I Stepped Outside of Myself

Ran into a friend I had not seen in years. She and another lady had just left a church service. We did the usual small talk about family. Then she asked if I was "in church" (a member of any church.) Christians tend to ask this question of everyone. I said what I always say. "I'm on the backside of the desert, me, Moses and God." Her expression changed immediately. Kind of like, uh oh. So I did something I don't do. I stepped outside of myself and explained that (l) God has not led me to any church yet, (2) but I still read my Bible and (3) fellowship with other believers. STOP! I don't have to explain myself to any man (or woman in this case.) No, I'm not in a church. Have not been for years. That which I call God released me from religion several years ago and I couldn't be happier. I AM closer to He, She, It that I call God than ever before.

I read the authorized Bible, (King James) and as many other books as I can find including The Other Bible, The Gnostic Bible, The Essential Koran, The Dead Sea Scrolls, writings by Deepak Chopra, Osho, Eckhart Tolle, Kaballah and the list goes on. Just re-read Conversations With God, Book 1 by Neale Donald Walsch. About to read Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill.

So I'm not going to church. And your point is what? Like I said, I stepped outside of myself, actually, forgot who I AM and felt like I needed to clarify myself so she wouldn't feel bad for me. STOP! What about how I feel? Never again. My answer is still, I'm hanging out on the backside of the desert like Moses did and I'm having a ball. Not in church, don't want to be in church, not looking for a church home. I AM the church! God is...therefore I AM. End of story. Everyone has to walk their own path and everyone needs to respect each other's path even if they disagree or think it's wrong.

So do you in this life. Don't apologize for being who you are and always listen to That which you call God.

Resurrection Sunday

Resurrection Sunday.

Celebrated by believers all over the world. Others celebrate today as Easter. People dress up in their Easter finery, some crowd into churches for their obligatory spring visit to the House of God, have a big family meal and then go back to their regular life the next day. To each his own. When I was attending church, I went all the time, not just Easter and New Year's Eve. To me, that was the height of hypocrisy. Even the Bible says, "so then because thou are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew (vomit) thee out of my mouth." Revelation 3:16. In other words, either be in all the way, all the time, or be out totally.

BTW: I am a believer and no matter how I try to count it, Friday to Sunday is NOT 3 DAYS. And besides, the Sabbath according to the Bible is Saturday so Jesus did not die on Friday and rise on Sunday. Mathematically impossible. I'm just saying.

Did you ever...?

When you were a child, did you ever wonder about the things you heard in church, Sunday School, vacation Bible school? Did you ever dare question any grownup about anything that went against the grain of the organized church that you belonged to?

I remember asking why schools taught that we evolved from monkeys but the Bible said we were created in the image of God? Of course, no one was saying God was a monkey!!! Could not get an answer to my question. Still can't. Now my question is, if we evolved from monkeys, why have we stopped evolving? Everything that science says evolved from something else seems to have "stopped evolving". In all these millions of years that the earth has been around and creatures have been around, shouldn't we be at another place by now? In some cases, it seems that nature has gone backwards. Did elephants evolve from mammoths? If so, why are elephants so much smaller than mammoths?

Welcome your comments, thoughts.

The Crucifixion

The Bible tells us that Jesus' legs WERE NOT broken as was the custom when someone was crucified. This was done, so I've read, to prolong the agony of a slow death because the person could not brace themselves up to breathe. Even with one's legs broken, it could take days for the person to actually die. (Talk about man's inhumanity to man! WOW. Who thinks up these terrible things to do to each other - sometimes in the name of God?)

In Jesus' case, he was crucified and hung on the cross for only a few hours. His legs were never broken and He was removed from the cross that same day. Anyone ever wonder why the procedure was changed? Is there any other account of a man who was only crucified for a few hours, left intact and taken down the same day?

Of course, as a believer, this is an important aspect of your theology. But shouldn't the resurrection weigh more heavily than the crucifixion? The crucifixion is recounted in detail in the Bible and in most churches on Easter Sunday. We have the whole story from the entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the betrayal, arrest and trial to the buriel in great detail. In the book of Luke, this covers chapters 18 through 23. The resurrection is all in chapter 24. In John, the "sufferings and the glory" are from chapters 18 through 19. The resurrection appearances are verses 1-19 in chapter 20.

Have we put the emphasis on the wrong part of the story of Jesus?

SELAH

What God created

Question:

Why would God create everything and call everything He created good and then select one group of people out of all His creation to elevate as the "Chosen" people? At the time of creation, from what I read, all of mankind had not been created (born) yet. Just Adam and Eve. Were they Israelites? I would think all the people God created would be the chosen people. The Bible says man was made in the image of God. Not some men. Not certain men, but MAN which represents all men. If we are all created in the image of God, should we be killing each other?

Existence of Satan

Just watched Nightline's discussion on the existence of Satan. Interesting but of course, not enough time for such a weighty talk. I guess the audience was equally divided though no poll was taken to my knowledge.

On one side was the Pastor of the church hosting the debate and a reformed, now born again former prostitute. On the other side was Bishop Carlton Pearson who has been called a heretic by the organized church he used to belong to and author Deepok Chopra. I happen to believe we give Satan, evil, etc., too much power. If we gave as much power to Jesus, God, Divine Spirit, LOVE, etc., perhaps the world would be in a different place. The Bible says ALL power was given to Jesus!!! If Jesus has ALL power, how much power does the devil have??? If you have all the money, how much money do I have? So if you believe the Bible, why are you giving Satan, evil, etc. so much power if the very book you read says Jesus has ALL the power? Either Jesus has all the power or He doesn't. Which is it? And then how much of the Bible am I supposed to believe? The part about Satan or the part about all the power Jesus has. God said He created good and evil. For what purpose?

Open your mind. Is the Bible to be read as a literal book or a book about Christ Consciousness?
Talk me down on this one.

Literal or Allegorical

Should the Bible be viewed literally or as an allegory? Are we to take the stories as something that actually happened or as a blueprint on how to live?

Sex in the Church

Intriguing title but this post is not just about the usual deacons cheating on the wives or priests molesting altarboys. Just read an article about a church in Good Hope, Alabama. The Daystar Church in Good Hope is pastored by Jerry Lawson. He preaches that sex is a good thing, in the context of marriage. That's what I thought too. In other words, it's not just to make babies.

Surprise! Surprise! So God created us as sexual beings, gave us body parts that make us feel good but sex is not supposed to be fun. That's why women suffer clitoral castration in third world countries. In those countries, the men can have pleasure in sex but not the women. (At least they know what the function of that body part is for women.) How sexist is that? In relation to animals, we are the only creatures that don't have to wait once a year or whatever to be in heat in order to have sex (mate).

Another minister, Evangelist Roland Belew says "talking about sex ain't gonna get nobody in heaven." I disagree. If we talk about it correctly, which means the Church needs to address it along with parents and schools, maybe it will help people get into heaven. Besides, according to the Bible, there are only 2 destinations. So if we keep folks out of hell by giving them correct information, perhaps they will be going to heaven.

Besides, the Church needs to teach folks how to live the other 6 days of the week. Jumping, shouting, feeling good in church on Sunday does not help you fight the good fight of faith the rest of the week if you don't have the correct information (revelation).

Be for real. God created sex. Not the devil who didn't create anything. And if you really read Genesis, there was a whole lot of sex going on. After Cain killed his brother Abel and was cursed by God, he was marked so that any finding him would not kill him. Any who? Where did this "any" come from? That means there were other people around (unless Adam and Eve had populated the whole earth by then) who were having sex. And if Adam and Eve were responsible for populating the whole earth, not only was there a lot of sex going on but there was some serious incest taking place. WOW. That's a heavy thought, isn't it?

Shout me down, someone.

In the Garden

Just to add to the last post, I hope you realize that the Bible does not say that God cursed Adam and Eve. He cursed the serpent, "above all cattle, and above every beast of the field: upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shall thou eat all the days of thy life..." To Eve God said, "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shall bring forth children..." and to Adam God said, "cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shall thou eat of it all the days of thy life..." Some may argue that Adam and Eve were cursed even though God did not use that word. See Genesis 3:14 through 19.

What's interesting is verses 20 and 21 of Genesis 3. After God finished telling Adam and Eve of the consequences of their disobedience, Adam named his wife Eve (she had not been named before) and the Lord made coats of skin and clothed them. And in verses 22 through 24, the Lord God says that "the man has become as one of us, (italics is mine) to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever:..."

The tone of those verses does not sound like an angry God heaping everlasting punishment on his disobedient children, does it? And nowhere is hell mentioned. Did not read anything about repentence in those verses either. As a matter of fact. God sounds downright merciful, doesn't He? After all, He clothed Adam and Eve before He drove them from the garden.

Come on someone, talk me down on these points. Maybe I'm seeing it all wrong. Help a sister out. (By the way, who is the us of verse 22?)

The Tree

What happened in the Garden? The first man and woman were in the Garden, naked, enjoying life, frolicking with the animals. Adam had named the animals and from what I can see, God did not change the names Adam had selected. WOW. What power is in the tongue. After all, God said, "Let there be ..." and there was. Just think what kind of power you and I have in our mouths. Sorry. I digress.

So Adam and Eve were dancing all over the Garden, when God said, "you see that tree over there? Don't eat of that tree!" There is no indication that Adam and Eve had even thought about "that" tree of the knowledge of good and evil UNTIL God pointed it out. Makes you wonder, don't it? I used to wonder about this whole scene. Why did You, God, put that tree in the garden, point it out and then say, don't eat of that tree? What do You mean, don't eat of the tree after YOU pointed it out?!!?? Didn't You know Your creation, mankind, would mess up? I was taught that You did know, because the Lamb, Jesus, was slain before the foundation of the world. So now I'm confused. Because everything You created, You said was good. Including the serpent who was more subtle than all the creatures You created, and who deceived Eve. (How did the serpent become associated with evil and Satan anyway? More on that on another post.) So this transgression caused man and woman to be kicked out of the garden. And the snake was relegated to crawling on his belly. (Apparently he was upright before the Fall.) And because of one man, you and I and all mankind are now born as sinners. (Will discuss that on another post.)

Now think about this: Adam and Eve, the first humans, commited the first sin and were allowed to leave the Garden but there is no mention that they were going to burn in hell forever and ever. I don't remember either of them asking for forgiveness. Adam blamed Eve, the woman You, God, gave me. Eve blamed the serpent who beguiled her. Kind of messes with your theology a little bit, doesn't it?

Let me hear from you but keep it positive. Remember, I just want you to think.

Think about it.

Are you beginning to question what your read in the Bible and other great books with what you are being taught or have been taught? Do you have thoughts that are contrary to what you're being taught? If so, you are like me. Some things did not quite answer my questions. So I kept searching. I began reading everything I could get my hands on. Especially if the Church said I should not read it!

Are you getting fat on empty spiritual calories? Junk food may fill you up but is it healthy? Junk food makes you sluggish. You crave more and more of it even when you know it is not good for you. Like sugar. You eat something sweet, you get a temporary boost and then you come down hard. You feel worse than you did before you ate the candy bar.

Let's explore some of the things I have questioned. I don't have all the answers. But I am willing to ask some questions. Like what is hell? Where is hell? Where is heaven? Who is the devil? Are we all saved? Did God really select only one group of people out of ALL the people He created to be The Chosen People? Why would He do that? Why did God create man? What is sin? When does eternity start? I was taught that when I die, I will go into eternity (heaven or hell). But how can eternity start at a certain time? These are just a few of the topics I will be exploring. I will also talk about being totally, spitting mad with God.

Now, if you are easily offended, this is not the site for you. Some of you will probably condemn me to your version of hell. My question to you is, What God are you serving? Where is the love of Christ? So let me save you some time and trouble. No need to post angry remarks. I AM NOT GOING TO HELL. I'm sure you have different thoughts and I respect that. Do the same for me.

Anyway, this should be an interesting journey. I hope so. I look forward to bringing forth some thoughts that I hope will get you to think. That's all I want.

Many blessings.