defying laws of mortality, with a death rattle stuttering Words of Life, twisting them up around a rotting tongue into the shape of noose, forcing its followers to hang on every word…
Yes, it grabs: its claw-like hands clutching violently at anything that threatens its unsteady gait, tearing the robes off the corpses of priests it has strangled, pulling the costume on over its ash-covered head in preparation of its last great performance.
But it is dead.
“Christian” was once an adjective, a word of honor to pronounce upon a humble, Christ-like follower of the Way.
But it became a noun: an object, a group to hide behind, and an identity that could be claimed without being earned – not even by the blood of its namesake.
Under the Way, the temple was destroyed, rebuilt in three days as the body of Christ: the eyes, hands, and feet of the Cornerstone.
But Christianity, weakened by religion – specifically the law – built itself a golden calf of its own deified glory. It rebuilt the temple, “God’s House,” using wood, hay, and stubble: physical manifestations of its material weakness. Even though there was already one body, one temple, one church, they made these manmade structures into little temples. “Do not profane God’s house!” They looked at the body, and built a machine. They called it a church.
The created the church of hell.
In the first century, Judaism held men captive, clutching them close like a corpse after Rigor Mortus has set in. It gouged out eyes, blinding them; it cut off ears, deafening them; and it gave them blood money, buying them off, feeding their camels with a wealth of needles.
Christ came, halting religion’s spiral of death in its tracks – “I have not come to abolish the law, but to fulfil.” The most religious men were insulted and cursed by the humble, lowly God Almighty. Bringing to completion the crumbling efforts of man, whether truly abolished or simply completed, either Way:
“It is finished.”
Religion’s part in the play was over. Act I was ended. Man had reached his sinful, contaminated hands towards the heavens, building towers of confusion out of blood, sweat, and tears, working for centuries for a righteousness he could not achieve.
Enter Christ. He reached down, once, killing death and rendering religion irrelevant.
It is finished.
Names carry power. Judaism became a social indicator, a status symbol, with evil, scornful men – highly revered by the religious following – rising into positions of power and prestige, while the poor and needy were trampled underfoot. Corrupted by the power its name carried, Judaism became another outlet for wickedness.
The Way had no name, no defining attributes, no theological bullet points, no governmental interference, no fame and glory to hide behind or parade in front of. It was simply the movement of following Jesus: to be willing to hang on the Roman Road.
Following the Christ – the Way – it did not mean socially assumed righteousness; it meant public ridicule, governmental inquisition, social hostility, and torture to the point of death.
It was not a religion. There was no system to exploit; it was no Christianized pyramid scheme.
Christianity became a Name – a noun. Originating as an insult to those who were already being beaten and tortured for Christ, it was adopted as a banner of pride and, later, egotism.
Paul said that he boasted in Christ. But names carry power. Power corrupts. Eventually, we have come to boast not in Christ, but in Christianity. We hold our heads up high walking into the church of hell. Our eyes twinkle with suppressed pride, as our evil self-righteousness lifts us up on the altars on which we have slaughtered our brothers. “I will hold you accountable,” we proclaim, ignoring the logs that have become our eyes – digging with blunt and broken fingernails at the sheep with a fleck of dust in his eyelash. “Fifty lashes!” we scream, flaying their backs with the knotted whips – the very whips we used to whip Jesus. “This is church discipline. Submit!”
We rob temples, we burn temples. We kill our brothers – temples of the Holy Spirit – with the very Word He entrusted us with. We worship our beliefs and hate those who disagree, cursing them in the name of Jesus Christ who died so that we could know love. We adopted a new law: our theology. We strictly adhere to these “sound, biblical teachings,” excusing our close-minded hatred with words we’ve shredded and scribbled out.
Stuck in the same wicked pattern of the religious leaders of the first century, we idolize our teachers – our pastors – who get drunk on our praise and high on their arrogance. Many become addicted to their own flattery until only devouring the weak will sate their thirst for superiority. We bow down and worship to the extinction of our feeble faiths.
And still we rise – miserable, sensual gluttons – and praise one another in the name of the Adversary. Of course, the satan does not have a name, so we do not say it verbally. But actions speak louder than words.
But we do not think we have been very clever, to have exploited a position of humility and love in order to feed our fatuous lusts – we do not think at all. This is how Christianity has died: we wear it like a work uniform – we do not choose it, we do not think about it, and we take it off the second we get home. It means so much to us to appear to one another as exceptionally righteous, but only when we step out of our homes and into the fold. Especially when in the presence of the Pastor and his sharp teeth. Soon we become lost in our own images until it overflows, washing over Christ and burying Him in the waste, burying with it Christianity.
We’ve killed it; it is dead, an unneeded and unnecessary stumbling block of religion, tripping up Pharisees and their devoted followers. We took the curtain and sewed it back together, making our religious identity into a golden calf to choke on.
Christianity is dead. It was stillborn, an unworthy god put upon a cross it couldn’t conquer, a king to sit upon a fatal throne it couldn’t endure. It, as every other idol we’ve constructed, had no chance at all of survival, and even less at saving.
Yet still we rest in it, hiding in the bones of our sanctuaries, like maggots hiding away in a rotting corpse; the biggest difference being that the corpse feeds the maggots, while we starve, quenching the Spirit in our arrogance and greed.
Christianity is a name – a powerful name – but it is the wrong Name to follow. It did not rise from the dead. It did not defeat death.
It only begot it.
- S.M.
Yes, it still walks around, corrupting the standards of acceptable locomotion with its scraping shuffle, groaning in abject misery as a disease more fatal than the Black Plague overpowers its bloodstream.
Yes, it speaks, defying laws of mortality, with a death rattle stuttering Words of Life, twisting them up around a rotting tongue into the shape of noose, forcing its followers to hang on every word…
Yes, it grabs: its claw-like hands clutching violently at anything that threatens its unsteady gait, tearing the robes off the corpses of priests it has strangled, pulling the costume on over its ash-covered head in preparation of its last great performance.
But it is dead.
“Christian” was once an adjective, a word of honor to pronounce upon a humble, Christ-like follower of the Way.
But it became a noun: an object, a group to hide behind, and an identity that could be claimed without being earned – not even by the blood of its namesake.
Under the Way, the temple was destroyed, rebuilt in three days as the body of Christ: the eyes, hands, and feet of the Cornerstone.
But Christianity, weakened by religion – specifically the law – built itself a golden calf of its own deified glory. It rebuilt the temple, “God’s House,” using wood, hay, and stubble: physical manifestations of its material weakness. Even though there was already one body, one temple, one church, they made these manmade structures into little temples. “Do not profane God’s house!” They looked at the body, and built a machine. They called it a church.
The created the church of hell.
In the first century, Judaism held men captive, clutching them close like a corpse after Rigor Mortus has set in. It gouged out eyes, blinding them; it cut off ears, deafening them; and it gave them blood money, buying them off, feeding their camels with a wealth of needles.
Christ came, halting religion’s spiral of death in its tracks – “I have not come to abolish the law, but to fulfil.” The most religious men were insulted and cursed by the humble, lowly God Almighty. Bringing to completion the crumbling efforts of man, whether truly abolished or simply completed, either Way:
“It is finished.”
Religion’s part in the play was over. Act I was ended. Man had reached his sinful, contaminated hands towards the heavens, building towers of confusion out of blood, sweat, and tears, working for centuries for a righteousness he could not achieve.
Enter Christ. He reached down, once, killing death and rendering religion irrelevant.
It is finished.
Names carry power. Judaism became a social indicator, a status symbol, with evil, scornful men – highly revered by the religious following – rising into positions of power and prestige, while the poor and needy were trampled underfoot. Corrupted by the power its name carried, Judaism became another outlet for wickedness.
The Way had no name, no defining attributes, no theological bullet points, no governmental interference, no fame and glory to hide behind or parade in front of. It was simply the movement of following Jesus: to be willing to hang on the Roman Road.
Following the Christ – the Way – it did not mean socially assumed righteousness; it meant public ridicule, governmental inquisition, social hostility, and torture to the point of death.
It was not a religion. There was no system to exploit; it was no Christianized pyramid scheme.
Christianity became a Name – a noun. Originating as an insult to those who were already being beaten and tortured for Christ, it was adopted as a banner of pride and, later, egotism.
Paul said that he boasted in Christ. But names carry power. Power corrupts. Eventually, we have come to boast not in Christ, but in Christianity. We hold our heads up high walking into the church of hell. Our eyes twinkle with suppressed pride, as our evil self-righteousness lifts us up on the altars on which we have slaughtered our brothers. “I will hold you accountable,” we proclaim, ignoring the logs that have become our eyes – digging with blunt and broken fingernails at the sheep with a fleck of dust in his eyelash. “Fifty lashes!” we scream, flaying their backs with the knotted whips – the very whips we used to whip Jesus. “This is church discipline. Submit!”
We rob temples, we burn temples. We kill our brothers – temples of the Holy Spirit – with the very Word He entrusted us with. We worship our beliefs and hate those who disagree, cursing them in the name of Jesus Christ who died so that we could know love. We adopted a new law: our theology. We strictly adhere to these “sound, biblical teachings,” excusing our close-minded hatred with words we’ve shredded and scribbled out.
Stuck in the same wicked pattern of the religious leaders of the first century, we idolize our teachers – our pastors – who get drunk on our praise and high on their arrogance. Many become addicted to their own flattery until only devouring the weak will sate their thirst for superiority. We bow down and worship to the extinction of our feeble faiths.
And still we rise – miserable, sensual gluttons – and praise one another in the name of the Adversary. Of course, the satan does not have a name, so we do not say it verbally. But actions speak louder than words.
But we do not think we have been very clever, to have exploited a position of humility and love in order to feed our fatuous lusts – we do not think at all. This is how Christianity has died: we wear it like a work uniform – we do not choose it, we do not think about it, and we take it off the second we get home. It means so much to us to appear to one another as exceptionally righteous, but only when we step out of our homes and into the fold. Especially when in the presence of the Pastor and his sharp teeth. Soon we become lost in our own images until it overflows, washing over Christ and burying Him in the waste, burying with it Christianity.
We’ve killed it; it is dead, an unneeded and unnecessary stumbling block of religion, tripping up Pharisees and their devoted followers. We took the curtain and sewed it back together, making our religious identity into a golden calf to choke on.
Christianity is dead. It was stillborn, an unworthy god put upon a cross it couldn’t conquer, a king to sit upon a fatal throne it couldn’t endure. It, as every other idol we’ve constructed, had no chance at all of survival, and even less at saving.
Yet still we rest in it, hiding in the bones of our sanctuaries, like maggots hiding away in a rotting corpse; the biggest difference being that the corpse feeds the maggots, while we starve, quenching the Spirit in our arrogance and greed.
Christianity is a name – a powerful name – but it is the wrong Name to follow. It did not rise from the dead. It did not defeat death.
It only begot it.
- S.M.
Friday, November 13, 2015
Where the Hell is Community?
I used to wonder about the emphasis that some
preachers would put on “community” within a church. I went to my church,
community was not stressed, and I was content as could be.
Until, of course, I developed issues. Spiritual
issues, physical issues, addiction issues, sexual issues, and in the background
of all these issues, I was hit with deep emotional issues. I was in pain. I was
struggling. I was depressed. And I was alone.
The church that had become nothing more than a
stage to share with a number of fellow puppets was of no help. To the contrary,
my attempts to continue to look as wonderful and perfect as my fellow
church-goers only made my depravity more obvious to myself. You never realize
how much you’re bleeding until you try to wear white over the open wound.
Enter church. Smile, grimace. Shake hands. Say “hello.”
Sit down, stand up, sing, bow head, pray, sing, exit. Repeat. Like a weekly
rehearsal, I repeated the same thing with the same people, everyone as shallow
and listless as the last, every Sunday more painful than the one before. Our
version of community was the easy, comfortable kind, where everyone is friendly
and amiable and jolly. Sincerity was far too dangerous. Our “community” was
just a prop on our stage. We faked it. And it was hell.
When Bible scholars talk about hell, many of them
emphasize loneliness. They say that the experience is one of absolute solitude
- to be cut off completely from God and man. This absence of God is what makes
it purely evil, what makes it torment beyond what our God-seeking souls can
bear.
My personal depravity was compounded by the necessity
to suffer through it alone. Community was not something that was available for
those in need. The broken were not our specialty; save that for other places.
We were there to worship and perform. So I stiffened up my upper lip, and I
performed, becoming another part of the problem.
This self-defeating cycle is perpetuated by the
ideas that pain is weakness, suffering is shameful, and openness is scorned as
a terrifying discomfort. Real topics, real pain, real suffering, real humanity,
real people, these are the very things that non-communal churches avoid at all
costs. They are afraid to open up the floodgates, even though it is through
that ocean of grace that healing comes. They seal themselves off from one
another. And thus they become initiators of hell.
Walking into a church that has no community is like sailing the ocean in a boat with no floorboards. The structure is there to keep you afloat, but without the essence of a watertight ship, you will sink into the depths and eventually drown, your death an ironic and sick joke for all to see.
Walking into a church that has no community is like sailing the ocean in a boat with no floorboards. The structure is there to keep you afloat, but without the essence of a watertight ship, you will sink into the depths and eventually drown, your death an ironic and sick joke for all to see.
Community with other believers is a way that we
experience God. His Spirit working among us is a way that allows us to break in
each other’s arms and wash each other with the Word (are we not the body?). Something
spiritually beautiful comes from the vulnerability of transparency: Love.
Romans 12:4-5 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
One of the best functions of community is the puzzle-piece arrangement that our differences can compose. Alone we are weird-shaped bits; together we are whole.
1 Timothy 5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
We are brothers and sisters! A family bound together, apparently with the ties of love. The blood that has cleansed us has bound us together in the household of God. This is the true location of "God's House" - wherever we Christians have community with one another. Wherever love is encouraged and practiced. Wherever we are not just being His hands and feet, but also His eyes, ears, nose, and elbows. It takes a messy, diverse, and scrappy assembly of truly strange and beautiful people to make up the whole body. Let's make sure we aren't just letting in those pieces that are easy to look at. Let us not turn those away who are hard to bear with, either because we don't understand them or we don't want to open up ourselves to their vulnerability.
If hell is the absence of God, and Community is a
God-experience, without community, we are welcoming hell under our steeples with
open arms.
Where the hell is our community? Let us break for
all to see. Let us find healing, for ourselves, for others. Let us Love one
another.
Let us try to follow Christ.
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Of Males and Men: A Discourse from Disgust
Society is a bastard. Society creates and then preys on our fears. Society makes messes of every situation. It sells and rapes women, it beats and starves children, and it clones men into monsters. Society is a beast of burden too weak to carry its own load; ugly, toothless, dragging a rusty cart behind it with a limp, so unintelligent that it won't stop crying out hideously, so repugnant that flies dare not land on its greasy fur. Society, however cannot take the fault. For we make up society. Our actions bend it, our movements move it. Our beliefs, attitudes, actions, civility, greed, selflessness, rage, generosity, humility, and pride: these confusing strains of emotion pool in the deepest areas of our culture, permeate every aspect of our lives, and from the murky wastes of our own fear and self-loathing rises our society: a society that has replaced manhood with ignorance.
When faced with the question of what makes a male a man, the church has not risen to meet the challenge of protecting this sacred title, but has rather fallen into society's ghastly trap. As a result, even in the church are found boys who think they are men, simply because they have a wife, a child, a car, a job, large muscles, an erection, etc. They think that because they are older, they are manlier.
But age does not define anyone. Neither does material possessions or physical attributes. If a woman's worth is not based on her body, neither should be a man's. While we push for "equality," we trample men who do not meet our egocentric ideals – completely worthless ideals when it comes to raising a family, or being a loving husband.
This problem is everywhere. Look around you. Do you know any man who feels completely comfortable shedding tears the same way a woman would, bearing his soul the same way a woman would? Probably not. This isn't because no such man exists, but rather because emotional men have been taught to hide in a shell of cool, toughness. Society sees them cry for someone they love, and it shames them for feeling, for loving. It sees them open up about their pain, and it gawks in mockery. But we mustn't blame society. We created this.
Stretched in opposite directions, while being fed the fictional idea that hurting, feeling pain, and expressing it is a sign of weakness (and "men" are supposed to be "strong"), men are still expected upon marriage to be able to communicate their misgivings to their wife. You'll hear a woman mockingly saying that her husband does not express how he feels, and she has to dig answers out of him. But she's the one who made him such a "strong" man.
The main problem with this ideology is that this pretense of strength is an inherent weakness. The inability to feel the hurt of others is detrimental to every relationship, and the emotional cowardice it takes to hide all pain is certainly not a sign of strength. Those who feel deeply and express their agony and are mocked for it – bearing this horror is true strength. Crying does not make one weak. Being tough doesn't make one a man.
This is not the only place where society has defecated upon the standard of manhood. There are fundamental attributes to manliness, and none of them are measured in rep-weights, turbo chargers, height, muscle tone, or beard-mass. While those things can exist on/with real men, they are easy to replicate, and are therefore often props that boys use to pretend to be men.
One fundamental attribute that begins the process of manhood is simple responsibility. The ability to admit to error or to look after what has been entrusted to us. The inability to be wrong, to admit defeat, to protect those in your care: this is a sign of boyhood. As males or aspiring men, however, we will be held accountable for the souls of our families. A bratty child with a beard is therefore not only unequipped for the job, but grossly underqualified.
The issue that arises in the church is one of "purity." In attempting to be wary lest they cause our men to "stumble," women have overstepped their boundaries of spiritual leadership – because so many males have pressed them to do so. It is not a woman's responsibility to keep a man from sinning. It is his. Eve may have tempted Adam, but it was still his choice to take a bite. As a man, it falls on our shoulders to choose not to sin, whether our sisters be adorned in a burka or a bikini. If we are really so strong as we claim, it is a burden we ought to handle with ease.
While the church endorses rape-apology through its heinous worship of physical appearance, instilling fear into the hearts of young women, teaching them that their brothers are all sexual monsters and cannot help but lust after them, every party involved is unequivocally damaged. Young women are taught to fear men and their sensuality, and young men are taught that they are sexual pigs and have no hope of fighting the battle against lust. This is, of course, absolute cow tripe. With the responsibility placed on the women, men are relinquishing their own responsibilities, giving up the position of spiritual leadership for the illustrious position of selfish, sexual, leadershit.
Unfortunately, with the loss of responsibility, men have exceedingly lowered expectations. We are told over and over that there is no point in fighting our lust because we are sexual beasts, and then people wonder why when we have given up. But we must be men. No matter the expectations of other humans, we still have a responsibility before God to be spiritual leaders. To be fighters. To be brave. But have we been?
While we claim to be men, we refuse to fight for the title of manhood. We allow a few worthless males with lustful dispositions and no stomach to fight it completely define our entire gender. We sit back on our haunches, boasting on our strength, while being too cowardly to defend our God-given role. These are muscular cowards, these are big boys. And these are certainly not men.
If taking responsibilities for your immature, sexual, egotistical minds is too hard to handle, put your diaper back on and stop calling yourself a man. Go roll around in BBQ sauce and be prepared to be devoured, because the only one who is truly a sexual pig is the one who doesn't have the testicular fortification to stand his ground when he is tempted; the one who is so much of a "man" that he is letting the women fight his battles. The one who is so afraid of falling, that he has given up completely.
There is much more to say on the issue of manhood, given that it seems to be almost completely killed off by our idolatrous and Pharisaical hands. The important message to take away from this, however, is that if you have the audacity to call yourself a man, live like one. Take responsibility for yourself. Fight for your spiritual role. Fight for the integrity of your gender. Fight for the protection of the women we are throwing under the bus. Fight for your title.
But first, Earn it.
Sources:
The Krusty Sage Talks Yoga Pants - Brant Hansen
Pursuing a Higher Purity - Stephanie Kehr
When faced with the question of what makes a male a man, the church has not risen to meet the challenge of protecting this sacred title, but has rather fallen into society's ghastly trap. As a result, even in the church are found boys who think they are men, simply because they have a wife, a child, a car, a job, large muscles, an erection, etc. They think that because they are older, they are manlier.
But age does not define anyone. Neither does material possessions or physical attributes. If a woman's worth is not based on her body, neither should be a man's. While we push for "equality," we trample men who do not meet our egocentric ideals – completely worthless ideals when it comes to raising a family, or being a loving husband.
This problem is everywhere. Look around you. Do you know any man who feels completely comfortable shedding tears the same way a woman would, bearing his soul the same way a woman would? Probably not. This isn't because no such man exists, but rather because emotional men have been taught to hide in a shell of cool, toughness. Society sees them cry for someone they love, and it shames them for feeling, for loving. It sees them open up about their pain, and it gawks in mockery. But we mustn't blame society. We created this.
Stretched in opposite directions, while being fed the fictional idea that hurting, feeling pain, and expressing it is a sign of weakness (and "men" are supposed to be "strong"), men are still expected upon marriage to be able to communicate their misgivings to their wife. You'll hear a woman mockingly saying that her husband does not express how he feels, and she has to dig answers out of him. But she's the one who made him such a "strong" man.
The main problem with this ideology is that this pretense of strength is an inherent weakness. The inability to feel the hurt of others is detrimental to every relationship, and the emotional cowardice it takes to hide all pain is certainly not a sign of strength. Those who feel deeply and express their agony and are mocked for it – bearing this horror is true strength. Crying does not make one weak. Being tough doesn't make one a man.
This is not the only place where society has defecated upon the standard of manhood. There are fundamental attributes to manliness, and none of them are measured in rep-weights, turbo chargers, height, muscle tone, or beard-mass. While those things can exist on/with real men, they are easy to replicate, and are therefore often props that boys use to pretend to be men.
One fundamental attribute that begins the process of manhood is simple responsibility. The ability to admit to error or to look after what has been entrusted to us. The inability to be wrong, to admit defeat, to protect those in your care: this is a sign of boyhood. As males or aspiring men, however, we will be held accountable for the souls of our families. A bratty child with a beard is therefore not only unequipped for the job, but grossly underqualified.
The issue that arises in the church is one of "purity." In attempting to be wary lest they cause our men to "stumble," women have overstepped their boundaries of spiritual leadership – because so many males have pressed them to do so. It is not a woman's responsibility to keep a man from sinning. It is his. Eve may have tempted Adam, but it was still his choice to take a bite. As a man, it falls on our shoulders to choose not to sin, whether our sisters be adorned in a burka or a bikini. If we are really so strong as we claim, it is a burden we ought to handle with ease.
While the church endorses rape-apology through its heinous worship of physical appearance, instilling fear into the hearts of young women, teaching them that their brothers are all sexual monsters and cannot help but lust after them, every party involved is unequivocally damaged. Young women are taught to fear men and their sensuality, and young men are taught that they are sexual pigs and have no hope of fighting the battle against lust. This is, of course, absolute cow tripe. With the responsibility placed on the women, men are relinquishing their own responsibilities, giving up the position of spiritual leadership for the illustrious position of selfish, sexual, leadershit.
Unfortunately, with the loss of responsibility, men have exceedingly lowered expectations. We are told over and over that there is no point in fighting our lust because we are sexual beasts, and then people wonder why when we have given up. But we must be men. No matter the expectations of other humans, we still have a responsibility before God to be spiritual leaders. To be fighters. To be brave. But have we been?
While we claim to be men, we refuse to fight for the title of manhood. We allow a few worthless males with lustful dispositions and no stomach to fight it completely define our entire gender. We sit back on our haunches, boasting on our strength, while being too cowardly to defend our God-given role. These are muscular cowards, these are big boys. And these are certainly not men.
If taking responsibilities for your immature, sexual, egotistical minds is too hard to handle, put your diaper back on and stop calling yourself a man. Go roll around in BBQ sauce and be prepared to be devoured, because the only one who is truly a sexual pig is the one who doesn't have the testicular fortification to stand his ground when he is tempted; the one who is so much of a "man" that he is letting the women fight his battles. The one who is so afraid of falling, that he has given up completely.
There is much more to say on the issue of manhood, given that it seems to be almost completely killed off by our idolatrous and Pharisaical hands. The important message to take away from this, however, is that if you have the audacity to call yourself a man, live like one. Take responsibility for yourself. Fight for your spiritual role. Fight for the integrity of your gender. Fight for the protection of the women we are throwing under the bus. Fight for your title.
But first, Earn it.
Sources:
The Krusty Sage Talks Yoga Pants - Brant Hansen
Pursuing a Higher Purity - Stephanie Kehr
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Do Not Profane His Temple - The Backwards Standard
Walk into church sometime with shredded shorts, a tank-top, and some flip-flops. Make sure they flip and flop a lot. Or, better yet. walk into church in your pajamas. In fact, why not go all out? Wear something "worldly." Sound like a safe plan?
No. Not really. Chances are, you'll be chewed out, scorned, gossiped about, and looked down upon. Why? I believe it's because Christian Antichrists have this really bad habit, and it has leaked down through the generations.
This habit makes me angry. In fact, it makes me want to grab a whip, and set myself upon the congregation, flailing and screaming in mighty, righteous anger. I might be exaggerating. But maybe not. You see, this habit is the false, perpetuated belief that a church building is "God's house." This is rubbish. Let's take a look at something many of us have hypocritically forsaken in our rush to be more righteous and pure: the Holy Bible.
Matthew 21:12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of robbers."
This passage conveys to us the incredible reverence with which we are to treat God's temple. Perhaps we have used this passage to excuse the inexcusable. We sinners judge other sinners for their outward dress, perhaps inwardly telling ourselves that this building must be revered. This is God's house! It must be respected! Perhaps we truly believe this. Perhaps we have forgotten the scriptures altogether. It isn't a temple though; it's a church. If sinners' imperfections, crudeness, and impurity profaned the place, what right do we have to be there? If that were the case, the building would have to remain empty in order to remain unblemished by humanness and sin.
1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells within you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.*
This is wherein the problem lies. We have confused the temple with the church building, and in so doing have created a mortifying courtroom, and we members have assigned ourselves to the jury. "Welcome to worship" means "Order in the court." This worship of the building is idolatry, and the judgement of others - hypocrisy. It is disdainful how quickly we want to resort back to rules and regulations, Pharisees that we are, but we are told over and over that while "Man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart."
The clincher lies further, deeper down. In our excruciating regulation of ours, our brothers' and sisters' appearance, in our corpulent cesspool of judgement, in our attention to our own "modest" appearance, we are turning our bodies into capital. Judge, bid, and buy, these are our temples, and we insist on selling here. The more we try to sell ourselves as righteous through our clothing, the more we are turning the Father's house into a den of robbers. The more we are becoming objects of His holy wrath.
I believe that there is a problem when going to church is like going to court. I believe that there is problem when we are so caught up in not profaning a wooden and metal structure that we profane ours, our brothers' and sisters' bodies - Temples of God's Spirit. I believe that there is a problem when our little facades of our goodness are so important that they overshadow the souls of people who are around us, dying of depravity.
We are supposed to be the church. But instead we are too busy being blasphemous and hypocritical judges to love sinners who share in our evilness but lack the grace we have been given. Church was not built upon the Council of Pharisees. It was built on the death and resurrection of Christ, and the grace He gave us through that.
But where is that grace? "Look, you can share in Christ's love, but first, act and dress appropriately." This is today's "church." Court is now in session.
*Okay, so suicide is also out. Damn it!
No. Not really. Chances are, you'll be chewed out, scorned, gossiped about, and looked down upon. Why? I believe it's because Christian Antichrists have this really bad habit, and it has leaked down through the generations.
This habit makes me angry. In fact, it makes me want to grab a whip, and set myself upon the congregation, flailing and screaming in mighty, righteous anger. I might be exaggerating. But maybe not. You see, this habit is the false, perpetuated belief that a church building is "God's house." This is rubbish. Let's take a look at something many of us have hypocritically forsaken in our rush to be more righteous and pure: the Holy Bible.
Matthew 21:12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of robbers."
This passage conveys to us the incredible reverence with which we are to treat God's temple. Perhaps we have used this passage to excuse the inexcusable. We sinners judge other sinners for their outward dress, perhaps inwardly telling ourselves that this building must be revered. This is God's house! It must be respected! Perhaps we truly believe this. Perhaps we have forgotten the scriptures altogether. It isn't a temple though; it's a church. If sinners' imperfections, crudeness, and impurity profaned the place, what right do we have to be there? If that were the case, the building would have to remain empty in order to remain unblemished by humanness and sin.
1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells within you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.*
This is wherein the problem lies. We have confused the temple with the church building, and in so doing have created a mortifying courtroom, and we members have assigned ourselves to the jury. "Welcome to worship" means "Order in the court." This worship of the building is idolatry, and the judgement of others - hypocrisy. It is disdainful how quickly we want to resort back to rules and regulations, Pharisees that we are, but we are told over and over that while "Man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart."
The clincher lies further, deeper down. In our excruciating regulation of ours, our brothers' and sisters' appearance, in our corpulent cesspool of judgement, in our attention to our own "modest" appearance, we are turning our bodies into capital. Judge, bid, and buy, these are our temples, and we insist on selling here. The more we try to sell ourselves as righteous through our clothing, the more we are turning the Father's house into a den of robbers. The more we are becoming objects of His holy wrath.
I believe that there is a problem when going to church is like going to court. I believe that there is problem when we are so caught up in not profaning a wooden and metal structure that we profane ours, our brothers' and sisters' bodies - Temples of God's Spirit. I believe that there is a problem when our little facades of our goodness are so important that they overshadow the souls of people who are around us, dying of depravity.
We are supposed to be the church. But instead we are too busy being blasphemous and hypocritical judges to love sinners who share in our evilness but lack the grace we have been given. Church was not built upon the Council of Pharisees. It was built on the death and resurrection of Christ, and the grace He gave us through that.
But where is that grace? "Look, you can share in Christ's love, but first, act and dress appropriately." This is today's "church." Court is now in session.
*Okay, so suicide is also out. Damn it!
Sunday, May 3, 2015
The Christian Antichrist
Perhaps you are scratching your lice-ridden head at the title to this post. I certainly hope you are. Let me assure you, this type of creature does exist, but just because I've given it a name, doesn't mean it makes any more sense.
"Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also." 1 John 2:18-23
An antichrist, to reiterate, is one who denies the Son. Someone who knows the Christ, but decides he or she does not need Him. This often seems to be due to extreme idol worship of a heinous degree, but it can also be due to mere spiritual ignorance of what and who exactly the Christ is.
There are people who say that they believe in God, but they live as though they are atheists. They are so hyper-religious, that they have forgotten the Reason for their apparent righteousness. Often indoctrinated, these creatures will claim that they are Christians, and they will have all the right moves to convince those watching. Such attention is put into living "godly," however, that they forget why they were in the first place. Soon their righteousness is just another step in their climb up the staircase of self esteem. It becomes, in essence, a way to worship themselves.
Finding them is sometimes easy, but it is often difficult. Under that mask of "good," friendly, outgoing "Christianity" is a complete apathy towards Jesus Christ. Their part in the play becomes so important to them, they often forget it's just an act. Sometimes they even convince themselves that they are genuine. But you can often find them. It helps to ask yourself, "What would a Pharisee do in this situation?" Or WWAPD?
"Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also." 1 John 2:18-23
There are people who say that they believe in God, but they live as though they are atheists. They are so hyper-religious, that they have forgotten the Reason for their apparent righteousness. Often indoctrinated, these creatures will claim that they are Christians, and they will have all the right moves to convince those watching. Such attention is put into living "godly," however, that they forget why they were in the first place. Soon their righteousness is just another step in their climb up the staircase of self esteem. It becomes, in essence, a way to worship themselves.
Finding them is sometimes easy, but it is often difficult. Under that mask of "good," friendly, outgoing "Christianity" is a complete apathy towards Jesus Christ. Their part in the play becomes so important to them, they often forget it's just an act. Sometimes they even convince themselves that they are genuine. But you can often find them. It helps to ask yourself, "What would a Pharisee do in this situation?" Or WWAPD?
Sometimes Pharisees, for example, cry out loud phrases, announcing a communion with Christ as a means of social prestige. They are not praying to God, they are not deeply in love with their Savior. They are using Him to elevate themselves.
In the same manner, sometimes people on social media advertise their own righteousness, godliness, and their apparent devotion to God. Having been indoctrinated to believe that they are only worthy of a good spouse if they are godly, they have placed their value in their own moral standing. In trying to make themselves appear more righteous than they are, however, they are destroying any existence of righteousness within themselves. Since it is all for their own gain, social approval, pat on the back, acceptance, etc, they are merely testifying an unrelenting devotion to themselves.
In the same manner, sometimes people on social media advertise their own righteousness, godliness, and their apparent devotion to God. Having been indoctrinated to believe that they are only worthy of a good spouse if they are godly, they have placed their value in their own moral standing. In trying to make themselves appear more righteous than they are, however, they are destroying any existence of righteousness within themselves. Since it is all for their own gain, social approval, pat on the back, acceptance, etc, they are merely testifying an unrelenting devotion to themselves.
This knowledge of God's existence, but denial of who He is, this is denying the Son. The act of using God as a staircase, a gift-giver, an ATM machine, or even Santa Clause, this is denying the Son. The distressing way that Jesus's great sacrifice is daily forgotten, or used as a personal ego boost, this is denying the Son. Using His cross as a decoration, but living without the grace that that symbol embodies, this is denying the Son. And it's all made worse because they call themselves "Christians."
This means they say that they follow Christ. Meanwhile their lives are a constant, repeated, ongoing denial of Who the Christ is. What He is. What He did. "They went out from us, but they were not of us." The daily motivation, if found in the self, or in others, this is not following Christ. If your entire life is about you, your future, your future spouse, your friend(s), your hobbies, your family - anything else but God, then you are not truly a Christian. You might be "saved." But you aren't following Christ. You are taking His grace, but refusing to give it in return. Using His death, but not giving your life. You are denying the Son. You are living as an antichrist.
And in calling yourself a Christian, while denying Christ, you take His name in vain.
You have become a Christian Antichrist.
Friday, May 1, 2015
Tact Has Died
Tact has died. We crucified it, much like we crucified our King. Unlike the King, it shall not rise again.
This is good. The time has come for us to stop pretending there even is such a thing. The time has come for us to say our final farewell to this facade of politeness. While it lies decaying in its tomb, there are words that must be said. Words that will make many angry. Words that will even shock some, especially "Christians." Words like "fuck." Words like "satanism." Words like "Pharisee."
Words like "Antichrist."
Tact has died. Legalism has no more faulty armor protecting it from its own lies now except its self-induced arrogant pride. Pride that will lead to its own destruction.
There was a time for tact. There was a time for elegant speeches, logical reasoning, sound argument. "Let your reasonableness be known to man." So we have tried reasoning. The problem is that arrogance leaves no room for errors. Indoctrination ingrains its victims to never sway from the "absolute truths," arrogantly assuming that they have reached the highest level of enlightenment attainable. The creatures stand at the lofty feet of the Creator - the Truth - and audaciously claim to know Him. They set themselves up as demigods and don't even realize the arrogance of their claims.
But that isn't all. It isn't enough to dogmatically shove theology down one another's throats, to unwaveringly turn a blind eye to opposing viewpoints, and to close the mind to any alternatives - otherwise known as free thinking. Rather, anyone who does not do/think the same has committed a wretched, horrible sin. A sin of believing in a differing theology. "We should burn them at the stake right now."
But this is not the kind of sin that can be forgiven. His grace is not sufficient enough to cover the mistake of believing in a different doctrine. Forgiveness is unattainable, and those who have committed this sin are to be scorned, mocked, ridiculed, stoned, and avoided at all costs. Because Jesus avoided all sinners, so should we. Right?
Right, read the Bible.
Tact has died. It must. This kind of arrogance cannot be touched with soft words and reasonable discussion. The legalistic party will start off with the infallible mindset that they cannot be wrong, and of course, they have molested scripture to back up this self-gratifying and prideful opinion.
We cannot just argue. We've tried that. How can you argue with someone who cannot be wrong? We must blow something up. We must take them aback. We must make them catch their righteous breaths sharply, intaking enough air to puff up several blowfish. We must severely piss them off. We must use the fuck-word.
Tact has died. Why not enrage them? I mean, we're already at an advantage. What are they going to do, not let us participate in their man-made, regulated, church positions? Avoid us in Christ? Stone us like Stephen? It's not like they can even use curse words like we can.
It wouldn't be "Christian."
But idol worship is?
Fuck it.
This is good. The time has come for us to stop pretending there even is such a thing. The time has come for us to say our final farewell to this facade of politeness. While it lies decaying in its tomb, there are words that must be said. Words that will make many angry. Words that will even shock some, especially "Christians." Words like "fuck." Words like "satanism." Words like "Pharisee."
Words like "Antichrist."
Tact has died. Legalism has no more faulty armor protecting it from its own lies now except its self-induced arrogant pride. Pride that will lead to its own destruction.
There was a time for tact. There was a time for elegant speeches, logical reasoning, sound argument. "Let your reasonableness be known to man." So we have tried reasoning. The problem is that arrogance leaves no room for errors. Indoctrination ingrains its victims to never sway from the "absolute truths," arrogantly assuming that they have reached the highest level of enlightenment attainable. The creatures stand at the lofty feet of the Creator - the Truth - and audaciously claim to know Him. They set themselves up as demigods and don't even realize the arrogance of their claims.
But that isn't all. It isn't enough to dogmatically shove theology down one another's throats, to unwaveringly turn a blind eye to opposing viewpoints, and to close the mind to any alternatives - otherwise known as free thinking. Rather, anyone who does not do/think the same has committed a wretched, horrible sin. A sin of believing in a differing theology. "We should burn them at the stake right now."
But this is not the kind of sin that can be forgiven. His grace is not sufficient enough to cover the mistake of believing in a different doctrine. Forgiveness is unattainable, and those who have committed this sin are to be scorned, mocked, ridiculed, stoned, and avoided at all costs. Because Jesus avoided all sinners, so should we. Right?
Right, read the Bible.
Tact has died. It must. This kind of arrogance cannot be touched with soft words and reasonable discussion. The legalistic party will start off with the infallible mindset that they cannot be wrong, and of course, they have molested scripture to back up this self-gratifying and prideful opinion.
We cannot just argue. We've tried that. How can you argue with someone who cannot be wrong? We must blow something up. We must take them aback. We must make them catch their righteous breaths sharply, intaking enough air to puff up several blowfish. We must severely piss them off. We must use the fuck-word.
Tact has died. Why not enrage them? I mean, we're already at an advantage. What are they going to do, not let us participate in their man-made, regulated, church positions? Avoid us in Christ? Stone us like Stephen? It's not like they can even use curse words like we can.
It wouldn't be "Christian."
But idol worship is?
Fuck it.
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