Jim Palmer's Blog, page 43
January 20, 2014
Replace racism with gracism.
“Replace racism with gracism.”
- Jim Palmer
You don’t have to be a religious racist to follow Jesus
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Men hate each other because they fear each other, and they fear each other because they don’t know each other, and they don’t know each other because they are often separated from each other.”
Sadly, too often it’s religion that separates us. It is religion but not God that divides people into “us” and “them.”
I have the below picture of Martin Luther King, Jr. On the back of the picture I wrote the following words – “determined,” “passionate,” “non-conformist,” “revolutionary,” “rebel,” “undeterred,” “courageous,” “powerful,” “unconventional,” “rule-breaker,” “peaceful,” “fearless,” “angry,” “offensive,” “loving,” “compassionate,” and “selfless.” These are characteristics I see in Martin Luther King, Jr. that resonate with me.
I’m a stand for Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream. It’s a stand for the inherent, equal and divine worth of every human being, and working toward a world that works for everyone.
In the end, anything that separates the human race is a form of racism. Color can be a form of racism. So can religion. The Oxford English Dictionary defines racism as “belief in the superiority of a particular race.” With respect to religion it would read, “belief in the superiority of a particular religion.” This view typically acts as a justification for non-equal treatment of members of another religion. Racial ideologies can lead to the worst horror such as the Holocaust. Religious ideologies can too, most notably the Crusades. God has no religion; neither did Jesus. Jesus did not come to start a new religion, and likely would not had been a “Christian” today.
Religion is racism when it denies the equal divine worth and dignity of every human being, and divides, separates and pits people of different beliefs or practices against each other. Jesus Christ has been and continues to be central to my own spiritual growth and development. But you don’t have to be a religious racist to follow Jesus. In fact, I’m convinced Jesus would never condone religious racism. Martin Luther King, Jr. confronted racial racism, I want to confront religious racism and offer an alternative.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” I’m going with that!
The myth of “God’s blessing”
“Religion has always been an avenue that people have used to bargain for God’s blessing. If we do our part, we think that God will do his part and grant us our desires. The world can sometimes seem like a random and frightening place. People turn to God and religion in hope of finding some measure of security, protection, and favor. I get that.
However, the notion of pleasing or obeying God in order to gain favorable life circumstances as “God’s blessing” is false. God is not going to change the fact that the world is characterized by impermanence. God created the world like this, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Circumstances were never intended to be the source of peace, happiness, contentment, well-being, and freedom. There is no measure of pleasing or obeying God that is ever going to change the fundamental nature of the world.
As a rule of thumb in life, responding to situations as they require with wisdom and skill will yield a better result than responding out of stupidity and incompetence. If you sow seeds of love, kindness, and compassion in your life you are more likely to experience a quality of life that is more enriching than if you sowed seeds of hatred, selfishness, and bitterness. You can eliminate a lot of human pain in your life by simply responding to situations as they require. If you are in an abusive relationship the situation may require you to leave and terminate that relationship, and doing so would remove yourself from the pain of that person’s abuse.
However, you cannot mix and match together any set of circumstances to produce lasting peace and well-being because circumstances are not the source of peace and well-being.
But the idea that obedience, faithfulness, and spiritual maturity should result in God blessing your life with favorable circumstances is simply not true. If this were true, God failed Jesus, who experienced levels of physical, mental, emotional and psychological pain that few people ever have or will.
The reason why people are so caught up with seeking favor from God is that they wrongly assume that peace and happiness has something to do with better life circumstances, and that God is looking down at the world and pulling the strings to bless or curse us. This is the spiritual ignorance that too often drives our lives and relationship to God. It is the spiritual ignorance at the root of our suffering.”
Jim Palmer, Notes from (Over) the Edge
January 19, 2014
Off the grid of religion
When I went off the grid of organized Christianity, I went through this blackout and detox period. I didn’t go to church, didn’t converse about God or Christianity, didn’t pray, didn’t read my Bible, didn’t listen to “Christian music”… nothing! An interesting place to be for a former seminary grad and successful Senior Pastor. During this season I became deeply connected with myself, others, the divine, and life itself in ways I have never experienced before when religion was running the show. This laid a new foundation for forging ahead in my relationship with God and Jesus.
January 18, 2014
Keeping the eyes of your heart wide open
The world shows up on our doorstep in many different names and forms. Don’t let this fool you. See the one life hidden beneath it all.
January 17, 2014
The difference between Jesus and Christianity
“I deconstructed away most of my “Christianity.” However, the significance of Jesus has deepened and expanded for me. I came to a point where I could no longer in good faith accept and endorse the terms that pop Christianity had laid down about Jesus. I am a seminary grad and spent over 20 years in professional Christian ministry, but discovered later that I was only barely scratching the surface. In my view, there is no disputing the significance of Jesus, and that significance is relevant for every human being, regardless of one’s theological, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs.”
- Jim Palmer
Is Christianity standing between you and Jesus?
“Have an open mind. Jesus said the Truth will set you free. If you are not free, you have not yet uncovered the Truth of Jesus. Just because you are a Christian doesn’t mean you have uncovered it. In fact, it might be the biggest reason why you haven’t.”
- Jim Palmer, Being Jesus in Nashville: Finding the Courage to Live Your Life (whoever and wherever you are)
When pastors become heretics and their journey to be free
“Since 2005 I’ve been chronicling my journey out of organized religion, in search of lasting peace and happiness. It’s been a tall order for someone who earned a Master of Divinity degree, and spent many years as a professional Christian minister. My first book, Divine Nobodies, struck a nerve with many people who had also come to the end of their rope with faith and God, but felt understood and validated through my story, and inspired by the possibility that it could be different.
My follow-up book, Wide Open Spaces, gave a glimpse into an alternative I was experiencing – a religion-free relationship with God and life. The journey has not been a bed of roses.
During the writing or my third book, Being Jesus in Nashville, I lost both my mother and father, and had two near-death experiences. The book was also embroiled in controversy. It was rejected by my publisher on the grounds that it was “outside the bounds of biblical orthodox Christianity,” making me a “heretic.”
The last few years I have had an earnest desire and resolve to bring an end to my personal suffering. I decided I’ve suffered long and hard enough, and it was time to find the peace and freedom I had for so long sought through religion. Along the way I have been recording thoughts in a notebook about this endeavor to end my suffering. These notes are the basis for this book.”
- Jim Palmer, Notes from (Over) the Edge
The truth about your experience of life
Last night in class I led my students through a deconstruction of how we experience life. Life is not just what happens to you. Your experience of life is a byproduct of the process of selection, organization, and interpretation.
In any given moment you are inundated with sensory data. Based on various variables unique to each of us, we select a portion of that sensory data to focus on. After we select our data, we run it through the paradigms and models we have in our head. We have been conditioned into these mental paradigms and models. We have them for virtually everything in life. Particular relationships and life circumstances, as well as religious, cultural, and societal influences have shaped the mental models and paradigms that determine how we see and experience life.
So, after we take the sensory data in any given particular situation, we run it through and organize it according to our mental model, and it spits out an answer in terms of what the situation, circumstance or experience means. That’s our “interpretation.”
Once we have our interpretation, we think, feel, act and respond accordingly. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that a valuable place to consider are the mental models and paradigms we carry through life. Transform the model or paradigm, and you change your experience of life.
Anyway, this was last night’s class.
