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empty-church · 7 years

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I Hate the Cross of Christ

Author's Note: This is a confession. I write these words as I struggle with the sin tangled deep in my DNA. As a Christian, I know the beauty and value of the cross and I am not denouncing it. But, as you will see, the cross messes me up. Big time. I write to help bring clarity to my own struggles, but also to attempt to give words to those who can't explain their own unsettling experience with the cross.

When I survey the cross

Ah, the glorious, bloody, disgusting, offensive cross. My least favorite part about being a Christian. I have no shame in saying this. The cross and all its symbolism are offensive to me. They repulse me. I hate it.

The scene of the cross is everything my "holiness" upbringing screamed against. Excessive violence, mockery, alcohol, nudity, and murder all have cameos in the triumphant story of Jesus. It offends me. Let me explain how:

The cross of Jesus offends my senses as a human being. I don't wish death on anyone, but especially not this type of death. I would be perfectly fine with a world that has no violence, yet God himself suffered violence at the hands of his own creation. Which brings me to my next point...

The cross of Jesus offends my intellect. It is said that the cross of Jesus is what freaked out Fredriech Nietzsche because he just couldn't understand how the all-powerful God could allow himself to be tortured like this. This eroded Nietzsche's sense of logic and he then turned away from religion. I see his point. It is hard to sync the logic of this world and the foolishness of the cross. If I daily pursue more personal power and popularity, then why should I worship someone who freely gave it all up? The cross doesn't make sense. Speaking of popularity...

The cross of Jesus offends my cool. It ain't cool associating yourself with the ideals of the cross. The phrase, "Hey let me tell you about a bloody naked dude who was tortured and killed" never gets you many friends. Going to church, denying yourself, and following the path of Jesus in the way that he directs us to is not the path to popularity. I like being popular and loved. I seek it. Call it an acceptance deficiency that comes baked-in to adopted kids. I want to be like the cool kids. With my ego, I want the cool kids to be like me. The cross doesn't fit into that worldview.

And let's be real for just one second, Christian culture has tried to make the cross as cool as possible by skirting the realness of the situation. A focus on the cool benefits of Jesus death demands a focus on what's best for us. Co-opting the cross for personal gain is the goal of many Christians (this, I confess, includes me). The best metaphor for how we carry our cross is the diamond-encrusted Jesus piece that hangs from our necks. When you turn a symbol of suffering into a symbol of success you've missed the point. About missing the point...

The cross of Jesus offends my ambitions. The point of Christianity is to live as Christ lived. How did Jesus live? I borrow from Brett McCracken's take on Phillippians 2:5-11:

"Every taking-up-our-cross loss that we endure is worth it. For Christ and for us in him, weakness, suffering, and loss are not the end of the story. They lead to victory, resurrection, and eternal gain. The beautiful hymn of Philippians 2: 5– 11 captures it well. The first half is a descent: Christ leaves his heavenly home, forgoing his “equality with God,” emptying himself and reducing himself to the form of a servant by becoming human. Then further down: he is obedient to the point of death. And further down still: “even death on a cross” (v. 8). At this lowest point the passage pivots to ascent: God exalts Christ and gives him the name above all names. Then further up: every knee worships him in heaven and earth. Further up still: “every tongue confess[ es] that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (v. 11). This is the trajectory of the Christian life. Like Christ, we descend to ascend. We humble ourselves, shunning our status, accepting the depths of our depravity. And then we are exalted with Christ. After suffering, glory. After the cross, resurrection. Every loss is worth the gain of Christ. " -- McCracken, Brett. Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community (pp. 55-56). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

I am supposed to live a descending life. One that gives up control to the one who gave up control. To sacrifice comfort to the one who sacrificed ultimate poshness. I am supposed to love even when it hurts because of the one who hurt because he loved.

And my ambitions are instantly crushed.

When I first started with this website and church-planting project I secretly had some ambition to prove that I could do it—that I am smart enough, capable enough, ambitious enough to build something.

The cross of Jesus is offending me out of this type of thinking.

And you know what. I am super-uncomfortable admitting that.

My Hate is Sin

I easily recognize my hate as sin. These feelings that I have toward the cross need to be nailed to the cross in surrender. The cool, the ambition, and the pride that suggests that I know a better way to live than God himself needs to be put to a glorious spiritual death.

Jesus submitted to the destiny of the cross just so I could also submit to my destiny of the cross. To be truly alive, we must first taste the death of our shackles and chains. And in the deep heart of the night, my ultimate yearning is to be alive.

So, do I hold on to this hate because it is the comfortable known? Or do I take the Via Dolorosa that Jesus has paved for me? Both are pain. Both are extremely uncomfortable. Only one is sin.

Together Empty Church is embracing the uncomfortable. Join us as we dig into Brett McCracken's new book Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community and uncover all the parts that make us uneasy about our faith, uneasy about being friends, and uneasy about building a church that realizes that comfort is not the goal of Christiantiy.

About the Author | Josh Schaidt Twitter – Facebook – Instagram I love cookies and I still buy music one album at a time. @EmptyChurch is one way I live empty, talk faith, and opt in to follow Jesus.

Please remember our Rules For Discussion when commenting.

This American Church A place for exploring the Church in the American context. Issues may get political, cultural, and philosophical — but it’s always personal.

→ Read more about This American Church here.

#uncomfortable

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incursionofthedamnedrpg · 7 years

Photo

Dante Accepted! You know what to do, babe.

Name: Mimi

Age: 18

Timezone: EST

State an account where we can message you: This one

How active you’re going to be: (1-10) right now it’s a 5-6

How did you find out about this roleplay? In it :D

Why do you want to play this character? I’ve been struggle with muse lately so I thought writing a character of my own would help bring it back

Anything else you would like to tell us? (Changes, suggestions…etc)

IC:

Preferred Ships: Chemistry

Sample Para: RFP.

Name: Dante Birthday: Unknown (28/2000+) Species: Demon Lookalike: DJ Cotrona Availability: Taken

Personality

Dante has a very headstrong personality, often challenging other in risky situations, being heavy on sarcastic remarks and bluffs. He has a “take no prisoners” attitude but does care about those he is close with, which is close to no one. He holds loyalty to Lucifer and will always follow his orders. He has his codes that typically don’t agree with common principles but who is he to care? He is known for some rather careless behaviours but underneath all that is a calculative mind prone to manipulation and deceit.

Past

The life Dante had before Hell is near nonexistent in his memories. All he remembers was the heat from the flames that had surrounded him, and how different they were to the flames in Hell. He found a home in these flames, both as a demon and as a tortured soul. He knew he had to have done something horrible to end up in Hell but he only saw it as a gift. He believed that Lucifer had saved him. He worked his way up the hierarchy of Hell, eventually earning the freedom to roam Earth. It was there that he showed his gratitude towards Lucifer.

Dante started off small, possessing the chiefs of tribes throughout Africa and change the dynamics of the tribe, shifting their focus towards worshipping and fearing Satan. Many of the tribes perished as he would ultimately lead them to mass suicide, all in the name of Satan. He saw this as the best way to show Lucifer his gratitude; by sending souls to Hell. Eventually, he got bored with this method and decided to move from suicide to sacrifices. He would insinuate tribes with the notion that to appease Satan, they most sacrifice a life to him. It started off with animals before the tribes would move to human sacrifices themselves. These satanic tribes began to spread throughout Africa.

But as they grew, so did Christianity and with that came new challenges. Disciples and missionaries of Jesus began to undo his work and would exorcise him whenever he was found. So after several centuries of trying to destroy Christianity, many of which he spent in Hell after too many exorcisms, he moved his ‘practice’ to the Americas. He had perfected his practice, barely having to influence people, as satanic practices spread throughout the Aztec tribes. But once again, Christianity had a found its way to him and his rituals the tribes once performed for Satan were destroyed. Christianity was now the norm and Dante was back to square one.

Present

As the times modernized, so did Dante’s rituals. He couldn’t have people sacrificing others through killing anymore. So rather, he insinuated people with the need to sacrifice their souls. He wrote several books under pseudonyms about giving up one’s soul to Satan to reach fulfillment. From these books, cults grew and people would gather together like church on Sunday to worship Satan. To repay Lucifer, Dante gave him strength from all the souls he sacrificed. Now he is in Mystic Falls to serve by his side.

Connections

Lucifer

He believes that he was saved when he arrived in Hell and ever since then, he’s always shown loyalty towards Lucifer.

Dominic Lawrence

Heard about the deal Dominic made and took an interest in him. He now holds control over Dominic’s contract.

Crowley

He has no respect for Crowley.

#accepted

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catmandavegray · 4 years

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Hell according to the early Christian and Modern Jewish Synagogue is not permanent.

“Hell

8/9/2015

By Benjamin L. Corey

Many of us grow up hearing hell, fire, and brimstone messages in our churches from a very early age. In fact, many of us perhaps became Christians not so much out of a sincere desire to follow Christ, but out a fear of what he’d do to us if we didn’t. Hell is a powerful motivator—and Christians have been using it as a motivator for countless years.

This traditional view of hell is better described as “eternal conscious torment” because it teaches that God is going to torture the lost for all of eternity and that they will never die, lose consciousness, or obtain any sort of relief in their suffering. While as kids we either didn’t think to question the doctrine of traditional hell, or perhaps were too afraid to, there are a growing number of Christians today—both liberal and conservative—who are questioning the traditional view of hell, and for good reason.

First, our word for hell and all of the imagery that comes with it is a relatively new word in history, and certainly was not present in Old Testament times or the first century when the New Testament was written. In the Old Testament, there is only one word used when referring to the place of the dead, and this is the word sheol. The word simply means the “place of the dead” or the “grave” and is where Old Testament writers believed everyone went when they died—both the righteous and unrighteous. These ancient writers by and large did not share our modern concepts of heaven and hell—they believed that when people died, they died. However, over the course of time there did develop a hope among God’s people that one day the righteous would be resurrected—a hope still shared by nearly all Christians today.

In the New Testament, we find a few different words that often get translated into English as hell. Koiné Greek was a more precise language than English, so a variety of words- each with their own meanings and nuance, often get translated simply as “hell” and therefore adopt our modern concepts of hell- importing these concepts into the text. One of the more common words we find is the word hades, which is perhaps a functional equivalent to sheol- it is the place of the dead where everyone goes when they die. At times hades is described as a place of paradise (Luke 23:43) and other times a place of punishment (Luke 16:23), so it is a flexible word. Second, we find the word tartarus used only one time in reference to rebellious angels, and has the nuance of a deep, dark pit where they await the judgment of God. Thirdly, we find a common word used by Jesus that is often translated as hell, and this is the word Gehenna.

Gehenna is different than the other New Testament words for hell as it was an actual geographic place during the life of Jesus (the word actually means the Valley of the Son of Hinnom). Described by some as a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem, it was a place of historic weeping and gnashing of teeth because it is where children were previously sacrificed to Pagan gods. This was also a place where bodies were cremated, and where there was likely a fire continually burning. In many cases where Jesus uses this term, he is often referencing the coming destruction of Jerusalem (AD 70) and warning his generation as to how they could avoid having their bodies thrown into Gahenna.

Out of all these words, none of them have the exact same nuance that our English word hell tends to convey. Our modern concept of hell did not exist in ancient Judaism and is often more flavored by Dante’s Inferno than what actually occurs in the biblical text. Neither the ancient Jews nor the early Christians believed in our modern version of hell, as we see in the book of Acts (the story of the early church) the concept of hell is completely absent. This is not to say they were universalists; the early Christians believed that every human who ever lived would one day be judged and that we must be reconciled to God through Christ—but they did not use fear of hell to convey that message.

As a result of the nuance in the biblical text, there are three positions on hell, which are all considered part of orthodox Christianity: Eternal Conscious Torment, Annihilationism, and Christian Universalism. Here is a brief description of these positions and why they are all considered part of the orthodox Christian faith:

Eternal Conscious Torment (ECT)

ECT is perhaps the position most of us know well, because it is the dominant position of our day. This position teaches that the human soul is immortal and does not/cannot die. As such, the soul will exist eternally either with God or being tortured in hell for all of eternity.

This position uses the following texts in support of their position (this is not an exhaustive list): Matthew 25:41, 46; Mark 9:42–48; 2 Thessalonians 1:5–10; Revelation 14:9– 11; and Revelation 20:10, 14–15. This position was not the dominant position of the early church but has been the dominant position of the church since the post-Constantine era.

Annihilationism (also called Conditionalism)

The second orthodox position is Annihilationism/Conditionalism. This position disagrees with ECT in that it rejects the concept that human souls are immortal, arguing that God alone is immortal, as stated in 1 Timothy 6:16. Further, this position believes that souls can die as Jesus stated in Matthew 10:28. As such, Annihilationist believe that the “wages of sin is death,” meaning those who refuse to be reconciled to God are destined for eternal death (their soul ceases to exists), but that “the gift of God is eternal life” in that those who are reconciled to God are given the gift of immortality of the soul—eternal life. In short, those who fall into this category believe terms like the “wicked will be destroyed” are to be taken literally, whereas the ECT believes the terms “die” and “destroyed” are simply metaphoric for “will live forever in torture.”

This position uses the following verses to support their claim (not an exhaustive list): Psalm 1:6, Psalm 37:20, Psalm 69:28, Psalm 34:16, 21, Psalm 92:7, Proverbs 24:20, Dan 2:35, Isaiah 1:28, 30-13, Obadiah 1:16, Mal 4:1, Matthew 10:28, John 3:16, Matthew 7:13, 13:40, John 15:6, Phil 3:19, 2 Thess 1:9, 1 Cor 3:17, 2 Cor 2:15-16, Romans 6:23, Hebrews 10:39, James 4:12, 2 Peter 2:3, Revelation 20:14.

The position of annihilationism was the predominant position of the early church but has since become a minority view. However, this movement is gaining ground with both liberal Christians and conservatives.

Christian Universalism (Universal Redemption)

The third and final position on hell included under the umbrella of orthodox Christian positions is Christian universalism. This position is not the same as Unitarian Universalism, which would claim that “all flights go to Rome” or “every trail leads to the top of the mountain.” Christian Universalism, or the Universal Redemption Theory, remains an orthodox Christian view as it claims that Jesus Christ is the only way to be reconciled to God. Where it differs from the other orthodox views however is that it views the “fire” seen in scripture as being for the purpose of refinement instead of punishment. Under the Universal Redemption model it is believed that Christ will either refine everyone in the fires of his love- thus making them fit for heaven, or that Christ will continue to invite sinners to repent and be reconciled to God even from hell (postmortem repentance). This view still leaves room for a purgatorial hell of some sort, but argues hell will ultimately (one day) be empty, as all will ultimately choose to be reconciled to God through Christ.

This position uses the following passages to support their position (not an exhaustive list): John 12:32, John 3:17, Luke 3:6, Romans 5:18, Romans 11:32, 1 John 2:2, 1 Tim 4:10, Col 1:20, 1 Cor 15:22, Phil 2:11, 1 Cor 5:19, 1 Peter 4:6.

This position was held by some in the early church, but like annihilationism, fell out of favor—but is now gaining ground along side annihilationism.”

By the way in my belief the afterlife is simply a continuation of your life on Earth.

#Hell is fake

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