Thursday, June 19, 2025

Why Am I Doing What I'm Doing?

 Take a minute. Ask yourself what's motivating you to do what you're doing or say what you're saying? The other day, I really had to ask myself why I looked at the news, and what was motivating it. When it really got down to brass tacks, it was my threat response that was motivating it. I wanted to be informed. Why? Because I didn't want to be caught not knowing what was happening. Why? Because I wanted to be prepared if something went south, that is, if something went wrong and could possibly affect me or those I care about. This is a perfectly human response. It is also entirely governed by my brain's threat assessment and response system, not from any motivation stemming from the Spirit of Christ. I want to look at the news because I want to be aware of potential threats. There are, of course, other kinds of news, but even this has this undercurrent, if only subtly. It starts boiling down to how do I avoid threats and encourage desirable things, whatever those might happen to be? 

     This is, fundamentally, a perfectly normal, human way of looking at the world. It is the base, default way for looking at and assessing the world, really. It is also, at its very core, hamartia. Instead of being motivated by, in cooperation with, or under the control of the Spirit of Christ and displaying love, joy, peace, patience, trust, kindness, courtesy, and self-control; instead of these things, whether I have good intentions or not, I am looking to do away with threats and maximize whatever I consider necessities or desirable. 

     The Spirit of Christ is not concerned with threats or necessities because nothing can threaten Him, and He is already sufficient for everything. Threats and necessities are entirely the scope of the physical body, the brain's self-defense mechanism, but I, you, and we are not our physical bodies. We inhabit them temporarily before returning to our Source. This threat response system has its proper place in keeping the body alive and in procreation, but it cannot govern everything we do, and it is dysfunctional to where unless it is checked, that's exactly what it does. It always views everything in terms of threats or necessities, what it calls "bad" or "good."

     There is nothing inherently wrong with looking at the news, but I have to be aware of why, and what impact it has on me. Is it going to feed the fear response? Is it going to feed the aggression response? This is true of anything we engage with. Is it going to feed the feeding response? The sexual response? Again, these things are not wrong in and of themselves, but they become problems when they are what is driving us and do not shut down when they are supposed to. When left to its own devices, the brain will pursue all of these things with little to no control to varying degrees depending on the person's brain chemistry.

     Disengaging from this and engaging with or "enslaving oneself to" the Spirit of Christ allows the source of one's actions and words to be rooted in the God who is Love, and His Joy, Peace, Patience, and so on. It allows for this threat response system to shut down when it's appropriate for it to do so rather than try to govern all actions and events inappropriately.

     So, take a minute and really look at what is motivating you to do what you're doing. Ask this one simple question, "Why?"

Sunday, June 15, 2025

The Disciple of Jesus Christ, Obeying the Law, and Swearing an Oath to Caesar

 I was recently re-reading the Martyrdom of Polycarp. Polycarp was the Bishop of Smyrna at the beginning of the second century and a contemporary of Ignatius the Bishop of Antioch who was martyred in 105CE. Polycarp himself would be martyred a few decades later at the age of 86. While the details of his death are extraordinary, the lesson which I want to focus on is why he was executed, because it was a real thing during this period.

     Put simply, Polycarp, like Ignatius, refused to acknowledge Caesar as his lord. He, like Ignatius and many, many other martyrs, refused to offer incense or sacrifice at the official imperial altars to Caesar. This wasn't just a religious offense, this was a civil one. By refusing to acknowledge the divinity or dominion of Caesar, whichever Caesar it happened to be at the time, they were committing treason against the Roman Empire as far as the empire was concerned, especially after the Christians were blamed by Nero for the fire which consumed Rome. What they were doing was illegal under Roman law, and punishable by death.

     My thoughts on this are these. Simply because something is the law doesn't make it right, and just because it's illegal doesn't make it wrong. We've seen this again and again throughout history, and even into the modern day with various regimes around the world. One can look to the Nazi regime in Germany during the thirties and forties to see prime examples of this. Legality does not necessitate ethicality. 

     My second thought on the subject is to compare the view of these ancient Christians towards swearing allegiance to Caesar with the view of modern American Christianity towards their own government. Would modern American Christians refuse to swear allegiance to their government or call their head of state "Lord" today? Most believe that patriotism to one's country, and some today to their head of state specifically, goes hand in hand with their Christian faith. Would they have refused Caesar, or would they have gladly saluted him and sacrificed as good patriots?

     The Christian, the disciple of Jesus Christ, who lives as Jesus taught and walks as He walked is not ruled by laws of any kind, but by the love of God dictating what he says and does. He will obey those laws as long as they are consistent with this love, and when they are not, he cannot. The disciple of Jesus Christ lives by the Spirit of Christ acting and speaking through him, and in surrender to that Spirit so that it is God Himself who loves through him and acts and speaks through him. You need to pay taxes? Here you go. You need to park in a certain spot, or not? Sure. Murder and theft are out of the question because it is the love of God ruling him. But you want me to hurt someone? Not a chance. You want me to defraud someone, cause someone harm, or surrender myself to anyone other than Jesus Christ? Not going to happen no matter what laws are written down or what the penalty may be, and it's not going to happen because that person has surrendered control of himself to God and God Himself will not do these things. God Himself will love first, love always, and love without end.

     This is what Paul meant when he said that if you walk in the Spirit, then you are not subject to the law. Why would the God who is acting and speaking through you be subject to any human laws except as a courtesy? As Jesus taught, "the sons of the kingdom are free." Jesus Himself only bothered paying the temple tax as a courtesy to those who brought it up.

     Finally, Polycarp understood something few Christians today really get. No one can actually harm the real you except perhaps you yourself. What's interesting is that the Stoics understood this concept fairly well. They, like Polycarp, understood that someone else can only harm or possibly kill the body, but they cannot actually harm the "you" that is animating the body, and once you let go of the body, what harm can anyone actually do to you? As Jesus also taught, "don't fear those who can kill the body, but can't kill the soul..." As a result, Polycarp didn't run from those coming to arrest him. Instead, he fixed refreshments for them. He was given the choice several times to swear to Caesar and refuse Christ. He chose to be burned at the stake in Smyrna, and was a smart-alec about it too. 

Saturday, June 14, 2025

Mexican Flags, Protests, and California's Uniqueness Among the States

I've been seeing that Fox News is making a big deal about Mexican flags being waved at the protests and exaggerating it beyond reason into a "Mexican Invasion." Having grown up in California, and 35 miles south of LA, let me explain why this is nonsense shouted by people who don't understand California, either it's history or culture. For some Californians, flying or displaying the Mexican flag is no different than folks from the South like Tennessee or Alabama displaying or flying the Confederate flag, a symbol of literal treason against the U.S. 

     California has a very different history from the Eastern half of the U.S. Its history wasn't shaped by the Civil War, the Reconstruction, or a lot of what happened east of the Mississippi. California was, at one time, a part of Mexico until it was annexed by the U.S. If you Google the demographics of California, it's 40% Hispanic, 37% White, and 15% Asian with other ethnicities such as Middle Eastern and African American rounding it out. There is no majority ethnicity there. 

      While there was a single Garrison there somewhere in California, it was otherwise uninvolved in the Civil War. Its history was defined by Spanish Missions, Mexican heritage, the Gold Rush, Vineyards, and heavy farming and ranching including the Citrus Groves in SoCal that Orange County was named for. Many Chinese immigrated to California in the mid eighteen hundreds. After Saigon fell in 1975, many, many Vietnamese immigrated to Southern California. When I was a kid growing up in SoCal, it was said that there were two hundred languages spoken on a daily basis in Orange Country alone, and at least sixty spoken in my high school. California, more than any other state in the Union, is truly a culture and civilization of immigrants. Most of its white residents were themselves immigrants to California in the 1800s, as prior to this, its population was made up entirely of Mexican and Native American peoples (and here Mexican means descended from the Mexica or Aztec peoples). 

     There is in LA and other parts of SoCal in particular, because of California's history, a nativist movement that still believes California is or should be Mexican. Their numbers are very few, and to be honestly, no one's ever really taken them seriously. But they, and others of Mexican descent there who aren't quite so delusional, whether citizen or immigrant, are still fiercely proud of their heritage. It shouldn't really surprise anyone that the ICE raids targeting Hispanic people in particular would have triggered them in such a way as was seen in Downtown LA. They see it, citizen or not, as a threat against themselves and their people, their tribe if you will. To what lengths would you go to protect your people and your family from being kidnapped and assaulted? The truth is, what should surprise people is the restraint they've shown so far.

     No one in California wants any of this. Of this, I am absolutely certain. I guarantee you, everyone there just wants to live their lives in peace without having to worry about whether or not their mother, father, or child is just going to disappear at the agency of the Federal Government. There would have been no protests at all if ICE hadn't been conducting the raids in the belligerent way they have been. If they had come with warrants, if they had come in marked cars identifying themselves without masks, if they had only targeted actual violent criminals like they were supposed to, if they hadn't treated innocent people like animals, then there would have been no protests. There would have been no cars burning. 

     The blame for these protests and violence must lie squarely on the shoulders of those who conducted the raids, and those superiors who ordered them.

Friday, June 13, 2025

The Only Fight That Matters

 Love one another. Be kind to one another. Forgive one another. If someone is cruel and hateful, look on them as a dear family member who is mentally ill and sick. The moment you see someone as a threat, fear takes over and love disengages. The moment you choose to love, fear must disengage. The two cannot coexist because the one cancels out the other in the brain. The primacy, importance, and superiority of love over all other religious practice, doctrines, rules, and traditions cannot be overstated. Without love, you have nothing at all. Without love, your beliefs and practices are worthless and cannot save you. The one who doesn't love doesn't know God. This cannot be said any more clearly. The one who doesn't love acts only from himself and his fear, anger, and cravings. God is love. This too cannot be said any more clearly. If love is not the source of your words, actions, and responses, then neither is God. You cannot have one without the other because one *is* the other. God is love. If you hate someone, how can you love God? You can't. It's written pretty clearly in the Scriptures.

     Today, at my doctor's appointment, the physician suggested that I was suffering from generalized anxiety disorder. Honestly, I just don't have time for that. I have animals to care for, people to be there for, and a life to live. But, if I was to be totally honest, I'm not sure he was wrong. I've learned strategies and techniques from all of my studies in psychology and religious and meditative practices in order to deal with my internal "stuff" so I can function as "normally" and effectively as possible. If I was to be totally honest however, internally within my mind it's a constant battle against anxiety about a number of things past, present, and future. 

     I just don't have time to give into the fears that constantly assault my mind. I have to acknowledge that they're there and plunge back into the fight regardless. Some days, that means socializing or counseling until I'm beyond overwhelmed. Some days, that means reflecting deeply on why I'm feeling the way I am and finding ways to not respond negatively. Some days it means involuntarily reliving past moments in my head and learning to let go every moment, or recite a prayer, or listen to music, or do something to get my mind to go in a different direction. 

     To be honest, I know a few meditation techniques, but meditation is hard for me. That may be because of the ADHD. My wife can slip into it within minutes. It takes me hours to reach a point of stillness sometimes, and I don't have that kind of time. But I know what happens if I don't fight and I let the fear take over and win. It becomes anger, and the anger builds until it unleashes. I have scared people when that happens, especially those closest to me. I used to get violent at times, especially when I was a kid. 

     So I make my stand within my mind, every moment, and I choose to love. I fight to love. I fight to care about others regardless of how I perceive they might or might not care about me. I fight to not let my anxiety, my fear, dictate to me how to respond no matter how hard it shouts at me, and it can shout very loudly. Often it takes the voice of people from my past and the things they have accused me of or hurt me with. Sometimes I lose a battle, and then I have to go back and do what I can to make things as right as possible. A relationship once damaged is no easy thing to fully repair. A trust once broken is even harder. 

     So, I fight within my mind, and I keep on fighting, because those around me need me to love them. They need not my fear, anger, and cravings, not my anxiety, but God through me, love through me, patience through me, compassion, tolerance, forgiveness, non-judgment, and self-control. They need a friend, a father, a husband, a counselor, a pastor, and someone from whom they can encounter and experience Jesus Christ. I may lose a battle on occasion, but losing the war is not an option. Letting the stuff in my mind just win and take control is an absolute no. Giving up is not an option. Too many people, even people I don't know or haven't met yet, are counting on me to keep fighting. I suppose, to use RPG parlance, I'm tanking it to make sure it doesn't target anyone else. Maybe that's why I usually play a tank as my primary role in those games. I'm used to it.

     When I write about disengaging from the Flesh, the malfunctioning or dysfunctional survival responses produced by the human amygdala, and asking Him to act and speak through you, I do not write from mere speculation or theological fancy. I depend on it every day, and every moment. I question myself and the source of my responses. Why did I say that, and where did it come from? I pray every day, every morning, and throughout the day, that it would be Him who has control over how I respond, speak, and act towards others. I am keenly aware of the consequences of letting down my guard on this. I am keenly aware of who can be hurt if I do.

     Love one another. It's the most important thing you can do, and the only thing which matters. Be kind to one another. Forgive one another. Be Jesus to people. Give Jesus to people. Receive Jesus from people. See Jesus in people. Pray that He would act and speak through you, that it would Him that people see and hear, and not you. Disengage from your fear no matter how hard it shouts, and surrender to His love, His very presence and power through you. This is where the true battle lies. This is the only fight that matters. This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Sunday, June 8, 2025

Don't Stay Silent

 Don't stay silent. No matter who shouts you down, don't stay silent. "The shroud of the Dark Side is everywhere." Fear makes it stronger, and those spreading this shroud want you to be afraid. They want you to be silent. They want you to be obedient. They want you to be paralyzed. This is the time when we need to speak out the most and not give in to our fear. This is the time when we have to weigh our attachments to possessions, relationships, and even our own lives against what is right, compassionate, and true. Even if you don't think anyone is listening anymore, don't stay silent. As Jesus said, what is it worth if you gain the whole world yet lose your own soul? In the end, you will lose your possessions, you will lose your relationships, you will lose even your life. This comes for everyone regardless of who they are. But what you will keep, what you will never lose, are the choices you made, and you will carry those choices beyond this life even as you must leave everything else behind. Don't stay silent. Don't be enslaved to your fear. Become a mirror showing the whole world its true face, the one it tries so desperately to not look at.

Friday, June 6, 2025

Don't Lie About Being A Christian

 There's this hesitancy, this reluctance today to denounce someone who calls himself or herself a Christian as not one. It's understandable. The thinking is that if someone considers himself or herself a Christian, regardless of what theological branch of that tree they hail from, then they are one, and who is able to say otherwise? Except the authors of the New Testament didn't play that game, not when it came to how a person acted and lived their lives. They didn't play that game, and neither did those that followed them.

     The Apostle John himself is explicit in his language in his first letter, "If we should say that we hold communion with Him and should operate within the darkness, we are lying and not doing the truth; but if we should operate in the light like He is in the light, we hold communion with one another and the blood of Yeshua His Son cleanses us from every error. If we should say that we don't have the error, we are leading ourselves astray and the truth is not within us. If we should agree about our errors, He is trusted and right to drop our errors for us and cleanse us from every wrongdoing. If we should say that we haven't erred, we make Him a liar and His Logos isn't within us." And also, "The one claiming to make his home within Him is himself obligated to operate in the same way just like that One operated."

     They did not and would not have beaten around the bush. If you claim to be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ and follower of the Way, and do not live as He taught or operate (walk) as He operated (walked) then you are a liar, regardless of what you say you believe, and they would have called you out on it. If the way you live your life is not marked by love first and foremost, forgiveness, compassion, mercy, patience, self-control, non-judgment, and even just the basics of what Jesus clearly taught, then you are not a Christian, no matter what church you attend, no matter how much you give in tithe, no matter what rules you otherwise keep.

     The earliest Christians, the followers of the Way, would have approached you and called you on your behavior and sought to guide you back onto the Way, gently or not so gently depending on who you were and how egregious it was. They would have approached you privately at least twice before calling you out in public, unless you were a member of church leadership. Then they would have called you out openly and immediately in front of everyone as Paul (and Jesus for that matter) did with Peter. They would not have hidden a church leader's offenses. They would not have covered it up to prevent embarrassment or prevent financial loss. They would have dealt with the person's going astray immediately to guide them back, or if they refused and continued in their own malfunctioning flesh, to remove them from the community until they came to their senses.

     If you don't care to actually follow Jesus Christ, at the very least, be honest about it. Don't claim His name while riding roughshod over the things He clearly taught. Doing so won't help you at all, and will likely put you into a worse position than if you were just honest about it. Don't claim to be a disciple if you're not going to follow the discipline. You just make yourself a liar, and no one is fooled except you.

Wednesday, June 4, 2025

The Modern Concept of "Hell" Is Not in the New Testament

      In the modern western worldview, the afterlife is divided generally into two realms, heaven and hell. Heaven is where the "good" people go, and hell is where the "bad" people go. There are variations on this concept, but this is the general idea. Especially in Christian circles, heaven and hell are realms in which the soul resides permanently within this worldview based on either their beliefs or actions within this life.

     It might surprise people to know that this was not necessarily the worldview of people in the first century, and this worldview is not what was taught in the New Testament. Nor does this worldview necessarily align with the thousands of testimonies from Near Death Experiencers around the world. This worldview emerged largely out of the Middle Ages and was heavily influenced by various theologians and writers until it emerged into the dichotomy we see today.

     In the Greek, there are three words which are traditionally translated as hell, but only one of them might carry the traditional meaning. The first word we encounter in the Greek New Testament is Hades. This is actually the name of the Greek Olympian god and ruler of the Underworld. In the Greek worldview, the sky was ruled by Zeus, the Seas were ruled by Poseidon, and the Underworld was ruled by Hades. Over time, Hades' name became synonymous with the realm he ruled. The Underworld was a realm with various different regions and geographical features including several rivers, such as the Styx and the Leithe. The three main regions of the Underworld were the Elysian Fields where the virtuous dead went (in which ere also the Isles of the Blessed where the most heroic, righteous, and virtuous would eventually find themselves), the Fields of Asphodel where those who were not virtuous but also not wholly evil were consigned, and Tartaros (which incidentally is the only word in Greek which occurs in the New Testament that might correspond to the traditional concept of Hell, and occurs in 2 Peter 2:4) where monstrous souls who had committed grave offenses were consigned. This is described as the Abyss, the pit where the monstrous Titans who had castrated and murdered their father, Ouranos, were chained forever. This word, "abysson" is found in Revelation 20:3. It should be noted that in the New Testament, Tartaros and the Abyss are described as prisons for those Angels or Spiritual Beings who rebelled against God. They aren't described as prisons for human souls.

     The final word which is traditionally translated as Hell from the Greek is "ge'enna" or "Gehenna." This word is a Hellenization of the Hebrew term "Gey-Hinnom." Most immediately, this referred to the Valley of Hinnom which was, at one time, a place of child sacrifice to Molech and then later a garbage dump as well as a place where the corpses of criminals and unclaimed bodies were dumped. Fires were kept going to incinerate the refuse, and as you can imagine, there were worms and maggot everywhere. That is the real-world image given by this word. But in Rabbinic literature in the first century and even up to this day in Jewish thought, Gehenna took on a spiritual meaning. It came to mean a place for those souls who had sinned or committed wrongdoing in this life to undergo correction as a kind of purification before passing on into the presence of God. In a way, the meaning of Gehenna was more synonymous with the Catholic concept of Purgatory than the modern concept of a permanent Hell. In Jewish thought, a soul could only remain in Gehenna for up to eleven months, no matter what. After the eleven months, they were allowed to move on. Gehenna was not a pleasant place to be, but the key idea here is that it was not permanent, nor was it ever seen as permanent.

     Why then does the New Testament describe "Eternal Punishment"? Well, honestly, that depends on how you translate the words which are used in reference to this "punishment." First, the word used in reference to "punishment" in the afterlife is always "kolasis." This word doesn't mean vengeance or retribution. It means correction, checking the growth, or disciplinary action. Second, the word used which is translated as "eternal" in reference to "kolasis" is always "aionios." There are two words which can be translated as "Eternal" in Greek, but they have specifically different meanings. The first is "aidios," which means "forever, without end." This word is never applied to this disciplinary action in the afterlife in the New Testament. The second, as mentioned, is "aionios," which is a little more nuanced. It doesn't actually mean "without end." The meaning of "aionios" comes closer to the idea of "outside of time or undefined time." The gods in Greek mythology existed "aionios," but not necessarily "aidios." Aionios as a concept reflects a realm where time has no meaning. It's ageless. It could be five minutes, it could be a thousand years. It's a realm where all times are now, and past, present, and future don't apply. So, the disciplinary action being described as taking place in this Gehenna where the worm doesn't die and the fire isn't quenched isn't being described as being forever within a timeline, but taking place in a realm where time doesn't exist. And whether it's five minutes or eleven months is irrelevant except with the understanding that it's not permanent, and while the end of it is undefined, there will be an end to it.

     Finally, among the many Near Death Experience testimonies are a number of what would be described as hellish experiences. These are much fewer than the heavenly encounters, but they do exist and they always leave those who experience it profoundly shaken and changed. What is important to note as common among these negative NDEs is that the person always seems to find themselves in a dark, nearly pitch black pit like region where they can't see hardly anything at all. They're always in some kind of torment, either emotional or seemingly being able to feel pain. There's usually some kind of negative beings present ready and waiting to inflict more excruciating pain and injury on the person. And finally, there's no sense of time. It is almost always described as it could have been minutes, it could have been thousands of years. From what I have read and heard, most of the people who encounter this were self-admittedly incredibly selfish and self-serving going into it and recognized that fact while they were experiencing it. They continuously reflected on how they lived their lives and the people they hurt either by commission or omission. What is incredibly important to note here is that many if not most came to the point where they cried out to God from this hellish place, having realized their mistakes, and God responded, usually by sending someone, usually Jesus Christ Himself or an angel of some kind, to retrieve them from there, heal them from their hellish experience, and bring them into a paradaisical realm where they would then experience the full presence and love of God unfiltered. They would then go through a life review, experiencing both how they had helped others and had hurt others from the perspective of the other person. Some then were given the choice of staying or returning, others were directly told they were being sent back.

     Some may point out two specific passages which, in English translations, would seem to indicate that punishment is "forever" and that those cast into the lake of fire would be tormented "forever." These two passages are Matthew 25:41, 46 and Revelation 20:10. To sum up briefly, the first passage is the judgment of the "sheep" and the "goats," that is, those who were kind and compassionate to the least of these, and those who weren't. In Matthew 25:41 it reads, in the NABRE translation, "Then  he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." And in 25:46, it says, "And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." As I wrote previously, the word here used for "eternal" is not "aidios" but "aionios," or one of its cognates, in both instances. That is, outside of time, but not forever. Secondly, the word for punishment is, also as previously mentioned, "kolasis," which means "disciplinary action, correction," and in particular, "checking the growth of a plant." It does not mean vengeance or retribution.

     In Revelation 20:10, in the NABRE it is very traditionally translated, "The Devil who had led them astray was thrown into the pool of fire and sulfur, where the beast and false prophet were. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." This sounds pretty straightforward... until you realize that the word "torment" is a mistranslation in this context, as potentially is "forever and ever." The word translated as "torment" is "basanizo," and it actually means "to investigate, put to the test, to examine closely, cross-question, interrogate." It can also have the meaning of "to question by torture," but the main concept of the word is the questioning, investigating, and examining, not the torture. The phrase in Greek translated as "forever and ever" is "eis tous aionas ton aionwn." Literally, it means, "into the ages of ages." This is an idiomatic way in Greek of expressing an undefined number of eons, that is, a very long, but indeterminate period of time or even outside of time. It implies that the end point is not known, but there may or may not be an endpont. It means that there is no certainty either way. 

     When applied to the idea of Gehenna, or when taken with the testimonies of NDEers who have had hellish experiences, the understanding of these original Greek words and phrases only reinforces the idea that this torment or hellish experience is not meant to be permanent and that release from it is not only possible, but intended once the person held within has come to their senses. It is undefined because that release is contingent on the person themselves coming to their senses and crying out to God.

     Any time you see the word "hell" in a translation of the New Testament, it is rendering one of the words which I have just described, and the concepts which the original disciples and those who heard Jesus and first read the Apostles' letters were not what the modern word "hell" evokes. In their minds, at the very least, it was a temporary, disciplinary realm meant to purify the person in error and bring them to their senses, much like the NDEers describe from their own experiences. Those truly "hellish" realms like the Abyss, Tartaros, were intended for monstrous, powerful, and dangerous spiritual beings to keep them prisoner so they couldn't harm anyone. They were never intended for human souls, pieces and shreds of the Logos who is Himself born from the God, which were always intended to return to the God from whom they were born.