One of the get outta here swedish jesus branches

I do not want your Jesus...

I do not want this Jesus who wants you to get rich...

I do not want this Jesus who shows up at weddings and parties and tells you how wrong you are for drinking, dancing and having fun...

I do not want this Jesus who only hangs out with the popular people with lots of money, power, big houses and cars...

I do not want this Jesus who requires me to show up at a building once a week for the rest of my life so I get to go sing for the rest of eternity...

I do not want this Jesus who is white, with perfectly white glowing robes, and perfectly long brown hair and tidy looking sandals, and makes racist jokes against others because they are different than him (but they aren't really racist, just jokes)...

I do not want this Jesus who sucks the life out of life itself...

I do not want your Jesus...

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...

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...I want a Jesus who believes in justice.

...I want a Jesus who loves people regardless if they are rich, poor, fat, skinny, brown, white, popular, loners, gay, straight, young or old.

...I want a Jesus who took a stand against religious leaders all in the name of love and bringing his father glory.

...I want a Jesus who is rough, and hangs out with those who have no friends, and judges not those different from him.

...I want a Jesus who loves me for who I am, and then calls me to love others and BE a change in the world.

...I want a Jesus who gives life, and celebrates life to the full, in a fun and contagious fashion.

...I want Jesus...

...raw, untamed, rebellious, loving...

...NOT the swedish looking Jesus on your wall with everything all together smiling on you for your lifestyle and popularity, but the Jesus I've read so much about who is different and involved and in relationship with people, who calls us to so much more.

...THIS IS MY JESUS.

One of the amazed branches

Recently a group of my friends and I sat down and discussed the idea of creation. There were various opinions around the circle... and although we did not all agree on everything, I saw that regardless of opinions on whether or not God created it all...

We are amazed at the universe....

We are so small in the grand scheme (whatever that scheme may be)...

It hurts our brains to think about...

There is no proof either way, just piles and piles of evidence...

Science means "the study of truth", and I cannot help but believe that science backs up this notion that there is a creator. This whole thing is a huge debate, and my intentions aren't to spark debate. However, I will speak my peace, because I am overwhelmed by the bigness of it all, the intricateness of it all and the beauty of it all. 

I don't know how God did it...

But I think God made the universe, and I am ok with not understanding everything, because if I could completely understand God, that means he has a brain and thought process like me...and thats not a good thing.

Here is a song I enjoy listening to lately, and although it involves science, I think it just shows how creation screams with evidence for a creator. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk

Thoughts?

One of the polluted branches

"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"

James 1

Do we believe it?

If this is true, then why do we tend to associate orphans and widows as people who are polluted and end up treating them as pollution ourselves? Orphans aren't just cute little babies wrapped in sackcloth who can't tend to their own needs.

Orphans can be full grown people who have had a fatherless or motherless life and as a result have made bad choices or have lacked guidance. At least in my opinion. Widows in their distress can be men or women who have experienced such loss that they don't know how to deal with their loss and resort to means that we may not agree with. At least in my opinion.

The World in scripture covers a wide variety of things. In our culture, I think it tends to be things like greed, pride, and selfishness along with many other possibilities. Yet, our idea of the pollution of the world tends to be strictly alcohol, drugs, smoking, uncleanliness, and four letter words (#@$%). We want to be religious, so we run from these "pollutants".

What do you think constitutes pollutions that we need to keep ourselves from? And is it the pollutants or those who may be polluted that we avoid?

As a result of this, we are not pure, but tainted. We are not faultless, but at fault. We neglect the orphans and the widows unless of course it means giving money to some poor little aids orphan in Africa. Don't get me wrong, these are good causes too, but in our failed attempts, we create a terrible religion that screams of injustice and pain for orphans and widows.

Lets open our eyes to an old kind of religion that God sees as pure and faultless.

Lets open our eyes to who God views as the orphan and the widow.

Lets show compassion and justice to those who we think least deserve it.