Freedom from fear & shame

What if we, in western Christianity, don't understand anymore what it really means for Jesus to forgive our sins?  What if it's not just about a 'Ticket to Heaven' or a 'Hell-Free Card'?  What if for Jesus, when he walked this earth, forgiving people their sins used to be all about freeing them from the bondage of shame which seperated them from Father (ie. the paralyzed man in Luke 5)?  What if "Do not be afraid" and "your sins are forgiven" were some of the most spoken words of our big brother?  What if it really is fear and shame that keep us away from a loving relationship with Father?  What if sin is this seperation caused by fear and shame?  What if, trying to manage our own sin, we get sucked deeper and deeper into it by fear and shame?  Would it be enough to just deal with the sin?  Or do we need to allow Jesus to deal with the root of it: fear and shame?  What if religion is just using fear and shame for its advantage, instead of, like Jesus, removing the burden of it?  What if I can live in a loving relationship with Father without fear and shame?

One II

What if every one of us is really made in the image of God?  What if His DNA is flowing through every person?  What if we have never left oneness with our creator?  What if the problem of humanity is not that God, because of our sin, is distant from us, but that our sense of shame and focus on our selves has convinced us of this lie (I have to hide; I'm not good enough, not worthy)?  What if this perceived distance is what kills us spiritually, unplugging us from the source of life?  What if Jesus' message is that of the loving Father who just wants to share everything with us, and not that of the untouchable, highly exalted king, way up there on the throne, somewhere in heaven, wherever that is...?  What if Jesus' life-giving spirit is awakening/bringing back to life our spirit, dealing with our shame, and opening our eyes to the truth that we're one with the one who created us to be one with Him (not seperate; not up there and down here; not servant and king; not big God and little human)?  What if so many of our 'worship songs' are full with lies about God being distant?

Blood covenant & freedom

What if the reason that it is very hard for me to condure up a feeling of gratidude and meaningful thankfulness when thinking about Jesus dying on the cross (I'd have to watch "The Passion" or sing one of those slow "thank you for the cross" songs) is not that it's so long ago, but that I have never been under that blood covenant that Israel made with Yahweh?  What if the cross was primarily for the Jews?...and the life of the resurrection for all of creation?
What if I was born into freedom?...into life?...into the new covenant?
What if I can just live in that freedom without feeling guilty?
What if really being thankful is living out this freedom to the fullest (and not crawling on the floor telling God how awful and undeserving I am)?

Blood sacrifice...God or Shame?

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?