Religious fights: not my fight🙅‍♀️
You will never see me defending any religion. I used to do that when I was in secondary school. Now I respect everybody’s choices, just like God does. He even respects the choices of those who choose to go to hell, even when He desires all men to be saved (1 Thim. 2:4).
You would say, why doesn’t He do anything to prevent that, if He cares.
He did it all already🤷‍♀️, now we get to choose. His son’s blood was shed. Those who truly want to be saved, get saved! Every day, one by one.
But I will still answer you why you feel like He doesn’t: It’s because Love sets free. Love presents you Truth to empower your spirit so you can choose the very best for you. Love wants your well-being always, and participates in it by expressing truth carefully to you so that the final choice be really up to you. All this, because deep down, Love longs for genuine trust (your FAITH). Trust in His care, in His love and direction. By letting us free to choose, that’s God’s respect for us. That’s God treating you as an equal, elevating humankind to Him, face to face. Do you understand now why love sets free? Do you understand that Love seeks genuine Trust? So freedom is the “filter”. Once you are well informed and let free to choose, whatever you choose becomes the mirror of what’s really in your heart. And an answer from the heart, that’s what God wants. Nothing less than that. So He keeps giving and expressing His love freely (He doesn’t owe us anything, but God is Love and enjoys Himself) and lets us free to receive or reject Him.
When we understand that freedom, God might never hear from us again, meanwhile we keep enjoying all His mercy and His sun, and His fresh air (and the many reasons that usually get smiles out of our hearts, his different blessings). He might never get back the Love He pours out, in some places, because we’re free! But at the same time, when He gets it back from a heart that knows it’s free, God knows it’s real. That’s the kind of worship (worth acknowledgment) Jesus teaches us that God enjoys: one that is from the heart and in truth.
God can’t have that quality if we fear some punishment from Him for not bowing down (that’s religious mindset. The God Jesus presents ain’t that way). Although there are consequences always attached to our choices. Every single one of our choices (or people’s choices around us affecting us) already brings along its outcome, and God has nothing to do with that. We do, because we chose. That’s the cost of freedom: responsibility. But even there, He can save us from these consequences if we come to Him repentant and asking for His help. For real, for real, there’s a reason why Jesus is called The Savior…
The point was that God lets us free, free to choose. The best way to free people is to enlighten them with truth. We’re usually so scared to find out what people would rather do when empowered and free… but God is not. He trusts Himself. He trusts the purity and strength of His love. He knows the quality of what He pours in. He is secure. He is God. And He raises sons and daughters to be after Him; first-head is Jesus-Christ, our elder, saviour, and Lord.
So from that perspective, I’ll defend God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Church, and all God’s principles (known to me and not), but not religions. By Church (capital C), I intentionally mean the universal Spouse of Christ: the huge community of people who share the Holy Spirit and belong to Christ. One with Him. They are not all going to churches (have you noticed the little c?), and many people going to churches are not forcibly part of them. But wherever they may be, whether in churches or not, they are the Church. It’s not material, it’s a spiritual body, whose head is Christ, with all of us the members playing our respective part.
Before, I used to think of the Church as the “Global” Spouse of Christ, -global referring to the Earth. But recently, I understood that those who died in Christ still belong to the Church, altogether with us who are still alive on Earth. They are not dead now if they died in Christ (I literally believe Jesus). They are just on the other side, separated from us here, living in a higher dimension than ours. They might be able to testify of our current deeds (Heb. 12:1, Matt. 22:32), but I don’t know for sure. The Church as a whole (both on Earth and beyond Earth) is longing for Jesus’ return. Then He will gather us all. But whether here or on the other side, we are One. I believe God answered Jesus’ prayer in John 17:21. He made the Church one already, even when we are scattered around the world through various churches and communities). The Holy Spirit is maintaining us in unity.
Anyway, I was saying that I won’t defend what humans built around these thematics, whether religions, or the mix of them all “ecumenism“, whether denominationalism, interdenominationalism or non-denominationalism… They all make sense to some point, but stop making sense from that point to eternity. I understand and respect them though, but I am not sure if it all contributes to the unity of God’s sons and daughters before the eyes of the world. All the “ism” divides us more (just name it), and even worse the “ism” inside of those “ism”s. And since there seems to be no end to the continuous birthing of them, let’s just leave it to God. Fact is: we’re not eternal on Earth. So we’re better off keeping the right focus for the little while we’re here!
I’ll defend or protect what God created and purposefully intended: people, relationships, nature, animals, truth, creativity, kindness, justice, love, godly principles, etc., these treasures. Somehow they are eternal. Not all things humans created will reach eternity (if any at all), but what God does or creates, even through our human structures (a touch, a word, a bond, a restoration, a deliverance, a GENUINE rebirth) certainly will. And that’s why I respect those structures, but I’ll keep praying that we don’t end up worshiping them over God. Or that we don’t become slaves to them, prioritizing their maintenance over our humanity, so that the day they no longer serve the people entrusted to us, we can still use our creativity to reform, or reshape. The awkward thing with human nature is that the day you reform, or realign a structure, is also the day a new religion or denomination is born, another brand new “ism”! Anyway, again let’s leave that headache to God. But I understand that any system is best in place when they serve people. Not the other way around (even the solar system, right?!). When we’re conscious of that, we’ll always recommend these structures to God, careful in the way we fashion and build them, with truth, light, love, thriving for excellence, long lasting positive impact, quality materials such as these…, in order for them to serve eternal purposes in people’s lives during the temporary moment they exist.
So I won’t be “protestanting”, nor “catholicing”, no longer “iing” with any “ism”. I am one of God’s daughters and rather be “God-daughtering” in Christ 24/7. That’s going to be my life. The only fight I’ll partake in is the battle of the Faith. Fighting not only to protect and keep my faith in Jesus-Christ through all life’s vicissitudes, but also to encourage and strengthen to the extent that I can that faith all around me. I believe that’s the real fight that sticks us with Him here and gets us on the other side with Him too. And that’s a fight, that we all should do together, both inside the structures and outside them, caring that no one among us is missing from the Whole. Do you pray for all God’s children wherever they might be? Do you pray for the Body of Christ?
If we were to talk from a core-essence view, when God’s eyes lay directly on our soul and spirit: on our identity beyond these human structures. Who does He see? Who’s our Father? (It’s either John 8:42-47, OR John1: 1-13 with focus on verse 12.) If you would “peel” me to my core, who am I inside? When relating to God, am I a Baptist? A catholic? A non-denominational? or just His daughter? But, for human sake, please still call me a Christian, because that’s what people call anyone who mentions Jesus and good morals. Both those who raise above that and those who don’t even get close, we all get called Christians. Although if Christianity is going to war, it will miss me. It “crusaded” before, it might do that again… However, that would be a total different answer from me if my Lord calls us to march on! So deep down, I know whose I am so I know who I am. And from that place, I know what battles to partake in, or not to.
It’s interesting when Jesus was rebuking Peter, He didn’t say “Get behind me Satan, (…) you are thinking not as God does, but as Satan does“. Nope. Jesus didn’t say that. Jesus said “Get behind me, Satan! (…) You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do” Matt. 16:23. It’s God’s way over human’s (systematic) way. It’s refreshing to renew our human’s mind with God’s Word in the Bible regularly.
It’s important to read the Bible as a whole and get a basis of God’s mind as a whole, and daily the Holy Spirit guides and teaches and builds on that. We can bring our concerns to Him and believe. Let’s stay open to our mistakes as well, it’s a journey here and we’re learning. As long as our hearts stay humble and attached to Him, we’re safe.
HOWEVER, I’ll attend meetings in my local Christian community that share my faith in Christ, as Jesus did go to the temple and so the apostles after Him. They were not on an obligatory schedule, but it’s good to get involved regularly in our community gatherings and stay in touch together as humans and as God’s people there. In essence, our true community is universal, the Holy Spirit and love are the shared factors (John 13:35). But it’s important to strengthen our local communities, see, greet, and encourage each other, build people up, and build each other through love. That’s also what God wants.
Let’s take care of our people. It’s about the people inside of the structures, not the structure in itself. We ought to love each other first, fight the good battle of the faith, and take care of the people around us on behalf of Jesus-Christ. That is similar to what has been described as the only good religion, in the Bible (James 1:27) -if you still want to be religious.
I’m no longer seeking to be understood but to seek and apply truth… and from time to time, on the go, I’ll probably share what I’m understanding of it 🌱.
Deuces✌️
Everyone loves it when people come together and share ideas.
Great website, stick with it!
Really appreciate your comment, it’s encouraging. Thank you!