All posts by Tony

The Wonder of Flight

Aviation, Personal

I have realised once again just how incredibly privileged my son and I are to be able to do the things we do (I should add at this point that he’s a Pilot too…). We go to a little grass field in the middle of nowhere, and from there we rise up into the sky and dance among the clouds. What an amazing thing to be able to do! Sometimes I simply can’t believe it, even having been a Pilot for twenty years!

For one and a half million years, all our ancestors could do was to look up and dream of flight. Only for a little over a century has it been possible to do this in a controlled manner. We are so honoured to be a part of that.

I can’t put it better than how it’s said in this uncredited quote:

“The ultimate responsibility of the pilot is to fulfill the dreams of the countless millions of earthbound ancestors who could only stare skyward and wish”

Header picture is of me taking off in Cessna 152 G-BNSM (the same blue aeroplane as in my site’s banner image) from Bodmin Airfield (the field in the middle of nowhere),  on the evening of 21st September, 2014.

Since I wrote this piece, I have begun flying from Exeter International Airport; hardly a field in the middle of nowhere! It’s much nearer to where I live than is Bodmin….

More Precious than Silver…

Worship, Music

In 1982, not long after we’d met, Fiona and I visited the Dales Bible Week in Harrogate, for a good few nights of worship. I remember the time clearly, and we learned a good number of new songs, many of which we had at our wedding in early 1984.

One of our favourites was this one: Lord You are more precious than silver.

When indeed nothing you desire compares with Him, it’s the perfect song to sing.

Here it is, from the Dales tape ‘Praise God in His Sanctuary’, as found on my website ‘Vintage Worship Tapes‘, where you can in fact download the entire preserved tape as mp3 files. Enjoy!

Lord You are more precious than silver
Lord You are more costly than gold
Lord You are more beautiful than diamonds
And nothing I desire compares with You

Twin Lightsabers!

Insights, Humour, Star Wars

After some of my more serious posts recently, I felt I just had to inject a bit of light relief into my blog posts.

The Bible says to “…take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). Now, whether that refers to Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God, or the Bible (possibly not, as it didn’t exist when Ephesians was written! And I don’t do bibliolatry*) but in any case, having the Scripture memorised is indeed a powerful weapon in spiritual warfare; the enemy doesn’t like to hear an appropriate Scripture quoted at him!** So let’s call the Bible the word of God for now. And it’s the Sword of the Spirit. I like to think of it as my spiritual lightsaber***.

Now, as you may know, I am a huge Star Wars geek. Not just a fan, but a total geek. And in Star Wars lore, there is a lightsaber combat style known as Jar’Kai, which is the method of using two lightsabers together in combat.

Well-known (to Star Wars geeks anyway) practitioners of Jar’Kai are Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, who wields two lightsabers of different lengths, and (usually) one of them in a forehand grip, one in a backhand grip:

ahsokalightsabers

ahsoka1

…and there’s also Sith apprentice/Nightsister Asajj Ventress:

ventress1

Here’s Ventress using her two lightsabers while fighting against the Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker:

anakinventressduel-kamino

Now, here’s the funny bit. At home, and also when I go to my church’s life group (our housegroup), I take two Bibles. In effect, I’m carrying two swords. Or, as I’d prefer to think, my twin lightsabers! Here’s the Star Wars equivalent: effectively, I use my Bibles Jar’Kai style. I take my 1978 NIV and my King James Version. I find that sometimes, one version puts a passage in a better, more easily understandable light. An example of the King James carrying a better turn of phrase is in Matthew 18:3 (KJV), as explained in this article. And the other side of the coin is that the Bible I use most is the 1978 NIV, and quite often I use that translation to obtain the modern English meanings of the KJV archaic speech. I find the result to be most illuminating! Each translation has its own strengths and weaknesses. Each Bible covers points the other misses.

Similarly, the Jar’Kai lightsaber style allows the user to cover his/her weakpoints with one saber while attacking with the other, or to get better use out of each saber. Think like the effect of having two lightsabers is greater than the sum of the two sabers.

And, for me, so it is with my Bibles. Some have called me things like ‘Two-Gun Tex’. I’d prefer the Jar’Kai label but nobody knows about it except us geeks 😉 Here’s Anakin Skywalker again (played by Haydn Christensen) improvising Jar’Kai against Sith Lord Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus (played by the late legendary actor Christopher Lee) in Star Wars Episode II – Attack of the Clones:

anakin_dual_wielding

There are more parallels, too. Use of the lightsaber relies very heavily on the Force, which is the Star Wars universe’s equivalent of God. Similarly, the Bible has to be used as inspired by the Holy Spirit. If the Spirit brings to life a passage of Scripture, then that is the point at which the Bible becomes the Word of God – living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb 4:12). Although as I have said above, Jesus is the Word of God, the Bible when activated by the Spirit is still a powerful weapon. And we don’t need to be ultra-precise about these things anyway; this is supposed to be a light-hearted piece.

kenobi_faces_grievous

The picture above shows Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) facing Separatist General Grievous with his four lightsabers****. Now that’s just cheating. Not even sure that counts as Jar’Kai….

And carrying four Bibles would mean you’d have a really heavy bag.

Anyway, yes, it might sound pretentious and maybe even super-spiritual to carry two Bibles to housegroup – but I really do find it useful and educational to do so.

And I know all this sounds completely nuts. But I find it funny, and maybe that’s just a quirky Aspergic sort of thing. But I thought I’d share it because it might get a few chuckles….something we could all do with now and again!

*Bibliolatry is where people are almost thinking of the Bible as God, and anything said against the Bible is seen as blasphemy. No, really. But of course those guilty of bibliolatry can’t see that they are doing it. Now that’s worth a chuckle or two, or would be if it didn’t cause so much misery!

**Please don’t be under the impression that I take my Bibles to housegroup in order to start Scripture-bombing fights with people. I don’t 😀

***If you don’t know what a lightsaber is, be advised that it’s a famous weapon from the Star Wars movie franchise. It’s like a laser beam formed into a sword and it can be used for both attack and defence. And it’s deadly in the right hands; deadly in a different way in the wrong hands (you’d end up chopping off bits of yourself and your friends 😉 ). Another parallel about the use/misuse of Scripture!

****In Star Wars Episode III – Revenge of the Sith

Lovely Worship Medley

Worship, Personal, Ministry, Music

cloudscape over devon

This small but powerful worship medley is absolutely gorgeous. Fiona and I used to sing the first song, ‘You Alone are Holy’, as a duet. ‘We Exalt You’, however, although one of my favourite ‘uplifting’ songs, never quite caught on as well as I’d have liked – but I share it with you today in the hope that you too will find it uplifting.


You Alone are Holy

Can you hear Creation yearning
Longing to worship His Name?
Together in all adoration
I join them to proclaim

Can you hear the angels singing
In the Presence of the King
My heart cries out to be with them
As I fall on my knees and sing

For You alone are holy
You are worthy to be praised
You alone are holy
I offer up myself to You
For it’s the least that I can do for You

To live my life in Your Presence
To hide in the wings of Your grace
To drink from Your fountain of mercy
I hunger and seek Your Face

For You alone are holy
You are worthy to be praised
You alone are holy
I offer up myself to You
For it’s the least that I can do

For You alone are holy
You are worthy to be praised
You alone are holy
I offer up myself to You
I offer up myself to You
I offer up myself to You
For it’s the least that I can do for You

You Alone

You are the Peace that guards my heart
My Help in time of need
You are the Hope that leads me on
And brings me to my knees

For there I find You waiting
And there I find release
So with all my heart I’ll worship
And unto You I’ll sing

For You alone deserve all glory
For You alone deserve all praise
Father we worship and adore You
Father we long to see Your Face

For You alone deserve all glory
For You alone deserve all praise
Father, we love You
And we worship You this day

We Exalt You

We exalt You, we exalt You
We exalt You, Exalted King on high
We exalt You, we exalt You
We exalt You, Exalted King on high

We are called of You
Gathered from all nations
Called as priests to You
To demonstrate Your praise

We exalt You, we exalt You
We exalt You, Exalted King on high
We exalt You, we exalt You
We exalt You, Exalted King on high

We are living stones
Formed by Your own righteous Hand
Joined in unity
To celebrate Your Love

We exalt You, we exalt You
We exalt You, Exalted King on high
We exalt You, we exalt You
We exalt You, Exalted King on high

We exalt You, we exalt You
We exalt You, Exalted King on high

Header Image: Cloudscape over Devon; a view above the clouds at about 7,000ft on a crystal-clear day.  Seeing a view like this evokes real worship of the sheer magnificence of God as seen in His Creation.

Dark Night of the Soul – Revisited

Insights, Personal

This week in my Church’s Life Group (our housegroup), we watched another short video by Pete Scazzero, as part of his ‘Emotionally Healthy Spirituality’ study series. Pete ScazzeroThis is a great series for developing maturity  amongst Christians, and this week’s episode (the fourth in the series) was, in my opinion, the key part so far.

In it, Pete was talking about ‘the Wall’ – also known as the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’; a subject I have written on many times before.

An important point that he raised was that 85% of Evangelicals don’t make it through the Wall and, one presumes, they either have to live with their doubts or ‘fall away’. But Pete maintains that the Dark Night is a healthy part of normal Christian growth – if it is handled correctly. I’m writing this piece today in order hopefully to encourage those going through the Dark Night. If that’s you, please know that you’re not on your own. If that’s not you, it still might help to read this as if/when you go through your own Dark Night, perhaps you might remember some of this, and therefore be encouraged too.

I mentioned earlier that I have written on the subject of the Dark Night before. And so, for the reference of anyone else who may be going through the Dark Night at the moment – or trying to get through ‘the Wall’, or even for members of my Life Group who may be reading this and want some more background, here’s a collation of all the articles written about my ‘Dark Night’, how to handle it (for the person themselves and for their friends)  and/or what I learned while I was in there.

First, a piece on the warning of the Spirit about what He was about to do in my life:

Still Your Soul in Silence

still your soul

And now the main piece itself that describes what it looks like:

The Dark Night of the Soul

dark_night_header

Here’s a piece on how it affected me as a ‘religious’ person and how it brought me out of that state:

Blindsided by Grace

Grace2

And a piece about how I used to burn out in ministry; another slant on the point about how the Spirit led me into the Dark Night:

All I Desire

all i desire heaven_sm

Here’s my life testimony, showing where the Dark Night fitted in to God’s overall plan:

My Testimony

my_testimony

And then my first inkling that actually all I’d learned during the Dark Night was common to other believers as well:

The Shack

Shackover

Pete said that the ‘precipitating event’ for each person’s Dark Night could be something like a life trauma – loss of a loved one; a scary medical diagnosis; loss of a job – or it could be church disillusionment, or indeed anything else including even good things. Maybe the birth of a child shakes up your foundations of faith; you realise how Father God feels about you because of the way you feel about your own child. It really could be anything. But usually there is a ‘trigger event’ of some sort.

One of Pete’s main recommendations for those going through the Dark Night is that they maintain their relationship with Jesus through that time, no matter how distant He may feel. I might point out here that this is not always possible; sometimes the problem was indeed something to do with Church disillusionment and, because this was the problem, because the wrong image of God may have been presented to you as part of being in that Church, He will need to detoxify you of your former, incorrect, notions. And this takes time, patience and His love, even though you might not feel it at the time. But you will find that God does insert little glimmers of His presence along the way, just to reassure you! I can testify that Church disillusionment is in fact healthy, where that Church has not been teaching God’s Grace, His limitless, undeserved Grace, and where ‘Works’ have been prescribed, no matter how disguised as ‘service’ etc., as a means of drawing closer  to God. Any Church teaching ‘mixture’ – Grace and Works – is invariably going to present an incorrect picture of Father God which needs to be unlearned before further progress can be made. And, in my case, that was the problem and that took time to accomplish.
Don’t try to push your way to your ‘Dark Night’, in order to achieve this spiritual growth. God will bring you to it in His own good time, at a time that is right for you. And in the meantime, please don’t feel inferior because it hasn’t happened to you; you are right where God wants you right now and all you need to do is to follow Him.

And if you are in the Dark Night, remember that He is walking there with you. Don’t try to artificially ‘end’ the Dark Night; God will let you find your way out, all in His own good time. Although it might not feel like it, God is right there with you in this time. Remember that, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Ps 23:4) – David, the man of God who wrote this, was clearly familiar with the concept. In fact I would say that it isn’t actually possible to find your own way out; you must trust God to guide you. For me, every time I ‘tried’ Church again, I was so repelled by it that I had to get out of there. As I’ve said before, every time I went into a Church, it reminded me of why I didn’t!

What is the result of the Dark Night? I would say that the rewards of going through the Night are more than worth the pain of it. The believer finds a new, deeper relationship with Jesus; more love, empathy and understanding for others; decreased ‘religiosity’; a new understanding of God’s ways; less concern with the opinions of others, especially on theological issues; and mainly a vast, vast freedom to be who God wants him to be, and a freedom to live life in the Spirit; a renewed sense of God’s completely unconditional love and what this means in practice – well, the list goes on. You can see some of the fruits of my Dark Night in my insights in this blog. I recommend you go to some of my earlier posts (mid-2014 onwards) for a taste of this sort of thing.

My personal Dark Night of the Soul lasted for for fifteen years; I often refer to it as my ‘wilderness experience’. One thing that I have found since then is that there is a tendency both to see yourself, and for others to see you, as having ‘attained’ a spiritual maturity ‘level’ that is higher than others, and there is a tendency for pride to creep in (on my part) and for some feelings of being on the wrong side of elitism on the part of other people. I’ve learned, though, that actually we are all on a spiritual journey as Christians, and I am no more superior to those who have not gone through a Dark Night than is an adult to a teenager. It’s all part of spiritual development and we’re all at different stages. Having a prideful attitude can and will hinder not only your own spiritual growth, but also that of others too.

Jeff Turner recently commented on Facebook on this subject, quoting Fr. Richard Rohr:

“Once you say ‘higher level’ (regarding one’s level of spirituality), you appeal to the ego, and all the wrong instincts in people.”
-Fr. Richard Rohr

“When you begin to refer to where you’re at on your journey as a “deeper place,” “higher level,” “another dimension,” or some other such thing, you create a space where pride, arrogance, and superiority can thrive in the name or spirituality. No, we’re journeying, and on this journey, mountains are laid low, and valleys exalted. Every place is an equal place for the sincere, it’s just that we are never all in the same place at the same time, and tend to assume wherever we’re at is the place to be.

“The place to be is wherever you are”.

Wise words indeed; thank you Jeff Turner.

 

And finally, I also learned from Pete’s video that the Dark Night is not a one-off thing. Although for me, my fifteen-year Night was pretty decisive, I hope to go through others too; hopefully not so dark. ‘Hope’, you say? Wouldn’t you want to avoid the pain? Well, as I’ve said already, the benefits far outweigh the pain…this is a Good God we are talking about, remember; One in Whom there is no darkness at all (1Jn1:5)

 

So, if you’re going through a dark time in your life right now, be encouraged. There’s nothing wrong with you; there’s nothing you need to ‘do’ to try to ‘pull your socks up’ or ‘stop backsliding’. People who don’t understand might say all sorts of things to try to encourage/rebuke/correct you; right here and now, Father gives you permission to accept or ignore others’ comments as you see fit. You don’t have to listen to everyone; you don’t even have to listen to anyone (including me!) if you don’t want to. I and many other Christians have been there, and this experience is a perfectly normal part of being a Christian. The problem is that others might feel threatened or scared by the changes in you. This is perfectly understandable but you can always reassure them that God has His Hand on you, and that they need not worry; they simply need to trust Him.
So finally, remember that in all this (and I know you might not want to hear even this right now!): He is right there with you. This is normal. You really will be fine 🙂
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me”.

Why We Fly…

Aviation, Insights, Others' stuff

“Flying as God meant it to be…..Wonderful flying weather; looking down on the rolling colourful countryside, English countryside, surely a green and pleasant land. Small cars on small roads passing through small villages and then a larger town with factories; nine till five, hard luck you down there.

“Up here the air is pure and clean. The sheer joy of flight infiltrates the very soul and from above the earth, alone, where the very thought in one’s mind seems to transmit itself to the aeroplane, there is no longer any doubt that some omniscient force understands what life is all about. There are times when the feeling of being near to an unknown presence is strong and real and comforting. It is far beyond human comprehension. We only know that it’s beautiful.”

– Geoffrey Wellum, ‘First Light‘

Casting Down the Imaginations

Insights
“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” 2Cor10:5 (KJV)

I’ve recently identified the driving force behind my contentious blog posts, my forum postings (usually contesting posts by religious hard-liners) and my attitudes in general towards things spiritual.

It’s simply this: I feel passionately that the God that I love has been grossly misrepresented by certain current Church doctrines and attitudes. It is apparent to me that the Gospel of a God Who loves everyone, and saves people entirely by Grace, has been watered-down by several seriously-flawed, man-made ideas.

Jesus said, “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mat 15:9 (KJV)) – in other words, things from men’s imaginations being taught as if they are truths worth stating as part of your belief structure (which is basically what a doctrine is).

Now, St. Paul wrote of ‘the weapons of our warfare’ being mighty in God for the destruction of [spiritual] strongholds (2Cor10:4). And the current spiritual strongholds that are in place are that God is seen as a horrible, evil, vicious, judgemental dictator; partly because of how certain people portray Him, and partly because of doctrines that have been held as true – in my opinion, erroneously – by the Church.

And it’s time to tear down these strongholds – these ‘imaginations’ – and that’s why I post as I do. These horrible man-made ideas, that malign the name of God and besmirch His Character, are indeed the ‘imaginations’ that need to be torn down, and the reason they need that is because, as the verse above says, they exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.

Let’s look at the verse again:

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” 2Cor10:5 (KJV)

‘Exalting’ means ‘lifting up’, so what we are saying here is that these ‘imaginations’ – doctrines made up by men – are lifted up against the knowledge of God; they give Him a bad name, if you like, and skew humanity’s perception of Him. They portray Him in ways that are simply untrue.

And so I am completely fed up with my wonderful God being portrayed as horrible, by these ‘imaginations’, and by people who really should know better.

Let me be more specific, and use a few examples.

The Doctrine of Hell

Of course, the first up is the doctrine of Hell, as espoused by most people in the current Evangelical branch of the Church. This doctrine states that if a person does not believe in Jesus in this life, then when they die they go to Hell where they will be tortured forever.

This awful doctrine speaks of a cold, heartless god who, quite arbitrarily, sends people who have never heard the gospel, to this Hell place.

To quote from Rob Bell,

“Millions have been taught that if they don’t believe, if they don’t accept in the right way, that is, the way the person telling them the Gospel does, and they were hit by a car and died later that same day, God would have no choice but to punish them forever in conscious torment in hell. God would, in essence, become a fundamentally different being to them in that moment of death, a different being to them forever. A loving heavenly Father who will go to extraordinary lengths to have a relationship with them would, in the blink of an eye, become a cruel, mean, vicious tormenter who would ensure that they had no escape from an endless future of agony. Does God become somebody totally different the moment you die?

“That kind of God is simply devastating. Psychologically crushing. We can’t bear it. No one can. And that is the secret deep in the heart of many people, especially Christians: they don’t love God. They can’t, because the God they’ve been presented with and taught about can’t be loved. That God is terrifying and traumatizing and unbearable.

“And so there are conferences about how churches can be more “relevant” and “missional” and “welcoming,” and there are vast resources, many, many books and films, for those who want to “reach out” and “connect” and “build relationships” with people who aren’t part of the church. And that can be helpful. But at the heart of it, we have to ask: Just what kind of God is behind all this?

“Because if something is wrong with your God, if your God is loving one second and cruel the next, if your God will punish people for all of eternity for sins committed in a few short years, no amount of clever marketing or compelling language or good music or great coffee will be able to disguise that one, true, glaring, untenable, unacceptable, awful reality.”

– Rob Bell, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived

Everything that exists was created by God. If Hell exists, then it too must have been created by Him. But I find it hard, nay, impossible, to believe that God has indeed created Hell. It’s quite simple to tell, really: we’ve just said that by Him all things were created (Col 1:16); and without Him nothing was created that has been created (John 1:3) and, put simply, God cannot have created Hell because in Him there is no darkness. And he’d have to be a pretty dark person to have created Hell, but of course He’s not. And therefore Hell does not exist, or at least not the Hell that is portrayed in modern Christian doctrine.

this-is-the-message-in-him-there-is-no-darkness

(1Jn1:5)
You see, that Hell doctrine has to have increasingly complex arguments put in place to defend it, where really it (the doctrine) should not exist at all and it is simpler and far more realistic to simply discard the whole doctrine.

I too was brought up in the faith believing in the doctrine of Hell, and would you believe that I almost rejoiced in thinking that those who did not agree with me were destined to burn there. How sick was I? And yet I do think that some people believe this but without really thinking it through. They are just parroting what they have been told. There are so many other arguments I could make on this subject, but this is not the place for them. Click here for my blog’s resource page on Hell, which also includes my own personal opinions, for what they’re worth.

And, in fact, there are encouraging signs that individuals like me in the Church are ‘privately’ coming around to the point of view that God does not, and never has, condemned people to eternal suffering based on their theology. Here’s an interesting article on that subject.

‘Angry God’

The next travesty and slur on the Character of  God is the Doctrine of ‘Angry God’. Now it’s not named as such in any doctrinal handbook, but it’s inferred by most Christian doctrine that god’s holiness is so pure that he can’t bear to look upon sin, and his ‘wrath’ is so great that he has to ‘punish’ people for sin. He’s a god of destruction, one that kills women and children and commands his servants to hamstring all their enemy’s donkeys. Over to Jeff Turner for a good summary of the way that God is seen by most people – and what Jesus does to banish that notion:

“The sad truth is that we have all inherited a portrait of God that looks far more like Mt. Olympus than Mt. Zion, and it’s an inheritance that most are too terrified to discard. In our Western traditions God is often presented as being cold, austere, distant and judgmental. We imagine Him surrounded by dark clouds, with a scowl sprawled across his angry mug.

angry-god-wtf

“He’s very eager to be pleased, but, unfortunately, extremely difficult to please. He is a hermit that is notoriously difficult to coax out of hiding and even harder to keep around because the slightest scent of sin can send him bolting for the hills in a rage. In fact, one of our imagined deity’s greatest weaknesses is His sin allergy. Wherever there are humans behaving badly, you can be sure he’ll be absent. Where there are broken people doing broken things with their broken lives, God will not be present, for in our mythology human sin works like Kryptonite against him, forcing Him to retreat and separate Himself from us.

“He is mostly sad andAngryGod1 mad, and rarely, perhaps when his enemies bite the dust, glad. He is heartbroken over our lack of devotion and disinterest in prayer, but is himself quite disinterested in the everyday events of our lives. He is a demented Santa Claus of sorts, who tightly clenches the naughty list – which we’ve all landed on, by the way – and dreams of filling our spiritual stockings with the burning coals of judgment. When he looks at [a nation], he doesn’t see individual people who desperately need love and mercy, but a widespread, faceless blob of darkness, deserving judgment. He’s sickened by our lack of fervency, repulsed by our spotty church attendance records, and gets all up in arms when our summer vacation extends over a Sunday morning. To put it simply, He’s angry.

“The God that a large percentage of us imagine and pay homage to is disgruntled, disappointed, and disapproving. While some may be fortunate enough to have imagined Him in His true state, my experience has been that 9 out of 10 people, myself included, do not see Him rightly. We’ve been subjected to hours of teachings that have subtly sown into our minds the idea that He is primarily a legal deity concerned with rights and wrongs, and this subconscious programming is absolutely killing us. I would even venture to say that it is the leading cause of anxiety, fear, discontentment, and depression among Christians. In all of this fear, turmoil, and mythology, however, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, still stands in our midst, combatting these false ideologies, and seeking to shine the light of Grace upon the face of His Daddy.”

– (From Saints in the Arms of a Happy God: Recovering the Image of God and Man, by Jeff Turner, and quoted in better context in my previous article ‘The Ultimate ‘Bad Witness’‘)

And as beautifully written by someone I know on Facebook,

“Many people live their lives in depression and anxiety from the theology through which they find their existential meaning, fearful of the future, confused about God and thus about themselves, walking around believing they are rotten to the core, and that God is disgusted with them and would wrathfully destroy them except that he sees them through the appeasing violence done to Jesus. This is a prison for the mind and heart. It is not the Abba that Jesus revealed, nor is it the revelation of the sons and daughters of God, nor is it the life abundantly Jesus came to give, nor is it the power of the kingdom of heaven that dwells within us.

“Now my goal is to help Christians deconstruct this false, baseless idea of existence, and the structures of reasoning that have imprisoned their mind, and give them permission to break free of fear and believe and trust in an extravagantly good Father, who is revealed in the Son, [Whose] love is an endless ocean that you cannot escape as long as you exist, because your existence is energized by nothing less than infinite love. There is no other reason for you to exist except for love” [emphasis mine]

Yes, be assured that Father God is good – as represented by Jesus. Anything else is a complete misconception. Want to know what Father God is like? He’s just like Jesus: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9) and “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” – (Heb 1:3).  And in Him there is no darkness – none whatsoever! Let’s read that Scripture (1Jn1:5) again:

this-is-the-message-in-him-there-is-no-darkness

‘God Hates Gays’

I’ve written about this many times before, but the principle of persecution of, well, not just gay/lesbian/transgender (LGBTQ) people, but other ‘minorities’ too, is just the tip of the iceberg. The Old Testament is full of lists of people who, supposedly, God will not permit in the ‘assembly’, that is, people who are not allowed to worship him. This list includes all those who are not of the tribes of Israel, and even within those tribes, there are many minorities – lepers, those who have been ’emasculated by cutting or crushing’, those with various skin conditions, women on their menstrual cycles – the list goes on. And it’s no different in today’s church – people are ostracised for all kinds of offences, the main ones of course being those that can be ‘supported’ by mistranslated and/or out-of-context Scripture verses (which basically anyone who knows their Bible can do; it’s easy to find a Scripture somewhere that will seem to support your point of view!). Oh, and those who do not toe the party line! Basically, anyone who is different, anyone who does not ‘fit in’; that person is ripe for ostracism. While this is not always a doctrine as such (although the gay persecution stuff is; there are at least six Scriptures that are misinterpreted so that gay people can be ‘scripturally’ discriminated against), it is still a major black mark against my Loving Father in the eyes of the world. What the world sees is that Christians – and therefore God – hate gays. The Church does not properly represent God on this matter! “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” – (Hosea 6:6) – God would rather people were good to each other instead of being religious! More of my musings on how the Church treats LGBTQ people can be found here, here, here, and here. But the point is that these practices are a major stumbling-block as perceived by someone considering coming to faith. And it’s a stronghold; an ‘imagination’. I understand that people are afraid of ‘differences’, but surely in the Church Family, there must be a better way than the dysfunctional practice of ostracism. Whatever happened to ‘live and let live’?

The ‘Bad Witness’

Then there’s the question of the people who profess Christianity but who come across as all harsh, judgemental**, vindictive and unbending. Like those I describe in my article – ‘Bad Witness’. These people see the Holy Spirit as a Convictor* (actually only one step from an Accuser) rather than a Comforter, and Jesus as yet another Lawgiver rather than Him being the end of the Law (Rom 10:4 (KJV)). These people can be found in their droves on religious forums. They portray Father as an angry Dictator, as we have already seen. So, all three Persons of the Godhead are maligned at the same time! And I therefore go on the forums to present the alternative view: that actually God likes the people He has created (including the harsh people!). Sometimes these people claim that I am not a Christian, and one forumite in particular was rather dischuffed that I didn’t support him at all, despite me claiming to be a believer and from that he concluded my salvation state was nil. But of course I’m not going to support him in his transmitting opinions that I feel to be toxic to others. How can I support someone I don’t agree with? But if he was ill, in need, hungry or in need of encouragement, I’d be right there beside him (except I think he lives in America so he’s too far away!)

In some ways, these people are living examples of what a person would have to become like if they are to mirror their heavenly father as they actually see him, if they believe that he’s like that too. If their god is harsh and judgemental, then they are going to portray him as harsh and judgemental. So in a way, they are just representing god in the best way they can; the problem is that, in the eyes of the world, they represent the real, loving, living God, and what the world see is, of course, awful! In a very real way, this ‘Bad Witness’ is actually an extension of the ‘Angry God’ doctrine above; what we are seeing here is merely the manifestation of that image of god to the world for them to see, and for them to be disillusioned with. Who would want to come to Church when they think it will be populated by people such as these? Naturally, these nasty types are just in the minority – most churches, including mine, are full of the sweetest, Christlike people – but can you really blame outsiders for tarring us all with the same brush?

So, that’s just four of these entrenched ideas and concepts – Imaginations – in the Church that are so destructive; there are more but these will do for now.

You see, if we really examine our doctrines on these ideas, they all, without exception, portray our loving Father God in a very bad, harsh and horrible light. Light that is as much darkness as it is light, in fact. I would even go as far as saying that this represents a Pagan, yin/yang, Karma-style (what goes round, comes round) god than a living, loving Creator.

Just because everyone believes in a particular doctrine, does not mean that that doctrine is correct. Acceptance of the majority opinion does not make a doctrine true; it is simply more likely that nobody has questioned it! Ironically, here’s a Rick Warren saying which states exactly that (the irony being that Rick is, as far as I know, one of the people who believes in Hell, and is probably against same-sex marriage 😉 )

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I believe that a new revival is slowly and carefully making its way through the Church in this day. A revival where people are waking up to seeing just how fantastic God is, how loving, kind and inclusive. Jesus’s message was not just for the people of Israel in the First Century; it was for all men everywhere and in every time (John 17:20). In this time, we in the Church need to include everyone in the message of Good News which is that God loves us and sent Jesus to show us that, in all that He did and suffered, He will stop at nothing to show us this amazing Truth.

Please be assured: this isn’t supposed to be a rant in any way. I’m just explaining where I’m coming from in my writings. You know, God is so much ‘nicer’ than how many believers – even sincere ones – portray Him, or at least, who believe these untrue things about Him because they haven’t really thought them through in any great depth, and/or they have simply believed what they’ve been told without questioning it. Maybe they don’t realise how destructive these ideas are, but let me assure you that the world outside the Church sees the problems caused by these doctrines really clearly. And it’s also counter-intuitive; most people outside the Church, believe it or not, actually think that God is Good. It’s just some of the Christians who claim to represent Him that they have the problem with!

So, these are just some of the ‘Imaginations’ that need to be cast down. If you can see yourself in any of these descriptions, please ask Jesus what He thinks. And let Him change you, in His own good time! And, if you are someone who already knows that God isn’t like these imaginations, please feel free to let everyone know. Although, I appreciate that you probably already do!

Bless you!

*The Spirit does convict the world of sin, but in the sense of “He will convict the world in regard to sin … because they do not believe in Me” (Jn 16:8-9). Jesus is talking here about unbelievers, not believers. Those in Christ are no longer under condemnation nor accusation of any kind! (Rom 8:1-2)

**The concept of ‘speaking the truth in love’ (a ripped out of context verse from Eph 4:15) is abused regularly as an excuse for telling complete strangers where they are ‘sinning’, supposedly in the hope of correcting their behaviour ‘so that they won’t go to Hell’. This concept does not stand up to scrutiny on many levels: they are spoken to complete strangers so how can there be any love involved; who are we to tell others about their ‘sin’; it’s legalistic when really the governing factor should be Grace; it’s the Spirit Who convicts the world of sin (as we have seen above, in Jn 16:8-9); according to the accusing parties, those people are ‘going to Hell’ anyway, it’ll take much more than just being told that they’re doing something wrong to ‘save’ them!; as everyone knows, this ‘method’ of ‘evangelism’ simply does not work; and, finally, everyone else can see that it’s just people being judgemental and using the Scripture as an excuse. But it’s a repulsive practice, literally, in that it repels people from the beautiful Person of Jesus Who does not judge.

Raising Hell

Others' stuff, Reviews

I’m currently reading an excellent little book called “Raising Hell“, by Julie Ferwerda.

I can’t recommend the book highly enough. I have been listening to Father on this subject for several months now, and the things I have been given tally up almost exactly with the things that Julie mentions in her book. And I’m still only a third of the way through it!

Here is my review of the book as I posted it on Amazon today:

“This is an extremely good, scholarly work written by a lady who obviously knows the Scriptures and knows the Lord.

“All the author’s teaching in this book is from Scripture, using the original meanings of the Hebrew and Greek words and concepts, and the teaching is applied into her considerations accurately and convincingly. If you are a believer who has always had a problem with your loving God being able to consign the people He loves to an eternity of suffering; if you are one of these people who constantly thinks ‘Oh I wish that Hell wasn’t true!’, then this is the book for you. In this book, the author examines the modern doctrine of Hell as seen in the Scriptures and as declared by the Church, and explains why it’s not the way we once thought.

“But you will have to approach this book with an open mind. If you believe that Jesus still speaks to His people today (John 16:12), then prepare to hear His voice in this book. If the doctrine of Hell has bothered you (and it should), then be prepared to have your thinking radically changed. Prepare to have the focus of the Gospel shifted to the heavenly things it should always have been on, rather than the horrible doctrines of Hell. Philippians 4:8 says, “…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things” – not Hell. And that is why this book sets you free; you will no longer need to think about Hell at all.

“But beware – this book will change the way other believers will perceive you. Because you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free, there will be those among your Church family who will be unable to cope with your freedom. But he whom the Son sets free is free indeed, and Jesus will indeed set so much of your mind free with this little book.

“Buy it. It will change your life.”

Oddly enough, but perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, someone has also placed a one-star review which consists almost entirely of a completely irrelevant Scripture-bombing salvo. You might want to look at it and see if you can make any sense of it; I certainly can’t, despite my exceptionally high IQ (and exemplary modesty!).

Anyway, the book can be purchased from Amazon either as an eBook or as a paperback. The link for the Amazon.com (US site) is on the author’s website; Also, you can get a free PDF version of the book from the website too – click the logo below to go there:

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You can find the book on Amazon.co.uk too – click here to do that

As Julie says on her site:

“Dare to question. What have you got to lose? “