Patriotic Eyes

I wrote this many years ago and, noticing it was Memorial Day in the US,  I dusted it off. Although we choose to remember the valour and brave actions of those lost and the heartbreak that brought to families, we should be more aware of the bigger picture and the reality of all those affected. Of course, I've never fought in a war, so may not be qualified to write this, but after all I have seen and read, and what my heart says, I think it stands.

And what of our future;

Glories of war, past and present,

Lies and myths float on the phosphorous clouds

Inhaled by Red, Yellow, Black...

We have fought with patriotic eyes, 

   As have they!

Who can see death without tears?

How many knew the reasons?

   Innocent, ignorant, martyrs.

A dawn's early mist drifts and carries fatigue, 

Echoes of shellfire - 

   Scarred earth - 

      A child's terror,

Nightmare vision and Godless chills

And prickling hackles

Making beds for propaganda - patronising, patriots,

   Fanatics.

At the setting of the sun

And in the morning

We will grieve them, 

Lest we remember.

We Are One

When a heart slows, beating into the mist

When footsteps disconnect, reality bleeding

Eyes tunnel

Voices funnel

The overload begins, the mind retreats

Neurons firing in slowmo

Curling foetal, dreams warmth embracing

Clawing rest, wresting the peace

It will come, it floats through

It curls and folds

It draws and caresses 

It speaks

Can't fight it

Process light it

Fuse ignite it

Oils flowing, warming

Flames passion, intimate touch

Breathe and whisper

We are here, we are one

We sleep and dream, live and scream

We shout our love through the mist

The overload retreats

And we rest in the afterglow

We are one

We are

Relationship 101

I think I've got it all sussed now.

Its all very simple really. It comes down to why God created us. After much thoughtful contemplation - well about 40 years worth really, and some of it not very thoughtful (but that's another story), I've realised He created us to have a relationship with Him.

That may not sound overly profound as such, but the implications are huge. For starters, what sort of relationship, and how do we get it? 

Well, the bible talks about intimacy, I mean, look at Song of Solomon - that's really intimate. But when I look at the big picture, I can see it comes down to our complete union/oneness with him. 

Everything we know about love and Jesus and Holy Spirit and Father all centres around an intimate relationship. But here's where it gets interesting. I can't have an intimate relationship with anyone if we don't communicate. Its a two way thing - intimacy from both partners, transparency, trust, unconditional love for and from both sides - otherwise it isn't a relationship.

Many christians and spiritual people in general, will talk about our unity/oneness with God and enjoy him in nature and seeing his heart in everything all around them including other people. And this is true, its a good thing, a great thing! But is it relationship? Do we talk to Him, hear Him, like any other lover talks with their beloved. Yes, its that sort of intimacy He created us for! Not a pseudo-pantheistic oneness with the universe, although its part of the picture. I'm talking about real conversations, whether hearing voices or hearing with our hearts. I'm not talking about reading the bible or christian books or listening to teachings. 

This is the real deal - 

"Yes, I know God, we chat away all the time, He's so interesting and we talk about  everything...", 

"I was talking to God the other day about my son's sore foot, and He reckoned it will be OK if he rests it...", 

"We were discussing what I thought about this book yesterday and He said it was basically OK but some of the stuff was just the guy projecting his own issues...", 

"We went for a walk this morning and He just kept telling me how much He loved me, even all the stuff I hate about myself, well, He just cut through all that and I got overwhelmed..." 

That's the sort of real.

In the end its the only thing that matters. It doesn't matter how we get there. It doesn't matter what doctrines we believe. It doesn't matter what process or rituals. It doesn't matter if you are baptised, spirit filled, have said the sinners prayer or even 'given your life to Jesus'. That was all taken care of a couple of thousand years ago. 

He just wants to live with us, to be our lover/partner/father/mother/brother/sister. When we are in that place, all our "issues" just fall away, without even trying. In the presence of that level of intimacy and being engulfed in that much love, we just "are". Nothing else matters.

Things what I've been thunking

Well, here goes...

Christianity doesn't work.

I mean, on so many levels, it just doesn't work.

Oh, I know all the theology and doctrines - done hundreds of seminars, been to bible college, read I don't know how many books and sat through zillions of sermons. So I get it, I understand it. But in terms of being the solution to life the universe and everything - it just doesn't work!

But here it is, stay with me...

Its the fruit that reveals the truth. I have to look at the fruit of "christendom" and, well, its just not there. Yes, there's many arguments about spiritual truth going out to all mankind and what is happening "in the spirit", got all that. But I'm talking about real fruit. Fruit that "feeds" the world on every level - love, joy and peace.

Look at the history of the church. It's produced more hatred, bigotry, racism, political strife, wars, genocide than any other culture on this planet. Lets look at the state of the church now. There have never been more denominations, cults etc, all claiming to have "the truth". Never more division, fighting, slander. The list of failures would fill a book!

So what's the problem? Many of course, say that scripture is always open to abuse - we all know that, and it never changes anything.
So I ask bigger questions, and a lot of people are asking these questions. What if the universal truths contained in the scriptures are far more encompassing than we imagined. That we have limited truth to a particular culture and mindset that it was never meant to be? We have desperately tried for 2000 years to make it all fit, and we are no closer, probably further away, than we have ever been.

So what are the "universal truths"?

The most important one is Love. The bible says it, nearly all other cultures say it, and, more than anything, our hearts say it!

Perhaps the next would be the nature of man. The bible, most cultures, and our hearts say that we are basically stuffed and are forever trying to embrace the one most important truth - Love.

Maybe we could then say that the solution to this dilemma can only be found in God, that no amount of struggling and striving can solve the problem. And perhaps the whole idea of "Christ" as personified in Jesus, is THE solution to life the universe and everything. I'm not talking about our narrow, bigoted, dogmatic traditional perspective. I mean the universal truth of what Christ did - big enough to redeem all of mankind with a plan that is so way beyond a narrow christian viewpoint that we are only just beginning to grasp little bits of it.

And maybe who and what Jesus is and did is so mindbogglingly powerful that its too big to be contained in one book and controlled by one group of people.

Perhaps the last universal truth that underpins all the others, is that God created us for intimacy with Him. I'm not talking about being "one with nature" (although that's pretty cool) and denying our pains and struggles to embrace some vague pie-in-the-sky ideal. I'm talking about knowing God, like I know my best friend. Not just feeling good about God and appreciating Him in everything and loving everyone because it feels good. I mean KNOWING Him, talking, listening, sharing, laughing, crying. All the reality of this life with Him, INSIDE us - intrinsically bound together in heart and mind like lovers.

So is the bible the sole source of truth? I don't think so. What about our hearts? Far more than we think! What about Jesus? The timeless act of Jesus the Christ, before the foundation of the world, outside of time, gave us free access to intimacy with Him who created us - every single person past, present and future.

What about morality, evil, deception, ethics... intimacy takes care of ALL that stuff. The more I look at that, the more real it becomes. Intimacy with He who made us is the only solution. It bypasses every law/tradition/principle/sin/evil/religion - everything! It takes us straight to the heart of all things, where all love, joy and peace originates.

So does christianity "work"? No! All that works in any sense, is acknowledging what Christ has done and walking into deep personal union with God. Nothing more and nothing less.

This is full of generalisations and I know there are many questions that need detailed answers. But I put it out there to challenge and ask those questions and dig deep for real answers. And I've left a lot of comments open ended for your entertainment. God doesn't mind, lets really use those brains and hearts he gave us.

The wind in my heart

From my lofty little tower high up in the interwebs, gazing across the seas of Blogdom and the little islands of the Facebookians, I see crazy weather. Seas tossed by wild winds, thousands of ships being thrown around in all directions.

But in all this mess, I also see the common factor - the wind! It all seems to be coming from the same direction. Some boats are frantically tacking across the wind to get where they want to go; others sinking, desperately bailing; even some engaged in futile attempts to head into the wind; and some just letting themselves be blown along, sails ripped and torn; and a handful carefully navigating the treacherous conditions with tightly trimmed sails, breakneck speeds in unison with the wind, hanging on for life.

Each boat is completely preoccupied with its own survival, some even to the point of ramming others out of the way, completely indifferent to the consequences of their actions.

But still the wind blows, relentless. Slowly, some on each boat look out and notice that everyone is actually heading in the same direction, that they will all eventually end up at the same place if they just let it blow and go with the flow, and maybe instead of fighting it, they could make the most of it and go for the ride of their lives.

No matter what the boats look like and who is manning them, they are subject to the wind. It blows where it will.

The wind is Love. Nothing escapes it. Nothing resists it. It will take all of us to where it chooses as surely as light dispels the dark.

The wind in my heart!

More on The Word...

Well here's where I'm probably going to go up a rung or two in the heresy ladder!

I have been having ongoing discussions with a friend about many issues relating to grace, leading into the ideas around Ultimate Reconciliation. Although we have agreed to disagree, I thought I might share my final communication by way of relating my current stance - my theology as of this week, next week may be different, lol!! I've mentioned many of the points in previous posts and blogs, but this sort of came out as a summary...

After all our discussion I realise I don't view scripture as the word of God. Jesus is, has always been and will always be the Word of God. Scripture is scripture, nothing more and nothing less. It is subject to the Holy Spirit. It is a collection of letters and documents written by men like you and I, full of the same emotions, fears, and joys. It is full of errors, contradictions and emotions.

But here's the thing. It is exactly what God wanted, for then and now. It describes God's heart, man's heart, their interactions, adventures, loves and hates, the whole gamut of of who we are and our relationship with him. If he had laid out a totally unambiguous user manual, then there would be no heart to heart search, no longing for truth that drives us to him, instead of a book. The bible is invaluable, because it leads us to him, its NOT him. This is where the intellectual/scholar thing turns to custard on every level. He can never be expressed through a book, and never wanted to be. His wonderful grace as expressed through the new covenant, caused us to be totally reliant upon Holy Spirit in us and to trust him in everyone else. Yes there is the Law, which was for the Jews, and the wonderful passionate poetry of Psalms, and the Prophets, all so beneficial to our walk with Him! But they are not Him, nor are they to be taken as literal truths. He is soooo much bigger!

Paul had amazing revelations and expressed brilliant truths, but he was all over the place too, often contradicting himself and throwing in his personal opinions. With all his letters we only see his side of the story, we can only assume what he is responding to. But that's fine, because God wants us to listen to Holy Spirit first. Its scary because we have to trust him, something not many people are even willing to consider, saying its license to do whatever we want, but of course it isn't, that's absurd. Its license to find our union with him free from sin/law/religion, and He's more than happy to take the risk that we'll blow it.

I've been looking at the Preterist viewpoint. Not saying I totally agree with it, but there is so much that is obviously right. And its the same with many other ideas - if we get stuck in our paradigms we spiral into fundamentalist dogma that leads to bondage, not freedom, and completely cuts across our ability to have pure intimacy with God.

The kingdom and the gospel, the work of Jesus and the love of God are so much bigger than we ever imagined or could be explained in a few words penned by fragile humans like us, that God had to present it in all its warts and shortcomings. But we still bury our heads in the words thinking that truth lies there, when its in front of us and in us right now, the words of scripture confirming what is in our hearts.

Jesus was the fulfilment and the end of the law, he had to be familiar with every last bit of it so he could complete his "mission". Yes, scripture is beneficial, but it isn't the source of all truth. Its is totally inspired by God, but not because its indisputable truth, but for the opposite reason - it causes us to turn to him for truth and clarity and to make sense of life. We have been taught to worship the bible rather than Him, and the implications of that are huge.

Our journey with God is meant to be totally unique to each of us, enabled by the finished work of Jesus when he died and resurrected. The scriptures are a wonderful guide to that unique journey, but they will never supersede our unity with the fullness of God right now, and the amazing intimacy that brings every moment of our lives!

BIG gospel

Take a step back...

Look at all the differences in doctrines, denominations. Every variation in belief over 2000 years. The passionate, religious, traditional, legalistic, free, gnostic, mystical, charismatic, pentecostal, fundamental, you-name-it interpretation of a "religion".

A religion that by its very nature allows for thousands of interpretations, because its a religion that deals with individuals, one on one in relation to God himself. He left a book for us all that could be read like a list of rules and standards, or passionate relationships, or any way we choose really.

But the point is, God planned that, it was His idea. You see, He wants every single person to figure it all out by themselves. Everyone has their own unique journey in this life, and God, knowing this from the beginning, reconciled everyone by what Jesus did, so they are free to pursue that unique relationship with Him. We are all free to accept, ignore, struggle, argue, embrace and wrestle with life and God's love any way we choose, because He is unendingly patient, loving and knows each person's heart and all the pain and passion that makes them who they are.

Jesus didn't die and rise so that we could follow a strict set of criteria to avoid eternal damnation and squeeze into heaven down an extremely narrow path. He opened the door to freedom so everyone can explore and find who they truly are in Him. So we can willingly embrace Him because He has met us at every level in our life and stand with Him and in Him with integrity, unashamed, and knowing fully who we are.

We have no right to impose our journey on others. We can present the freedom and joy of truly knowing Father and how it has impacted us, but we must honour every single person's unique journey. Only God knows their heart and what it takes to draw them into His presence, and the perfect timing of every step - his unforced rhythms of grace!

The gospel is BIG, much bigger than our favourite doctrines. God isn't worried about if we get everything right. He doesn't care if we learn Greek and Hebrew and study every nuance of scripture. He's not concerned if we wonder off into some gnostic waffle or literalist nightmare. He is concerned for each persons heart and will never give up - always giving us the space to work through it all while patiently pouring out His love to us.

Lets draw each other to Him, lets share His love and goodness, the freedom of His love and grace, allow Him to love us so that it can't help but overflow to everyone around us.

The Book of Jim

An allegory - few holes in it, but serves a purpose...

A friend has written a book about me, well both of us really. Kind of like the story of our relationship over the years; how we met, kept bumping in to each other, discovering similar interests and ideas, finding we had a lot of the same friends. How we flatted together, and became the bestest of friends. I told all the stories of my past, my family. Shared my heart about nearly everything. So yeah, I guess we are pretty intimate, no secrets, we love each other, respect each other.

So here's this book about us, from his perspective. Of course, he ran it all past me, I read the first draft, and I liked it - the good and the bad. There's stuff where he's made a lot of assumptions about me despite our relationship, I mean, there's a limit to how much he can really get inside my head! And there's the limitations of the written word. But I like that it's his heart about me, even if he doesn't quite get me at times.

There's lots of great stories about things we did together, and stories he remembers me telling him, well, his version of the stories, lol! Sometimes he just gets me all wrong, as friends do, but I love that he's put it all in there, because that's what relationships are all about - getting to work through these things. Knowing that in the working out, the friendship grows deeper. Oh I trust him, totally, because we are besties, and what he doesn't get now, he'll get later on.

So its a great book, warts and all, and I wouldn't want it any other way, cos even though its about me, its really about both of us and how he sees that. Not sure if it will ever really be finished, but its published anyway!

Taste God and see that He is good

This was a response by Todd Peirce to a post about Penal Substitution. I loved it so much I had to blog it as well!


In the garden Adam and Eve's perception of God was corrupted by Sin and the lie crept into their minds. They now saw God as someone to be feared and hid in the bushes. We have inherited that mistrust and wrong perception of God from Adam. Penal substitution is just a natural wrong understanding of what happened at the cross, it seems so logical but that conclusion has been corrupted by the lies that still invade our minds.

Colossians 1:19. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 1:20. and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 1:21. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour.

It says we were enemies in our minds because of our evil behaviour. When we sin the first thoughts that flood in are God is angry or disappointed and we feel like hiding from Him. I believe the world is full of people that are still trying to hide from God due to their behaviour. That is why I believe that what Paul wrote in II Corinthians is key to changing peoples faulty perceptions of God based upon the Lie. We can shine the light of the gospel into the bushes and let them come out and see that God loves them.

II Corinthians 5:18. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 5:19. namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 5:20. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 5:21. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

God says to taste and see that He is good. That says that until we taste we assume that He is not good. My hope is that someone who reads this might be encouraged to taste of God and see that He is good.

~ Todd Peirce

Another UR rant, sigh...

I was reading an article by a wonderful man who has an incredible grasp on the the grace of God and our life of perfect unity with him. And there are many who teach the wonderful freedom and joy of  the finished work of Jesus and our union with the Triune God.

But, I am saddened by the ignorance of many of these guys those who oppose Universal Reconciliation (UR)! Now I know many fundamentalists would not even give the idea the light of day, so I'm not addressing those. I'm talking about those who understand something of the wonderful grace and love of Father and what it means to live loved, yet take some aspect of UR, line it up with their interpretation of some scriptures and declare it to be wrong. The problem I've found in every case, is they have misunderstood the depth and extent of the concept of UR, and based their premises on a small part of the argument. They refuse to think that God could be bigger than their paradigms, biases and traditional teachings.

The most popular argument against UR is in regard to those who say we are all saved but just don't know it. They say this denies any act of faith or belief on our behalf, so assume that all UR beliefs are in error based on this assumption. Now I can understand that, because if we say we don't have to apply faith or belief or acceptance in some form, that is a total denial of vast quantities of scripture. So I agree. To be "saved" we have to make a decision, to act upon a conviction, to change our minds.

But the real concept of UR paints a much bigger picture. We are talking about far more consequential questions:

• At what point is it too late to accept Jesus for who he is - to make that decission?
• Does the "final judgement" mean most will be eternally tortured in hell with no hope of redemption?
• Why does God outline the depths of love in 1 Cor 13 yet not apply the same standards to himself?
• When God says He will never give up on us does that meant NEVER?
• What about the mistransaltions of the words for Hell and eternity throughout the bible?
• What about the early church's position on UR for the first 400 years?
• What about all the scriptures that DO point to UR. They are probably in equal quantity to those that are used against the argument, so how do we reconcile them?
• Do we totally ignore the obvious similarities between the modern interpretation of hell with classical Greek and medieval mythology? 
• What about the total absence of the concept of Hell in the Old Testament?
• If Hell is so important why wasn't it an integral part of the gospel?
• Why didn't Paul even use scripture, let alone references to eternal damnation in his Mars Hill address in Acts?
• Why are three different words that have nothing to do with eternal judgement and torture, translated as Hell in the New Testament?

The list goes on and on. I've found at best people just talk round in circles, battling one scripture against another. Surely that in itself tells us something! If it was really that clear from scripture then there would be no argument, but its just not clear, whatever way you look at it, and to say it is would be just pig headed dogma!

So, like I usually end up saying, we have to rely on Holy Spirit to sort things out. God did that on purpose! He didn't write a user manual with clear instructions. He compiled a bunch of letters and documents about relationships. He gave us the fullness of Himself to live in union with Him, and the brains to think for ourselves - to question and reason and wrestle with Him about everything!

So, back to UR. What does our heart say? What do we know about the unconditional love of God? What about the prodigal son, the lost sheep, what about 70 x 7? What about the god who lovingly hand assembled every human being and breathed His life into, knowing that most of them would be damned for eternity?

Most christians, if asked in confidentiality, will say they either wish all would be saved, or that hell was not really eternal torture, or that God has something better in mind and we don't really understand these things.

The final question we end up with is: will everyone ULTIMATELY be saved. Will some face a judgement that requires refining before they can accept Jesus? Will some fall on their knees in joy at the very sight of Him? Will some realise that all their "sin" was dealt with and run to jump in Father's arms the moment they see him face to face. And will they be told "too late"!

What kind of God do you know? What is his true heart of unconditional love and justice? Why would you even want to enter into a relationship with a God that would even consider eternally torturing most of the creatures He created. It just doesn't make sense on any level. Unless of course you are happy to put your God given faculties aside, and believe the staus quo!