If you follow my blog you will no doubt notice that I make mention of The God Journey and The Free Believers Network podcasts. We all go through phases and seasons in life and these also encompass the different things we go through in our Christian journey. For me, I delight in the way that the hosts of these podcast are not so serious and focused on correct doctrine all the time.
I’ve spent a great deal of time being theological, I enjoyed that experience, but now I feel as if I’m winding down that phase of my life. You start studying the original Greek and Hebrew in order to discover the truth – you know that you have become very serious about scripture!
I now prefer to just enjoy the freedom of living in the revelation of God’s love for me; knowing that it’s not about keeping rules and it isn’t even about following principles. I’m actually beginning to experience fun again – that’s right – fun! I love hearing Wayne and Brad on the God journey just talking about their lives, their travels and just having a laugh. I also love hearing Darin, Aimee, Robert and Amy on the Free Believer’s Network podcast just having fun and just being themselves. Sometimes they do “sail close to the wind”, but I really wouldn’t have it any other way. They don’t go out of their way to be purposefully rude in order to prove a point: they just act naturally and spontaneously – I really like that! I’m sick and tired of the way that Christians are encouraged to suppress their emotions and try to become someone they are not. Jesus called such people Hypocrites, which means “play actor” in Greek. Uh-oh! I’m getting into the original Greek again!
Christians can be very serious and rather dull people a lot of the time. But it is inevitable that anyone who lives their life by following a set of rules, with the threat of condemnation and curses hanging over their head like a Sword of Damocles, is not going to be much fun to be around. Everything in the church is encompassed or under girded by the threat of punishment. When the threat of punishment is in place, what you do is no longer becomes about being motivated out of love, but out of fear. Darin Hufford of the The Free Believers Network wrote an excellent blog on this subject called The Fear of Sinning.
When life gets this serious for a religious person – it becomes important to get everything absolutely correct when it comes to scripture. It’s as if a believers life and his sense of security and ability to prosper, depends on it. The obsession to determine truth from written text has the effect of getting us away from living according to the heart. We all become little theologians when we disconnect the heart and become obsessive about the letter of the law. I know that revelation can come from scripture: I know that someone can read the Bible, when suddenly, a verse just “leaps out of the page” with new meaning. I understand that and it has happened to me before. But when the only means of knowing the truth available to you, is to be found in your ability to dissect and analyse scripture in minute detail – something is very wrong!
There really is a need to be able to connect with your heart and understand what is right for you. I think one of the reasons why we don’t do this is because Christians can get rather confused and naïve. In this condition, they are more likely to irritate other people and make poor decisions. This fear of making wrong decisions is what drives Christians to refuse to trust their own heart. But in creating a veritable safety-net for confused and naïve Christians using principles – the confusion and fear is somewhat exacerbated. Nothing really takes the place of acceptance – of yourself, life and other people. In that place of acceptance you are free to live your life, knowing you are loved by God; in this place of freedom you are free to make mistakes and then to get up again and just live your life.
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