If you want to upset a lot of people, start a conversation about religion. If you want to upset the religious, start a conversation about theology and doctrine.
If you want to be upset, please continue reading this blog, as there’s a good chance what I write will rock your boat – especially if you’re a member of one of the 30,000+ denominations of Christianity.
One of my favorite books about theology was written by a man named A.W. Tozer, who pubished a miniature masterpiece called Knowledge of the Holy. Short, sweet and packed full of concepts that take a lifetime to process, the book explores the nature of God.
Rather than having a modern-day approach to God, in which the Almighty is explained, understood and even manufactured, KOTH begins with the author aligning with the prophet Ezekiel, in the way that the prophet explained his vision of God.
As the prophet got closer, it seemed as if his ability to describe what he saw began to shrink.
…”it appeared as the face of a Lion…”
…”it appeared as if it has the appearance of a face as a lion…”
The closer he gets, the less he’s able to describe what he encounters. This approach flies in the face of most modern-day religious practices, which build their soapboxes on their own interpretations of what God is, how God acts, and how we ought to serve and honor God with our lives.
Ever since I was younger, I’ve pushed back against a lot of the pillars of the christian faith. In many instances, my beliefs could be widely-agreed upon that they’re heretical…
Including:
- I don’t believe the Bible is the ‘WORD of God’.
- I’m open to the idea that Jesus was married
- I don’t believe baptism is required for ‘salvation’.
- I don’t believe in ‘spiritual authority’.
- I believe in reincarnation – and that Jesus spoke about it.
- I don’t believe in a literal interpretation of the bible.
- I don’t believe the earth was created in six 24-hour units of time.
- I don’t believe the writing/teaching of anybody other than Jesus should be considered ‘holy’ – but human, with divine spiritual significance and prophetic forecasting.
I know a few people who woudn’t be abe to make it through that list without fearing for my eternal savation. I’m not one of them.
Let’s talk about the WORD of God.
Most people in the christian church will fight to their dying breath that the Bible is the inerrant word of God.
If something has no errors, there should be no discrepancies within the text. For example, if I’m describing a blue bicycle and somebody else is describing a pink bicycle, it’s safe to say that we’re not talking about the same bike.
What most people don’t know is that the ‘word’ of God was a spoken word. In ancient times, people believed that anybody who knew how to speak the ‘word’ would have infinite power.
As a result, the ‘word’ was passed down from generation to generation, orally, so that only one living person at a time could be entrusted with the enunciation of the word.
Additionally, the bible is FULL of contradictions, errors and even those who differ in their interpretation of specific passages.
Something cannot be without error if it is, in fact, full of errors.
Let’s talk about the wife of Jesus.
Now, this topic is where most people will get their feathers riled up. However, I think it’s important to go back to the ‘canonization’ of the Bible; the meeting where a group of religious/political leaders met and decided which books would be used to create the Bible.
Inversely, they selected which books wouldn’t be included. These books include the Gospel of Phiip, Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Mary, Pistis Sophia, and the Stromata, to name a few.
At the time of the canonization, there was a lot of of debate as to the divinity of Jesus. One half of the room believed that Jesus was equal to ‘God the Father’ while the other half of the room believe he was slightly lessor. That half of the room believed something called “Arianism” – which resulted in heavy persecution and torture for those who believed it.
Imagine that, being tortured because you believed differently about Jesus that somebody else…!
Constantine, the emperor at that time, was famously noted to have kissed the hollowed out eye sockets of one of the Arians – who had his eyes plucked out because of his beliefs.
Why does this matter?
Because most of the practices and doctrine of the Christian faith came as a result of this council. Everything from the inerrancy of the Bible, to the belief in the Trinity; Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
Said differently: Most Modern-day beliefs in the Christian faith were decided, imposed and mandated by people in power 1000+ years ago.
Said-in-action: Most churches have made their practice far more about their upholding of man-made principles and beliefs, than in living out the teaching of Jesus on a daily basis.
Women have been trampled by many of the beliefs and doctrine formulated within the last 1500 years of humanity. For example, there are churches that don’t believe a woman should be a pastor – something I vehemently disagree with.
…what about Mother God? Why don’t we ever talk about the Mother side of God? That’s another blog for another time, but I don’t think of a man when I hear “El Shaddai – the many-breasted one”…
“Wives, submit to your husbands…” was trumpeted by many, as a biblical principal to justify the one-sided domination they took over their spouse. However, these men were very quick to forget the other half of that verse…
“Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church.”
Last time I counted, Jesus took 39 strokes from a whip that looked like this:
Afterward, he looked a lot like this:
39 lashes. At that time, 40 was used as a death penalty.
After this? Jesus had to carry a cross.
“Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church.”
Remember they ripped his robe off of his back, the next time she needs you.
After all of this, he said:
“Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. It is finished.”
Now, I am personally challenged when I think about the idea of loving somebody in the way that Jesus did. In fact, the very idea of ‘laying down my life’ startles me, because I know what it requires; devotion, sacrifice, release and forgiveness.
Why do I bring up these images and narrative about Jesus? Because I believe that Jesus is the only way to cut through all of the clutter and bullshit that modern-day doctrine and theology provides people.
Yes, it’s bullshit that people waste time debating the inerrancy of scripture when there are children dying on the streets of the world.
It’s bullshit that the sacrifice Jesus made is now being used as a tool of profit.
It’s bullshit that there are more churches in America than McDonalds, and our country still operates the way it does.
Now, before a reader can spout off “do not let any unwholesome word proceed from your mouth…” I’ll rebut with the following:
The words are typed.
The Bible also says “Do not kill.”
A hush from the warmongers…”context!” they cry!
There are a lot of things in the Bible that could be debated for many years. However, there was a very simple response that Jesus gave the Pharasees (the religious elect) at the time, which is applicable today:
“What’s it to you?”
There have been a lot of wars fought in the name of God. However, I’ve never seen a single war fought to advance the words of Jesus, because that isn’t what He taught. Rather, He taught others to lay down their weapons, turn the other cheek and forgive those who harmed them.
That sort of practice is a lot more difficult to practice than any religious theology I’ve encountered.
“If megachurch preachers taught like Jesus – they wouldn’t attract crowds. If Jesus preached like megachurch pastors – he wouldn’t have gotten crucified.”
No Comments