Non Compos Spiritus Mentis

I'm changing my mantra ...

For several years now, i have had something that i recite throughout the day to help me "practice the presence" (of god), a mantra, if you will. It is "the Jesus prayer". It goes like this: "Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living god, have mercy on me, a sinner." It has worked well for me as I don't have to think about it to remember it, it just comes out. However, I have a couple of problems with it. I have been questioning the kind of "medieval" tone of the breast beating sinner. I mean, we ARE sinners and we should be aware of that. it's the reality of our relationship to god. He's perfect, we're not. We should have proper humility and compassion for all of our fellow humans, we're all in the same boat.

But I question the idea of pounding that into your psyche all day long. I started thinking about looking for something more positive, looking at the love and goodness of god instead.

The other problem I have with it, is that I'm a musician and always have music running through my head. I have a tendency to set everything to music. I used to do IT work for several law firms and I would always set the names of the firms to music. Not intentionally but without realizing it. The names of the partners would suggest a rhythm and then a melody and even a whole arrangement would come out of that. 

So the jesus prayer lends itself to that kind of songification because of the rhythm of the words. And the tune and arrangement that it suggested was not particularly reverent otherwise i don't think it would have been a problem. I actually thought about recording it. I'm not going to attempt that because i don't think there is any profit in it and i wouldn't want to spoil the prayer for anyone else.

Having said all that, I have been looking for an alternative and i think i have found a good one. I believe i got this from a book by Marcus Borg (a liberal, horrors!). It's one he uses and it goes like this: "Lord Jesus Christ, you are the light of the world. Fill my mind with your peace and my heart with your love." I think it's prosaic enough that i won't come up with a "tune" for it and it's pretty positive. No one should have any objection to that, right? Not that i care what anyone else thinks, ha!

That's OK for Jesus, He was God

I heard this comment today that it was OK for Jesus to heal on the Sabbath, thereby supposedly breaking the Old Testament law about not working on Saturday because he was god. He made the original rule so he can break or change it.

Well, I think what Jesus was saying here was not that he was changing the law, but that the law was wrong, at least as far as that application of it was concerned. He's saying it's the spirit of the law that's important not the letter.

When I was a kid, the idea i had of jesus was that he could do all that stuff because he was god. We couldn't because we're not. How could those bad people not recognize he was god? I mean if a guy is walking around glowing and with a halo doing miracles, how could you not know he was god, right? I'd know it.  This is the kind of misunderstanding you get with the jesus is god thing rather than jesus came to give us an example of how to live a godly life. I'm not saying he wasn't god, i'm just saying it's easy to get on the wrong track because of this. We forget jesus is our example and just say well he's god and perfect and all that and i just can't do it. We give ourselves a pass.

Rather than jesus tinkering with the law, I think he was flat out saying some of the old laws were just wrong. he said "you've heard it said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but i say ..." turn the other cheek, etc. Well that law was given by moses and it's in the pentateuch. That's what flipped out the Pharisees and other religious people. He's saying the law is wrong and he's going to tell what you should do instead. Wow!

On Being Saved

Are you saved? Lately that term sticks in my craw. As if it's some kind of watershed experience that all Christians have to have had in order to be a "real" Christian. Maybe it is for some but everyone does not have the radical "testimony book" type of conversion. It's something you can't make happen but in evangelicalism it's a requirement so it encourages faking it.

Everyone who lives, has lived or will lived is already "saved" by Jesus' death and resurrection. The problem is, we don't have to accept it. I can forgive you for some offense against me but either (a) you can refuse to acknowledge that you have offended me or (2) you can refuse to accept the forgiveness, instead continuing to punish yourself for your offense. Either way you cannot reap the benefit of the forgiveness. You cannot, for your part, have the relationship with me that you could have.

Evangelicals view being saved as a one time experience. After that, it's all gravy. Many have had that experience for real and then say that everyone has to have it or their not really a Christian. Yes, may we all have an experience of God's presence and reality. And many more! But it cannot and should not be manufactured or pressured out of us in order to be part of the in club of born-again Christianity.