You'll See Better if You Step Outside

  It's been four years since I was booted from the religious empire of the institutional church, and I marvel every day about the difference it has made in my life.  The sense of freedom and well-being that I feel now is like nothing I knew before.  I feel like scales have fallen off my eyes as well.

  I'm an outsider now, and I feel like I can see better; there's more light out here away from the shadows of contrived doctrines and orthodoxies.  I am living now in wide open spaces with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness... and a whole lot of grace.

  I have left legalism and judgementalism back there in the shadow of the steeple, along with obligation and guilt.  I am traveling a road with an infinite stretch of freedom on the horizon in a land where there are no clouds of dictated doctrine and tedious traditions blocking the sun.  Ah, rest and relaxation, just what the Doctor ordered!

  There is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)... and who have made it outside the church!

  My sister and brother-in-law went ahead of me and told me it would be like this, but I didn't believe them.  I stayed and stayed longer and longer, trying to change the old wineskins from within.  But Jesus was right;  He said it couldn't be done (Matt. 9:17), but I didn't believe him.  I kept trying to bring some balance to an off-balance system.  I persisted in attempting to moderate the extremism, mitigate the dogmatism, and truthify the evangelical platform, but I couldn't ultimately make much difference.

  And not only were my spiritual eyes sensing a pervading darkness there, but then my nose started to take notice.  My sniffer became more sensitive as the years passed and the traditions prevailed.  I started smelling doctrinal dung everywhere.

•   I smelled it on Sunday morning when the pastor spoke on tithing, a practice that is certainly Biblical...  it's just not Christian.  And it is absolutely not obligatory as he seemed to indicate.
•   The smell was there at the holiness camp meeting when the evangelist delivered the required dissertation on the holy life and it became evident that he didn't have a good grasp of this very nebulous doctrine... or hadn't yet realized it himself.
•   I smelled something fishy every time a seminar speaker got going on the structure of the hierarchy and "God-ordained authority" within the church, another late-coming idea stretched to infinite levels of rank and echelon by licensed theological extrapolators (always male).
•   And the odor grew worse during every election year when the right-wing Republican pastor got going on which candidate was God's choice to lead God's country for the next four years.  Yep, God's choice always seemed to stand in direct contradiction to Jesus' teachings on peace and loving our enemies - although he loved unborn babies.
•   And the poop seemed pervasive when the lovers of God and of their neighbors in the assembly started expressing their condemnation for gays and lesbians whom they had never met... while blindly persisting in their own indulgences that are banned in the scriptures, like gossip and lying and divorce and overeating.  What hypocrisy.

  But that's only the beginning.  There are much deeper fundamental problems with the institution of the church.  Let me paint with broader strokes:

  Practically and philosophically speaking, every believer is positioned at a certain spot on a continuum that ranges from Grace to Law, and the evangelical church is far over on the side of Law.  I ceased to be a conservative evangelical many  years ago while I was reading the book of Galatians (long before Rob Bell came along).

Where are you on the Grace - Law Continuum?

  Paul's first letter to the churches is a challenge to the never-ending inclination that humans have toward wanting to earn their salvation.  He claims that it is for freedom from the law that Jesus came (Gal 5:1).  He says the law never saved anybody (Gal 2:16).  He states that the entire law is summed up in a single command: Love your neighbor (Gal 5:14).  He says we are saved by Grace, not by good behavior (Eph 2:5-8).  Then he asserts that those who are led by the Spirit are not under law (Gal 5:18).
   If we are living in the book of Galatians then there are no rules but the law of love.  No obligations, no expectations, no have-to's, no long list of required moral behaviors.  And as a result, no guilt and no condemnation.  We are free to live without feeling that anybody is looking over our shoulders with demands and expectations.  Not even the pastor.  Not even God, actually.
  Yet much of the environment in the church is all about expected behavior.  It is about law.  This is a serious and widespread foundational flaw in the church.
  Pastors in this realm manifest schizoid behaviors on this matter, preaching grace on the first Sunday of the month and law on the other three.  Or, more often, they start out a sermon on grace at point one and move to law for points two and three... followed by the altar call.
  And I think I know where this comes from.  Paul himself - and Peter and James and John and a bunch of other NT writers - had trouble themselves with grace versus law.  So when you study the New Testament you see that Jesus replaced the Old Testament (and the entire legalistic culture that came with it) with redemption and freedom, and Paul understands this when he is writing to the Galatians and the Romans.  But later, when he is writing to the Corinthians and others, he has to pull back because they have carried their freedom too far and have ruined their testimony, so he gives them boundaries.  He summarizes this dynamic in I Cor.6:12 when he states, "Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial."   And pretty soon, when you start qualifying grace with: "Yeah, but what about this and what about that?", the law prevails.
  It's a difficult tightrope to walk.  Law versus grace, and humans are inclined toward law.
  I have concluded that everything in the New Testament needs to be read and understood through the filter of Christ and the cross.  
  So when Paul says gays will not inherit the kingdom of God (I Cor 6:9), we must immediately filter his comment with the grace of the cross and the forgiveness of Christ.  Apparently all that one needs to be part of God's kingdom is to believe in Jesus (Romans 10:9).  Like every other sinner, gays are forgiven and need not worry about their place in the kingdom; their sin is no more special than the sin of the bigot, the self-righteous hypocrite and the typical American going after the American dream without regard for the poor next door -  since the greedy are included in the same list as the gays (I Cor 6:9-10).  "For there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:23-24).  According to this verse, all have sinned, and all have been saved.  It seems that the evangelical world is forever stuck in Romans 3:23 - the fallen-ness of mankind - and never finishes the sentence: Romans 3:24 - the restored-ness of mankind.
  A Christo-centric dynamic should be present throughout biblical interpretation and Christian practice and ought to permeate the whole of Christian culture.  Christianity must be about the grace of Christ.
  The work of Jesus is freedom, and the work of the law and legalism is bondage.  And how we tap into grace and law affects every scripture we study and every way we live our lives every day.  Will we live in freedom or oppression?  Most people within the church will live in oppression to some extent, based on what they hear from their leaders who generally have more to say about righteous living - through living up to a host of noble expectations - than they do about living in grace and freedom.  Shoot, it's hard to speak on grace and love every Sunday and never challenge your listeners to behave better.  But the product of the gospel of self-improvement is self-righteousness and imagined self-redemption and it flies in the face of the cross.

  Okay, I realize I have made some grand generalizations in this post, so just let me say that nobody has this figured out.  And those who say they do are not to be listened to or trusted.  The Bible is full of apparently contradictive stuff like I have touched on above, and we all must choose what we will focus on.  We must prioritize.
  Some will put a high value on 10 commandments in the Old Testament, while ignoring the other 604 similar commandments in the same scriptures - and the New Testament words stating that the old laws no longer apply.
  Some will put the 5 references on homosexuality at the top while ignoring the 50-60 teachings condemning adultery - and the 600 verses on helping the poor.
  Some will place a high value on Paul's directives to the troubled churches at Corinth and thus put limits on what women may do in the church, while ignoring the counter-cultural gestures that both Jesus and Paul implemented lifting women from cultural oppression.
  Again, I am barely scratching the surface when it comes to the inconsistencies of the religious empire.  Jesus said not to judge (Matt. 7:1), but judgement, rather than grace,  has become the  banner under which Christians march to war.

  The church is a man-made institution that works great good and great evil in the world, depending on who - or what doctrine - is in charge in a given time and place.

  All right, this is getting too long.  Anyway, though I didn't do it voluntarily, it turns out that the easiest way for me to free myself from the pervading darkness within the religious system was to exit to the light of day - where, as it turns out, the air is fresh too, but with a rather strong aroma of redemption.

  When you step outside you can see the truth better.  And you can breathe better too, because there's nobody here piling the unholy crap higher and deeper every Sunday morning.
  With the help of the Holy Spirit and the Word - and in the company of open-minded friends - think for yourselves, folks!

  I know this is provocative stuff for a lot of my friends and family.  Thank you for reading with an open mind!  I believe in Jesus.

  

Pilgrimage to the Beach Part 2 - Another Family Secret

Gene Sims on a dune at the lake

  I ended the previous post saying that skinny dipping was an act of worship.  It is all natural, and with the right awareness, it's a sacred baptism into the essence of the omnipresent Creator who exists in the lake, the sunset, the forest, the water lily, the broom closet, and...  well, everywhere - if He is really omnipresent.

  And speaking of baptism, that reminded me of another childhood experience that was a perfect example of the generous orthodoxy of my dad, who must have been a misfit as a pastor in an untra-conservative era in the evangelical church in America.  I realize now that much of my own liberality must have come from him, as I am certainly not a legalist.

  Baptisms happened two or three times a year in the Missionary Church, and they took a lot of preparation.  In our church, the baptismal tank was under the podium and had to be opened up by lifting off the heavy platforms, drawing water overnight from a garden hose that ran out of the utility room nearby, and then placing electric heaters into the water for several hours to warm it (cold baptismal water could bring on a sudden manifestation that mimics a charismatic outburst, so it was quite unwelcome in the holiness church where the Holy Spirit was always required to "Be a gentleman").

  My two younger brothers and I watched this process with interest, and at some point that warm water - in the middle of the cold winter - reminded one of us of the warm waters of Lake Michigan where we had frolicked the summer before.  It seemed a waste to let it all drain out after the service without any participation on our part, and the obvious question eventually surfaced:

  "Dad, can we go swimming in the baptistry after the service tonight?"

  After a long thoughtful pause, and much to my mother's chagrin, the answer was, "Yes, but don't tell anybody."

  And sure enough, after everyone had gone home that night, we ran back to the parsonage next door, changed into our swim trunks, and ran back through the cold to our unexpected wintertime beach.  And there we received a second blessing, three boys, splashing around in the church baptistry, while Dad locked the doors and Mom nervously double-checked the parking lot.  After all, that kind of display of irreverence could be seen as a sacrilege to the elders and the church ladies (the other omnipresent entities in the spiritual universe) which could kill the joy in a moment and end a man's ministerial career with a short phone call to the superintendent.

  My dad took chances with his magnanimous and liberated spirit.  He had discovered a "wideness in God's mercy" that other clergy would sing about during the worship time and then refute a few minutes later in their challenging sermons.  I think Dad knew that his kids sometimes needed a break from the legalism that saturated the place.

  "Don't run in the House of the Lord!"  "Your heavenly father is watching you."

  I am convinced that much of the church world still lives and moves in the Old Testament and the Law and has never really discovered that through Christ we are now living in the age of Grace.  "There is therefore now much condemnation." (Roman 8:1 twisted every Sunday morning.)

  Only a couple of years ago I listened to a sermon from a pastor who suggested that it was irreverent to wear jeans to church on Sunday morning (I was wearing shorts that day).  When I questioned him about it later, he said, "If you were going to see the Queen of England wouldn't you dress up to be in her presence?"  And I realized that this man (and millions of others) had never really discovered the omnipresence of God in the world and in everyday life.  Though he had certainly studied the attributes of God in his theology classes in seminary, he was viewing spirituality from a pre-Jesus perspective, an Old Testament framework where God dwelt in a holy temple.

  The New Testament is clear that God no longer dwells in brick and mortar buildings but in us, his children, for we are "living stones being built up into a spiritual house". (I Peter 2:5)  I am no more in the presence of the Lord in the church building than I am in my garage or my pickup truck - or in the bathroom changing the baby's diaper.  Or down at the river fishing.  Or water skiing.  Or skinny dipping.

  If a person only feels the presence of God during a twenty-minute worship set every Sunday morning, then they really need to open their eyes.  God is all and in all, and "in Him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28)  That indicates an all-the-time-ness and everywhere-ness to our co-existence, our oneness with Him.

  Dad's been gone for five years and I miss him.  But his Jesus-filled irreverence will live on in my brothers and sisters and me and in generations to come (I don't remember my two sisters ever swimming in the baptistry, but it might have happened).

  This is probably why I've spent my whole life celebrating.  Jesus launched his ministry at a wedding party, and he ended it at a meal with friends, bracketing his ministry with feasting.  Fasting is so Old Testament.  Feasting is New Testament.  I'm living in the New.  My kids will recall the countless times as they were growing up that I said, "Let's order a pizza to celebrate!"

  "Dad, what are we celebrating?"

  "I don't know, but I'll think of something."  And I always did.

  Loosen up friends,  God is everywhere.  Enjoy Him.

  Now, since I'm telling family secrets, let me tell you about my mom, who broke the rules too....

  

Alone in the Middle, Part 2 - Religion

  This is the second entry in my series, "Alone in the Middle", in which I am describing a few settings where I am a misfit.  Part 1 was on Politics and can be viewed by scrolling down to the next post below.

  

Robert on the Road.  Alone.

  When it comes to religion, again I am on the outside, and not to my regret but rather to my delight.  I believe that the institutions of the church are not what God had in mind and are man-made entities.  This doesn't make them inherently evil as some of my friends maintain, it just predisposes them to be infected by the sinful inclinations of man, starting with the early churches and increasing exponentially with Constantine in the fourth century when he first established Christianity as the state religion.

  In practice and orthodoxy, I am neither a conservative nor a liberal, religiously speaking, since I am not a participant in any church or denomination.  The Church Universal that is all believers, or the Body of Christ, exists and functions both within and without the religious institutions.  There are wonderful Christians in every church, and there are wonderful Christians who never go to church.

  I am a part of a growing movement in the western world that is a modern exodus from organized church.  In fact, the only church group that is growing in America is the house church movement, and it defies categorizing.  Many have tried to describe it, but with varying success, since there is no central leader or spokesman other than Christ, it is virtually void of hierarchy, and the doctrines and practices vary from one house to the next.  There are characteristics which seem to be common to most house churches, starting with the tenets of the Apostles' Creed but then diverging from there to a refreshing diversity that encompasses a plethora of ideas.

  There is also a plethora of critics who have sought to demonize the movement, and this is not surprising, as humans just normally resist change, and especially religious humans.  Some critics say it is heretical, but the same was said of Christ when he departed from the established religion of his day.  Many of the exiles who are part of this migration maintain that it is the next great movement that God has initiated, since the institutional church has largely lost its way.  In their thinking - and some of them have said this:  Jesus has left the building - and we're following Him.

  The church has become something of a political party with its own unique platform characterized by hypocrisy, bigotry, criticism, and legalism.  It is infected with a general oppressive air that demeans women, the underprivileged, and gays.  And all in the name of Christ who was a friend of women, the poor, and was often called the Friend of sinners.  No wonder so many have left with a bad taste in their mouths.  I think Jesus wants to gag as well, and so he has staged a modern day exodus to rival the original exodus of his people from their slavery in Egypt.

  One of the endemic tyrannies of the organized church is its powerful addiction to the doctrine of hierarchy, an oppressive orthodoxy specifically banned by Christ himself (Matt 20:25-28).   To many it is the cardinal sin of the church that victimizes millions every day.  I would say that at least it is the leaven of the Pharisees that has worked its way through the whole batch.  Jesus said the leaven of the Pharisees was hypocrisy, which makes me ask the obvious question: How is it not hypocrisy for any Protestant to preach submission to authority in the church when the entire Protestant tradition was born out of protest against church hierarchy?  The word Protestant means, "One who protests".  By teaching submission to authority, you deny your Protestant roots.  Yet millions cower under this dogma every Sunday having never realized the hypocrisy of it.

  In his book, Was Church God's Idea?, Marc Winter says, "So much of the devil's subversion, of those assemblies who are called by the name of Christ, has been through the useful tool of titles. When Jesus said, call no man "Teacher, or Father", I think He meant do not give positional headship to any man, that position belongs to Christ alone. When Jesus said it is finished, we no longer needed ANY human intermediary. Now we ALL are a kingdom of priest. Do not let a human usurping Christ's headship, via their title, interfere with you hearing God's voice."

  Watchman Nee is another scholar and writer who asserts that whenever we designate a leader in the church, we displace the headship of Christ.*

  

  But my own philosophy on the displacement of Christ by the organized church points to legalism as the ultimate culprit, a salvation earned by man's own self-righteousness.  The work of Christ is freedom (Gal.5:1), but the work of the church is slavery to a new kind of law that replaces the Old Testament law but that is just as oppressive and bypasses the cross of Christ.  Most Christians just don't get it: we are living in the age of grace and are free in Christ.  "By grace we are saved, not of works, lest any one boast (Eph. 2:8)."   There is no list of rules to live by, no law but the law of love.  "The entire law is summed up in a single command, 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" (Gal. 5:14)  We are at liberty to  experience Christ more fully every day, and it's not done through human effort.  The church cannot save.  In fact, all too often it does the opposite: it condemns us to an alternate hell of human effort, the same as every other religion in the world.

  To some who are reading, my position sounds really liberal, doesn't it?  And by definition it is, since the word means "marked by generosity: openhanded, free from bigotry".  In that case, I don't mind being identified as a liberal, as I'm thinking that  Jesus was the original liberal.  He came to free us from the law, from legalism, from an obligation to obey the rules.  He became our righteousness so we are accepted by God.  Unconditionally.

  If not, then the cross of Christ is good for nothing.  And if the cross is good for nothing, than the church is also good for nothing more than a social gathering, so either way we are in for a good time.  Rejoice!  And be free!

  So this kind of talk is rejected by religious conservatives... and liberals as well but for different reasons.  Either way that makes me a reject.  A reject from all religious institutions.  But I'm not really Alone in the Middle like the Monkey in the Middle, 'cause I'm not even in the game.  Thankfully.

  I reject Christendom.  I embrace true Christianity:  Jesus Only.

* Watchman Nee in his book, The Normal Christian Church.