When being "nice" is the devil's work

No Gospel study today, as I have a couple of other things that have come up for this week, instead.

First is to let those who are interested know that I'm going to drop off of Twitter and (in a week or so) close the account. Especially locally these days, God's putting more and more into my path people who have rejected Jesus because they (quite rightly) reject the smiling, "loving", evil-living people who most loudly call themselves "Christian" – and yet these folks I'm meeting now are still blessed with craving the real Jesus (though they aren't quite there realizing it yet, their questions and constant coming back to me with them show their real hearts). They ask me hard questions, and need real, non-BS answers, and I'm needing more time to devote to what helps them. So, Twitter is among the things that have to go, to free up my time.

I will continue this blog, however. So if you're happy here, I'll still be here :) But I'm also going to really start pushing myself to write and complete the little resource book for people who can't stomach what calls itself "Christianity" but still want and need (the real) Jesus. I think I've mentioned writing this before, so I'll just say again that I'm looking to write something that's sturdy, pocket-sized, and cheap – something that can be handed out and passed around as suits folks (If you already know of such a resource, please let me know). I already have almost a dozen people locally I'd love to give one to today, if I only had it written already.

Second thing is I've received a public prayer request from a brother who's been around "No Just. Just Jesus" (and its predecessor) for some time. Chris is also concerned with people who reject Jesus because "Christians" are being jerks. Most specially at this time he's concerned with a young woman who's become an atheist in response to bad "Christians", and who will most likely remain an atheist not only due to the storm of devil-heart "Christian" responses she's gotten for expressing that, but also from the lack of response she's likely to get from those who DO truly have Jesus (and not the devil) in their hearts.

Brother Chris writes:

"I'm absolutely horrified that this can somehow pass as Christian behavior today.  The most ironic thing about this whole situation is this:  One big reason this poor girl is an atheist in the first place is the piss-poor job we as Christ's representatives have been doing to show His light in the world.  (In fact, that's a big motivation behind my signature change.) [LYNNE NOTE: Chris' new email sig says: 'Christians are the best people to know when it comes to religious conversion... as long as you want to become an atheist.']  I've been requesting prayer for Jessica, that God will guide her away from those false Christians who would wish harm upon her and show her the true heart of Jesus Christ, and I hope you'll do the same.  Also pray that those Christians who are condemning her, that they will realize the harm they are doing by pushing one of God's children away from Him and to repent of their arrogance.  Pray for those of us who can't pray for them out of our own desire for blood, and help us to truly be the heart of Jesus to these "Christians" who think they already know Him, just as they (and we) should have been for Jessica.  And pray for all sincere followers of Christ to avoid this ironic trap that the devil has laid for us -- leading us to the lake of fire that we proclaim others deserve more than we do."

I am in agreement with Chris in this prayer, and I pray that you are, as well! Here are the thoughts I'd like to add:

There are those who've figured out that Jesus isn't represented by most of those who call themselves "Christians", and we understand that those who threaten and bad-mouth people who are different than them actually serve the devil – and not Jesus.

But too often we don't ALSO figure out that those "Christians" who don't respond to these "Christian" attacks on people are ALSO serving the devil – and not Jesus. The person who commits the spiritual assault, and the person who recognizes the spiritual assault but does nothing, are each guilty of the assault. To recognize that something sinful and wrong is being done but do nothing to stop or speak up against it, makes one even more sin-guilty than the person whose heart is so full of religious-devil they don't even truly know godly right from wrong anymore.

We might see it like this:

A rabid dog is running around the neighborhood, biting people and infecting them with rabies too. A veterinarian in the neighborhood sees the dog and recognizes its sickness and the sickness it's now infecting people with; but the vet shrugs her shoulders and thinks, "Oh well. God will take care of that dog and those people. I'm just going to demonstrate real health for these people by not acting like that dog, and not having rabies myself."

Who's at fault in this scenario?

• The dog so out of its mind with disease it's like someone demon possessed? 
• The people being hurt by the dog, because they don't have the knowledge to recognize its disease symptoms and stay the heck away from it? 
• Or the person who does have the knowledge to recognize how diseased and dangerous the dog is, but who comes up with some B.S. reason not to act to stop the dog and protect and heal those it threatens?

Today, "Christians" who congratulate themselves on demonstrating "Jesus" and "godly behavior" by not acting in the world against evil doctrine and evil actions that harm others spiritually, emotionally, and physically, aren't real Christians, as Jesus defined His followers. At worst, they're selfish jerks who have their own happy, calm lifestyle at heart, and not Jesus. At best, they're people who've been convinced that Jesus, Paul, Peter, John – and Elijah, Isaiah, Moses, and more – were the only people ever supposed to stand up for God's way of doing things, and against the evil that only pretends to be God's way of doing things.

But where would we be..

• If Jesus hadn't actively confronted the Pharisees and Sadducees, and actively helped others to heal from their false messages about who God is and what God demands from His (real) people? 
• If Paul hadn't actively pointed out how ungodly and just plain evil the Corinthians were – and in ways that spoke not only to them, but also to the rest of us since? 
• If Peter and John hadn't stood up publicly against powerful religious groups who were misrepresenting God and His ways to the world, being willing even to be tortured and die if need be, rather than go along with or ignore evil-pretending-to-be-godly?

Too many will argue that God endowed those people with supernatural power to do those things – and still only gives that power to a few, today. Which is total, selfish, hogwash. It's the spiritual equivalent of the hogwash-reasoning that allowed the Communists to take over Asia and Eastern Europe, the Nazis to take over Germany, and the religious bigots to take over the USA today. It's the hogwash-thinking that lets millions upon millions around the world never see or retain the real Gospel of Jesus Christ, because "I'm too scared to speak up", or "God's ordained others to speak up", or "All things happen according to God's plan". Bullshiat.

There are Gay people, people of conscience, politically leftwing people, women, poor people, atheists, pagans, science-oriented people, and more all around you RIGHT NOW who don't know Jesus because they've never heard or seen anything but the devil-worshippers who wear Jesus masks.

They think they can't have Jesus, or that good people have to reject Jesus, because no Christians stand up in their community, in their workplace, in their neighborhoods, to say to those falsely representing Jesus, "You need to knock it off. Your lives aren't godly. Your message isn't godly. What comes out of your life shows your heart is full of evil, and you need to repent – not these other people you're bearing false witness against", and to those who've only heard people falsely representing Jesus, "The Bible warns everyone that false-Christians will be the majority. Jesus said not to be fooled by them. Let me show you what else the real Jesus has to say, to and about you, and then you can decide based on what and who Jesus REALLY is."

It's really not complicated. The devil runs this world, until Jesus comes back. And being a light to others does NOT mean being nice and polite and loving to our neighbors while false-Christians shred their understanding of who Jesus really is. Even pagans and atheists are nice and polite and loving. It's only our own selfish wish for a happy life without demands put upon us that makes us believe being nice, polite, and loving is all it takes to really be about Jesus.

The time is growing short, my friends. Jesus never told us when He would return, but He warned us that really harsh times like no one's seen before would come before He did. And if we believe the world we live in now – with its chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons poised for worldwide action, genetic and chemical pollution destroying our health and twisting life on this planet, politics and religions that lust like mad rapists after the horrors of war, and conscienceless economies that take food from the babies of billions so that a few thousand rich can have more and more – isn't a set up for really harsh times like no one's see before, we delude ourselves.

Not only are we ALL Jesus-charged to make sure our own faith remains intact during the harsh times ahead, but we are also all Jesus-charged to spread and protect God's real Gospel message to all those around us, even if it literally costs us everything to do so (even if it costs us our lives).

To imagine being a true follower of Jesus Christ requires anything less is to imagine that modern faith is opposite the faith Jesus taught and the first disciples lived. To believe that God's ok with that is to make the exact same mistake/sin as all those in the Bible who claimed to be "God's People" without actually doing what He said to do. The Bible tells us their fates – and leaves no question about our own, if our faith, like theirs, requires nothing more than our own ways of happy, quiet, religious pleasure.

Who are the people in your life right now who need to hear God's real Gospel message? Who've only ever heard the devil-worshippers in Jesus masks? Who've been taught they can't have Jesus? Who've been made to believe the only way to be a good person is to reject Christianity - and therefore Jesus Christ, as well? 

What are the ways you can stand up to those who are feeding them full of this false, ungodly garbage? To lovingly, but without reservation, call them on their crap and tell them to stop blaspheming God with their false hearts and false words, so that others aren't fooled by their "witness"?

What are the ways you can show the real Jesus to the people who are being hurt by false witness? What healing do they need? A nonjudgmental and sincere friendship? A shoulder to cry on? A Bible translation that hasn't been reinterpreted to make it seem God condemns them? A simple tract that communicates God's real love for them that they can keep in a pocket or purse for private reading and comfort? Maybe just someone to share with them what Jesus really taught and wants from His people? 

How can you make yourself available to do God's work for these people? Do you need to pray for strength or wisdom? Do you need healing yourself first, so that you don't accidentally pass on the spiritual rabies you still carry, instead? Are there others you can work with, to give each other strength and counsel, to learn from each other and help carry each others' burdens? Doing God's real work requires God's hand - we can do none of it on our own! How will you let God lead, and let God help?

Email me if you'd like to discuss more options or informational tools, or if you have ways you already actively show the real Gospel to those who've been lied to about it. I'd love to hear it! When I can do so without violating someone else's privacy, I will start sharing my own adventures in doing God's salvation work with others, as well.

Until next week –

In His love,

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

To hell with anyone who blocks your way to Jesus

A few posts away (I'm feeling much better with my allergies, btw – thanks for your prayers!) but now we're back to exploring who Jesus really is, outside how He's been so long defined by what most loudly calls itself "The Church".

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 human-translation version on this scripture page, as suits you. I have NO theological or other tie to the online-bible site I use for this blog – it just lists many human translations to choose from, including the NASB, KJV, The Message, and the NRSV, which are the ones mentioned by those I chat and email with.)

So far, we've seen from the Bible itself, without having to do any kind of monkey-plays or pompous theological arguments, that, despite how Jesus is interpreted even today by "Good Religious People" and Big-Words Theologians:

• Jesus was always on the side of those who were abused, mistreated, and oppressed – never on the side of those who do the abusing, mistreating, and oppressing. 
• Jesus was always on the side of the spiritual rejects and the sinners – and never on the side of those who make sure others know they are spiritual rejects, or the side of the Good Religious People. 
• Jesus requires His followers to be so strong they refuse to do violence or hurt back, even if attacked to death – not so weak they worship violence, war, and domination. 
• Jesus warned us repeatedly that most of those who claim to be His people will be spiritual liars and cheats, fooling even themselves all the way to hell – and He commands us to realize their error and not get caught up in it ourselves. 
• Jesus never presented anything of God as requiring a seminary education or a "pastor" to understand (study, yes, using our brains, yes – but "church" related stuff? No). In fact, the Bible shows us that to truly understand what Jesus means has always required NOT having human theological ideas in the way of God's simple message. Jesus (and others in the Old and New Testament) show us again and again that – despite our belief that more theological ideas and degrees and titles means more understanding of Jesus – more theological ideas and degrees and titles means LESS understanding of the real Jesus. 
• And more!

This week, our chronological Bible tells us about Jesus illustrating that death isn't how we usually imagine death at all, and, healing a woman who was sick in more ways that we can even imagine today. What do you learn about Jesus from these stories? Here's what I see:

When people – even people who normally refuse to believe in God – are desperate and hurting, there is always that tendency to turn to God and plead for help. The Bible doesn't tell us if Jairus and his family already believed in Jesus. Yet we can see that, even if he wasn't yet a believer, Jairus was desperate enough to reach out to Jesus – and isn't that how many of us come or come back to Jesus in the first place? 

• Have you reached out to God in desperation even in times you didn't believe in Him? What happened? How (or did) it change your relationship with Him? 
• The Bible doesn't tell us if Jairus came to Jesus for help because he believed He was a miracle worker, or if he actually understood He was God. If Jairus got through this whole event and only ever understood Jesus as a worker of supernatural things, he would have missed completely that God is on his side even through death. Have you or others you care about understood that Jesus could do supernatural things, but missed that Jesus is also God on your side?

Jairus thought he was going to lose his little girl – and, in fact, before he got Jesus back to her, she did, in fact, die. The people telling Jairus that his daughter was now actually dead told him not to bother Jesus any longer. "Death", they would have told us, "is the end. Miracle healings might happen here and there. But death is never undone."

• What are the things you believe are just the end – never to be undone? Does God have power even other those things? In what circumstances might He change them?

On the news that his daughter was dead, Jesus told Jairus not to be afraid, but to believe, instead. After we've lost someone to death, we might understand the fear of having to live the rest of one's life without this loved one. We might also understand the fear that comes from being reminded of our own mortality. Jesus, though, offered comfort in belief. Like He could have also said, "No need to fear death – the answer to death is standing right here. So just trust that answer to apply, even now!"

• Many of us have heard that the antidote to fear is to believe – but what does that look like in your own life? Does it mean letting go your natural fear of death? Does it mean giving over your worries over money or job? What are all the ways Jesus' comforting command to believe instead of fear might or does impact your own life?

When Jesus told the gathered crowd of mourning that the little girl wasn't dead but asleep, they laughed at Him. And I'd have to say that if some guy I'd never seen before walked into a funeral and told everyone there that the only person in the room not breathing any longer was just asleep and not dead at all, laughter would be the nicest reaction I might have. Yet I can't imagine how my reaction would change if the dead person suddenly woke up and got something to eat!

• The Bible tells us that even Satan and those who work for him can do miracles at times, so it's not always safe to assume that because something miraculous is happening that means it's from God. What specific things can or do you do in your own life to keep from being fooled into following after lying signs and false wonders?

This scripture passage also talks about a woman Jesus healed while on his way to Jairus' daughter. If we don't know enough about the ancient Mosaic Law the Jews lived under, we won't realize that this woman's problems were threefold. Not only was this woman's health terrible (she's been having menstrual bleeding for twelve solid years), and not only had she wiped out her financial resources trying unsuccessfully to get healing from medical doctors, but also according to the religious law she lived under she was "unclean" because of her bleeding. All men and women were made religiously unclean at certain times and under certain circumstances (check out Leviticus 15, for example). If this woman had been having normal periods, she could have gotten "clean" again after a certain passage of time without bleeding. Since she never stopped bleeding, though, she never had that opportunity. That meant she wasn't allowed to touch anyone or anything, or they too would become "unclean" and also have to undergo purification time and rituals to keep from spreading "uncleanness" even further. Imagine living your life sick as a dog, being wiped out financially by doctors, and not being allowed to touch anything (not a person, not even the railings on the city bus) without possibly enraging people so much they might kill you for it. Now imagine living that way for twelve, long years, with no end in sight.

Until this miracle-guy shows up.

• Since the Bible shows us that Good Religious People of all kinds have always followed or ignored parts of the law God gave them however they wished, should we be at all surprised that Good Religious People today also pompously bellow one part of God's law but explain away and hide others? For example, Good Religious People like to quote the Mosaic Law as if it condemns Gay people – but they explain away the parts that condemn their failure to follow the rest of the Mosaic Law (like men and women both needing to do ritual purification after having any kind of voluntary or involuntary "discharges"). What does that tell you about whether you should be getting your information about what God wants from you from Good Religious People? 
• For centuries, "Christians" have been telling women they were "unclean" because they have periods, even telling them at some times in history that they wouldn't go to heaven if they died while on their periods! Yet all these centuries, no one ever told a man he couldn't get into heaven if he died while having a "nocturnal emission", or that men weren't fit for ministry because they become unclean by nocturnal emissions. Since so much human B.S. has always coated what most loudly calls itself "The Church", should we be surprised when that same "Church" continues today to trumpet its own highly intellectual and theologically "proven" versions of B.S. regarding God's supposed condemnation of Gay people, God's supposed support of war, God's supposed shoving women into the back of the church, and so on? 
• Most Gay Christians can empathize with the woman in this scripture, having been exiled as "unclean" in a different way from their communities and being unable to perform any "purification" that would make them OK in the bigoted eyes of their straight spiritual "fellows". But others can also relate – even if their only "uncleanness" is a refusal to play the shallow Sunday-Dress-Up required to attend most "churches" even today. In what ways can you empathize with the woman in this scripture? But in what ways are you more like those who condemned or looked down on her, refusing to give her the basics of human touch and love because you didn't want to be "unclean" yourself?

One thing that can be said of this woman: she had guts. Unlike many who might undergo even less than she had, and who might have just given up and died, she clung to life. She clung to hope. She kept trying, and trying, and trying, even when trying just seemed to bury her deeper into trouble. This is yet another time when the New Testament Bible broke tradition by showing us strong women in a culture that ignored and even attacked strong woman.

• Whether you are male or female, do you have this woman's guts in the face of trial and pain? Is she a great example to you, when you need to see that it is possible to keep going and keep trying even when all seems to have failed?

This woman not only had guts – she had gall. Maybe that gall, that bold, shameless behavior, was also born of desperation. Doesn't matter. This woman pressed her unclean self not only through a crowd, immediately "polluting" everyone she touched (who then immediately polluted everyone they touched, who then immediately polluted everyone they touched, and so on) – which could have started a riot and gotten her stoned – but she also crept up on Jesus, intending to touch Him in a way He wouldn't notice, even though it would also make HIM ritually unclean. All that in hope of being rid of her sickness and isolating shame.

• Have you had this kind of gall with God? Have you ever pushed your way to Him, and to hell with anyone who gets in your way? If not – why not?

The woman felt herself instantly healed upon touching the edge of Jesus' cloak. Imagine her elation – and then imagine it turning instantly to horror when Jesus turned around and demanded to know who had touched Him. She knew she'd just made Him ritually unclean – even healed, the religious law she lived under still required time to pass and a ritual to be performed before she would no longer be "polluting" others. She must have believed her life at great risk when He and the crowd figured out what she'd done. All she could do was what all people in those days did when confronted by the power of one or more people who could hurt or kill if they only just chose to do so: terrified, she fell on her face and confessed, hoping for mercy in even the tiniest form.

But the violence – rage, fists, rocks – she could expect in her religious culture didn't come. Instead, Jesus congratulated her on her faith in His ability to heal her, and sent her off in peace, free from more suffering.

• The Good Religious People of that day often stoned "unclean" women who touched others. In the centuries of what most loudly calls itself "Christianity", Good Religious People have burned people at the stake and otherwise tortured and murdered them, taught them to feel shame over who they are, and made war in "God's" name against people who weren't like them in one way or another. Not one bit of that is like Jesus anywhere in the Bible. Yet we too often continue being fooled by this false "Christianity". Why? 
• Imagine being Gay and with shameless gall pressing through a crowd of "Christian" bigots to get to Jesus, sure that He can heal the hurt false Christians have done to your heart. Imagine fearing Jesus will turn on you like false "Christians" have – only to find He instead congratulates you for your faith and sends you off in His peace. Now read Revelation 3:7-13 and know that that's exactly what you're going to hear from Jesus, in the End.

Today we got to see Jesus' power at work – not just in healing death and sickness, but also in reorienting our religious thinking so that we can see past the religious nonsense we live under and even pass on to our children, thinking we're doing them a good thing.

• What ways do you need to reorient your thinking about Jesus? Is Jesus like the supporter of war, supporter of sexism, supporter of homophobia, supporter of economic oppression, and so on that "The Church" has reinterpreted Him as all these centuries? 
• Was Jesus at all prevented from being who He really is by all the Good Religious People and their dumb ideas while He moved around, doing His work? Why should we assume, then, that we can't find the real-Jesus today because "The Church" has done so much Bible-twisting over the centuries? 
• What needs to change in your life this week? What can Jesus heal for you today, that you never imagined could be gotten rid of before?

Take care until next week!

In His love,

Lynne

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

Just how DOES God act in the world?

We're still in our (chronological) study of the real Jesus of the Gospels, which we're finding is far outside how He's always portrayed by the Good Religious People of the world and their "Church".

Today, Jesus talks about how God works in the world, but also how we hit or miss the mark in our search for a relationship with God, and – just like we saw last week – He delivers His message in parables.

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 human-translation version on this scripture page, as suits you. I have NO theological or other tie to the online-bible site I use for this blog – it just lists many human translations to choose from, including the NASB, KJV, The Message, and the NRSV, which are the ones mentioned by those I chat and email with.)

First, Jesus tells the parable of the mustard seed. I'll only quickly note that the scholars and other "Big Thinkers" of the world have long debated over this tiny mustard seed Jesus referred to, pointing out that mustard seed was not the smallest seed known to Jesus' listeners, and the mustard plant – even when it reached its biggest height of about ten feet – was never big enough to be called a tree or for (most) birds to perch in it.

Such big-thinker-ism is a good example of why relying only on one's intellectual resources to understand God – and therefore falling into literalism and what we can measure and deduce – means a big, fat failure. It's an example of why we shouldn't be pegging our salvation on what the smart people of the world can figure out, because they too often get so tangled up in "explaining" things that they miss the whole point of the message. They're like people who hear, "It's as hot as the sun in here!", but because they're too busy arguing and preaching and lording over what their thermometers find and under what circumstances anything on earth could truly be as hot as the sun and so on and so forth – they burn up in the fire everyone else fled.

This does NOT mean: "God doesn't mean for you to use your brains." Obviously, He does. But part of using our brains is figuring out when a message or point is being made with what's called hyperbole, or exaggerating for effect. That's certainly a story technique that Jesus uses sometimes, and it's one He uses here.

The second thing to realize as we go through this and other parables, is that we have the benefit of "seeing the answers", because we can read even what the disciples had to have explained to them later. But when Jesus was speaking these parables, no one had a "cheat sheet" called the Bible, and so people then had to rely on how much of God's Spirit they had in their hearts to help them understand what Jesus was showing them. That means many people – Good Religious People who did every Religious thing they knew to go – never understood a word Jesus had said. To them, even though they counted themselves as God's People, Jesus might as well of been speaking on gibberish: they never "got it", because they never "got" Jesus.

However, the fact that we can claim to "get" what Jesus' point was in these parables because we know what these parables mean doesn't mean we actually "get it" any more than most people 2,000 years ago did. As we've said, WE have the "cheat sheet". So we are actually in more danger of never "getting it" than the Good Religious People Jesus was originally speaking to, because we can know the words intellectually, but not spiritually, as measured in our lives. In that case, we're like people in an algebra class, who, when test day come assume we've learned all there is to know from it – but who have only memorized the answer sheet for the final, and therefore can't actually do algebra at all.

Once again, what matters to Jesus isn't what we can show with our mouths and what we can memorize and even teach others, but what we can live with our hearts and minds and spirits.

• The people listening to Jesus heard His words – but only a tiny, tiny few ever understood His point. yet these were highly religious people, well-schooled in God's rules and ways. How dangerous is it to just assume that, because we go to church to hear the Bible preached, we are getting Jesus' point? 
• It doesn't take a Bible scholar to realize that the vast majority of those who call themselves "Christian" don't even come close to living like Jesus (though they're really good at living like what they call "Christian"). Even God-rejecters can see that. In what ways do you call yourself "Christian", but have actually only memorized the Bible answer-sheet and not really learned Jesus' lessons? Are you ready to turn away from your "answer sheet Christianity"?

Ok – so what is Jesus talking about with the parable of the mustard seed? He tells us that the kingdom of heaven – God's way, in other words – is like a tiny, tiny thing that grows unexpectedly, astoundingly, even "abnormally", huge. So huge, in fact, that even those not expected to find shelter in it can and do.

Another parable. Jesus says God's way is like yeast – another tiny, tiny thing – that gets mixed all through everything, so that in time it's everywhere.

• God starts with a lot of tiny things, and then grows or mixes them everywhere. He started with one little human being, and grew us into billions. He started with one Man from a tiny, backwater part of the world, and mixed that Man's message all through the world. Is God planting something tiny in your life, working to grow that something all through who you are so that you also become a resource for others to shelter in?

Then we come to Jesus' parable of the weeds – a parable that we should find great comfort in, when we wonder why God allows evil and evil people in the world. Through this parable, Jesus tells us that God "planted" good, but that the devil came along later and planted bad among God's good. But if God were to rip out the bad people from among us now, others who are good might be destroyed also – something He won't allow. Instead, He tells us, both good and bad people will inhabit the world – until, that is, Jesus comes again to sort us out for good.

• There are many people – either because they've been turned off of Jesus because of the crappy example of "Christian" Good Religious People, or simply because their hearts haven't opened to God yet – who would count even right now as "bad" people. Yet because God hasn't chosen to "harvest" yet, they aren't sent off to hell with the people who simply will always reject God because they love evil. Have you in your own life been a "bad" person that God has allowed to stay mixed in with the good people until you could heal into the good person God created you to be? 
• Does this give you comfort, understanding that God is still in control, His plan hasn't "failed", and He still cares deeply for us, even when our lives are impacted by the "bad" people of the world? Are there others you could share this comfort-message with in your life, today?
• Jesus speaks more than anyone else in the Bible about the reality of hell as a place where good-rejecters end up. But He also speaks (as do many others in the Old and New Testaments) about God's continued attempts to save people from hell by inviting them to the real good they can only achieve through God. How should knowing this affect our lives? How does it currently affect your own life?

Jesus said God's way is like a buyer of fine goods who's seeking for something really special. When he finds it, he gives up everything he has to buy it.

• The buyer could be us. Have you discovered in the Gospel THE treasure you've been searching for? Have you given up everything to be part of it? 
• The buyer could be God. Have you considered that Jesus searches everywhere for you, and that He gave up everything to make you part of His People?

Jesus said God's way catches up everyone – every kind of person there is – and in the end the angels separate the good from the bad, gathering up the good to keep, and tossing the bad into hell.

• Jesus said God chooses good people over bad – not straight over Gay, or white over Black, or male over female, or rich over poor. What do you imagine a heaven full of God's people will look like? Does it look partly like you?

See you next week, when we'll take a look at how God's supernatural power can act in the world, and what that means for our lives today.

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

Did Jesus keep women "in their place"?

Today we're continuing our journey through the (chronological) Gospels, witnessing again and again how nearly completely opposite (the real) Jesus is from those who, through the last twenty centuries, have claimed to "represent" and "know" Him better than anyone else.

Today, we get a glimpse into what Jesus really thought about women.

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 human-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. Note also that I have no theological or other tie to the bible site I list above – it's just one that lists the NASB, KJV, and The Message, and most folks I've corresponded with seem to use one of those. However, another brother says you can also get the NRSV human translation at bible.oremus.org. If you prefer yet another human-translation that isn't on one of these other pages, do send it to me. I will also list it here).

We've witnessed already that Jesus lived completely outside the expectations and demands of Good Religious People regarding people of different races, the poor, and people who aren't Good Religious People. Today we get to witness Jesus ALSO acting outside the expectations and demands Good Religious People had and have for women.

In today's scripture, we first see the woman who anointed Jesus' feet at the Good Religious Person's dinner party. Let's really set the scene, though, so we get the whole picture (and not just what Good Religious People since then have either ignored or twisted around to protect their own prejudices).

The party: In the ancient Jewish world, it "proved" or "improved" one's Good Religious Standing to be able to invite and get a popular teacher to come over for a big semi-public dinner. Imagine all the Good Religious People today, for example, who would strut like religious peacocks if they managed to have Billy Graham (or any of the other highly popular "Christian" television preachers or mega-"church" "pastors") over for a big banquet dinner that also included special local guests -- and even the "good" and "decent" neighbors, IF they behaved with appropriate deference to the Good Religious Atmosphere and hung back in the shadows, admiring what was happening without pretending to be so lofty as to actually be good enough to actively participate in it. I'm sure the atmosphere that night was absolutely choked with Good Religious "Virtue"!

The "seating" arrangements: The scripture tells us that they "reclined at table". That tells us that they weren't sitting in chairs, as we would eat, but rather laying on their sides on couches designed for this way of eating one's meal (see the drawing included in this post, to see what they did). These couches were only meant for the important people, of course, and they were always set up so that the recliners' heads would all be toward the center of the room where the table was, so they could talk to each other while they ate. This put the recliners' feet pointed out towards the walls of the room – and towards where all the "less worthy" people hung out.

The three "niceties" of being a good host in ancient Israel: It was expected back in that place and time that a host would either humbly wash his guest's feet or have a servant do it (if he was wealthy enough to avoid humility but still get "credit" for it). Life was dusty back then, and travel usually meant walking over dirt and rocky roads. Getting one's feet clean was a treat! It was also normal back then (just as it is today and through history in many cultures) for men to greet other men with a simple (completely non-sexual) kiss on the cheek – just as men in our modern, western culture greet each other with a handshake. Finally, in those dry, dusty times before modern shampoos and conditioners, it was considered a nice thing to provide oil for guests' scalps / hair.

So – here we have a big banquet dinner thrown by a local and well-off Good Religious Person who either admired Jesus or who simply wanted to partake of some of His popularity. At the dinner, while they laid on their dinner-couches, the host and his special guests would have eaten and discussed religious and other topics with the Guest of Honor, all while everyone else was required to stay back from the "honored" table and just listen quietly.

But then in comes the woman.

The scripture tells us she was a "sinner", meaning she was either a prostitute, or a woman otherwise living way outside what was considered "acceptable" by the majority culture she lived in. Knowing what it means to live in a small town/city and in a tight-knit, traditional community, we can know that ALL the locals would have known her, and known "what kind of woman" she was. Knowing also from the Bible and from our own history and experience that Good Religious People have never changed in over 6,000 years, we can just picture the scene among those in attendance as she dared enter the banquet room: the frowns, the shaking heads, the whispers, the indignant huffs, the murmured threats, the puffing up.

Then she did even worse:

• She actually stood by the Guest of Honor – which meant she violated the dinner rule that said only the host and special guests could interact with the host and special guests ("How rude!"), and
• She (a female) then touched the (male) Guest of Honor ("What a slut!"), and
• She poured perfume she no doubt normally used for the benefit of her own sinful "paid guests" on the Guest of Honor ("How dare she lower Him to her level!"), and
• She touched Him with her hair, which meant it was hanging loose instead of hidden under a cloth cover in the manner her human culture required of "decent" women ("A threat to all that's good and decent!").

I'm sure the moral outrage of the Good Religious People in the house that night was immeasurable, but the Bible only tells us the reaction of the banquet's host. Simon the Good Religious Person fell – as Good Religious People so often do – immediately into mumbled judgment, didn't he? Simon didn't speak out loud and ruin the atmosphere of his great party, but instead said to himself about Jesus, "This guy's obviously not REALLY a speaker for and knower of God, or he would have been able to see immediately what a whore this woman is so she wouldn't have tainted him." We can just imagine how Simon and his Good Religious People guests would have trashed Jesus' reputation after the party was over.

But Jesus confronted Simon with a learning-story, and then used it to (hopefully) open the Good Religious Person's eyes to how God was seeing this situation. Essentially, Jesus said:

Simon, you claim to honor Me with a dinner banquet – and yet you didn't give me any of the things this culture says a truly honored guest should get. Out of all the wealth and "righteousness" you have, you denied Me even a little water and a small towel to wash my hot, road-dirty feet. You denied me even a peck on the cheek to publicly demonstrate your acceptance of Me into your home. You denied me even a bit of common oil to soothe My body's exposure to the elements. So your "honoring" Me is half-done and false. 

Simon, you do live a low-sin religious life, and you do the Jewish religious things God requires for your sin-forgiveness, God forgives your sins. But you obviously only love God a little, and God knows it. 

But this woman – who, unlike you, has not even one bit of honorable status or wealth to 'share' with me – has honored Me above everything she is or has, has given the best of what she has to give. Simon, she washed My feet with the tears of her own sorrow and suffering, and used her own hair to dry them. Since I came in here she's not stopped publicly demonstrating her acceptance of Me into her heart, with her non-stop kissing of My feet. And she's given over her perfumed oil, one of the few valuable possessions she has and one of the 'tools' she must use each day to get the food and shelter she needs, loving 'wasting' it on My feet. 

Her honoring Me is extravagant and true. Simon, she does live a high-sin, non-religious life. Yet she obviously loves God hugely, and God, who knows her heart, forgives her hugely.

• Have you ever been excluded – or perhaps helped exclude others – from being part of a religious group or religious function for "moral" reasons? The Bible tells us that's required sometimes, but only for people who won't stop making others believe a false Gospel. Knowing that, then, should this woman have had to sneak in to be able to participate in this banquet? 
• No matter how sinful someone is (or is thought to be), should anyone ever be able to block them from seeing Jesus? 
• What's your reaction to seeing Good Religious People in the Bible accusing Jesus (God Himself) of not knowing God and God's way (we've already seen it several times in our study so far)? If Good Religious People could be so spiritually blind 2,000 years ago, why should we believe they are any more likely to really see and understand God and His way today? 
• Simon the Good Religious Person had Jesus over for dinner to "honor" Him – but since he did nothing else (not even the basics of common host courtesy everyone in those days was expected to do) to honor Jesus, who do you think Simon really meant to gain honor through this banquet? Good Religious People today also honor themselves by "honoring" Jesus. Do you imagine God feels "honored" having to "share" like that? 
• A woman back in that time and place was required to marry (heterosexually) and remain married, in order to be economically safe. Their culture back then didn't have other jobs they could apply for, so only women wealthy enough to run their own business could avoid having to beg on the streets to stay alive (and few who begged would remain alive long). Unmarried women who couldn't return (for whatever reason) to their father's house, and who weren't wealthy enough to do anything else,  often turned to prostitution to keep food on their table – and then were condemned as whores (even by those men who made their living at prostitution possible). Do you imagine that Jesus wasn't aware of the dynamics that forced many women into prostitution in those days? Who do you imagine He had condemnation for: the woman who had no choice but to be a prostitute, or the people whose culture wouldn't allow her to keep food in her mouth and a roof over her head any other way? 
• Good Religious People who even bother to recognize themselves in Simon will often point out proudly that Simon still only had "few" sins compared to the very sinful non-religious, according to the parable Jesus told Simon. Was that Jesus' point, or are they (too conveniently) missing His point once again? 
• Who truly had the better life: Simon, with all his wealth and power and religious participation, yet whose heart had only the bare, required minimum to give to God; or the sinner who had nothing but pain in her life, yet whose heart could offer everything she had to God without question? 
• We often see the sinner's pain and repentance in her tears, but do we also recognize the huge inner strength and faith this woman had? She knew exactly what all the people of her town thought of her, and she knew she was walking into a hornet's nest of Good Religious Hostility by putting herself not just within Simon's house, not just off to the side of the room where everyone else sat and listened, but pushing herself forward, right up to Jesus and the table He rested near. She risked everything they could say and even do to her, just to be near Jesus, just to express her love and gratitude to Him. Should you or I or anyone do any less? How great a model and mentor she should be to us all!

But Jesus didn't just leave it there. He gave God's comfort directly to the woman, as well, didn't He? He essentially told her, "The sins you so grieve over are forgiven!" The Good Religious People around the room were critical, of course, as in "Who does this guy think He is, forgiving people we KNOW aren't worth God's forgiveness?" Once again, those who claimed to be God's Best (or Only) People failed to recognize God literally right in the room with them. But Jesus answered their attack with even more reassurance for the woman. Even though she had not participated in any of the religious rituals God required of the Jews then to be saved, and even though she lived a life outside what was considered acceptable by the Good Religious (and other) People, He told her, "Your trust in God has saved you. Go on your way, knowing you're at peace with God."

• Many times we get stuck in sin, and we grieve over our sinfulness. Did Jesus tell this woman she was stuck, or did He tell her to drop that burden and move on? 
• Did the fact that Good Religious People wouldn't have forgiven or loved or appreciated this woman change Jesus' forgiveness, love, or appreciation for her in the slightest? Why would you, then, ever imagine God gives two cents what Good Religious People (or anyone else) things about you? 
• How should it change your life to know that everyone else in the world – especially in the Good Religious World – can absolutely despise you, yet you can be completely and utterly at peace with God? 

The scripture tells us that after this, Jesus continued what He'd been doing: going from place to place, preaching God's Good News to everyone. "The Twelve" disciples were with Him (remember that the Jewish people, of course, understood themselves as descended from twelve physically-related brothers, but from now on God's people were to be counted as those who were spiritually descended from the new  twelve physically-unrelated brothers). But the Bible tells us that women also followed Jesus and travelled with Him, just like the men did. And Jesus allowed that to happen.

Sometimes women with money in those days were patrons of religious teachers or groups, but it would have been considered appallingly indecent for women to travel with Jesus and His male followers. Men and women in those days were kept separated in nearly everything, including education and attendance at religious functions. Most women, in fact, weren't even allowed religious or other education, at all (sometimes wealthy women were allowed education, but not in any coed setting). Even among the pagans, having women in a religious group caused scandalized gossip and moral outrage.

And in the midst of all that "scandal", we once again find Jesus. The Good Religious People (and the Good Pagans) of the day may have considered women unfit for learning – but Jesus taught women, and He taught them exactly what He taught His male students. Jesus also allowed them to follow Him, to participate in what He was doing as much as His male students did. And they did so, learning, growing, supporting just as the men did. In Jesus' real church, women were always right there with Him, ministering and being ministered to, from the very start.

• Jesus seems to have been really good at not giving a hoot about the standards, rules, and expectations of Good Religious People, even when they felt they were only following or enforcing "God's law". Do you still give a hoot? 
• Even though Jesus ignored or actively broke religious rules all the time, He never acted chaotically or in ways that ignored manners, being respectful of others, and living God's way. Think up three modern examples of religious rules that Jesus would have ignored or broken. Now think up three modern examples of other kinds of rules that Jesus would have not ignored or broken. What's the difference? How should those things be different in your own life?

Next week, we'll see more of how Jesus handled demons and evil.

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.