Monakhos

Time has a good photo essay named God and Dollars on the gospel of prosperity. It mostly focuses on a few Christian leaders from the past and present. While this does not happen exclusively in Christian circles, I guess it is the variety we are most familiar with here. I don’t know whether some of the people mentioned in the essay really belong with the rest of the crowd, but I guess from the outside it appears to be the same old speech. Time (not the magazine—the actual principle of the matter of seconds counting) will tell.

I heard an interesting story yesterday on NPR about a young blogger from Philadelphia who writes on all things Catholic. His site is really remarkable with a ton of posts each day on pretty much anything that is hapening in the church. Listen to the NPR story and visit his site, Whispers in the Loggia.

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:19-25 (English Standard Version)

Hebrews has always been one of my favorite books. I was looking through it today and rediscovered what I loved about it. It skips a lot of the more “basic” theology and digs in straight to the meat. Who was Jesus, and why is he important to us? What did he bring to the table, that others had not?

Jesus brought us through the curtain into fellowship with God again. He united the two again. He gave us hope for what had been lost. And he gave us freedom. From here on out “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 English Standard Version.) Furthermore, nothing can seperate us from the love of God in Christ (Romans 8:29-31.)

I know what some of you are thinking, and no this doesn’t mean we go on through life unchanged. We are changed to new creations. If you have truly had that enlightenment or salvation (depending on what you want to call it) experience, you can’t go back! And why would we?

Once we are through that curtain, we are with God. Still distinct, mind you, but as the journey continues the lines start to blur. Where does Zach end and God begin? The two are united inseperably. We become one with God.

As Saint Athanasios said, “God became human that we might be made god.�

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel– not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
Galatians 1:6-9 (English Standard Version)

It’s interesting how often these verse are misused to convey a point totally different from what the author intended. With cursory reading of this passage, it apparent that Paul is speaking out against false teachers. What exactly were these teachers saying that was so wrong? What was the context? What was Paul’s version?

The false teachers weren’t denying Jesus’ divinity, his death or resurrection, the Trinity (heck the Trinity wasn’t even mentioned until much later in history.) The false teachers were saying that in order to be saved, one must follow the old law. They were preaching salvation by works not by faith. In this book, Paul rebukes them and even includes a story about a time he had to confront Peter on the same topic!

The heresy was about the good news Christ taught. The heresy was saying that Christ was not enough. It said Jesus saved us, but we still had to follow the law to be saved. This goes against the core of Christianity. Jesus saved us. We are free. Free from sin, free from the law and from judgement. We are transformed into new creations. The old is dead. We are alive. God is here. Jesus is in me. I am alive. I am free. From here on out there is no right and wrong, there is me, there is the universe, there is God, there is One.

That line in the last post stuck with me. “Living as best you can.” What’s the best I can do? How good will that be? How bad will that be? What is good and what is bad? And who is making all these definitions?

A pastor in Ukraine told my friend and I this story/joke once. I just thought of it now, and thought it would be fitting before going on.

A pastor was talking to a group of children in Sunday school. They were playing a game where the object was to name what the pastor was describing. The pastor stated that the thing had a bushy tail and ate nuts. He paused a moment, but no hands were raised. He gave a few more details, and still no hands.

After a while, a little boy raises his hand and says “I know the answers Jesus, but it sure does sound like a squirrel.”

(If you don’t get the moral of the story, you’ll understand when your older… Maybe!)

It’s easy to give “Sunday school” answers to these questions, and if I cared for them at all, I wouldn’t be asking them. After years in Christian school and Sunday school and church, I know every single one of them, and not one of them interests me anymore.

I wrote nearly two months ago on truth and since then my thoughts on the topic haven’t changed much. Truth is individual. No universal truth is true for all people. What is good for one person, might be bad for another. What might furthur one person may detriment another. Universality is nonexistent.

I have really been everywhere in this post, so let me try to narrow down the point I was trying to make in the beginning. Live. Screw up. Fail miserably. Live your own definitions. There is no truth outside of yourself. It is all inside of you. You just have to find it and live life as best you can.

… Wow, this is a sign I think that I should write what’s on my mind. When I do it comes out like this… five posts mangled into one with glaring omissions from each. Oh well, I hope you enjoy my insanity. I might be more normal tomorrow… We’ll see.