4 Reasons why re-dedication does not work.

I learned a long time ago that making New Year resolutions is a waste of time. A New Year resolution is like rededicating your life to Christ over and over again, it just doesn’t work. Why do we do this anyway? Why do we rededicate our lives to Christ? I for one cannot count the number of times that I have either walked down an aisle with a new inner promise to “do it right this time for you Lord.” I can’t remember the number of times I have prayed that prayer (of salvation) just to make sure I get it right this time. I often wonder to myself how many converts walking down the church aisles every Sunday are actually new converts or old ones just trying again by re-commitment. Whatever the case, I keep coming to the same conclusion, the novelty of rededication wears off almost as quickly as our will to keep our New Year resolutions.

I learned yesterday that one of my cousins who just finished his basic training in the navy got re-baptized again this weekend. This is his third baptism in the last 5 years. And while I applaud him for doing so, because I know that he is sincerely searching for an authentic relationship with God, I know that the premise of his actions is erroneous. He was saved and baptized once before, he need not keep doing it again. He wrote me a letter saying that he is really dedicated to God now and to doing it right this time. I have been there, I know how he feels, I don’t want to burst his bubble by telling him that if your plan is to “do it right” then get ready for an annual habit of re-dedications and empty promises.

Here are 4 reasons why re-dedication does not work:

1. Rededication is focused on what “I can do for God”. If we are saved and secured by God’s grace through Jesus, like the Scriptures teach, then why do we need to keep rededicated ourselves to God? Rededication is nothing more than a human attempt to validate something that we did not purchase in the first place. It is like someone trying to pay off a billion dollar debt in 5 years when they only make $50,000 annually. It is literally impossible. But somehow, because we live in a meritocratic society, we think that our efforts actually secure God’s provision. I believe that there is much to learn from Zechariah 4:6 where God says, “…'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.”

2. Rededication is nothing more than a commitment to Law while ignoring the message of Grace. While we say that we believe that the fundamental reality of our relationship with God is made so by His grace, most of us have serious doubts about this truth, so we constantly try to live up to the precepts of Biblical Law. We think that the fruit of the spirit means that we will be able to be more obedient to Biblical Law if we will simply re-commit or rededicate ourselves to God. I have news for you, it does not work. Even a casual reading through the writings of the Apostle Paul, especially Romans and Galatians, shows the futility of trying to grow spiritually by obeying Biblical Law. This is why he had such harsh comments to the church at Galatia when he wrote:

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard? Galatians 3:1-5

Most of us really think that God blesses us primarily because we obey Biblical Law, when the reality is that none of us is doing (or can ever do) as well as we would need to in order to earn God’s blessings. This is why we need His grace. The cross is the ultimate symbol of grace.


3. Rededication fuels human pride. There is no sin that is as insidious as human pride. Pride say “I can do it by myself, if I just try hard enough”, even when all the evidence points otherwise. Pride places all the entire burden for growth and development on self, and is the root of self-righteousness. Humility on the other hand is an admission of powerlessness apart from God; this is why the first step in any addiction recovery program starts by saying something like, “I can’t overcome this, my problem is too big for me, and I am overwhelmed”. This is the beginning of brokenness, and for many of us, yours truly included, brokenness is hard for us to get to because we stubbornly feel that we can “self-help” ourselves to a more productive life. If I pray more, tithe more consistently, go to church more, have enough accountability partners, and dedicate myself to ministry more, read my Bible for one more hour instead of two..etc You get the idea. This kind of stuff may give you a superficial appearance of “righteousness”, but it does nothing to free you on the inside. And while there is nothing wrong with doing these things, we are being legalistic when we do them as a means to an end instead of as a by-product of our relationship with God and our desire to commune with Him and others. And legalism is nothing more then a neatly packaged form of bondage that has become so common in the church.

4. Rededication ignores the simple message of the cross: How many times did Christ have to go to the cross? Only once. He only had to do it once because his sacrifice for humanity was good for all time, remember God is eternal and is not bound by time constraints. Time is necessary for us, not for God, because God sees all of time like a perpetual now. So if Jesus only had to die only once and our faith in Him connects us to the reality of our status as God’s children, why do we keep rededicating ourselves to Him? Could it be that we doubt our eternal security? Or are we trying to get God to love us more or bless us more, so we think that by our feeble acts of rededication, God will be so impressed that he will finally succumb to our endless cries? Doing this shows that many of us have a false understanding or the differences between the New and the Old Covenants. The Old Covenant was one of constant rededication, constant killing of bulls and goats for cleansing of sin, constant trying to get it right with empty promises of “real commitment”. The writer of Hebrews put it this way:

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Hebrews 10:1-4

Just as it is impossible for the annual sacrifice of the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins, it is impossible for acts of rededication to make you any better a child of God than you were before the re-commitment. Any Christian who is really sincere with themselves knows that rededication does nothing to improve your spirituality, all it does is give you a false sense of security by saying “well, I am on the right track now because I did something, I rededicated myself to God.” But you were on the right track when you placed your faith in Him the first time, and once you have done it once, you need not do it again because you are eternally secure. The New Covenant says that I am totally accepted, loved, complete and whole because of the sacrifice of Jesus at Calvary. It is not what I have done, but what He did for me.

I know how subtle this message of trying to stay committed by re-commitment is. Several years ago, I was a member of a growing charismatic church. I was asked to lead what was known as the ‘Harvest Ministry' to minister to new-believers-in-Christ as part of a new class. One of the lines in the handbook that I was given to teach said the following: "..One is responsible for keeping his own gift [of salvation]. Once one has given his life to Christ, God is not responsible for your staying saved and Satan is not responsible for your sins....one is responsible for keeping his gift by studying God's Word.” (italics added). The implication here was that you do not necessarily remain God's child once you are saved (in other words you are not eternally secure) since you need to do certain things - like studying His word and obey his commandments- to stay "saved". This is a popular concept that is not Biblical; it is actually contradictory to the doctrine of salvation by God's grace alone. Grace and Law do not mix. Our salvation is either all of God's Grace or it is not Grace at all. We are scared that people will gloat in sin like a pig in mud if we do not give religious stipulations, but to do so is to add a yoke of bondage to believers that is really not necessary. Only God’s spirit of love can motivate true obedience anyway, and this obedience is to His spirit of grace, not to the Law. This is what Romans 6:14 means when Paul says, “….you are not under law, but under grace.” I eventually made the choice to leave that church that preached this message of maintaining salvation by obedience to the Law, because the pastor and I could not agree on this issue, so I amiably left in search for a church that I felt was standing on the truth of our eternal security in Christ.

As one who knows first hand what it is like to struggle with a bad habit, I know how appealing acts like rededication (and self-imposed actions of willpower) really are. But guess what? These actions don't work or bring real freedom. I believe Paul knew this first hand when he wrote:

Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. Colossians 2:23

So the bottom line is whose power are you going to trust, yours or God’s? Trusting in self by rededication will only lead to further heartbreak, trusting in God’s power and strength does not mean that life will be all peaches and cream, but at least you will have the assurance that come hell or high water, whatever the outcome for better or for worse, you are secure in His hands. Only God has the power to liberate us from our demons, our past, and our own fallibility.

Hope Deferred makes the heart sick...

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12

Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. Proverbs 31: 6-7

I have learned an important lesson about modern spirituality as it relates to Christianity. In Christian circles, you are not supposed to talk about pain, especially spiritual or emotional pain. This is probably why I write so much, paper is not judgmental, people are. It is easier to talk about physical pain, because in most cases, you can see a physician or get a quick fix or pill for that. But emotional turmoil? We don't know how to handle that kind of pain, except with cheap answers that are designed to make the suggester feel better. Emotional pain is akin to the elephant in the room that is supposed to be easily dispensed of with pious platitudes and quick-fix Scriptural answers. When you start talking about soul pain so deep that you have given up on life, soul pain so deep that you don’t even have the strength or will to go on, you become the person that everyone loves to avoid. This is why I have become the great pretender, acting like as is well, when I know it really isn't. Isn't that what the songwriter of the song "the great pretender" was talking about?....I don't want anyone to truly see the despair in my soul. After all, when it is all said and done, what can they really do about it but simply say "I'm praying for you!"?

Really, who wants to be around someone who is presumed to have such a “negative attitude” in life, when the capitalistic demands of our “success driven” society demands smiling faces lying to the races, positive can-do mantras that are supposed to take you to the top?

I must honestly say that I am extremely close to my breaking point. Don't worry, don't ring the alarm or anything....Torn by the rigors of life, a depressed and fatigued soul, and the strain of addiction, I have nearly come to the end of myself sans pretense. In 12 step recovery groups, they say that the first step of recovery is admitting that you have a problem and coming to the end of yourself (where you realize that you are helpless to handle the situation on your own). Well, here I am...simply tired, so weary I can’t really articulate it in words. There is not a night that I go to sleep that I don’t pray out loud or in my heart that it would be my last night on earth. I want to go home, I want out from life. Some would say “you are just being selfish!” Really?? Is a person with an intense toothache being selfish when they go to the dentist for root canal to alleviate the pain? The only thing that has prevented me from taking my own life is the dual dilemma of the pain that it would cause family & friends and the uncertainty of whether I am really eternally secure in Christ (in other words, not really knowing if suicide is the unforgivable sin as some claim that it is). But I must be totally honest when I say, I am spent. This has nothing to do with being unemployed, although financial burdens do hurt; but I was this way when I had money and had a steady job, it was just masked beneath the surface of consumerism and cheap thrills. I have just come to the simple realization that I am not cut out for this thing called life, the hustle and bustle of trying to make life work (whatever that means) making money, making a living and the manipulative games that one has to play to survive in this world.

I am grateful for the life that I have lived. It has been an interesting life. I have lived on three continents, traveled to different countries and seen the interconnectedness of our souls; I have a great family, parents, three great brothers, wonderful aunts and uncles, cousins and relatives who are all part of the circle of love. I have a few friends that I can say are true friends. So why is life so difficult for me? Why can’t I get it together? Why does the pain (and oh, how intense the pain is) still prevail, even after doing the things that are supposed to make the pain go away. Pray, fast, read Bible, go for spiritual counseling, go to church, participate in ministry etc etc. You get the drift. Is healing a product of doing, or does healing come by faith alone? And if it is by faith alone, why does it take so long, and become intensely unbearable? What if God chooses not to heal me, then what? Am I supposed to go through life like this continuing to be a financial, emotional and mental burden on those who support me and love me but would like to see me live a fruitful and productive life?

Christian friends say stuff like, “just do the best you can, and leave the rest to God!” But what if the “best I can” is not even good enough to live a meaningful life? On a job, if you tell a person to do the best they can and their best does not meet the job requirements, the individual loses their job easily, they are fired. So why should I keep on living when “the best I can” is barely enough to keep my life going, Many people do not know that a few years ago, I wrote an extensive letter to the Supreme Court of the United States asking if they would consider my case of asking to be euthanized. I got a letter back saying that such a case had to go through the lower circuit courts before they would have to consider it. I now know the dilemma that Hilarry Swank's character faced in the movie "Million Dollar baby" when she desired death more than life, a dilemma that put her mentor and father figure (played by Clint Eastwood) in a tough situation.

These are the kinds of things that I don’t share with anyone, because I know the responses I will get, “you think you are the only one to go through pain”, “there are people who are going through worse than you, and making it”. Like I don’t know all of this already, like I am going around saying, “look at me, look at my pain, I am the only one in the world suffering…” Knowing that there are other people suffering, however, does little to make my pain any less of a reality. Would you go into a cancer ward at a hospital and tell a patient crying out for relief to “man up” and get over their pain because there are other patients in the ward suffering? You would empathize, but emotional trauma is not as easy to look at with compassion. We prefer cheap answers so that we can go on with our lives. There is money to be made, tasks to fulfill, “success” to be attained.

How I pray that I did not feel this way. How I pray for relief from this soul agony. But it just won’t go away. So I have given up, yes, I have. If you read about my death tomorrow, don’t be shocked. Be shocked that I made it this far. It is truly a miracle that I have made it this far. Nothing short of a miracle. But it is too unbearable for me now, the crippling nature of this pain, the restrictive nature of my battle with addiction, and the lack of answers or solutions. When I talk to most people in my family these days, I tell them what they want to hear, I give them the nice answers that make it easy for them to handle. Jack Nickolson was right in "A Few Good Men" when he said "you can't handle the truth".... that's why lying comes so easy in today's society. Truth is often too difficult for us to handle.

If we put animals to sleep for unbearable pain, why can‘t I get my wish for euthanasia for unbearable soul pain?!! If I hear one more person tell me “just give it to Jesus”, I will puke. What in the world does that mean anyway, “just give it to Jesus”, and how do you do that? I have been trying to give it to Jesus for over 20 years now since I accepted Him as my savior and nothing as changed, so please spare me the “give it to Jesus” sermon. Call my language blasphemy, I really could care less, but if you could just take a glimpse into my soul you would not say a word you would probably just stare at me in disbelief that I have been alive this long. And please spare me the extensive list of “things I need to do (obedience) to get God to answer my prayers”. Been there, done that..Plain and simple, it does not work!!! If faith is true and we are accepted by grace (if Galatians 3:1-3 is true) then all that stuff (attempts at getting God to bless me) is nothing but hogwash anyway…

I don’t have any more answers. When I really think about it now, I realize that something in me broke long time ago, something akin to a vital component for a machine breaking, and I have been unable to find a fix for it or a replacement, so I wallow in despair, praying, crying, hoping, feeding off addiction and just yearning for death like a dear pants for water. I ask myself, why don’t I have the courage to just end it all. I have the means, all it takes is just one step of courage, one push to the finish line. Anyone who thinks that suicide does not take some amount of courage does not understand the dynamics of a suicidal mind….I almost did it last year, but then I intercepted myself with a call to a psychologist. And then there was the embarrassment of having to call someone to come and pick me up from the hospital after their routine check. Now I wish I had just enough strength to go through with it. Nobody will ever understand my pain, The Bible says that Jesus does, but he sure is being silent, maybe he will let me know when I see him face to face why I never got the response that I expected. But in the meantime, I am tired of the sermons, the self-help talk, the “every one goes through trials” speeches...blah, blah, blah..…I have heard them all before, and they do not help. My faith, which is supposed to bring peace, is doing nothing more than adding a burden, a burden of perpetual guilt and feeling of “you are not doing enough for God, that is why you are suffering!” ..I would be better off in jail, better off dead. Because this is not life, this is just existence. And that is the God to honest truth…

One passage of Scripture keeps jumping out of the page every time that I read it; it is from Matthew 11, verses 28-30 :

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

How do I realize the fulfillment of this light burden? How to I get there? By believing? I do believe, but I am still worn; by obeying God? Well, I know the futility of trying to attain perfect obedience…So what next? I wish I had the answer. Right now, I am just too tired to even try and figure it all out…

What is Manhood?

What is the definition of a man? I asked myself this question a few days ago while watching a forum on C-Span called, “The future of the African-American man”. Talking about how we define masculinity, one of the panelists discussed how we as men have always based our identity based on strength, power and our ability to perform; rarely do we associate manhood with characteristics like transparency and vulnerability.

Why is it so hard for us men to be vulnerable and admit that we are weak in some areas? After all, when I read the Bible, I see that even the most influential men in Christendom had tremendous weaknesses and most were transparent about their flaws. Is it completely unacceptable to be vulnerable as a man because we live in a society that stems from ideals of systemic patriarchy?

I was at a Georgia Suicide Prevention Stakeholders meeting yesterday, and I found it very interesting that of the suicides completed in the state of Georgia between 1999-2004 there was a disproportionately higher number for men than women. As one who has been severely depressed before and knows what it is like to be suicidal, I know how hard it has been in the past for me to admit that I was depressed and needed help. After all, real men don’t get depressed, right? Or if we do, aren't supposed to shake it off like our favorite super hero? Where do we get these models of “strength” that say “I have to be able to solve the problem at all cost, even if it means isolating myself from those who can help me”? Most of us men don't know what an authentic relationship is because the only thing we dare to talk about with other men is our stock-portfolios, business, sports and our latest sexual conquest (all functions of the male-performance motto). And when it comes to asking for help, most of us won’t even ask for directions when we are lost, because we are supposed to automatically dial into out mental map-quest at all times, even if we are in a remote area that we have never been to in our lives.

My fight with depression and addiction has taught me a few lessons that many times I wish I did not have to learn the hard way. One is that we men need to learn to be more authentic about our problems, especially with those who are closest to us. I can honestly tell you that if I had not learned how to swallow my pride and open up about the “hell” that I was going through psychologically, I would probably have taken my own life by now. That is how desperate I was. And yet, I know that there are thousands of men out there who would never admit that they are hurting inside because to do so is perceived to be acting like a girl. We would rather engage in self-destructive behavior than admit that we have a problem. Of course, there is an inherent flaw in thinking that vulnerability is "acting like a girl" because this mode of thinking assumes that women are weaker and inferior to men, and since vulnerability is associated with femininity, being vulnerable “weakens” a man. I remember writing to one of my male relatives and talking about some of the inner struggles that I was having, and he responded by telling me that I should “be a man” and snap out of my situation. So in other words, as far as he was concerned, any sign of honesty about emotional issues cannot be equated with manhood.

What about the definition that equates manhood as a function of how much money he makes? There are increasing number of cases where women are making just as much - if not more - money than their husbands or boyfriends. Does that make the men in their lives any less successful than their women? If Stedman less of a man because he is dating one of the most powerful and wealthiest women in the world, Oprah Winfrey? Didn’t Jesus say in Luke 12:14 that, “…a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions”? We err when we think that the primary function of a man in a household is making money. What happens if for whatever extenuating circumstance, the woman in a man’s life becomes the primary breadwinner? Does that make him less of a man? When I lost my job with a reputable company last year dues to circumstances associated with my depression, I almost had a nervous breakdown and was seriously thinking about taking my own life because I thought that I had embarrassed myself and my family; I felt that I was an embarrassment of a man, a phony who simply could not tap into the hidden super power strength that all men are somehow supposedly given at birth. How could I go from being able to fend for myself to relying on someone else? That is not what a real man does? It was humbling for me to have to swallow my pride just to maintain my sanity. I had to come to the realization that we all need help from others in life (the self-made man philosophy is a myth, no one is really self-made, we all get help along the way).
At the core of what we call manhood, is a stubborn form of foolish pride, which says, "I am because I am strong." But sometimes, strength is the ability to admit that you are weak so that you can get help from other sources; but if your definition of manhood says that you should be able to figure it out and solve it at all times, taking that step of admission about your struggles will always be an uphill task.

So ask yourself, what is the definition of a man? My simple answer is that a real man uses his gifts to serve others in the spirit of love. A real man realizes that we were all created for relationship, with family, with each other, and with God. A real man has the courage (yes, I said courage) to be transparent when necessary, and even sometimes vulnerable, because we all have weak points. Other men need to know that their weaknesses do not have to be a deterrent to them leading productive or meaningful lives.

Have a great day!

What is the purpose of the church?

Happy New Year to you! I hope that 2007 brings you into a renewed appreciation of the love and grace that God has for you.

Before I continue, let me make a confession: I have been going through somewhat of a “crisis of faith” for the past 14 months. No, I have not renounced my faith in Jesus, but I have begun to really question what this thing called “Christianity” really is, or Christianity as it is popularly practiced in today’s world. I guess you can say, I am losing my faith in organized religion as I place my faith more so on Jesus. But what does that mean, and why has my religious experience been so counter-productive? Ironically, I have been finding much solace not just in the writings of authors focused on God’s grace, but non-believing authors who question contemporary Christianity. I have found great comfort in authors like popular atheist Sam Harris who wrote the groundbreaking “Letter to a Christian nation” (A book every Christian should read, but probably won’t because the author is an atheist); the writings of acclaimed Oxford Biologist Richard Dawkins (author “The God Delusion”) have also resonated in my mind.

To really put this crisis of faith in perspective, I remember the words of Augustine who said “if the mind discerns new truths incompatible with standing scriptural interpretations, then it is the interpretation that is wrong, not the truth.”

Speaking of truth, last week I read one of the best books that I have read in a long time. The book is called “Divine Nobodies – shedding religion to find God” by Jim Palmer. It is a small book that is an easy read, in case you are one of those who can’t get into lengthy books. The author has a rare form of authenticity about him that is really hard to find in most Christian circles today. He chronicles his descent from being a professional minister of a very influential church and the lessons that he learned afterwards from some very unlikely people. I can honestly say that this is undoubtedly one of the best Christian books that I have ever read, without question. I highly recommend the book, for more on it, you can go to his website at http://www.divinenobodies.com/

After I got through reading the book, I could not help but ask myself, “what is the purpose of the church, and as Christians have we missed the point when it comes to true spirituality?” I ask this question because while I have no doubt in my mind that the primary purpose of the church is to spread the good news about Jesus and his redemptive love for humanity, I can’t help but wonder why the church is rarely associated with the words, “love” and “grace”. I find it somewhat sad that the very characteristics that make Jesus such an attractive and compelling figure are barely associated with his followers today? It seems that Christianity as it is defined today is simply a strain of fundamentalism that gauges spiritual success based on ones ability to adhere to a narrow definition of morality based on external behavior.

What ends up happening for the most part today is that we proclaim grace in theory, but we do not practice it in reality. That is why we get so mad when grace is shown to others. President Gerald Ford (God rest his soul) pardons President Nixon, and his approval rating takes an immediate dive for the worse; Donald Trump pardons miss USA Tara Conner, and the media is asking “why?”, when in their opinion she deserves to be severely punished by losing her crown. The mere mention of the word “forgiveness” in regard to President Bill Clinton and his sexual indiscretions brings out the anger of the Religious Right. The bottom line is that we don’t take to grace too kindly, we only think about it when we need it, but rarely ever want to see others get it, unless of course they are a loved one or someone we care about deeply. What I find very interesting about how general rejection of the concept of God’s grace is that we are all recipients of God’s grace – whether we admit it or not – but in our pride and arrogance, we often fail to realize this fact.

Paul Tournier, author of the book “Shame and Grace” makes this statement:

“The Church proclaims the grace of God.... And moralism, which is the negation of it, always creeps [back] into its bosom…Grace becomes conditional. Judgment appears…I see every day its ravages in all the Christian Churches.”

So back to my original question, what is the purpose of the church? I think the answer lies in the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians when he said that we are “ambassadors for Christ”…and also when he said “..if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing”..This is why love is the fulfillment of Biblical law (see Romans 13:10). To be an ambassador of Christ is to be a vessel of love and grace. There is a lot of talk of purpose these days, Rick Warren has practically started a movement with the success of his book “The Purpose Driven Life”. Everyone wants to feel like their life has meaning, has purpose, and that is a great thing. But we must not forget that even in finding our individual life-purpose, that we are called to be Ambassadors for Christ, and that means that we should be vessels of His grace and love in whatever it is that we do. It does not matter what the specific purpose is, whether you are in public ministry or not (which is not the real issue), if people no you more as a Christian just because of the stand you take on moral issues (abortion, homosexuality, smoking, drinking, pornography etc.) and not because you are a loving and gracious individual, then you spirituality may be more self-righteous than you think. I am not implying that it is wrong to take a stand against immorality, but I am saying that it is wrong to completely ostracize the “immoral”, failing to realize that apart from God’s grace you are just as sinful as the people whom you judge. I did not really know what God’s-grace really meant until I had to come face to face with my own sinful propensity which I have been unable to rid myself of with all the “ten-point-plans” and “keys-to-victorious-Christian-living” sermons. I can fool myself by saying, “well I am not as bad as the murderer on death row” but in the end, whom am I really fooling? While the consequences of my actions may have not literally killed anyone, to say that my immoral actions are not as vile as those of someone else is to simply play the self-righteous game that has no end, which leads to a false sense of security. The foundations of pride prevent us from really accepting and embracing God’s grace, maybe this is why C.S. Lewis called pride the “Great Sin”…Pride is the antithesis of humility and a proud heart cannot fully embrace the message of the cross. This could explain the explosion of self-righteousness in contemporary culture.

God, Politics & the Church: Today, the subject of God and politics has become a frequent discussion in the public forum in America. Is America a Christian nation? Are all Democrats heathens? How can someone who has as many flaws as Bill Clinton call himself a Christian? How can anyone call themself a Christian and support liberals or the Democratic Party? These are the kinds of questions you hear more often these days, especially from those who assume that the word "Republican" is synonymous with the word "Christian", while the words "liberal" and "Democrat" have been demonized to the hottest portions of hell. To hear conservative critics tell it, Satan himself has a better chance of going to heaven than anyone who is a Democrat.

As one who does not feel that the GOP stands for “God’s Only Party” and one who cringes at the notion that if you are a genuine Christian you must support Republicans on every issue, I can’t help but wonder, “no wonder our priorities are so screwed up, we forget that Jesus did not come for a political agenda, but for a revolutionary spiritual one!” The minute we forget that as Christians we are to be conduits of Jesus’ love is the minute we get into these arguments about the validity of our political agendas that are disguised as part of God’s plan. I don’t think either party fully represents God’s agenda, because politics at its core is about power, Jesus’ spirituality at its core is about a loving relationship with Him and loving relationships with other people.

I am convinced that there is no avenue that this quote from Sam Harris rings more true than in the political arena: “people have been cherry-picking the Bible for millennia to justify their every impulse, moral and otherwise” (from his book, “Letter to a Christian Nation”). Politicians have used spiritually as a means to an end for generations. Case in point: The religious right claims to be the bastion of Christian authenticity because of their strong stand for “family and moral values” and being against abortion and homosexuality. But strangely enough, most people do not know that the religious right did not get their political foothold from these issues. I had to learn this on my own years ago when my former pastor, the late Rev. Tony Thompson Jr, told me that I should know that groups like the Christian Coalition do not necessarily speak on behalf of African-American Christians.

So I started doing my research to find out the history of the "Religious Right" and was amazed to find out that the Religious Right found its root as a backlash to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. When the Federal Government made segregation illegal, and threatened the tax-exempt status of some private white conservative religious schools because they would not admit blacks (especially if the blacks were not married; God forbid a black person getting involved in an interracial relationship), the white conservative movement vehemently opposed the agenda of the Civil Rights movement. Anyone who is even vaguely familiar with the history of the Civil Rights movement knows that this is true (and it is well documented in Randall Balmer’s Book, “Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical’s Lament”. Balmer is a liberal white evangelical). Today, Martin Luther King Jr. is hailed as a hero and a national icon, but he did not get this iconic status amongst most conservatives until after his death, when he became less of a threat. When he was alive, he received severe opposition from many of these same white conservative evangelicals who now see themselves as leaders of the moral and "family values" movement. This was a source of great sadness and discomfort to Dr.King.

Speaking of how Dr. King was viewed by many in the south at the time, author Philip Yancey writes in his book “Soul Survivor”:

“King’s appropriation of the Christian gospel galled us most. He was, after, all, an ordained minister, and even my fundamentalist church had to acknowledge the integrity of his father, Daddy King, respected pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church. We had our ways of resolving that cognitive dissonance, of course. We said that the younger king was a card- carrying Communist, a Marxist agent who merely posed as a minister (Had not Khrushdchev memorized the four gospels as a youth and a young Stalin attended seminary?) George Wallace cited FBI sources to accuse King of belonging top more Communist-front organizations than any man in the United States.

Yancey writes further:

“Today, I feel shame, remorse, and also repentance. It took years for God to break the stranglehold of blatant racism in me – I wonder if any of us gets free from its more subtle forms – and I now see that sin as one of the most poisonous, with perhaps the most toxic societal effects. When experts discuss the underclass in urban America, they blame it on drugs, changing values, systemic poverty, and the breakdown of the nuclear family. Sometimes I wonder if all those problems are consequences of a deeper, underlying cause: our centuries-old sin of racism.”

It is rare you find that kind of honest confession from a prominent Christian, but his words ring true. Just a few years ago, right before the 2000 presidential elections, a white friend of mine and I were talking about the archaic law in the state of Alabama banning interracial marriage that was just removed from the books (in that very election), and my buddy said that he was raised to believe that blacks were inferior to whites because blacks were the descendants of Canaan in the “curse of Ham” that is discussed in Genesis 9:18-28. This curse really has nothing to do with blacks, but has been cited by many white supremacists over the years as the source of their doctrine. In other words, ministers used scripture to justify the doctrine of white supremacy. No wonder it took almost 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation for Civil Rights laws to be enacted. You would think that racism is a thing of the past in modern America, but like Yancey said, its more subtle forms are still existent. Why is it that in a nation where black males are part of a minority of the population, they make up a substantial majority of the prison population? I recently heard one popular conservative critic say on his TV show that the data suggest that black males commit more crimes. It never occurred to him that we might have a skewed judicial system or pervasive poverty that leads many to self-destructive behavior? When Katrina happened and most of those who needed help were poor and black, conservative critics asked “why didn’t they just leave” after calling them refugees in their own land. Could it have occurred to these critics that most of these people were part of a not-talked-about class of working poor who did not have the means to leave the disaster area?

So I find it very ironic that people like Jerry Falwell make such bold political statements based on his interpretation of morality when he made this comment in 1965, denouncing ministers involved in politics:

“Believing in the Bible as I do, I would find it impossible to stop preaching the pure saving gospel of Jesus Christ and begin doing anything else – including the fighting of communism, or participating in civil rights reforms…Preachers are not called to be politicians but to be soul winners” (from the book “American Gospel” by John Meacham)

So, let me get this straight, he was not an activist when it involved the civil-rights of a group that has been oppressed in this nation for centuries, but now all of a sudden, I am supposed to hang on his every word because he opposes abortion and homosexuality? Now, that's funny! When Dr. King made bold statements against racial injustice, many conservative white ministers called him a communist, and implied that King was out of line for his stance against authority (albeit a non-violent one), but now everyone loves to quote his speeches as though he was a nationally beloved figure while he was alive. This is what Sam Harris means when he says that people have been cherry-picking from the Bible for millenia. Everyone takes aspects of the Bible that suits their agenda, and this is how God's grace is ignored. It is no wonder that Falwell can make such ill-advised statements like the one he made after 9/11 saying that the attacks were punishment from God for all the abortions that we have had in this nation. He would later apologize, but the damage had been done.

Anyone who wants to know why most African-Americans do not necessarily trust the agenda of the Religious Right need not look much further than out Civil rights history. Of course, the Religious Right would have you believe that any cry of racism in contemporary America is nothing more than "reverse discrimination" or "playing the race card" and would add that blacks simply need to work hard and stop whinning. They would have you believe that just because there are laws banning discrimination, all is well. But laws do not change attitudes of the heart, and laws take a while to change an institutional system that has been stacked against a group for ages. Like rapper Jay-Z said in a recent awards ceremony, "men lie, women lie, but numbers don't lie!" and the Socio-economic statistics do not lie, showing African-Americams still lagging behind in practically every major category. We have come a long way, but have a long way to go.

So spare me all that talk about not being a real “Christian” if I don’t have a blanket support for the Republican party. There is good and bad on both sides of the political aisle. If you don’t know this, you have not really read your Bible and realized the futility of trying to fully obey Biblical law. This is why the gospel of grace is so appealing to me. The great temptation is to hate those whom I disagree with. The great appeal of grace is to love all, because love is the fulfillment of the law. I can disagree, but can have a loving civil discourse about the issues. Because when it is all said and done, regardless of your political stance or denominational affiliation, all children of God are saved by "God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ", a sentiment echoed by President Jimmy Carter during his eulogy for President Gerald Ford yesterday.

I do not ascribe to what I consider the self-righteous agendas of the Pat Robertson’s and Jerry Falwell’s of the world. While I respect and love them, I feel that they are misguided, I would rather embrace the compassionate messages from the likes of Cornel West, Jim Wallis, Michael Eric Dyson, my pastor Bill Purvis, and Rick Warren, Most importantly, I realize that Jesus is my ultimate example, not humanity, because humanity is flawed and fallible. I no way to I assume that my leaders are perfect, we all have skeletons in our closets.

For years, I read my Bible out of a sense of obligation, because it was something that I felt that I had to do, otherwise, hell was right around the corner…It was not long ago that I read the following Scripture that caused a paradigm shift in my soul: “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me” (John 5;39 NLT). I had always read the Scriptures to find the “rule of the day” to follow, hoping that by following that rule, I would somehow find freedom and real life and enhance my relationship with God. I had no idea that the essence of the entire Bible is a relationship with Jesus that compels me to not only love Him but my fellow human beings. No wonder I have lived most of my life in perpetual fear (fear of authority, fear of failure, fear of life, fear of ...well....eveything), instead of love that liberates. I am still trying to oevrcome this fear, and it is a day by day process....Fear always divides and imprisons, only love sets us free. I know it is a cliche, but it is true. Christianity is not primarily about the endless regulations (do’s and don’ts) which give no real freedom anyway.

Embracing and practicing God’s ethos of love and grace is a huge paradigm shift, especially if like me, you have been a legalist all your life. But it changes your view of the lost, and even those whom you may consider part of some “axis of evil” because you realize that even in punishment, where necessary, God's Grace says, “treat even your enemy with compassion, because God is the same way”. There are thousands of people who’s souls are rotting away in our prison system, whom we may feel deserve their just due for their crimes, but didn’t even Jesus say “when I was in prison, you did not come and see me!” Jesus in prison? This is what his “least of them” speech was all about in Matthew 25.


I end this rambling with a quote from Philip Gulley and James Mulholland from their work “If Grace is True”.

“Unfortunately, we live in an insane world. People continually reject God’s grace. One reason is that it is too often presented in ugly packages. Too often the church, which was called to proclaim and extend God’s grace, has perverted the message. We’ve made grace a reward for good behavior, a gift with strings attached. Our attempts to manipulate, control, and limit grace have diminished its appeal. Fear and anger cause the rejection of grace far more than apathy and disdain.

Liberating people to hear the good news is the ministry of the church. In so doing, we imitate Jesus, whose sermons, parables, healings, exorcisms, and miracles were intended to soften our resistance to God’s grace. Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth and the truth will set you free (John 8:32). Here is truth: God loves us and is committed to our redemption. To know this is to be released from guilt, fear, anger, bitterness, immaturity and sin. Thus freed, we are able to receive God’s grace and be transformed.“

So I ask you once again. What is the purpose of the church? And before you answer, keep in mind that we “his body” represent the church...