If it feels good...

A friend commented about the two extremes we tend to adopt:

1. If it feels good - do it
2. Our feelings are completely unreliable and we must live by external guidelines

Society tends to regard 2 as the best option, and religion in particular, declares that we are, at our very core, unreliable, deceived, incapable of making good choices, incapable of real love, and that we must have external guidelines by way of laws - either legal or religious - that govern our behaviour.

Christianity, although declaring we are freed from law and it's burden by Jesus, still states very clearly that it's only by having the Holy Spirit in us that we can ever hope to make good, life giving decisions. But that's still relying on an external source, and the end goal is to prove/demonstrate our "goodness" by living to the laws laid out in the bible, and the Holy Spirit gives us the power to do this.

I've found, however, that those who begin to understand who they really are, who we ALL are, see life very differently.

As we see that our intrinsic value isn't based on approval by others, adherence to "laws", performance based on assumptions etc, but is based on the fact that we are all equal humans, who are created in, by and for love, the need for external laws and rules fades.

We no longer need to think in those terms, simply because all that we do reflects our own self worth. We see ourselves in others and want to draw that worth out of them. We act with empathy in all we do, because we know that love is the only universal constant that transcends all other systems of belief.

My friend said he now pretty much lives by the first statement. And I agree, because I'm starting to understand that I really can trust myself - my deepest self. I am love. Love feels good. I trust that love. 

We can say that we deceive ourselves, but what is the basis for that statement? Could it be that we have desperately tried to apply external rules, in the belief that without them we are evil to the core. We have been taught this for so long that we believe it without question. In fact, to question it only "proves" that we are just self seeking, hedonists

But as we gradually let ourselves see our essential worth, love becomes the prime motivation. Not performance based conditional love (which isn't love anyway), but a simple powerful love that genuinely wants nothing more than to
nurture, respect, unconditionally accept itself in all people and all things, especially and foremost, in ourselves.

This is nothing new. It's not some hippy drug induced dream, or "new age" escapism. It's the deepest truth that has wound it's way through human history. We all know it deep down, if we dig deep enough, it's there.

We ARE love, and when that revelation becomes "conscious" we can simply do whatever we want because it feels good.

Will we make mistakes? Of course! But those mistakes will help us to see deeper. It inspires greater empathy and compassion as our "unloving" ways are exposed. We have nothing to fear but fear itself.

Live loved!

Fight for Law change

I received this from Diane Sparkes ( who often writes for GayNZ).

We need law changes to fully protect our society from hate speech, bullying and abuse! Logan Robertson's email abuse does qualify for prosecution under the crimes act for inciting suicide, but we need broader more effective laws as we slowly move towards the extremes that places like the USA have become renowned for.

I really wish it weren't so. It breaks my heart to think that we need laws to protect us from stuff that no human should even consider! But until that....

Jim Marjoram, is right, he (the Pastor) needs support, but how do we do this when
we fail to take it upon ourselves to demand from the society we live in the
consequences for Hate!
New Zealand has often been called God’s own country yet as a country we make no
demand of our rights.
As New Zealanders we are constantly told how great this country is but there are still
many issues that we as a society have failed to demand.
Justice is one of our collective rights and we have created many responses to just
what is acceptable for us all.
But one area of justice that we have failed to attend to is Hate.
I an article I wrote back in March 2013 for GayNz
I described my concern for this lack of a workable law on behalf of all marginalised
people. However it seems the demand has not been take up.
Hate is insidious in our society and it is societies purpose to let the whole of society
know that it will not be tolerated.
Whenever a person makes a decision to assault verbally or physically, a person
intentionally because they are different, of how they identify, a down fall of society
itself can be the only result.
The Justice Minister will be quick to point out that the crime of hate is taken care of
at the time of sentencing and is included in the sentencing act. Yet the police state
their hands are tied because there is no crime in the act.
But as stated in my article this is the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.
Not much help when someone proffers hate in this case, we have freedom of speech
do we not, but should we accept this kind of hatred as acceptable, certainly it sells
papers and promotes in the media indignation as a means of keeping us informed.
But the reality is, is it Right!
And what should our New Zealand society demand, our laws must show in no
uncertain terms just what we will accept, and while our enforcers of our laws are
disallowed the means of protecting our rights, we stand naked, discriminated against
for who we are, by freedom of speech.
Overseas where Hate is a crime, society through its laws seeks to protect its
community from this kind of hatred. See: American hate pastor set to stand trial
Demand for the crime of Hate is definitely needed in this country if we are truly
“Gods Own”.

We have to.

We want to be so sure.
We can't bear to think that there is no black and white.
There must be clear moral standards. There must be laws.
There must be the knowledge of good and evil.
We must know how to treat each other - how to treat ourselves.
We must be told what love is.
There must be certainty.
We have to know our eternal destiny.
There must be rewards and punishment.
We have to know who is good and who is bad.
We must define sin.
There has to be defined qualities for "in" or "out".
We have to be able to judge correctly.

Without a clear moral guideline, without a set of rules and procedures that describe how we are to believe and behave, without a clear picture of eternal principles, without knowing exactly who God is and what is required to be accepted by it, without all we need to know being laid out in minute detail
- how do we know if we are right or wrong?
- how can we tell who is speaking truth?
- what do we have?
- what will we do?
- how shall we behave?
- what do we believe?


Simple.

I AM

We already know - every single one of us.

Old Testament theology made simple

Okay, this is my summary of years of diligent study, bible college, and countless sermons and books.

The Old Testament was the story of a particular ancient tribe and their impressions of God. It is completely irrelevant for us now except for any gems we can pull from it (sure you can make it about Jesus etc, but so what, means nothing now, and in fact completely distracts us from who we are now).

Jesus came from that tribe and actually spent most of his time telling them they had it completely wrong. He then sorted out the whole relationship to God thing, helped us to see how incredibly loving and personal God is, helped us to realise he is all in all and we have nothing to worry about.

Mankind has been trying to return to the mish mash of tribal Judaism in the name of Christ ever since - completely missing the point of everything Jesus did.

What a mess we have made of something so incredibly simple - God 100% in us and us 100% in God - complete freedom to live loved!

The Dilemma of Grace

I think many people have the idea that grace (especially the "new" grace experience) is either a license to sin or a denial of the reality of our nature.

The view point of "license to sin" is simply based on not understanding the purpose and power of grace, and isn't the focus of this post.

Many, however, see that the embracing of the finished work of Christ, in that we are completely one with God, sin free, unconditionally loved, and completely free from any law etc, as being a denial of the reality of our life here and now.

The reality of what Christ did and the new covenant is even far more radical than that. God doesn't even see sin any more and only sees us as perfect loved children, well, more than that! He sees us, in fact, as lovers now, and simply wants us to enjoy him, living beyond the concepts of right and wrong (the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil).

Now this certainly sounds like a weird and wacky disregard of reality. A complete ignorance of the necessity for law and moral guidelines, and, even worse in some ways, a denial of our personal reality. By that I mean the processes that our minds deal with on a moment by moment basis. The complex dynamics of experience, paradigm, fears, guilt and shame, the handling of relationships that simply can't be nicely sorted and boxed. Our minds just don't resemble the ideal of this grace thing, so it seems like it really is just an ideal, but devoid of common sense and the reality of life.

Here's a quote by Paul Zahl:

Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you. Grace is being loved when you are unlovable…. The cliché definition of grace is “unconditional love.” It is a true cliché, for it is a good description of the thing. Let’s go a little further, though. Grace is a love that has nothing to do with you, the beloved. It has everything and only to do with the lover. Grace is irrational in the sense that it has nothing to do with weights and measures. It has nothing to do with my intrinsic qualities or so-called “gifts” (whatever they may be). It reflects a decision on the part of the giver, the one who loves, in relation to the receiver, the one who is loved, that negates any qualifications the receiver may personally hold…. Grace is one-way love.

Grace doesn't make demands. It just gives. And from our vantage point, it always gives to the wrong person. We see this over and over again in the Gospels: Jesus is always giving to the wrong people—prostitutes, tax collectors, half-breeds. The most extravagant sinners of Jesus’s day receive his most compassionate welcome. Grace is a divine vulgarity that stands caution on its head. It refuses to play it safe and lay it up. Grace is recklessly generous, uncomfortably promiscuous. It doesn't use sticks, carrots, or time cards. It doesn't keep score. As Robert Capon puts it, “Grace works without requiring anything on our part. It’s not expensive. It’s not even cheap. It’s free.” It refuses to be controlled by our innate sense of fairness, reciprocity, and evenhandedness. It defies logic. It has nothing to do with earning, merit, or deservedness. It is opposed to what is owed. It doesn’t expect a return on investments. It is a liberating contradiction between what we deserve and what we get. Grace is unconditional acceptance given to an undeserving person by an unobligated giver.

It is one-way love.

With this in mind, we have to come to terms with how it affects our inner life, our daily struggles and moment by moment realities. Here's how it works for me:

I'm convinced of the truth about the nature of grace and that the key to living in it is renewing my mind to its reality. So in daily life I take the time to just stop and remember that I really am a new creation, that I am one with God, and that He is completely besotted with me this second and that will never change. That's it! That's living in the "rest" of His love. Its allowing my mind to focus on that simple fact.

I can't change anything about myself, but I can begin the renewing of my mind by just letting myself be loved and allowing that to slowly alter my thoughts and emotions. Of course I'll still do lots of stuff that is not beneficial to God, myself and others. I'll hurt people, make stupid decisions, wrestle with my past and my future - all that stuff. BUT, they no longer define me. The real reality (lol), is everything I need to live loved has been done, that by focusing on that and resting in that place as often as I can, I WILL be changed. It can't be helped. 

The crap of daily life doesn't change, but my responses do. The recognition of my unity with Love himself will change me - it has and it will. This is the life changing power that Paul speaks of in his letters. Its the ONLY thing that brings change. And its simple and goes against everything logic tells us. It goes against religion, morality, tradition and most church doctrines. 

It is freedom! And remember: God is love - live loved!! ;-)

The greatest commandment

It never ceases to amaze me how many of us say that the law is fulfilled but then say we only have two laws now that Jesus himself gave us:

1. Love God
2. Love your neighbour as yourself

We happily say this is the law of love and it sums up all the law into something we can understand and practically achieve.

But of course this wasn't Jesus' last word on the matter. Just before his death he said: 
"A new precept am I giving to you, that you be loving one another; according as I love you, that you also be loving one another." (John 13:34 CLT).

This is a complete game changer! His initial summary of the law into the Top 2 is just as condemning and unachievable as the rest of the law, and still brings death in the end. We just can't make ourselves love God, and we don't really love ourselves, let alone our neighbours. So Jesus "new commandment" over shadowed ALL the law and gives us the only hope we have - to be loved by Him and then love each other in the same proportion to our own experience of that love.

How simple is that! We don't have to live by ANY laws ever again. We don't have to even think about them! The only thing we need to concern ourselves with is how much he loves us and letting that flow over into everyone else. There are no "yes buts", no "life principles", no "golden rules", only pure unadulterated freedom to enjoy God in all His fullness, IN us, ALL the time, absolute freedom, guided only by His presence in us. This is why its called the Good News!!

I know many of you are already saying "yes but", but this freedom is the only thing that allows us to run into His arms without a care, and to hear His voice, and to live from the place of Love.

Jesus, the Word

By Gaye Stradwick

Have you read the descriptions in Paul's Epistles of who you are in Christ and what he has done for you, and felt your spirit leap within you?

And have you also read some of the words of Jesus in the Gospels and felt a bit flat and overwhelmed by the standard he sets?

The reason is Paul's Epistles were written to you! But the words of Jesus were written to people under the Mosaic law.

But even then, Jesus was not just saying "the law sets one standard and I am setting an even higher one"...

but by sometimes contradicting and the law and sometimes lifting the bar higher, he was saying “This is who I am! This is the authority that has been given to me by my Father! I transcend the law - this covenant law and every other law! I am the way, the truth and the life!"

He was saying you no longer have the promise of a Saviour in your written law - here I am in the flesh - I have authority over all law! Matt. 28;18 "All authority (all power of rule) has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." Amp.

Not only the law was fulfilled when Jesus came, the promised Saviour had come!

He brought a new commandment, a new law - the law of love!

John 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another."

Everything in the old law that did not align with this was now done away with! The Mosaic law had to align with the law of love!

Today, Christians need to learn the same lesson as those Jewish folk had to learn 2,000 years ago. John 5:39: "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life."

Jesus clearly said that he was over every commandment and written law. Yet today we take fragments of New Testament Scripture and make them into rules and laws. Once again now, we often look for life and security by making a neat package of rules and regulations from words written to people 2,000 odd years ago, who lived in a different world. And not only do we live by rules ourselves, we hold our brothers and sisters to them as well!

How different would what we have today look if we really lived by the over-arching revelation of love in the person of Jesus Christ - and by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God -instead of rigid rule keeping, and beating each other over the head with those rules.

What’s in a WORD?

For years the law demolished us

Our heart and soul our simple trust

With no accountability

It ruled in its verbosity

Twisted WORD misunderstood

And good turns evil and evil good

Using “submission” (a voluntary state of meekness)

As enslaver’s chain

And “accountability” (to be an open book)

For personal reign

WORDsmiths groan in painful measure

As the WORD is robbed of intrinsic treasure

And the sweetest SPIRIT is quenched once more

While HE THE WORD waits at the door

For if in wresting it was defiled

Let it now be reconciled

Let ears be opened and HIS heart be heard

And let us now redeem the WORD

Harrison  Burns

(Turn of the century Christian poet)

Jim's heresy of the day.

2 Tim 3:16 -  "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness". 


Which scripture was Paul referring to? Obviously not the New Testament because it didn't exist then. So he's talking to Timothy about the Old Testament. Timothy's mother was a Jew, father a Greek, but he was raised with knowledge of Jewish traditions and scripture. Paul preached to the Gentiles, Timothy was working amongst the Greeks, they had no Torah nor were they encouraged in any Jewish traditions. So all a bit odd given Paul's other statements about the law.


I did quite a dig around about the word for Scripture used here. Its a particular form that isn't used often in the Greek and basically means the entirety of all God's breathed Word - or something along those lines. Given the context of Paul's other writings and his emphatic statements about doing away with the law, the only conclusion we can make of this is he wasn't speaking about a bunch of written laws, rituals and prophecies, so much as the entirety of Jesus, the living word. Seeing as this letter is addressed directly to Timothy he would have been very aware of what Paul was saying and its implications. Of course, we mustn't forget  Paul had Timothy circumcised early in the piece, which was totally against Paul's own teachings. In studying this point, there are a few fumbling reasons put forward as to why this may have been, but we seem to forget that Paul made mistakes (gasp!) and Timothy's circumcision may have been one. 


So going back to a bigger picture, why have we included the New Testament in the same category as the Old. The Old was a strict set of written laws, codes, messages from God to a people who didn't have the indwelling Christ. They had to have it written down and preserved! The early church had no scriptures! The letters and other documents weren't regarded as Holy Scripture until many, many years later, they were just letters floating around mostly correcting churches that were going off the rails. It seems that if we were to have an infallible set of written documents that were to be taken as the literal instructions of God on how to be Christians, Jesus would have organised that before the ascension so there could be no doubt that these instructions were from him! But no, all we have is a set of hodge-podge ambiguous writings that have been tacked together and presented as the infallible Word of God.

Now I know you are looking around for the biggest stones you can find to throw at me... but those documents were inspired by God! Each was to a specific audience - a church in trouble or need, a struggling leader, a group of people in a region needing encouragement, whatever... Were they written to us? Of course not! Are they inspired by God? Yes! Can we learn from them? Yes! Can we apply every little thing in them for our lives? No! So what de we do with all this? Horror of horrors - we have to have a personal relationship with God, our loving Father, with his son Jesus who by his Holy Spirit lives inside us in all his power and glory. He has to be intimately involved with our very being, all that we are and do. He is our Word, our wonderful living Word. The Scriptures should just support what Holy Spirit is already doing in us. If we are constantly walking in greater revelation of God in us we are less and less likely to even be sin conscious, less needy of being propped up by an instruction manual - of being less dependant on trying to figure out which particular scripture fits our particular need at any given moment - of finding a promise to hang on to - because the living Word is IN us already.

Just remember those poor old gentile christians wandering around with no scriptures to guide  them, and some of those Jewish christians berated by Paul for telling others they had to live by the Torah. It seems that the last thing Paul wanted was a bunch of scripture fanatics wandering the countryside!


You may have noticed I've been on about all this for a while now.  The reason is obvious (to me). Our current understanding of all these things just doesn't work. We happily say if we know enough scripture and understand it all, everything will all fall into place - but it doesn't - it just gets worse! More doctrines, more denominations, more splits, more discord, hatred, lies, envy, pride, you name it. And we keep blaming each other's interpretation of scripture - when will we see that this will never stop until WE stop and realise there's something wrong with this picture?! 


Could it be that scripture was never meant to be used like this???

Observation on Grace

While setting up my website I've been looking at so many books that talk about grace (supposedly) but really talk about getting serious with God and being a real christian, getting real with God, etc (ad nauseum). They all keep saying we have to be more like Christ, do more, strive more, die to self every day, put Him first, do this, do that, blah blah blah... so few actually talk about the real gospel and the truth of what Jesus did...

The gospel is so simple. It saves us and stays with us into eternity. It IS good news. Nothing about it is bad - there is no "yes but". According to Paul in his letters, Jesus is IN us and we are IN Him. He is IN the Father, we are seated with him next to the Father - not will be - we ARE. Our spirit is there already, not when we die. We can't do anything to get closer to Father, we can't get more "anointing", he doesn't "come down" to us, we don't have to beg for more of Him - we have it already!!

The implications of this fact are huge. All we need to do is believe it and let it work in us. We have full unlimited access to the heart of Father right now. He will show what we need when we need it. How to pray, when to pray. He is intimately involved with every aspect of our lives.

We are no longer under ANY law, we don't even have to think in terms of law. We just allow Holy Spirit to be himself in us and us in Him. If we sin, we are forgiven - every sin we will ever commit is already forgiven. We don't get separated from God because of sin, its already gone! If we sin, just thank Jesus for what he did on the cross and go on - he'll give us the grace and strength to fix any mess we make with our sins, so we don't have to worry.

It's all there in the Paul's letters, staring us in the face. Paul was given the revelation of the gospel for the gentiles (that's most of us - and it applies to the jews anyway). He continually talks about the fulness of Christ in us, our position with Him, with Father, Holy Spirit, he keeps saying it over and over, but we just keep missing it and want to "get more of God" in some way. We want to pursue some religious activity to feel more worthy, to make sure we don't distance ourselves, keep repenting of sins, get lots of inner healing, pray more, tithe (don't get me started on that), intercede. None of these things are even good "principles". If we live by "principles" we are back under the law - yep, that's right, principles are just more laws we hang around our neck! Its just Jesus, nothing but Jesus in us, Jesus plus nothing. That is the gospel, the GOOD news. When we get it, all the other stuff becomes a non-issue, we live Christ, He lives through us. We don't have a license to sin - we don't want to sin when we are one with the fulness of the triune God.

I could rabbit on for ages. I have a library of nearly 1000 books, and I feel like throwing most of them out. They just keep telling me to do more stuff, live by principles, 10 easy steps to intimacy, on and on... even many famous authors and theologians, just keep dumping on us to try harder.

Jesus' yoke is easy, his burden is light, gospel = good news, if it isn't, you aint got it!

New Breed

I think a new breed of christian is being birthed.
The seeds have been there for a long time, the whispers of the spirit.
A breed that isn't concerned with the law, with principles, obsessed with applying keys and steps.
The law becoming a distant memory - grace superseding the law
A breed that isn't obsessed with cause and effect, with living up to expectations.
Creatures who are so in love and passionate about Jesus that they don't even think about if they are sinning or not - they are just living in Father's presence - gladly, joyfully, playfully doing life with Father.
Not even concerned about being obedient but happily living, loving, crying, partnering, worshiping their wonderful God - who talks, plays, confides, laughs and cries with them.
Birthing a new era of freedom that ascends way beyond the walls of church buildings, doctrines, denominations.
A thing of such incredible beauty and power that the world won't know what's hit it.

Of course, I could just be dreaming, but I can feel it...

The one commandment

I was reading the other day that the one new commandment Jesus gave us was not as I quoted in "Assumptions" (“love God with all your heart, soul, body etc”.) but is actually, "Love each other as I have loved you". 

This is even better! It gives us a tangible picture of love - simple, powerful and all consuming. His love for us was total - full of mercy, grace, sacrifice, strength, comfort... so as we experience more of that love direct from him we just do it to everyone else.

One of my favourite thoughts: "Love God then do whatever you want" - awesomely, freeingly, scary stuff!

Assumptions

I have been a christian for some 35 years and have been through just about every “flavour” it comes in. Converted as a traditional Anglican and moved on to “charismatic”, pentecostal, fundamental, hyperfaith…. and sort of ooozed out the other end with my own ideas on what christianity is and how to live it.

There are some key points that I have had to keep coming back to over the years:

• The Old Testament is just that – the old agreement (covenant) between God and man.
• The New Testament is also just that – a brand new agreement between God and man.

Therefore, the lessons we learn learn from the OT must be viewed through the lens of that old covenant and the culture of the people it was made with (I’ll expand on that another time). The NT says “hey, the old arangement only proved the point that no matter how hard you try you are going to end up turning everything into a system of rules (legalism, religion… and all the nasty stuff that comes out of that).

The NT radically changed that – so radically that if you can still see rules and legalities and imposed values etc you have probably missed the point of the new agreement.

What’s the difference then? Man can’t use any system of laws and regulations to get to God (have a meaningful relationship with Him). We are just consistantly “sinful” no matter what. We can’t get close enough to Him to allow Him to change us for the better – from the inside – to see God in such a way that we are inspired by a deep passion to please Him (like you do when you are in love!). So God sent Jesus to take all our sinfulness on himself. That means that all that gets in the way of seeing God for who he is, is gone – God doesn’t see it anymore; he sees us as perfect! This is pretty radical stuff – we don’t have to “do” anything (no religious activities whatsoever). And this is not a once off deal, it’s for every moment of every day. And even better is there are no strings attached – meaning we are free to totally abuse the offer.

I guess God took a big risk in making this new deal, but the point is, he did it so we can get to know Him – because when we know Him we fall in love with Him and wouldn’t want to do anything that would stuff up the relationship.

Now that is the key point – Jesus came so that we can be free to love God – not so that we can follow the ten commandments; why do you think Jesus said that the only “law” we need is “love God with all your heart, soul, body etc”.

The other thing is the danger of looking at the writings of the NT as a set of legal regulations too!! All God is doing in all the NT books is showing people some tips on how to apply his new arangement in their particular situations (thus the apparent contradictions).

The only thing we need to worry about is getting to the point where we have fallen hopelessly in love with God and are very happy to do whatever he asks of us. Our life will change just because we love him – not because we are trying to struggle with sticking to a set of laws.