I grew up in a Baptist church and my father was a preacher. We were also missionaries to the Philippines for nearly two years. For those of you who don't know, Baptist churches are notorious for preaching from the King James translation of the Bible written in 1611. On Sundays there were frequent reminders that those who weren't "saved" would burn forever in hell. I personally witnessed multiple first time visitors submit to the altar call out of sheer exhaustion during the nearly half hour of soft calming music "I surrender all, I surrender all, all to thee my blessed savior, I surrender all." My sisters and I had a strict upbringing with frequent beatings if we wandered off the straight and narrow. In truth I hated all of it. This lifestyle of always being in the eye of the congregation also took a toll on my parents. My parents were fighting all the time and split in my early teens. With my father out of the house and my mother working all the time I took the opportunity to sow my oats and get my sin on. I didn't really know Jesus and turned away from church for a long time.
There were some dark and lonely days for me up until my late twenties. Binge drinking was an every weekend occurrence. I experimented with lots of drugs and always made sure to get what I wanted out of people in my personal relationships. Basically I had a lonely and pointless existence.
Down the road from my first house was this mega church Crossroads so I began attending on occasion. The music was lively and there were lots of welcoming smiling faces. There were plenty of messages about love, serving others and making yourself a better person. The pastors (multiple leaders) would rarely preach on hell although they wouldn't be afraid to speak on the ramifications of a sinful lifestyle. It was a breath of fresh air and opened my eyes to what church could be. I began to reconsider my position on church and sought out a real relationship with Jesus.
As for me and what I now "believe", it is tough to pin me down on anything especially a concept like God. What I do feel comfortable saying is there is more than likely a God and I try to be like Jesus every day. Jesus is my north star. I talk to him when I meditate and I read the Bible frequently as a guide. We tithe at the church we attend and try to help others in need whenever we can. Whether or not that makes me "saved" is not something that I worry about anymore. If that bothers you I am sorry but don't lose any sleep over it because I don't.
In my previous posts I longingly describe this place for moderate minded folks to live called Midland. Midland is a place free from extremists and full of open minded people. There are extremists in churches all over the world, rigidly stuck in their belief systems. So rigidly stuck in these beliefs that they close themselves off to the world, basically doing the opposite of what Jesus told us to do. That's not what we would do in Midland. So what would church be like in Midland if we could start from scratch?
Our church would not tell people what to believe because there isn't one true way. There are hundreds of different denominations within Christianity and all of them believe their way is the right way. The irony is that if the Christian churches would come together and just focus on love and serving those in need, we might be able to get closer to heaven on earth. But we don't and instead we focus on minute details and individual scriptures instead of overarching themes and principles. What a waste. Basically our church would be non-denominational even Unitarian with a bias towards Jesus. We would read out of the Bible but also other religious texts from around the world and try to focus on the least common denominators.
Our church would focus on encouraging people to be more like Jesus. Lifting them up through love and kindness, not judging them for being different. Being exactly like Jesus is impossible because Jesus was without sin. Jesus said that all sin is the same which makes us all the same in his eyes no matter how much we try to position ourselves as better than others. If someone else stumbles along the path, reach out your hand in love and help them back up. Don't stand and point in judgement.
Our church would have a council of leaders in rotation, all taking turns speaking to the people. Hive mind is better than one mind and who wants to hear the same person speak every week? If the members of the council had long periods of time in between teaching their lessons it would be all the more impacting. Also the council would be all volunteer so more of our money could go to those in need. Along those same lines we wouldn't have a building dedicated to meeting just once a week then vacant the rest of the week. We could meet in a school, warehouse or in a park if the weather permitted. Our money would be spent democratically and we wouldn't have any overhead expenses which only distract from the goal of serving others. Our money would go to helping people get back on the love wagon and being in the position to serve others in need. One more brother or sister brought into the fold so the love revolution grows that much stronger. Rinse and repeat.
Jesus spoke of a love revolution during a time when his people were being enslaved by the Romans. We face another type of slavery by our fascist satanist and pedophile overlords and this love and community that he spoke of is needed now more than ever. When we let go of our rigid belief systems and focus on loving and serving others we just might come together and begin to understand the deep wisdom of Jesus and the vision he had for all of us.
There were some dark and lonely days for me up until my late twenties. Binge drinking was an every weekend occurrence. I experimented with lots of drugs and always made sure to get what I wanted out of people in my personal relationships. Basically I had a lonely and pointless existence.
Down the road from my first house was this mega church Crossroads so I began attending on occasion. The music was lively and there were lots of welcoming smiling faces. There were plenty of messages about love, serving others and making yourself a better person. The pastors (multiple leaders) would rarely preach on hell although they wouldn't be afraid to speak on the ramifications of a sinful lifestyle. It was a breath of fresh air and opened my eyes to what church could be. I began to reconsider my position on church and sought out a real relationship with Jesus.
As for me and what I now "believe", it is tough to pin me down on anything especially a concept like God. What I do feel comfortable saying is there is more than likely a God and I try to be like Jesus every day. Jesus is my north star. I talk to him when I meditate and I read the Bible frequently as a guide. We tithe at the church we attend and try to help others in need whenever we can. Whether or not that makes me "saved" is not something that I worry about anymore. If that bothers you I am sorry but don't lose any sleep over it because I don't.
In my previous posts I longingly describe this place for moderate minded folks to live called Midland. Midland is a place free from extremists and full of open minded people. There are extremists in churches all over the world, rigidly stuck in their belief systems. So rigidly stuck in these beliefs that they close themselves off to the world, basically doing the opposite of what Jesus told us to do. That's not what we would do in Midland. So what would church be like in Midland if we could start from scratch?
Our church would not tell people what to believe because there isn't one true way. There are hundreds of different denominations within Christianity and all of them believe their way is the right way. The irony is that if the Christian churches would come together and just focus on love and serving those in need, we might be able to get closer to heaven on earth. But we don't and instead we focus on minute details and individual scriptures instead of overarching themes and principles. What a waste. Basically our church would be non-denominational even Unitarian with a bias towards Jesus. We would read out of the Bible but also other religious texts from around the world and try to focus on the least common denominators.
Our church would focus on encouraging people to be more like Jesus. Lifting them up through love and kindness, not judging them for being different. Being exactly like Jesus is impossible because Jesus was without sin. Jesus said that all sin is the same which makes us all the same in his eyes no matter how much we try to position ourselves as better than others. If someone else stumbles along the path, reach out your hand in love and help them back up. Don't stand and point in judgement.
Our church would have a council of leaders in rotation, all taking turns speaking to the people. Hive mind is better than one mind and who wants to hear the same person speak every week? If the members of the council had long periods of time in between teaching their lessons it would be all the more impacting. Also the council would be all volunteer so more of our money could go to those in need. Along those same lines we wouldn't have a building dedicated to meeting just once a week then vacant the rest of the week. We could meet in a school, warehouse or in a park if the weather permitted. Our money would be spent democratically and we wouldn't have any overhead expenses which only distract from the goal of serving others. Our money would go to helping people get back on the love wagon and being in the position to serve others in need. One more brother or sister brought into the fold so the love revolution grows that much stronger. Rinse and repeat.
Jesus spoke of a love revolution during a time when his people were being enslaved by the Romans. We face another type of slavery by our fascist satanist and pedophile overlords and this love and community that he spoke of is needed now more than ever. When we let go of our rigid belief systems and focus on loving and serving others we just might come together and begin to understand the deep wisdom of Jesus and the vision he had for all of us.
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