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!
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
The Theory of Everything Part 3
Well, there is so much more on my heart that just won't go away, so I'm going to throw around a few more things. These are just ideas and not presented in a very logical flow. More of a "stream of consciousness" (meaning directionless ramble) than a theological expose, but I hope you get the gist of it and don't write me off as a nutter.
In my efforts to keep it simple and get down to the Theory of Everything I seem to keep uncovering more complexity than anything else. I mean this in so many different areas and yet I just can't get away from the feeling that there is a common strand through everything.
OK, that sounds a bit nebulous so I'll try to narrow down on a few things.
Due to our personal circumstances, healing has been the primary focus of our lives at the moment. I have read so many books and scoured the bible on the subject and reached a few conclusions, but none that really "hit the spot", so to speak. Things I know for sure? Jesus healed everyone who came to him, we are instructed to do the same, he provided physical healing for all in his death and Resurrection, so we can heal and know that God wants to heal. But despite all our best efforts there is no guarantee, as yet, not everyone gets healed.
Then there is the whole prophetic thing. There's a huge "revival" in this area and amazingly accurate words have been spoken and God uses many prophets in powerful ways. But there are so many fruitloops and vain, money and power hungry ones around that you don't really want to trust any of it sometimes.
Then I think about the new Grace movement. It is the most freeing and wonderful move of the spirit on the earth at the moment. But there is a tendency to go too far and drift into Universalism. But God still uses it powerfully.
So many revivals, new revelations, new doctrines and all proclaiming they are the latest greatest (that is a generalisation of course). It is so easy to denounce other beliefs and doctrines and throw out the old in a rather ungracious manner. And then have the guardians of the old denounce the new as heresy!
Martin Luther was totally radical in his time with doctrines that changed the course of history. But Wesley came along and added a whole new dimension. If Luther had come across Wesley he would have thought him a heretic! And so the cycle goes on. Each new revelation of the wonders of God, opening up new understandings of His character and grace! And they build on scripture that was staring us in the face but just didn't see it before!
So looking at the current scene in Christendom it seems like we don't know what we don't know - yet. We say we have all we need to know in the scriptures. That the word is what it is and yet our eyes are always being opened to new things - personally and "globally". Until God opens up something new we don't know that we need something new!
Now I keep coming back to this (in some vain attempt to tie things together). We keep reading "scriptures" rather than reading "scripture". We keep looking at the words of Jesus and the apostles for individual instructions about specific things and how to "do" christianity. But all the bible was written in a totally foreign language and culture and the best of translators can only approximate what they think was originally meant. Now before you drag me off and have me flogged, you'll have to bear with me for a bit. We say that its the inspired word of God, but which words? The original Hebrew/Greek? The Greek translation of the Hebrew? And we have to remember that Jesus spoke Aramaic so the original gospels are a translation into Greek of what he spoke anyway. And then the KJV is claimed by many to be the truly inspired translation. And on it goes! So we can say God inspires all the translations over the years so they are all accurate. But there are so many internal contradictions that we just keep running headlong into - this is the very reason we have so many denominations and cults, all claiming to be truly inspired by scripture. But we all know that you can prove anything with scripture!
Are you still with me? As far as I can see God knew exactly what would happen with the bible (one would hope so!), and that's not just with translations but even how the original canon of the bible was put together. Now after all that, I'm most definitely NOT saying scripture is a mess and is uninspired by the Holy Spirit or not the written word of God!
Its possible that we have ALL been right about a lot of things, and ALL been wrong about equally as much. And here is another interesting thing, if I trust that God is drawing you into union with him by the same act of Jesus that allows me to be in union with him, then I have to trust that what he reveals to you is his heart for YOU - not me! So he could tell me one thing that I know is supported by scriptures and he could be telling you something else about the same scriptures! My only job is to encourage you to take full advantage of Jesus sacrifice, that enables you to embrace the Father with no sin (guilt, shame or otherwise), so you can become one with him and he with you - and bring all the treasures of the written word to life.
So back to the bible itself. We have to remember a few basics:
To be responsible for our own revelations, to take the time to embrace Father and listen to him, to walk in the incredible depth of the freedom of Jesus' death and resurrection is a huge undertaking. It most definitely is not abandoning the wonders of the written word for some wishy washy personal "God can be anything to anyone"! It is the most wonderful responsibility that he has given us, to take the gospel at face value, come to the Father and let him bring ALL the written words to life in our hearts so that we can be the life of Christ, NOT a people who just argue over a bunch of scriptures and laws and how to apply them and live by certain standards.
Did any of this make sense? I'll keep working on it...
In my efforts to keep it simple and get down to the Theory of Everything I seem to keep uncovering more complexity than anything else. I mean this in so many different areas and yet I just can't get away from the feeling that there is a common strand through everything.
OK, that sounds a bit nebulous so I'll try to narrow down on a few things.
Due to our personal circumstances, healing has been the primary focus of our lives at the moment. I have read so many books and scoured the bible on the subject and reached a few conclusions, but none that really "hit the spot", so to speak. Things I know for sure? Jesus healed everyone who came to him, we are instructed to do the same, he provided physical healing for all in his death and Resurrection, so we can heal and know that God wants to heal. But despite all our best efforts there is no guarantee, as yet, not everyone gets healed.
Then there is the whole prophetic thing. There's a huge "revival" in this area and amazingly accurate words have been spoken and God uses many prophets in powerful ways. But there are so many fruitloops and vain, money and power hungry ones around that you don't really want to trust any of it sometimes.
Then I think about the new Grace movement. It is the most freeing and wonderful move of the spirit on the earth at the moment. But there is a tendency to go too far and drift into Universalism. But God still uses it powerfully.
So many revivals, new revelations, new doctrines and all proclaiming they are the latest greatest (that is a generalisation of course). It is so easy to denounce other beliefs and doctrines and throw out the old in a rather ungracious manner. And then have the guardians of the old denounce the new as heresy!
Martin Luther was totally radical in his time with doctrines that changed the course of history. But Wesley came along and added a whole new dimension. If Luther had come across Wesley he would have thought him a heretic! And so the cycle goes on. Each new revelation of the wonders of God, opening up new understandings of His character and grace! And they build on scripture that was staring us in the face but just didn't see it before!
So looking at the current scene in Christendom it seems like we don't know what we don't know - yet. We say we have all we need to know in the scriptures. That the word is what it is and yet our eyes are always being opened to new things - personally and "globally". Until God opens up something new we don't know that we need something new!
Now I keep coming back to this (in some vain attempt to tie things together). We keep reading "scriptures" rather than reading "scripture". We keep looking at the words of Jesus and the apostles for individual instructions about specific things and how to "do" christianity. But all the bible was written in a totally foreign language and culture and the best of translators can only approximate what they think was originally meant. Now before you drag me off and have me flogged, you'll have to bear with me for a bit. We say that its the inspired word of God, but which words? The original Hebrew/Greek? The Greek translation of the Hebrew? And we have to remember that Jesus spoke Aramaic so the original gospels are a translation into Greek of what he spoke anyway. And then the KJV is claimed by many to be the truly inspired translation. And on it goes! So we can say God inspires all the translations over the years so they are all accurate. But there are so many internal contradictions that we just keep running headlong into - this is the very reason we have so many denominations and cults, all claiming to be truly inspired by scripture. But we all know that you can prove anything with scripture!
Are you still with me? As far as I can see God knew exactly what would happen with the bible (one would hope so!), and that's not just with translations but even how the original canon of the bible was put together. Now after all that, I'm most definitely NOT saying scripture is a mess and is uninspired by the Holy Spirit or not the written word of God!
Its possible that we have ALL been right about a lot of things, and ALL been wrong about equally as much. And here is another interesting thing, if I trust that God is drawing you into union with him by the same act of Jesus that allows me to be in union with him, then I have to trust that what he reveals to you is his heart for YOU - not me! So he could tell me one thing that I know is supported by scriptures and he could be telling you something else about the same scriptures! My only job is to encourage you to take full advantage of Jesus sacrifice, that enables you to embrace the Father with no sin (guilt, shame or otherwise), so you can become one with him and he with you - and bring all the treasures of the written word to life.
So back to the bible itself. We have to remember a few basics:
- The Old Testament was written without the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus - it only looked forward to it
- All that Jesus spoke was before he completed his sacrificial work so much must be read in that light
- Paul spoke mostly to churches that were battling with different problems, some even heretical, and to different audiences in different cultures
To be responsible for our own revelations, to take the time to embrace Father and listen to him, to walk in the incredible depth of the freedom of Jesus' death and resurrection is a huge undertaking. It most definitely is not abandoning the wonders of the written word for some wishy washy personal "God can be anything to anyone"! It is the most wonderful responsibility that he has given us, to take the gospel at face value, come to the Father and let him bring ALL the written words to life in our hearts so that we can be the life of Christ, NOT a people who just argue over a bunch of scriptures and laws and how to apply them and live by certain standards.
Did any of this make sense? I'll keep working on it...
Saturday, 28 May 2011
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 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...
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Mins songs
To all you fans of Min's songs. I've put all of the songs we did back in '94 up for listening and download.
Please bear in mind it was a fairly primitive recording setup and the keyboard was dreadful (to say nothing of the guy over-playing it).
Please bear in mind it was a fairly primitive recording setup and the keyboard was dreadful (to say nothing of the guy over-playing it).
Monday, 2 May 2011
The Theory of Everything Part 2
Its been some time since my last post. I've attempted a followup many times only to end up scrapping it.
The last few months have stretched me to the limits and I've had a chance to really think about and apply my Theory. It comes down to this: If I don't have an intimate friendship with God based on the absolute freedom given to me by Jesus Crucifixion and Resurrection, then I have nothing.
Nothing sounds a little extreme but that is really the truth. I tend to end up applying a principle or method to a situation to get a result. I can see what the bible says about a particular problem and apply all the right principles and expect the right result. The scary thing is, it works most of the time. If I apply all the principles of blessings and curses in the Old Testament (not just the Mosaic law but stuff in Psalms and Proverbs etc - good stuff that makes sense, I'll live a good life and be blessed. But will I walk in the power and wisdom that comes from knowing my loving Father as a friend/lover/master/brother? Will I hear the whisper of His loving voice guiding and directing in every step of my life? Will I know without a doubt then when he says "pray for that guy and he will be healed" that he will? Can I live a truly miraculous life doing greater things than Jesus did (which he said we would)?
I don't want to live a good life and just do the good things we are supposed to do. I have tasted enough intimacy with God to be spoiled for anything else. When I was first "saved" as a teenager, it was totally amazing. I only knew the Anglican church and yet I was overwhelmed by this amazing God who lived a miraculous life in Jesus and poured out his love and power, for us to do the same, into his church. I was spoilt for it from day 1.
So I can hardly pray sometimes because its just a ritual - a good ritual, I know all the right things to do and I know God hears me. Its not like there's anything wrong as such - its just not good enough, not like I'm relating intimately to a lover, or confiding in my oldest bestest friend, or cuddling into my daddy's arms and just resting there feeling loved. And yet this is what the bible screams at me every time I read it. Its like, this has to be the centrality of my christian life and everything comes from there. I pray something because that's what Father said I should pray, as I sat snuggled on his lap. I help someone because my "best friend" told me that's what they really needed. I actually healed someone because Holy Spirit said that they were ready and all I need to do was lay hands on them. I don't read the bible and do all the good things it says because that's what it says - I do it because I love my Dad so much and I have such an amazing relationship with him that I just wholeheartedly and willingly do the very next thing he says to do without any thought of "doing the right things". I read the bible then to keep me on track, to draw me closer, to pull me back to him if I wander off, to help in the hard times when I can't get close because the pain and circumstances of life get in the way.
I can't go back, I can't live like a good christian. I want to live in his wonderful presence every moment. And the strangest/scariest thing of all, is that's how he wants it and is inviting me to live like it. Its there in his word - all the way through from Genesis to Revelation, and I just keep missing it. Or calling it too hard and/or super spiritual and/or unrealistic. But its the greater reality, and once you taste it, anything else is just compromise and second best.
So that's where I'm at, heart on my sleeve, and a not really adequate description. But this is no sudden thing, its 40 years of a journey that really feels like I've just begun.
The last few months have stretched me to the limits and I've had a chance to really think about and apply my Theory. It comes down to this: If I don't have an intimate friendship with God based on the absolute freedom given to me by Jesus Crucifixion and Resurrection, then I have nothing.
Nothing sounds a little extreme but that is really the truth. I tend to end up applying a principle or method to a situation to get a result. I can see what the bible says about a particular problem and apply all the right principles and expect the right result. The scary thing is, it works most of the time. If I apply all the principles of blessings and curses in the Old Testament (not just the Mosaic law but stuff in Psalms and Proverbs etc - good stuff that makes sense, I'll live a good life and be blessed. But will I walk in the power and wisdom that comes from knowing my loving Father as a friend/lover/master/brother? Will I hear the whisper of His loving voice guiding and directing in every step of my life? Will I know without a doubt then when he says "pray for that guy and he will be healed" that he will? Can I live a truly miraculous life doing greater things than Jesus did (which he said we would)?
I don't want to live a good life and just do the good things we are supposed to do. I have tasted enough intimacy with God to be spoiled for anything else. When I was first "saved" as a teenager, it was totally amazing. I only knew the Anglican church and yet I was overwhelmed by this amazing God who lived a miraculous life in Jesus and poured out his love and power, for us to do the same, into his church. I was spoilt for it from day 1.
So I can hardly pray sometimes because its just a ritual - a good ritual, I know all the right things to do and I know God hears me. Its not like there's anything wrong as such - its just not good enough, not like I'm relating intimately to a lover, or confiding in my oldest bestest friend, or cuddling into my daddy's arms and just resting there feeling loved. And yet this is what the bible screams at me every time I read it. Its like, this has to be the centrality of my christian life and everything comes from there. I pray something because that's what Father said I should pray, as I sat snuggled on his lap. I help someone because my "best friend" told me that's what they really needed. I actually healed someone because Holy Spirit said that they were ready and all I need to do was lay hands on them. I don't read the bible and do all the good things it says because that's what it says - I do it because I love my Dad so much and I have such an amazing relationship with him that I just wholeheartedly and willingly do the very next thing he says to do without any thought of "doing the right things". I read the bible then to keep me on track, to draw me closer, to pull me back to him if I wander off, to help in the hard times when I can't get close because the pain and circumstances of life get in the way.
I can't go back, I can't live like a good christian. I want to live in his wonderful presence every moment. And the strangest/scariest thing of all, is that's how he wants it and is inviting me to live like it. Its there in his word - all the way through from Genesis to Revelation, and I just keep missing it. Or calling it too hard and/or super spiritual and/or unrealistic. But its the greater reality, and once you taste it, anything else is just compromise and second best.
So that's where I'm at, heart on my sleeve, and a not really adequate description. But this is no sudden thing, its 40 years of a journey that really feels like I've just begun.
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
The Theory of Everything
In the field of theoretical physics the holy grail is the "Theory of Everything". There are lots of theories about the nature of matter - from sub-atomic to the massive interactions of galactic proportions. But most physicists are trying to put together an underlying theory that explains all matter, the most fundamental thing that makes all of the universe what it is (I have no concept of what the maths behind that might look like even though I do try to wade through papers on String Theory, Dark Matter, Relativity and Quantum Mechanics).
As a christian I've always wanted to have a "Theory of Everything". This may sound really odd to most, but it does my head in trying to piece together all the different theologies and doctrines, the contradictions of scripture, methodology, eschatology - so many different thoughts, processes, ways of being, doing, praying, worshipping - 6000 years or so of God interacting with us and still no definitive form of unified christian thought.
I look at all the denominations, even the cults that sit on the edge of Christendom, and see threads of truth, at times intertwining with each other and other times tearing the fabric apart. I can understand how so many thousands of different beliefs and interpretations can exist, our sole source of doctrine is the bible, a book of amazingly detailed and complex accounts of mans relationship to God. There is so much room for interpreting these words into any given culture, paradigm, personal circumstances, mental state, you name it, that it makes me wonder if God really knows what he's doing!
Thus my desire for a Theory of Everything that could bring it all together. I haven't found one yet, but every so often a piece drops into place and something of that big picture starts to make sense. So here's a bit of where I'm coming from, bearing in mind that I may also be as far off the track as our friends from Wako (well hopefully not that far off).
You can take it for granted the the most important thing is having the the eyes of the Holy Spirit when reading scripture. Without his guidance we are totally up the creek, because the bible is, on the surface, just a bunch of stories written over a long time that have some common strands. Only the Holy Spirit can show us the truth behind the words and indeed show us the living word himself. So many questions could be answered immediately by the assumption that most people/groups don't have the Holy Spirit to guide them, thus the disorder and differences. And yet most proclaim the basic principles of Christianity and on close inspection, are obviously living godly lives and are blessed by Him. But then there are huge differences (enough to cause devastating splits in movements, broken relationships, damaged lives, and even in the past, wars). So what's going on?
The bible is the complete representation of God in a written document. If someone wrote a book that was a complete written representation of me (heaven forbid), they could read all the different chapters at different times and think, so this is what Jim is like! Then they might go back to one chapter about my murky past and focus on that for a while and think, "hmm, not so sure about this guy. If that's what he's really like then I don't know about the other stuff". Or they could read an amazing chapter about peace, love and happiness and totally forget about the other stuff that makes up the totality of who I am (that's a bit simplistic but I hope you get the point).
So maybe when we read the bible, first up, we need to read it to get the big picture. We have to know WHO God is as the underlying factor in all our understanding. All those books and chapters about all those different people, seeing some part of God's character, sometimes at the expense of other parts. The thread of Gods character starts to become apparent through it all. The amazing, complex character that created us, who made us in that same image (that's scary).
For me, as a christian for nearly 40 years, who's read the bible consistently through that time, done bible college, read zillions of books, numerous conferences etc., the one main thing that comes through is this God that created us as his partners/friends/lovers. It is a consistent theme from the very beginning through to the end. The problem is he had to make us capable of loving him of our own free will, to realise on our own, the extent of his character - his love, power, mercy, grace - his plan for us, our eternal destiny. He couldn't spell it out, swamp us with the whole thing, overload us to the point where we had no choice but to fall on our face and believe, because it would override our free will. The will he gave us to look at something and decide whether for ourselves if we wanted it. To build a unique relationship built totally on the unique character he gave each of us.
Now it gets a bit scary and weird again. That really means that each of us has our own unique relationship with God? Well, the bible seems to indicate that. The problem is how do we have a unique relationship and yet not drift from the written word into crazy Wakos. Well for me, the entirety of the written word is the representation of the living word (cosmic!) - its who God is, who Jesus is. If you chop out bits of a living organism it dies. If we chop out bits of the bible as we try to understand it it dies for us. We then spend our time trying to breath life into the bits we chopped out.
So... as we approach the word with that attitude He will show us the bits that especially relate to us, the parts of His character that will uniquely bless and change us into the wonderful person he designed. Just like if you get to know me there are things you would be attracted to, common interests and so on, and other things that you might say "well I don't understand that but hey, that's what makes you who you are". And we would grow together as friends and over time the bits you are unsure of would start to become clear and you would understand how they fit into who I am and even get to like everything about me (this analogy is beginning to scare me!). you would soon see that that book that was written about me was accurate, but wasn't the same as actually getting to know me as an intimate friend so you would actually understand me!
So that's how it is for God. We can easily take the written word and take all the little bits and never actually take the time to spend with the living word and let him piece them altogether into a unique understanding based on that relationship.
The good thing about this is we can then look to each other, with our own unique relationships and draw insights from each other, and then turn back to Him and say "oh, I didn't know that about you?! how cool!" and add another level of depth to our relationship with him.
Now, my Theory of Everything? Hopefully you can see where I'm heading. RELATIONSHIP! The written word is nothing more and nothing less than a tool to to enter into relationship with the living word, Jesus (Give me some poetic license here thanks, although I think it may be truer than we realise - have to pray about that one...). Our relationship with God is deep, intimate, ever unfolding and is the source of everything to us. All scriptures must be interpreted through that relationship - and that is really scary! What if the relationship is not too good or non-existent? Could explain a lot.
I may have left more questions than answers and I may well get branded a heretic, but that is probably because I need to build more on this subject - and you probably need to read that book about me to understand where I'm coming from (lol, unfortunately God is the author of that book and its definitely not on the best sellers list). I'll write more on this, as time and brain cells allow, as I have left out so much - This is as much for my benefit as yours, as I try to formalise all my rambling! I welcome constructive comments.
As a christian I've always wanted to have a "Theory of Everything". This may sound really odd to most, but it does my head in trying to piece together all the different theologies and doctrines, the contradictions of scripture, methodology, eschatology - so many different thoughts, processes, ways of being, doing, praying, worshipping - 6000 years or so of God interacting with us and still no definitive form of unified christian thought.
I look at all the denominations, even the cults that sit on the edge of Christendom, and see threads of truth, at times intertwining with each other and other times tearing the fabric apart. I can understand how so many thousands of different beliefs and interpretations can exist, our sole source of doctrine is the bible, a book of amazingly detailed and complex accounts of mans relationship to God. There is so much room for interpreting these words into any given culture, paradigm, personal circumstances, mental state, you name it, that it makes me wonder if God really knows what he's doing!
Thus my desire for a Theory of Everything that could bring it all together. I haven't found one yet, but every so often a piece drops into place and something of that big picture starts to make sense. So here's a bit of where I'm coming from, bearing in mind that I may also be as far off the track as our friends from Wako (well hopefully not that far off).
You can take it for granted the the most important thing is having the the eyes of the Holy Spirit when reading scripture. Without his guidance we are totally up the creek, because the bible is, on the surface, just a bunch of stories written over a long time that have some common strands. Only the Holy Spirit can show us the truth behind the words and indeed show us the living word himself. So many questions could be answered immediately by the assumption that most people/groups don't have the Holy Spirit to guide them, thus the disorder and differences. And yet most proclaim the basic principles of Christianity and on close inspection, are obviously living godly lives and are blessed by Him. But then there are huge differences (enough to cause devastating splits in movements, broken relationships, damaged lives, and even in the past, wars). So what's going on?
The bible is the complete representation of God in a written document. If someone wrote a book that was a complete written representation of me (heaven forbid), they could read all the different chapters at different times and think, so this is what Jim is like! Then they might go back to one chapter about my murky past and focus on that for a while and think, "hmm, not so sure about this guy. If that's what he's really like then I don't know about the other stuff". Or they could read an amazing chapter about peace, love and happiness and totally forget about the other stuff that makes up the totality of who I am (that's a bit simplistic but I hope you get the point).
So maybe when we read the bible, first up, we need to read it to get the big picture. We have to know WHO God is as the underlying factor in all our understanding. All those books and chapters about all those different people, seeing some part of God's character, sometimes at the expense of other parts. The thread of Gods character starts to become apparent through it all. The amazing, complex character that created us, who made us in that same image (that's scary).
For me, as a christian for nearly 40 years, who's read the bible consistently through that time, done bible college, read zillions of books, numerous conferences etc., the one main thing that comes through is this God that created us as his partners/friends/lovers. It is a consistent theme from the very beginning through to the end. The problem is he had to make us capable of loving him of our own free will, to realise on our own, the extent of his character - his love, power, mercy, grace - his plan for us, our eternal destiny. He couldn't spell it out, swamp us with the whole thing, overload us to the point where we had no choice but to fall on our face and believe, because it would override our free will. The will he gave us to look at something and decide whether for ourselves if we wanted it. To build a unique relationship built totally on the unique character he gave each of us.
Now it gets a bit scary and weird again. That really means that each of us has our own unique relationship with God? Well, the bible seems to indicate that. The problem is how do we have a unique relationship and yet not drift from the written word into crazy Wakos. Well for me, the entirety of the written word is the representation of the living word (cosmic!) - its who God is, who Jesus is. If you chop out bits of a living organism it dies. If we chop out bits of the bible as we try to understand it it dies for us. We then spend our time trying to breath life into the bits we chopped out.
So... as we approach the word with that attitude He will show us the bits that especially relate to us, the parts of His character that will uniquely bless and change us into the wonderful person he designed. Just like if you get to know me there are things you would be attracted to, common interests and so on, and other things that you might say "well I don't understand that but hey, that's what makes you who you are". And we would grow together as friends and over time the bits you are unsure of would start to become clear and you would understand how they fit into who I am and even get to like everything about me (this analogy is beginning to scare me!). you would soon see that that book that was written about me was accurate, but wasn't the same as actually getting to know me as an intimate friend so you would actually understand me!
So that's how it is for God. We can easily take the written word and take all the little bits and never actually take the time to spend with the living word and let him piece them altogether into a unique understanding based on that relationship.
The good thing about this is we can then look to each other, with our own unique relationships and draw insights from each other, and then turn back to Him and say "oh, I didn't know that about you?! how cool!" and add another level of depth to our relationship with him.
Now, my Theory of Everything? Hopefully you can see where I'm heading. RELATIONSHIP! The written word is nothing more and nothing less than a tool to to enter into relationship with the living word, Jesus (Give me some poetic license here thanks, although I think it may be truer than we realise - have to pray about that one...). Our relationship with God is deep, intimate, ever unfolding and is the source of everything to us. All scriptures must be interpreted through that relationship - and that is really scary! What if the relationship is not too good or non-existent? Could explain a lot.
I may have left more questions than answers and I may well get branded a heretic, but that is probably because I need to build more on this subject - and you probably need to read that book about me to understand where I'm coming from (lol, unfortunately God is the author of that book and its definitely not on the best sellers list). I'll write more on this, as time and brain cells allow, as I have left out so much - This is as much for my benefit as yours, as I try to formalise all my rambling! I welcome constructive comments.
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Old demos
Hey boys and girls, I found some old demos I did back in the 80s. You thought the other stuff was tacky!... but it was the 80s after all. I've got a few more, might just post the ones that aren't too embarrassing.
The CCC student project was done as part of the CCC Creative Arts course when I taught there for a while. Students wrote the lyrics and I did the music - I ended up singing this one as the girl who wrote the lyrics couldn't sing. I can't remember who she was so if you are out there and find this let me know!
You'll find it in the Jim's Music tab.
The CCC student project was done as part of the CCC Creative Arts course when I taught there for a while. Students wrote the lyrics and I did the music - I ended up singing this one as the girl who wrote the lyrics couldn't sing. I can't remember who she was so if you are out there and find this let me know!
You'll find it in the Jim's Music tab.
Monday, 6 December 2010
Min's Songs
Min has written some amazing songs over the years but unfortunatley we haven't had a chance to record the newer ones or do justice to the older ones.
I've published one called Draw Me in the Media Player. The recording is live at a Living Waters conference and was taken straight from the mix so its very rough, but it gives you an idea.
I would really love to record Min's songs very soon as we are unsure of the future and I believe she has so much to offer yet. I believe her songs should be out there for all to hear - although I am biased!
I've published one called Draw Me in the Media Player. The recording is live at a Living Waters conference and was taken straight from the mix so its very rough, but it gives you an idea.
I would really love to record Min's songs very soon as we are unsure of the future and I believe she has so much to offer yet. I believe her songs should be out there for all to hear - although I am biased!
Saturday, 4 December 2010
Return to Grace
Well, I bit the bullet and finally uploaded the album I did back in 95. Listening to it now makes me cringe, some of the sounds are dated and it waffles on a bit, but then it was made to put on and just chill to. It makes no demands on you and wasn't meant to have catchy melodies. It was just to "meditate" to and hopefully take you to a closer place with Father.
I have never got around to recording newer stuff and spent most of my musical time worship leading, and lately not much of anything. But it's churning around in my head and heart to get back to it and create something far more up to date, unusual, inspiring, risky, soothing and universal, sort of... well, yeah... So as time and resources start to open up you never know what might happen.
I have some old demo suff as well I might put up soon.
I have never got around to recording newer stuff and spent most of my musical time worship leading, and lately not much of anything. But it's churning around in my head and heart to get back to it and create something far more up to date, unusual, inspiring, risky, soothing and universal, sort of... well, yeah... So as time and resources start to open up you never know what might happen.
I have some old demo suff as well I might put up soon.
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Wounded Healer
This is a quote from Henri Nouwen. Self explanatory really:
"Nobody escapes being wounded. We all are wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not “How can we hide our wounds?” so we don’t have to be embarrassed, but “How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?” When our wounds cease to be a source of shame, and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers.
Jesus is God’s wounded healer: through his wounds we are healed. Jesus’ suffering and death brought joy and life. His humiliation brought glory; his rejection brought a community of love. As followers of Jesus we can also allow our wounds to bring healing to others."
Sometimes life's journey just seems to get harder, but the hope that my wounds may one day bring life brings life to me now.
Jesus is God’s wounded healer: through his wounds we are healed. Jesus’ suffering and death brought joy and life. His humiliation brought glory; his rejection brought a community of love. As followers of Jesus we can also allow our wounds to bring healing to others."
Sometimes life's journey just seems to get harder, but the hope that my wounds may one day bring life brings life to me now.
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