What if God wasn't the one who demanded a blood sacrifice from us?
(What if Genesis 3:21 doesn't talk about God killing animals and clothing Adam and Eve with the fur? What if He 'clothed' them in skin, their own human skin?)
What if it was our shame that first drove people to sacrifice animals?
What if all of Israel had gone up Mt. Sinai, instead of fearing the fire and asking Moses to mediate?
Wasn't it human shame that asked for the law? Wasn't it the law that demanded sacrifices?
What if Jesus gave his life not to appease an angry God, but to appease (fulfill) the law that was put into place by popular demand?
What if that sacrifice really did once and for all deal with ALL our shame?
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
The Good News
What if the Good News (the gospel) is not: "Repent, become a Christian, then your sins will be forgiven and you'll get a ticket to (assurance of) heaven."?
But: "Don't be afraid. Your sins are forgiven. Your Father loves you. You don't have to try to manage your shame anymore, it's been dealt with. Come now from death into life."?
What if differentiating between 'christian' and 'non-christian' is just putting people into a box again, playing a stupid 'us vs. them' game, that is keeping people from experiencing the Father's love? What if that's not God's heart at all?
What if He really is the Father of all who with outstretched arms is running towards all of us?
What if His outstretched arms even reach into the place of the dead (Hades/Sheol), to which, by the way, Jesus is supposed to hold the keys?
But: "Don't be afraid. Your sins are forgiven. Your Father loves you. You don't have to try to manage your shame anymore, it's been dealt with. Come now from death into life."?
What if differentiating between 'christian' and 'non-christian' is just putting people into a box again, playing a stupid 'us vs. them' game, that is keeping people from experiencing the Father's love? What if that's not God's heart at all?
What if He really is the Father of all who with outstretched arms is running towards all of us?
What if His outstretched arms even reach into the place of the dead (Hades/Sheol), to which, by the way, Jesus is supposed to hold the keys?
Saturday, December 4, 2010
The Word
What if the Bible only talks about Jesus as the Word (of God) and not of itself? What if the verse in 2.Timothy "All Scripture is God-breathed..." does not talk about the NT? How would that change my view of the Bible?
What if Jesus, the Word of God, was (as John writes) with the Father in the beginning, just like a word is inside of me before I speak it out, or an idea before I bring it into being?
In the beginning, it says, God created by speaking things into existence. What if Jesus is this life giving word, present with God in the beginning? That would make him one with God. But would he be God?
What if Jesus, the Word of God, was (as John writes) with the Father in the beginning, just like a word is inside of me before I speak it out, or an idea before I bring it into being?
In the beginning, it says, God created by speaking things into existence. What if Jesus is this life giving word, present with God in the beginning? That would make him one with God. But would he be God?
Judgement
What if it is just not true that people have to make a decision for Jesus before they physically die here on earth, otherwise they are faced with eternal damnation? What if the sentence in Hebrews "...it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,..." doesn't mean that at all?
What if judgement (krisis in the greek) is actually a good thing? What if this judgement, this crisis, actually will bring many, many people to their knees and ultimately into the arms of their loving father?
What if judgement (krisis in the greek) is actually a good thing? What if this judgement, this crisis, actually will bring many, many people to their knees and ultimately into the arms of their loving father?
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Jesus & Christ
What if Jesus really is 'just' a human being, but of a new creation? What if he is 'just' son of God? What if he is 'just' the Anointed, the Christ? What if he is not "very God of very God", the second person of the Trinity? Would he still be able to free me of my sin and shame and restore me to a beautiful relationship with his Father, who is also mine?
What if the early church did not believe Jesus to be God, but their brother, firstborn of a new creation? A creation in which God not only breathed His life-giving Spirit into man, but placed it into a human seed, in order for Him to be fully intertwined with his children.
What if the Spirit that God poured out on Pentecost really was the Spirit of sonship, the Spirit of his new creation, the same Spirit that indwells Jesus?
What if the phrase that we so easily say, that we are the body of Christ, is actually true? What if we are the Anointed One, that is to bring heaven to this earth? What if that is what Jesus' second coming is all about?
What if the early church did not believe Jesus to be God, but their brother, firstborn of a new creation? A creation in which God not only breathed His life-giving Spirit into man, but placed it into a human seed, in order for Him to be fully intertwined with his children.
What if the Spirit that God poured out on Pentecost really was the Spirit of sonship, the Spirit of his new creation, the same Spirit that indwells Jesus?
What if the phrase that we so easily say, that we are the body of Christ, is actually true? What if we are the Anointed One, that is to bring heaven to this earth? What if that is what Jesus' second coming is all about?
Names & Identity
What if God, in asking Adam to name all the animals, was giving him the power to decide what their qualities & characteristics were to be? eg. What is a Lion? How does it behave? What does it eat? Where does it live?...
What if we still exercise this power, knowingly or unknowingly, when naming our children?
Did creation go all pear shaped because through shame we lost our identity as the beloved children of God, the name givers, the stewards of creation?
Am I freely giving out life-giving names to people around me, or am I still caught up trying to selfishly build my own identity by soiling the names of others?
What if we still exercise this power, knowingly or unknowingly, when naming our children?
Did creation go all pear shaped because through shame we lost our identity as the beloved children of God, the name givers, the stewards of creation?
Am I freely giving out life-giving names to people around me, or am I still caught up trying to selfishly build my own identity by soiling the names of others?
Satan, Demons & Trust
What if the creation story in the bible really was written by a hebrew mind, instead of a greek one, and the reason for telling the story was so much deeper than just writing down mere facts, but rather to share multiple layers of truth?
For example the word used for the serpent also means whisperer or enchanter. Was the temptation to eat the fruit and become like God maybe a whisper in the heart of Eve, that caused her to not trust her maker and take control into her own hands? Was it a seed of fear that she conceived, giving birth to a spirit being that we have been feeding with our selfish longing for control and mistrust of our heavenly Father throughout the ages? Hence, it would grow from a tiny serpent into a huge dragon.
What if God didn't create the enemy as a rebellious archangel? What if God actually gave the power to create to His beloved children, made in His image? What if the enemy, Satan, the devil is a human creation?
What if a demon is a lie that we receive into our heart? We feed it until it becomes alive, until we allow it to have a life of itself, until it becomes a spirit that controls and binds us and others.
What if we learned to trust again...?
For example the word used for the serpent also means whisperer or enchanter. Was the temptation to eat the fruit and become like God maybe a whisper in the heart of Eve, that caused her to not trust her maker and take control into her own hands? Was it a seed of fear that she conceived, giving birth to a spirit being that we have been feeding with our selfish longing for control and mistrust of our heavenly Father throughout the ages? Hence, it would grow from a tiny serpent into a huge dragon.
What if God didn't create the enemy as a rebellious archangel? What if God actually gave the power to create to His beloved children, made in His image? What if the enemy, Satan, the devil is a human creation?
What if a demon is a lie that we receive into our heart? We feed it until it becomes alive, until we allow it to have a life of itself, until it becomes a spirit that controls and binds us and others.
What if we learned to trust again...?
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