Authentic Commitment
So Special Internal Revenue Service Person Of Some Kind Lois Lerner said to Congress, "I didn't do anything wrong and I plead the fifth." The idea is that she must have something to hide and it's really really bad if she feels she has to say she didn't do anything bad before she said nothing about what bad she might've done. And because it has to do with the IRS targeting conservative non-profits for undue consideration of some kind there're a lot of conservatives who are steaming, as well as a lot of people who're being told this is some injustice they must fight against.
Except, there is a problem here, and it isn't with the IRS.
The fact is anyone in the IRS or in any government agency who is doing law enforcement by looking at what evil people are doing or what evil people will likely do is doing nothing wrong. They are merely doing the job assigned to them by God at the very beginning of man's existence. As a division of the legacy of Cain and his city-building, head-cracking, murder-employing duty, the IRS is merely doing its job of looking to see which non-profits are hypocritically abusing the privilege of evading taxes and at the same time censuring government officials -- an expressed violation of their own agreement in their own plain contractual commitment.
On the other hand, what if you didn't need Caesar's work to keep your evildoing in check? What if you were covered by the righteousness of Christ by His shed blood, by your belief on Him as Lord and Savior, and by the deep, rich, sowing love you have for others? What if you were doing that? You wouldn't need a 501c3 or 501c4, you wouldn't need to register as a government employee or presume non-resident alien status, and you wouldn't need to make yourself liable for paying taxes you do not owe in the first place.
It seems that of the 300,000,001 people in this country, 100,000,000 think the IRS is a great big awful beast that must be rigorously prodded with a big stick so it is sufficiently annoyed all the time. Another 100,000,000 want the IRS to viciously go after all those ugly conservatives and their hypocritical religiousity because they are so judgmental and political and homophobic. Another 100,000,000 just don't give a rat's ass about any of it, and whenever they think they know what's going on and speak up, they just sound ignorant.
Then there's that one guy left, me. Sometimes I just wonder if there really is anyone else who sees that temporal government is doing precisely what it is supposed to do but that there is a better place for people to be doing the sublime work of loving and sowing and the place where that happens is completely outside that realm. What a joy it would be to see lots of authentically Christ-following folk joining together with praises to God on their lips and using their gifts of mercy, service, encouragement, leadership, prophecy, teaching, and giving to manifest the Kingdom -- and I mean lots, millions of people doing this together, boldly, wisely, articulately, abundantly...
Now I'm not so embarrassingly arrogantly obtusely provincial. I know there are many who have a heart for Kingdom work. I'm not the only one, I know -- but I'm just sharing what I feel sometimes, that's all. I just want to see more of the Kingdom, see churches be real churches not just pathetically piddly smaller versions of Cain's ecclesiastical legacy, the Roman Catholic Church.
Today President Obama gave a commencement address at the Naval Academy and he used the opportunity to say to the graduates "Let's make sure we control our sexual urges, okay?" Yes, there is a serious crisis of sexual assaults in the military, and it isn't new. It's been going pretty good for quite some time. Mix the violently combustible mores of a hyper-sexualized society, the insistence that women do the same things as men do in close quarters on military bases, and the benighted humanist indoctrination from World operatives, and you're going to have a lot of deadly explosions.
But think about it. Just a few months ago Obama and a huge portion of society made sure that fiercely homosexually-minded people could openly serve in the military. This makes no sense whatsoever. And I don't necessarily blame Obama! He's just a product of those World operatives who make him behave the way he does.
When Obama says on one side of his mouth, "Homosexuals: come on in!" and then on the other, "Military folk: keep your pants on!" he doesn't recognize the abjectly immoral inconsistency within this commitment. Sure most homosexualists will shout, "Oh but the difference is that homosexuals together are doing their thing because they they've consented, and that's okay."
Excuse me, but have they really consented? I don't believe they have. Homosexually-minded individuals only do what they do because they themselves have had powerful emotional and spiritual forces destructively affect their sentiments through their lives so it now seems they must intractably do things they wouldn't otherwise do. And please, I'm an equal opportunity cynic -- anyone who does sexually wicked things is doing so because they've been taught to do so by people who themselves have been influenced by... hmm, where does that trail go?
Are you willing to look? Are you willing to find out? Do you care?
And just as importantly, are you still so willing to be tied contractually to the entity that is at the forefront of provoking people to behave in such ways?
Because if you are in a supposed "Christian" church that has congregants who say they believe in this Jesus fellow, then what in the world are you doing volitionally obligated to the power of the law and of the one who administers it? Those things are only employed to govern those whose sin must be managed. If you're still so stridently protective of your cherished non-profit tax-exempt incorporated status giving Caesar reign over your affairs -- really then, who is this Jesus fellow?
Oh I do have to confess how much I want to scratch a Christian and find that he or she really does call Him "Lord, Lord" and do what He says. That they don't just obsequiously give all of the value of their productive capacity to Caesar, nor do they remonstrate exceedingly against him because they really hate that he has to do his job of cracking heads even if it is theirs. Or even more that they don't just shrug and retreat into their own scared little world and stubbornly refuse to look at truth -- and yeah, experience grace.
But yeah, being merciful as He asks me to be I need to understand that, too. So yeah, I don't necessarily do all that He asks of me either. You may say I don't suffer fools gladly, but I'm worse. I don't suffer fools at all.
Thing is, Jesus suffered for me and my foolishness.
This truth and grace thing is very hard.
It is easy with the One Who Is Truth and Grace.
_
I little while ago I wrote a home page piece on the numbers. Just some added thoughts about the question, "Who has Jesus' name on their lips and are actually organizing in rich and vibrant ways -- completely abjured from the World -- to show others what the Kingdom really is?"
Another one I wrote is about types of people classified by the ways they respond to the World.
Except, there is a problem here, and it isn't with the IRS.
The fact is anyone in the IRS or in any government agency who is doing law enforcement by looking at what evil people are doing or what evil people will likely do is doing nothing wrong. They are merely doing the job assigned to them by God at the very beginning of man's existence. As a division of the legacy of Cain and his city-building, head-cracking, murder-employing duty, the IRS is merely doing its job of looking to see which non-profits are hypocritically abusing the privilege of evading taxes and at the same time censuring government officials -- an expressed violation of their own agreement in their own plain contractual commitment.
On the other hand, what if you didn't need Caesar's work to keep your evildoing in check? What if you were covered by the righteousness of Christ by His shed blood, by your belief on Him as Lord and Savior, and by the deep, rich, sowing love you have for others? What if you were doing that? You wouldn't need a 501c3 or 501c4, you wouldn't need to register as a government employee or presume non-resident alien status, and you wouldn't need to make yourself liable for paying taxes you do not owe in the first place.
It seems that of the 300,000,001 people in this country, 100,000,000 think the IRS is a great big awful beast that must be rigorously prodded with a big stick so it is sufficiently annoyed all the time. Another 100,000,000 want the IRS to viciously go after all those ugly conservatives and their hypocritical religiousity because they are so judgmental and political and homophobic. Another 100,000,000 just don't give a rat's ass about any of it, and whenever they think they know what's going on and speak up, they just sound ignorant.
Then there's that one guy left, me. Sometimes I just wonder if there really is anyone else who sees that temporal government is doing precisely what it is supposed to do but that there is a better place for people to be doing the sublime work of loving and sowing and the place where that happens is completely outside that realm. What a joy it would be to see lots of authentically Christ-following folk joining together with praises to God on their lips and using their gifts of mercy, service, encouragement, leadership, prophecy, teaching, and giving to manifest the Kingdom -- and I mean lots, millions of people doing this together, boldly, wisely, articulately, abundantly...
Now I'm not so embarrassingly arrogantly obtusely provincial. I know there are many who have a heart for Kingdom work. I'm not the only one, I know -- but I'm just sharing what I feel sometimes, that's all. I just want to see more of the Kingdom, see churches be real churches not just pathetically piddly smaller versions of Cain's ecclesiastical legacy, the Roman Catholic Church.
Today President Obama gave a commencement address at the Naval Academy and he used the opportunity to say to the graduates "Let's make sure we control our sexual urges, okay?" Yes, there is a serious crisis of sexual assaults in the military, and it isn't new. It's been going pretty good for quite some time. Mix the violently combustible mores of a hyper-sexualized society, the insistence that women do the same things as men do in close quarters on military bases, and the benighted humanist indoctrination from World operatives, and you're going to have a lot of deadly explosions.
But think about it. Just a few months ago Obama and a huge portion of society made sure that fiercely homosexually-minded people could openly serve in the military. This makes no sense whatsoever. And I don't necessarily blame Obama! He's just a product of those World operatives who make him behave the way he does.
When Obama says on one side of his mouth, "Homosexuals: come on in!" and then on the other, "Military folk: keep your pants on!" he doesn't recognize the abjectly immoral inconsistency within this commitment. Sure most homosexualists will shout, "Oh but the difference is that homosexuals together are doing their thing because they they've consented, and that's okay."
Excuse me, but have they really consented? I don't believe they have. Homosexually-minded individuals only do what they do because they themselves have had powerful emotional and spiritual forces destructively affect their sentiments through their lives so it now seems they must intractably do things they wouldn't otherwise do. And please, I'm an equal opportunity cynic -- anyone who does sexually wicked things is doing so because they've been taught to do so by people who themselves have been influenced by... hmm, where does that trail go?
Are you willing to look? Are you willing to find out? Do you care?
And just as importantly, are you still so willing to be tied contractually to the entity that is at the forefront of provoking people to behave in such ways?
Because if you are in a supposed "Christian" church that has congregants who say they believe in this Jesus fellow, then what in the world are you doing volitionally obligated to the power of the law and of the one who administers it? Those things are only employed to govern those whose sin must be managed. If you're still so stridently protective of your cherished non-profit tax-exempt incorporated status giving Caesar reign over your affairs -- really then, who is this Jesus fellow?
Oh I do have to confess how much I want to scratch a Christian and find that he or she really does call Him "Lord, Lord" and do what He says. That they don't just obsequiously give all of the value of their productive capacity to Caesar, nor do they remonstrate exceedingly against him because they really hate that he has to do his job of cracking heads even if it is theirs. Or even more that they don't just shrug and retreat into their own scared little world and stubbornly refuse to look at truth -- and yeah, experience grace.
But yeah, being merciful as He asks me to be I need to understand that, too. So yeah, I don't necessarily do all that He asks of me either. You may say I don't suffer fools gladly, but I'm worse. I don't suffer fools at all.
Thing is, Jesus suffered for me and my foolishness.
This truth and grace thing is very hard.
It is easy with the One Who Is Truth and Grace.
_
I little while ago I wrote a home page piece on the numbers. Just some added thoughts about the question, "Who has Jesus' name on their lips and are actually organizing in rich and vibrant ways -- completely abjured from the World -- to show others what the Kingdom really is?"
Another one I wrote is about types of people classified by the ways they respond to the World.
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