Bumping Into Love

I just came across this guy’s blog which I liked:

a new life emerging
Jesus didn’t come to give us an intellectual belief…
For those who claim to be “Christian”– followers of The Way–
the way is Love, God’s very nature, embodied in Jesus.

Christianity isn’t a “belief system”; it’s a way.
Jesus came to show the way;
to be the way– and his way was Love.
to be the truth–and his truth was Love.
And to be the life– and his life was Love.

And if we truly want to know God,
then we too must walk in the way of his Love.
We too must walk in the truth of his Love.
We too must walk in life of his Love.

If somewhere along your journey you have managed to bump into Jesus,
then you have bumped into God– you have bumped into Love; better yet,
Love has bumped into you.

“And this is how you will know– by the way you love one another.”

My journey

I want to share more about my life in this blog. I still haven’t really gotten into the blogging thing fully. Initially I thought I would use it just to share some thoughts, ideas, poetry, etc. about spirituality and religion, which has been a pretty significant part of my journey lately. Especially since a few friends at my church also have blogs, it seemed a very safe place to post my abstract ideas without getting into the messy reality of my own life. I have come to the realization that it’s really hard for me to share my life journey with others, that a part of me (i.e. ego) is always putting up walls.

About half a year ago I decided to explore new career possibilities. I have been a software developer/consultant for about the last seven years. I really enjoy the problem solving and the creativity involved in developing software apps. At the same time, I don’t enjoy the isolation of working with computers more than with humans, and I have become less and less interested in business, and even technology. At least technology as the center of our life. In a world ruled by modern economics where efficiency is God, progress is salvation, this is the direction that the world is headed in, the direction that is hard to escape if I’m in the business world.

At the same time that I’ve become less interested in business and technology, I have serious questions about giving my time, mind, focus to the goals of business and “progress”. What does God want me to do with my life? In what role will I use my full potential, so I don’t waste the gift that God gave me? I know the possibilities are endless, it is only a matter of God showing the way. I have the privilege at this point in my life of not needing to make much money as I don’t have anyone to support but myself.  I also know that that a lot of necessity is imagined. We always have many more choices than we think we have. In America, many people have a lot of necessities because they feel they always need to follow what their neighbor is doing.

I look forward to sharing more about my journey in the days ahead.

The kingdom of heaven doesn’t arrive with great fanfare

Something I wrote… I guess it’s a poem of sorts

The kingdom of heaven doesn’t arrive with great fanfare, its coming isn’t greeted by camera crews. Instead it drifts in out of the blue, like autumn leafs swirling, arriving from nowhere.

The kingdom of heaven doesn’t advance through expensive ad campaigns, but instead it’s announced by the laughter of children and the smiles of the meek.

The kingdom of heaven doesn’t spread furiously like a wildfire, but instead it sprouts like humble blades of grass on the field that was cleared by fire.

You can run in search for the kingdom of heaven, but you’ll be out of breath before you can catch it! When you’re least expecting to find it, it will be revealed to you by a stranger.

The kingdom of heaven won’t be conquered by force, even though it sometimes suffers violence. It eludes violent people, the willful and proud, and opens its doors to those who receive it simply and willingly.

Rob Bell videos

Just discovered these videos by Rob Bell

I think I’ve heard about these before, but first time I’ve seen them.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Love - The Message

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies.
–1 Cor 13

A friend recently posted something that I thought was cool.. he said “to see if someone is a real friend, simply go to 1 Corinthians 13 and replace the word ‘love’ with your friend’s name”.  That made me think… have I been a good friend?  Hmmm..  You can try it with with the names of your friends, and you can try it with Jesus too.

Slashdot | Statue of Galileo Planned for Vatican

I like reading Slashdot because there’s usually interesting discussion. In response to this news items someone commented

Well, if the Church wants to give the impression that they want to fix their mistakes and apologize for them, I think it would be better if they apologized for supporting dictatorships and benefiting from them (as they did in Spain for 40 years, for example).

They could also get rid of child molesters and stop paying (lots of) money to keep things under wraps, which obviously is not the best way to solve the problem.

These kind of news really pisses me off. A statue to Galileo 400 years late? WTF?

I often think that religious institutions are evil. I think they are like organisms, they grow and evolve and seem to have a mind of their own, a spirit of their own, even. And its spirit reflects that it is ruled by man, a creation of man, not of God. I’m sure the Catholic church would vehemently deny that it is a human institution, but even if it was originally established by God, that doesn’t mean it was always led by God since.

Of course non-religious institutions, i.e. corporations, are even worse. I recommend watching the movie The Corporation.  Here’s something from Wikipedia:

One central theme of the documentary is an attempt to assess the “personality” of the corporate “person” by using diagnostic criteria from the DSM-IV; Robert Hare, a University of British Columbia Psychology Professor and FBI consultant, compares the modern, profit-driven corporation to that of a clinically diagnosed psychopath.

And then there’s Google, whose motto is “Don’t Be Evil”, and I have to admit I like Google and I think they actually do a pretty good job at keeping with their motto, unlike many companies whose mission statement is a bunch of BS. Is it possible for an institution created by man to be good?

8 reasons why our prayers may lack power - Part 2

5. Our prayer is not relational. Prayer is not supposed to be mechanical. It’s not a formula that we follow which guarantees God will answer. God already knows our needs and desires, a lot of repetition won’t help him understand any better. Also, often we just ask ask ask God, instead of conversing with God and listening for the answer He may be trying to give to us.

6. Our sin is blocking God’s power. Sin is like a clog in the pipe that connects us to God and his power. It blocks communication with God and blessings from Him.

7. We don’t feel compassion. The Gospel cites Jesus’ compassion as a motivating factor for him healing the sick.  Surely, compassion is also important for us in our intercession for others.  But how much do we allow ourselves to feel compassion, for others and even for ourselves?

8. Do we still lack understanding? Jesus said “Very truly I tell you, all who have faith in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.“  This is really hard to believe sometimes, isn’t it?  Do we truly understand it?  Do we believe it?

8 reasons why our prayers may lack power - Part 1

I was thinking about this topic.. and I came up with some ideas.

1. We have little faith. This is the obvious one. It’s the point Jesus drove home over and over again. “Why do you have so little faith?” Maybe this is not a rhetorical question and rather something we should ponder.

2. Our faith lacks childlike simplicity. Have you ever listened to a child praying? The prayers are beautiful and simple. This kind of prayer reveals a real trust in God. A lot of knowledge, theology, and experience only hinders faith. Remember, it was to a religious leader that Jesus said “you must be born again”.

3. We don’t keep on asking. Prayer isn’t always immediately answered. God answers prayers the same way I reply to emails. Sometimes you get an a reply right away, other times you’ll get it months later! But Jesus made it clear that we should keep on asking, even if our prayer doesn’t get answered right away. We also can’t lose faith in the meantime. If we pray for a few days and then start indulging in negative thoughts and doubting that God wants to answer, do we really have faith? And while you’re praying you might want to consider fasting too.

4. We ask with wrong motives. Don’t you hate when you ask God for something and at the same time have an inkling it’s not the right thing to ask for? It’s our human nature to desire, and not everything we want is in our best interest or in God’s plan. I don’t think it’s wrong to ask, as God wants to hear what is on our heart, but we should also examine our hearts to find out if we asking with right motives.

Defining Love

Last night in a small group discussion I asked how would people define love. I think one friend answered “unselfishness”, I have to admit I like that for a one-word definition!

Here is my favorite definition, from The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck:

The will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.

Here are some other thought-provoking ideas: Misconceptions about love, from The Road Less Traveled. Hope this will inspire you to read the book.

Falling in Love

Of all the misconceptions about love the most powerful and pervasive is the belief that “falling in love” is love or at least one of the manifestations of love. It is a potent misconception, because falling in love is subjectively experienced in a very powerful fashion as an experience of love. When a person falls in love what he or she certainly feels is “I love him” or “I love her.” But two problems are immediately apparent. The first is that the expereince of falling in love is specifically a sex-linked erotic experience. We do not fall in love with our children even though we may love them very deeply. We do not fall in love with our friends of the same sex — unless we are homosexually oriented –even though we may care for them greatly. We fall in love only when we are consciously or unconsciously sexually motivated.

Dependency

The second most common misconception about love is the idea that dependency is love. This is a misconception with which psychotherapists must deal on a daily basis. Its effects is seen most dramatically in an individual who makes an attempt or gesture or threat to commit suicide or who becomes incapacitatingly depressed in response to a rejection or separation from spouse or lover. Such a person says, “I do not want to live, I cannot live without my husband [wife, girlfriend, boyfriend], I love him [or her] so much.” And when I respond, as I frequently do, “You are mistaken; you do not love your husband [wife, girlfriend, boyfriend].” “What do you mean?” is the angry question. “I just told you I can’t live without him [or her].” I try to explain. “What you describe is parasitism, not love. When you require another individual for your survival, you are a parasite on that individual. There is no choice, no freedom involved in your relationship. It is a matter of necessity rather than love. Love is the free excercise of choice. Two people love each other only when they are quite capable of living without each other but choose to live with each other.”

Self-Sacrifice

Whenever we think of ourselves as doing something for someone else, we are in some way denying our own responsibility. Whatever we do is done because we choose to do it, and we make that choice because it is the one that satisfies us the most. Whatever we do for someone else we do because it fulfills a need we have. Parents who say to their children, “You should be grateful for all that we have done for you” are invariably parents who are lacking in love to a significant degree. Anyone who genuinely loves knows the pleasure of loving. We have children because we want to have children, and if we are loving parents, it is because we want to be loving parents. It is true that love involves a change in the self, but this is an extension of the self rather than a sacrifice of the self. As will be discussed again later, genuine love is a self-replenishing activity. Indeed, it is even more; it enlarges rather than diminishes the self; it fills the self rather than depleting it. In a real sense love is as selfish as nonlove. Here again there is a paradox in that love is both selfish and unselfish at the same time. It is not the selfishness or unselfishness that distinguishes love from nonlove; it is the aim of the action. In the case of genuine love the aim is always spiritual growth. In the case of nonlove the aim is always something else.

A beautiful creation of God

God knits together each one of us in the womb, and what comes out of the womb is a perfect human, a beautiful creation of God. We can see with our own eyes that this is true, that every baby is born perfect (I won’t go into birth defects now, but I would argue that we see as a defect isn’t always a defect in God’s eyes). But this perfection doesn’t doesn’t last for long. The eyes of infants are full of light, but we see eyes of strangers around us that are dull with pain or despair. On this earth we’re subject to all kinds of evil, mental sickness, and physical sickness.

What sculptor wants his creation defaced? If a sculptor creates a masterpiece, even in his own image, and then later finds it marred and disfigured, he will say “an enemy has done this”. When Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, was this God’s will? Joseph says to his brothers: “what you meant for evil, God meant for good”. God allows suffering, wars, and illness. But He also rescues, redeems, and heals.