How To See

The Achilles heel of organized religion might be that we tend to tell people what to see instead of teaching them how to see.

Richard Rohr

Jesus, We've Got It Covered!

“My Jesus, we no longer have need of thee. We are now capable of making the aggressor pay for his offenses. We are now able to take vengeance into our own hands, and to deal with Good and Evil. Therefore, You can leave us on our own, and their will be no problem.”

~ Brother Sisois

(Maktub. Paulo Coelho)

What of A Preacher?

"..... preachers have become confused with life coaches or entertainers, and congregations have been replaced by audiences and autonomous consumers."

- Carl R. Truman

Wisdom Isn't Gold!

"So wisdom is neither gold, nor silver, nor fame, nor wealth, nor health, nor strength, nor beauty. What is it then? It is what can use all these well, and that by means of which each of these things becomes pleasant and esteemed and useful, and without which they are useless; and unprofitable and injurious, and a burden and disgrace to their possessor."

- Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals

Looking for Answers In Depressing Places

If you look at the world

You'll be distressed.

If you look within

You'll be depressed

If you look at God

You'll be at rest

Corrie Ten Boom

How Loving Solves Social Justice

Transforming the social world - Dallas Willard

"That’s the secret of Jesus. You watch Jesus, and you see he never did “withdraw” and then “attack.” All of the time people wanted him to do it and in many ways, but he would not. Then to the body of believers he said, “This will show everyone that you are my disciples, if you love one another,” but he had already said, “Love one another as I have loved you.” So that’s the model. In that sense the transformation of the social world is at its heart the transformation of personal relations. That’s the key to transforming society in the larger arena. There is no cure for the social battles that we fight in our culture—and there’s so much grief around race, gender, and so forth—until you eliminate “withdrawal” and “attack” and replace them with “acceptance” and “help.” Once you do that and not just talk about it, these other issues will fall into place quickly. They will not fall into place at all unless it is done this way."

From "Renewing the Christian Mind: Essays, Interviews, and Talks."

Two Opposite Stories Cain't win!

"As a doctor working in a slum area with many immigrant residents, I see multiculturalism from the ground up, rather than from the theory down. And it is clear from what I see almost every day that not all cultural values are compatible or can be reconciled by the enunciation of platitudes. The idea that we can all rub along together, without the law having to discriminate in favour of one set of cultural values rather than another, is worse than merely false: it makes no sense whatever."

Theodore Dalrymple, Life at the Bottom

The Diabolical Self

"The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronizing and spoiling sport, and back-biting, the pleasures of power, of hatred. For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self. The Diabolical self is the worse of the two. That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither." ~ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Conformity

But it is not "inequity" and "unfairness" that are at the root of socialist Envy, it is a desire to stamp out diversity, to enforce uniformity....

In "Facial Justice" the British fiction writer L.P. Hartley wrote of an imaginary Utopia where envy is institutionalized by a government program that make sure all female faces are equal, performing coerced surgery to detract from the more beautiful and uplifting less unattractive until "facial Justice" is finally realized .....

Kyrt Vonnegyt Jr. wrote the short story "Harrison Bergerob" depecting a comprehensively egalitarian utopia:

" the year was 2081, and everyone was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God in the law. They were equal in every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anyone else."

The Handicappingh worked as follows: Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts.

And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every 20 seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking on a fair advantage of their brains."

- Thomas J. Dilorenzo

Loving Beyond The World Of Deception

"In the badlands, I had been incrementally realizing that there is far more to this Christian life than getting it right. There is living it right. Learning the truth of God, the gospel, the scriptures involves understanding words, concepts, history. But living it means working through a world of deception, of doubt and suffering, a world of rejections and betrayal and idolatry."

--- Eugene Peterson

My Excused Lack Of Mercy

The difference between forgiving others and asking God’s forgiveness for yourself is this.

In our own case we accept excuses too easily; in other people’s we do not accept them easily enough.

~A Year With CS Lewis

Hospitality Table Is A Raft

"The (kitchen) table is the raft to ride down the river of our existence even in the hardest times."

Adam Gopnik

Squinting Religion

Meaning in life is not found

from reducing things

into smaller categories

and making finer distinctions. Meaning in life is found

in putting things together; connecting the dots; and getting the 'big picture,' . . ."

- Leonard Sweet. From Tablet To Table

Unicorn Gospel

"Two left the ship to sing in 

city streets that very morn. 

But in one mind, 

the Singer sat astride 

a unicorn."

Calvin Miller. The Singer Trilogy 

Beating The Questions Out Of Us?

"There are very few places where the soul is truly safe, where the knowing, the questions, the longings of the Soul are welcomed, received and listened to rather than evaluated, judged or beaten out of us."

- Ruth Barton. Sacred Rhythms 

Move Inside- Jesus

"What must I do to be on chained?"

cried Everyman.

Cry out your blindness and open

to the Wind."

And Everyman wept into the night and sobbed his guilt:

"Earthmaker, I regret that your Beloved died. I put away false scholarship and pride.

Come, great Invader!

Move inside!"

- Calvin Miller. The Singer Trilogy. The Song.

Precipice Dancing!

I heard the ballad of a fool
who's simple song made synonyms
of life and death and cursed the
right and called it wrong:
Come play along the precipice -
Don't worry that the cliff is steep -
The little flowers on the brink
Are daisies, but their roots
grow deep."

- Calvin Miller. The Singer Trilogy (chapter XIV)

Teachers Who Don't Know Jesus Very Well?

"A great deal of what is adamantly taught about Jesus is taught by people who frankly don't know him very well."

- John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw

Does Spirituality Fit Our Daily life?

"If your spirituality doesn't 'fit' into normal life, it is religious."

- John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw

Best Damage Ever!

"A wing nut talking about Jesus does far more damage than fifty athiests."

John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw

Sewing Jesus Up!

"He took that Veil and ripped it in two. So why do we insist on stitching it back up? A whole lot of what passes for worship, Sacrament, and instruction in Christian circles is sewing lessons -hanging that veil again......

We must not be too familiar with God. Do not presume to come too close.

Said who?

They are trying to recreate the holy of holies in the name of reverence. Except, it was God who rip that curtain forever with his own two hands."

- John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw 

Jesus Can Heal and Fill Our Humanity And Personality

"The purpose of his life, death, and resurrection was to ransom you from your sin, deliver you from the clutches of evil, restore you to God so that his personality and his life could heal and fill your personality, your humanity, and your life. This is the reason we came. Anything else is religion."

- John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw

Saturated With Information But Don't Know Jesus

"The best thing we can do now is pause, before we are saturated with more information about Jesus, and begin to discover him for ourselves.... "Come and see." As Philip said to Nathanael (John 1:46) Come and see for yourself."

- John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw

-

Not Invited To Speak By Our Slave Masters

"This is a slave's life not to speak one's thoughts!"

- Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals 

Cynical

"When you live in a world rocked by scandal and (journalistic) exposé multiple times a day, you just grow cynical."

John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw

We Dont See Our Sinfulness Nor Others.

"It's not just one issue. But its everything around us and everything about us. And there are many of us who have lost an understanding of the radical nature of our sinfulness. And as a result we have lost an understanding of the radicsl nature of the sinfulness of those around us as well."

- Voddie Baucham

Fake Humility

"In fact, doubt - masquerading as humility has become a condition for acceptance in our times. People of strong conviction and bold claims are suspect. We Fear them.

- John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw 

Pretending We Don't Have to....

We don't appreciate Jesus's cunning because we insist on clinging to our naive view of the world. We just want life to be easy; we just want life to be good. We don't want to deal with evil, so we pretend we don't have to. 

We don't want to navigate sin either. We prefer our coffee house chit-chat, our Twitter-level engagement. We play at church. It's as though we think our mission and our context is something other than what it was for Jesus. Even though he said, "As the father sent me, I am sending you."" (John 20:21)

- John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw 

- John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw

Righteous Indignation of Labeling

He will not be baited into their traps he will not be sideline as a member of "this group" or "that position."

Guilt by association is an easy trump card in public life. If you can label your opponent as Right-Wing or Liberal, Fundamentalist or Charismatic, you don't even have to argue your case.

Your fellow partisans will dismiss the culprit with righteous indignation. Branding someone prevents them from ever being able to prove they are innocent, state their case. It's a cheap and effective Ploy that's been around a long time, a particular favourite. . . ."

John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw

Contentwd Counterfeit Piety?

"The more you fall in love with Jesus' genuine goodness, which is true goodness, the more you will absolutely detest the counterfeit of a false piety and it's shallow morality."

- John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw

By Their Fruit You Will Know Them

My Confusion

Issue Is Internal Before External

The issues are, first and foremost, internal, before they are ever external.

What goes in the mouth is overshadowed by what comes out of mouth. For it's connected to the heart.

Millennia old insight, so simple, such a shocking revelation to what's in my (our) heart.

Truth Isn't A "Conviction"

But truth is not like conviction. Conviction might be a matter of personal opinion, but truth is like a great mountain, solid and immovable whether we like it or even acknowledge it. Christianity is not a set of convictions it is a truth. The most offencive thing imaginable.

Jesus is a rock, all right. "A stone of stumbling and a rock of a fence." Romans 9:33 (NASB)

A rock is offencive in your shoe, because it is an inconvenient. If we said, "Away with all rocks!" We would wish the planet right out from under our feet. But a rock is also the only refuge from the raging seas. The shipwrecked soul doesn't curse the rock because it is immovable; he claims to it, weeping for gratitude."

- John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw 

Dedication To Truth

We must be totally dedicated to truth. That is to say we must always hold truth, as best we can determine it, to be more important, more vital to our self interest, than our comfort. Conversely, we must always consider our personal discomfort relatively unimportant and, indeed, even welcome it in the service of the search for truth. Mental health is and ongoing process of dedication to reality at all cost."

- M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled

Truth Isn't A "Conviction"

But truth is not like conviction. Conviction might be a matter of personal opinion, but truth is like a great mountain, solid and a movable whether we like it or even acknowledge it. Christianity is not a set of convictions it is a truth. The most offencive thing imaginable.

Jesus is a rock, all right. "A stone of stumbling and a rock of a fence." Romans 9:33 (NASB)

Softie Spirit Of Our Day

"The spirit of our day is a soft acceptance of everything except deep conviction in anything."

- John Eldredge

We Didn't Add Doctrines We Erased Them

"Most attempts to convince the world that Jesus was a "really great guy, not mean and dogmatic like You-Know-Who" (usually meaning Republicans in the religious right) carry their task all the way to the point of hiding or eliminating the exclusivity of Jesus.

"Well, yes, but he didn't mean all that. These are doctrines added later by the church."

Practically the opposite is true - Jesus said it very clearly. It is the church who has often tried to explain it away."

- John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw

Jesus Speaks No Silly Unreality

"One of the things I most respect about Jesus is his inability to speak nonsense. There is none of that vague Eastern mysticism such as you find in Meng Ke: "A person of great love has no enemies in the world." Jesus Christ proves that is a ridiculous statement. Or the nihilustic "Practice doing nothing and all will be well" of Lao Tzu. There are no Ben Franklin colloquialisms, such as "A penny saved is a penny earned."

Think of it - what if Jesus was primarily known for saying something like, "Remember to stop and smell the roses"? Proof that we have encountered a distinct personality in Jesus is his ability in one tender moment to say the kindest thing and the most startling words the next. What do you make of someone who can lovingly whisper. "Then neither do I condemn you," then shout "Snakes! Reptiles! Sons of hell!"

- John Eldredge -

Beautiful Outlaw

Where Is The Jesus Nonsense?

Oh, there isn't any. 

"One of the things I most respect about Jesus is his inability to speak nonsense."

- John Eldredge -

Beautiful Outlaw

Growths Beginning Point

" Until we are humble enough to resume learning, we are not true 'disciples' of the Son of God. Openness precedes learning and growing. What we thought was right all along may or may not be right after all; only honest investigation can settle the matter. If what we have been taught is right, our personal study will result in transforming tradition into genuine faith; if anything we have been taught is wrong, we do ourselves a favor to discover and move away from it."

-Rubel Shelly, 'I Just Want to Be a Christian

Refugees From Love

Old men of Terra! Ours is

the shame,

Of standing heavy-footed

on his name.

Beside the star-blazed dais

there he stands.

We clawed the face of Love then broke his hands.

Cry out! O men, cry out! The blood we spilt

Has left us refugees from Love."

- Calvin Miller. The Singer Trilogy

When People Of Other Views Are Not Seen As Human

They passd so near the street singer they could hear the verses of his song.

Sarkon reached down and found a heavy stone and hurled it.

The rock struck Anthems forehead such a blow he almost fell unconscious. The song abruptly stopped. The little group of street balladeers closed around him as a shield.

Everyman, incensed by Sarkon, turned on him and shouted.

"Why did you do that?"

"He sings a lie," said Sarkon.

But still he is a man. Have you some Grudge that makes you hate him? Are there reasons other than his song? "None...." said Sarkon.

- Calvin Miller. The Singer Trilogy. (The Song)

Jesus Said "You're So Pretty On The Outside."

Jesus has just entered this man's home, having accepted an invita-

rion to dinner. Every guest who has ever passed through those doors

has washed their hands before being seated, slavishly observing a custom unbroken for centuries. It is a test of orthodoxy and solidarity.

Jesus knows this, knows they are watching his every move. He walks

right past the line at the washbasin and makes himself comfortable at

the table. The Pharisee apparently is speechless. Jesus reads the look

on his face and offers an explanation: "Oh—the washing bit," he says as he takes a piece of flatbread, breaks a bite off, and chews it. “It completely clouds the issue. Outwardly you look sensational. But inwardly.

your heart is full of extortion and evil.”

- John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw

The things Jsus says.

Jesus Sustains every Microbe Of Creation

"The point he is making is that he has come to share his life with us. But again, as soon as I say that, the old religious association's rush in to fog the reality. Imagine walking through a rainforest. Diving over a coral reef. Simply look through a microscope at a drop of pond water. Creation is pulsing with life. It is the life of Jesus, given generously for the life of all things. He is called "the author of life," who personally "sustains all things" (Acts 3:15; Heb 1:3 NRSV).

- John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw

Jesu Is Not Our Franchise

"You must understand an important distinction - there is Christianity, and then there is church culture. They are not the same. Often they are far from the same. The personality conveyed through much of Christian culture is not the personality of Jesus but of the people in charge of that particular franchise."

- John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw

We've Covered Jesus With Ashes

"We have spread so many ashes over the historical Jesus that we scarcely feel the glow of His presence anymore."

- Brennan Manning -

Pussified Jesus

Fierce and intentional (Jesus clearing the Temple).

This is a breathtaking quality especially when compared to our present age where doubt masquerades as humility, passivity cloaks as rest, and emasculated indecision poses as laid-back enlightenment.

Oh, Jesus could be soft, and he certainly was humble, but his fierce intentionality is riveting to watch."

- John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw

Religious Inoculation Agaist Jesus

"Thus George MacDonald, that old Scottish prophet, asks,

“How have we learned Christ? It ought to be a startling thought, that we may have learned him wrong”

It is a startling thought. “That must be far worse than not to have learned him at all: his place is occupied by a false Christ, hard to exorcise!”

Hard to exorcise, indeed, because

religion gives the impression of having Christ, while it inoculates you from experiencing the real thing."

- John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw

Religion In The Hands Of The Enemy?

And every single one of these clashes is with very religious people. Not one hostile encounter involves a “pagan.” Not until the end, at least, when the Roman

troopers get hold of him—but he was handed over by the religious

establishment.

If you were reading the Gospels without bias or assumption, you

would have no trouble whatsoever coming to believe that religion is

the enemy—or in the hands of the enemy. Jesus’ opponents are all

people we would consider to be highly invested in doing religion

right. They certainly considered themselves to be so."

- John Eldredge. Beautiful Outlaw