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Don't accept distortions by ~gracelikerain316:icongracelikerain316:

Categories Literature > Poetry > Spiritual > Open


Don't accept Distortions


Don't give me your simpering, weak floppy Jesus,

A man who spoke mystical truths in King James English,

Who never raised His voice beyond imagined impassive strains of meekness.



Don't give me the name it and claim it Christ,

Who hands out candy and cash to good girls and boys,

If they only knew how to have just enough faith

…and seed money.



Don't give me the "historical" Jesus, and

Whatever liberal jargon attached, a man who was

Really quite good, it's just that he never really rose again.



Give me the Truth, the Messiah, the Only Way, a Point of Exclusivity,

The Redeemer, The Servant, The King, The crossroads of all history,

the Word of God,


He died sacrificially by Divine choice not weakness, to fulfill the Law and

Prophets we could not - He Redeems. He alone sets us apart from the wrath of a

Holy God, washed clean in His blood.



He is Truth and Grace, Compassion and a Holy Fire of Authority.

He consistently exposed hypocrisy with the truth of His righteousness, yet He

healed the wounds of the broken, and let a prostitute kiss His feet in repentance.



Give me Christians who actually speak this Truth, and offer His Grace..

but compromise neither.



We do not have an indifferent faith, or an indifferent Christ.

Speak!

Don't accept the distortions.

Sin matters. Truth matters. Grace matters.



Let us Abide in Him.
©2007-2009 ~gracelikerain316
:icongracelikerain316:

Author's Comments

This random piece of writing/rant just came to me as I considered some of the pictures of Christ that I have seen presented recently. It seems kinda angsty in hindsight..

The main driving force behind this piece is that the more I understand about who Jesus is, the more convinced I am that we must portray this Biblical image of Christ very actively as we exist in a increasingly secularised culture. Most kids don't go to Sunday School anymore, and Christianity is portrayed as either an archaic dinosaur of our Western History superceded by our wisdom and relativism, or as a virtually cultic money hungry tv-preacher spitting down a microphone to a pent up audience.

We have forgotten what sin is, the word itself is so repulsive in our culture (I know it was to me before I came to Christ).. the stain of guilt our society is desperately trying to scrub clean with pop-psychology, self help books and the vain reassurance of moral relativism. Which all makes sense because as long as we define god in our own image we will continually justify our bad behaviour as relatively ok. So we should feel relatively unguilty then.. right?

This poem then is really written to those who consider themselves Christians, possibly as a challenge to examine again what image of Christ we understand... and thus portray to our world.

He was more than a social worker. More than a top bloke...

Comments


love 0 0 joy 0 0 wow 1 1 mad 0 0 sad 0 0 fear 0 0 neutral 0 0
:iconimanasses:
~iManasses Apr 30, 2007, 3:34:50 AM
"A man who spoke mystical truths in King James English". the only verse I don't like.
:icongracelikerain316:
~gracelikerain316 Apr 30, 2007, 10:26:44 AM
Hey thanks for your encouragement. :) glad you liked it.

I'd really like to know what you didn't like about it..?

Maybe I can explain my rationale? I actually like that line.. I was trying to express that many people have this image of Christ that emerges out of an understanding that makes Jesus somewhat irrelevant, as though a object of our western cultural history. Many non-Christians, like to quote scripture as a series of 'thees' and 'thous' which seems to make it appear as antiquated mysticism of days gone by... and not relevant for today.

And also, therefore, not even looking deep enough to consider the very truth that Jesus actually did not speak in English at all! :) Like the urban myth of the woman in the bookstore saying 'if Paul had want us to read Scripture in contemporary english he wouldn't have written it in King James...' :p

Hope that makes sense. Thank you so much for your comments. Cool feedback and muchly appreciated. :)

God bless,

Lisa

--
'He knows repentance is not what we do in order to earn forgiveness; it is what we do because we have been forgiven.' Brennan Manning
:iconzaemura:
Mood: Astonished ~Zaemura May 9, 2007, 6:21:53 PM
Absolutely one of the most purest pieces written on the matter at hand. WOW! Really... thanks for taking the time to write this. There is so much middle ground out there and so many who misuse the name for whatever reasons and few who take the time to honor and feel that fire of His thorns or what it means to spend time on the cross. Amazing piece of writing!!!!!!!~

--
"Live as if everyone is watching!" - Truman

:floating: :ufo: :phae: :ufo: :floating:
:iconlastbattlelhu:
~lastbattlelhu Jul 17, 2007, 5:18:14 PM
amen. he totally was more than a social worker- social workers keep their distance so they do not get drawn in. God comes into people's lives and draws them out of their own..... :)

lovely poem of grace and truth and not compromising the Good News :)

--
I breathe in
and breathe out
put one foot in front of the other
-Chris Cagle

Until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words,--'Wait and hope'.
~Alexandre Dumas (Count of Monte Cristo
:icongracelikerain316:
~gracelikerain316 Jul 17, 2007, 5:21:36 PM
lol makes sense you'd like this one ;) thank you for your encouragement. blessed i am!

great point about social workers, Jesus had different boundaries of care than we can ever construct on our own. I love the way He deals with people in the gospels.. addressing the questions of their hearts not necessarily of their lips. "Who do you say that I am?"

--
'He knows repentance is not what we do in order to earn forgiveness; it is what we do because we have been forgiven.' Brennan Manning
:icongracelikerain316:
~gracelikerain316 Jul 17, 2007, 5:24:41 PM
thank you so much for this beautiful comment. i must have missed it before and forgotten to thank you. thank you. :)

Our Redeemer lives

(you know what is cool.. do you know who said that? it was Job!)

--
'He knows repentance is not what we do in order to earn forgiveness; it is what we do because we have been forgiven.' Brennan Manning
:iconlastbattlelhu:
~lastbattlelhu Jul 17, 2007, 6:19:18 PM
funny thing is - i have a degree in social work...lol...

Jesus really gets to the heart of he matter :)

--
I breathe in
and breathe out
put one foot in front of the other
-Chris Cagle

Until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words,--'Wait and hope'.
~Alexandre Dumas (Count of Monte Cristo
:icongracelikerain316:
~gracelikerain316 Jul 17, 2007, 6:37:46 PM
all the better to 'see' things with.

degrees are like that. good lenses.. mostly.

very cool :)

--
'He knows repentance is not what we do in order to earn forgiveness; it is what we do because we have been forgiven.' Brennan Manning
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