religion's drive

Yesterday as I was driving in my car I heard a quote that has stuck with me. I was listening to a radio station out of Los Angeles and one of the hosts said, “religion no longer has its stronghold on America as it once did.  People are now turning to other things to fill the ‘religion’ void in their souls, and give them something to live for and be passionate about”. To be fair, he was talking about people in LA that are fighting for better bike lanes and apparently making quite a stink about the whole thing.  The host was also trying to say that religion was a brainwashing mechanism and all of that, but that is neither here nor there.

The part of the quote that has stuck with me is when he said, “religion no longer has its stronghold on America s it once did”. This stuck with me because of how much I agree with him on this but for a different reason. I would argue that religion is losing its stronghold, but a true relationship with Jesus is starting to emerge. People are starting to internalize that Jesus was here to set you free with the truth instead of confine you with the ‘don’ts’ in life.

Religion, to me, sets out to make itself look good.  It loves to tell people who is in and who is out, and tends to revel in the fact it does not fall victim to the vices that laypersons so often struggle with.  It loves to tell you when it perceives you to be wrong based solely on you not believing 100% of their set doctrine. If you have the audacity to speak up and simply say, “I don’t know about that”, your belief in God may be questioned, and it is very hard to move into good standing after being branded as a skeptic.

The not so subtle secret and aspect that makes me cringe the most is how much religion will find ways to attack and criticize its own from afar. It makes no effort to investigate, to engage, or to understand the person or thing it deems to not be “religious” enough for its liking. It honestly doesn’t matter what the person or thing’s intentions or heart is, religion will tear it down because they do not fit into the mold that it has made. And the craziest part is if that person or thing is being extremely effective and reaching a lot of souls, religion will find a way to tear the person or thing down and call them a heretic. Religion will literally try to cut off the hands and feet that are being the most effective simply because it doesn’t fit in the box.

When I heard the host say, “they are turning to other things to fill the ‘religion’ void in their souls,” what immediately came to mind are the people I have come to know that are passionately pursuing Jesus. Instead of worrying about the rules and regulations, they are setting out to understand Jesus’ heart and mind to be more like him. They are passionate about sharing Jesus to anyone and everyone, regardless of the circumstances in their life. They refuse to see people as a culmination of their mistakes and look deeper to see the human inside. They don’t worry about “religion” trying to tear them down and telling them they are not worthy; they just take the next step towards obedience.

So, what can that look like? To be honest, sometimes I am not sure. In a country that seems so hell bent to divide itself, and a political climate that seems to tell anyone who doesn’t agree with a certain side that they are evil, it can become hard to even picture. But with that being said, I do think people are starting to gravitate towards Jesus more than ever. The power of religion is starting to lose its rein a little bit, but rest assured, religion will not go down without a fight. Jesus showed there was another way of living that revolved around love and he was killed for it, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible.

In a moment of self-reflection, I will admit I have had a lot of religion in me for a long time. I have subconsciously tried to hold court on who was in and who was out and have made up my own little rules as to who deserved to get some Jesus. But, that isn’t Jesus. Jesus went to the people that nobody thought was worthy and hung with them. Jesus gave himself even when he had no more to give, and honestly, I want that more and more each day and the world seems to be going in the opposite direction.

-brad

Currently Reading:

Own the Moment by Carl Lentz

confession

original art by James Isenhower

I am stunned, angry and swimming in a profound sadness, and frankly I’m writing blind, hoping some answer will float to the surface. I find myself going back and forth between different emotions depending on what I hear being said or what I have read after the horrific tragedy in Las Vegas. I admit I am sitting here typing with tears in my eyes, and I can’t 100% explain why. First, you turn on the television in the morning and you hear these unbelievable stories of heroism and bravery that are coming out from that night. Then you turn to another channel or flip to your phone to look at Facebook, and you start to read the unbelievable Bullsh*t that seems to come out of people’s mouths when something like this happens. 

I am writing this on Tuesday Oct. 3rd, only two days removed from the Las Vegas shooting, and the main thing being discussed is whether or not there should be stricter gun control laws within this country.  Already people have turned their focus from the victims and are trying to get in their political points.  People against gun control attempt to turn the focus away from guns and onto other things that kill Americans as well. They point to the deadly consequences associated with drugs, cars, cancer, natural disasters and anything else they can think of to try to steer the conversation away from gun regulation.  No doubt, the NRA has already made calls to all their favorite congressmen urging them to hold strong in this time of tragedy, because darn it all, the people of this country have the right to bear arms.

In fairness, I do not know fully where I stand on this. Before someone calls me out, I do own three firearms. I have had a couple of them for years, and I have shot them only a dozen or so times.  I confess that they are beginning to make me more and more uncomfortable by the day. With each tragedy that happens and with each person that is just so damn insistent that gun regulation is not the problem, I can’t help but wonder – what or who is to blame? The only common denominator I see in all of these tragedies in the gun itself. One could argue it is the person holding the gun, but in each of these mass shootings it has been a different story and a different person. The only common thread throughout all of them is that they were allowed to freely purchase or own a gun with very little red tape to break through.

I do enjoy hunting. I cherish getting up really early with my dad, heading out to a spot in the middle of the woods and waiting for deer to come across our path. The thing about hunting rifles is they are not the types of rifles being used to murder mass groups of people, and rarely have I heard anyone from either side bring those up during a gun debate. By the same token, you rarely hear someone bring up shotguns, which are used not only for hunting but also for home protection. But for the life of me, I cannot think of any reason that an assault rifle or automatic weapon should ever be purchased by a person that is not in the military. In light of all of these tragedies, why are we so steadfast on keeping these killing machines in our homes?

If you have listened to our podcast, you have probably heard us say that we do not know all the answers, and that certainly rings true for this topic. But I want to ask you all a couple of questions, and it would be an honor if you would let me know what you think:

1.)    Do you believe there need to be stricter gun laws in this country?  Why or Why not?

2.)    Why do you think America seems to have a disproportionate number of murders by guns compared to other countries?

3.)    What, if anything, at this point could be done to try to eliminate these mass shootings and shootings in general?

-brad

FINISH HIM!

Did you ever play Mortal Kombat on Nintendo or Super Nintendo?

I realize this may be a dumb question for most of you.  You are probably sitting there saying: “What are you serious?  Of course, I played Mortal Kombat when I was a kid.  It is only one of, if not the greatest game ever made! What are you crazy?”

I wouldn’t blame you if this were your reaction because I agree with you.  It is definitely one of the greatest games ever made. I remember many days and nights when I would sit around and play this wonderful game for hours on end.  Everyone would jockey to get their favorite fighter and give it all they got to make sure they lasted in the eternal struggle that is fictional universe fighting.  Each person would try to find that magic combination of kicks and punches that would render their opponent wobbling to and fro, unable to fight back, and it was at that moment that you would hear those glorious words in a wonderfully deep voice:

FINISH HIM!

If you have listened to our podcast or read my previous blog posts, you are probably aware of my struggle with Evangelicalism.  My eyes were opened to this struggle during the last election cycle.  The rhetoric I was hearing out of this group was concerning to me, but at that point, I thought maybe I was just misunderstanding what was going on.  Then the election happened and 80% of white evangelicals chose to elect a man that claimed that sexual assault and misogyny was perfectly acceptable.  It was “locker room talk.”  Not to mention he feels that anyone who crosses the border from Mexico are “rapists” and “drug dealers”.  All of this turned into a great combination of punches and kicks that first made me stumble, and then got me to sway. 

And then came the Nashville Statement, and that booming voice came over the speakers as I stood staggering saying, “Finish Him.”  If this seems a little dramatic, understand that this was simply the final straw of many that had been falling into place.  I could go into the topic of gender binaries and what many have called the “Biblical” way of looking at those, but I am not enough of an expert and have not read enough about this to make an intelligent statement about those.  I disagree with a lot of language in all of those articles about gender binaries, but again don’t have enough knowledge to really speak on those.

The part that I found most heart breaking was Article 10:

WE AFFIRM that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness.

WE DENY that the approval of homosexual immorality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christians should agree to disagree.

With this statement, not only do they believe that a LGBT person cannot be a follower of Christ, but they also state, that anyone who loves on and affirms a LBGT person cannot be a follower of Christ either.  This particularly hits home with me as they are calling me out with this statement.  You might be thinking you don’t see that in the statement posted above, and that’s fair because it isn’t.  It came the next day when they sought to clarify what they meant with the initial statement.  You can find where they are doubling down here. 

Instead of throwing stones at the people who wrote and signed the Nashville Statement, I want to take a second to explain why I feel this is downright hateful towards the LGBT community and anyone who supports this community.  For starters, I believe this in no way reflects Jesus and his teachings.  If we want to get into sexual immorality, the Nashville Statement would also need to address the staggering number of pastors who are addicted to porn and/or have affairs.  Conveniently, that was left out here.  Instead a group of Christian leaders decided to go after a community that has been hated on for decades. 

The biggest problem I have with all of this is people tend to forget how they were when they discovered Jesus.  When I walked down the aisle to the front where I prayed the prayer of salvation, I don’t remember hearing the voice of Jesus saying, “Thanks for coming, I will gladly accept you, but first I am going to need you to change your behavior before I will save you from burning in the pits of hell.”  No!  I distinctly remember the song Come as You Are playing in the background, and the pastor opening up his arms and giving me a big hug.  The best part was, I felt the arms of Jesus wrap around me as if to say, “you are mine.”  The audacity of this group of people to say Jesus didn’t mean that for the LGBT community or its supporters is interesting to say the least.  The level of self-righteousness in this statement makes we wonder if they have even read about Jesus, let alone studied who he was.

For more information about gender binaries, I encourage you to check this blog post by Rachel Held Evans.  She wrote this some time ago, but it applies to this as well.

https://rachelheldevans.com/blog/gender-binaries?utm_content=buffer0813a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Also, Here is a Link to the Nashville Statement and the statement defending Article 10:

https://cbmw.org/nashville-statement/

https://cbmw.org/the-nashville-statement/why-the-nashville-statement-now-and-what-about-article-10/

Please let us know what your thoughts are on this topic!  There have already been some amazing discussion about this on Facebook and Twitter and we would love to hear your thoughts!

-brad