I Will Never Be Biblically Correct

I went to a local public meeting a few months ago that really crushed me.

It was a meeting in which a few local business owners and residents submitted a petition to city officials to have our two-year old emergency homeless shelter moved out of their part of town. And while this fact alone was frustrating enough, as it seems no one ever wants the homeless in their part of town, it was even more confounding when I walked into this public airing of grievances and realized that the people who were heading up this initiative were church-going Christians.

Sharing this story is difficult for me. The last thing I want is to come across as sanctimonious, holier-than-thou, or as if I don’t make mistakes or have lapses in judgment. I do. I make many mistakes. I have had significant lapses in judgment over the years. So the last thing I expect is perfection in myself or others.

More than anything, I just want people in the church to be like the Jesus they profess to follow. 

But it seems that much of American Christianity has increasingly abandoned the way of Jesus as the model for how we live our lives. And this one story is indicative of our larger problem.

When the life of Jesus is not the singular template we use to pattern our lives, as Christians, and then to pattern our churches, we end up with a lot of people and groups with Christian labels, but nothing that really looks like Jesus.

This may seem like it ought to be common sense, but for many in the church, it’s actually not.

I saw a conversation the other day that perfectly illustrates the fundamental flaw of not making Jesus the exclusive pattern by which we, as Christians, pattern our lives. A daughter and stepmother were having an honest conversation about her church-going stepmother’s Islamophobia. When the daughter replied that her stepmother’s posture toward Muslims looked nothing like Jesus, the stepmother responded by saying that she would rather be “biblically correct” than “politically correct.”

Do you see the problem here?

“Biblically correct” can be used to justify virtually any position a person wants to take on any issue. Being “biblically correct” can be used, and has been used, to justify racism, slavery, ethnic cleansing, war, gender inequality, religious triumphalism, and every other divisive, exclusionary, hate-filled ideology that one wants to perpetuate. And that is exactly why the Bible should never be the central template of our faith, because it can be cherry-picked to construct and validate the ugliest and most hideous aspects of humanity while enshrouding it with a “Christian” label.

The truth is that hiding behind the phrase “biblically correct,” is actually a convenient way for those who wear a “Christian” label to completely ignore Jesus.

If a “Christian” was truly seeking to be “biblically correct,” they would look exclusively to the one who is referred to as the “author and perfecter of our faith.”

And that is Jesus.

But making Jesus the model for how you live, rather than just a convenient label for your religious group, is not a welcome experience when it challenges the way you think and how you see the world.

That is why it is psychologically easier for the religious to operate within a “biblically correct” faith space where the Bible is selectively applied. Because you can continue to believe, support, and perpetuate narrow, hateful, and xenophobic worldviews, while still going to church and singing your hymns, without ever having to come face to face with a Jesus who calls you out of your hard-hearted and fear-based religiosity.

Can you hear me?

It’s not enough to say, “But didn’t we preach each Sunday in your name? Didn’t we sing your praises at each service? Didn’t we wave our arms in the air and experience your presence? Didn’t we attend Sunday school or small group each week to learn more about you? Didn’t we study and memorize the Scriptures while always having your name on our lips? Didn’t we pray morning, noon, and night to you?”

The hard reality, in Jesus’ own words, is that not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord will enter this kingdom. Only the person who does the will of God.”

And what he is saying is that, even though a person may go through the right motions and say the right words, you will never enter into the present reality of God’s fullness for your life unless you pattern your life after Jesus and be doers of God’s will on earth.

I think it is obvious that we desperately need a transformative experience that can only come by making Jesus our singular template, our exclusive pattern, in our lives and our churches. We need people who care more about presently following the way of Jesus than hiding behind religious pretense. Because when we make Jesus our center, we begin to discover how radically different the way of Jesus is than our Bible-centered religious constructions.

And the difference is night and day.

While the Bible can be selectively used to marginalize and ostracize certain people or groups, Jesus is always on the side of the outcasts, the sick, the afflicted, the despised, and the unclean. While the Bible can be used selectively to make a solid argument for being prejudice and exclusive, Jesus is always welcoming and sharing a table with women, foreigners, drunks, whores, cheats, liars, and deceivers. And while the Bible can be selectively used as support for nationalism, tribalism, ethnocentrism, and religious intolerance, Jesus is always affirming the great faith of people from other countries, sects, and religious backgrounds.

Not only did Jesus affirm the faith, and stand in solidarity with, the homeless, afflicted, and disabled outcasts, he affirmed the great faith of the Greek Syrophoenician woman of a Gentile religion, the great faith of the Roman Centurion of a pagan polytheism, and highlighted the great faith of those who were Samaritan, Canaanite, and Syrian. Even more, Jesus had the audacity to make a Samaritan, a religious enemy of the Jews, the hero of great faith in one of his parables. And he did it at the expense of the religious, who were supposedly favored by God because of their position, title, and chosenness.

Do you not see the irony here?

Jesus called out the empty religiosity of the supposed “chosen and saved,” while elevating the great faith of a man from a different religion.

This is why the religious in America keep Jesus at arm’s length, while embracing a vague, Bible-centered position, because Jesus doesn’t hate the people that they hate. And if that makes you mad or uncomfortable, Jesus is calling you out your empty religiosity, as well, and into something so much deeper and life-giving.

Jesus is not interested in your Christian label, your religious knowledge, the importance of your position, the self-assuredness of your baptism, your saved status, your dedication to weekly rituals, the preservation of your church, the impact on your net worth, or the image that you convey.

He cares only about each of us presently living out the love of the Father to all people, whether it be the homeless in your town or your Muslim brother or sister.

Hard stop.

And that is exactly what he modeled in his life. And the model to which he is calling each of us to pattern our lives.

Peace,

Brandon

More Than An Ocean

There is something I learned when navigating through the vast wasteland of car-sized boulders at 12,750 feet while making my way up the final ascent to Long’s Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park.

People are less than microscopic.

As we climbed upward toward The Keyhole and then turned back to survey the boulder field, now just 1000-feet below us, our tents had become colored dots in a broken sea of browns.

And the people below, were lost in that sea.

Only moments later, after hitting the summit, we looked down again to take in the magnitude of the boulder field. Our tents were now submerged. And the people had drown in its vastness. The car-sized boulders had become bits of sand washed by the enormity of the figurative waves.

From less than a few miles away, boulders had become granules of sand, tents were visibly imperceptible, and people were nonexistent. One could never tell that there were a couple hundred people walking through the boulder field as we stood there taking it in from above.

That’s about as descriptive as I can get in conveying how relatively miniscule and microscopic a person is on a scale that we can even somewhat understand. Because if you can somewhat begin to understand how insignificantly tiny we are from such a short distance on Earth, then you can really begin to appreciate our relative nothingness on a cosmic scale.

Think about this for a second.

If a human being is basically imperceptible from a few miles away, what about our size from the moon, which is about 250,000 miles away? I know that is a huge leap, but seriously contemplate that for a second. If you are microscopic from a few miles, what are you from moon?

Virtually nonexistent. And that is just from the moon.

But let’s take another step.

What about our size from Mars, which is 34 million miles away? Or, our size from Saturn, which is 750 million miles away? Or, our size from the edge of our solar system, which is nine billion miles away?

To put this distance in perspective, the Earth is theoretically no longer visible to the naked eye from the edge of the solar system. The Earth, itself, has become virtually nonexistent.

So what about the size of a human being from the closest star to our solar system, Proxima Centauri, which is 25 trillion miles away? To put that distance in perspective, it would take 81,000 years traveling at 35,000 miles per hour from Earth to get there. And lastly, what about the size of a human being from the edge of our expanding universe, which is estimated to be 46 billion times 5.8 trillion miles away?

Can you even put your humanity into that kind of perspective? If you are microscopic from less than a few of miles away and next to nothing from the moon, what are you in the universe that is 46 billion times 5.8 trillion miles to its outer edge?

I hate to say it this way, but from a size perspective, we are nothing.

But think about this.

If God created this universe, then is God not larger and even more pervasive than the entire universe? And if God’s very essence, God’s very composition, God’s very DNA is love, then is this love not even more immense and more unbounded than the utter vastness and expansiveness of this universe? Even more, if God’s love is that immeasurable, that unfathomable, that exhaustively immersive, then how do you, as a nearly nonexistent human being, measure up within that love?

If we are nearly nothing in relation to a love that is more expansive, more immeasurable, more unfathomable, more exhaustingly immersive than the universe that it created, then how can we really be that big of an offense to God? How can we really be such vile offenders? Such horrible wretches? Such loathsome reprobates? Such horrible sinners? How can we really be that despised and worthy of scorn? How can we really be that wayward and shameful? How can we really be that deserving of an eternity burning in hell?

To this love, we are none of those things.

We are beloved.
We are worthy.
We are valuable.

And this love continues to pursue every one of us.

The truth is that there is no distance we can travel, no depth to which we can sink, no barrier behind which we can hide where that love is not still with us, is not still holding us, is still not inviting us into its full embrace.

If you think I have gone too far in describing where we stand in relation to this unbounded, immersive, and universal love of God, all you have to do is look at that this love embodied. Because once you see the full weight and measure of this cosmically-sized love poured into a human body, you will finally begin to understand what true love looks like, and how radically different it is from our limited, conditional love.

This is the love of God in Jesus.

And the love we see in Jesus was never repulsed, shocked, or offended by another human being. It is a love that was never fearful of eating a meal with the so-called wicked. It is a love that was never afraid of hanging with prostitutes and whores. It is a love that was never fearful of elevating people who were deemed by the religious as “unclean” or “dogs.” It is a love that was always willing to see great faith in people of different religious persuasions or no religious persuasion at all. It is a love that never took a stand, or needed a platform, or needed to be acknowledged or recognized. It is a defiant love that always did the complete opposite of the religiously-minded when they said, “Don’t embrace them! Don’t befriend them! Don’t serve them! Don’t eat with them! Don’t invite them!”

God’s love is always with those whom the religious believe are undeserving of being embraced, befriended, served, eaten with, or invited in. It is not limited by human barriers or rules of engagement. It is with every person of every race, every ethnicity, every culture, every religion, every lifestyle, every gender, and every “sin group.”

And if this kind of love makes you angry or indignant, then you are more like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day than Jesus himself.

If this kind of love terrifies you for what others will think of you when hanging out with “terrible sinners,” then you have become more religious than a follower of Jesus.

If this kind of love worries you that you are condoning “sinful lives” when you hang out with and serve others, then you do not know the love of God in Christ.

The love of God is radically offensive to those who do not understand it.

The unbounded, immersive, universal love of God is for all people, for all-time and will never be constrained or limited by small-minded, hard-hearted, Spirit-less, microscopic religion that tries to divide it and apportion it by whom they believe deserve it.

God’s love is so much more than a tiny, little ocean washing over us and submerging our limited, finite, and feeble attempts at understanding it. It is beyond universal and we are nothing but lost in it. And when you experience a love like that, you can do nothing but let it consume you. You can do nothing but become that love and share it with everyone without discrimination.

Forever in that love…

Brandon

Freedom From Religion

Let’s just start with this.

If you are a person who identifies as a Christian, but who constantly feels the burden of religious expectation, the weight of following all the rules in order to be a “Good Christian,” or the anxiety of never doing enough to “get to heaven” (and I know there are many of you out there), I have one thing to say to you.

Lay it all down. 

You were never meant to carry such a heavy burden in this life. You were not purposed for holding up such an impossible weight. You were not created to live in such a state of perpetual anxiety.

And do not let anyone, not even the leaders of your churches, try to convince you otherwise.

For the entire biblical narrative is a grand, sweeping movement over thousands of years documenting people continually misunderstanding the nature and character of God and what God wants from them.

They believed God was more concerned with their offerings and sacrifices, with their zeal and participation in religious rituals and celebrations, and with how fastidiously and obsessively they followed the “right rules.”

But God has never needed, nor been impressed with, our sacrifices, our religious rituals, or our “following the right rules,” e.g. Isaiah 1, Isaiah 58, or any account with Jesus and the Pharisees.

God, lovingly and longingly, seeks only our undivided hearts so that God’s love may be made manifest through your life.

God has never wanted your outward, righteous-looking gestures or your strict religious adherence.

God has never wanted you to follow the “right rules” to be a “good Christian.”

God has never been interested in your perfect performance in order to make the cut for Heaven.

God has only, and always, wanted your heart.

Do you understand what I am saying?

God does not want your tithes and offerings.
God does not want your Bible studies.
God does not want your weekly church attendance.
God does not want your weekly communion.
God does not want your baptism.

God. Wants. Your. Heart.

Because when God has your heart, your life will be transformed.

What is the point of giving your offerings, if we neglect those who are in need? What’s the point of going to a Bible study to learn more information, if we don’t forgive people and then harbor anger and animosity toward them? What is the point of perfect church attendance each Sunday, if we then marginalize people or people groups and continue on with a divisive spirit? What is the point of weekly communion, when we make no attempt at patterning our lives after the cross-bearing, self-sacrificial Christ? What is the point of baptism, if we still live like the person who was supposed to be buried in baptism? What is the point of any of it, if we do not walk daily in the Spirit of God?

Our religious rituals and observances are only meaningful if expressed through a transformed heart, a changed life.

But so many of our churches have made religious rituals, observances, and rule-following more important than a transformed heart and life, as if it is by virtue of our religious rituals, celebrations, and rule-following that God is pleased with us and by which we are saved.

And that is simply wrong.

The profound tragedy is that this perspective and belief system turns the unmerited grace of God completely upside-down and makes us continually worry that we are never quite doing enough to make God happy. And so we work harder and harder to do all the “right things,” to make sure we are on God’s good side so that we might make it to Heaven one day.

Not only is that wrong, it is an impossibly heavy weight and burden for anyone to carry. It is a weight and burden we were never meant to carry. And it is a weight and burden that completely misses the point of who God is and what God intends for our lives.

It was Jesus who said, “Come to me all you are burdened and I will give you rest,” and then, “I have come that you might have life and life to the fullest.”

And that’s the Good News.

That in Christ, you have been forgiven.
That in Christ, you have been given rest.
That in Christ, you have been made to be free.
That in Christ, you have been recreated to experience life in all it’s fullness.
That in Christ, you are saved only by God’s unmerited grace.
And that in Christ, you are God’s handiwork, created for good works.

So if you constantly feel the burden of religious expectation, the weight of following all the rules in order to be a “Good Christian,” or the anxiety of never doing enough to “get to heaven,” lay it all down. Seriously, lay it all down.

Religious expectation has never been the point of this life. And when you finally realize that, you will be free.

I remember a few years ago when my younger sister, who lives in the town where I grew up, was leading a Bible study with a group of women whom she had never studied with before. As they each took a turn sharing with the others, my sister always prefaced her comments with, “I hope one day, if I make it to Heaven…”

The other ladies listened for a week or two and then one of the ladies spoke up and said, “Why do you always say, ‘If I make it to Heaven?'”

My sister, having never thought about what she had been saying all those years, just sat there in stunned silence. She tried to clarify, “No, what I mean is that I hope I have done enough to go to Heaven one day.”

The ladies continued by telling her that it is only through the grace of God by which she is saved.

It was an amazing moment in her life.

The heavy burden of religious expectation she carried all her life had been cast aside.

The impossible weight of following all the rules to be “good enough” that she had been living under was finally lifted.

The perpetual anxiety and burden of never knowing exactly where she stood with God, at last, faded away.

That too is available to each and every one of you right now. It is your time to quit living under the heavy-handed, man-made expectations of religion, and walk into the freedom that God has always wanted you to experience.

Peace…

Brandon