Salvation and an Inconvenient Weekend

 I love Easter. I love everything that goes along with it. I love Good Friday, this year thanks to the new Pope I accidentally gave a crap about Holy Thursday, and Palm Sunday is always fun with the kids at church hitting each other with wisps of palm leaves(let's be thankful it wasn't baseball bat Sunday, right?). When we compile all of this with the ending of winter and the beginning of spring it's borderline magical.

But then, like Christmas, it ends. The chocolate bunnies go on sale, all the ham in the northern hemisphere is eaten, there isn't standing room only in church, and we're back with our regularly scheduled programming  Jesus died and rose again for the reconciliation of mankind to God, so how are the Red Sox looking in spring training?

One of my atheist friends put up a status that said, “Remember everybody, Jesus had a really inconvenient weekend to redeem us all from our sins.” Like most of these things I reacted first with an eye roll, then took a little offense, and finally figured out what God was showing me. Now, I ask that you read til the end of this before you write me off as a heretic.

While the redemption of man was the only reason Jesus came to earth it wasn't the most time consuming part of His life or ministry. It was the most painful, it was the most important, but it really was the quickest. It was the climax of the story. It was the section where all the rising action peaked and then it was concluded in the resurrection and Ascension. Jesus showed the Universe who was boss and now we're stuck in the sequel that will hopefully end soon.

But ask yourself this question: If Jesus came to die for our sins why did He wait 33 years? He could have been a child savant that was killed at the age of 9 because of his miracles and teachings. Hell, Jesus could have been a still born baby and it would've sufficed. The goal was perfect life, perfect death, save the world Why wait the 3 decades? Earth couldn’t have been that much fun in comparison to heaven, could it?

In Luke 19:10 Jesus tells us His scheme. He had a two fold mission of seeking and saving. While the saving was he most important, He did spend the lion's share of His time seeking. That's all the miracles were. That's all that the teaching was. Jesus did not come just to provide free health care and encourage a good moral compass. He totally could have done that without dying. He came to seek out people. He came to show people their need for saving. He spent the first thirty years posing a question and exposing a need, and three days providing the fix.

Philippians 2:12 is not a coffee mug, t-shirt verse because it is one of the most honest verses in the New Testament. Fear and trembling is not something we often connect with Salvation. It's true though, isn't it? Half the time we're worried that we're not doing it right. The other half of the time we're worried that everybody is going to see us for what we are and the

n we're going to embarrass God and completely screw up what Jesus did on the cross all because we can't quick smoking or looking at porn on the internet. We live in victory but we also live in fear and trembling. The majority of our life is spent showing off why we need salvation.

Jesus' life modeled this. Salvation, death to sin, victory over death, while not the easy part, was the quick pull off of the band-aid. It's the same way when we accept Christ. It's easy to see our need. It's easy to see His fix. But that is just one quick, yet important, moment in the rest of our lives. But the three decades of walking, teaching, healing, being talked about, lied about, betrayed, used, and abandoned. The three decades of all that, and still trusting in God, still praying to the Father, still doing the Creator's will; that's the marathon. That's the punch. That's where Jesus modeled the fear and trembling. That's where He modeled walking the walk.

That's a lot more than an inconvenient weekend. 

The Invisible Leprechaun in my Bathroom Rejecting the Religion of Rejecting Religion

 Back in the late 90s I bought a t-shirt that said “Reject Religion, Embrace Jesus.” I was still in high school. When I wore it out I got some funny looks from both Christians and non. This shirt helped me engage in many conversations and more than one argument. It was an edgy idea. It was the idea that religion and God were not one and the same. I loved that shirt.

Now I see those shirts all the time. There are sermon series, books, bumper stickers, podcasts, viral videos, Tumblr, Pintrest, and Facebook posts all about this. It's borderline become the mantra of Western non-Orthodoxy: God is a Relationship not Religion. The church is not a building. Shrug off the old and bring in the new. Reject religion, Embrace Jesus.

I still agree with this philosophy. Nothing that I just said is untrue or un-Biblical. God desires a relationship and not empty religion (Mark 7:8-13, Isaiah 29:11-16). But like all things that get put on a t-shirt, bumper sticker, Tumblr, and Facebook, this whole idea has become trite. It's fun to say. It's a great thing to drop on people when we talk to them about Jesus and they say, “I'm not religious.” It becomes the next fad and it eventually dies out.

Anybody out there rocking their WWJD? bracelet?

The thing that gets lost in all of this is the source of the main problem. Religion is easy, but relationships are difficult. Rejecting the standard way of living in favor of something that most people would find crazy is not an easy way to live. One of my atheist friends acquainted my relationship to God to his “relationship” with the invisible leprechaun who lives in his bathroom. It is a lot easier to say, “I follow the teachings of Jesus, and go to church to be a better person” then it is to say, “I have surrendered all of my will to Jesus, and I love Him.” To be fair it is just as easy to say, “I reject all the trappings of religion and I follow Jesus” without actually doing it.

A relationship with Jesus has a lot more riding on it then talking to the invisible leprechaun in your bathroom. Jesus puts some pretty clear boundaries on the relationship (before you get all arrogant remember the very nature of relationships is boundaries). Jesus says to follow Him in His sacrifice (Luke 9:23). Jesus tells us if we love Him then we show that through our obedience (John 15:9+10). Jesus promises us that with a relationship with Him we will have trouble with the world at large (Matthew 10:33-35).

When we tell people it's about a relationship and not religion we leave all that stuff out. It sounds to religious that Jesus would want us to live differently. It sounds so constricting to have Christ be the center of our lives. It's hard to seal the deal when we reveal that following in Christ's sufferings means discomfort, and no longer being able to be true to oneself. Nobody likes to be a disciple when the Romans come in with torches and clubs.

Religion sounds so sweet at this point. That's why we've turned all this into the Religion of Rejecting Religion. A lot of us like the idea but few of us like the execution. For those of us who don't like rules we just turn this into the rule of no rules. We drop this line so we cannot be judged. We are quick to jump on all the issues with organized religion without mentioning the plights of unorganized religion. We've become what we hate. We've become rote.

This is not a condemnation it is a gut check. If we consider ourselves religious or not we need to see if we're hiding behind what we've built or standing firm on what Christ has done.  

Half Atheist

One of my favorite punk bands is Bad Religion. They are punk rock veterans who are against government, religion, and are pro thinking for yourself. A lot of my friends, Christian or not, wonder how I can justify liking a band like that. Don't they hate my God? Aren't they philosophically opposed to me? Aren't they condescending towards me as a person? I won't deny any of that. They are opposed to organized religion, they worship science, and believe that if God does exist (which they are sure He doesn't), He is of no consequence.

One day I was listening to Bad Religion and I was feeling spiritually weird. This is bound to happen when you listen to somebody who sees the world in a way that you do not. I was feeling odd because I wasn't disagreeing with a lot of what they were saying. I have times when I feel like God isn't there. I have times when I feel like religion causes more hurt than help. Dare I say it, I have moments when I feel like I know better than God does. Listening to Bad Religion had put me in such a weird mood that I made a very startling admission.

I am an Atheist.

I said it. I said it out loud and do you know what happened? The Spirit of God fell on me in such a real way that I started to cry. I hadn't felt that close to God in a long time. All of my doubts and fears about God had be pushed aside at that moment. I became a stronger Christian and God used Bad Religion to do it.

If you are still reading, which I hope you are, I owe you an explanation. As a Christian the difference between my flesh and spirit is at the forefront of my day to day. I totally relate to the Apostle Paul when he said:

“For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”

Romans 7:18-20

All day long I see the good I want to do and I do the bad instead. I see God's will, which I know is right, and I do my own thing. All day long I do stupid, stupid, stuff that is covered by the Grace of God. My flesh is atheist. It doesn't want God, it thinks it doesn't need God, and sometimes it wins. Sometime I cuss, sometime I lie, sometimes I lust, sometimes I get mad, and this is the atheist in me doing what I think is right at the moment.

As a Christian you might just say, “Well, that's the sin nature,” or as an atheist you might say, “That's just human nature,” and you'd be right as well. “Well, that doesn't make you an atheist,” is what both sides are probably saying in unison. To a certain extent I guess you'd be right. What I can tell you is that the two halves of me are diametrically opposed and that's how it should be. There is a part of me that God has to beat down and make submit and a part that He has to nurture and enhance. There is a part of me that kicks at the idea of God and there is a part of me that embraces it. This polarity is needed.

It's the blending, deliberating, compromising, and joining of the two that make issues. This, ironically, is the breeding ground for both fundamentalist heresies and Unitarian heresies. This war will wage as long as we have breath. It wages whether we acknowledge it or not. That is why we need Christ. If we can't tell the difference between who we used to be without Jesus and who we are with Jesus then we don't know Jesus. If we rely on rules and not Jesus to be our salvation from our atheist side then all we are is a better behaved atheist.

I've watched a lot of my friends become atheists because they were taught that if you are loved by Jesus you never want to sin. They can't kick the desires they have. They here a different philosophy. They meet a gay person who isn't trying to take down the whole American infrastructure. Sex is fun. All of a sudden God is on the chopping block and it makes more sense to kill Him off then to follow Him. Off with His head. The war isn't worth it so somebody has to die and it might as well be the thing that they can't remember seeing, touching, or feeling.

The thing I love most about Bad Religion is they remind me that the choices I make can only be made by me. They remind me that I don't have to take crap from anybody. They remind me of what lives inside of me. They make me not take my faith for granted. They make me seek out truth and not just swallow what I am taught. They, inadvertently I'm sure, show me how much my flesh hates God and how much my spirit needs Him. 

Picture acquired from: www.ampmagazine.com

Video acquired from: www.youtube.com 

Jesus & Church

Luke 3+4

            For a lot of us who are on the outskirts of society and church we love to see it in the Bible when Jesus preaches and teaches in bars, parties, and in the countryside. What we often neglect is on every given Sabbath Jesus was in church. Not only was He in church, He was active in church. Not only was Jesus active in church, He was active in a church where nearly everybody disagreed with Him. He went to church out of obedience to His Father, and for the few who would listen and be changed.

            To be blunt, a lot of Sundays I go to church out of begrudging obedience to the God who loves me and saved me. I hate the show, pomp, and circumstance the church in America has become. Then I think of what Jesus-the guy who came up with the whole Temple, worship, sacrifice, Sabbath thing-must have felt going to the spiritually raped and abused version that was in His day. He went, “as was His custom.”

            Yes, church can be twenty people in a living room or twenty thousand people in a stadium. Church is the body of Christ (all Christian believers) universal. However, if we follow the Jesus model we should be ministering to both the outcast and the upright. The hardest part about living for Christ in the church is the same as living for Christ in the world. Standing up for Christ is unpopular. People won’t like you. People will assume you’re an idiot and they will try to drive you out of town.

            It’s hard to go to church when people think you’re stupid. It’s hard to go to church when they are missing the mark. It’s hard to talk about the Bible when others want to talk about budgets, mortgages, and carpet colors. That’s why we don’t. That’s why people like us have to be in the mix reminding people that if Jesus isn’t number one, then lets go fishing on Sundays.

           You do what God tells you to do. End of story. But if we stop going to church because people are dumb then we aren't listening to God we're listening to man. All man will ever do is try to push you off a cliff. 

             Image found at: http://www.holyinnocents.org.uk/library/jesus/colour/jesus_teaching_in_the%20Synagogue%20(700x794).jpg

How to Be Offensive

Luke 1+2

            I once heard a pastor read about John the Baptist and he said, “You have no idea of the context here. To say that John was ‘Dressed in camel’s hair with a leather belt eating locust and wild honey’ is the equivalent to saying ‘John had a foot tall green Mohawk, punk vest, and kilt and ate what he found in garbage cans.’” This resonated with me for obvious reasons, but it is much deeper than “God uses weirdoes.”

            The way we live our lives should not make sense to the World. That’s not to say we should run around overtly offensive and odd but we should stand out a bit. Our desires should be different because God has changed them. Our view on the world should be different because He has taken the scales off our eyes.

            Our behavior change needs to bleed from a changed heart or it doesn’t matter. Church is not about getting single people to have less sex or getting punkers to shop at Old Navy. It is so much deeper. It is about the fabric of which we are made not the fabric of which our clothes are made.

            We are so afraid to offend because so many Christians in the past have made themselves offensive as opposed to let the Gospel do it’s thing. The Gospel is offensive enough. We don’t have to use our behavior modification techniques and guilt about our mortgages to add to it. If somebody is offended by the Gospel of Christ, good, God is using that. If people are offended because of us then we need to knock it off.

            This is hardest when we want to fit in. We don’t want to get all camel’s hair and locust so we rush to the other side of everything is okay. We either try to get people to not accept us up front or we beg, borrow, and steal to get people to like us. This is short sighted and defensive at best. I need to trust that God is in every interaction and in every reaction.

            This is a fine line to ride on. Sometimes we doubt that we are serving God because nobody is listening. God doesn’t guarantee that people will listen and change their lives. Some will, some won’t. Look at the ministry of Jesus. Where the faith in Christ comes needs to take hold is in how we decide what to do and when we need to change. John the Baptist didn’t change his message or tactics even when it made him unpopular. This only shows his faith in God.

            “He must increase, and I must decrease,” was one of John’s famous lines. If we apply this to our love for God we will spend a lot less time wondering about how we should be behaving around people. 

Images taken from:

http://haveravitoriaquandosatanvier.blogspot.com/2011_11_01_archive.html

and

http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/Bernardino-Luini/Salome-With-The-Head-Of-St-John-The-Baptist.html  

      

            

Not Working

Mark 14- Jesus Anointed at Bethany

            I heard a sermon about Jesus getting anointed by the sinful woman and the pastor pointed out a nice bit of irony. The expensive perfume that this adulterous woman had in the alabaster jar was probably what she used to entice men into her bedroom or what she used afterwards to get rid of the stench of her sin. Either way, there she was, pouring it out on Jesus’ feet, mixing it with her tears, and wiping it with her hair.

            The people at the party had the snide, Christian comment of, “If He knew what kind of woman she was He wouldn’t let her do that.” Hooray for missing the point. Jesus knew what kind of men they were and He was eating food with them. At least she was real. At least she came in with a humble heart, the truth of her situation, and all that she clung to.

            What’s in your alabaster jar? Mine is the desire to be accepted. I need to know people like me and care about me. I’m really an insecure egomaniac. That’s what I bring to the Master’s feet. That’s what I use to get what I want or cover up the stench of my failure. I’m in constant need of “Ataboys.” Whether it is kudos from my boss, followers on my blog, obedience from my kids, or affection from my wife: I vainly thrive on affirmation.

            This woman was probably similar to you and me in this respect. Yes, I’ll lump you in too. I only know you because you’re human and you do stuff to fill voids just like I do. This lady probably became a floozy because it’s easy to get quick love and affection from sex. I would even be as bold to say that like the rest of us, the more she received it, the more she needed next time to get her fix.

            So she did what all us posers and fakers deem unthinkable. She took the very symbol of her biggest issue, regardless of the cost, and poured it out as an offering to Jesus. She was admitting that she couldn’t fake it anymore. She was admitting that it wasn’t working.

            I bet she was the only non-divine being who left that dinner with peace, joy, and fulfillment. She had an epiphany, a salvation moment; she had a true interaction with God. She was surrounded by bullshitting hypocrites who were trying to put her down and she said, “No, I’m going to Jesus!”

            Here I am plowing through all this again. It feels like I’m dealing with it for the zillionth time. I can’t wait ‘til these distractions go away. I can’t wait ‘til my doubt because obsolete and my faith becomes sight. I put some much time and effort into these things that I will one day just lay at the feet of Jesus. I can’t wait until the day I don’t have to worry about filling my life with stuff that I know doesn’t work but I do it anyway.

Picture originally found at http://www.jrdkirk.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/jesus-feet.jpg

           

            

Reconciliation It's personal.

Amos 9/Obadiah

            I don’t see God tearing people or countries down without a reconciliation plan. The times in the Bible God says, “Go wreck house and level them, leave no survivors” are relatively few. If you do a cursory study of the history of those people you can usually see why God said that and most people often agree. If God’s desire for mankind were total annihilation then He would've done it in Eden. If God’s desire were to let us do whatever and have to relationship with Him or to destroy us while He watched. He wouldn't have sent/come as Jesus.

            We don’t view our thinking as flawed yet we are okay to point out how God’s is all messed up. If we can justify how we’d do it that way, why we’d do it way, then we act like we’re better then God. The issue is that God can see the entire Universe and eternity at the same time and we can only see our little microcosm. I've met a lot of arrogant people in my time but I haven’t met anybody who said they know everything that’s going on in the Universe and eternity all the time.

            It’s because of His knowledge and love that God has been in the business of reconciliation since the second we started the business of sin. It was automatic. Adam and Eve sinned and in that first conversation afterwards God gave them a hint to His plan.            It is never God that bucks reconciliation. It is never God who pushes away. I understand getting pissed at God for when bad stuff happens. It’s a gut reaction. But if we sit back, take inventory, we can see that this was not His original plan. We can’t let that keep us from seeking his aid. We have a tendency to think we’re going to show God what’s up by not listening to Him when it was not listening to Him (or somebody else not listening to Him) that got us in this mess in the first place.

            Yes, God will tear down our sin. He has to destroy it because it separates us from Him and us from what He made us to be. Yes, that will hurt. But let’s be fair, shall we? God’s final answer to sin was letting Himself get torn down in the place of it all. That’s what makes God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit different from other religions. That’s what makes God’s plan so much better: It’s personal. 

Torn

Romans 5+6/Amos 5+6

            I wonder if this whole identity struggle ever leaves. Israel always seemed to have issues with it, Paul addressed it, and it all came back to the Holy Spirit.

            I love Jesus and I like Punk. I love serving Christ and telling people about Him and I love to slam around in the circle pit. I guess it’s hard because the air and persona that goes along with punk isn’t all me. I’m not looking for a fight. I didn’t come off the streets. I don’t hate anybody.

            If I’m supposed to go and be a missionary to a culture perhaps it should always feel a little uncomfortable. I am different because of Christ. That’s not just with the punkers, that’s with anyone who’s not saved. 

The Old-Timers: Soli Deo Gloria Review

The Old-Timers- Soli Deo Gloria

            Fourteen songs, twenty-four and a half minutes. I haven’t picked up a punk record in a while that had an average of less then two minutes per song. The Old Timers’ disc Soli Deo Gloria is a powerhouse of hardcore punk reminiscent of Minor Threat, and The Business. This angst-ridden album reminds me why I got into punk in the first place.

            The crunchy guitars and fast drums are a great companion to the screaming Scottish tinged vocals. The lyrics leave no one safe. The Old-Timers are mad at self-righteous religious folks, poverty, the government, and culture at large. Unlike most bands that just bitch and complain The Old-Timers offer a solution and that solution is Jesus Christ.

            Now stop right there. I know what a lot of you punks are thinking. Yes, listening to a lot of Christian Punk is like getting stuck behind the school bus on your morning commute, “Oh, for cryin’ out loud! Can’t we just be done with this?” I assure you, this is not the case for Soli Deo Gloria. Not often does a Christian punk (dang near, Oi!) band actually have the chops to be able to pull off a record that can be enjoyed by more than just pastor’s kids looking for a way to piss off mom and dad.

            The album’s “Intro” drives it right home that this will be a fast paced, circle pit, punch in the face record. On top of that it leaves nothing to the imagination as far as the lyrics go: “We’re the Old-Timers pressing on/longing for the day we go home/ Holy, Holy, Holy, worshiping the Ancient of Days.”

            This bleeds well into the pro-Jesus, anti-religion track “Adoni’s Agape” which then transitions perfectly into “This City” which leaves nobody unscathed. For the rest of the album they pick apart everything from how we rebel, to how positive thinking isn't enough, and of course how we all need a little more circle pit in our daily lives.

             This band believes that Jesus is the answer to all of societies problems just as much as Bad Religion thinks He is the cause. It is no preaches no more about Jesus then the Dropkick Murphys preach about the plight of the working man. It rails hard against religious hypocrisy and governmental and social negligence. There is no lack of confidence in this band. They take full control of the medium and the message. There is no doubt that they are true punkers but more importantly true Christ followers.

            I give Soli Deo Gloria a solid 8 out of 10. This is a great introduction to these South African punk rockers. You can pick it up at their label, ThumperPunk Records.  

Punks, Shepherds, and Fishermen

Amos 1+2/Matthew 15+16

            So I prayed about being a Christian Punker. I gave it to God and I got the same thing I got when I prayed about my comic books years ago: Go for it, but if people aren't getting saved, what’s the point?

            I pray and I found Caustic Fallout radio, Christian Punks Facebook, CYI World Wide and the Kings Kid’s. It’s nice to be lead towards others like me.

            Amos was just a kooky shepherd who heard from God. He heard some serious stuff, too. He had fire and brimstone fanaticism stuff that would get him lambasted by Piers Morgan. God gave Him some hardcore preaching to do. That must have been uncomfortable to go from talking to sheep to preaching to people.

            Switch to the disciples in the boat worrying about bread. They were so focused on what they did or didn't do that they missed what Jesus was actually saying. They needed to realize what was important. 

            

Obligatory New Years Day Post

   Wow. 2013. It's a New Year alright. Happy Tuesday. To start off the New Year you get an off the cuff invitation to the inside of the Exyle Dome. We have plenty of seating, no admission fee, and no guarantees.
     I'm old enough to have had years of total awesomeness and total crap.
01-04 were fantastic.
05+07 were great years.
06 was pretty bad.
09-11 sucked hardcore.
2012 had it's moments of incredible happiness and pain.
      If I looked over my three decades I think I would find myself in the positive as far as good vs. bad years. God is faithful even when the locust are hungry. I have a great wife, great kids, a good job, and some sweet tattoos.
      I think we love New Years Day because we like artificially mandated times to start over. We really feel that if we try super-de-duper hard this year all of our dreams will come true. This will be my year. This will be the year I run that 5k. I will quit smoking. This will be the year I have sex three times a week, every week. This will be the year my boss finally notices all the hard work I put in. This will be the year I save money for retirement. We need that day. We need January 1st of whatever year to give us a point of reference.
     The February 1st rolls around and we wake up, drink a nice tall glass of EFFIT, and lay back down. The gym can wait. Cigarettes are on sale this week. You've got a headache. Your boss is a prick anyway. The furnace blew up. How many days until January 1st? Then man, this year is totally shot, so I will start next year on the up and up and THAT will be my year.
     January 1st is a day off for me. It's a day off where I sit at the computer and let the kids run wild because my age is catching up to me. Who the hell needs to see midnight anyway? That is such a stupid time of day to be awake. Am I saddened by this? Am I as hopeless and crotchety as I sound? No. I refuse to bitch and complain without having the answer.
     Everyday is new for me. Does that sound as cheesy as it feels to write? It's true. I have been blessed with shorter spurts. Everyday, week, month, minute, hour, what have you, it's all new. I know that the second after I screw up I can start over. I know that the second I spill the milk I can clean it up. I know that the Monday I skip the gym there's a Tuesday with my gym bag already packed. I know that just because the kid was up all last night puking and my wife doesn't want to see me doing anything but schlep a mop and pail that there is another night on it's way.
      What's my secret? How do I have this mindset? Well for four easy payments of $29.95 I'll tell you....okay, I'll tell you anyway:

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
    therefore I will wait for him.”
                                       

Lamentations 3:22-24

   Does this mean I have it all figured out and I have no issues? Yah, no. If you even think I feel that way read the rest of the posts here or follow us on Twitter and you will see why I am under no preconceived notions that I am anything more than another beggar who knows where to find bread. What God has done and is doing in me is too amazing for me to take any credit for. Everyday I feel the fight between my flesh and His Spirit in me. 

    Everyday is new because He makes it that way. I have received so much Mercy that I know that every minute offers a new shot, a new chance, a new lease. I don't need an arbitrary day because I know what happens when I hit my knees and pray. 

    So yah, Happy New Years Day, friends. 

More like Dad

Hosea 11+12/ Matthew 15+16

            Everything that is not Christ or giving glory to Christ has the potential to replace Christ in my life. Love, job, sex, identity, relationships—they all need to point to Christ or just go away.

            This is hard for me. Deep down I want peace but I also want war. I love to agree and antagonize. I love to be helpful and humble and the Alpha Dog. I love to love people. I love to encourage. I love to watch people get saved. I love to pray over people and I hate to let people down.

            Christ. I need more Jesus Christ. I need more Holy Spirit. Jesus had the same bipolar in His ministry too. He loved everybody and showed compassion when needed but He also kicked butt when He needed. He did it perfectly. God enacts perfect wrath, judgment, and love all at the same time.

            Me, not so much.

            Lord, please teach me to be more like You. Let me love peace and justice. Let me show Grace, mercy, and strength in You all day to everyone.

                                                                                                -Amen

The O.C. Supertones- For the Glory Review

The O.C. Supertones- For The Glory

            When you buy an O.C. Supertones CD you don’t need to look much past the case to know what you’re getting yourself into. A quick look at the pictures of the band let you know that you’re buying a fun ska album and a cursory look at the track list let’s you know the O.C. Supertones love Jesus. The band has been on hiatus since 2005 and this record is the product of a 2010 reunion tour that showed that people are still picking up what they are putting down.

            With For the Glory the Supertones bring their fun flavor of West Coast Ska/surf/punk that they've been rocking since the mid 1990s. I know, most of you are probably thinking, “Ska? Really?” And the answer is yes, really! This is a great follow up to 2004’s Revenge of the O.C. Supertones, which was their last record of all new/original music.

            The album starts out with the fun, upstroke and horn heavy “All the Way Alive.” This first song leaves no question that this album is a fun dance party for Sunday School rejects. They even poke fun at themselves with the opening line “…I’m so old school that I’m fresh again…”

            They keep the tempo up with the title track “For the Glory” and “Hey, hey, hey” before they dip into the little acoustic reggae number, “Far More Beautiful.” “Down to the River,” “Warmth of the Sun” and the closing “The Wise and the Fool” are all fairly low key and acoustic which makes the album drag a little in places, but it shows a nice maturity for these old Rude Boys.

            I have to say my favorite track is “It’s a Good Day to Be from California.” It’s a bit of a biographical song and it really has the West Coast feel that makes you just want to cruise around town with the top down and the music blaring.

            The focus stays on Jesus throughout all the songs but it doesn't feel super heavy. The Supertones are well known for their love of God and people. They are unabashed about their faith but it doesn't feel pushy. It’s just honest, fun, ska, about what they care most about which is God, family, and friends.

            I know a lot of people that are sensitive about religion would say that this record is for Christian’s only. I disagree. If you’re looking for a fun ska record that will have you dancing around your kitchen then here you go.  

           

            Over all I give this album a 7 out of 10. On another note, if the band shows up in your town, go see them. Their live show is always a solid 10 out of 10!

Free to Choose Poorly

Daniel 9-12/Matthew 13+14

            The very essence of free will is that we can choose wisely or choose poorly. If whatever we choose is correct then free will is a myth. I’m unsure if anyone believes that they have never done wrong or sinned. I know plenty who believe in varying degrees of sin, and I know even more who think they decide what is right and wrong for their own personal morality. So no matter what people must be allowed to make bad choices. People must be allowed to sin.

            If this works here, now, and on a small scale, is it hard to make the jump to the eternal? I could make choices today that would forever alter the lives of millions. That’s just off the cuff and in a moment. I’m just one, insignificant man. We choose. Some will choose poorly. Some will choose wisely. But if this idea of free will is to exist along side this idea of right and wrong and justice then all poor choices are forced to have negative consequences. 

God's Christmas Gift: Equality.

     I've written a bunch of rough drafts of this Christmas post that were focused on what Christmas is not. I wrote one on why Christmas isn't working. But as I scroll through Facebook I realize that people don't need to be reminded of that. Hell, some one in my own family posted that she wished the Mayan's were right so she didn't have to go through another Christmas.
     With hopes and dreams like that I think its safe to say that the "warm holiday feeling" alone gives the same long term affect as a "warm I just shat my pants feeling."
     At Christmas time our ability to have that warm and fuzzy feeling is directly related to the size of our billfolds. Apart from Jesus the "Holiday's" are really all about money and buying a certain feeling. If we don't have the money then you can't buy the feeling. Worse yet, if we don't have the money then somebody uses us to buy that feeling for themselves.
     Think about it, if all we are celebrating is good feelings, merriment, and giving then there has to be a receiver and a giver. There is a lot of pressure on both sides but if you are just the receiver then you feel really low really quickly. You might be excited that that stranger filled up your gas tank for you with their American Express Black card, but soon that excitement is replaced by shame that you can't seem to hold down a job or make ends meet. Our belief in the power of the human spirit and all the crap is quickly turned into "I'm nobody's charity case" or "How dare they think of me that way!"
    The other side of the coin is just as obnoxious. When we have tons of cash and can buy whatever we want we worry that what we buy won't be loved like we want it to be. We desire to show our love to people by filling their pockets and storage units with the latest, greatest stuff that will be obsolete by New Years. Then when one of the millions of people on our list doesn't like what we've given them we get all defensive because it's not an attack on the iPhone 50000G superior series, it's an attack on us. The feeling we want to get through giving is now gone and everybody else are ungrateful bastards.
    Christmas without Jesus is a great divider. It exploits the differences between the haves and the have nots. There is no equality. There is no real goodwill. There is only the exploitation of somebody else in order for us to get a certain feeling. Apart from Jesus we may try to de-commercialize Christmas, but we can't. If God isn't involved Christmas has to be about people and feelings. We use people and money to get a feeling. It's still all about being a consumer.
   The irony is quite simple. People fight to get rid of God and fight for equality of everybody. But only in Christ are we all equal. We are all equal in our sinfulness. We are all equal in our need of help. The average person doesn't want equality. They want people to understand where everybody fits into society and to just deal with it. Jesus flies in the face of that. Jesus let's us know that the status-quo is no longer that. The Emmanuel (God with us) is proof that God plays fair and isn't afraid to get in the mix. God, the Creator, the only person who has the right to say, "I'm better than you and I know it" said the exact opposite. He didn't go for a feeling or a warm fuzzy, He went for pain. He went for equality. He went for Love.
    Thanks to Jesus all are equal.
Merry Christmas.
   

Whiner

Song of Songs 5+6/Matthew 9-12

I'm amazed at how big a prick I am. I complain about which of my water bottles is clean or bitch that I left my favorite Bible in the car and now I have to put my coffee down to go get it.

I should kick my own ass.

I'm starting to see how while Jesus could be critical about culture He wasn't a whiner. He came from infinite riches to total squaller. He never complained.

Here I am, in the richest country in the world in a comparatively wealthy time and I whine about my luxuries and novelties being infringed upon while all my needs get met.

Lord, help me to be grateful.

God's Grace, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Getting Beaten to Death

For it is by grace you have been saved,through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast. -Ephesians 2:8-9

“The beauty of Grace is that it makes life not fair.” -Relient K


We are very quick to make sure everybody gets theirs. We love truth and justice as long as it doesn’t apply to us. Well, of course what we do may be bad but we have reasons. It’s not that we are bad it’s that situations are bad or times were tough or our moms didn’t hug us enough. We never deserve what’s coming to us because we have reasons. However, that other person, well, He deserves to get screwed.
Jeffrey Dahmer was a nasty, nasty serial killer. I won’t go into details about sodomy, necrophilia, and cannibalism just in case you’re eating, but just know that Jeff had a penchant for all that and participated in it roughly seventeen times in a thirteen year period. The dude was totally tweaked and if you are a little off like me, I’d say read the file.
So after he got arrested and sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences (just in case he reincarnated he couldn’t skip a life) he found Jesus. People didn’t care. They assumed that since he was such a horrid person Jesus wouldn’t do shit for the guy  and his conversion certainly didn’t nullify his crimes. In 1994 Dahmer was beaten to death with a broom handle. The majority of the country was satisfied.
For years afterwards Christians were touting his conversion as the ultimate showing of God’s grace on a human soul while non Christians were using it to show how God is obviously a psycho and couldn’t be trusted if somebody like Dahmer was not rotting in eternal Hell fire. That made sense. Hitler, Stalin, Dahmer, all should have smoldering embers with their names on them.
They should. So should we.
This is where the Gospel gets hairy and people think there is no justice. So all somebody has to do after a life of cannibalism, sodomy rape, and serial killing is say a quick little prayer and then they get access to the Pearly Gates? That doesn’t sound like justice. It’s not justice. It’s Grace. If we ran the show we’d send certain people to Hell and certain people to Heaven. We’d pick the people who aren’t that bad and bring them to Heaven and we’d put all the Dahmers, Hitlers, Bin Ladens, and Stalins into Hell.
That’s not justice either. That’s revenge.
See, God never says in the Bible “Be good enough. Don’t be a serial killer/rapist guy and you can get into Heaven. Go to church, give me money, don’t swear and don’t masturbate and you can get into Heaven”. Nowhere does He say this.
Nowhere.
The standard for God is perfection not “good enough”. Our standard for people is good enough not perfection. Because of this God seems like a huge jerk. Nobody’s perfect and God should know that. Nobody’s perfect so God is not being fair. Well, when God made the world it was perfect and we messed it up. That wasn’t nice. God could’ve just let us wallow in our own crap and then when we finally killed ourselves off He could start over. But He didn’t. He made a way.
I don’t like God’s way. It’s not fair to me. It’s not justice like I see it so God’s horrible.
We aren’t God. We don’t have the last word on justice and truth. He does. The Bible shows us God’s perfect standard not so we look at it and say, “Eff it, I can’t, I’ll just do what I want” but rather, “Crap, I can’t do this, I need a way out of this mess.”
Heaven is not the default. We all want it to be but since we’re in a fallen world it isn’t “We all die and go to a better place,” it’s now, “We die and stand before God and either try to convince Him you were perfect or rely on Jesus’ righteousness.”
But why does Dahmer get off scott free? Why do people like him, Ted Bundy, and Son of Sam get to go to Heaven? They killed people all I ever did was lust, lie, cheat, steal, cuss, fight, fornicate, and hate? Why do they get off without any consequences?
If you call 15 consecutive life terms and getting beaten to death with a broom handle “getting off with no consequences” I’d have to say you’re a raging fundamentalist. .  
Nowhere in the Bible does it say that we don’t answer for our sins both big and small. The dad who ignores his family to work, work, work pays for it by having a crappy relationship with his kids and wife. The guy who steals usually gets caught or at the very least is never happy with the stuff he has. He always has to get more. You cheat you get hosed later when you don’t have somebody to cheat off and you have to try to do it on your own. You fight you’ll get beat eventually. You fornicate you’ll get crabs. You hate you’ll go gray early and die miserable.
Does this sound like “no consequences” to you? If it does then you are a bigger dick than you think God is. And don’t look at these as punishments from God. He isn’t a sadist. The reason God tells us not to sin is twofold: One, He knows the ramifications and two He can’t be around it so it separates us from Him and He hates that. God didn’t create the consequences for our bad living it’s our bad living that creates consequences.

We are broken and we can’t be fixed. God’s Grace comes in the person of Jesus who took our sin and death, died, rose, beat it all then said, “Follow me to Heaven!” We choose to follow or not. How does that make God a jerk?

I don’t totally get it but I know I need it. There are a lot of easier ways to go about life then Christianity. There are a lot of things more fun than living for Jesus. However, I have to say it makes sense when we look at how messed up we’ve made the world, usually while we’re trying to make it better, and how we can’t make it perfect. It’s not about how much we can do or realizing our potential it’s about knowing how much we can’t do and realizing God’s sovereignty.
That’s how you, me, and Jeff can make it.

Christianity is Dead

“Everyone will hate you because of Me.” -Luke 21:17

“Punk Rock died the day the first kid said, Punk ain’t dead.” -Bill Mallonee


There has been a raging debate as long as I can remember about the status of punk rock. Punk is dead. Punk isn’t dead. Both sides have great arguments. After the surging popularity of bands like the Ramones and Sex Pistols and after The Clash started selling out stadiums the edge may have started to wear off. Then we had bands like Green Day, Blink 182, MxPx coming onto the scene and making it marketable, the old timers said it was done. While bands like Rancid, Minor Threat, Pennywise, Dropkick Murphys, and Bad Religion would make even the most cynical of us believe that Punk will always survive it’s safe to say that it certainly loses it’s way from time to time.

I was talking to some of the Hipster kids I work with and I told them I was excited because Punk was becoming punk again. They didn’t get it. I told them it was simple. Listening to punk was no longer cool or how this generation was rebelling. Thus, it was subversive again. It was underground and could possibly stand for something once again. It was fantastic.

Much like punk Christianity is becoming a subversive subculture again and I am excited. I laugh at pastors and politicians who freak out that our country is not falling in line with the point of view of the Bible. They act as though it is some cosmic treason that non Christians aren’t living like Christians or upholding Christian values.

Uh, Duh?

Let’s face it. Thanks to the 1980s North American Christians have become fat and lazy. For a while we had “Christian” presidents and politicians who convinced us that we live in a Christian nation. We had pastors who, when they weren’t stealing money or doinking their secretaries, were letting us know that the morals in America were strong and Christian. Jesus got radio play. The Holy Spirit put out a top 40 record. Christianity became mainstream. People saw the money that could be made and the power to be had.

Thank Christ that is all changing. It took me awhile to get to this point but now whenever I hear somebody on Fox News or Focus on the Family talk about how the world’s going to hell in a handbasket and how Christian values no longer rule society I send up a quick prayer of thanks. People are ignoring the Bible all over the place and things are going bad. People are either egotistical or lazy. It’s all about feelings and the individual. I’m so freaking happy.

See here’s the bass-ackwards part. It is not the church that’s shunning the philosophy of the world (most churches happily embrace it but that’s another blog for another time) but rather that the world is shunning the church. It feels as though the gauntlet is being tossed down. “We don’t need your church” seems to be the cry from those on the outside. Dammit, they are right.

But now, for me anyways, it’s the best of both worlds.  Want to be like Christ? Go to a Bad Religion concert. Want to be punk rock? Go to a Bad Religion concert sporting a “Jesus Saves” t-shirt. Face it hippies and punkers, you’ve won the cultural battle and the oppressed have become the oppressors. Face it friends of Fallwell, the Left has won and is in charge. Secular humanism reigns supreme. Now we can really be like Jesus.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, there are some people that are fighting really, really, hard to keep the Christian Culture cool, hip, and popular. I’m not sure if it’s for religious, Biblical, or fiscal reasons, but, dammit, they are working like the Dickens to keep it “relevant.” And why not? Once Christianity loses its marketability it will be harder to follow.

Whoa, what a novel, frickin’, idea. Too bad God and Jesus came up with it first. Then Peter talked about it, and oh yah, Paul, James, John, and way before them we had Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel--yah, see the pattern. I triple dog dare you to find one passage in the Bible where God says, “Go, preach my word, and it’s all going to be chill.” The closest thing we have to that is Jonah and Jonah tweaked out when it happened. When was the last time you preached in Las Vegas and all the casino owners closed up shop and the hookers put sweatshirts on?

I know a lot of you who are coming to this realization that Christianity no longer reigns supreme in North America are about to cry all over your Joel Olsteen books and blow your nose on your Jeremy Camp t-shirts. Calm. Breathe. It’ll be okay. Christianity is dead but Christ is not. For some of you that might even be a scarier thought. This may not mean you have to give up all of Christian culture but you have to give up the idea that it is what saves you. When you get to heaven there isn’t a special house for the person who has the entire Kutless discography.

Christianity has never been based on what we do but on what is done for us. Yes, we show our love for Jesus through our life change like we show love to our spouses through fidelity. That living for Jesus, that love for Christ, that desire for Him and Him alone is what makes the world hate us. Culture is moving in a different direction. This direction is away from the Bible and the saving Grace of Jesus. This makes culture progressive and Christianity subversive. Why? Because obviously if culture is moving in a direction that direction is forward to all those who are leading the charge. The rest of us are dirty, stupid, street punks that don’t value education, science, or rules.
I love it! For thousands of years Christianity meant sacrifice. All over the world Christianity still means sacrifice. In those places Christianity grows like mad because it actually involves life change. It actually costs something. In developed nations Christianity is, “Okay God, you give me this, this,this, and a little bit of that and I will honor you with my Sunday mornings.” You go to places where Christianity kills you, makes you a pariah, or where they are lacking severely in material stuff, and it’s all, “Jesus, you did so much, how can I do more?” We are slowly getting back to that point.
Now check yourself. Does this excite you and piss you off? If you’re scared and pissed ask yourself if you’re a cultural Christian or a Christ follower. If we are cultural Christians we get scared when we see Facebook posts, presidential speeches, and blogs about how Christianity is stupid, science is God, faith in something is key, philosophy reigns, and Christian music is dumb. We get all up in arms and scared because it looks like our culture is getting dismantled. However, if you’re a committed follower of Christ these things are just a little annoying, kinda sad, and sometimes just adorable hissy fits.
Christian culture in the developed world needs to be dismantled. It’s hilarious. People need to make fun of the crap we worship instead of Christ. American Christianity has become to Jesus what Sum 41 became to the Clash: a cheap, laughable, rip off.  
No punkers and Christ followers here we go. It’s time to realize that we won’t ever fit in totally. The question is are you going to be okay with that? 

Danny Exyle is the chief writer for Sinners Circle Blog. Follow him on Twitter if you want his random rantings throughout the day and follow Sinners Circle Blog on Facebook.

Equal Opportunity Offender

            Welcome to America where you can be as offensive as you want to be about whatever point of view you have. As long as you aren’t punching people you are more then welcome to call them a pinko-commie-hippie-liberal-baby-killer and as long as you’re not sending them death threats you can call somebody a right-wing-fascist-woman-hating-fundamentalist-Neanderthal. Freedom of speech, baby! Oh yah! It’s a beautiful thing!

            The best part is that no matter what you’re point of view you can find enough people and “facts” to back it up and make yourself feel superior over the other side. You can find enough statistics, reports, and scientific data, to prove your point of view all day long. And don’t worry, since you have all that, when somebody brings up an alternate point of view, opposite data, or a question you can’t answer, there are enough politicians out there to teach you how to sneer, laugh condescendingly, and let the other person know that the data you’ve collected is totally unbiased and that their data is wrong.

            It is so easy to get caught up into the political, and religious venom in this country (especially during election time) and forget that we’re dealing with real people. Every four years we are either Democrats or Republicans. Liberals or Conservatives. Red or Blue. Nobody has names only sides. That person at work who we used to chat with about Dancing With the Stars is now a buffoon because they won’t vote for our guy or see things our way. They don’t see the world they way we do therefore they must have some kind of mental disability. Okay, that’s harsh; they are just ignorant and uneducated.

            So yes, you can be as offensive as you want. You can Facebook, Tweet, blog, Tumblr, whatever you want. You can post as many ironic pictures with funny tag lines attacking whatever core values of whomever as much as you want. You can pride yourself for taking a stand and letting the world know how you feel.

            And you won’t be changing a damn thing.

            When you get into a fight and somebody pulls out a knife the rules change. If you have a knife you pull it. If you have a bigger knife you pull it. You react to what gets tossed at you and you have to go bigger. Ideological debates are no different.

            The Right has a news station so the Left needs one.

            The Christians have blogs so the Atheists need them.

            The Democrats have attack ads so the Republicans make them.

            Bigger. Better. Faster. Stronger. Louder. That’s what we have to do in order to “beat” the other guy. We don’t have to have all the facts just the money and the megaphone and people will believe it. We have to make the world a better place for all the people so we have to attack those who disagree with us.

            Do you want to change somebody’s mind? Go buy them a cup of coffee and ask them why they believe what they believe and then shut up. Nobody believes what he or she does by accident. Maybe that Democrat grew up on food stamps and WIC after their father died in battle. Maybe that Republican was nearly aborted as a baby and worked his ass off to make her company a success. We all have our reasons and they are not usually better then anybody else’s.

            I grew up in the 1980s Evangelical church (and yes, I still believe in Jesus). If you were a Christian you voted Republican and that was it. If you voted Democrat then your conversion to Christianity was obviously fake. Now I work in a very liberal environment where if you vote Republican you obviously didn’t go to college and you’re a knuckle dragging, religious nut. These sentiments have led me to neutrality for one major reason: both sides really feel like they are doing the best thing for the people at large. If you sit down and really listen to somebody from the opposite side that you’ve placed yourself on you’ll usually be surprised at how articulate, thought out, and honest they are. They are not your enemy they are human just like you. They don’t hate like you think they do they just see the world differently because of the life they have led.

            Social media has destroyed this. We now judge people by what they post on line. We feel as though we know their whole life story and what they believe because they “like” Mitt Romney on Facebook or #Obamarocks on Twitter. That’s narcissistic bullshit. It is impossible to know somebody through this. It’s impossible to make a perfect opinion on somebody when all you see is them ranting with impunity.  

            Of course there are the stereotypical nut jobs out there that make both sides look bad and it’s the media’s job to put them and their out of context sound bites all over the web in order to fuel a position. There are people out there that just love to hate. They are ignorant, they are loud, and they don’t represent real people. Experience tells me they are the minority.

            I really don’t care who you vote for or which side you lean. I probably disagree with you on a lot of issues and agree with you on some others. La-di-frickin-da. But as tensions rise what I want you to remember is as you rant, rave, get passionate, and freak out, people won’t be changed by how loud you are but how much you care about them.

           

            Oh, and when you take the gloves off, don’t bitch about getting a knuckle sandwich.

                                                                        -D.Ex

We R Effed (A Love Story)

If there is a mental disorder for manic doubt, or doubt attacks, I think I have it. A couple of times a year I have these mini-crises where I doubt everything. I’m not talking, “If I can’t see it I don’t believe it” doubt, I’m talking Matrix, there is no spoon, is this all a dream, doubt. It’s in the pit of my soul. I can feel it around my heart (literally, that’s where my stress and worry physically manifests itself in my body). I lose sleep and I freak out for days or weeks at a time. I question everything.

Of course God, Jesus, religion, all of it, gets put on trial when I go through these bouts. What if there is no God? What if the Bible is wrong? What if Jesus was just a moral teacher? What if I’m a Christian only because I was born in America? What if all my atheist friends are right and I could be sleeping in on Sundays? What.....If.....All of it. It flies through my brain at lightning speed. I wish I could tape it all and put it on YouTube.

All of that to tell you that I understand doubt. I understand when we hear evidence that doesn’t jive with our worldview we discredit it before we actually look into it. I understand grabbing and grabbing and coming back empty. I know what it’s like to read my Bible, go to church, pray, and feel nothing. I thank God for that.

Do you know what keeps me here? Do you know what keeps me with the Bible and Jesus and Christianity? It’s the only religion or philosophy that is honest with me. The Bible tells me in the midst of my doubt, inferiority, brokenness, and weakness that I am inferior, broken, and weak. I know in our self help, everybody’s special, life your best life now, I blame the system and my mom, world this is not what’s supposed to be said, but the truth is at the least cathartic and at the most freeing.

Ever been lead on by somebody you loved? That sucks. That girl or that guy who flirts and flirts and you really want to be with them and they act like they want to be with you and then you find them making out with somebody else? Oh, that’s a kick to the boys. The Bible doesn’t do that while modern philosophy does. Modern philosophy tells us how awesome we are, and special, and that we’re naturally good. This is the leading on.

We R Effed. We are royally messed up. Can you honestly look into yourself and say, “I’m naturally good”? If you can then you are delusional. Can you honestly bank on the idea that by the time you die you will have done more good stuff then bad stuff? Not to mention, whose standard are you using? If you’re true to yourself that’s great, but are you the universal standard for right and wrong? No, you are not. I’m sorry to tell you that.  I hope your therapist, bong, or social media can have a field day with that realization.

The Bible, God, and Jesus are honest with us about our current condition. We are irrevocably broken and there is nothing we can do about it. There is no balm, there is no bandage, there is no salve to take care of the deep gash that we have. There is not a doctor smart enough, a drug good enough, sex amazing enough to fix the fact that we do stupid shit. Sure, you can cover it up, you can hide it, that’s fantastic, but when we pull a Homer Simpson and put electrical tape over the “check engine” light in our car in hopes of the problem going away deep down we know the repercussions are coming and we aren’t doing the right thing.

Think I’m exaggerating? Think I’m being a dick? Perhaps. If you totally disagree with me look back and see when the last time you said, “Well, nobody’s perfect” or “I’m only human” and you will see you agree that as humans something is naturally broken.

That’s what keeps me in the Bible. That’s what keeps me in with Jesus. That’s the Grace of God. He doesn’t lie to us or let us lie to ourselves. He says “You are broken. You need help. I have the only help.” A lot of people don’t like this. A lot of people think God is an arrogant prick because He claims to have the only way and acts like He’s in charge.

But what if He’s right? What if our best efforts are not going to cut it? Wouldn’t you rather be told that upfront then wasting all of your time? God doesn’t pull any punches. “Your righteousness is like a dirty tampon to me” (Isaiah 64:6). God isn’t interested in the good stuff we do to try to appease Him. He has no interest in how “good” we are. He doesn’t set up a list of do’s and don’ts that must be completed before we die. All He said is, “Follow me.”

See, that’s where Jesus is a shitty moral teacher. He doesn’t teach us how to be good, instead He teaches us how we don’t have anything good in us that isn’t a lonely remnant of Eden. Jesus teaches us that He is the answer to God’s impossible standard. God is His own answer because He’s that big. He doesn’t need us to answer questions for Him and He doesn’t need to answer all our questions either. He doesn’t HAVE to do anything, but He did.

Believe me, in another post we will get into this much, much, deeper. What I want you to do now is take solace, comfort, and joy in the fact that, on our own, We R Effed.