"In need of God-Lite" or "There's an Achan in my heart"

My Facebook Post:

I'm smarting with the good old-fashioned Old Testament Smack-Down I received at church this morning. Don't you just love it when they return to the message of judgement under the law of a righteous God and only footnote the solution in we receive from Christ. I'm left feeling like I should quit going to church and just go find my meth pipe again. Thank Jesus that He continues to love me regardless of me being me!

To quote another's post:
Kienan Mick(fb post)
Don't let your hate of 'sin' outgrow your love of redemption. In fact, don't let it grow at all. Because when you do:

Greed chokes off justice for the poor,
Apathy withers empathy for the sick,
Justification drowns compassion for the persecuted.

Love blossoms and grows. Judgment withers and rots.

So, what motivated all this? Today's message in church was drawn from Joshua 7. It describes how Isreal found themselves, once again, in disfavor with God after they had just been given victory over Jericho. One man steals some of the holy spoils against God's specific orders, and God pulls back his favor until justice upon this individual is poured out(in a brutal stoning of his entire household). The man's name is Achan. He is confronted(as is everyone), and admits he did it. His punishment is to stone his entire household and all his belongings and leave them buried under a pile of said stones. This is the righteous action of a just God for failure to obey. I get it! The message of the need to repent before you too get buried in God's wrath comes through loud and clear.
Here is where I start to falter. You see, I have an Achan in my heart! Besides being a great pun, it happens to be true. I too have been given a new life from God. I called on him in the midst of losing my children and my life and he "gave me the land"; I was set free and restored. After some time, I realized that I couldn't do the capital "C" Christian walk. I don't march in lock-step well with others, and I'm prone to pharisee-like behavior. I love being on the righteous side and pointing out your flaws and faults with loving condescension. I love imposing my views on others, for there own good. I'm really good at it. I have a feeling that given enough latitude(read power and control), I could really excel at getting confessions out of sinners and help dispatch then to God with clean consciences(but I digress). Thank God that he stopped my rise in the ranks of the church. Instead, I became uncomfortable with my new life. I began to listen to rock music and to drink and smoke(in moderation). I wandered from the fold. I took the holy life God had restored to me and began to spend it on myself. I keep asking Jesus what was wrong with me, and was always met with the answer that He knows me, He made me, He loves me, and everything is gonna be alright.
You see, I was taught that the Old Testament is a history book that teaches how the Law is insufficient to bring us into a relationship with God. It is a Good Law, it is a Just Law, but due to our very natures, it is never gonna bring us back into the fold. THAT"S WHY JESUS CAME AND SATISFIED THE LAW IN OUR PLACE!!!! I know that it is taught with the best of intentions, but to take us back to the Old Testament for lessons on how to live today just shows how screwed we are without Jesus. There's an Achan in all our hearts! That's why I put all my trust in God-Lite, Jesus Christ. Or more appropriately GOD-LIGHT):
John 8:12 "Then Jesus spoke again to them, saying, I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
Jesus came to make it all work out. He provided the way. He satisfied the Just Law with His own Sinless Life, because we cannot do it, ever. He is the gentler, easier way. All the "guilt trips", all the "stone the sinner in your midsts" couldn't get us to do it right. Love wins where guilt just condemns!
I'm left with this final thought: If the events that lead to the death of Achan and his household had happened when Jesus walked the earth, WWJD(What would Jesus do)? I'm sure it also would have something to do with stones, but likely a more merciful outcome.

Joh 8:1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
Joh 8:2 And early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him. And He sat down and taught them.
Joh 8:3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman taken in adultery. And standing her in the midst,
Joh 8:4 they said to Him, Teacher, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
Joh 8:5 Now Moses in the Law commanded us that such should be stoned. You, then, what do you say?
Joh 8:6 They said this, tempting Him so that they might have reason to accuse Him. But bending down, Jesus wrote on the ground with His finger, not appearing to hear.
Joh 8:7 But as they continued to ask Him, He lifted Himself up and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.
Joh 8:8 And again bending down, He wrote on the ground.
Joh 8:9 And hearing, and being convicted by conscience, they went out one by one, beginning at the oldest, until the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
Joh 8:10 And bending back up, and seeing no one but the woman, Jesus said to her, Woman, where are the ones who accused you? Did not one give judgment against you?
Joh 8:11 And she said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, Neither do I give judgment. Go, and sin no more.
Joh 8:12 Then Jesus spoke again to them, saying, I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Good Intentions Highway

I was at the Rock and Worship Roadshow last night in Boise when I was struck by an epiphany: Politicization/Legislation of Christianity in America may well be the biggest blunder to promoting the Gospel since the Inquisition.
I will say up front that my Faith has been all over the map. I can most likely be described currently as Christian-Left, but it's really more eclectic than that. My faith is in Christ and Christ alone and I do rely on His Grace; the rest I question daily. I have been following the news of the day with the Republican Primaries with great interest, as well as many of the laws being proposed on the state level with regards to abortion, contraceptives, and personhood. I am pro-life, but also pro-choice(on many issues, not just abortion), but that's another whole blog. To cut to the quick, I am likely to vote for President Obama this time, although I voted for McCain, last time. All that said, let me elaborate on my "epiphany" of last night.
I believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is something that is promoted on the heart level, not the political arena. It is a personal call to the individual, by God, through believers and other situations. If we become so boisterous as to insist that our view become everyone's view through legislation and the legal process, we alienate all those who hold different views. In a sense, we solidify their view that we are JAMES(Judgemental, arrogant, mean-spirited, egotistical, and self-rightious). We can not win over hearts and minds to the gospel of love by insisting that they follow it or we will lock them up.

This also speaks to the fact that there are many interpretations of christian belief within our own camps. Who's interpretation becomes the approved one? It is a very slippery slope created with the best of intentions. God is already enthroned in the hearts of believers, to enforce it in the codes of a society that has people of many beliefs and creeds is to alienate all those with differing beliefs. There is a reason that the Founding Fathers made a point of not requiring/allowing any religious test for our elected officials. Further, they made laws that allowed religious freedom, not just protection for religion, but freedom FROM religion.
The christian-right may well win the vote, but in the process we will likely push those on the fence to the gospel into the opposing camp. People are not fond of being forced into anything. If that were the case, God could have simply taken away our free will and made us into worship-bots. He wants us to choose Him, of our own free will. That no longer becomes an option if we are legislated into being Christians, like-it-or-not!
Lets get back to loving all of God's children and letting God open the doors to hearts by being the people he has called us to be. As the song states: They will know we are christians by our love", not by our political agenda.