Blog 6: Nothing in a Name.

Hey and stuff.

Do you know what one of my favorite shows on tv is? Notice how I didn't say it was the best show on tv. Because really, there are better.

Eli Stone. Yep, that's what I said. Eli stone.

It's about a lawyer who gets a brain aneurism who starts hallucinating. It turns out his hallucinations are actually visions, and he has to follow them to help people.

I'm guessing right now that there are a couple of you thinking, "Well sure. You are a pastor, you would like that crap."

You would be wrong. I couldn't stand Touched By An Angel. I hated Seventh Heaven. I pretty much don't like any of those shows because they generally just suck. I'm more of a Battlestar Galactica kind of guy. Or Scrubs.

I really like Family Guy.

I don't usually like those because they are so ridiculously unrealistic that it's just laughable. They aren't even remotely believable.

Now, I'm not saying that Eli Stone is the epitome of believablility. But it brings up a concept that hits a defining point about God interacting with people.

This guy, Eli, isn't a christian. He didn't even think he believed in God. No surprise there. That makes for interesting writing. He's a greedy lawyer. And he's a very good greedy lawyer.

But now, he starts seeing that there is a pattern to his hallucinations. And he thinks that to ignore them would be ridiculous. And he starts helping people. It destroys his life. His mentor/boss now hates him. His engagement falls apart. He winds up alienating almost everyone in his life. But he keeps doing it because it's right. He's finally doing the right thing, and how can he not help these people when it's clear he's the only one who can, because he's the one put in their path?

The reason why I like this show is because, despite it's hollywood slant, it's frightenling accurate. All throughout the bible, God did exactly what is happening in the show.

In the show, the writers didn't set Eli up to be some good christian man who gladly takes on the role. Eli is the guy who wishes it would all go away so he can get his life back.

Us Christians have a very high opinion of ourselves. We look at our storied history. Our traditions and doctrines. We have built our lives around our orthodoxy. It is all in all to us.

Unfortunately, we forget the other part of our history. The part where whenever God really needed something done, He would often have to choose someone else to do the work, because His "faithful" were too busy either focusing on their beliefs and reveling in their namesake.

If we look at our spiritual ancestors, the Jews, the people of Israel, we see that we are just like them. They were so caught up in their name, their heritage, that they couldn't even see God when he stood among them. So, He took the message to other people who would listen.

I think one historical tidbit that gets ignored is a very telling one. Whether you are Jewish or Christian, we still look at God's chosen people, the Jews as an example. The people who had the rules and followed them. Well, followed them sometimes.

Except, Israel was called Israel because Jacob was renamed. But we know that. And really, Jacob wasn't that great of a guy. He was a liar and a cheater.

But go back to his Grandfather. Abraham. Abraham was from Ur. Ur is in Babylon. That made Abraham a Babylonian. So really, the Jews were Babylonians of a different path. This puts alot of history into perspective when you consider how much Israel despised the Babylonians. Especially after they conquered Israel. Which happened because God couldn't get Israel to clean up their act. When they wouldn't listen to His chosen righteous, God brought in someone who wasn't righteous. Someone who ultimately did what they were told, even though they weren't part of the "flock."

Like Eli Stone. Like Abraham, who's family, and likely even him, were polytheists. Like Ruth, chosen among idolaters to be in the line of Jesus. Like Rahab the pagan prostitute who was David's ancestor, and therefore Jesus ancestor. Like Paul, who was actually running around killing christians. Like Balam, who was a pagan prophet, and even though he wasn't an overly righteous man, knew that he could only do what God asked, nothing more, nothing less.

All the flawed and screwed up people. All the people who didn't carry the fancy title of Christian or pure Jew. God picked them to do some of his most important work because he couldn't count on the ones he already had.

Being a "christian" means nothing. Being a servant of others means everything. Just carrying around the title gets one nothing. The name is empty. It's the actions that matter. Not the rules, or the standards. Not the beliefs or the doctrines. But the service to the people around us. Yes, the bible says we must believe. But the James also said that even the devil believes in Jesus. Just saying that one believes and is there far part of the club means nothing. James said, "You say you have faith, and are a christian? Fine. But I'll show you that I am by my actions."

James understood that words mean nothing. It's not a works thing. It's a love thing. He said in that same letter that the only religion that God cares about is this: caring for orphans and widows and the needy.

That's not just a powerful statement, but it's a very telling and condemning statement. God only cares about helping people. This is the religion that matters. Therefore, any religion or belief system that does not produce, promote, teach or have at it's core and every other part this type of religion, is False.

Just believing the "right" thing, or having the "right" name, or being part of the "right" church, denomination, "religion" or group, means nothing. There is no power or meaning in it.

If we actually believe in God, then the thing that should matter most, the thing that should be the focus of everything we are, is the service of others that comes from our compassion for others which is the evidence of our love of God.
I believe that it is the missunderstanding of this point that has done the most damage to "religion" everywhere. This is why Christianity fails. This is why people don't like some christians. It's because many people recognize that most Christians spend all their time guarding the club, and no time actually living the love they profess to have.

And I believe that it is because of this, that God tends to find some poor shmuck who isn't inside the club, who hasn't bound himself up in the club mindset, to go and get things done.

God is no respector of persons, races, religions, sexes or creeds. There is only one thing God respects. The person who is willing to act out of love.

Anything else is usually just self serving. And if we as humans have little use for a self serving individual, why would we think that God would?

Choose to be selfless. Be the type of person that so many others claim to be.
Talk is cheap.

As a wise Jedi named Yoda once said, "Do, or do not."

Forget the names and titles and catagories. Just go and do.

Period.