Life Unfettered, in short, is a way of living, a
philosophy of life, and a way in which life can be truly lived through
following Jesus.
The topic of freedom is quite prevalent in our
society, employed by practically everyone for practically every reason
imaginable, with varying motives and sincerity. From politicians waxing
patriotic to teenagers vying for more autonomy, from college students
lamenting about more restricted options to activists railing against
governments, the theme is rather prevalent in life, even though most
ideas of freedom are either too short-sighted, irresponsible, or – far
too often – come at the expense of others. It’s a topic that comes
up in the Bible as well, freedom being found in Jesus Christ; unfortunately the church,
both historically and modern-day, has done very little to express that
freedom in teaching or practice. In fact, to so many people today, the idea of freedom
coming from ‘religion’ at all is just an absurd joke.
And I have
to agree. By and large, the church has been anything but the beacon of
love, hope, and freedom it was intended to be. Throughout our long history
we have far too often traded the transformative love of Jesus for cultural legitimacy –
and often dominance – becoming a ‘religion’ rather than a way of life, which was never Jesus' intent in the first place. Because of this, sometimes we have actually become oppressors, and we've been so self-focused and
inward-looking that we have ignored the hurting all around us and forgotten that Jesus has called us to be healers in a broken world. We have,
for at least the last 1700 years, by and large been more a producer
of chains and shackles, of teachings and ideas that ensnare and burden, rather than a
liberator from ideas, mentalities, and practices that cause harm and
enslave. On the whole – with many, many exceptions aside, of course –
the church (especially the Western church) has done little to be that
blessing to all the people of the earth that God told Abraham we would
be in Genesis 12. On the whole, I couldn't in good conscience deny that the church
has been more the problem than the cure for most of our history, as sad of a reality as that is to acknowledge.
However,
I refuse to resign myself, or the church, to that judgment forever, especially not
after having discovered and embraced Jesus’ love and seen firsthand the
true freedom it brings. I don’t Bible-thump, and I abhor the practice
of shoving scripture down the throats of people who don't follow Jesus - seriously people, it often has the opposite effect -
but I do take seriously what is found within – only when it's focused through the
lens of Jesus and his teachings, instead of some popular doctrine,
movement, or other collection of teachings (because it’s VERY easy to
make the Bible ‘say’ whatever you want it to). It is in light of
that fact that much of what I post is geared toward a primarily
‘Christian’ audience, because the church is in desperate
need of reform, of a return to Jesus and his love, his life, his
salvation, his hope, his compassion, his transformation, so that we can
become that hope for the world we once were two millennia ago.
With that said, I also welcome those of any faith – or lack thereof – to read, converse, or even contact me
personally. (I prefer personal, private discussions to online public
discussions that are so often fraught with misunderstanding and a
plethora of voices. And I also don't shy away from tough questions, so don't be afraid to ask them.) I believe that the way of Jesus is the way of hope
for our world, and that it doesn’t necessarily look like the majority of
what we have seen from Christianity over the last 1700+ years - nor does it have to look like the modern forms of Christianity we see visible today - and
part of getting back to that better way is loving and respecting those who don’t always
agree and avoiding judging others.
Anyways, all of that to say
that this site is something of my own personal thought-board so to
speak, when it comes to life, love, and the way of Jesus. I have no
expectation that I will ever have a sizable readership, if anyone at
all ever reads what I write, but at the very least it will help me
organize what’s going on in my head in my heart and help give me the
resolve to do and say what I must outside of the online world as well.
And plenty of my own quirky randomness and nerdity will probably spill out here as well...
