Religious Paradigms

This is the final chapter of Surrender to Who. We are not done in the Sermon on the Mount, and if we really strived to dig into everything Jesus said and all possible ramifications for our life on this earth, we would run out of time in this life. So, the time has come to end, but as a parting word, I want to leave you with something I believe I learned about my paradigm through this whole process. Now, when I use the word paradigm, I am defining it like this: 

Paradigm: The worldview I look through. Or, the lens through which I view the world, events, and other people. 

You see, I believe that there truly is a Godly paradigm. A paradigm that is supported by scripture, as well as by the Holy Spirit, both in the ways the Holy Spirit leads you to do the right things and the ways the Holy Spirit treats you when you don't do the right things.

To discuss a biblical paradigm, terms are needed. This presents a conundrum for me. Option 1: To wait until the right, pure, and fresh terms come along, or Option 2: To forge ahead with terms that the political world is actively desecrating on and hope that we can capture and use them in the meanings we want without getting distracted or bogged down by this world's messy politics. For better or worse, I chose Option 2, but remain willing to edit this with the right words later. I will use these terms but will try to define them in a way that makes sense in the light of God, and His words as pertains to a believer in God. So, let's unpack the terms then shall we?

We have 2 sets of opposites for a total of 4 terms. 

The first set of opposites: 

Authoritarian: This is a believer who strives to force others to live Godly lives as defined by him. After all, God's ways are the best, so it's for your own good to be forced into it if you are not willing to do it voluntarily. 

Libertarian: This is a believer who believes in a way of living a Godly life but has no interest in making you do the same. Of course, he will advocate for God's ways, but the choice is yours. He believes God's ways should only be followed voluntarily. 

The second set of opposites:

Liberal: This is a believer who is accepting of new information especially if it's a "Holy Spirit Revelation" that might contradict what God said in the Bible. He is willing to compromise on convictions and beliefs to present a more appealing gospel and win more people to Christ. God is loving and kind. 

Conservative: This is a believer who has no use for new information that contradicts what God said in the Bible. He is only open to how he might have misunderstood what God said. God is right. If you disagree, you're wrong. If you have a "Holy Spirit Revelation" that disagrees, you "heard wrong." God is right. 

Now, we have our 4 religious paradigms to choose from. 

The Conservative-Authoritarian: This person's paradigm is best represented by the Pharisees in scripture. They nit-picked Christ and others constantly, both with legitimate things from the old law and things that they added. Yet, they were unable to follow them. This person claims God as the author of truth like a conservative. Yet, his need to control others leads to him adding rules and attempting to force them onto people who he has no jurisdiction over. In our modern churches, this is the classic example of what many refer to as a person carrying the "spirit-of -of religion." This is a person who holds a high ideal of holiness which may or may not be accurate, yet with a focus on forcing others to live this way, he inevitably ends up looking like a desperate hypocrite.  

The Liberal-Authoritarian: This is a person who is best represented by Job's miserable comforters in scripture. They had a view of God that they believed in that was not true to who God was. With this view, they abused poor Job, a holy man for a sin they supposed he had. This is a person who carries a very broad-minded view of Christ and the truth. Often he will worship Christ as he imagines him to be, not as he is. Yet, this person also carries the authoritarian streak. He attempts to cajole others into worshiping Christ as he understands Him. If conservatives don't comply, he will discipline or isolate them and minimize their influence by tarnishing their reputation as unsafe religious people. I would call out the word-faith and prosperity-gospel people here. If you do not get healed in response to prayer, your faith is lacking according to them. If God doesn't hit your pocketbook with 1000 fold blessing, again, something is lacking in your life. These people talk against toxic religion more than anyone else, yet they are very toxic and very religious.

The Liberal-Libertarian: This is a person who is following a faith and a God he believes in, his grasp of truth is dodgy, but he probably means well and he doesn't hurt other people much simply because he is not overly religious and isn't all that concerned about whether or not you agree with or live like him. This kind of person doesn't hold up well in times of persecution. In the fires of persecution, he has to either get serious about his faith and relationship with God or recant to save his skin. In times of great freedom and prosperity, this person is everywhere, he is your typical casual Christian.

The Conservative-Libertarian: This is a person who holds Christ and His teachings in the highest regard. While the idea of being conservative lends to the idea of someone who hates change, this person is most interested in conserving the Gospel in its totality. He is also interested in conserving his relationship with Christ, and in conserving the ordinances Christ taught. Others may mistake this person for being religious after the Pharisee tradition, but they miss the mark. This person is after religion as taught by James (James 1:26-27). Pure undefiled holiness that serves others, and can only come from Christ. This person is a libertarian as well. Why? Because, he is too busy surrendering, learning, growing, repenting, and following the Lord to worry about forcing you to do something. If he talks with you about an error in your life, he does so because he loves you, at the end of the day, he knows the choice is yours. He works with all the things God entrusted to Him and strives to become more like him by surrendering himself to him. This keeps him too busy to meddle. This is a true disciple and this is the paradigm that I invite you to walk in. It's a paradigm of humility and complete surrender to God without focusing on others and what they are doing wrong. In fact, the way you look at others is also surrendered to God. Too idealistic for this life? Probably, but, it's not hard, just surrender. If it's something from within you, a desire to adjust away from the truth for comfort, repent by surrendering that. If it's a desire to focus on what others are up to, surrender that by repenting from it. 

A word about Religion: 

The bad kind: There is an attitude or a spirit of religion that leads to us needing to control people in ways outside of how God would have us to. The Lord entrusts his people with children to raise in His ways yes, but not so much with dictating whether or not your 43-year-old neighbor watches porn or not. This is religion from the Pharisees. It's cultish, extra-biblical, and should be repented of. 

The good kind: Yet, there is another religion as mentioned in James, it is, personal holiness, and spiritual discipline, it has to do with keeping communion, keeping time in prayer, regular community with God, other disciples, fasting, etc. This is a good thing to be doing, from a place of love for God personally and not because someone is forcing you to. 

I would caution against focusing on the paradigms. It's interesting to have a conversation about what they look like, and hopefully, there is some value to it. Yet, if, you focus on Christ and keep surrendering to Him, your paradigm will be shaped by Him and you will see more and more like Him. That's what we all want.

The end. 

This has been the 18th and final chapter of Surrender!? To Who?

Anger vs Hatred

Matthew 5:21-24

Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Ancient Israel is in chaos! King David has fled the palace, and his son has taken the throne. In this chaos, a traitor emerges, his name is Ahithophel, and he was David's advisor, but switches sides and begins advising Absalom. His advice is astonishing. 

Let's recap.

1. Ahithophel tells Absalom that he should go and erhm David's concubines. This way Israel can see that David has been insulted beyond reconciliation. This would then cause them to back Absalom. Absalom did that, and he did it with a tent on the roof so that all might see that tent and know what was going down. (2 Samuel 16:15-23)

2. Ahithophel tells Absalom that he should let him take 12'000 men and run David down that night while he's tired and discouraged. He says he would only kill the king, and return the people like a bride returns to her husband. Like a bride returning to her husband eh? Hold that thought.  (2 Samuel 17:1-4)

3. Ahithophel's advice was not followed the second time... Hmm, well, so it goes, a king has a mind of his own, nothing persona.....wait a sec...Ahithophel when realizing that he didn't get to kill David hung himself. What the...? Why? (2 Samuel 17:23) 

Well, remember David's very bad no good situation with Bathsheba? That was a big sin, and the ramifications went further than just David, Bathsheba, and her poor husband. Imagine this. You raise a son, you pour into him, and raise him the ways of God as you understand them. For over 15 years you raised him, and you strive for a great prosperous family line. A  line of blessing. Your son grows up, and he finds himself the love of his life. They start a life together, and they have a beautiful girl. Now you're a grandpa. Your granddaughter is the most beautiful girl in the Kingdom. You watch her grow into a beautiful woman. You watch your granddaughter meet the love of her life, and start a life together, yes, the generations of family blessing are going well, but then, the king notices your granddaughter Bathsheba... Yes, you read that right. Ahithophel was Bathsheba's grandpa! (2 Samuel 11:3 and 2 Samuel 23:34) What would you do to such a king?  

There are 2 types of things at play in the text above as spoken by Jesus, there are physical things and inward things. let's break them down.

The physical. 

1. Human life is sacred. Don't murder people. 

2. Insults. Don't call someone an "air-headed idiot." I admit that is tempting sometimes...

We understand those physical acts as being wrong. It's ingrained in any of us who have the slightest interest in God's ways. Now, what about that inward thing in between those 2 things? That inward thing has to do with anger, being provoked by a fellow person in your life which I believe is what "brother" means here. Yet, it's not just any anger, it's an anger that has no good reason for existing. It's anger "without cause". So, this is how I see it. In the case of Ahithophel, the cause was David's sin. There was righteous anger to be had/felt over David's sin, and at David for agreeing with this sin. Then, that cause was dealt with. Yet, Ahithophel's anger at David remained. Now, it was personal. He hated David the person. It was this personal anger at another person that was at the root of the matter. Given time to fester, it boiled over with the loss of life. This anger got Absalom killed. Can you imagine the power of Ahithophel's counsel had he given a cautionary word to Absalom and advised against revolting against David? Perhaps Absalom would have listened. Perhaps not, but, history doesn't show us that, because, Ahithophel's personal cause-less anger remained, long after the anger with cause's time had passed. This anger eventually and ultimately destroyed the carrier of it. 

No matter how grievously I have been wronged by any one person, there is never a good/healthy reason to carry a kind of anger towards that person that involves that person directly. This kind of anger is self-destructive. It doesn't work. A just/righteous anger handled in obedience to the will of God is a whole different matter. That would be anger with cause. Other words might be, "moral outrage" "righteous indignation" etc. When the anger crosses from a focus on appropriately dealing with the cause and focus on hatred for a person made by God, that's where a line has been crossed. Or, to put it simply, there is such a thing as anger at an act, and there is such a thing as hatred. Really, anger without cause is hatred. Anger at an act can co-exist with love for the "actor." Hatred cannot co-exist with love for the person who is hated. 

Let's say you have a gift, and you want to give it to the Lord as a sacrifice. As a Jew, it was some fine animal. As a New-Covenant disciple, it's probably some spiritual gift, maybe a song, a sermon, writing, or any act of service. If in doing this good work, God shows you that not all is right between you and another, then it is the Lord's desire for there to be peace. That peace may mean that you die inside. It might mean that you eat a thing known as "humble pie." It might mean that you choose to love a person whose deeds you desperately hate. It might mean that while your flesh calls out for some dire consequence to fall on him, you choose to do nothing instead. I don't know what it means for you. I don't even know what it means for me yet. All I know is, surrender it, and with that, this has been...

Chapter 17 of Surrender!? To Who?