To continue the survival theme...

I want to delve into what I term the baloney-ology of some of the water baptism teaching we've had in the past. We called the circumcision made without hands a cutting away of our flesh, our fleshliness as we termed it so we could be spiritual-now we's spartchule!

Our baptisedness determined our station in the pecking order of life; we sought to do away with the deeds of the flesh which Paul enumerated in scripture. This carving-up of God's creation has always puzzled me-Paul wrote of a war that raged in his members. Yet he never ceded a portion of himself to the opposition, his was a civil conflict. I remember being taught about the dead man we were dragging around that would kill us our carnality that we needed to remove his carcass from our spiritual selves. Troubling for me was why did Jesus allow Himself to be baptized? He had this done over the protests of his cousin John at the outset of His ministry. This Jesus who called Himself the "Son of Man" cast Himself as the quintessential human, the prototype of humanity in the flesh. He spoke of His flesh at the communion table as a part of His sacrifice in which remembrance was required. "In Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily" again in scripture.

Jesus told Niccodemus he must be born again; we call ourselves as modern Christians-"Born Again Christians". "Should I crawl back into my mother's womb? How far back do I unlearn?" asked Niccodemus. Jesus told this Pharisee that he must un-learn his religion and in so doing see the kingdom before him-Jesus the Messiah. Jesus the first born of many brethren invites into this table of fellowship, of familial relationship, baptism the sign of the irrefutability of birth, once your out, your out. In Jesus we're invited and indeed adopted into family and sovereignly made a part of that family never to be undone, never to be repented of by the Father.

Finally for today, the whole of your being was baptized flesh, spirit, soul or as the say in Texas "Horns, Hooves an' all" He saw that it was good.

John

Continuation of the series "How to survive..."

Scripture tells us that, “It is appointed man once to die.” I’ve assumed along with possibly most everyone else that came as a result of the fall. Robert Capon surmises differently in his book Genesis the Movie. He tells us that the tree of life in the garden isn’t about perpetual existence in the present state of being unflawed by sin, but of freedom from the fear of death. He points out that in the time before that fateful day when Adam and Eve misinterpreted what God said and as a result were duped by Satan and their own mistrust that death was all around. Animals were devouring animals, something was dying be it plants or animals to provide Adam sustenance.

Pharaoh’s daughter names him Moses because “She drew him out of the water” Ex. 2:1-10. Moses the lawgiver in effect baptized a precursor to Israel being baptized wholesale in the Red Sea. Let’s go back to Moses; He was born into another family not his own by water. That was his salvation, his place of nurturing and eventually his education; he was the first literate Hebrew that I know of. Later when Israel fled from Pharaoh their salvation as a nation went through the red sea-water baptism set the nation of Israel apart from their past of slavery and bondage physically. They were as scripture tells us still in bondage inwardly, still enslaved in their hearts.

So what I think for us as relates to water baptism and the Body of Christ is that there is salvation in this Body we are born into this by water baptism. Is that a substitution for a relationship with Christ? Let’s look at the archetype Moses. He held meetings as it were with God on a regular basis on mountaintops and tents, he knew God face to face. Old Testament history to me shows a people content with their religion and letting someone else do the God thing, thanks. The Father wanted a relationship with His people, Jesus repeatedly used the informal term for God as Abba, like we’d say hey Dad as a way of communing with God. His inclusive “Our Father” in the prayer gives us insight again into the intimacy desired by the God with us.

The Body of Christ is a place where we get saved in the New Testament sense of that word “saved” where it translates “whole or wholeness”. It is the place where the slavery within is made into a place of experiential freedom. Now many twist and contort and I my mind just plain screw this all up. Jesus said He’d leave the ninety-nine and go seek out the lost sheep. Words about millstones being hung around folks necks who cause one of these little ones to stumble. Paul cautions Timothy to keep his doctrine straight as a way of salvation for both him and his flock. Thessalonians tells us that partaking of suffering is a requirement for the church, not inflicting suffering.

I want to continue this vein of thought so hang in there.
John

Ahem,
This is the continuation of the series I started about "How to survive Christianity and take as many people with you as you can before they find out what you're up to."

Some of us, me included, have sought to differentiate ourselves as Mary's instead of Martha's. We look on Martha as a striver seeking to do in the flesh what calm, cool, and collected Mary did in the spirit. In most instances we did this in a most "Martha" like fashion.

Women were property in Jesus' time they had few rights, they couldn’t be called to testify in legal matters for instance, couldn't file for divorce, etc. Jesus had this disturbing habit of turning things on their head in "The first shall be last" modus operandi. So Martha was doing what women did they served and cooked and cleaned and did whatever men though needed doing, and if it was debasing or sexually exploitative oh well. The significance of Jesus' fellowship with these women as friends, as peers, as disciples is striking. He purposed to exalt their station in life as equals, (oh boy!) and even that of sinners to that of table companions, lost on us possibly but significant in His time.

So is it unspiritual to wash dishes, cook, sweep the house, do chores instead of read your bible and pray? Some certainly give this impression; what may have again escaped their notice is that Jesus did exactly this for most of his adult life as a tradesman-do menial stuff. He as a Messiah was a disappointment for the Jews because they assumed the Messiah would appear from some hidden unknown realm and be Messiah-ish. Jesus was a rube from the provinces and his family was known, not in very outstanding terms were they known. His brothers in fact according to those who documented the times didn't all believe He was the Messiah.

In church life sometimes we divide things and people into importance and treat them accordingly, Jesus isn't surprised at that behavior in the least. He said for the record that that isn't the way He divides things. The unimportant are called near to Him in fellowship, the self-important can go be important-elsewhere.

John

I am hoping to find a way personally to get past the past and yet know that submitting to those who wound isn't what God intends even though some authors teach that. This is going to be a series of what I'm gonna call, "How to survive Christianity and take as many people with you as you can before they find out what you're up to."

BiographyDr. Lewis Smedes was educated at Calvin Theological Seminary and the Free University of Amsterdam. He is ordained in the Reformed Church of America and taught for over twenty-five years at Fuller Theological Seminary. Dr. Smedes is the author of many popular books of theology, including Forgive and Forget, Caring and Commitment, and A Pretty Good Person.

"Five Things Everyone Should Know About Forgiving" Let’s say that you’ve been hurt. Somebody you counted on let you down. Somebody you trusted betrayed you in your trust. Somebody who promised to take care of you, instead took advantage of you. The hurt goes deep. What makes the pain worse is that you were wronged. You did not have it coming. Nobody deserves to be treated the way you were treated. It was not fair.
One thing is for sure. You cannot change what happened. There is no delete button for the past. You are stuck with it. You cannot forget what happened. You cannot erase it from your mind. It is like a video tape sewed inside your head. And every time it plays its rerun, you feel the pain all over again.
Now you have to make the hard decision. Do you want to spend the rest of your life with a pain that you did not deserve to get in the first place? Or do you want to be rid of it, healed, freed from it, so that you can go on with your life without that painful memory shadowing you?
There is one way to heal yourself. It is not one way among many. It is the only way. God invented it. It did wonders for him and does wonders for us. We call it forgiving. And God tells us to try it for ourselves. "Forgive each other," the Good Book says, "as God in Christ forgave you."
It is so simple. And yet people often misunderstand what forgiving is. And what it isn’t. So I want to share five simple things about forgiving just to clear up some mistaken notions about God’s way of healing unfair pain.
I. Forgiving is the only way to be fair to yourself
People have said to me, "Forgiving is just not fair. Why should I have to forgive the lout who did me wrong and let him off Scott free as if it never happened? "That just isn’t fair," they say.
When they say that forgiving is not fair, I tell them that forgiving is the only way to be fair to yourself. Would it be fair to you that the person who hurt you once goes on hurting you the rest of your life? When you refuse to forgive, you are giving the person who walloped you once the privilege of hurting you all over again—in your memory.
Remember this: The first person to get the benefits of forgiving is the person who does the forgiving. It’s so important that I want to say that again: The first person who benefits from the forgiving is the person who does the forgiving. Forgiving is, first of all, a way of helping yourself to get free of the unfair pain somebody caused you. The most unfair thing about unfair pain is that you should go on suffering it in your bitterness and misery when there is such a simple remedy for it.
So if you think forgiving is unfair, let me tell you that once you’ve been wrongly hurt, forgiving is the only way to be fair to yourself.
II. Forgivers are not doormats
Some people have the notion that if you forgive you make yourself a doormat for people to walk on. A wimp. Nothing could be more wrong than this.
Let me tell you what one woman learned about not being a doormat and still being a forgiver. I was a guest on a radio talk show one time and a lady called in to tell us about how she had suffered the worst thing that could happen to a mother. A drunk driver in her neighborhood swerved his car out of control and hit and killed her three year old little girl who was playing on the grass near the curb. She died before they reached the hospital. Now, in a rage, her mother asked me how I could expect her to forgive a monster who got himself drunk, then took his car and killed her precious three year old daughter.
As soon as she hung up another woman called to say she had to speak to the first caller because the very same thing had happened to her. A drunk driver killed her five year old boy four years before, right in front of her own house. But listen to what she went on to say: She said that for two years, she lived in the fog of terrible rage. She fantasized the most horrible things happening to the man who killed her child. She wanted him to suffer more than he had made her suffer; to have nightmares the rest of his life and then burn in hell.
Well, after living in the misery of her blind, unhealed rage for two years, she woke up to the fact that the drunk who killed her son was now killing her—inside—a day at a time, killing her soul. And she was helping him do it. She was wise enough to go and see her priest who listened to her story and told her what she already knew, that the only way out of her pain was to set out on the journey of forgiveness. Yes, even for this wretched man who had done such a horrible thing to her. But he said there was something they had to do first. They had to begin a chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in their town. They had to make it known that if you forgive a drunk driver it does not mean that you must tolerate drunk driving.
Forgive those who wrong you, but do not tolerate their wrong doing. Forgive them and tell them what Jesus told people he forgave: You are forgiven for what you did, but stop it, don’t do it again. Let me say it again: Forgivers are not doormats.
III. Forgivers are not fools
Some people think that if you forgive somebody you once trusted, it means that you have to go back into the same relationship with him or her that you had before. If she was a friend who made a practice of betraying you, forgive her and be friends again. Not a good idea. Forgivers do not have to be fools.
Suppose he was your husband once, and that he beat you or betrayed you until you just could not put up with it anymore and you left him. Now to heal yourself, you are ready to forgive him, ready to clean the garbage of spite and resentment out of your life.
But suppose he has given you reason to believe that if you went back to him, he would soon be back at his old abuse again. Don’t go back to him. Forgive him and pray that he will be changed. But don’t go back. Remember: You may be a forgiver, but forgivers do not have to be a fools.
IV. You don’t have to wait until he says he’s sorry
Some people believe that you should not forgive anyone who wronged you unless he or she crawls back on his knees, says he or she is sorry, and begs you to forgive him. I think that is a bad idea.
If you wait for the lout who hurt you to repent, you may have to wait forever. And then you are the one who is stuck with the pain. If you wait for the person who hurt you to say she’s sorry, you are giving her permission to keep on hurting you as long as you live. Why should you put your future happiness in the hands of an unrepentant person who had hurt you so unfairly to begin with? If you refuse to forgive until he begs you to forgive, you are letting him decide for you when you may be healed of the memory of the rotten thing he did to you.
Why put your happiness in the hands of the person who made you unhappy in the first place? Forgive and let the other person do what he wants. Heal yourself.
V. Forgiving is a journey.
Some people suppose that you should be able to forgive everything in a single minute and be done with it. I think they are very wrong. God can forgive in the twinkling of an eye, but we are not God. Most of us need some time. Especially if the hurt went deep and the wrong was bad. So when you forgive, be patient with yourself.
When you decide to forgive you first make a baby step on the way to healing. And then you go on from there. You may be on the way for a long time before you finish the job. And you may backslide and need to forgive all over again.
I once was in a rage at a police officer in the village where I live for abusing my youngest son for no good reason. I stomped about my house for several days in a fury of anger at the officer. I knew I would be miserable unless I forgave him. But I did. I did forgive him. I forgave him by going into my study and getting on my knees, and saying, "Officer Maloney, I forgive you. In the name of God, I forgive you."
About a year later I saw this same office drive by in a patrol car and I had to do it all over again. Only it was easier the second time. Then, a few years later, I heard that he had been fired from the force for abusive conduct. Hearing that tasted sweet as honey to me. I secretly smacked my lips with vengeful satisfaction. Then I realized I needed to forgive him one more time. Which I did. And, who knows, I may have to do it a few more times before I’m over it.
Nobody but God is a real pro at forgiving. We are amateur and bunglers. We cannot usually finish it the first time. So be patient with yourself. Make the first step. It will get you going and once on the way, you will never want to go back.
These are the five things I wanted to tell you about forgiving somebody who wronged you. Let me go over them once more:
1. Forgiving is the only way to be fair to yourself after someone hurts you unfairly.2. Forgivers are not doormats; they do not have to tolerate the bad things that they forgive.3. Forgivers are not fools; they forgive and heal themselves, but they do not have to go back for more abuse.4. We don’t have to wait until the other person repents before we forgive him or her and heal ourselves.5. Forgiving is a journey. For us, it takes time, so be patient and don’t get discouraged if you backslide have to do it over again.
And remember this: The first person who gets the benefit of forgiving is always the person who does the forgiving. When you forgive a person who wronged you, you set a prisoner free, and then you discover that the prisoner you set free is you. When you forgive, you walk hand in hand with the very God who forgives you everything for the sake of his Son. When you forgive, you heal the hurts you never should have felt in the first place.
So if you have been hurt and feel miserable about it, our Lord himself recommends forgiving as the only way to healing. I hope that you will try it for yourself.

Thanks,
John

In my last post I wrote about art and life and the creation of said things, so this is a chiaroscuro, a sketch if you will that may have some dabs of thought here and there.

First of all let me say that I'm learning more at fifty than I have at any other point in life it seems. Circumcision for example originated with the Egyptians and was later practiced by the Israelites. Archaeological proof exists for this in the form of a terra-cotta phallus-circumcised unearthed in ruins in Egypt. This isn't the point of my thoughts today just an illustration of how things we learn change us.

But since I'm here I'll share this thought the circumcision made without hands that we have been taught is the cutting away of the old man I think is baloney. Jewish males are considered Jews after the Moil performs the Bris precisely on the eight day after birth. It is a time of family, of welcoming the little fellow into the family and of extending the both the lineage of that particular family's heritage and that of the Jewish nation. It is their responsibility to see to that through their protection and nurturing.

The baby Jesus had this performed in the proper way by loving parents and so was welcomed into the Jewish nation as a human. I want you to hear this and hang with me ok? A child unknowingly becomes a Jew through the efforts of others, I say unknowingly because it is done without their assent to the ritual. Of course in the Hebrew bible (or Old Testament) the men who were first circumcised had to consent to it. Later at either the bat or bar mitzvahs they become accountable of age to take on themselves the responsibility of being a Jew. Enough sketching for today.
John

As I'm sitting here this morning a documentary about John Singer Sargent is playing in the background. A renowned portraitist he made his way past the Salon in Paris and the patrons of Europe and America. He actually renounced portraiture and began landscapes in both water color and oil-the critics accused him of being a tourist. Sargent was the quiet fellow who used odd composition, insolence in poses, and a grand mastery of the medium he felt a responsibility to his talent-his gift.

Growing up in the house of an artist I saw how a white gesso canvas came to life, the sketches, the still life, the scenery, the person(s) took form after a time it seemed best to stop. To step back and let the painting be, so it seems is the case with writing something, it swirls about in my mind, it troubles me and eventually I have to give it voice of some sort. Honestly I write as much for me as anyone else, though I appreciate your attentions and response they are a blessing. I feel the amateur most of the time but that really isn't the point, it's the words and thoughts that mean something. Of course the frame, the page or the screen contain an object, something of interest of focus but it isn't all there is to be seen or said about the matter, just what needs expression at that time.

On screen now in the documentary is the scene he painted of blinded soldiers in the First World War; the line of walking wounded, eyes blinded are a foreground for the incongruity of a soccer game in a peaceful landscape that recedes in the distance. Sometimes life is a gallery that we exist in possibly oblivious to the hours that were spent in creating the objects de art briefly viewed by us patrons. I walked this morning on a planet ages old and saw starlight that has streamed across time and space to decorate the gray twilight of dawn. The air I breathe itself is a history book, several molecules of air that Jesus respired pass through my body.

The gallery of life has tragedies, happiness, and lots of stuff in between, if we are aware of our place in this existence of our presence in a dynamic of natural and spiritual we may survive it.

John

While waiting around in a Barnes and Nobel one afternoon I glanced down at a book that had interest which used the word "Bullshit" in the title. Inside the front cover the author credited his father a university prof. I think. He related the tale briefly of his father's business card reciprocated to those who handed theirs to him. In fine embossed ink the subscript under his dad's name read, "I'm something of a bullshit artist myself."

This universal colloquialism for untruth was the first word of profanity uttered to me by a teacher when my high school band director in response to a lame excuse for missing a Saturday practice said in exasperation Bullshit. Hung over didn't seem to be a proper illness so I stammered around about being sick-Bullshit.

Legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans has parlayed this talent into a career in his broadcasts on Sirius Radio and His Sunday television show with Daryl F. Zannuck-he of "The kid stays in the picture" fame. I use this rather shocking bit of profanity because it seems to me were astounded as Christians when confronted with this reality in our lives. Some have made themselves cozy with the notion; I read a tome by a defrocked televangelist whose posed photo journal seemed to relish his status as B.S. artist in residence.

Somewhere down the road we've uncovered this secret, akin to discovering cars don't run on water that Christianity can't be done as a Bullshit enterprise. Some, as in me, were distraught at the fact that Jesus meant it when He said "I am the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me." I could surround myself with platitudes and aphorisms, Christian and otherwise about the philosophical side of life, or I can face reality-Jesus is truth.

I can reside in the cynic's lair of disdain cozy in scorn and ridicule-there's a living to be made there these days. I can skulk in shame and remorse, commit living suicide where I kill off my hopes and dreams and drift through life. I can run and hide, and lurk, and regret ever having lived and spend the rest of my guarded miserable existence making God pay for ever having the temerity to make me. Or I can realize that Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost-in a sea of...Bullshit.
John