is God angry with you? He sees all and can't come into the presence of sin right? You were born wicked, and God is disgusted by you. God will wipe
out all sinners with wrath and destruction. Pew, Pew, Boom BOOOOOOM, Ahhhhhhh
Ok so that may be a bit hyperbolic for some, but not for all. This mindset is at the core of christianity. That God is angry and vengeful, and his
justice looks very similar to the justice of 'murica, or Rome, or Egypt, or any form of empire, including The Empire (pew pew pew)
This same mindset believes that God needed to sacrifice himself to himself to bear the wrath of himself, because he is holy and just and therefore has
to repay those wrongful deeds done. And just to show how just he is, he is going to continually punish for all of eternity, those poor souls that
weren't lucky enough to win the lottery of being born into a christian household. (or just stamp them out for good).
Where would we get this idea? Largely by reading the Old Testament (if you're a christian). But frankly you will find this same mindset throughout
all of religion for all time. In fact the very basic foundation of religion is sacrifice. To appease the god(s) with a sacrifice, to get the god(s)
to act differently. If it was something small like we want to have sunshine for a special day, it would be small , like some food. To stave off a
plague, or natural disaster, it would be something major like a child.
These concepts are created from the religious/carnal mind. The mind of man believes that when they come into the presence of the divine they should
fear, because after all they deserve to be punished.
My intent of this post is to show that Jesus brought a completely different message than is being claimed by many that he did. That our own religious
mind has taken and trampled the message and good news of the divine Logos.
Lets look at the bookends of Jesus' life as recorded in the gospels.
At his announcement by the angels, what was the reaction of the shepherds when the angel of the Lord appeared? They were frightened. Because that is
what the religious mind does (like Israel telling Moses to go up the mountain for them, as they were too afraid)
8In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. 9And an angel of the Lord
suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. 10But the angel said to
them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;
11for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12“This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby
wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
The reply of the angel? “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people"
Not terrible news that you better turn or burn. Not that God is angry so you better repent in sackcloth and ashes. No its Good News of Great Joy for
who? All People.
What is this good news? That unlike your current mindset as described above, God is not violently angry. No he isn't sending a warrior king who is
going to destroy the nations with the breathe of his mouth. He is being born as a baby. A wee littl' babaay.
To prove it he sends an angel army. That is what the multitude of the heavenly host is, an army. And what do army's do? They conquer. But what is
their message?
“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth
peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
This is exactly the opposite of what was expected by the Jews, and the gentiles for that matter.
I'm not going to cover much of Jesus' life and teaching that opposes the religious mind. I may take it up in a later post. But to keep this
relatively short (for me at least) I'll finish with his message at the other bookend of his life.
Right as he is being tortured and hung to die (at the hands of men) he says "Father forgive them for they know not what they do". Not "take vengeance
on my death, return their transgressions on them".
Now the night before, all of his disciples had abandoned him. They scattered like cockroaches when the lights come on. They still had not understood
the message. They were still looking for their warrior king to save them from Roman oppression. And he had died. All their hopes and dreams of the
messianic state were squashed. They did not fully hear. Shoot, Peter tried to literally war with his sword, but Jesus had to tell him to put it
away, for that is not a function of his kingdom. James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven on those who dissed them. But they "did not
know what spirit they were of". They did not get it. And so they still were in fear of God, they had the Carnal Minded view of who God is.
When Jesus appears to his disciples what are his first words
19So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus
came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His
side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent
Me, I also send you.” 22And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23“If you forgive the
sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”
Don't you think desertion deserves punishment? Thats a capitol offense back then. They deserted their Lord. And yet what is his message? Peace
The angels declared peace from heaven, and Jesus declared peace from heaven. These two instance encompass the message from heaven.
Peace, Shalom
edit on 26 12 2014 by zardust because: (no reason given)