Tag Archives: Christianity

Forging Beliefs

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I’ve been thinking about a couple years ago, maybe not that long, when I was struggling with the concept of hell. The whole idea of eternal torture was so antithesis to the character of Jesus. I was questioning the concept because I had so many new gay friends due to my podcasting on Greetings from Nowhere. Like with my grandfather who died potentially “outside of Christ,” I was questioning not God’s compassion, but the idea of hell in the face of God’s compassion. For some reason, I’ve never doubted God’s love. Everything in my belief system orbits around the love of God for humankind. For me, that’s what the head-learning of 35 years of Sunday school and church have boiled down to.

So hell doesn’t fit. And my battle with the concept was ultimately a battle with fear. If I chose to forge my own beliefs based on the Bible, would I lose my moral and spiritual anchor? Would I be lost?

I knew the truth was that nothing can snatch me out of the Father’s hand. And taking a leap of faith to believe that and walk in honesty to who God had made me and who he was leading me to become, was one of the scariest moments of my life. I should say “series of moments” because it took several conversations and a lot of thought to decide that hell didn’t exist. That in the end, God wins. All hearts and souls safely with him.

There are people who could quote chapter and verse to me as to why what I believe is wrong. But I worship God, not the Bible. They are his words, not himself, designed to be interpreted by each human heart that seeks him through them.

I just encourage my fellow Christians, and those for whom Christianity rings true, to not be afraid to follow God’s word in your heart. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to lead you that way. Be brave. God will not let you fall.

Response

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Lots of posts from both sides of the gay marriage rights issue today. For my Christian brothers and sisters who feel threatened, I would say the following. You aren’t compromising your convictions when you love and accept your gay friends and family as they are. To love someone means you simply love them as Christ did on the cross–no conditions. How people live their life before God is between them and God. God never gave us the right to be judge of someone else’s life. “Disagreeing” with what we believe to be someone’s “lifestyle” does not give us the right to withhold love in any way, shape or form. Let people LIVE. And let God do His amazing work. We are called to LOVE. That is how we bear witness of Christ in us. When we attempt to force our morality and will upon others, we push them away from Christ. And woe upon us when we push seekers of Christ away from Him.

Love is the only thing that will never fail

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The more gay friends God places in my life, the more I have no room for judging them or thinking their attraction to the same sex is some kind of choice. You know what I see when I look at my gay friends? People. People with dreams, hopes, laughter, jobs, dirty diapers, family, dogs, cats, cars, loves, hates, homes…in a word…lives. What do I not see? Sex. That is as important or not important in a committed gay relationship as it is in a committed
straight relationship. It’s not the core. Love is the core.

I didn’t choose to be straight. I have simply always been attracted to men. The cute guy walking down the street today as I drove downtown caught my eye and kept it. Eyes on the road, Nik! They are great to look at. I never chose to be attracted to men. I just am.

It’s the same for every gay person I know. Even the ones who try to be attracted to the opposite sex to satisfy what their religion or their peers are pressuring them to do.

Condemnation will fail. Forcing one’s will on others will fail. Ridiculing others will fail. Judging others will fail. Attempting to correct others through fear will fail.

Love never fails.

Selah.

Destiny…thanks Don and Will!

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Don Miller tweeted a few days ago asking if anyone know of a quote where someone wrote about having a sense of destiny. I really didn’t know any, but thought I’d check with my man, Shakespeare. He is quoted as having said, “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” At first blush, I thought this was just another bit of God-is-in-everyone, we-are-the-universe, type stuff–which has never quite worked for me. But then I thought about it for myself. Jesus calls us to be ourselves. To simply be just like he and the Father and the Spirit are. God’s name is I AM. If that is so and we have a destiny, then our destiny is sewn into the fabric of who we are. Into our very character and existence. The more we discover and live who we are, the more a sense of destiny will rise in is.

What’s really exciting is that it means all of humanity has a destiny together. As we struggle as a people to become what God envisioned at our inception, the more our destiny as a race of beings will become clear.

And what’s even more cool? The character and being of God himself is woven into the fabric of humanity’s destiny through Jesus of Nazareth. How glorious!

No Compromise

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I did a solo podcast of “Greetings from Nowhere” tonight and talked about Keith Green. I found myself, however, most emotionally touched when I described the cover of the album, “No Compromise.” When I was a child, I would listen to the album and just ruminate on that cover. I couldn’t imagine ever being so brave that I would not bow to someone if it meant my death. The man in the picture, to me, was the most courageous person I had ever seen.

I still ponder the kind of courage it would take to stand for your passion and beliefs to the point that you would be willing to give your life. I don’t know. I don’t think any of us know or will know unless we’re ever in the position to make that choice.

These days I’m still moved by that painting, but oddly, I see it as more akin to when I have to stand up to my Christian brothers and sisters who disagree with me. It doesn’t happen often. But the feeling of being on the outs with those you love, or having to curtail what you say so that you don’t offend…kinda uncomfortable.

I still can’t figure out why that picture affects me so emotionally. I think I just really want to be that brave of a person.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

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The paperback version of this great book is coming out and Don is giving a way copies to those who will embed his video about it.

I really loved this book. Though I did want to throw it against the wall after reading it (couldn’t…it was on my Kindle). Why? Because it awakened in me the dreams I had set aside as impossible and unreasonable. And now I’m on the track of them again. Life is a journey to be lived to the fullest. It’s scary, but I’m going for it. Here’s Don’s vid:

What story are you telling? from Rhetorik Creative on Vimeo.

You can buy the book from Powell’s, the giantish bookstore!

I am a Christian

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Over the years, my understanding of Christianity and how I walk it out in my life has changed. I came from a charismatic Pentecostal background. Here are some aspects of Christianity as I have grown up in them and my current thoughts on them:

Witnessing – Boy, was this one ever pushed in Sunday School. Get out there and tell people about Jesus! Get out there and save people! How can God be heard if we are not his voice? I have almost fully rejected the common interpretation of witnessing. Even as a child this felt innately false to me. I have come to believe that our “witness” is how we live and behave in our daily life and with the people around us.

Other People’s Sin – I no longer believe that I am responsible to point out what I consider “sin” in others. And I’m not talking about interventions when friends are hurting themselves or others. I’m talking about withholding love from someone because of their “sin.” If Jesus had done that, none of us could ever enter into a love relationship with our Creator. I have enough sin of my own to deal with without behaving as if I’m an authority on how others should live their lives.

Love God, Love others as you love yourself – I believe this is how we are to live. No nit picky rules and regulations (though, such rules do make it easier to feel holy and acceptable), just messy, unchartable love. Love is what will draw people to Jesus through us. Jesus is responsible for our transformation—we can’t transform ourselves let alone anyone else.

Jesus was, and is, God – This belief, which has no proof other than personal experience, is unshakable in me. Belief is a choice and everyone has to make that choice for themselves. I believe we are a created race of beings and I believe it is arrogance to think we couldn’t be created. We create amazing things all the time. Why couldn’t there be a greater intelligence than ours out there that could’ve fashioned us is? To think that impossible is, in my opinion, the height of hubris. I believe God wanted to speak to us with a face we could see and touch, a voice we could hear, a body we could recognize and not be afraid of. I also believe he did this to live a human life and fulfill his own moral requirements of us. So that when he died without having broken any of these requirements, he would have the authority to forgive us when we did break them. I believe God wants to be in loving relationship with his creation and that’s why he did what he did.

I love him. I always will. He fills my life with peace in the midst of uncertainty, and hope in the midst of obscurity. He makes life, well, alive! And he meets each of us where we are and loves us as we are. God is good.