Religious Lawyers I

In putting forward what I'm claiming as my gospel which is from THE Gospel I feel I have to qualify it against what has been taught by those I call more religious lawyers and not Ministers of the Grace and Faith I talk about.   One of the main things I see missing in this age of passive aggression is a lack of discernment and frank admittance of who we don't jibe with and why.  St.Paul talked about giving the right hand of fellowship and I see nothing wrong with affirming that for ourselves when we are stating our precious faith. For instance the other morning a couple of Baptist missionaries knocked at my door. There would have been a time when I would have engaged them in some dialogue, but based on their particular brand of faith I felt in unwise of myself. Why you may ask. Well unlike say a Pentecostal they would have been reluctant to pray with me to start the inquiry I feel, not knowing where I "Stand" first. Secondly their sect appeals to more of a mental attainment of faith rather than a heart level in my puny estimation 

Even beyond that though there are some differences in the fundamentals of faith that I can't begin to address really, because I sincerely believe that they are "Seen" when you're at a certain place of maturation or lived experience.  Not that a youth couldn't attain to seeing these things, in fact they might be more capable, because they don't need to unlearn certain things.You see where the Baptist or so-called Fundamentalist stakes their primary claim that a person MUST admit they are a sinner for instance, they do so in THINKING that is the form of humility that is requisite for salvation by CHRIST. It also seems to not matter not enough to them where this salvation is in it's destination.  What I mean, in the practical their version of salvation is a rather vague impression of some sort of heaven out there that can't really be lived towards let alone lived out, and which really means living in accordance with a religious culture that is divorced from a secular "evil" world. 

It is interesting to note that this dualistic tribal disconnect has in fact been a plot mechanism in many horror movies about pathological and possessed people and not without merit.  It's my belief that this is in fact one of the ten horns of the Beast in Revelation. So much has been guessed as what these horns might mean ignoring the apparent that they are "spirits" that buttress the Beasts desire and strategy to destroy.  This Religious spirit is not a light weight nor new on the scene either, scattered in the New Testament are mentions of how diabolical the religious spirit is, and how insidious it is to authentic faith. 

Where did this original sin thing come from then?

Well first of all Judaism had no concept of original sin at the time of Jesus, not that it hadn't been approached. It was generally rejected because it forced focus from individual responsibility which Jews felt was important to being a better person and practically moving towards a God-honoring life. Even in the Christian church it wasn't a "thing" until late in the 2nd century, which begs then what was this gospel they were taking to the ends of the world  before then?

The Primary verses for this belief were Psalms, Romans 5, and 1 John 1.  

What is the alternative then? 

So here's where I come from, to start I also want to come from those verses, but let's start with 1 John first.  If we look deeper at these verses there is in fact more to it than the surface "fundamentalist" view. One that is quite encouraging in fact, much as the Roman's verses IF WE TAKE THEM IN CONTEXT.  

Johns letter relays exactly what I was saying, right from the initial verses, "we are talking about what we've seen and tasted of the Word of life himself," lived experience. The idea was to encourage in further partnership with others and even that OUR joy can be complete. That's the intention, so how did this go so far of the rails and lead into this shaming interpretation by the religious lawyers.  Well in all fairness the next verses are difficult, in the English at the end of verse 5 it may sound like an either or ultimatum is being made, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."   Given that we have such a beautiful and uplifting book in his gospel of John though can we give him a break maybe though.  Plus the key to truly deciphering the next verses and even the ones later about "if you hate your brother," is Chapter 2, ,verse 1. "I record these things that none would sin, and if a person sin, a defense lawyer exists for us next to the Father... " 

For me with the process John wants to highlight, it makes much more sense to actually focus on verse 6 than 9 as is relayed as the "sinners prayer."   "if we say that we exist partners with him, but we are walking in darkness, we are being phony, and never trained with the True-prince. If we walk in the light just like he exists in the light, a partnership exists for us, with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son CLEANSES us from all our sins."  In many other places in the Scrips this is called the Exchanged Life, Hebrews 6 for instance also lays this out rather well. What constitutes training with the True-Prince we know to be the very real internal walk with the Holy Spirit day to day, but there are many false Christs that have gone out and so we must discern to see if this spirit is in accordance with the Character of Love laid out by Jesus recorded life, distinctly that description in 1 Corinthians 13

Now I know that sounds too subjective for some of you, so why not trust "Church" leadership to decipher what the Holy Spirit is saying.  Because that's never what was promised by like the Prophet Jerry, not what is mirrored in Jesus walk.  He desires a personal walk, and to do as he's doing, just as he did what he saw the Father doing.   What about accountability in that?  Well that is a very valid question, that's one of the reason's even though I see us in the 8th Inning of humanity right now and so we are dealing with a grossly Apostate Church, I'm keeping my eye out and praying that God would fit me into his Body in these times. But also keep in mind he is the head of the body, and I still may be in training. In fact I do consider this next year to be very important to me, because either i will complete God's chaplain program for me, or i'm still in the healing and learning place. 

Now there is an important caveat that verses 8 and 9 are making in that there are obviously those who try to say in one form or another we have "no sin"  As I said though in explaining the Romans 5 verses, the "slipping and falling" is a propensity of humanity and that should be common sense. This can be discovered very early, it's the other part that's the really hard part. Something our adrenaline driven, balls to the wall, exchange our souls for our pursuits (which can also be religious) find hard to grasp. You see here's another horn of the Beast, Perfectionism.  This spirit blocks spiritual progress in so many ways. It comes through programs and efficiencies, but it's end is always the same, burnout, harm to others, or both.  So you see being Imperfect in the worlds ways give us an advantage in the spirit, we get to depend on his grace and faith to perfect us in the right ways. You see the Beast is the blasphemous cosmic order at it's heart, what in other places the scrips call the "world."  What we are being called her to be is most certainly IN the cosmic order, but also not of this world, meaning another order entirely.   It' interesting to note that in recent years I've seen and become a part of communities that ascribe to what they call "Game B theoretics."  After  a while though it becomes redundant because as much as they'd like to look at getting out of the "Matrix" all their thinking at some point comes back to they have to really be out of it to see what can be put together.  For me although at first I saw ways in which His Kingdom may come to earth, and how they could be described, I'm not sure they can be fully explored until Jesus comes back.. but they may in fact be actually part of his Plan. 

For more on the alternative I'd actually like to point  you to my section entitled, Original Growing Awareness, which has been my path these last 6 or so years. the Srips say that every Good Gift comes from above, and the Christ Completes All. In the section Peter's Vision Extended I went into my feelings of who the invisible Body is in these last days, giving also great weight to the Wedding parable Jesus gave. Original Growing Awareness is about my path out of researching Buddhism to reconcile with still admitting a place for "sin."