Reality or Fantasy?

It's amazing where we find ourselves at times. Somehow, in the best moments of our lives, it seems that things have the inexplicable ability to turn for the worst. Our hearts rise on the wings of hope only to be shattered by the realization of harsh reality. My friends, life is not pretty. Sometimes we see a glimmer of hope in the sunrise or in the love of another, but all we have to do is look at the shores of our once gorgeous beaches or the prevalence of one-night-stands, divorces, and broken homes in this world to realize that our hopes are in shallow realities.

We live for fantasies.

I was watching this debate a couple days ago between one of the porn industry's biggest stars, Ron Jeremy, starring in over 3000 adult films, and the self proclaimed porn-pastor from xxxchurch.com. I have to admit, I learned a lot from watching these two. To me, it was obvious who made the better argument in the debate, but there was a lot to learn from both sides. The main thing I got is the fact that our culture lives for fantasy. We love to watch action flicks, to play games like lazer tag, and to look at porn, all of which involve us envisioning ourselves doing something that doesn't exist.

From sex, to drugs, to money, it's all about fantasies. Fantasies of the perfect love-life or reputation, the perfect feeling, or the ability to buy anything. It's all about finding pleasure. And yet... no matter what we do, it evades us.

Reality. What is it about this thing that we so long to avoid? Do we really get so much pleasure from fantasies that is better than real life? Or is it, rather, that we are so depressed by what we see in this world, that we have to find an escape just to keep on living?

Honestly, I have a hard time putting any kind of faith in people anymore. I'm beginning to see that people will always disappoint, always lie, and always hide their true essence, who they really are when nobody is looking. I don't know who to trust anymore, except for those who I have shared life with, and even some of those have turned on me for a lie. My heart aches for the ones who are alive in their fantasies, but dead in reality--the ones who drink, do drugs, have sex, and work themselves to the bone because if they don't, life would be a waste or simply meaningless.

There is more to this life than what we know, more than what we see, and more than what we can conceive. Our hearts lead us to believe and tell us that we are more than merely highly-evolved forms of the apes. We are more, and our essence is more than that of the apes. Our purpose is more. But what is our purpose?

Is the fact that we spend so much time in our fantasies a symptom of a lack of understanding of our true meaning and purpose in this life? Or is it something else?

Here's an interesting thought. Take a moment, think about the time when you were most happy. Not the time where you were extremely happy, and it ended up being a lie or a falsehood, such as a cheating gf/bf or a divorce, but when you were truly happy and felt that nothing was wrong in the world? What made that so precious to you? Maybe, in that moment, you can begin to understand what we were made to feel. Who we were made to be. And the reality that transcends this place and our fantasies.

Do we really want to live in a lie? Or do we want to live beyond the depravity of our humanity?

Gotta Love that Fake Church Language

You know, it's amazing how much people in the church say things without even realizing what they are saying. There's something about church culture that makes people think that they have to speak in some magic lingo to be Godly. Is there something about saying "thee" "thou" and "art" in our prayers that makes it easier for God to hear? Maybe God can only speak in 19th century english, and has no idea what we say if we don't speak that way.

I know, a lot of you are probably thinking, "Thank goodness I don't speak like that. That's for the old people. I talk normally when I talk about my Jesus." and for the most part, you're right. In our little town, most Christians have gotten out of that mentality of thee's and thou's, but I still think that there is a form of "Christian lingo" that many people haven't thought much about.

It's this idea that Christians have to be eternally happy. I guess with guys like Joel Olsteen and other "prosperity-gospel" preachers on t.v. who do nothing but smile incessantly, we get this idea that in order to be a good Christian, we have to smile, have 2.4 kids, tithe every week, pray 14x a day (cause you would do seven, since it's God's number, but since you want to make sure you cover it, you double the lucky seven), have a great home life, never yell or get angry, and always say "bless their heart" when you say something even questionably mean.

Sadly, this has been my experience with the church of America for the most part since I was a kid. Maybe you've experienced the same thing I did, or maybe you were around parts of it or, God forbid, even something worse than this. Well, whatever the case, this is a major problem facing the Church, and I think there's two reasons for it.

1. Authenticity
When was the last time that you saw a televangelist you could relate to? Or what about a pastor of the local megachurch? They always seem to be so happy and so incredibly perfect, like if you breathed on them, you'd be afraid they'd crack. So, you figure, "Church is for perfect people who have it all together. I wouldn't fit."

Hmm.... well, let's put it this way. Pulpits have never been good for humility. Something about getting paid $120,000 a year somehow makes you say things you know are false just so you can keep your check. Pulpits tend to make people say things that people want to hear. It's rare to find anyone who speaks what they actually think, especially with any kind of excitement, but there are a few. Some of my favorites are Mark Driscoll, Rob Bell, and Erwin McManus.

I love listening to these guys. They say things that aren't meant to make you feel good, but they're honestly just trying to figure out what it means to live out what Jesus teaches in the world we live. Of course, not everything they say is right or true, but nothing anyone says ever is. I certainly don't get everything right, I know that much.

But the thing about authenticity is that it involves work. It involves creativity. It involves the danger of losing--of losing that pay check, losing people from the church, and even, heaven forbid, losing their perfect reputation. Honesty is tough, but if we're serious about following Jesus, we should be as honest and blunt as He was. 'Course, there's a difference in honesty and brutality, but that's another issue entirely....

2. Religion vs. Jesus (Rules of the Pharisees)
The second problem we have is that for some reason, we can't get over this idea that we have to do things to get to heaven. Heck, we even think we have to do things to be a good Christian. Well, call me a heretic if you want, but I think God doesn't want us to be good Christians. I don't even think He wants us to be Christians.

At least, not in the sense of today's Christians. Today's Christian is focused on doing the right things, saying the right things, tithing enough, praying enough, and burning enough heretics to cut the heating bill in half for the next general budget. Christianity today has become no different than the other religions around it, and that's not what Jesus was about.

Jesus was authentically about something other than what this world and its religions offer us. He didn't come to make a new institution (although I'm sure some would like to debate that one), He didn't come to help you pay off your debts and get out of hell free. He came to give grace, something that we can't earn by our actions, but something that leads us to want to change, to be renewed by Him, and to obey Him.

It's all about your heart.

Religion says you have to do these things to be a good Christian or get to heaven. Jesus says you get to do these things out of joy because I love you and you're free.

God knows that if your heart truly is about loving Him and loving others, that everything else will follow. It's only natural. You can use all these big nice church terms, go every sunday, and even play in the praise band and still not follow Jesus.

It's not about acting a certain way. It's about a wholesale change of our hearts by surrendering them to Jesus and allowing our pitiful excuse for a good life to be completely transformed from something dented, bruised and with a few band-aids, into a brand new, beautiful, and clean. It should drive us to long to be more like Him and to share His heart.

Once our hearts are in the right place, the rest will follow. Just check out Luke 10: 25-37, James 2:14-26, Isaiah 58: 6-12. There's all kinds of verses about this.

I leave you with a passage from one of the aforementioned references from a version many of you may not be familiar or comfortable with:

"Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove. Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?"

Today, that same church lingo that was used 200 years ago is a symptom of either inauthentic faith, or religious piety through feeling the need to follow the rules of what Christian culture dictates is a good Christian. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of religion and inauthenticity.

But that's why there's Jesus.