Anger, Adultery, Divorce - What was Jesus talking about?

Ok, back to our Thursday journey through the (chronological) Gospels, learning about Jesus FROM Jesus, and outside of what calls itself "Christianity" has spent 2,000 years remaking Him into!

As always, you can find all our previous posts in this series, going through the Gospels chronologically to find the real Jesus, here.

And as always you'll find the scriptures for today are here. (Note that you can change the translation version on this scripture page as suits you. I default to the NASB to get the more literal translation, but do use the one that works for you).

This week we're still in the "Sermon on the Mount". Last week Jesus introduced us to this "Sermon" by pointing out how different God's intentions for blessings and reward are from what we're taught to expect (especially as we're taught by Good Religious People). And we learned from Jesus that unless our hearts and lives are better than what all those good church-goers and Bible-memorizers and seminary-graduates accomplish, we're not going to get any better reward than they will – meaning we won't get into heaven at all! Do check out His intro, if you missed it last week. It will help get you set up for this week and the weeks to come.

Ok – Jesus jumps right in with contrasts, and begins telling us how we need to be different from Good Religious People if we truly want God to count us as among His (real) people. Couple of things to note before we start:

• Don't forget as we go through the rest of His "Sermon" - even if your Bible makes it appear there's a break here somewhere, there really was not: Jesus just talked about how our God-following needs to be different from the false "God"-following that Good Religious People do, and now He's going to start telling us how different that must be,

• As we go through these teachings, pay close attention! Don't write these things off or "explain" or "theologize" them away as Good Religious People most often do – doing so leaves us just as anti-Christ and smeared with religious dung as they are. But also don't fall into the opposite ditch, wallowing in religious shame and fear, wasting energy in fear when God wants you up and moving along. We all fall short of these things – but Jesus is offering here a new start, an offer of God's better way for our lives. Once again, He's not offering condemnation, but liberation from the world's way of injecting hell into our daily lives and calling it "normal" and even "godly". Wash the religion out of your ears and hear Jesus new all over again!

  
So, Jesus starts off talking about anger and disputes, saying:

It's been taught forever that if you murder someone, God will judge you. But I'm telling you God will judge you even if you just get angry at someone.  

 It's said that if you call someone empty-headed you're subject to Good Religious Authority. But I'm telling you that calling someone a fool means you're in danger of burning in hell.  

Therefore, if someone has a problem with you don't show up doing your religious duties before God before you've made things right with this other person. Don't let this problem keep going and going until finally you're standing before God Himself to answer for it.

Except for those who (either by birth or by culture or by profession) are sociopathic, it takes anger to get to murder, doesn't it? When we consider that, and also consider how through so much of the Old Testament God said over and over again that it's what comes out of our hearts that makes what we do actually His way or not His way (no matter how "religious" or "godly" we want it to look), what does it mean, then, that God doesn't even want us to get angry at people?

Sometimes when trying to avoid the Good Religious Trap of pretending to be "godly" while also being a jerk, we can fall into the ditch on the other side of the road and make a NEW Good Religious Trap by telling ourselves we can NEVER EVER get angry, or that if we do we're earning hell. But we know from other parts of the Bible that anger itself isn't always wrong (for example, when someone got angry at those calling themselves "God's People" while oppressing others - that wasn't wrong). The Bible lets us know that even God gets angry (and that would make sense, since we're made in God's image). We've even seen Jesus get angry in the parts of the Gospels we've already covered (when He was being confronted by the evil hypocrisy of Good Religious People). Which means that once again if we just take a face-value look at what Jesus is saying, we're going to get it wrong. That being the case, consider what He's said in the whole context (including even His "intro", starting back at Matthew 5:1), and come up with what His meaning is here. What does Jesus want you to understand about anger, disputes, hurting others, and God's place in all of that, in your life? What part of your heart or life needs to change?

Jesus then said:

You've been taught not to have sex with another person when you're married. But I'm telling you that even just checking someone out is the same as having sex with them – in your heart. Get rid of the things that lead you to doing wrong, even if it hurts or costs you. It's better to lose that little thing than to end up in hell.

Using Jesus' standard, our modern culture – and a great part of our economy – in the western world absolutely runs on the "eye-candy" and sexual obsession that God calls "adultery" (and more). And to get away from it and the constant temptation to examine others through the lens of (and therefore misuse) our sexual drives, we have to take active steps. Depending on who we are and what our personal temptations may be, sometimes that means not watching certain (or even any) television programs, movies, or stars. Sometimes it means changing the kinds of things we read. Sometimes it means we have to avoid being around certain people in our local lives. And sometimes it means we need to give ourselves a real solid kick in the spiritual butt so we stop screwing around with thinking it's ok to screw around. None of these things are "fun", and in some cases they can make us look "weird" to others who still want to enjoy letting the media and their own sin-nature run their sexuality on a slow burn (and more) most of the week. Yet Jesus tells us it's better to deal today with getting rid of some stupid physical or emotional impulse that's causing us to ignore and work against God's way than to deal later with the huge consequences of having kept our heart on a path to hell. Are there things you need to get rid of or do differently, to get the adultery out of your heart and life so there's room for Jesus there, instead? What keeps you from getting rid of those things right now, today?

Nowhere in this did Jesus say that sex itself was wrong or shameful – though that's how many Good Religious People interpret it. Jesus just said we need to keep our sexual nature – and the heart that runs it – within bounds that keep us from causing harm to ourselves and others (and therefore keeps us from harming our relationship with God, as well). What ways have you been taught to interpret this scripture as meaning your own sexual feelings are wrong? How do you need to understand them differently, in light of what Jesus actually said?

In past centuries, some Good Religious People took this scripture literally, and actually cut out their own eyes or sex organs so they wouldn't sin – or so they thought. Earlier in our Gospel study we already heard Jesus say that God prefers that people break His religious laws to take care of their physical bodies' needs, if that's what it takes. Does it even make sense, then, to say that God wants us to actually harm our physical bodies in some way? Did those who took these scriptures literally even understand what Jesus said – that it's what's in your heart that determines what happens in your life and body? After all, even a married person without eyes or sex organs can still imagine someone else lustfully or want to sleep with them – and that's exactly what Jesus said is just as adulterous as actually having sex outside of marriage. So did these Good Religious People who mutilated themselves actually accomplish anything at all? If others admired them for their extra "devotion", did they actually admire something God is actually impressed with?

Jesus then said: 

You've been taught that it's ok to divorce, as long as you go through the correct legal channels. But I'm telling you that unless your spouse is whoring around on you, divorcing him/her makes him/her and you an adulterer. It also makes anyone who marries your ex-spouse an adulterer.

It was common among the men Jesus was speaking to here 2,000 years ago to divorce any wife that got too "old" for their tastes, or who didn't quietly put up with their crap, or who just didn't make them happy in some other way (women in that place and time weren't allowed to do the same to their husbands). What that meant, though, was that even though these men had made a covenant with another person before God, they were trashing that covenant whenever it suited their egos or their lusts – and God does NOT like covenant breaking for any reason (read about the nation of Israel and its covenant breaking in the Old Testament, if you'd like to confirm that). Their divorces produced even more harm, though, because in that place and time if a woman didn't have her birth family to move back in with, she would end up living on the streets – and then she'd have to beg and probably prostitute herself to stay alive. But another thing we learn through the Old Testament (when we stop reading it with Good Religious People's eyes, that is) is God's unrelenting command that His people take care of and not exploit or oppress those who are weaker in some way or another – and that included women. So Jesus was telling the men in the crowd that day (and all of us since) that God counts our covenants still active even when we do not, and God expects us to take care of the people we promised to take care of - even if we don't feel like doing so anymore. How is our modern culture, with its easy-divorce and almost pathological self-interest, the same as the culture Jesus was speaking to? How is it different? Jesus taught nothing to others that we shouldn't also learn from. What should we today learn from what Jesus taught? How should your own life and heart change?

Some final things to consider this week: 

• With what you've seen of Jesus in our Gospel study even so far, and how you've seen His (and therefore God's) thoughts about and actions toward both "good" and "bad" people, who do you think God condemned: the wife 2,000 years ago who was "divorced" by her husband and had to prostitute herself to buy food and shelter, or the husband who divorced her legally, kept all God's written laws, and performed all the required worship activities? Whose prayers do you think God heard? Who do you think ended up in heaven?

• In all you've read today, what is the biggest thing that Good Religious People back then and even today get most wrong or miss most? 

• What changes can you make starting right now in how you view yourself, others, the world, and God to make sure that you are doing what Jesus said by being better than Good Religious People – so you are actually a real follower of Jesus Christ, and not just another pretender?

Next week we'll continue our journey through the "Sermon on the Mount", and through the chronological Gospels. See you then!

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This article written by Lynne at http://NoJunkJustJesus.blogspot.com/. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

Is Gayness part of God's plan (or even evolution)?

It's not Thursday, but I do have something extra to share this week. It's part of a response to someone's question about homosexuality and its place within God's original plan and the natural world. Without including any parts that are personal, here is part of that response, shared with you:

[QUOTE]

The question of whether or not homosexuality is part of God's original plan is still part of a mindset that only recognizes part of the question. And even though many Gay people and their straight allies shy away from religion and lean toward Darwinist science as if it were "safer", the same prejudiced way of viewing the world exists in Darwinist science.

"Christianity" says that God only created heterosexuality, because that's what Adam and Eve were and He told them to go off and create new human beings through sexual reproduction, so any sex that doesn't mimic that isn't "godly".

 "Science" says that since the reproduction is required to keep a species going, then only sex that allows reproduction (even if we're using human-created chemicals to prevent reproduction at the same time), is "natural".

Same bias. Same lack of looking at the issue any way but one way, because one has been taught there is no other way to see this issue and so doesn't or won't look further.

But there are obvious flaws in "God only wants straight people because Adam and Eve were straight", and there are obvious flaws in "Beings exist to reproduce to increase their species, and any who don't aren't natural".

For example, God obviously created Adam and Eve of one "race" (or mix of same), whether we'd now call that "African" or "Asian" or "European" or whatever. So by the same mainstream "Christian" logic that means if God's original people were African (for example), or even some mix of "races" (say, for example, of all races), then all Asians, Europeans, etc. are just as "ungodly", "unnatural", "against God's plan", etc as Gay people are said to be. And since God said to go forth and multiply, that means He wanted just that original race to increase - but not all the races that showed up with later generations.

Now, to prove God doesn't condemn or think poorly of all but one race we'd simply point to those parts of the Bible that indicate that God loves all human beings, and we'd point to those parts of the Bible and to the record of normal, moral, godly behavioral history by people of other races (understanding that all people of all races have the same sin nature, but that that sin nature in no way means a whole race is bad), and point out that there's nothing REALLY there to indicate that God condemns certain races. But to do so we'd FIRST have to get past our mental block and prejudiced (even if loving) heart and be willing to see God's Big Picture. God would have to heal us of our human-only ways of viewing other people.

Well, the same issue exists for those among us who still need to be healed of not seeing the world through God's eyes (rather than their own nearly-blind human ones) regarding Gay people. There's nothing in the Bible that truly condemns the Gay people we see around us in the world today. And there's nothing in the historical record to indicate that Gay people have been any more OR less normal, moral, or godly in their behavior (there's nothing Gay people are said to do, for example, that straight people don't also do. Like people point to immoral things that go on during Gay Pride events, for example - but by the same logic straight people are all immoral based on what goes on during Mardi Gras). While we still see those things there, we are no different than those who see God-ordained moral differences between the races ("Gays live immoral lives" is no different than "Black men are in violent gangs", and no different than "Mexicans are illegal aliens", because it takes the few examples that "match" our prejudice and proclaims them over the top of all Gay people, and over all Black men, over all Mexicans, etc). In such a case, we just haven't yet accepted Holy Spirit teaching that would help us understand we've learned to live a very wrong - and, because it bears false witness against God Himself and against our Gay neighbors, very ungodly and unbiblical - way of being in God's world. And living in that ungodly way of living, we simply help maintain the illusions that block us (and our children, etc) from seeing that Gay people - when allowed to be who they are, rather than living under the horrors of homophobic oppression and even tyranny, are only different from straight people in who their hearts bond with and who their lives meld with.

And what's called "science" today (which I list in quote marks because real science uses various ways of thinking and examining the natural world to eliminate human prejudices - not "prove" them) is just as wrong-thinking as religion - despite those who move to its quarter, thinking they will escape the biases of religion. Because to argue that only reproductive sexual behavior has a healthy, normal place in the natural world completely ignores or writes off all the NON-reproductive sexual behavior that goes on in every species on the planet - including the human species all the time. I'm reminded of a "scientist" I read once who'd spent years studying a certain kind of male wild sheep, watching the rams at times having sex with each other (so not just with the females), but never writing about it or including it in his "work". When asked why, he sputtered, "Because I just couldn't accept that there would be f*ggot* rams!" So, all those years, instead of being a REAL scientist and saying, "I see this same-sex behavior going on in this species - what purpose does it serve these rams and the sheep population?", he just published reports that made it appear that his prejudices were correct: rams are always heterosexual, except for a tiny few instances where there are "deviants". And that's no more real science than anti-Gay theology is real Jesus-following.

If we were really looking at God's natural world, we'd see the miracle of God's "programming" for natural balance everywhere - and we'd even see the many quite natural and healthy variations from what we'd expect to see that seem to have no real "purpose" at all.

For example, based on our scientific observations (which wouldn't have to be at odds with our spiritual understandings), we'd realize that many species have homosexuality programmed into their genetics, so that when populations or crowding starts to get beyond a certain limit (also set within their God-given "programming"), homosexuality increases within that species, in that area - and we'd realize what a marvelous and perfectly natural way of preventing starvation, disease, and therefore even species-death in that area homosexuality really can be. And then we'd have to wonder at our own human cultures, which force people God-programmed to be Gay into straight marriages and more reproduction, and which therefore act COUNTER to the natural world God created.

We'd also full examine and admit that many "higher" species in the world do not just have sex to reproduce. We'd have to admit that oftentimes for such species, sex is just for fun, or for status, or for life-mate-bonding, or even for overall community bonding. Then we'd realize what a marvelous thing, this God-programmed way to feel good within ourselves and to share that good with another, is - just as good as our being able to enjoy listening to a baby giggling, or enjoy seeing a sunset, or enjoy tasting a warm apple pie, or enjoy touching a soft puppy, or enjoy smelling a pine forest. None of those things are required for our Darwinian survival - they're just "for fun". They're just something that uses a part of our natural bodies that COULD be used for a survival function, and ALSO using them for something "just because". And then we could thank God for giving us natural parts of our created bodies that are positive, enjoyable, healthy, and "just for fun", because they are part of what helps make it possible to still thrive in a world otherwise so full of human negatives, horribles, unhealthies, and "because you have to's". 

[UNQUOTE]


"See" you again Thursday, when we'll continue our chronological walk through the Gospels, using them to understand the REAL Jesus mainstream "Christianity" (in all its forms) doesn't allow us to see.

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This article written by Lynne at No Junk. Just Jesus. You can always contact me (Lynne) at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

Is Jesus on your side?

Amazing – but my work life is actually settling down so I can start to write more again. I'm very pleased about that! :)

Before we get continuing on with our walk through the Gospels again today, I have some notes to pass along:

First, the whole purpose here is to explore: If we rip off the blinders and gauze and mud "churches" and religious traditions have taught us to see Jesus and ourselves through – just who the heck is Jesus, and why is knowing the real Him so important (and liberating, and comforting, and refreshing) to our lives?

Second, I have been and will continue to go through the Gospels chronologically, so that's why you see clumpings of scriptures from all four texts as we go.

And third, do read the scriptures referenced each time, or you're not going to "get" what you're after here (which is God's Word, and not just my words about God's Word). I never reference more than a short bit at a time, and I give a link to an online bible you can easily change to whatever translation you'd like to read it in.

[Today's scriptures are here]

Ok – on to it...

Last week we looked at how Jesus interacted with some of the people around Him. This week, let's continue that but also look at some of how others viewed Jesus, and how Jesus saw Himself.

When the disciples returned from getting food, they found Jesus actually talking (and normally, respectfully, with personal interest) with a woman despised by Good Religious People and pagans alike (heck, even her own people rejected her, which we can know because she came to the well alone in the heat of the day, and not in the cool of the day with the other women). We can only guess at the life choices and/or misfortunes that left the "Woman at the Well" outside of "proper society", what with her past five husbands and current "living in sin" (unmarried). Perhaps she or her family just choose real losers for her? Or perhaps something in her personality (like not liking being treated like dirt, which is what women of the time were trained to accept without question, or even just being hard to live with herself, or...?) caused her to end up in a merry-go-round of relationships. In any case, we'd have to think in our modern day of the revulsion most people would have for a down-and-out prostitute, to get any sense of how the disciples and others of her day would have felt about this woman. Then add her religious and racial background on top of that, and it's pretty safe to say "amazement" (or "surprise", etc) was an understatement to what the disciples thought finding Jesus not only standing there talking to her, but also with the same dignity and open care that He gave to "good" and "normal" people like themselves. 

No matter who people think you are, or how others judge or categorize you, Jesus has always and will always approach you as if you were the "cream of the crop". Despite what human religion has most often taught, Jesus will always recognize you do indeed have brains and can and should use them, and He'll always want that interactive relationship that can only exist between those who care for and respect each other. How does that change or affect how you should or do see yourself and the relationship you can and should have with Jesus?

The "Woman at the Well" was truly the first Gospel evangelist. Having been blessed with an opportunity to speak face to face with God Himself and see His plan at work in the world, she couldn't wait to share the Good News. The result? Many others of her people heard about Jesus, learned the truth of who He is (and therefore learned past the human religious ideas about "Messiah" they'd been taught before), and came to trust in Him. Then their experience with Jesus became their own, and no longer just through what the woman had to share with them. Their salvation truly became real.

Nearly all "Christians" today and in centuries past have believed they have a true relationship with Jesus, when actually all they have is the word of other human beings about Jesus. They pray to Him, do good works for Him, and even tell others about Him – but they still only know Him through their human "intermediaries" otherwise known as pastors, priests, popes, denominations, traditions, seminaries, theologies, and more. 

Where is your relationship with Jesus only second-hand – and therefore second-rate? Where do you need to grow beyond trusting in God through your trust in other human beings?

Jesus told people to repent – but there are a good number of "Christians" today who announce that God accepts us without change. Is that true? No!

Now, it is true that our nature and personality are ours, gifts from God – but we must hone and mature them out of the narcissism of spiritual childhood to do right by Jesus. We must also turn away or repent from those parts of ourselves that are not properly part of who we are, that are simply choices we make to satisfy our weaknesses and lusts. Choices we make to use/abuse chemical substances (from marijuana to prescription drugs), and habits of thinking (from religion to politics), and so on – all work to hedge or turn off some part of our full engagement with God's reality, and our full awareness of God's plan at work in the world.

When Jesus talked about repenting, He meant to turn back from our own ways of being for this world and turn towards God's way of being to this world. Repenting is NOT about seeing ourselves as pieces of garbage, but about no longer choosing garbage for our hearts, for our lives. 

The Bible says that those who were previously living in spiritual darkness back then got to see a great light that shown on those living under the shadow of death. Where is the spiritual darkness still in your life? What is the threat of death in your life? What does it mean to your life that God has gone to so much trouble to make sure you have a Jesus-lighted way out of both those things?

When God's handing out "stuff" we want or appreciate, we're usually liking Him, aren't we? Jesus did all sorts of miracles back then, and the Good Religious People were by and large impressed. He was doing the kinds of things God had used to prove Himself to their ancestors, and look – here they were going to get in on the goodies, as well! Cool!

But then some Good Religious People started to reject Jesus. What happened? Well, first He let them know that He wasn't just some new human prophet come to entertain them with tricks, tell them to clean up their acts, but then not really change a darn thing. He let them know that God Himself was sitting there among them now, having placed Himself into the world specifically to turn it upside and make it once again about great stuff for the poor, imprisoned, disabled, and oppressed.

Now, first the Good Religious People hearing Him thought that was pretty keen, didn't they? But the second thing Jesus did was the worst thing you can do to a Good Religious Person: He cut right through their religious bull.

Jesus already knew these Good Religious People would reject Him – and indeed, since they were living lives about "Good Religion" and not about God, they had already rejected Him. So He told them that just like years before (in Old Testament) when God had done great stuff for people that Good Religious People rejected and looked down on – but wouldn't do the same great stuff for the Good Religious People – in the same way He was going to do great Jesus-stuff for the people Good Religious People still reject and look down on, but still wasn't going to do a dang thing for Good Religious People.

What was the result? Did the Good Religious People feel guilty about their jerkdom and pledge to do better? Did they feel horrorstricken, finding out that despite all their previous good feelings about how "godly" they were that actually they'd done/believed nothing of any real value to or with any real respect to God?

Nope. They tried to kill Him (and this was only the first time). 

Where are you in this story? Are you among the poor, the imprisoned, the disabled, or the oppressed that Jesus is promising great things to and for – only perhaps since you've only been listening to Good Religious People before you didn't understand what He really does mean TO and FOR YOU? 

Or perhaps you're among the Good Religious People today who do all the "godly" things but are still so far from God He'd have to be God to even know your name? Keep in mind that God doesn't reject Good Religious People. Rather, again and again and again they reject Him by keeping evil and sludge in their hearts while waving around their religious doo-dads. But God's not going to force you to be true. The Bible says He WILL let you walk your religious parade all the way to hell if you think that's better for your life. So, do better - repent / turn around! 

Or perhaps today you're both an oppressed person, and a Good Religious Person, needing to process the lessons God means for both?

One thing that remained true for Jesus throughout His time on earth 2,000 years ago: when people listened to Him, they recognized that He had wisdom and presence like no human being had ever had. They recognized that there was something sorely missing from their human religious teachers and guides that Jesus had in abundance. Those who would hear Him were drawn to Jesus like people who'd been stuck in the desert for years, tired of sucking on pebbles and pretending their own spit is good water, and then one day finally finding an unending cool, clear, clean stream of real water.

What have you missed in your life by relying only on what other religious human beings could teach you about Jesus? What does Jesus offer to your life, today? 

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This article written by Lynne at No Junk. Just Jesus. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

Who is Jesus to your life?

Ok, back at it (and hopefully my work schedule cooperates so I'm able to make my weekly posts again!).

We'd been going through the Gospels, and I'd like to keep at that (taking some detours in subject matter here and there, as comes up). The last posts were here.

Our scriptures for this post are here.

If we aren't always wondering about who Jesus is and what He thinks of different people in this world, and what that means in our own lives, we should. The apostle John gives us some good insights here, for as is often the case, Jesus interacts in the Gospels with a lot of different kinds of people in a very short time.


In these scriptures, for example, we see Jesus interacting with:

• Family
• Party-goers
• Underdogs
• People who make their living from religion
• Religious leaders
• People who don't want others to know they're interested in Jesus
• "Good Religious People"
• Human scum

What can we see about Him from these interactions? Consider the following, thinking about where you might fit in and how Jesus might see or interact with you when you're at work, socializing, worshiping, etc. As I've said before, wipe the religious slime out of your eyes and really take a fresh look at who Jesus is, from who He demonstrates Himself to be (and not as you've been taught to see Him by other human beings):

Well, first of all we see Him at a party, celebrating with people in His social circle. What does that tell us about the idea that Christians are supposed to be dour and stiff all the time. 

We also see Him interacting with His mother, asking questions (as He often did others, as well) that test our insight and willingness to go along with His greater wisdom. What does this tell us about how Jesus teaches us and how He expects us to learn?

We see Him interacting with servants - the underdogs of the Jewish world - and in ways that are more than respectful. In fact, these servant underdogs are the only one's of the household who get to see and know exactly what Jesus did, in His miracle of turning the water they brought Him into wine for the guests. This is just as we saw when Jesus was born, and God announced His birth to filthy shepherds and pagans - but not to the "Good Religious People" and their "clergy". What does this say about God's expectations of what different kinds of people will go along with or be pleased about, or how God orders things, in this world?

We see Jesus discovering people making a living God didn't sanction from His temple system (in fact, the only approved way for anyone to make a living in God's religion was to be born in the Levite tribe of Israel, those who worked as priests in the Jewish temple proscribed by the Mosaic Law). We see Jesus getting angry at them and chasing them and their doo-dads out - not because they were ripping people off and such (as some claim), but because they'd figured out how to make people's reverence and want for God into a money-maker.What does that say about our Christian-consumer culture and our books, tapes, "love offerings", and "tithes" that so many have figured out how to sell, and so many of us want so much to buy?

Then He met some religious leaders from the temple, angry that He'd upset their profit-machine. He didn't speak plainly to them. He didn't just explain what they were doing wrong, did He? In fact, He gave them a prophecy, a riddle - something that no one could figure out yet (not even His disciples until after it had happened).When it would later come true, the disciples would remember what He said, understand it, and have an even stronger faith because of it. Do you think the religious leaders later remembered what He'd said? If so, do you think it caused them to believe?

Later another religious leader came secretly to Jesus - in those days, of course, no one visited anyone at night unless they were trying to hide their visit. Nicodemus wanted God's truth, and he sensed it in Jesus - but he wasn't willing to risk losing his religious position and community standing to get it. Jesus still interacted with him, taught him, but He also pointed out ignorant of God's real truth Nicodemus was, despite all his religious expertise. Since God isn't impressed by all the religious scholarship human beings can come up with, and has to teach the "experts" as much as or more than us, why are we so impressed by them? Why do we allow our lives to fall into their spiritual ignorance?

Finally, we see Jesus doing something completely immoral and totally confusing (according to the cultural standards of that time and place): He not only speaks to a woman, He speaks to her when alone with her, and He speaks to her as someone with brains, and He treats her with the same dignity and respect He treats everyone with even those she's "obviously" a "slut" and even though she's from a despised minority. What does it say about Jesus that He didn't give a hoot about the lines human prejudices draw all over the place, defining this person as "ok with God and us" and that person as "not ok with God and us"? What does that say about Jesus in your life?

What does all this say about Jesus Christ - and therefore, about God?

• Does Jesus care more about the theoretical and scholarship we come up with, or with how our day-to-day lives are going?
• Does this show Jesus running around eager to condemn people, or does it show Him hoping to teach and grow us closer to God's truth?
• If we get more involved in our "godly" religious practices and positions than with God Himself right in front of us, are we more or less likely to get plain, easy answers from God? Are we even likely to see God when He's right in front of us?
• If you're Gay, or female, or part of some other grouping that others despise, does that affect how God sees you, or what God expects of you?

Throwing out your religious belief and understandings, what does the Bible say to you about Jesus in your life?

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This article written by Lynne at No Junk. Just Jesus. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

Those &*%#@ Christians!

I'm continuing to get daily to prayer and information requests, as well as to direct emails from folks wanting to chat about things, even though I've not gotten back full time to (any of my) blogs (though, if things work out in the next few weeks, I hope to change that then).

Still, I got an email today from a strong-in-the-Lord brother who has been confronting people who use the Bible and religion to misrepresent Jesus and hurt other people. He requested prayer and healing over that little bit of nagging resentment we all struggle against whenever we've been confronted by someone else's insistence upon being evil, low, divisive, hurtful, etc. And for all of us, of course, sometimes that "little bit of nagging resentment" turns into an ocean of return-hate. What do we do about any of that?

Here's part of my answer to our brother (the parts that aren't personal in any way), listing my thoughts this morning. What are your thoughts on this issue? What are some other ways you deal with these kinds of things?

We ALL have to struggle with these things now and again, and it gets easier as we get more practice seeing these things Jesus' way. Here are my suggestions of things to consider when struggling with this temptation to be angry, resentful, or bitter towards someone who truly does deserve our anger, resentment, and bitterness according to the world and our flesh!

* Corrie ten Boom: she went thru a Nazi death camp and lost almost her entire family (including a sister who was with her in the camp), and had to struggle a lot to over come anger and hate during and after the war. Her books and MP3s of her talks can be very inspiring and healing, and always point us to the fact that even when dealing with evil it's only through Jesus that we can forgive and see things His way.

* Paul of Tarsus: consider who Paul was, and the incredible damage he did to people's lives, before he was confronted by Jesus. Consider that many others just like him moved among God's people in those days, and that most never turned from their evil - but that any Jesus-followers who turned away from hope that Paul and those like him could still also repent of their religiousity and surrender their hearts to Jesus were just wrong. Consider also that no follower of Jesus EVER did or could turn Paul's heart to repentance and hope in the true Lord - Jesus Christ Himself alone could do that. Such matters require our humility, our willingness to admit that only the Lord heals and calls - not us. So we do what we're called to do, and leave the results to the Lord.

* The best use of your efforts: I used to debate "Christians" all the time who had religious demons of hate and division in their hearts, thinking perhaps I could help them see a better light -- that is, until once when God told me, "If they don't listen to Me, why would they listen to you?" Truly, if God isn't at work on and in their hearts, there's no hope whatsoever that anything you can say or do will accomplish what they won't let God do. So what's the better perspective? This: what about all those people on the site (or in your local life) that are silently reading (or seeing/hearing) what you're saying? Never forget that for every person who's wanting to debate just to exercise their own demons and wear you out and get you into their world of anger and evil - there may be another person, or 100 other people, or a thousand, or more, whose hearts just might be hungry for a more true way of seeing Jesus and understanding God's way. For myself, I speak or deal publicly with evil-choosers only when doing so might be of some benefit to those who may currently be within the realm of evil but wanting out (in a small or large way). And in those times, even as I "speak" to the evil-chooser, I actually direct all my attention and efforts and words to the rest of the crowd. We're called to be wise stewards, not casting our pearls of Jesus-wisdom before spiritual-swine or spending our Holy-Spirit-energy on evil-choosing-dogs.

* What the New Testament tells us: what does the NT tell us to do with "Christians" who cause hurt, bad feelings, and teach wrong things? It tells us to try a few times to explain how they're wrong, but if they persist, we are told to remove our attention and lives from the dark cloud of their attention and lives. We forgive them, again and again - yes. But according to the NT we also recognize the truth of the damage they can and do cause, and we do not get caught up in their spiritual ugliness by trying to get them out of it (which requires God to open their hearts and minds).

* God's plan: Finally, ponder things like this in God's Bigger Picture. Jesus told us that God doesn't let His angels just go out and destroy the evil people we see around us, because if He did some good people would be destroyed, as well - and all of the Bible tells us that God's not willing to lose even one person who will turn from world-evil to Jesus-good. That person in your life who's being so wrong today (and tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, and so on) MIGHT just eventually find the real Jesus, confronting him/her on the road to doing even more wrong, and be set right. Without that willingness to understand what's happening in the world from God's perspective, it's just too easy to end up bitter or angry, but also hopeless, out of faith, and so on. 

Where does the Holy Spirit lead your thoughts, today?

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This article written by Lynne at No Junk. Just Jesus. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

No, what are these earthquakes REALLY all about?

[These are the scriptures I'm referencing this week]

I had planned to just continue through the Gospels this week, right where we left off. But then big news about the earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear disasters unfolding in Japan this week.

Add to that the proclamations from some "good religious people" and their leaders that all these kinds of things are warnings from God, meant – of course! – to make us understand that God is as asinine as these "good religious people" make Him out to be.

What a mess. 

And it can really make us wonder which is scarier:

• the huge natural disasters, 
• the human-science-made nuclear/biological/chemical/etc disasters-in-the-making, or 
• the religious human beings of both "Right" and "Left" who are determined to "help" us get our minds through all this.

Amazingly scary. But not amazingly scary, at the same time, when we have a grip on what the bigger picture is.

Which – it turns out – actually leads me right back to where I was going to be in the Bible anyway. Amazing thing, that Big Picture, when we understand the Bible as:

• guidance, and not slavery
• comfort, and not coercion, and
• companionship, and not domination.

In the last few posts, we've already gone through the very first parts of the Gospel chronology. We've seen how God planned for and got Jesus into the world of human beings -- in a way human beings couldn't screw it up, but also in ways that gave us big clues about what His real values are (and how far those invariably are even from the "good" people values of the "good religious people" around us).

This time, the Bible's talking about John the Baptist – the prophet-guy predicted about 700 years in advance by Isaiah (another prophet-guy) who said God was going to send someone ahead of Himself, someone to spout off and tell everyone it was time to clean up their act because God was about to step foot into the human arena. 

(If we really read this part of the Bible right, it OUGHT to give us shivers down our backs).

And that's exactly what John the Baptist did. In fact, he spent his whole time working for God doing two things:

• Telling the good religious people of his day to stop choosing evil and faking godliness, and

• Telling people that -- as impressed as they wanted to be with him -- that they should save all that for the One coming up next – the One who wouldn't baptize with measly water, like John did, but with the Spirit of God Himself.

Thing is, there's a kind of natural "John the Baptist" going around the world these days. This modern-day "John the Baptist" is today's earthquakes and tsunamis and wars and so on and so forth (all of which are predicted by Jesus and others in the Bible), and it's trying to do the same work that John the Baptist was, 2,000 years ago:

• Warn everyone that it's way past time to stop choosing evil and faking Jesus, and
• Tell everyone to hold on because the real Jesus is just around the corner.

That's one Bible-tie-in between what happened 2,000 years ago and what's happening now. We need to make sure we don't miss the other, as well:

To get there, think: Was John the Baptist always successful at getting people to see how anti-God they were? Absolutely not. He failed more often that not (if he hadn't, then the whole country of Israel would have been on their knees waiting for Jesus, instead of ignoring and later torturing and murdering Him), and he was pretty much guaranteed to completely fail among – whom? Which group of people? Why, the "good religious people", of course!

So, what did John have to share with us about them (and about us, too, if we aren't careful!)? Well, through what he said we can know:

• Both the Pharisees and the Sadducees came to publicly partake of God's forgiveness because they thought themselves more than worthy of getting that godly-goodness and avoiding the pains of hell – but all their "good religious people" airs were just garbage, producing nothing that God gives two cents about. And that meant their "repentance" was as much garbage as all their religious ways and acts, too.

• The Pharisees and Sadducees both assumed that their religious cultural background alone was enough to make them good enough for God – but they didn't realize God was already ready to cut all-show-no-production religious people off, and intended to do so shortly (and He did, when Jesus died on the Cross and canceled anyone ever finding God's forgiveness through what religious things they could do, instead of relying on God alone, ever again).

• John was giving people the chance to do a human ritual that would match (hopefully) the repentance in their hearts – but even that was going to mean absolutely nothing when the Real Deal showed up and cleaned house, sweeping away even those who seem to be good but actually store evil in their hearts.

And, if you think about it, this is all pretty much what we also see today. 

For one thing, today's Pharisees we call "Right Wing Christians" and today's Sadducees we call "Left Wing Christians", and both are first in line at the religious trough, going on and on about their traditions and church-genealogies, letting everyone else know how "godly" and "spiritual" and "Jesus-like" they are. 

Yet nearly all "Christians" are there because they want to avoid hell for themselves, or because they like the social club that cultural Christianity is, or because they like the politics of their "church" and the idea that God votes like they do.

But they're not there because they actually have it in their hearts to repent of being spiritual anti-Christs and carriers of the disease of "Religion" into the Christian fellowship.

In fact, they speak a lot about personal repentance, and like you I've witnessed the tears and wailing that goes with it (and which probably convinces them too, unfortunately). But what results is almost always either nothing, or a changed life (no more sleeping around, no more doing drugs, no more skipping church, becoming a church leader, etc) – but never a changed heart (turning away from pursuing wealth, treating everyone exactly the same, putting everyone ahead of oneself, loving even those who hurt them, making people see more of Jesus than oneself, doing things Jesus' way even when it totally costs, etc).

And the "John the Baptist" earthquakes/etc today are telling Christians (who supposedly know the scriptures and who are therefore supposed to be first to figure it out) that it's way past time to stop faking it.

Time to stop putting up religious human acts (that God never asked for) upon religious human altars (that God did away with thousands of years ago) and expecting God to be as giggly-proud of our ridiculous crap as we are.

Time to stop, because the next thing to happen – whether next month, next decade, or next century – is Jesus Christ coming back to earth to give us the consequences of our heart's reality, and not to pamper and reward our self-centered, spiritual self-delusions.

So, are all these earthquakes and things stuff to be afraid of?

Well, afraid of getting physically caught in them, yes. Afraid for those others who get caught in them, yes. But afraid of their message? No. Not if we're draining the religion-goo out of our hearts, letting the Holy Spirit rinse us clean, and then refilling our insides with just Jesus!

Remember the second part of John's message! Yes, we need to get our hearts true. But also – know that the One who loves you more than anything else in the universe is the next thing to come. 

And when He comes? 

• Had some pains? Not any more!  
• Had some tears? Never again! 
• Been overwhelmed? All done with that.

Jesus is coming, my sisters, my brothers, my friends.

Come, Lord Jesus! Come!

---
This article written by Lynne at No Junk. Just Jesus. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

Are you needing some new beginnings?

(For this week's post, I've checked out these scriptures)

Thinking this last week about beginnings. New beginnings, to be exact - how they not only refresh and encourage us, but also teach and guide us, when we'll let them. 

Human beings had a beginning, of course, when God created that one person. Then human beings had another new beginning, when He split that one person into two different persons. Human beings, in fact, have had a huge number of new beginnings, and a good number of those are listed in the Bible, from Adam and Eve to the End Times.

But I'm thinking there was one new beginning that not only topped all those, but remains and will always be THE new beginning. And I'm talking, of course, about the birth of Jesus of Nazareth – the entry of God Himself into the world of human beings.

We don't know every detail about Jesus' beginning in the world. The ancient people just didn't count all the details we'd like to pour over as all that important, so they didn't record them. They gave us what was important to them – and, it turns out, even if they don't give us all the drama we might like, the details they did share about Jesus' new beginning turn out to be important to us, as well. 

Consider, for example, the new beginning of Jesus' conception. There's lots of stuff for us there, but one huge detail is that God made sure Jesus wasn't conceived from any sexual act. The Bible gives us a number of reasons and outright hints as to why (and it wasn't because sex is automatically bad).

Like, thousands of years earlier, God promised Eve that He would fix what she was first to break by bringing about The Fixer of the World through her. Eve, human being that she was, had to be feeling like crap right about then, having just been confronted with the consequences of letting herself be convinced it was actually ok to do the exact opposite of the simple thing God have told them to do (a sin human beings – especially religious human beings, and both female and male – have been continuing to commit with great joy and self-congratulation ever since). What would your reaction be, knowing you just shattered all the goodness of creation - but at least God would let you help make up for and fix it later? That had to be a comfort – especially for all women later, when men started the lie that only evil could come from women. Women who knew the truth of Scripture could answer back, "Huh! You trying to say Jesus Christ is evil?"

Which brings up another related detail regarding why God didn't use sex to bring Jesus into the world.  Can you imagine the ego rush that would have resulted if even one male – already convinced by his culture that he's better than females and children and animals and the natural world because he can dominate them – could tell everyone else that HE brought the Savior of the world into the world? God loves men as much as women, of course, and as part of Eve's punishment He did let men dominate women (until, that is, Jesus came and undid the curse-punishment of the Fall – something else oppressive male-worshiping theologies gloss right over). But God also obviously knew what kind of ego goes with the ability to dominate others, and He made sure that NO man could EVER boast that he had ANYthing to do with creating the Savior of the world. It was the only way to make sure God got the credit for saving us, but it also meant God gave #1 priority to being first-hand involved in a new beginning with all of us, and in a way that no human being (not even the ones dominating the others) could ever mess up.

And don't know about you, but the fact that God can punish us for totally screwing things up - and still trust and love us enough to invite us to be an active part of our solution - means there is no end of new beginnings for me, and you, and everyone else who'll just agree to let Him.

So, what about the new beginning of Jesus' birth? That's a new beginning story we get from the institutional-church every winter, so we might be tempted to run right over it when we get to that part of the Bible in our own study. But there are more new beginning details to be enjoyed here, as well – more joy even than we're usually offered by the "official" version.

For example, reading these stories did you catch that it was people (like the shepherds) looked down on by good-religious-people and people (like the magicians) banned from good-religious-people-spheres  who not only got the message that the Son of God was here, but who also showed up to recognize and celebrate Him as God and spread the word to all their reject and outsider friends? And what were the "good religious people" doing right then? Well, they were either ignoring the whole event (even through they had all the scholarship and education that should have made them first in line to welcome Him), or they were plotting to kill Him and everyone who might be Him off so they could keep their worldly place (something good-religious-people still do today, but usually with more subtlety and fewer swords). Jesus Himself would later describe a grand party God has planned – that all those He'd originally invited snubbed Him over. Jesus, it seemed, had seen and heard all that before - and those of us who've become so grossed out by the human "church" can take great comfort in that.

It also, to me, says everything about whose plans are really important in this world: 

• the human ones, where certain people are drawn "in" and certain people are kept "out" based on what doctrine (or anti-doctrine) they obsess on, and what social clique their outward person (looks, wealth, race, sexual orientation, etc) shows; or 
• the Jesus ones, where hearts matter more than mouths, and where getting a new beginning depends not one bit of a whit on anything human or "religious".

What about some new beginning in Jesus' blood line? Well, how much have we pondered that Matthew, one of Jesus' first disciples, proudly counted among Jesus' ancestors:

• Tamar, a Hebrew woman who pretended to be a prostitute to trick her father-in-law into sleeping with her so she could gain a child, 
• Rahab, a pagan prostitute who went over to God's side, and 
• Ruth, a pagan woman so destitute she had to pick up leavings from other people's harvest fields. 

All three of these women got a new beginning when they reached out and did what they needed to do to get it. And it pleased God to make them part of Jesus Christ, even though by good-religious-people standards all three would be soundly rejected by "Christianity" (though some would allow them "in" once they'd remade themselves into good-religious-people look-alikes, so "the church" could feel righteous about the power of "its" "mission"). All of which should encourage those who still fear not being accepted or a part of a human "church". God chooses, and God elects - despite what good-religious-people decide.

There are many other new beginnings to see and understand, in these first stories and scriptures about Jesus coming into the world. When we'll let ourselves stop and sit with the scriptures for a time, they tell us buckets about who God is, what He wants us to understand about His values, and whose side He's on in this world.

They also offer us example upon example of how God truly is a God of endless new beginnings - certainly willing and able to make something good from whatever's bad in our lives, to open a new start where we find only dead end. 

Does that mean we'll have no pain, no loss, no sorrow here, when we follow Him? Nope. But we see that even in the first stories of Jesus, as well. The gift we're given is not forever life in Brainless La-La Land, but a life lived as all God's people have lived: with goods and bads, ups and downs, all with the Holy Spirit forever at and on our side, until Jesus comes again with His angels to take us Home.

And that will be the final new beginning we've all been waiting for.

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This article written by Lynne at No Junk. Just Jesus. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

Are you getting your just-Jesus bonus yet?

I'm doing a lot of extra Bible study this year (since the start of 2011, I mean.) Adding additional readings, additional topics of inquiry, and so on. And it's really blessing me – because I've begun reaping the harvest of many years of learning to take the Bible, but not what's culturally (or subculturally) pushed as "Christianity", seriously.

Sometimes that means gaining new insights into Jesus and what it means to be a human being in a messed up world. But sometimes it just means basking in the offered comfort of the truths I've already long since learned, or getting a new look at an old map so I can realize just how far off the Jesus-path I am, and how best to get back on it.

All this convinces me more and more all the time that Jesus wasn't kidding, about any of what He had to say or require -- or about any of the comforts and rewards He promised. And that means (among many other things), that He means for His message to make more sense and be more available to those who want Him more than they want human-based teachings that use Him.

Like, if you want Jesus, open your Bible and read with Holy Spirit eyes, preparing to lose even the "goodness" of your current spiritual understandings and political leanings. But if you just want something that looks like Jesus but is more about belonging to a fulfilling human social network, or about telling you how much you deserve even though you haven't even starting down the right road yet, or about showing off how important your religious doo-dads and titles and buildings and so on are (the ones that don't have to be part of the original version of discipleship because they're part of "holy tradition") – well, then, you can buy your carnival ticket over there.

Just because I've got to start somewhere, here are just a few of the insights and comforts and corrections I've gained over the years from the first stories (chronologically) of the New Testament – the ones where Jesus hadn't even shown up. Some of these insights came to my heart, but others came from the hearts of others who shared them with and therefore made them part of my growing-in-Jesus experience, as well. And indeed, that sharing with each other is what true Christian fellowship is all about: every person (not just the human-educated ones, or the dominant ones, or the ones who like the spotlight), regularly bringing and sharing what the Holy Spirit shared with them, so that everyone learns from everyone else.

Luke, the biggest threat to good religious values

Take a look at Luke, for example, and the start he gave to our understanding of the man Jesus Christ. Luke documented not only most of the first stories but also a good portion of the lived-lives of Jesus and those who learned firsthand from Him. But consider this even more: Luke was a despised outsider. Luke lived in a time when most who called themselves Jesus' followers hadn't really absorbed the Gospel they'd been sharing, and so were going around telling some people they couldn't be acceptable to God or part of God's family until they changed who they were and became like them. Sound familiar? Some who pushed this remake of the Gospel back then were quite aggressive about it, while others understood the truth but simply did nothing to help those who were being so spiritually attacked (we can read that in another of Luke's writings that we call "Acts", but also understand it from the letters to the Galatians and to Timothy and Titus, for example).

Luckily for Luke – and for Gays and Lesbians and all other people through the last twenty centuries – there were also people like Paul who were willing to push back with the real Gospel of Jesus Christ, willing to risk even their church fellowship and family to stand for God's truth (just as Jesus said we all must be willing to do).Those who call themselves "Christian" today but do not stand up for those other "Christians" try to remake and cut off are demonstrating a weak or false faith that needs a lot of work to be right with God.

Zechariah, one of the best examples of what religion has to offer

Zechariah was a good church man. He was also totally wrong in what He accepted about God. Oh, he did his religious duties. Those religious duties were a good portion of his entire identity, and made him one of the religious elite of the day. But when one of God's angels showed up to tell him he and Elizabeth, his wife, had been chosen to be more visible players than most in God's coming Good News, Zechariah completely disrespected the angel. Why? Well, as a good Jew, Zechariah would have certainly known that God gave a child even to the elderly Abraham and Sarah, so it wasn't like the angel was saying something unimaginable to him. No, the problem for Zechariah was that the angel's message revealed just how shallow Zechariah's faith really was. And instead of going "Oh crap!" and realizing how ridiculous his current perception of God's power was, Zechariah instead challenged the angel to make as much "sense" as Zechariah just knew he himself did. I can almost see him poking a finger in the angel's chest, saying, "You big dummy! You have no idea how God really works!"

Lucky for us, the angel was smart enough to shut Zechariah's mouth until the promised baby was born – making sure that he couldn't continue to share his "greater understanding" with his soon-pregnant wife. Perhaps we should in the same way shut our ears (since we rarely have the power to shut others' mouths) against those good church people who also fancy themselves among God's elite while trashing the whole idea that He can or should act outside what they imagine of Him!

Mary, the worthless, whoring piece of trash

The same angel went to see Mary, several months later. He gave her a similar message, but one even more spectacular: working through Mary, God was going to fulfill the promise He made to Eve (and to all women), thousands of years before: that through Eve's seed (so, the seed of women, not men, even though men always assume they're the center of everything) the Savior of the world would come. And so through Mary – someone disrespected and despised by both "God's Chosen People" and the pagans of her time, alike, for being poor, for being female, for being powerless and subjugated – through puny, disrespected her God was going to start the final stage of fixing everything that Eve and Adam (and all human beings) had previously broken.

And what was Mary's response to all this? She saw and shouted happy-joy because:

• God was completely on her side, even though she was a nothing piece of garbage fit only for breeding and drudgery, as far as the world of human beings (even the good church ones) were concerned. God today is still on the side of all those the world considers weak, foolish, trash. 

• God's mercy has always been reserved for those who respect Him enough to live His ways – which leaves out most "good church people" of Mary's day and now. Good church people always consider themselves most deserving of His rewards, even when they live counter to what He says and act in their own best interest – but Mary knew otherwise (as we should, as well).

• God's power does powerful things, including undoing and scattering the pathetic, self-serving power of the arrogant to nothing. We have things we're arrogant about, too – our spiritual beliefs, our technology, our intellectual advances. And those are also going to mean nothing, in no time at all. We're as smart as Mary when we recognize that as a good thing.

• God's actions – including those He accomplished through Mary – are always focused on reversing the way human beings think things should go. And He did that even in creating the Savior of the world. How long had the arrogant, the powerful, the rich assumed they and they alone were deserving and capable of producing and proclaiming God's goodness in the world? How much do the arrogant, the powerful, and the rich do the same, even today? But God intentionally denied  and denies them their place (which is why they still use complex theological inventions even now to erase and cover that – for them – embarrassing truth). God instead gave (and gives) it to those who don't think more highly of themselves than they should, and who have no control of anything of any consequence, and who have no material wealth. Does it matter if the world doesn't recognize that, and won't until Jesus comes again? Not one little bit. 

• God keeps His promises. God made big promises to Abraham and the Jews who followed him – and He kept them. Just as He kept His promise to Eve. Just as He keeps His promises to us.

Mary saw all of that – and so should we!

John the filthy church-rejecter

The John that we call "the Baptist" was born to Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah, since he was no longer in a place to trash what God was going to do, and since he'd obviously learned his lesson, also did a happy-joy shout to God. He finally recognized the powerful way that God was acting in the world, making happen the things He said He'd do. And he was blown away at the more visible part his son would be playing in all that: actually being the prophet who announced and prepared people to get ready for the Messiah! And, yep, John the Baptist would later do all that – but never as a good church man.

Like his father, John was born to be a priest and part of the temple culture. Unlike his father, John went outside the reaches of the human makings of religion he'd been born into, and instead served God where God and His real work could still be found: in the desert, and on the ridiculed and despised outskirts of "normal" society. Once there, John never did anything the good church people could be proud of or agree with. Instead, he barked accusations at those arrogant, powerful, and rich good church people who broke God's way. John even called B.S. on the local political leader when he dumped on God's way -- even knowing that sooner or later, this would all cost him his life (and it did). And then what was his concern? Begging for mercy? Promising to never preach outside his denominational box ever again? Learning his lesson and never bothering authority figures every again? Nope. He just sent some guys to check in with God, to make sure he'd worked the right road

And wouldn't the world be a better place if we would allow ever a quarter as much courage in our own faith lives? .

So what do *I* see in these people, in what the Bible shares about Luke, Zechariah, Mary, John the Baptist (and about Eve)?

I see that God's real work goes on in our real, every-day, puny human lives. Does God work through the rich and powerful and arrogant? The Bible shows us that yes, He does – but they are simply the pawns on the chessboard, and the poor and oppressed and humble are always the queens and kings.

Remember, for example, that God also used the powerful Assyrians when it worked out like He wanted – but who are the Assyrians now? Where are their dynasty, wealth, and advances? They're in the trash heap, where they belonged all along. But the people they oppressed and used? God kept them and their spiritual and physical descendants going even to today. And He will until He's done with this part of history and brings us home.

Remember that God used Pharaoh (the richest, most powerful ruler of the day), and Pontius Pilate (who held life-and-death power over Jesus, through the most powerful empire to ever exist until the modern USA), and Caiaphas (the highest ranking good church man in an entire nation of good church people who believed he as pastor / priest / pope could make and keep them right with God) -- but they were all pawns, weren't they? They were never His actual focus. Despite their vaulted place of honor in the human world and in human history, they were just side notes in God's plan, not truly required for anything.

The whole of God's plan has always been about saving those who want to be saved. It's always been about reuniting God with those who want to be with Him, and who are willing to recognize His God-ways are better than our human-ways. (That's why the arrogant, and the powerful, and the rich so rarely make it to salvation. They aren't necessarily any more evil than the rest of us. But they won't give up their goodies, won't stop hoarding what elevates them at everyone else's expense, even when it's choking the spiritual life out of them.)

What God wants more than anything else is for you and me and all the rejects, weaklings, outsiders, weirdos, oppressed people, impoverished people, puny people, and despised people to "make it". Jesus didn't come to do anything with the good church people. He used them to teach the rest of us, but He knew they always consider themselves above being saved, and therefore can't be saved.

So, when we're ready to set aside all the good church stuff, and to pay more attention to Jesus than to good church people, then we're finally starting down the narrow Jesus-path. That's how we get our gate admission ticket: just want one, more than you want the fake carnival ticket. 

It's been a very long road for me to learn to set aside all the good church stuff. First step required being grossed out by it. Then I tried rejecting all God stuff, but that didn't work. Then I tried different versions of good church stuff, but that didn't work either. It always came down to just more junk that made me happy for a short time, and then left me empty and grossed out, all over again. I spent about 35 years figuring it out.

But now? I can't tell you how "clean" I feel, and how much sense Jesus makes, now that I'm hearing and following Him, and not some funky, self-serving image of Him projected by other human beings. I'm still making mistakes. I expect to my whole life. But even the mistakes got smaller, once I started going right to the Source.

• If you are already on this narrow Jesus-path -- even if you've just barely started, I can't begin to say how full and happy that makes my heart! I wish you God's best, and count you among my dearest spiritual siblings. 

• If you are dissatisfied with what you've had of "church" and religion before, great! Start checking out just Jesus, and see how much better He is than the knock-off reproductions others have made of Him. Take it to heart and roll it around in your head: He just wants you to set aside all the "Christian" junk, just as He required the Chosen People 2,000 years ago to set aside all the "Jewish" junk, and just be about Jesus -- because He's there to demonstrate who God really is, in a way we could actually see and hear Him. Seek out those others who are also wanting just Jesus, and learn from them even as you share your learning with them. God's on your side!

And, as always, Jesus' message is very clear: 

Do your sincere best at doing what *I* say, and keep My love in your heart, no matter what -- and that makes you Mine.

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This article written by Lynne at No Junk. Just Jesus. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

3 Do's & Don'ts for healing from painful Christianity

There are a lot of people -- and a lot of different kinds of people -- who've been hurt by "the Church" and people in "the Church". 

Many are Gay, but some are straight (divorced, had an abortion, non-comforming somehow, or just in some way "not acceptable" to "the Church"). Race doesn't matter. Socioeconomic status doesn't matter. Where you grew up doesn't matter. Nothing matters.

If the devil decided to stab you in the rump of your religion, that's a wound that can fester your whole life, if you don't heal it. 

And I mean really heal it -- not just "cover-it-up-I'm-fine" heal it.

Getting that real healing is a real journey. And there are many detours and false trails that can make us think we're getting there or even already done -- when, in fact, we're not. I certainly made my own zig-zag journey toward healing, and I've watched and helped a large number of others make theirs over the last many years..

Based on our combined experience, I offer you three Do's and Don'ts, to hopefully make your healing journey that much faster, that much easier, that much healthier:

1) Don't count on those in "the Church" to heal the hurt they are responsible for causing. Do look for those who have healed beyond "the Church" to give you guidance and support along the way.

This is a biggie, because it's a sure thing that the reason a big splat of false Christianity hit your life was because someone else was being a Church-Christian, and not a Jesus-Christian. Church-Christians can be among the nice people of the world, and some are very caring and want to help. But going to them is like asking people in a bar for help paying your hospital bills after you've been hit by a drunk driver. Church-Christians will usually admit that things are far from perfect in their church (or in Christianity in general) -- but they say and mean it as an excuse, not as an intro to getting any problem in it fixed. You'll know that's true when they say you're important, and yes your wounds shouldn't have happened -- but they won't actually take a real stand to protect you or fix the evil that caused hurt in the church.

See, the Bible never says, "Just go along to get along", or "Don't make a (real) fuss when people in the church are acting like asses or making people think 'poo' on God" (in fact, it says the opposite). But that falseness is what Church-Christians are all about. They may feel bad for you, but they will continue to side with, participate in, and go along with their "church" over you and your pain every time -- because to do something Jesus-like, like fixing or no longer participating in the problem, would actually cost them something, like their unrepentent church family (and they also don't like that part where Jesus says you have to give up even your family, if that's what's required to do as He says -- you know, like for "the least of these").

It's even worse trying to get real healing help from a pastor, priest, pope (or prophet, or church teacher, or elder, and so on). Think regular 'ole Church-Christians are hooked into their "church"? Well, those who make their living being Special Representatives doing human-inspired religious tasks God's work for their "church"/denomination, who enjoy respect and honors Jesus always rejected (and said we all were to, too), who have retirement plans and mortgages and career ladders to climb? You really think they're going to do something to risk all that? Hardly (but they'll love you while they tell you there's no need to risk it). 

What they do have to offer you, though, is a course in how to get sucked back in to "the Church". They can't offer you plain 'ole Jesus (because they gave Him up as "too primitive", "too hard", or "too supernatural" years ago). But they can offer you what they have: a path to mashing their decision about who Jesus should have been with their "church" needs ("Here's where you put your contribution to my 401k tithe, each week..") They can even make you feel all warm and fuzzy, all "belongy" and everything. And that can feel great! But it's still short the rest of Jesus that doesn't fit in their church-box. It won't get you really healed (and it will instead make it just likely you'll become a Church-Christian causing or ignoring other people hurt, yourself).

So, who can help you get truly healed? Those who've been hurt themselves, and who've managed through the grace of God to get (as you can) healed so deep into Jesus' arms that they have no room in their hearts for silly things like playing "church" (even if they are the 1 in a million still occasionally hanging out in church), any longer.

• These are the people who aren't going to stand above you, pretending to be better or more "spiritual" than you because they took college courses and were pronounced "Won't make serious waves in the organizational pool" by their denomination.
• These are the people who've been wounded themselves, and some of them have even sucked mud in the gutter before they managed to get back on their spiritual feet again. 
• These are the people who can sit down with you in the real world, and hear and understand your real pain, and even tell you more about the real Jesus -- the Jesus who stays with you and on your side long after the pastor/priest/pope, missionaries, and church workers have all gone home.

These are the people who can describe at least part of the way home to Jesus to you, because they've walked it themselves -- dodging Church-Christians and other manifestations of false Christianity the whole way. These are the people to seek out, examine, and learn from. Will they have all the answers? Of course not -- but you know better by now than to believe anyone/thing but Jesus has all the answers, right?

2) Don't let mistranslations and reinterpretations of the Bible tell you what God thinks. Do read and study to learn what God really put there for you to know and live by. 

There are a lot of different translations of the Bible out now (NIV, Message, NASB, and so on). Every single one of them contains errors -- and even outright lies and remakes of what's really there. It's only been in the last several decades that the truth has come out about God's Bible not-not-not saying He condemns Gay people. But there are also mistranslations and misinterpretations about what God wants Christians to know and live regarding violence, hierarchy, women, the poor, how "church" is to be run, the real qualifications for "church leaders", and so on. There are even rewrites about the nature of God Himself! 

Not even "experts" can be counted on to give us the real truth and nothing but the truth -- because they have their own biases and issues they want to cover up or emphasize in ways God never intended. In fact, "experts" are the ones who've mistranslated and misinterpreted the Bible for us in the first place!

What's to be done, then, if we can't just blindly accept the words some other sinful human being put on a piece of paper and stuck in a book, promising us that it matches exactly what God intended for us to know? Do we have to be geniuses or Bible scholars ourselves? No. But we do have to know the basics, and we have to do our homework.

Just like the first disciples (most of whom couldn't even read and write), we have to learn the basics of Jesus and His teachings, and work our way out from there, listening to and reading what others have to say about various scriptures -- but then, when we have a question or something seems to not "fit" somehow, we need to pray and study along with the Holy Spirit. God understands sincere ignorance -- but He has no tolerance for lazy follow-alongs who just do the minimum and follow leadership or sit in church without question as if that will get them to heaven (remember? that's exactly what the people who ignored Jesus or helped torture and kill Him did).

3) Don't let anyone get (or stay) between you and Jesus

There are two things Jesus says people need to do in this world:

1. Do what He says to do, and
2. Hang on to Him (or come back to hanging on to Him!), no matter what happens. 

Jesus fully understands that those who falsely claim to be God's people are a powerful majority -- for now. He truly "gets" that false Christians are wreaking havoc in people's lives, causing all sorts of pain, and doing it all in God's Name. Think He doesn't? Well, check this out, and hear it like the Gay, poor, female, or other despised-minority child of God Jesus said it to:

[Jesus said:] "I see what you've done. Now see what I've done. I've opened a door before you that no one can slam shut. You don't have much strength, I know that; you used what you had to keep my Word. You didn't deny me when times were rough. And watch as I take those who call themselves true believers but are nothing of the kind, pretenders whose true membership is in the club of Satan—watch as I strip off their pretensions and they're forced to acknowledge it's you that I've loved. Because you kept my Word in passionate patience, I'll keep you safe in the time of testing that will be here soon, and all over the earth, every man, woman, and child put to the test.I'm on my way; I'll be there soon. Keep a tight grip on what you have so no one distracts you and steals your crown." [Revelation 3:8-11]

Make it your mission in life to learn more and more each day about the real Jesus. Spend time with Him in prayer -- sometimes talking, sometimes listening, sometimes just sitting with Him. Laugh with Him. Read with Him. Keep Him alongside you when you go to dinner. Learn from your heart of hearts how much Jesus IS on your side, and how much He did to give you an eternity where there will never again be a tear or a pain, and where you can live right next to God, forever.

Take back your crown from those who practice crappy Christianity. Accept healing. Accept Jesus' love.

And stop sacrificing your salvation on the alter of other people's sin & bigotry.

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This article written by Lynne at No Junk. Just Jesus. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.