God is freedom

It is very tragic to me when I see people leave their faith in order to be free. This tells me that there are serious flaws in their theology. Serious ones.

This is because God Himself IS freedom. Freedom is an expression of God! God Himself is free! Therefore freedom itself, even the very concept, only exists because He exists! And it is very proof of Him and His existence that the concept of freedom is so highly valued throughout creation and the world! Freedom points to Him because it comes from Him! There would be no freedom without God.

What's more, He is love, and one of the primary principles of love is that it always sets you free. If you love someone, truly, you will set them free. It's just part of love. Love always sets you free. Therefore, God HAS to set you free because He IS love!! He cannot do otherwise. It's what He Has done, is doing, and will continue to do throughout eternity, because it's who He is !!!!!!! Setting people free by loving them. This is who He is. Anything and anybody that ever, ever, EVER comes to God, will be loved by Him and therefore set free!!! It's impossible for it to be otherwise!! Because it's who He is!!!

So we can see that when someone chooses to walk away from Him in order to get their freedom, what a tragic mistake that is. Technically speaking, yes, you will be free from God, and religion, and rules, and the like. This is certainly true. But because freedom itself is a product of Him, of God, you will in reality experience less and less freedom the longer you stay away from Him. Because you have seperated yourself from the One who IS freedom, the One from whom all freedom flows. So in your "freedom", you will eventually, as time goes by, become less and less free.

Now, these truths realized, this tells me a tragic tale about what people are experiencing as christianity. To walk away from the very creator of the universe who embodies and emanates freedom tells me that someone must have some very serious misconceptions going on.

Some more about love (what a surprise!)

Was thinking about how the love relationship between a man and a woman illustrates the meaning of life... that union, loving fellowship with God and others. Was thinking also, simultaneously, about how that love relationship between a man and a woman is an analogy of us in our relationship with God, He being represented by the man, and we being represented by the woman. Hence the term, "Bride of Christ".

That's when it hit me. Jesus' love for us, God's love for us, is as intense and powerful as that love that the man, the groom, feels toward his bride, toward the woman. Now, all of us guys will be able to relate. There is just nothing sooooooo powerful and wonderful as that intense desire and longing for the woman. Nothing. You just have to stop and think about this. This pull, this tug, this yearning, longing, got to get to Know her strong feeling inside of us... it's just the most intense, magical, beautiful, best feeling in the world.

Stop now and think about this. This is how Jesus feels about you, about us!! Pretty freaking cool eh? I mean, just stop and think about that for a minute! It's just flippng awesome! Don't ever scoff at someone who tells you that Jesus loves you. They are telling you the meaning of life!! THAT'S what it's all about!

That all encompassing, passionate, burning desire, that intense longing that becomes almost a need, that absolute captivation by her beauty, that, overwhelming attracton-- that's how God feels about you! And to take it even further, the attraction of sex-- that overwhelming pull to be one with someone and join with them, Know them... this is why the Bible uses the term Know when it refers to sex. Because it is the ultimate expression of knowing someone! And the ultimate desire and meaning of life is to know God and to know people. God first, and then other people. This is what our lives will consist of in eternity, Knowing God and knowing people.

Knowing God. Can you imagine this? Knowing, truly, deeply and intimately, an all loving, totally righteous, clean, holy, infinite being--one who is so infinite that we will never ever EVER run out of newness of Him to discover and explore--this is what will will get to do for all of eternity. Freaking rad. I. quite frankly, am seriously looking forward to this. This is what eternity will consist of. The joy that sex is a representation of, a physical representation of a spiritual reality. Flipping wonderful. Thank you Jesus. Praise you Lord for you are beautiful and you rock.Woo hoo!!!!!!!!

The Main Real Reason

It seems to me that lots and lots of Christians and religious people practice their Christianity without really knowing why. I mean really. I think a lot of people just do it because they feel they should, or it's what they've been taught, or even because they've experienced God and know He's real, and that their faith and even their relationship with Him is genuine, but they still maybe have never thought to think or ask WHY, ultimately we are doing it. So why are we? What is the goal of Christianity, or any religion for that matter? And if it really is the one true faith, and the real God is really in it and has even created it and set it up how it is, (which we really believe He has), what was He thinking? Yes we all know that he wants to save people, and that He loves us and cares about us, but isn't there more? Since we truly believe that the supreme, infinite, eternal Being, really, is behind it all, what does that infer? Can the entirety of the Real God be seen and found within Christianity then? And if so, what is that??

Well, in order to answer these questions, I believe we need to look at life. But we need to look at it from God's perspective. Since God created everything, what can we learn by looking at what He has created? Since He created everything, then everything must be a representation of Him. (By everything, I mean the entirety of what is created, not sin and bad stuff). Acts 17:24 states " The God who made the world and all things in it" So the world and everything in it came from the mind of God. So let's take a look at the world and everything in it to see if we can see what was on His mind when He decided to create all of this.

Now, the previous statement contains volumes. Volumes and volumes could be written on what God was thinking when he created all this. In fact, it could be almost endless. There is no way we could discuss all of that here. But the point is great. The point that we CAN look at creation to see what God had, and has, in mind. For this short essay though, I am going to focus on one area of creation, the one that I feel sheds the most light on the mind of God. The reason I am going to focus in on this area is because it is the most potent part of creation. It is the strongest part, the part that we want the most, enjoy the most, DO the most, and the part that moves us the most. I mean love.

Love is the strongest desire inside of human beings. If we are honest with ourselves about ourselves, and about the world, we will see that the cingular most driving force inside of human beings is the desire for love, specifically the desire for a mate. This desire is the most intense, the most satisfying, the most urgent, strongest pull we have inside of ourselves. Some people would call it nature's way of ensuring the survival of the species. We call it what is at the heart of God's mind. From this we can see that love must be exceedingly important to God. It must be what is exceedingly important to Him, else He would not have made it so that it is so exceedingly important to us.

Maybe God did this on purpose, so that we would not miss the point of what life is all about. I think that He very purposefully made this desire, this urge in us as strong as He did in order to illustrate for us what the purpose and meaning of life is. Since creation itself is a picture of God--us, the world, and everything--it all came from the mind of God--humanity itself came from the mind of God--and since this desire for love is the strongest expression of our humanity, then God must really be into love. It's very logical. Think of that. Humanity, in its pure form, I mean without all the gunky junk that we as a race have muddied ourselves up with, is such a tremendous and beautiful expression of life, of all that life can be, all the beauty, all the wonder, the mystery, the deepness, the undefinable inexpressable stuff that we all long for and yearn to touch, and to experience, and to be, all those things, all that indefinable something, is all an expression of the life of God. Everything! The late afternoon sun filtering through the redwoods on the Pcific coast, the feelings you get on Christmas eve, the way you feel when you step into the warm sunshine on the first warm spring day and you feel the grip of winter breaking, all of these things--the list is infinite--are expressions of The Life, God Himself. Since all of creation comes from the mind of God, is actually more of an expression of Him, who He is, we can know God just by looking at all of these things. Or at the very least we can know what He is like.

And what experience, what joy, what part of all of this creation is the best? What's the one, out of all the myriad expressions of His life that we live, causes us the most excitement, the most joy, the most everything?? What one area of creation is the best out of all of it? It's love!! I mean that thrill, that overpowering feeling that washes through your soul when you see that someone with whom you are falling in love. There is just no feeling like it in the world. The first kiss... there's just no comparison. There is something so magical, so strong, sooo the fullest expression of being alive... something stronger and more powerful than all the mists in twilight, all the snowy nights in the mountains, and all of the battlecries you can ever muster... is this rush of attraction to another being, the desire to come together, the desire to Know them, that nothing else in our existence can compare to. And here, more than any other place in our experiences as human beings, God's creation, is where we can see the heart of God the most, what is REALLY on His mind. It must be love!!

So we are created in the image of God. The thing that excites us the most is love. Logically speaking, what do you suppose excites God the most? Obedience? No. Work? No. Church attendance? Giving to the poor? Bible study, Prayer? I would have to say no. I would have to say, judging from the evidence that we have examined so far that what God likes most is love. Attention. Attraction. Appreciating Him just for who He is. Spending time with Him just to spend time with Him, in order to just get to know Him. Knowing Him.

Love is so important to God. We have our priorities so mixed up. Most christians I hear seem to think that the greatest expression of our Christianity, our faith, is obedience. You hear it everywhere. If obedience was a higher priority than love to God, then why would He create us differently? I mean, we, as human beings place higher value on just knowing each other and being friends than we do on obedience. Think about it. When we are with the people we love, friends, etc., just hanging out with our friends, which is our pasttime of choice, as in, when we are done working, and we have free time, what is everybody's choice? What is it that we want to do, and choose to do, over and above everything else? Be with our friends and family. The world over. This does not change. And when we are doing that, what we as a race choose to do as our highest goal, being with the ones we love, obedience is not an issue. I don't mean that we stop doing it, I mean that we don't think about it during those times, during the times of love. There is never any talk about obdience, because in that area of life, the highest expression of our lives, living in love, there is no need for it. Obedience has already taken place long ago and in THE RIGHT PLACES AND TIMES WHEN AND WHERE IT NEEDED TO, and so WE ARE NOW REAPING THE BENEFITS OF THAT OBEDIENCE-- WHICH IS LOVE. We are now experiencing WHAT OBEDIENCE IS FOR. OBEDIENCE IS NOT AN END, IT IS ONLY A MEANS TO AN END--LOVE.

Also, the relationship between a man and a woman. This relationship is a blatant, obvious, accurate picture of the way in which we are to be in love with God, and Him with us, but during the exchange in this relationship ( I mean all exchange, not just sexual ), there is never any talk of or allusion to or concern with obedience. If there is, it indicates something wrong in the relationship.It tells us that the ultimate expression of loving is something beyond obedience.

Obedience is not the greatest goal we can achieve for God.. Obedience is only to lead us to love. Again, I use us, humans, as the example. We require obedience from our kids all through the years they are growing up, and for good, healthy reasons. But when obedience is accomplished, and they are healthy, whole, responsible adults, with kids of their own, do we call them up and invite them over to dinner to see if they still know how to obey us? Do we call them over to make them do things for us? We can ask them, when they are at our house, but if they say no, we have to respect their wishes as responsible adults and let them be free. Because we have passed from the stage of obedience into the stage of love. Obedience worked! So there's no more need for it! Or rather, there is no more need to focus on it, because we're living lives of love formed from obedience. The things we needed to obey have become part of us, so there's no need to emphasize them.

Now this is us, human beings. Fallen, flawed human beings at that. Yet we recognize, choose, and live these principles with our kids and with our friends. So are we better than Him? Is it really true that we know how to love better than God? OF COURSE NOT!! DON'T BE SILLY!! It's just that there is SO much emphasis on obedience these days, that we are missing the point of WHY we even obey!!! Is obedience necessary? Yes! Is it the end, the consummation of our relationship with Jesus, with God, with the Holy Spirit? Is it what we will be doing for eternity? Is that why we exist and why He created us? NO. LOVE IS WHY HE CREATED US!!!! And if obedience has already finished its work in us, and gotten us to the place where we are responsible and living in love with Him, and with our brother, THEN OBEDIENCE IS NO LONGER AN ISSUE. We've come to an understanding, as mature people do, of the reasons for obedience. It's no longer an issue for us. In fact, we've even taken to doing the right thing ourselves, WITHOUT HAVING TO BE TOLD!!!!!!!!!! In fact, we've even come to understand what the Bible talks about when it says that we are new creations in Christ, ones who are dead to sin and alive to God, ( See 2 Cor. 5:17 and Romans 6) and consider it true! So it's not even an issue whether or not we obey. We ARE new creations, ones who are dead to sin and alive to God. 1st John even says that we cannot sin , being born of God.

So what's my point in all of this? Well, the same point as in all the rest of my posts. Which is that the purpose of life is love.We are created for love. It is apparent from creation, when we look around us, and it is apparent when we read the Bible. God is into love more than He is into obedience. It is evident from just looking at what He himself created, us and everything else around us, and it is evident by logically asking ourselves the reason for obedience. It's all for love. Love God. Obey Him? Sure, but just be sure that you understand that obedience is only a small, beginning tool that's necessary right now in this short, brief space of time that we have here on earth, (and not even all the time here, hopefully, if we grow like we're supposed to) to get us to the place where we live permanently in love. This is what God is after. Do not make obedience your primary goal. Make LOVE your primary goal! It's what you're going to be doing forever anyways, so you might as well start practicing now!

I believe that God is a sucker for love, just like you and me are. Here again, all you have to do is look at us to see Him. Since we ourselves are suckers for love, and we are created by Him in His own image, then it only logically makes sense. I think it's what He's after more than anything else. Just like it's what you and me are after, more than anything else. Try loving Him, and see what happens.

God is not looking for perfection, He is looking for affection

Why Jesus is So Great.

Ok, so everybody always hears about why Jesus is so great. But why is He great, really? What is it about Him, and trusting in Him, that makes Him so great?

Because living outside of him is where you have to deal with being good or being bad. And if you've ever had to deal with either one, seriously, you know that they both are extremely hard, and taxing on the soul. This is why the Bible calls the original sin "eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil". Because that's the problem It doesn't matter which side of the coin you are on, the good or the bad, it's stiil the same coin.

So what's the solution? What the Bible calls "eating from the tree of life". Which is, quite simply, God. Who IS the Tree of Life. Which is why I always say, that the answer to life is relationship. With God. And then with others.A relationship with the one who is life is returning to eating from the tree of life.

Don't try to be good. TRY TO LOVE.

the "flesh"

Ok, time to tear down some more myths. This time I'm going to attempt to clear up this notion of the "flesh", as put forth in the Bible.

What is it really? I guess in order to answer this question, it might be helpful to look at what most people's perceptions of it are. And I say "most" people's perceptions because I hear more people talking about it incorrectly than correctly. So here goes.

Most people I hear talking about it think that it means your human appetites, particularly our desires for sex and food, but also things like money, or material posessions, or to enjoy life, or to feel good about yourself or the things you do, etc. etc., fill in the blank. I hear this belief from mostly christians, but I suspect that many non-christians subscribe to it as well. So, logically then, since christians think that these things are their "flesh", they feel bad, guilty, for having all these desires. And then they try, by power of their will, to supress, deny, do away with, ignore, basically get rid of, these good and very natural human desires. Which is not good at all, because, as we will see, these things are not what the Bible refers to as the "flesh" at all. What the Bible refers to as the flesh can actually be those efforts, by our own will power, to do away with things that we mistakenly think are bad. So, irony of ironies, people are, by means of what is really the "flesh", attempting to do away with, deny and supress real, good human attributes that God designed and put in us for good, important reasons.

It's funny, but a lot of the efforts of the "flesh" that I see, are done by well meaning chrisians or other religious, sincere people. This is sad, because these are the very people who are trying their best to live how God wants us to live.

Here is a real definition of "the flesh", from God's perspective, as spoken of in the Bible. It is basically living life, any of it, not by God's spirit. We were designed to run on God's spirit from the beginning. And the entire world is screwed up as it is because most of the world lives not by His spirit. It is very simple and logical. When you live from and by God's spirit, you operate like God wants us to, in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, etc. etc. When you live apart from His spirit, you don't operate how He created us to operate; hence, sin. It's really this simple.

So we see that the issue is not your desires as a human being. Everybody is human. We all have the desires for love, for a mate, for good food, for enough money to have our needs met and be financially free, to enjoy life, etc. We all share these things in common, chrisians and non-christians alike. We are all human. These are not your "flesh". These are your humanity, and should not be squelched, supressed, or wished away. The real issue is from what impetus you are living your life, whether it is God's spirit or not. And if it is His spirit, then you will be walking by the spirit, like the Bible says. And if yoour impetus is not His spirirt, then you will be living by the flesh.

When we look at it this simply and logically, we see that your desires as a human being are not the issue. It is how those desires will be lived by you, dependent upon which source youare living from. If you are living from the source of His spirit, then those desires for love, to enjoy food, to have enough money, etc., will be expressed in loving, kind, good ways. When you are living from the source of just your flesh, (being human apart from God's spirit), your human desires for love, for good food, for enough money, etc., will be expressed in unloving, unkind ways.

Don't deny your humanity. Deny the flesh. For real. And learn to enjoy life as a loving, gentle, patient, kind, child of God.