Sep 10
9
You Cannot Have Faith Unless…
(A Bridge to Something Else, Entirely …or is it?)
Are you standing around with others who are starving? Seek food of a different kind!
We have to define what we mean by faith in order to decipher the above title. I am saying, in this title, that in order to get the kind of faith that accomplishes the seeming supernatural, you know, the kinds of things that were attributed to Jesus while he was walking in the physical realm, we have to gain a different perspective than held by the majority of Christians.
Some religious people who believe that Jesus actually did perform miracles such as healing the sick, raising the dead, turning water into wine, healing diverse diseases, giving sight to people who were even born sightless, hearing to the deaf, all those sorts of things, ignore something he said:
“Anyone who believes enough will do the very same things you have seen me do and more.” I spend no little time in railing against Christian churches which are breeding grounds for unbelief. There are myriad ways in which churches breed unbelief, but high on that list is encouraging people to talk about Jesus being special and ignoring the fact that, again, he said anyone who believes enough will do the very same things (and even more in quantity and greater in degree) than he did as individuals.
Jesus didn’t just say that anyone who believed enough will do the same things (and, again, greater things than) he did, but he also gave very clear instructions about how to get to the point of believing enough.
If, as some believe (and I am among them), that not only did Jesus say anyone who believed enough would do what he did, in the seeming supernatural arena, but something far more startling which is that we would be transformed into being who he was as a man.
Now then, if you can accept the foregoing paragraph as a possibility, let’s ask a very pointed question: Doesn’t it seem just a bit silly for a group of potential duplicates of Jesus to be sitting on a pew listening to someone who doesn’t even believe in the possibility for himself or anyone else …and further, call that “church?”
I recently sent an article to Ryan Bruce, who heads up Spiritual Healing Source, in Burnaby, B.C., the publisher of some of Brad Cullen’s books and who is the sponsor of this website, and Ryan called me about it and recorded the phone call. The article is entitled, “Controversy? You Bet!” The recording is scheduled to be Podcast #26.
I was uncomfortable about him posting either the article or the podcast …without some preparation for readers and listeners. When I prayed about it I saw a picture of a bridge. When I asked for an interpretation, it was to write an article that would prepare people for what we had discussed.
Break Free from indoctrination.
We talked about one of the reasons we both left organized Christianity …the so-called church …one of the reasons is Christianity’s negative treatment of homosexuals.
Jesus wanted us to focus on many things; if we can set aside our prejudices and judgments for a moment, the article which I called “Controversy” and the podcast (#26) I believe will be a bridge to understanding for some. Some, I’m quite sure, will never darken our door again, my attitude is let them who have ears hear.
Introspectively, I have to say that I wasn’t uncomfortable about posting the article because of the content, but rather that the podcast lacked the usual combativeness between Ryan and me. He started off by saying he didn’t see the article as controversial… and said he was blasé about it. I tried to bait him into arguing and we really didn’t have anything to argue about.
Now then, before you read the article, “Controversy? You Bet!” and get somewhat lost in whatever your reactions happen to be to our recorded discussion (podcast #26) …please go to the top menu bar and click on the tab, “Brad On,” then scroll down to the bottom of the list of topics and click on “Church and Why I Don’t Attend” — so you understand the broader reason for my distaste.
Now with heightened anticipation see what you think, is the article controversial or was I just making a mountain out of a molehill and Ryan was justified in feeling blase’ …Ryan and I would love to get YOUR reactions …please e-mail us or make a comment on the website. Thanks.
In Freedom,
Brad