This “new” thing.

In light of recent events. I couldn’t help but mull over something that I keep having told to me concerning this “gospel” I share. I keep hearing this word, “new.”

8 years ago, I began to seek out this “new” thing. Only to discover it’s as old as the church. It feels new because it’s something we haven’t heard in our lifetime. Certainly, not me. Or, maybe we have. I remember being warned in church as a young pre-teen, “Watch out for any of that new-agey stuff.” “That new universalistic that says everyone is going to heaven, and those who teach that will suffer an even worse punishment.” Anything that wasn’t an Armenian-Calvinistic blend that dominated Trinity Broadcasting Network or the latest in charismania was a danger to our soul and worthy of hell-fire. We acted like what we were teaching was as old as the day of pentecost. Never-minding preaching dogmatically on things like the rapture that came about in the mid 1800s.

We are so quick to throw around the word “heresy” as if what we have is pure orthodoxy. It seems apparent that what the early church consider as heresy is anything that says Jesus isn’t God. The three major sects of christianity, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestants, all profess the Jesus is the Christ. (I’m referring to the overall scheme of the denominations itself. We can easily nitpick at each of them of all their intricacies but let’s keep our attention to the whole of Christianity that happens to contain these parts.)

The word heresy comes from the greek hairesis which means choice. When the church began to throw that around. They called out any sect that didn’t follow orthodoxy. Oftentimes the words sect and heresy became interchangeable. Evident even in our Bible translations. For example, Galations 5:20 when Paul lists some of the “works of the flesh” he says – “Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,.” But that’s the ole King James Version. Some translations like NASB, BLB, CSB, and NIV will use factions instead of heresies. NLT and ESV will use division. Young’s Literal Translation, of which I’m partial to, will say sects.

For a while, I became quite angry at how the church became so divided. 40,000 plus denominations. Different “sects” sharing same parking lots. That still irks me, to be honest. All divided because of myriads of reasons. I thought the solution would be to forgo the whole thing and attempt a house church that’s not affiliated with any denomination. A non-non-denomination if you will. But, to my ignorance, I was simply starting another sect.

So what is the answer to such a wide division? How do we, collectively and as a universal church, repent from a “work of the flesh” as heresy? I, honestly, do not know.

I do think a good first step is to stop calling folks heretics. Hey, I’ve done it. Then I end up being the heretic that I was calling people out as. Recently, I was called heretic because I don’t believe that there is a eternal conscious torment that we in the west commonly refer to as hell. Considering people have actually been burned at the stake, hung, head lopped off, drowned, etc., Simply because they had an idea or a thought that was contrary to what was considered orthodox.

What we need to do, I believe, is start to see that we all believe in Jesus. At least most of us, haha. Again, talking about the universal church as a whole. I’m trying myself. I think a good way to peace is to see that we have a lot more in common than what we have in disagreements.

Sometimes, we have to agree to disagree.

Also, I think it’s a good challenge to see from another point of view. When we do that, we will find that much of what we think is new is old. What we would call heresy today is quite orthodox then. If we went back and dug into history, we will find that much of what we think is orthodox now is considered quite new.

At the same time, what was acceptable practice back then probably shouldn’t be practiced now, like slavery. Here’s something I thought is quite interesting and I thank Brian Zhand for bringing it to my attention. Jesus says in John 16, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” ”

“What?! No, Jesus! I want to know all things now!”

Thankfully, He didn’t stop there. He continues, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”

It took over 1800 years for the church to hear that slavery is wrong. I’m sure individuals have heard it much sooner. But as a collective group, they formed groups like the Anti-slavery society to campaign against the very institutions of slavery. Unfortunately, there were Christians who fought back. They felt it was their indelible right to have and own slaves.

That’s not the only thing either. There are still Christians today bickering and having large conferences to discuss whether a woman could lead a church.

I hope that you see my point. What is the Spirit of God leading and speaking to us that we once couldn’t bear to hear but maybe we are primed for now? What are we accepting now that perhaps isn’t quite as orthodox as we think it is? What are we calling heresies that are in fact tenants to the Christian faith?

Yes, there are going to be things that need to be called out. Some toes, perhaps, need stepped on. Rock a few boats. A call to repentance to be made. And people are not going to be happy about it. Some may even persecute you for it. I mean, the pharisees sought many times to kill Jesus because they didn’t like what he had to say.

So, what is He saying now? Whatever it is that He is saying now will feel new but is as ancient as before time.

You are more loved than you will ever know.

Featured image is The burning of the pantheistic Amalrician heretics in 1210, in the presence of King Philip II Augustus. In the background is the Gibbet of Montfaucon and, anachronistically, the Grosse Tour of the Temple. Illumination from the Grandes Chroniques de France, c. 1255-1260.

Good Samaritan

The whole world is pretty much aware of the parable of the Good Samaritan. They may not know it word for word, but they know it by concept. However, the concept isn’t quite as impactful, I believe, as it was when Jesus first gave the parable.

Luke 10:25-37

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
^{He said to him,} “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”
^{So he answered and said, “} ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
^{And He said to him,} “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”
^{But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Then Jesus answered and said:} “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out twodenarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”
And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

What we’ve done is taken the phrase, “The Good Samaritan,” to mean “to help a stranger.” Many hospitals and charity organizations have taken that name. If I were to become the Good Samaritan, it would mean that I would lay down my own self-interest and do what I can to help the helpless, and then some. I’m not say that using that in that way is wrong. I just fear, and by experience, that we missed the full brunt of what Jesus was telling the “certain lawyer”.

One of the main key is really understanding what a Samaritan is to a Jew. It is far more than just a stranger. To the jews listening, and perhaps this man of the law, hearing this would be an insult. They hated the Samaritans. The Samaritans hated them too! There was religious tension between the two as they each worshipped God at specific locations. The Jews at Jerusalem and Samaritans at Mount Gerizim. They had their own worship practices and even their own Pentateuch written in Aramaic as opposed to the Jews with their Hebrew texts. The Jews even destroyed the Samaritan’s temple in 9BCE. I’m even finding research that the Samaritans desecrated the Jewish temple during Passover with human bones. It’s quite clear that the hostility was extremely evident between the two. They weren’t always enemies. 2nd Chronicles ch. 28 records the merciful acts of Samaria upon Judean enemies.

So for Jesus to use the Samaritan as the good neighbor would indeed drive a harder point than just some random stranger. Someone you would clearly think of “less than” would be more accurate. Maybe we can change the title to the Good liberal? The Good Conservative? Democrat/Republicans? The Good LGTBQ? The Good immigrant? If any of the demographic that you have, in your mind, created a sort of prejudice towards, even if ever so slightly. That is the telling of the Parable of the Samaritan. That is your neighbor. In the grand scheme of things, we begin to see that “neighbor” includes everyone. EVERY SINGLE HUMAN INDIVIDUAL is a neighbor, and one you must love if you claim to follow Christ.

As I type this, I occasionally break away, grab my phone, and read my Facebook and twitter feed. I came across today on my twitter several videos of a pastor/sheriff in Tennessee preaching about how the government needs to reinstitute the Old Mosaic laws, particularly Leviticus 20:13 where it calls for the death for those who commit homosexual acts. Calling for the government and police to exact capitol punishment upon all offenders. Now, I’m not going to get into the a conversation about homosexuals. If you wonder where I stand, I love them, I accept them, and I affirm them. What this guy does is spit vitriol over the whole agenda and says that God hates them. If you’re curious, you can google search about it and you’ll find several articles with videos. I sit here aghast and the same time not surprised. I’ve encountered many Christians who believe the same as this guy, though they may not scream from the pulpit like him. What’s worse, I’ve believed this at one point in my walk with God. I regurgitated what was taught to me. It took the overwhelming, literal love of God to fill my heart, open my eyes, and change my mind. To anyone I hurt in the past, I truly am deeply sorry and I hope that you would forgive me. You have me as an ally.

God simply does not kill. If Jesus doesn’t do it, the Father doesn’t nor the Holy Spirit. Brian Zhand would say, “God is like Jesus. God has always been like Jesus. There never was a time when God wasn’t like Jesus. We haven’t always known this, but now we do.” Calling for capitol punishment based on archaic laws is dangerous. I know that raises a lot of questions. Good. We shouldn’t be afraid of asking questions. What about all the times in the OT, Ananias and Sapphira, those odd verses in Revelations? We’ll get to those in the near future. I don’t want to take away from the intent of this blog. Click this link for more on Ananias and Sapphira if you are curious.

Now, I don’t know what it was that made that pastor feel this way. I pity him. I pray that God will show him who his neighbor is. I pray that God will show him He loves him and how much He loves those he hates. God is love plus absolutely nothing else. Period. He is the good neighbor who took us up from the side of the road. He invites us to do the same for others. That neighbor may be a conservative, liberal, an immigrant, lgbtq, a vegan, people who do multi-level marketing, etc. Love them.

I’ll end with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.

“On the one hand we are called to play the good Samaritan on life’s roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring” {“A Time to Break the Silence,” quoted in Douglas A. Hicks and Mark R. Valeri, Global Neighbors: Christian Faith and Moral Obligation in Today’s Economy, Eerdmans Publishing, 2008, ISBN 0-8028-6033-8, p. 31.}

Featured Image is The Good Samaritan (1852) painted by Eugène Delacroix.

X-men

The summer of 2000, the first X-men movie was released. 19 years later, 11 movies have been released in this franchise with Dark Phoenix wrapping up before sending it all over to Disney to be reintroduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There’s also New Mutants coming out at some point, but I don’t really know what’s going on with that at this point.

However, the films in X-men universe hasn’t been as well received. Some very high success along with some critical duds and Dark Phoenix isn’t looking to good with a 21% critic ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. The lowest of all the X-men, even lower than X-men Origins: Wolverine.

Anyways, I thought I’d give a little shout-out to these movies by highlighting my top five.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Time travel is a tricky plot device to use. Does going back in time affect the future? Does it create another timeline or an alternate universe. Regardless, Days of Future Past finds the X-men facing a doom for both mutants and humans. So Wolverine goes back in time to meet with the young Professor X with his crew from X-men: First Class, along with some new comers, and work together to stop the creation of the Sentinels that have gone on to wreak havoc(eh eh?) In the future as well as erase the events of X3: The Last Stand.

Favorite Scene: Seen from the perspective of Quicksilver, time is slowed down as he comically knock out the guards and redirect the bullets that were fired upon them in the kitchen when they were breaking out Magneto from the Pentagon.

Favorite line: Whip…lash

Deadpool

It’s crazy to me to think that Fox Studios felt like they were taking a gamble with this. Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool. The famed Merc with a mouth discovers he has cancer and undergoes experimentation that renders him virtually immortal, but ugly like an old avocado. He sets out on a revenge to kill the man who ruined his good looks. The film is hilariously gruesome. They earned their hard R rating.

Favorite scene: Opening credits. Set to “Angel of the Morning” by Julie Newton, all the actors are not mentioned by names but the stereotypes they play like “British Villain”. It’s pretty glorious.

Favorite Line: Deadpool chasing a crippled guy on a zamboni – “That’s right you’re about to be killed by a zamboni. Tell me where your f***ing boss is or you’re gonna die…. in five minutes!

X-Men

The one that started it all. I was 12 years old when this was released in theaters. And nearly 19 years later this still holds up. From the very opening scene of young Magneto at a nazi camp, I was hooked. What really sells this film is the solid cast of actors. Not to mention introducing the world to Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. The movie centers mainly around Wolverine and his relationship with Rogue, a runaway teen with the power to absorb other mutations. The X-Men comes in to help protect Rogue from Magneto who wants to use her powers for his own evil purposes. It’s a solid flick with some great action sequences.

Favorite scene: The battle in the statue of liberty.

Favorite line: Wolverine – “You actually go out in these?” (Referring to their team suits) Cyclops – “What would you prefer, yellow spandex?”
Logan

Having appeared in every x-men related movie except for Deadpool, even though Reynolds takes a comedic jab at him, at some point an actor has to retire a character. Logan is Hugh Jackman’s Swan Song for Wolverine. With the success of the R-rated Deadpool, Fox gave the greenlight for Wolverine to go for it as well. Indeed, they did. We are quickly introduced to the brutality that fans have been clamoring for of Wolverine within minutes of the films. Wolverine’s catch phrase in the comics is, “I’m the best at what I do, and what I do isn’t very nice.” What we’ve seen prior to Logan of Wolvie is has been a bit tame compared to what we know he’s capable of. Come on, he’s got razor sharp claws coming out of his fists. Anyways, Logan is set in the distance future, where once again, mutants are nearly extinct. Logan is taking care of aging Professor X with dementia when suddenly a mutant child with the same powers of regeneration and claws comes to Logan for help. And this little girl is just as ferocious as Logan is. Talk about ending with a bang. I’ll admit, I even shed some tears.

Favorite Scene: Xavier is having a seizure and everyone becomes paralyzed. Logan, being the only one to partially resist the effects, struggles to reach Xavier where there are Reavers(bad guys) are frozen in place. Logan kills each one of them, quite brutally, before injecting Xavier with the serum to stop the seizure.

Favorite Line: Laura – [crying] “Daddy.” Logan – “So… this is what it feels like.”

Yeah, I cried.

X2

This is probably my favorite of the X-men franchise, with Logan a very, very close second. After a few months have passed after the events of the first X-men, the government moves to enact an anti-mutant measure after an assassination attempt was made on the president. William Stryker, a scientist who has a plan to stop all mutants, launches an assault at Professor Xavier’s School for the Gifted and captures Xavier and several students. The few that manages to escape must team up with their nemesis Magneto to stop Stryker before it’s too late. Seriously, this movie has many great moments and great characters. One of the major shift in this film is that we begin to sympathize with Magneto’s disdain towards non-mutants. We meet several not so nice folks. Bobby Drake(Iceman) coming out to his family about his gift only to have been turned in by them. It’s such a great movie that bears repeating.

Favorite moment: tie between Nightcrawler’s attack at the White House and Magneto’s prison breakout.

Favorite line: Bobby Drake’s Father – “What exactly are you the professor *of*, Professor Logan?” – Everybody looks at Logan not knowing what to say. Logan – “Art.”

There you have it. 5 of my favorite X-men movies.

Dark Phoenix opens this weekend… as of the writing of this post. Here’s to hoping that it’s good.

*all images courtesy of Fox Studios*

Passionate Pursuit

One of my favorite verses in the scriptures is Psalms 23:6 which says,

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

I’ve written about this before. What strikes me about this little blip is the stark reality of the goodness and mercy of God that David was aware of. But, our common English translations don’t quite do the Hebrew text the full justice that it portrays. The word “follow” is from radaph, which means to pursue, to chase, put to flight. It can even be used to mean to persecute or harass.

When I think of “follow”, I picture a loyal dog that hangs by your leg wherever you go. Or maybe a game of “follow the leader” where a stream of children is haphazardly trying to mimic their leader while he/she tries to come up with ways to lose them. Or, perhaps, a shadow staying behind me as I walk towards a light source. I don’t think of a passionate pursuit. A violent, nothing-will-stop-me, hunt to obtain the prized trophy doesn’t come to mind.

Then I discovered radaph. Suddenly I’m picturing Micheal Myers stalking Laurie Strode. Hound dogs picking up a scent in the dense woods.  Sharks when they detect blood in the water. The shepherd, leaving the 99, searching for the lost sheep. The woman flipping her house upside down for that one last coin. The Father racing into the fields to embrace his long, lost son who was once dead and is now alive.

“All that you are is all that I’ll ever need” – Ed Sheeran

Now imagine the goodness and mercy of God chasing you.

Paul says this about the goodness of God, “do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God is what leads you to repentance?”

The goodness and mercy of God is fully displayed on the cross. Fully forgiving, fully saving, and fully reconciling the entire cosmos to Himself.

Just don’t let those “elder brothers” who are pissed that you get this try to convince you otherwise.

You are more loved than you’ll ever know.