In-Terp-Re-Tat-Ion

What if someone asked you, "Is there a chance you could be wrong about the way you've interpreted the biblical texts sometimes used to condemn homosexual orientation?" How would you respond?

Blind Faith

The more I write the more ideas I have for other blogs. This has been very therapeutic for me and I think I’m officially addicted. One idea leads to another and I try to keep these things short and sweet so as not to deter or bore anyone. To be perfectly honest, I was hoping for a lot more interaction/comments. But I guess that will happen when people actually start reading what I’m writing. BTW, I realize that my last few posts have been me stating my beliefs more so than me inviting conversation, which is what I originally wanted it to be. SO…

Maybe I will start by asking the question that’s on my mind and work backwards from there. Why do you believe what you believe?

In my last blog I mentioned “blind eyes”. That phrase was purposeful. I labeled a group of believers that I believe are responsible for propitiating a movement, whether it’s intentional or not. Allow me to define my biased label. I consider this group to have “Blind Faith”. That means I believe that they don’t know why they believe what they believe. And that most of them only believe what they’ve been taught and never question it because it came out the mouth of a Preacher, Parent or Mentor.

Their beliefs form an attitude. This attitude brings forth undesirable actions in my opinion. Here’s where I insert my example. Ever seen a guy with HUGE muscles? What’s your first thought? If you’re anything like me, you ASSume it’s because he’s trying to compensate for something. Right? Or maybe I could put it a little nicer, if someone is insecure in their beliefs or status. They tend to be on the offensive. Instead of waiting to hear what you think about an issue, they will “bullhorn” the issue. Plowing you over with so much of what they say is “right” or “true” that you know there is no use in entering a conversation. WAIT!…I’m pretty sure I just defined myself (so shut up and keep reading). *Please note the sarcasm in that last statement*

OK, now that you get my point, back to my original question: Why do YOU believe what you believe? Or, do you know why you believe what you believe?

The reason I ask is not to point out the lack of knowledge by the parties in question, but to get them to ask themselves, WHY. (It’s more of a mercy killing than anything). If you can’t answer this question for yourself, then you’ve put yourself in a bad spot for when the earthquake/tsunami hits your life.

Plus, I’m actually interested to hear “why”. There have been some super cool miracles/testimonies that have lead to belief. There is a comment box below that is screaming for your story.

New Trinity

One of the hardest concepts that christians are expected to understand is the trinity. It goes like this: God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are 3 seperate intities but all are 1 simultaneously. I read a book called "the shack". The author did a fantastic job explaining the trinity and I highly reccomend it to everyone (christian or not). He paints a beautiful word picture on the trinity and sheads an even "beautifuler" (I make up words, you'll have to get used to that) light on the heart of God towards his creation.

There was a man named John who was a disciple of Jesus. He wrote a letter/gospel and started it by explaining or at least trying to explain the trinity. It starts like so: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made".


I've never met anyone that disagrees that john is referring to Jesus when he uses the word "word"(the Greek word is logos. The definition is: a computation; specifically (with the article in John) the Divine Expression (that is, Christ). If you have a different interpritation or disagree totally please step forward. I would love to hear your thoughts.  Most people skip past vs 4-13 and go right to this part for their proof that Jesus is the Son of God. "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth".

To wrap this whole trinity thing up, here's a synopsis of  what we are expected to understand. We have God who created all things. We have Jesus, His Son who was/is God in human form and walked this earth but was crucified and died but rose from the grave and there's this Third illusive part of the trinity called the Holy Spirit that could only show up permanently after Jesus died (see Acts Chapter 2).

As hard as it is to understand or wrap my head around, I believe this to be true. Do I have physical proof to back up my beliefs? No more than an atheist has to disprove it. I have experiences in my life that I would love to share with anyone who wants to hear them that I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt prove my beliefs. (This next part is where the religous hackles go up) I was taught that the "holy bible" is our physical proof. But a book isn't physical proof to me. Now don't get me wrong, I love reading the bible. I gain a lot from it but one of my biggest problems with modern day christian teaching is that you are told not to base beliefs on experience but to base it on "the word"(the bible, not the logos). The emphasis has been shifted because its too "dangerous" otherwise. You might get mislead or think for yourself if you dare stray away from the only book you should ever read. Too much emphasis is put on the bible and not enough on the actual relationship you should have with (the real trinity).

I was taught an illustration for as why to think this way. The story goes like this. When the federal government trains treasury workers to find fraudulent/fake currency. They lock them in a room with the real thing. They study it. They feel it. They eat,breathe, sleep it. That way they will recognize a fake when they see it because its nothing like they've ever seen before.


So it's taught that you only read the bible so when you hear anything else you will know it's "a fake".
Christians are isolating themselves from the world by doing this. Below is a clip with an example of what I'm trying to say.

Agnostics vs. Believers game show clip
As you can see, the christians are out of touch with reality and are completely isolated. When I saw this I was utterly embarrassed to be lumped into the "christian" group.


OK, I'm tryin to wrap this up...
 In a nutshell, by only reading one book we have replaced a member of the trinity. This is what I like to call "The New Trinity". Which consists of: God, Jesus and the holy bible.


I'm on a personal quest to open the "blind eyes" to see that the new trinity isn't a good change. In this instance, Change isn't good. Bring back the original trinity :)
(steps off of soap box)

Round 1. Ribs vs. Back

I wish I knew the statistics on how many Christians actually doubt the things they say they believe. If I had to wager a good guess (yes, I am a gambling man) on what percentage of Christians actually doubt something that they say they believe or have been taught to believe, I would have to say that the number would be pretty high. Maybe as high as 80%

Recently, I was at a gathering with friends and had an in-depth faith based conversation about “back bone” issues.

Side note: there are two kinds of issues in the Christian world concerning belief. Rib Issues & Back Bone Issues.

A back bone issue is aptly named and WAY more important than a rib issue. If I had to define a back bone issue it would look something like this. “A salvation breaking issue or something of that importance that all Christians have to agree on regardless of denomination before they can proceed in conversation with you”. Ex. how to obtain salvation, is the bible God’s whole & absolute word, is Jesus really God’s Son. You get the idea.

A Rib issue isn’t as important. A good example of a rib issue is whether or not you should be baptized. You can walk around with a broken rib but not so much a broken back.

Now back to the gathering…I was brutally/fearfully honest with everyone and went out on a limb revealing a few of my doubts about the bible and Christianity in general. Surprisingly to me, I was met with about a 50% approval rating. I was floored! I didn’t expect anyone to admit in front of other Christians that they shared similar doubts on “back bone” issues. Was I being a bad influence, was I starting a heretical movement, or was I onto something? A very unique thing happened, a door opened for honesty.

All of a sudden, the back bone issues became rib issues. There was an indescribable physical change in the atmosphere. The hackles went down, flags were lowered and the majority of the group was able to have a meaningful conversation without trying to prove with scripture why they were more right than others. We laid down the things that we had been taught to us and had a conversation about what we knew to be true based on experience. The best part is that there were no arguments.

It was AWESOME! It changed my downcast attitude that I was fighting an uphill battle. Things can change for the better without war, be it physical or emotional. The great thing is that my hope for the future was restored.

Since then I’ve had a few others from that same conversation come to me and express their “back bone” doubts. The most amazing revelation I’ve had from all of this is that whether or not we are willing or allowed to admit it…we doubt, and it doesn’t diminish our faith or our Lord.

I will do a blog at a later date on my actual doubts. I think you will find that you most likely share the same if not similar doubts.

One last thought: I LOVE RIBS!

NEW VOCABULARY

My wife and I have been working on communication. We came across a transactional analysis (TA) diagram that psychologists use to teach communication. According to TA the gist of communication works like so:

Parents say/use words like: ought or should
Adults say/use words like: will, can, choose, plan, think & decide
Children say/use words like: want, try, can't & feel

you can get a better idea of how it works here: TransactionalAnalysis.gif




So, in order to have an adult to adult conversation you use adult words. If you use said words, both parties communicate properly.
If you use parental words, the other person will typically respond as a child.
ex.- (parent) you should clean your room. (child) I don't feel like it. OR (parent) you ought to read more books instead of playing video games. (child) I don't want to.

This word chart smacked me upside the head! I had been unknowingly been speaking to my wife as if I was her parent, and her responses reflected it.
As I was contemplating this dilemma... Eureka! A light bulb lit above my head.

Religion speaks to us as a parent speaks to a child. "You should go to church every sunday" "you ought to read your bible every day" "you should keep the ten commandments" and we respond with: "I try so hard to do what's right but I can't" or "I don't feel like reading today" or "I feel like I can't beat this sin"

We get so focused on the "dos and dont's" that we forget all about the relationship. Religion keeps you dependent on itself so you can't think on your own. God wants a relationship not a regiment (see Gen.1-3).

The bible "Gods word"(which religion makes more important than the holy spirit,stay tuned for my blog on the new trinity-God, Jesus and the holy bible) is explicit and has many examples/illustartions on transitioning from milk (babys food) to Meat (adult food)
1 cor 3:2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 
Heb 5:12-13 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!  Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness




Basically, We are supposed to transition from being taught by religion to having a personal relationship.

Why is it that God desires something completely different from us than what religion is teaching?

Are you sick of being treated like a baby by religion. Tired of being dependent on rules in order to be in right standing with God? I think the rest of the world would have a different outlook on Christians if religion would quit being our parent.

Looks like its time for religion to adopt a new vocabulary.

Took the leap

Okay, I finally did it. I took the leap. More and more lately I have wanted to write my thoughts. My hope is to convey my current thoughts, feelings, revelations, etc...


I am always interested in another perspective. I want to use this blog in a way to create and shape a better me and a better world through deep, meaningful conversations with questions or concerns and not with definitive stances or harsh judgement. I think communication is the key. Religious discussion will most likely dominate this space, but not to prove who's right or who's wrong. It's just what I'm interested in. 


Recently I threw out all that I had been taught and wanted to start over fresh with a new perspective. A perspective coming from the heart of our Creator, not from the heart of a book that's been misused and abused by men for centuries. I think some people call this heresy (a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma) I heard a pastor recently say that heresy meant: able to choose. I like that :)

So my first post has definitely been a train wreck of thoughts, I promise to be a little more direct in my future posts.