Rules, Religion, and BS

To the furious masses and those who are significantly dissapointed that there's been no new material posted in weeks... Firstly, I apologize and secondly, if you think your going to be impressed by whats to come, another apology, and here's a picture from Patagonia - I digress.

"Religion is the default human mindset."

Here's the good news: Nothing you do (or withold from doing) will please God and make Him love you more. The amount of times you say no to a drink, don't get drunk, say no to weed, decide not to go to a party, resist a temptation, read your Bible, attend a Bible study, go to church, pray, listen to christian music, don't listen to "bad" music, etc, will not and does not make you more righteous, more loved by God, or more precious in His sight. He loves you regardless of what you've done, are doing, and will do...

Often, what we do to ourselves is set out our line of rules, that we think lines up with how God wants us to live, or how we think we should live our lives, and we make it our goal to follow them out to perfection - resisting where we've set to resist and doing what we've set to do. Here's the problem: One, are your "rules" biblical? or do you make them up cause they sound nice, i.e. don't be like Eve (See Genisis 3:3 where she adds to God's command) and Secondly, life (nor christianity) is about following rules, that's not Jesus - It's religion, it's idolizing your progress, it's putting your goals (made-up or not) first in the priority list and striving "after wind" to complete them. Welcome to another form of idolatry. Your check-list, or life's progress-chart, is not what the Gospel is about.

A friend once told me an inspiring story that ended with this line: "Religion will kill you."

Your life is about about loving God and being loved by Him, living your life for Him. Summed in one word: Relationship. The God of the universe loves you.

Ecclesiastes 11:9 - "Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let yor heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things, God will bring you into judgement."

There is infinite freedom in Christ, or as Augustine put it: "Love God and do what you please."

Here's a short illustration (from a sermon I heard) to prove the silliness of religion: A friend is part of a certain Jewish sect who has created a rule that states: On the sabbath day you are not permitted to travel more than a distance of 1 mile...unless you are over water. This rule stands because if you were at sea it would be impossible to judge the distance you've travelled as the ocean is constantly moving, etc. So, this friend, in an effort to abide by this rule (religion) that was laid down, travels on the sabbath, in his car, miles and miles, with a bottle of water underneath his seat. (Travelling "over water".) Crafty isn't he. I know God's probably thinking..."man...that guy sure got me on that one."

No, that's not God's rule, it's man-made religion.

Examine your own life and see if you can find the bottle of water underneath your seat. (There's always half-empty water bottles floating around my truck...maybe you have some too.)

You're loved.

And Jessica, you're beautiful.

Original Love

Imagination and creativity. We think artists, musicians, styles, stories, etc, and most people think "new". If you are creative you've found a new way to do what was once old and boring, you've imagined a better way. Maybe that is why children have such brilliant imaginations; they are always learning new things and new ways to do the things they've learned. Maybe we get a bit lame as we grow older...(but I'm only 20, so that for sure is not the direction of what I'm writing). We often associate another word with imagination and creativity - originality. I use all three of these terms very loosely, perhaps too often and too loosely. Who is truly original? What is truly orginal? After all, Solomon tells us, "There is nothing new under the sun." (Read on in Eccl. 1:9-11)

Well, there's somone I know, who I can say without a doubt, is truly original. He pulled money out of a fishes mouth, He healed a man who was about to arrest Him, as a woman was about to be stoned He drew in the sand and because of this, she lived, He once told a storm to shut up (and it listened), and of course, He was born from a virgin - His life began originally and ended originally. There are countless examples of the man Jesus Christ and His orignality, His imagination, and His creativity in scripture, and nearly always does His originality shine in the midst of "hairy" moments: suffering, persecution, danger, hatred, and in the face of death. So, I guess all of those in the world who are being praised for there originality ...must not be too original. Christ calls us to imitate His way.

It's something to think about. How do you really respond to your enemies? Think globally - What excuse to you give to justify war? The death penalty? Or less contraversial - If your hurt by somone, do you retaliate with force, or even more force? I wrestle with this daily, but I am also being transformed daily by that one original man, and I find that, once again, it's really all about love.

Shane Claiborne shares a story in his book The Irresistable Revolution about a kid he knows who's being bullied and wonders, "why?". He tells his young friend, "...that means you get to show him [the bully] how friends treat each other. He must not know what love and friendship feel like, so you get to teach him." The kid responds as many of us do, "Aww man, love is so hard." Many people don't know what true love is. So, for those of us who do know, or think we know, do you show them true love? Or do you throw a fake imitation? The story of true love is in the Gospels. It's very difficult truth. It's actually gotten many people killed, people who do nothing wrong are the ones who die. They die to show true love to the world.

Jesus Christ showed us perfectly how to love, and He was killed because of it. He was faultless, without sin. Even his presecutor couldn't find fault in Him as they stood before the crowds who were yelling "Crucify Him!" and Pilate said, "Why, what evil has he done? I have found no guilt deserving death..." He was without flaw, yet full of pure love.

This video gives us a glipse of how Jesus loves: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toEdT0VEHKI


Like the reflecting mirror we are called to imitate Christ. Christ was original, so therefore, what we do will not be, and should not be original. In fact, it can't be. It's an imitation. However, it should be exclusive. We should act, respond, live, and most of all love in such an imaginative, creative, and "original" way, that the world would look at us and wonder, "Where does such originality come from? What is this love? What a crazy way of life? How could somone..?" And we could respond, "I learned it all from Jesus, He's awesome huh?" (Matthew 5:14)


Have a good day, Barrabas - You're Loved.