A Calling for Ethical Zealotry

I have abandoned all hope in the modern church as it is incorporated today. The Catholic church looks the other way repeatedly on child abuse, and almost all major denominations do not love God's creations as God intended. Therefore I am demanding that all who wish to follow God should declare themselves ethical zealots, and refuse to define their relationship with God through man-made doctrine. The catechisms of man have distorted the Word of God to suit modern conveniences - there is no room for excuses in Heaven.

We are commanded to love literally everyone, even the awful people who undermine and destroy everything we stand for. I mourn daily for those who have lost their faith because the Church tells them that who they are is not acceptable to God. We should not and will not place our opinion of God on the judgement of man because we should not and will not place our grace on the judgement of any man. I love every one of you in my own special way. Being a naturally emotionless (and functional) person it is hard for me to explain how I perceive love, but I know I do. I would help even my enemies if they asked for it, because I do not want them to see me helping but God helping them through my vessel. If I am even remotely possible for someone not finding God's love I myself would not deserve God's love.

For those of you who read this and consider yourself righteous, I pray for you. Man is an unfinished project that will never be completed. I believe that man may only attain a seat at God's table if we incessantly pursue Him and His love. I do not believe there is a finish line - it is there mere fact that we chose to run that determines our fate.

What I ask of all of you who read this is to stop thinking about whether anyone in front of you is worthy of God's love, to put aside any form of judgement, and just love. We can not assume that we know all of the answers, or that we know St. Peter's holy entrance exam, and treat our family, friends, neighbors, and enemies as God intended: love them for who they are. Only then can we mend the doctrines that that caused so many people to falter.

Christian Functionalism

I have been struggling to define the details of what I believe and how it should be exemplified in my day to day life. The end result is something I call Christian Functionalism, derived from the philosophical concept. The following is the result of a year of steady prayer, deep pondering while keeping my body busy (I did a lot of this while doing dishes and while in construction at my job at the time), and analyzing the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7). I undoubtedly consider the Golden Rule found in Matthew 7:12 to be the universal rule of common law, and ultimately what separates us as men from animals is that we consider fairness to one another in the course of our own self-interested pursuits. The following is a boiled down version of the tenets that I feel are the crux of how to truly pursue a lasting, potent relationship with Christ, and how we can exist in a world that needs us while not being of it.

Treatise on Christian Functionalism:

1) I believe that the soul lies between our instinctual thoughts and our resulting behavior. Therefore that is where God's place should be in our lives: acting as a moral filter for not how we initially may feel in a given scenario but for what course of action we pursue.

2) Be a good steward with what the Lord has given you. God has called us to be content with what we have while striving to constantly put to use that which He has given us.

3) Fear no man or creature, they will have judgement passed in time. Thus you must not swear an oath to any man. Maintaining the social contract is morally good, but hide your heart for The Lord's needs.

4) Give freely and as much as possible of your gifts. God has not commanded us to passively give the fruits of our toils to others to help those who need. We must be active, persistent, and thorough in charity, ensuring that we have given all we can in service to God.

5) Leave judgement entirely to God. A studious relationship with God provides understanding but we are human, and should admit that we may be wrong. What any individual thinks may be correct in God's eyes may differ from another, we must embrace a communal goal of searching for truth, nothing less.

6) Love.



At a later point I may expand on each of these concepts to further detail each point, to explain how they affect our relationship with God as well as how we should function as Christian outsiders in a secular world. For now, I want to stamp this as eternally a work in progress, illustrating where I am now and how I want to pursue truth in the future.

The Mindset of a Prophet: Holy Connection

The mindset of a prophet must be primarily rooted in a connection to God. Otherwise any wisdom and discernment is that of man, and therefore not divinely inspired. I do however believe that not all wisdom derived purely from man should be discarded - quite the opposite! Many theologians' interpretations and commentary on scripture have lead to massive shifts in understanding of God's will for us. Nevertheless the direct connection with God is an imperative if one is to act as God's voice on Earth.

As a child I never felt the emotional sway during an altar call. Quite frankly, despite loving the opportunity to play music as part of a musical worship team I've never enjoyed worship at church. At youth groups and summer camps I always felt awkward and ostracized seeing my peers get caught up in the spiritual moment in acts that I thought to be a superficial connection to Christ. My judgement at the time was that these people believed that anyone can earn their way into Heaven just by raising arms, crying at a cushioned bench, or yearly rededications of their purpose. I had assumed that they thought the more people see it the more it is effective - after all what's the point of wanting God's love if you can't get attention out of it! It wasn't until I had the mind of an adult that I realized some people naturally have a superficial approach to life's relationships, and while I cannot change people's inner personality, I can change how I act around them to be a more effective conduit for their own needs. While I may not have the emotional saturation of the soul as others do, I most definitely have the intensity of intent, and strive to comprehend God at a higher level. A never ending journey to keep honest minds thirsty has never produced evil.

To me God has always been someone I speak to as commonly as I speak to you, as if I am catching up with a confidant between classes or in a one-on-one conversation at a party; always one-sided though. I don't think God will ever speak directly to me, knowing I only take to heart the conclusions I come to myself through self-mentorship. If I aim to be this generation's Moses I must take strides toward becoming the person that can connect God with my peers. Currently that means shirking that which is unnecessary and living an honest life focused on the relationships I cherish so that when called I am prepared and have stability.

Shortcomings

Psalm 139:14 "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

I have a problem: I think I'm awesome. I want to go outside, punch at the air, and scream at the top of my lungs while down the street (I'll pause while you go and do this yourself). I sometimes struggle to contain the elation I have for who I am and the largeness of my own potential. No matter how small my existence is in the larger order of history, I have full confidence that by the end of my life I will have done something for the betterment of everyone around me.

Don't confuse my self-love with any shred of pride or hubris, I think you're awesome too! How difficult it is to be humble with ourselves when God loves every one of us so much! After all, we were "individually knit in our mother's womb" (Psalm 139:13). Whatever your strengths are, whatever your weaknesses are, the guy that invented everything took the time out of his timeless existence to create everything you will be, and more importantly everything you should be. I think it's perfectly acceptable and healthy to be in love with ourselves, even to the extent of a moral egoist. It's when it externalizes and begins to be in the way of our responsibilities and relationships that it transcends into pride or leads to hedonist tendencies.

The sooner you learn who you are the faster you can discover what you should be. I chose to write about what makes us weak as a first post because my intent with this blog is to

 focus on my journey toward spiritual self-actualization through the lens of an (incredibly) amateur philosopher. Call it doing God's work if you'd rather - my 'quarter-life crisis' means moving away from asking who I am to what I need to be doing. I know that I have been given a strong INTJ personality; if I am to develop my spiritual gift of prophecy I need to move past who I am into who God needs me to be.