I have said it before, and will probably say it again. We didn’t need a Messiah to just reiterate the law, and correct our misapplication of it. Any garden variety prophet could have done that. We needed a messiah to bind up our broken hearts because that is the biggest obstacle to actual holiness. By skipping over that, we are missing so much of the good news within the gospel, and rob it of its potential glory.
Which begs the question, why? I think a lot of it is that most people just can’t or won’t look past the surface of anything. Much of what we think we know about Scripture has been explained to us by others. If that preacher can’t see past their own nose either, their understanding of the gospel will be shallow as well. All the more reason for taking responsibility for our own soul. I have only gotten to where I am by not relying on the pulpit for everything. As a new Christian, my spiritual wounds ran deep, I needed answers that went far deeper than common knowledge Christianity offered. If I didn’t seek real scriptural answers for myself. I would have likely fallen away by now, or just been another whitewashed tomb. I wish I could say I had great mentors to get me through my personal exodus, but I didn’t. For me, my books were my teachers.
Let me offer a few examples of what I am saying. The story of Lazarus, is an issue I have discussed numerous times. (John 11:1-44) Even ordained ministers get this one all wrong. Jesus did not weep because he was mourning the death of Lazarus. He wept because they did not understand that there was no reason to mourn him at all. Despite all they had seen, they still saw him as just another garden variety prophet. They didn’t understand that his divinity made his power unlimited. If he was mourning over anything, it was all of his chosen people’s ignorance. I’m sure he still weeps over us today for the same reason. Just as he wept over all of Jerusalem in Luke 19:41-42. I am right there with Him on that one, as hard as I try, people still view scripture from a very mortal and worldly perspective.
There are a few obscure cults out there that insist that Mosaic law still applies in the New Covenant. They take the fully adult heirs living as un-Bah-Mitzvah’d children to the extreme. To use their terminology. Once while debating this issue with one of them I used Romans 7:1-6 as an example. But he insisted that passage was about marriage. Although he was an ordained minister, he could not see that Paul was using marriage as a comparison, not actually talking about marriage itself. It was about that time I realized it was pointless to reason with him. He was too spiritually discerned to see that a good Father wants to instill true understanding about righteousness so that a child can grow to become an heir in the kingdom. Not just knowledge about what is wrong, so they live in fear of punishment until the day they die.
In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. -1st Peter 5:5-7
People like to quote 1st Peter 5:7 by itself. That way we think we can cast off our anxiety and negative emotions, but never have to face the cause. Yet if we start with verse 5, and include the parts that reveal this act must be done in humility, and this childish notion falls apart. As a teenager, I had a real hard time verbalizing the storm going on inside. So I humbled myself before God via my art instead. I disturbed a lot of people this way, they just could not get past the surface and assumed the worst. Then encouraged me to essentially whitewash myself. I have heard similar stories from others where their conservative whitewashed parents went as far as to destroy their children’s creations which were their means of dealing with and releasing the pain inside. So they were essentially saying to their kids to shove those splinters lodged in your heart even deeper where nobody can see, and be a fake like us. While we can’t hide anything from God, we can keep things from him. So by denying our brokenness, we our only slowing down our path to healing. Not realizing that only by allowing God to remove those splinters from our hearts, will we see clearly enough to deal with the splinters of others empathetically, instead of with critical judgment and forced whitewash. (Matthew 7) Maybe that is why we get so upset with those who reject the church only to adopt a different color wash. Their lie of identity being less than skin deep reflects our immature lies.
As much as we try to turn Christianity into a systematic checklist. It is really far more poetic than that. The Bible itself is full of literal poetry after all, and it’s not all nice warm and fuzzy poetry about puppies and fluffy bunnies either. It acknowledges all the dark realities we must face every day, perhaps if you read and studied it for yourself, you might realize that and stop living like a child avoiding punishment, and live like an adult who is responsible to his Fathers kingdom.
What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. -Galatians 4:1-7
Which begs the question, why? I think a lot of it is that most people just can’t or won’t look past the surface of anything. Much of what we think we know about Scripture has been explained to us by others. If that preacher can’t see past their own nose either, their understanding of the gospel will be shallow as well. All the more reason for taking responsibility for our own soul. I have only gotten to where I am by not relying on the pulpit for everything. As a new Christian, my spiritual wounds ran deep, I needed answers that went far deeper than common knowledge Christianity offered. If I didn’t seek real scriptural answers for myself. I would have likely fallen away by now, or just been another whitewashed tomb. I wish I could say I had great mentors to get me through my personal exodus, but I didn’t. For me, my books were my teachers.
Let me offer a few examples of what I am saying. The story of Lazarus, is an issue I have discussed numerous times. (John 11:1-44) Even ordained ministers get this one all wrong. Jesus did not weep because he was mourning the death of Lazarus. He wept because they did not understand that there was no reason to mourn him at all. Despite all they had seen, they still saw him as just another garden variety prophet. They didn’t understand that his divinity made his power unlimited. If he was mourning over anything, it was all of his chosen people’s ignorance. I’m sure he still weeps over us today for the same reason. Just as he wept over all of Jerusalem in Luke 19:41-42. I am right there with Him on that one, as hard as I try, people still view scripture from a very mortal and worldly perspective.
There are a few obscure cults out there that insist that Mosaic law still applies in the New Covenant. They take the fully adult heirs living as un-Bah-Mitzvah’d children to the extreme. To use their terminology. Once while debating this issue with one of them I used Romans 7:1-6 as an example. But he insisted that passage was about marriage. Although he was an ordained minister, he could not see that Paul was using marriage as a comparison, not actually talking about marriage itself. It was about that time I realized it was pointless to reason with him. He was too spiritually discerned to see that a good Father wants to instill true understanding about righteousness so that a child can grow to become an heir in the kingdom. Not just knowledge about what is wrong, so they live in fear of punishment until the day they die.
People like to quote 1st Peter 5:7 by itself. That way we think we can cast off our anxiety and negative emotions, but never have to face the cause. Yet if we start with verse 5, and include the parts that reveal this act must be done in humility, and this childish notion falls apart. As a teenager, I had a real hard time verbalizing the storm going on inside. So I humbled myself before God via my art instead. I disturbed a lot of people this way, they just could not get past the surface and assumed the worst. Then encouraged me to essentially whitewash myself. I have heard similar stories from others where their conservative whitewashed parents went as far as to destroy their children’s creations which were their means of dealing with and releasing the pain inside. So they were essentially saying to their kids to shove those splinters lodged in your heart even deeper where nobody can see, and be a fake like us. While we can’t hide anything from God, we can keep things from him. So by denying our brokenness, we our only slowing down our path to healing. Not realizing that only by allowing God to remove those splinters from our hearts, will we see clearly enough to deal with the splinters of others empathetically, instead of with critical judgment and forced whitewash. (Matthew 7) Maybe that is why we get so upset with those who reject the church only to adopt a different color wash. Their lie of identity being less than skin deep reflects our immature lies.
As much as we try to turn Christianity into a systematic checklist. It is really far more poetic than that. The Bible itself is full of literal poetry after all, and it’s not all nice warm and fuzzy poetry about puppies and fluffy bunnies either. It acknowledges all the dark realities we must face every day, perhaps if you read and studied it for yourself, you might realize that and stop living like a child avoiding punishment, and live like an adult who is responsible to his Fathers kingdom.
The Visual PARABLEist
There was a time I walked away from art thinking it separated me from my church peers. Then this image appeared in my head and it wouldn’t go away until I released it onto canvas. Only then did I understand what God was telling me. I was treating his gifts and talents with contempt, and damaging my spiritual “vision” in the process. It was about that time I started to incorporate my art into my teaching.
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