If I didn't make it onto prayer lists by now, this should be the nail in my religious coffin. Woohoo!!!!! Yeah, so if you are easily offended by frank religious discussion, then this is not the blog for you. As always, I WELCOME discussion and feedback.

Now kids...one of the most important things I have learned over the past few years is how arrogant you can come off by saying things like, "Sarah Palin is an idiot and Chewbacca is the coolest wookie who ever walked the face of this earth." I know it's incredibly arrogant to frame everything you say by acting like it's the absolute truth, and it's much better to remind your listeners at home that the views you have are your own personal opinions, shaped and molded from your personal experiences. Therefore, I do not claim to know the entire truth or even pretend to have 1/1,000,000th of the entire picture. With that being said-

Something has bothered me for a long, long, long time. I've always had a rebellious nature, marching to the beat of my own djembe. Especially when it comes to the Churches and Religions of the world. I have a really bad problem with judging. When something doesn't make sense to me, I judge it. I judge it and critique it harshly. The particular religion and churches (I just say Church to use as a broad term) I was raised in, is one of those things that I've struggled with. And judged. And critiqued. Harshly.

My source of confusion, anger and harsh judgment basically stems from this: If you claim to be a follower of Christ and join the Christian church (Protestant, Catholic, Mormon, whatever brand) you should be so different from the rest of the world that it's pretty obvious something is up with you. This concept is what I call 'change'. Apparently, my definition of 'change' and the Church's definition of 'change' is not the same thing.

My favorite, favorite, favorite author/self-help guru/all-around badASS is Dr. Stephen R. Covey. Dr. Covey isn't really the first person to talk about what effective 'change' is, but I think he does it very well. The thesis of his awesome-o book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People goes something like this:

This new level of thinking is what Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is about. It's a principle centered, character-based 'inside out' approach to personal and interpersonal effectiveness. 'Inside-out' means to start first with self; even more fundamentally, to start with the most inside part of self-with your paradigms, your character and your motives.

What I have seen result from the outside-in paradigm is unhappy people who feel victimized and immobilized, who focus on the weakness of other people and the circumstances they feel are responsible for their own stagnant situation. ...I believe the source of the continuing problems in [the world] has been the dominant social paradigm of outside-in. Each involved group is convinced the problem is "out there" and if "they" (meaning others) would 'shape up' or suddenly 'ship out' of existence, the problem would be solved.

Similarly to Covey's thesis, I believe that Jesus's viewpoints .., can be summed up by analyzing his late night talk with Nicodemus and in John the Baptist's desert talks. (ps I'm using this really cool Bible called The Message which you should check out)

Exhibit A:

"Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to--to God's Kingdom." (said Jesus to Nicodemus) "How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this 'born-from-above' talk? "

Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation--the 'wind hovering over the water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life--it's not possible to enter God's Kingdom.

~Jesus Christ and Nicodemus via John 3

While Jesus was living in the Galilean hills, John called 'the Baptizer' was preaching in the desert country of Judea. His message was simple and austere, like his desert surroundings: Change your life. God's Kingdom is here.

~John the Baptist via Matthew 3:2

"I'm baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama--compared to him I'm a mere stagehand--will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing from the inside out. He's going to clean house--make a clean sweep of your lives

~John the Baptist via Matthew 3: 11-12

What I feel that the Church has successfully done is transformed the original teachings of Christ into yet another quick-fix, outside-in, heal all, religion. I have never quite been able to grasp why the Church is so often riddled with the worst of human problems and behaviors. The worst of them all being mediocrity. It's almost always filled with people whose behaviors seem to be the exact opposite, and I mean, the EXACT opposite of what they claim to deeply believe in. So, much of the world looks at this conundrum with bewilderment and disbelief, the opposite effect the Church would like to have on the world. How can it be that so much "un-Christlike" behavior comes out of the Church and is often sanctioned by the Church? asks the rest of the world.

In my personal experience, the Christian Church has successfully attracted hurting, broken and very needy personalities (pretty much all of us haha) with charismatic teaching about a better life after this one if they JUST BELIEVE. The rest is HISTORY. You see my friend, you can believe that Jesus is the Son of God and be a prostitute, a drug dealer, chain smoker, cross dresser, Sarah Palin-loving person and STILL be Heaven bound. Make sure you sprinkle that belief with occasional church attendance, regular tithing, community service and Jesus and you are Heaven bound! What a sweet deal!

But is that really the correct way to look at this whole equation? Is simply having a decent combination of faith and corresponding actions the change that Jesus was referring to in his teachings?

Oh Jerusalem.

It's no wonder that the Church has often become a misrepresentation of spiritual teachings. There is rarely an understanding of what this 'inside-out' approach really is. What 'change your life' really means. Instead, scripture is frequently taken out of its original context, watered-down and molded to fit into popular culture standards. Instead of being "apart" from the world, church services seem to often be a great indicator and reflection of what is going on in the popular culture, from the flat panel tv's in the lobbies right down to the freakin' sound effects in songs. The Church influences nothing about culture, it is the culture that influences the church. It has now become "cool" to show "secular people" that we, too, can participate in "their" world without betraying our Christian roots. We too, can have Christian music, Christian movies and Christian culture without alienating the rest of the secular world. And the best part about it, is that they're COOL. COOL people are down for Christ.

Oh Jerusalem.

From what I have read and studied about the scriptures, really even from just your basic glance, it would seem that the 'Kingdom' being referred to is actually right here, right now. Not some unknown location with golden streets and choirs. The Kingdom life is already within us, according to the scriptures. God is present in all things, in all music, in all people, in all of Creation. Yahweh. But WE must first learn to see the world through the Spirit's eyes. Through the eyes of the people that the Spirit has inspired, from Jesus to Mother Teresa. We must first ask ourselves what change will take place within us when this paradigm shift takes place? It is only when you see the world differently that you truly change your attitudes and behaviors.

Do we really see the world as Jesus did? as Yahweh does? as Mother Teresa did? as Gandhi did? Only then can that magical thing called love well up and spring from our spirit. Only then can we truly love others as we love ourselves. No amount of Christian music or emotional teaching from charismatic pastors will ever force this shift to take place within us. Only we can begin that mystical journey.

I know that Oprah took so much heat from that webcast she did with Eckhart Tolle regarding Tolle's pretty controversial book A New Earth. I just remember this fundamentalist Catholic woman calling in saying, "Well I was raised to believe [insert everything the Christian religion holds sacred]" and Oprah just tore that woman's beliefs UP, true to what Kathy Griffin would call her 'strong Black woman' form. She basically told the woman, " Well, my personal belief is that Jesus did not come to start Christianity. Therefore [insert every belief that would make the fundamentalist church go berserk]." At the time I just shook my head and muttered a mental 'Word' in solidarity, not yet fully processing what my psyche was sort of subconsciously acknowledging.

I do not, either, believe that Jesus came to start Christianity. At the time he rebelled against the Church and its movement away from the Spirit's sacred teachings. Jesus's goal, from what I take away from the New Testament scriptures, was to point people back to the Spirit and the importance of creating the Kingdom Life here on earth. Jesus's message of love for enemies, of befriending the poor, of completely disassociating onself from the material world is a message that has once again been bogged down in terms of "faith" and "religion", whose belief is the "truth", who is going to "hell", whose Church is "growing" more, who has the bigger and better Christian music collection.