Spirit and Religion

"God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. "

                                                        1 John 1:5                

     That's a pretty black and white statement, at the most primitive level. Our fellowship with God can only be realized through Jesus Christ. We do not work our way into true faith, especially in the light of verses like "...no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says 'Jesus is Accursed!' and no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except in the Holy Spirit."
     We do not work out our own salvation by means of our own actions. God saves us! This is His Spirit. Abraham did not need religion or the church to find our faith. And neither do we. But Abraham did need God, his faith, and a fellowship of righteous friends. The only thing not imperative are the friends.
   

"If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."

     All this said we do need to "walk" and work out our faith, just not before we have faith. And we are not always "in the Light as He is in the light". We have to turn our face towards His. We can act out our faith carnally before others, and even ourselves, but can never actually be "in the Light" unless we humble ourselves and "seek first the kingdom.
     Too many things cloud our eyes in this world. Things we made up. But we did not create our faith. That is something we find by the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Blasé demeanor

It's been over a year...I guess I'll jump back into this. My life is full of stuff..stuff...stuff. And so, to illustrate my nonchalant return, as I feel my Spiritually is these days, I will keyboard scribble in a blasé demeanor.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you"

-Matt. something : something

You ever heard someone say, "If we only had one page out of the Bible that would be enough?" Well, I don't know if that was the exact wording I heard, but it's something to ponder. Let's extend it to "One scroll". Because obviously they weren't "pages" until Gutenberg in the mid 15th century (I think, doesn't really matter"). Is the story of man made in perfection, falling into sin, Jesus becoming a sacrifice for that sin, and the promise of Christ' return all on that scroll? We have to remember that the Living Word (Hebrews 4:12) and the ACTUAL words are unanimously different (literary liberties). Just like reading a music chart, you gotta first know the Spirit of music. Can't just play it like a computer.

If all we had was "Seek first..." would that be enough. God would give us the rest if we lived out that verse. If God can add all these things (material necessities) then he's all-powerful. If it's "His" kingdom and righteousness then ours must be flawed. And as we humbly seek we would surely find Christ. Just like we would surely find the true meaning of the song in the chart. A song that was written by a man and is flawed/dead in it's existence on paper/scroll.

There go I with one thought (ideally). To seek first His kingdom and realize all these things have been added or I'd be dead, having nothing to seek before Him.

Two Sides of the Same Coin

Saint James states, "...if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was."

Doing the Word has physical actions but a lot of times begins in a conscious thought. I often forget what God taught me in previous trials. Here's one to remember.

Most ungodly traits counterfeit truth. This makes it complicated because the truth cannot be reached simply by seeking something completely opposite of the lie. This is found in love, money, music, art, family, leadership, sex, motive, friendship,...

So, what's the difference and how do we flip the coin?

Whit's End

Staring at the walls of my day to day life I imagine walking away into the unknown sunset where all possibilities merge like rivers before an ocean.

I look at my hands, the life within. These walls and this air have no room for me or the life dwelling inside. I want to express myself and be human. I long to discover the power in my soul and get off this Tatooine planet.

But this is not my walk. This is not now. To arrive at the delta marks the end of the river. To achieve whit's end and say "I shall not want" marks the beginning of the ocean.

God will not open the seas for our discovering until we learn to read His nature. Without him we will crash back on the shore or fall prey to the South Seas.

If I allow room for self-discovery in my soul then God cannot have his complete way with me. If I want all that today has for me I must first let all ambition go and achieve the whit's end of my self.

The Jordan River

Beyond the Jordan river lies my promise. My soul thirsts for something I can't explain. I'm discovering more and more the reality that I can't cross the Jordan until it's time.

"All things work together for good to those who love God

 and are called according to His purpose."

Romans 8:28

I have a tendency to get complacent and bored as I wait for the bridegroom to come. Many times I have burned all my oil seeking pleasure and entertainment. But I always hold dear to those nights waiting for God to come while my friends and colleagues laughed and cheered pursuing and achieving success.

Why do I spend my nights staring across the Jordan? The times I turn away lead me to a shut door. Behind a voice says, "I do not know you."

While I wait in these field herding my sheep I must settle for lions and bears because without them Goliath will defeat me. My confidence is still skin deep and my talk is big. All things work together a lot faster when I learn to wait on the Lord. That's what I'm learning, to wait.

"Not my will but Yours be done on earth as it is in heaven."

From Chaos Comes Clarity

The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

Nick Hexum might not have meant what I mean by my title but I'll run with it. In this post I'm basically quoting Oswald Chambers and letting it reflect off the other posts. 

Oswald writes

"When the Holy Spirit comes into a man 'his beauty is consumed away', the perfectly ordered completeness of his whole nature is broken up; then the Holy Spirit, brooding over the chaos that is produced, brings a word of God, and as that word is received and obeyed a new life is formed."

Lately, I've realized it's not about redeeming what was once innocence in me. I need my slate wiped clean. That means all the victories and defeats are with Christ.

Scapegoat - Bad Parent

Have you ever allowed blame to be placed on another even though it was technically your fault? But since the actions leading up to the incident were instigated by another you drop the gavel and escape judgment? But really no one cares but you so you really just screw your conscience?

Now for something completely different

For all 1 of you that reads this I thought I'd change the subject a little. To the right is me and my little boy, Malachai. He's awesome and does nothing but the usual food processing steps. With Lucia I wasn't as excited because I had never seen a person grow into an individual. But with Malachai...I mean, that's my boy, and I've watched Lucia grow 2 1/2 years. Bottom line, life is good. There's a lot of philosophical mumbo-jumbo that is worthless crap compared to enjoying a child's company, which isn't always the easiest.

I looked at my iPod the other day and thought, "I've got a lot of stuff." I wouldn't classify myself as a over-achieving consumer I just thought how I sometimes look at my bank account to see how I'm doing and forget to enjoy what I have.

I think Derek Webb said it best:

"But I get turned around

I mistake some happiness for blessing

But I'm blessed as the poor

Still I judge success by how I'm dressing."

Faith My Eyes

Evidenced Based pt 2: The Battle Between God and Science

The battle between God and Science is a funny conflict. Pope John Paul II said a good thing.

"The Bible itself speaks to us of the origin of the universe and its make-up, not in order to provide us with scientific treaties, but in order to state the correct relationship of man with God and with the universe. Sacred Scripture wishes simply to declare that the world was created by God, and in order to teach this truth it expresses itself in terms of the cosmology in use at the time of the writer...Any other teaching about the origin and make-up of the universe is alien to the intentions of the Bible, which does not wish to teach how the heavens were made but how one goes to heaven."

In other words, the Bible is a Spiritual Word about Man's relationship with God and His creation. It should no be used as a scientific text book. That doesn't mean it can't be used, but doing so degrades the Bible to the level of science.

Furthermore, we read in Hebrews 11 that it is

"By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."

This says nothing to the validity of evolution. We may conclude from Biblical genealogy that the Earth is 6,000-8,000 years old, but that's back to the fall of man. I've heard it explained that evolution requires death and mutation. Therefore, God would not use evolution since there was no death before Adam sinned.

At the genes level it's not so much mutation as it is change. Just as many different skin colors and body types came from one man and woman so many different species could have come from a simple genetic makeup. As for the death, stemming from a survival of the fittest standpoint, I cannot conclude God creating something imperfect.

Thus to my point. There is validity in science, but it does not answer the theological questions. It can't. If we fly to the moon and calculate our weight using -9.8 m/s2, the gravities acceleration on Earth, we will arrive at an incorrect answer. If we return to Earth and assume we can jump like we did on the moon we will fall much faster than we think.

The Spirit and the flesh are different. The Spirit cannot measure the flesh, and the flesh cannot measure the Spirit. May I emphasize the word CANNOT!?! Now, we are flesh and Spirit and so should look to God's Word and Science. Though let us not confuse which measures what.

"By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."

In order to understand beyond us, into the infinite land where beauty and the strength to love is born, we must lay down our security in our own understanding and reach out to that which passes all understanding. Just like marriage is my relationship with my wife, faith is my relationship with God.

Evidence Based pt. 1

Faith is the evidence of things unseen (HEB. 11:1). But to some it isn't. Just because some one believes in God doesn't mean that's evidence. We all know there are lunatics in every group and every corner of the room.

In order to assure myself that I have not been brainwashed, misled, bamboozled by the massive religious powerhouse I've allowed myself to let go of all the "evidence" accumulated over the years via my emotions. I dismiss all miracles as mere misunderstood natural occurrences. I step back and demand evidence of God in the natural world. If there is a loving God I deserve some sign.

It's all about the neurotransmitters when it comes to emotions.

"Human thoughts and emotions emerge from exceedingly

complex interconnections of physical entities within the brain."

Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, p. 14

Therefore, there is no reason to conclude a soul or Spirit connection to our emotions since emotions are obviously, and entirely, chemicals.

So, how did we get here? Sure, evolution has some holes in it, but, it has a lot less holes than God creating everything with his Word. There's no evidence of that ever happening. There's no physical evidence of God at all. The trees are nice and the flowers are pretty, but we have answers and explanations for all of that. We don't need to fear the Sun God. We know why seasons change. It's Nature, not God's intervention.

But when the dust settles that pull inside me still tugs. It doesn't pull my mind (intellect) or my heart (emotions). It's not the thirst for knowledge or the quenching of an addiction but the longing to be whole that draws me to God.

Who is God? Better yet, who is man? Because if I am merely a lump of electricity than the former question needs not be answered. But if a part of me cannot be seen by naked eye or microscope than maybe man cannot find half of existence on its own.

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Websites to check out:

Human Truth

God Truth

In the Beginning...

I feel I should lay the ground work on which my brain has been built before going any further.

Many years ago God spoke and created time. With that said I'll allow us to step off the seat of understanding we make for ourselves.  We have to jump forward a week or more to find where we relate.

One fruit bearing plant was named the Tree of Life while another fruit bearing plant held the name the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Which one sounds like an investment and which one sounds like a good friday night? Now, why would Eve (you and me) pick fruit from the Friday Night Party Tree when you know she ate from the Tree of Investment before? Because curiosity is a gift of God. No one's more boring the the shallow Complacent.

Once that knowledge of self-empowerment entered Eve she realized that knowing what God knows might make us like God, but with one minor problem. We aren't God. In fact without a perfect union with the Spirit (obtained by a complete lack of self-empowerment) we can have nothing to do with the marriage of God and Man.

So, next time we find ourselves wanting something outside of total weakness IN CHRIST remember it sucks big time to watch God kill his own flawless and beautiful creation to clothes us (Genesis 3:21). It sucks to walk out of the Garden and into the barren world of a slow death. Until our bodies die we will feel the slow sting of self-empowerment.

What has changed since Adam and Eve is that Jesus has been slain to clothes our SPIRITUAL nakedness and shame (Genesis 27:50). That's where we're weak. We can clothes our bodies, but what good is that in the end? What good is that now? We still get so mad at everything and end up feeling overwhelmed and crumbling down to cry. The focus must shift from the physical to the Spiritual.

An Introduction

My understanding is everything we feel, see, hear, and even the way we understand are controlled by neurotransmitters. These little guys excite us to action or inhibit us. To me that's the basic, where I need to begin on my science quest for the great whatever.

But, then again, I'm a little off. See, i also believe in other things that we don't see without careful examination. There are other little guys called Spirits. And these also control what we feel, see, hear and how we understand.

To be afraid of what we don't know is to be afraid of the truth. The truth sets us free, but lies confuse. Both can be gift-wrapped and given with a loving smile.

My goal is to get all the little guys together and think like a child.

Jesus said, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves."

Matt 10:16

"For your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep unto the slaughter."

Romans 8:36

"For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light."

Luke 16:8