Truth Is Subtle

One of the things I’ve observed in studying the trends of the church more as I’ve called out lies on this blog is how subtle it is, and how easily it can be warped. 99% truth is still 100% lie. People can tend to oversimplify the truth. People can change the meanings of certain things to mean what they want them to mean instead of what they are. Worst of all, people can change the truth to suit their own lives. In other words, make things conform to their wishes instead of conforming themselves to the truth. All of these kinds of things are behind the Personal Jesus. It is important to remember that God will not be mocked in the end and will call into account all people in His own standards, not the standards that you or any other man or woman will institute. God’s standards are quite well known. This is often the worst avenue used to deny the truth – to follow after men instead of following after God. What or who you follow dictates your life.

Such glossing of the truth is well illustrated from both sides in 5 Lessons From Church That Will Wreck Your Life. It should never be about the Church or the ways of men, but about Christ.

1. “Time Doesn’t Heal All Wounds. Only Jesus Heals, and Only Jesus Can Make You Happy.”

Jesus may give your life purpose and direction, but he will not make you happy. What will make you happy is a) your approach to life, and b) the conditions of your life. So you can have a just-loving-each-moment attitude, but if you catch your wife in bed with the mailman, then suddenly you won’t be happy anymore. And you can have a lot of close friends and financial stability, but if you are always worried about civil unrest on the other side of the globe, then you won’t be happy.

While mostly true, this one is often appropriated to the Personal Jesus. The fact behind it is that time in itself doesn’t heal any wounds. As with all things, it’s taking proper authority over your own life. Chief of that is finding what is good and lasting and investing in that – the author gets this part right in mentioning one’s approach to life. You won’t find contentment from immersing yourself in other things such as cars, your own health, banging women or the like. There are many examples of people trying to bury themselves in work, family, women, the church organization, and a whole host of other things. It just doesn’t work.

This leads into the main problem with the statement. Happiness isn’t the goal and never was and many church leaders have made it that to get people in the door. Happiness is based on circumstance. And as most can attest to, circumstance is not always good, and if you depend on circumstances for the worth in your life, you’ll be acting in vanity. True Christianity teaches joy and peace, which exist despite the circumstances. True contentment with one’s life exists despite the circumstances. This is the goal, not happiness.

2. “Jesus Wipes Away Your Sins Like They Never Happened”

The born again sinners think that just because they are forgiven by God that they can demand forgiveness from others . . . I also find it interesting that those who demand forgiveness the hardest are also the most unrepentant. Real repentance involves asking for forgiveness, not expecting it.

The statement above is totally truthful (from a certain perspective). When we repent, Jesus wipes the sin away from an eternal perspective. We are not judged for it by Him if we truly repent of our actions. The author also hits upon truth. In the course of the Personal Jesus, people want Jesus to accept them with their sins and all and have this carry to others. This means that they don’t want to repent of them, and expect others to accept them, without bringing consequences. This is especially seen today in the churchian women, who want you to forget that they ever racked up a n-count. God will not be mocked.

The fact behind all of this is that Jesus never absolves anyone from the corporeal consequences of those sins. Murders can be forgiven of God and have their sins wiped away in His mind, but still have to justly face their prison time or capital punishment as dictated by the State. As well, the fact is that a good follower of Christ forgives as a reflection of recognition of the grace we are given. Forgiveness is not forgetting the sin, especially if no repentance. We are to test the fruits of others in their repentance and deal with them accordingly. Unfortunately, unregenerate sinners will use this teaching as a cudgel to get others to accept them. God will not be mocked.

3. “A Single Mother is like a Widow, and St. James Says to Take Care of Widows”

The author is correct on this one. The Personal Jesus has prompted the leaders of Churchianity to confuse these matters and create doctrine to paper over the sin of fornication in women and make it righteous and even sanctified. The repentant “Christian” woman with the n-count of 20 is just as pure as the virgin, right? So a mother by death is the same as a mother by fornication? As the author rightly points out, the Scriptural church has requirements on the true widow to support her. But what should the church do with a mother by fornication? Exactly. God will not be mocked.

4. “God will Find You a Spouse”

God helps those who help themselves. If you work hard at finding a marriageable person while working hard at being a marriageable person yourself, then you’ll find someone eventually. But no, you do not deserve “the right person” by virtue of wanting one, and God isn’t going to deliver you what you want if you merely “wait for His timing.” The careful reader will notice I am using sex-neutral language here, because both Christian men and women fail horribly at this.

Again, both are true from a certain standpoint and false in others. The major problem exhibited in the Christian realm is that action is never taught as a component of faith. The statement is true – God will find you a spouse. The problem is you have to go out and claim it in faith with the belief that He has already given it to you. This is simply not taught, especially to the women.

Where the author goes wrong is a simple denial of the state of man as dictated to us. The more truthful statement is that God helps the helpless. This is the basis of the true Gospel. Perhaps though, people tend to overreact against this and expects God to not require faith – this is a major component of the Personal Jesus, who believes that God owes us everything and requires nothing of us. The teaching is ask, seek, knock and He will provide if it is in His will. We should not think that we deserve anything from God. God will not be mocked.

5. “A Real Man is Always Selfless and Respects Everyone”

For one thing, it is literally impossible to be entirely selfless, and if you try, you will grow to hate yourself and all humanity. Being others-interested oddly involves being self-interested. Also, being selfless and respectful are contradictory traits, since complete selflessness involves a lack of self-respect. And to quote Jesus, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

This is a good one to close this post on since the error permeates how men deal with the church. Both the statement and the author fall into the same error. Being self-interested and selfless simultaneously involves being God-interested. Being a man, in general, involves knowing what you stand for, and professing it. The problem is that most men really don’t know the answer to that themselves and wait for someone to tell them what they believe.

If you profess to be a follower of Christ, then learn His ways and stand for them and don’t cop out to blaming others. The author quotes Jesus in verse 31, but doesn’t consider verse 30. If you profess to be a Christian, verse 30 is the most important thing, as the scribe speaking to Jesus points out in response. Loving yourself becomes loving God selflessly and with the awe He deserves, and not being a wavering pathetic reed in the wind.

In reading the comments of posts like this, the statement always comes up that “the church made me a beta”. The fact is, you made you the beta. The religion didn’t turn you into anything, you turned you into something. Know what you stand for for yourself and don’t let others tell you what you believe, and don’t be yellow about following it. Knowing what truth is and upholding it is really the key to dealing with all of this. Because in the end God will not be mocked, and “but Pastor Joe said” will not be an excuse before Him.