Raw Musings

We don’t have extensive information on the twelve people Jesus chose to be his closest Disciples. We do know they followed him so avidly that people mocked them for being ‘Little Christ’s’ (or Christians).

They obviously displayed some of his mannerisms and quirks to the point that people had to do a double take- even after his ascension.

What we can assume is that J.C saw something of immeasurable worth within each of them.

 And now we come to Thomas, the 2^nd most infamous of Jesus’ go-to men. He is so renowned for his doubting that it has become a permanent prefix to his name. Not the best accolade for someone who gave up everything to follow an ‘illegitimate’ Rabbi who turned out to be the long awaited Messiah.  

It’s ironic, that a faith so fixated on the raw saving power of Jesus’ blood, has managed to define one of his favourite people by their mistakes.

Doubting Thomas. (You know the story.)

But another story goes like this:

Jesus is walking around, creating a political, theological and social stir that even the makers of ‘Kony 2012’ would envy. Times were dangerous. The impression was that in areas like Judea he would be mobbed and killed along with his followers.

Word comes that a good friend of his, Lazarus, needs his help. Lazarus happens to have a Judean post code.  And two of the matriarchs of the Christian faith are keen for Jesus to head over and lend some supernatural support.

The problem is it’s dangerous. The disciples have doubts.

The need some encouragement; they’re tired of getting hurt.

The one with the most faith for the mission pipes up.

“Thomas said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go too - and die with Jesus” –John 11:16

And that does it. Off they go.

Thomas was so fixated on Jesus that he was the first disciple to recognise – on record- that he was worth dying for. His statement is a prophetic precursor pointing to the Jesus’ defeat of death on the Cross.

Wow.

Pretty radical.

True Thomas! Brave Thomas! Tenacious/ Faithful/ Encouraging Thomas!

One commentator describes Thomas’ statement as follows:  

“It was that kind of affection which, living only in the light of its Object, cannot contemplate, or has no heart for life, without it.”

Radical love. A perfect picture of discipleship.

So what can we learn?

It’s been a long journey for the bride but the less we label people by their moral externals the more we are mirroring Jesus.

He forgets transgressions, and meditates on our positives.

So let’s stop mediating on Thomas’ transgressions and forgetting his positives!

Do you know a Thomas?

Someone once said that ‘everything between now and the Kingdom of God being fully realised is mission’.

The hope is that as time passes our actions, activities and words are formulated with one of Jesus’ ultimate goals in mind – ‘On earth as it is in Heaven’.

Now I’d like to transfer this to the macro level and look at some subjects that create tension.

Take war for example, Christians have long since struggled with the violence/non violence question in view of a God who asks that we love our enemies.

Then Senator Barak Obama, highlights the contention here:

‘“Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? …. The Sermon on the Mount - a passage that is so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defence Department would survive its application?” (2006)

So rather than pick up this age old debate, that hasn’t reached a conclusion and certainly hasn’t stemmed the atrocities that aren’t taking place in heaven right now; it is time to propose an alternative.

As the old adage goes : ‘If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got’

So can War be done differently?

God’s plan for humanity is bigger and more beautiful than it being caught in a cyclical process of tragedy. He longs for us to lockstep with the momentum of His Kingdom; violently increasing to a point of eternal-terminal velocity where His love and bliss are made manifest for all to enjoy.

You know the story.

9/11 : Planes hit the Two Towers, loads of innocent people die. The guy who did it is in Afghanistan and ‘we’ invade.

To date this is the cost:

• $468 billion (http://costofwar.com/en)

• 2000 civilian casualties a year (22,000)

• 2876 coalition soldiers dead (http://icasualties.org/oef/)

• Between 36,482 and 40,658 Taliban Casualties (various sources)

I’m now going to propose an alternative assuming the same financial backing.

[N.B this is in no way meant to devalue the bravery and loss of life that has taken place in the actual conflict]

9/11: Planes hit the Two Towers. We find out who did it.

And ‘we’ over-react , a complete violent, focused and intense love offensive.

We cover all 250,001 square miles of Afghanistan in love.

Carpet bombing raids of food, farming tools, school books, culturally relevant and freedom inspiring literature.

And anything else you can think of, The place gets literally gets littered with useful and inspiring things (cushioned by parachutes of course).

Now by this point the various warlords are having a difficult time persuading the subjects in their territories that everyone ‘outside’ is evil and hates them. (Although years of fear mongering and conditioning are still taking their toll.)

It’s time to send in the troops.

These guys are professionals. Lots of tax payers money has been spent on their training.

They…

• Speak the language

• Are Multicultural

• Have prepared in Middle Eastern climates

• Have spent sleepless nights learning the dialect and what makes the locals tick

• Can build

• Can counsel

• Know how to empower individuals

• Cry when people die

• Grin when they witness restoration

• Are willing to lay down their lives for the people Jesus has offered his friendship to (all)

• Follow Jesus and he lives in them

• Love people…lots

These soldiers land,infiltrate, build,feed,teach and hangout. They talk to people about a middle eastern man called Jesus who they could follow in their own culturally relevant way.

They get shot at and they carry on.

They are supported by the newest technology and the oldest and most mystical form of backup – thousands of individuals at base command engaged in joyful intercessory prayer.

A brave alternative to ‘landing combat troops and doing bombing raids’.

Although that is not to say these soldiers aren’t highly trained in self defence, they are just more highly trained in being lovers – in the fullest, least cliché and most inspiring sense of the word.

The Result of this attack?

To begin with it would most-likely be pretty messy. Thousands of lives lost. A powerful symbol of the death of Jesus, a life laid down for all in love.

So, to begin with, not too different from what war looks like currently.

But then what?

How long can the hardest heart shoot at someone who genuinely and without agenda wants to love them and their nation?

Does the promise keeping God honour the eternal law of reaping and sowing?

What gets reaped from all that love sown?

Are the costs any higher than what we are doing at the moment?

Is it closer to His heartbeat?

Dear all; theists, atheists and agnostics,

So you’re with a Christian friend and they do something you don’t expect, and you say (or think)

‘But I thought you were a Christian?!’

Maybe they swore

Or wear a fur coat

Or said something that was on the line

Or joined the Army/Occupy movement

Or let the vino flow or smoked

(They could even be a fur coat wearing, tipsy, dry humoured sergeant major on their way to an occupy protest, cigarette in mouth and wine in hand)

People say it though.

To be honest - It’s frustrating.

But most of all it shows an ignorance of what a follower of Jesus believes.

It’s like going up to a married couple who are arguing in public and saying ‘But I thought you were married?!’

It suggests that to break a perceived norm is to step outside the boundaries of what a Christian is.

For the married couple, their commitment to one another can handle the public bickering and a plethora of other things without calling their commitment to one another into disrepute.

Similarly, but rather more mystically, Jesus’ commitment to the Christian is not limited to their actions. Christianity is not a stale moral philosophical law that can be broken. As if a public faux pas could call into questions ones gritty and dynamic relationship with a loving God.

For the Christian they have a deeply held belief in their heart that they have been purchased with an eternal blood containing enough white blood cells to handle an indefinite number deviations from the ‘party line’ – even your party line.

That doesn’t mean that their actions will always be kind, but it does mean that kindness will always pursue them.

Their words won’t always be encouraging but God’s unending affirmation will surround them.

They won’t always be generous but they’ll have access to a generosity that would make Midas blush.

Don’t question the marriage of their heart to Jesus anymore than you would the married couple.

If your view of Christianity is that it is a Legalistic moral philosophy that is defined by ones strict adherence to a social etiquette then ask some questions. You might be surprised at what you discover.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You make search in the Scriptures, in the belief that through them you get eternal life; and it is those Scriptures which give witness about me. - Jesus. John.5.39

The Old Testament isn’t a collection of writings known for their palatability, not initially at-least. But Jesus says they give witness to him, and I trust him. Like all witnesses sometimes the Scriptures seem to go off track, mumble or are hard to understand. They occasionally bend under pressure and nervously skip over events they’d rather not talk about.

And then there are those moments of sublime clarity. When you hang onto every word; knowing there is so much more than meets the ear.

To me Leviticus is such a witness, old, down the line, well dressed and probably right wing - you certainly wouldn’t want to get him talking about immigration over the dinner table.

But at the same time a witness of intense depth, a symbol of an era passed but not irrelevant, who if you asked the right questions he would cause you sit and listen to with focused and fixed attention.

There’s a section of Leviticus that details all the different types of offerings the ancient Israelites performed. 

Burnt offering, grain offering,peace offering,guilt offering, sin offering etc.

Hidden amongst the ritualistic instructions detailing the sin offering there is a verse that says

Anyone or anything that touches the sacrificial meat will become holy. - Lev.6.27a  

Now the Gospels tell us that Jesus was a sin offering- sacrificial meat- an offering to atone for the sins of mankind to reconcile us to and bring us into abiding union with God.

This verse points directly to the Son of God, anyone who touches him becomes holy, he is infected with a contagious holiness that spreads to everything he touches.

There’s this woman who is inflicted with continuous and agonising period pains (by standards at the time, unclean and unholy), she reaches out and grabs Jesus. Healed. Unholiness collides with something it can’t comprehend or understand and can’t stay.

In Jesus the sacrificial meat exists in human form.

But is there more?

The bible says that Jesus lives in us, the power of that sacrificial meat is pressed into the innermost parts of our hidden life and effortlessly cleanses. This is a sacrifice that bestows the right on all who touch it to enter heaven. Heavens’ healing, Heavens’ joy and abundance.

The bible also claims that we are also to offer our bodies as living sacrifices ; 

Does this mean that what we touch can become holy?

That the holiness of Jesus in us makes us conduits of his holiness?

That rather than being affected or scared by the unholy things around us that it’s the other way around?

A friend of mine loves going into occult book stores and spiritualist churches and showing the people there God’s love. I bet every book he brushes against screams in pain as unholiness meets something it can’t comprehend. Every demon he bumps into comes out in bruises.

What’s there to be afraid of?

Stories happen all around us every day. Many aren’t written down even though they make an impact. Here is a story. Or an event that tells a story. 

I was sitting in an airport by the pay as you go internet terminal. People were slouching nearby trying to sleep, others reading Tom Clancy novels, the one’s standing were wandering around the duty free probably pondering ‘why is nothing cheaper in these shops, despite the lack of tax’. 

At this point a fairly typical american girl, if there is such a thing, came over to the terminal and said “dad can I please check my facebook, pleeeeeeeeeeassssssssssssseeeeeeee”. Duly her dad handed over a few pounds for this to happen and she excitedly clicked away. 

 A few hours later I was sitting next to a shiny drinks vending machine and waiting to board my plane, when the same family began queing about 10 metres in front of me. The Dad broke away from his wife and daughter and walked over to the vending machine, obviously thirsty, he excitedly put his hand in his pocket - already anticipating the brown sugary drink that would soon be quenching his thirst- and took out his change. Unfortunately he didn’t have enough change as he’d given his last coins to his daughter to check her facebook. So he sighed and went to quietly rejoin his family, who were totally unaware of what had just happened. And his daughter will always be unaware because he didn’t mention what had happened. 

Now this might seem like a relatively insignificant story with insignificant consequences. But I loved seeing this unfold. This story is indicative of the sacrifices that mums and dad’s make all the time , and no one ever sees. People are beautiful. 

Or why i’m voting yes to AV.

It is an uncertainty as to how Jesus ,a Palestinian Jew descended from a theocratic monarchy and born into an empirical system would vote in a western democracy. So apart from the fact that he lives in my heart, we are going to leave him out of this.

I will however be voting yes to AV on Thursday, now if you want to hear some in depth reasoning as to the different pro’s and con’s – the websites do it pretty well. http://www.yestofairervotes.org and http://www.no2av.org/.

My reasons?

 As a student of politics who is always keen to see people engage at least a little bit in the political world, AV makes for a more exciting democracy, it is by no means perfect – but neither are cream eggs.

But the way you vote comes down to what your main concern is.

If your main concern is strong and stable government then vote No. (If this is your main concern you may want to look into a meritocracy or something completely different)

If however you want to see the country step towards becoming more democratic, Democracy defined by Abe Lincoln as

‘Government of the people, for the people and by the people’

– I would say vote yes.

Any system that has within it a culture of ‘safe seats’ and ‘tactical voting’ (as our current one does) needs changing.

A.V takes steps towards getting rid of the idea that you need to vote for someone who doesn’t agree with you in order to get your voice heard. Indeed wherever there are more than two candidates running (which is everywhere!) first past the post falls short - Around 60% of people end up feeling misrepresented and disenfranchised.  

A.V creates a more complex politics, more representative of the people involved in it, our views are so much more in-depth than

Some tax, lots of tax, maybe tax

and AV helps account for those complex view points.

Less logical reasons to vote AV:

British people say no A LOT , so say YES for a change , it’s more positive

It’ll be fun to have a change and if it goes wrong it’ll be a good story

In many places cream eggs are beginning to come down in price.

Notes.

AV explained for cats.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =HiHuiDD_oTk

Why Nick Griffin and the BNP are voting No.

http://www.bnp.org.uk/news/turn-out-may-5-and-bury-av

This is a photograph by artist and photographer Andres Serrano, it’s called Piss Christ.

It depicts Jesus Christ, on a crucifix submerged in the artist’s urine. 

On April 17th, 2011, Piss Christ was vandalized “beyond repair” by Christian protesters while on display during the Je crois aux miracles exhibition at the Collection Lambert, a contemporary art museum in France. 

The way I see it there are two sides to every story, and choices behind every interpretation. The aforementioned Christian protestants saw the above picture and were offended, angered and moved to action. It touched something of their identity, and they reacted.

But what if the photograph is a physical depiction of a spiritual reality?

What if it creates a reaction for a reason?

 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen,being understood through what has been made…

Romans 1

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

2.Cor 5

Jesus became sin on our behalf. He was covered in defecation and submerged in our iniquities,vice and crap. So we wouldn’t have to be. He took the power out of sin by becoming it.

When I see that picture, I see my best friend submerged in my piss simply because he loves me so much he didn’t want me to have to be in there. Maybe that is the real scandal; the real offense is that the above photograph communicates something that actually happened. In fact, what Jesus went through was far more ugly. 

Creation speaks of his attributes, power and divine nature and so does this photograph. 

This photo captures the spiritual reality of what happened at an actual time in history so we could be reconciled to a beautiful deity.

Once upon a time, Christ drowned in our sin so we wouldn’t have to

At-least, that’s what I see.

Notes.

Source.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/18/andres-serrano-piss-christ-destroyed-christian-protesters

This is a book review.

Book. def:

a written or printed work of fiction or nonfiction, usually on sheets of paper fastened or bound together within covers.

 Review. def:
Bridge . a recapitulation of the bids made by all players.

Love wins or holding hands with heresy? 

Rob Bell likes to question, when I think of him I picture him sitting on the floor, surrounded by ancient Hebrew texts, occasionally dipping his finger into a nearby pot of honey to remind himself how sweet those pages are.  In his book ‘Love Wins’ , there are lots of questions.

The reason Rob asks questions is because he loves Jesus, and Jesus loves questions. In fact Jesus would often ask a question in reply to a question

 ”…So tell us honestly: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

 Jesus knew they were up to no good. He said, “Why are you playing these games with me? Why are you trying to trap me? Do you have a coin? Let me see it.” They handed him a silver piece.

 ”This engraving—who does it look like? And whose name is on it?”

 They said, “Caesar.” “Then give Caesar what is his, and give God what is his.”

Mt.22. NLT

The chances are that you won’t know all the answers to the questions Rob Bell asks. That will probably annoy you. It annoyed me.

So what is this book about? 

It’s about heaven and hell, God’s love and Jesus [he’s my favourite].

The book begins by Rob talking about the traditional/Augustinian concept of hell [eternal conscious punishment]. And heaven [we float off to an ethereal dimensional plane where no one can remember each other and things are very white].

He sections off the traditional interpretation of these concepts from the central Jesus story , and puts them in a padded room where they can be prodded, poked and studied through a thick hermeneutic of the Father’s unfailing love.

So where is the controversy?

Well apart from asking you questions where it hurts, and poking some ‘sacred cows’ with a large theological cattle prod, Bell dares to argue that maybe, just maybe, God is as loving as we want him to be.

For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers,

    Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8. Amplified Version

One of his controversial ideas that has many in Christendom shaking their righteous fists is that death doesn’t separate us from the love of God. And that starting from now we have a choice whether or not we want to embrace heaven or hell, but this choice continues for as long as the soul exists, or to put it more correctly, as long as God’s love exists. So at any point in eternity, because of the huge and universal implications of Jesus’ death and resurrection we are able to answer the call of His love.

I’m just not sure his interpretation is worth getting angry about, there are enough people arguing that God isn’t as loving as we really-deep-down wish he was [or that the implications of this HUGE love aren’t as huge as we’d like them to be], so there is definitely space within the vast amount of voices wrestling with the biblical view of who God is for Bell to dare believe that God’s love is stronger than death.

Is there bad news in the good news?

If anything we probably need more people arguing this. Not just blurting it out, but saying, ‘What about this verse? What about this characteristic of Abba Father? What about the good news?’

 When I was a kid my dad used to play this really old school worship song with the lyric

‘Even if you do it wrong and miss the joy i’ve planned, no matter what may happen child, i’ll never let go of your hand’

Don Fransisco

So we know he holds our hand, we know that we only need to tread a single toe onto the edge of his vast and beautiful estate and the creator of the universe will come running to embrace us. So then, our thoughts on hell are intimately connected with the way we answer the questions ; When does he let go? And when does he stop allowing us the opportunity to respond to his love?

For I hold you by your right hand—I, the LORD your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid…’

Isaiah 41. NLT

Just to clarify.

Love Wins isn’t the wishful thinking of someone who isn’t happy with what he has read in the bible. It’s the writing of someone who has read the bible and isn’t happy with what other people think they know about the character of God.

This book will challenge you, make you hungry to go and ask Jesus what he thinks about all of this. It will make you want to read the bible so you can make an informed rather than inherited decision on what you think about the after-life, it might even be the same one; but it’ll be yours.

…who knows, it may even inspire you to write a bias review.

Notes.

Rob Bell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfboAzw-XGU&feature=player_embedded

More on hell.

http://www.hopebeyondhell.net

That song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCx6MEdeli4&feature=related

Rob Bell Cartoon.