Gigantic epiphany for me, I'm sure.
To my friend through which this happened, if you see this post and it pains you, I am writing it in part out of Duty to you. If through it you lose your good opinion of me I'm okay with that. If it causes you pain I am sorry for that.
It has been well over a year since I have been in a church and probably no more than once every two years do I set foot in one. Each time people are kind, nice, and it is a horrifying experience for me.
By all objective measures except for two I must be the one aligned with Satan. It is either that or so many good intentioned people are aligned with Satan. It must be me. Except what I believe is what Jesus said and did and all but 10 or so verses in the Gospels.
Not the point, but within the last week a kind soul that met me last winter at Standing Rock said, James, I really don't like Christianity, but I really really like the kind of Christian you are. To which I replied thank you, but I do not identify as a Christian. I simply stand the same place that the Palestinian Jew Jesus stood.
A fella and his associate worked some real Miracles with the vehicle that have been needed forever. Maybe not the most brilliant work I've ever seen but they got the job done. This vehicle can now crawl the Rockies without destroying itself I think. At least it is much much closer to doing so than it has ever been.
In the process of our Business Association it finally came out that they were deeply and positively struck by my apparent Adoration of the man Jesus. Who knows what they imagine my beliefs are. But the one man in particular, toward how passionate I am. He commented that many times with strong affirmation and maybe a bit of personal longing.
He was very kind and I thought it would be a kindness on my part if I went to his Sunday service at his church. So I did. As always, the church folks were kind, welcoming, Pleasant. I sat in the back of the sparsely-populated service and found after 20 minutes to my dismay I could not stand being there any longer. So I discreetly left.
I adore my Jesus, what he said, what he did, what he lived for. As always has been the case before I found that this church was worshipping someone very different than my Jesus.
This was painful for me in part because I suspect that my departure was probably noticed by my friend and would have found that unpleasant and disturbing.
Central to this service was a couple described as a mission couple. Genuinely Pleasant, very attractive, middle-aged, White, extremely well-groomed, middle class, fairly tech-savvy, well spoken, very neat. They are particularly pleased because with their work they help be certain that, quote, the name of Jesus is heard even in the most remote primitive villages in the world. Unquote.
What the f***? What the f***? The name of Jesus? What does that have to do with anything? And with the atrocious creation ending, life-ending, creation ending, life ending, roll the so-called Christianity has played in the world The Madness of spreading it further makes my brain explode.
Later in the day my troubled brain fed me the Epiphany I referred to. Central to the mission statement of this particular church is that they work to create disciples of Christ.
The Epiphany was, Jesus did not send people out to speak his name. He did not send people out to teach that he died so that people could get a condo in the Eternal sky. Nothing, no record, indicates that he sent disciples out to spread his name. And he hadn't died yet and no one believed he was going to be crucified. So definitely the disciples, the true ones, the actual ones, did not go out to speak any of that. But this is pretty much all that so-called Christian disciples have spoken for the last two thousand years once he was gone.
The Epiphany was the question that came to me, what did the original disciples go out to speak? That we have one father, that makes us all children, all brothers and sisters, and that we should live like that every breath. Do unto others all you would have them do unto you. Lay down your life for your brother. Love the enemy, love the outcasts. Love the weak, love the poor. This was 100% of what the disciples went out to preach. The reign of Creator on Earth. No more Clan ism. No more nationalism. No more religion ism. No more sexism. No more classism.
None of this is what so-called Christian disciples have preached for the last two thousand years.
What would happen if people besides me ask themselves the question, what did the original disciples that Jesus sent out preach? I think it could cause an epiphany for others.
