viewoutsidethepew

The Bible is about God.

Yet people read it for political proofs, religious ideology, for use as a weapon against those with whom they disagree or find unacceptable and as a verification for their own heresies or adrenaline to feed their “I’m-right” ego.

The Bible is about being on God’s Team (with God as the highest honcho) and non-debatable love for each and every one of God’s creations.

If your reading gives you permission to judge and condemn anyone of any time or place, prideful assurance that your doctrine or culture is superior to others, or seems useful as an excuse to abuse or hold power over others, you are not reading The Bible God commissioned, but a social distortion for human justification for wrongdoing.

“The tree had fruit that was good to eat, nice to look at, and desirable for making someone wise [“like a god” Genesis 3:5]” Genesis 3:6.

From the beginning people chose whatever satisfied their personal consumption, titillated them in their vision and set them up to play god.

The Divine Plan was for people to serve in creation, walk with God and nurture each other.

I plan, God being my helper, to follow the Plan and benefit the Community, not my little self-centred, self-created universe. Yes, the price is high, but it is better than the religious vandalism that allows people to mutilate creation and destroy other people.

“We were saved with this hope in mind. If we hope for something we already see, it’s not really hope. Who hopes for what can be seen? But if we hope for what we don’t see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance” Romans 8:24-25 (God’s Word Translation©).

Today is Advent 1, and in my tradition “Hope” is the theme of the day.

When the road we walk on is smooth, hope is a distant concept.

When life piles on troubles until we nearly collapse, hope provides air to breathe, both physically and spiritually.

With Jesus we have hope, the anticipation of things working out, not only in this world, but in the forever.

“God wanted his people throughout the world to know the glorious riches of this mystery—which is Christ living in you, giving you the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27 God’s Word Translation©).

Yesterday our nephew-in-law died into the arms of Jesus after more than a year of strenuous combat against cancer. He now lives the hope in the new reality we call heaven. The family and clan have hope in this promise and of the presence of the Comforter, The Spirit. He spent his short life as a Baptist Pastor, but now reaps the rewards which he preached about, and that provides hope for all he met.

Sometimes hope stands as the only thing we have, yet “hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5 New International Version®, Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®).

When life looks like nothing more than a formless vacuum, hope sheds that tiny light that promises this is not the end.

May you live in the hope that faith in Jesus gives when nothing else, no one else, can provide what we need to proceed on our way.

“May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace through your faith in him. Then you will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13 God’s Word Translation©).

I accept the teaching that this is a world of humans. It is the turf of Apollyon/Abaddon (both words translate into English as “destroyer”) who is the great deceiver. We can protect ourselves only by deep, compassionate love (“agape”) to counter the compulsion people have to destroy: physically (murder), emotionally (abuse) and intellectually (by unfounded conspiracies), and by Truth (which Jesus taught was personified, not intellectualized).

Israelis are people, as are Palestinians, however, there are those of every race and professed religion who live as slaves of Satan, the Accuser and Destroyer. Their purpose in life is to destroy things (vandalism) and people (murderers/terrorists). Every person or group “is known by its fruit” (Luke 6:44).

Whoever would condemn one, or other, or both of the sides in the Gaza War, however, remember Jesus said, “The person who is sinless should be the first to throw a stone.” (John 8:7). So I will not judge from my imperfections and ignorance, however, I can pray for peace. And we can make peace where we live, and cast off those attitudes that make us judgmental, stop those actions that attack or humiliate other people and abandon any lifestyle that is self-centred.

Just because there are wars in many places of this world doesn’t mean someone has to start another one with their uncompromising ideology that allows them to dehumanize other people.

“Blessed are those who make peace. They will be called God’s children.” (Matthew 5:9)