[freedom/bondage]

i want to touch on something that just happened yesterday, that regards freedom, especially as we honor the freedom of our country.

what follows is what i wrote down in response to what someone who claims Christianity said about the case and the jury.

to those upset by the verdict of the casey anthony trial.

rather than point fingers at the jury, i want you to have to sit locked away in a hotel room, without any family, friends, or outside communication. you have no e-mail, no facebook, no cellphone. do that for 10+ months while listening to psychologically devastating descriptions of this trial. if you don't go so insane that you wind up in a mental hospital, then try and decide what to do. have a little slack on the jury. and plus, you didn't sit through every bit of evidence, do you really think you know any better what happened? And for those "Christians" who are lambasting the jury with names i would never want to be associated with, uh, go read romans 12:19. If this was a mistake, then do you really think God would let her get away with it? i mean, if the jury did make a mistake, forgive them, unless you want to be judged the same way.

what does it mean to be free? regardless of whether casey anthony was guilty of murder or not(and i'm not here to tell you my opinions), the case was tried and the verdicts read.

......for those of you who think she was guilty and the jury messed up.......

do you [really] think that God is not in control?

......for those of you who think she not guilty and justice was done.......

do you [really] think that she is "free"?

the bondage that casey anthony will now live with the rest of her life, is arguably worse than the bondage of prison that she would have faced.

casey anthony will now be marked by society with a scarlet letter, as the "baby killer who got away"

...and you know what? to all you "Christians" who are saying these terrible things about both the jury and about casey anthony?

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"let the one who is without sin cast the first stone".

those are the words of Jesus, for a woman who was [convicted] of a capital crime; adultery.

there was no shadow of a doubt.

some even say that it was a set-up; a "sting-operation" if you will.

• before you blame the jury for a bad verdict...
• before you condemn a woman with a past...

if.you.call.yourself.a.christian... (which means, by definition, you are a CHRIST-follower)

then walk as your teacher did.

"and if she really is guilty?" you ask...?

then trust that the God in heaven will deal with her.

today, casey anthony still sits in bondage. she has a jail term to serve for her lies to the police. but she also has the bondage of a judgmental society.

christians...you don't have to like her. but you DO have to love her.

In His Grip,

jonathan

[religious/spiritual]

apologies to those waiting on a new post. i recently moved and don't have internet hooked up, so i have to write when i make it into a coffee shop.

recently in america, we hear more and more of individuals who are not "religious" but are "spiritual". now i grew up in a closed off religious community, so this notion of a difference between these two ideas was hard to grasp. in fact, i didn't believe there was such a thing...choosing instead to believe that people with this notion that there was a difference were just stupid.

whoops.

basically, there is quite a difference, as i was told. getting the two mixed up would be like calling a korean person japanese(for the record, don't. we like being asked our ethnicity, rather than being told it).

religious refers to being extremely devoted to a belief system or idea.

spiritual refers to things relating to the spiritual aspect of life.

quite different. thanks dictionary.com

now, i have heard both "christians" and "non-christians" alike fall into this notion of being "spiritual" and not "religious". specifically, the argument falls along the lines of 'not wanting to be tied down to a church bureaucracy'. these "spiritual" individuals want to be free, and not tied down.

and you know what? it works.

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for a time.

go with me on this. a "christian" defines oneself as spiritual, not religious. reasons for being so are being disillusioned with the orthodoxy and stifling traditions that are not culturally relevant. this individual wants to worship God and be connected on a spiritual level, ergo is "spiritual".

now picture this. a "christian" defines oneself as religious, not spiritual. reasons for being so are following the traditions and orthodoxies of the past, learning from the wisdom of those who have gone before. this individual wants to worship God and be connected on a level more than just that of "how the spirit leads", but wants to be deeply rooted in Word, ergo is "religious".

who's "right"?

i'll give you a hint. they both are....

sorta.

• is it the "spiritual" person who dislikes wordy traditions and orthodoxy and instead wants to go as the Spirit moves (like Jesus, not the pharisees)?
• is it the "religious" person who dislikes how people will just "go with the Spirit" even when there is clear historical and Biblical precedent that such behavior is wrong?

again i ask...

who's right?

clearly, its two halves of the same whole.

there is evidence where religious teachings and laws are broken, because God commanded it (Hosea, taking an adulterous wife?).

there is evidence where "moving with the Spirit" was clearly unbiblical (jim jones?)

to get caught up in being religious or spiritual is silly. if you love God, you are both.

-j

[pastors/prostitutes]

church.

church.

a word with lots of connotations and meanings behind it.

take 15 seconds. what are the first words/images/sounds/smells/thoughts that come to mind?

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time's up.

this is what i imagined.

church basically refers to a building, a congregation, things associated with all that. what images does that conjure up? in the general lexicon of things, it tends to be images of a white-washed building set on a perennially-sunny hill, complete with old-fashioned(anachronistic?) steeple.

i imagine families young and old, wearing their sunday-best(more than just jeans that is), coming out the front doors at noon, talking and laughing, complete with "amazing grace" being plunked out on the organ behind them in postlude. i see children, running around, and mamas scolding them to 'get out of the dust and dirt before you soil your pants!'.

i smell church potlucks and ham-on-bun(for those of you who haven't grown up in dutch west michigan, you are missing out...). i hear the voices of a preacher, droning on through a religious key-note(in truth, the three-point sermon), while children fidget, mothers elbowing them to keep quiet, all while the father dozes in the warm sunlight streaming through the stained-glass windows.

i know church.

i know the traditions, and the language, and the atmosphere. i know that these are the images of church that most people imagine when they think of church.

....right?

i mean, that's what i think of.

....okay, i guess there is some exploitation that goes on....

....and i guess you could convince me that we are a little quick on the judgement....

....fine, i guess you make a point that we don't always practice what we preach....

...and i guess i understand that we could be seen as only caring about bigger and better....

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but come on...we're human too, right?

anyone who knows about advertising knows well enough what to sweep under the rug. we want to present a "good product"! we want you to like us.

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okay. i hear you. i get it. church is wrong. we do it all wrong(can you even "do" church?).

we are hypocrites. we are fake. we are messed up people.

and none of that is an excuse.

its an explanation.

for our failure.

if those terms, "hypocrites", "fake", "messed up" are what came to mind when i said what does "church" mean to you, then i am sorry. but its true. all those terms are true, and we can't change it. try as we might, we will never fully practice what we preach. we will never love like we are supposed to. we will always be messed up.

we prostitue ourselves to the world, and we are proud of it, and then rise from the bed of hypocrisy and lies in order to make it to the 9:30 service.

...a little too harsh? perhaps...but the message of God does tend to offend...

Christians.

WAKE UP.

you who are members of the Church with-a-capital-C (the whole body of believers) are prostituting yourselves to the world. i just said it, we want people to "like us"; "like" the way we do church, to "like us" as on facebook. church is not about getting people to like us.

how many pastors do you know who measure their success on the attendance number, and not on the commitment-to-God number?

how many ministries do you know that need bigger budgets, to fly their speakers around in leer-jets? (i have at least 3 if you need examples)

how many christians do you know who have shamed you, broken you, judged you, and hated you because of your

skin color?

political views?

sexual orientation?

past sins?

is this what makes up "church"?

so yes, when i ask you what comes to mind when i say "church", and these are the things that do, you are right. that is what the church has become. a place for prostitutes of the world.

but isn't that the purpose of church, to serve the prostitutes of the world? to be

friends,

neighbors,

pastors,

counselors,

and

shoulders to cry on?

Christians, you want to serve? good! you should. serve the world... but the best way to do that is to make sure your heart is in the right place first. before you go around judging....

....well you know that bible verse at least....

in His grip,

j