Jim Palmer's Blog, page 57

People sometimes wonder why God would allow so much suffering in our world.

I often come across the view that God’s will is something that “will be done,” as in the future. We look out into the world and see misery and suffering and it’s clear that this can’t be “God’s will.” And so our way of maintaining a belief in the perfection of God and the imperfection of the world is to say that God will some day sort through it all and will ultimately somehow make everything okay. This idea is meant to help us swallow the bitter pill of the misery of the world because we surmise that at some later time everything will be worked out.

For a time I worked for and traveled the world with an international human rights agency, based out of Washington D.C. (IJM). I posed as a customer in brothels where girls as young as 12 years old are forced to provide sex to customers 4-6 times a day, six days a week. I also visited a slave labor camp, under the guise of being an investor, where boys that same age were chained to poles and worked around the clock rolling cigarettes to meet their quota or be beaten with electrical cords.

The theology that ultimately God’s will and all this horror will work out fine in the afterlife seemed to fall empty in the face of their daily torment. The violent violation of their most basic human rights is not God’s will – not then, not later, not ever. There is no later resolution as a theological rationale for their current reality.

There is only one cause of suffering in this world – our spiritual ignorance and what we rationalize out of it. The only solution is to see things as they truly are, and to begin living life by responding to situations as they require, which includes rescuing children out of brothels and slave camps.

The end of suffering is not something God does for everyone at some later point. This idea is appealing because it lets us off the hook of taking responsibility for our lives and the condition of the world. There is nothing left for God to do. Jesus said the Kingdom of God has already come.

People sometimes wonder why God would allow so much suffering in our world. Maybe instead we should be wondering why we do.

WARNING! Rejected by Major Christian Publisher

“PROVOKETIVE MAGAZINE: What happened with Zondervan Publishing? They decided to cancel your 2-book contract, why?

JIM PALMER: Being Jesus in Nashville was intended to be a social experiment where I tested the idea that authentic Christianity is not Jesus AND Jim but Jesus AS Jim, believing that there was nothing separating me and Jesus, and that I was free to live as he did in every way. When I signed that 2-book deal with Zondervan Publishers I had no idea that the journey ahead would include the deaths of my mother and father, my own two near-death experiences, and a deep deconstruction of my faith and my entire identity as Jim Palmer. Nor did I expect I would become the center of a firestorm of controversy when I submitted my manuscript to Zondervan. My manuscript was rejected on the grounds that it did not “lie within the bounds of biblical, orthodox Christianity.” My 2-book contract was promptly canceled.”

Being Jesus in Nashville – Hardcover

Being Jesus In Nashville – Paperback

Being Jesus in Nashville – Kindle

I am the Truth.

 

“Jesus said when you know the Truth you will be free, and then he said, “I am the Truth.”

 

Jesus said, “I am the truth.”

 

He didn’t say “I know the truth,” as if truth is a piece of knowledge held by the mind. Neither did he say, “I have the truth,” as if truth is a possession you can pass along to another. Jesus said, “I am the truth.”

 

Truth is a reality at the level of being.

 

Truth is not something outside to be discovered, it is an actuality inside to be realized. What is this actuality? Oneness with God. This is your true Self.”

 

 

- Jim Palmer, Notes from (Over) the Edge

Jesus before Christianity

“There was a historical Jesus before institutional Christianity got a hold of him and did their extreme makeover. He was a much better Jesus than the one Christianity produced.”

- Jim Palmer, Being Jesus in Nashville: Finding the Courage to Live Your Life (whoever and wherever you are)

The new ology

“In seminary, I organized God into theological categories such as Christology, soteriology, pneumatology, ecclesiology, missiology, and eschatology. Eventually I discovered instead that it really came down to these categories: (1) Everythingiology – seeing God in, as, and through all things; (2) Everyoneiology – recognizing God as the underlying, unchanging and fundamental essence of all people; and (3) Incomprehensibliology – the futility of systematizing, formulating, concretizing, and institutionalizing God.”

- Jim Palmer

The myth of God’s blessing and curse

“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 false thinking that too often drives our lives and relationship to God. It is symptomatic of the ignorance at the root of our suffering.”

- Jim Palmer, Notes from (Over) the Edge

Not “change”… transformation

“We don’t need “change” as in shuffling around the same furniture in a different configuration in the same space. We need transformation, as in setting the furniture on fire and leaving the house altogether.”

- Jim Palmer, Notes from (Over) the Edge

Christianity and magical thinking

“The idea of conversion transformation is sometimes yet another example of magical thinking that is pinned on Jesus. The idea is that if you “accept Jesus as your savior,” “get saved,” or become “born again,” than everything will instantly be fixed in your life. Jesus never said this. You couldn’t get any closer to Jesus than his first disciples and they were clueless half the time. Why? Because they would not accept, embrace, or walk in the reality of the truth Jesus taught and demonstrated. It’s the same then as it is now – you must embrace the truth in order to be free. There is no substitute for that – not even the nice-sounding Christian ones.”

- Jim Palmer, Notes from (Over) the Edge

6 Lies and 6 Truths About “Sin”

6 Lies and 6 Truths About “Sin” That I have Been Pondering:

Lie 1: Sin makes me disgusting and revolting in God’s eyes.

Lie 2: Sin is immoral or disobedient behavior.

Lie 3: God will not bless me and will punish me because there is sin in life.

Lie 4: At the core I am a sinner.

Lie 5: Left to myself I will indulge sinful desires.

Lie 6: Satan makes me sin.

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Truth 1: Sin is falling short of experiencing the love, peace, freedom, wholeness, and well-being that God desires for every person.

Truth 2: Sin is an orientation toward illusion and falsity – it’s a diminishment of our true identity as good and beautiful children of God.

Truth 3: Each person is shadowed to some degree by a false self, and when we give expression to that false self we sow seeds of disharmony in our world.

Truth 4: God’s love and acceptance of each of us does not fluctuate based on where we are on the journey or in the process of becoming who we really are.

Truth 5: Transformation is not behavior modification but a fundamental and profound shift in knowing who we are.

Truth 6: Spiritual battle is the conflict between the false and true self.

You followed the rules, broke the rules, wrote the rules… but it wasn’t enough.

What if I told you that 5% of your difficulties are brought about by the conditions and circumstances of your life, and 95% are difficulties caused by yourself?

You desire love, peace, freedom, and contentment in this world. Don’t you? Your seeking would be complete if you attained them and could keep a hold of them. But that doesn’t happen, does it? You work so hard and the pay-off is so small. You desire and seek these realities but they are fleeting and vulnerable. You have mixed and matched several scenarios in life trying to be happy and it doesn’t last. I bet you’ve experienced your fair share of disappointment heartache in the process.

You experienced the bliss of another’s love, but then you were heartbroken. You were right on target for realizing your dream, but the one thing you never expected happening, happened. You poured yourself into knowing God, but your depression returned. You got the latest technology but now it’s just another thing. You constructed an air-tight and bulletproof theology, became fully vested, but still lay in bed at night, grieving what your life is and what it isn’t. You did church, crammed the Bible into your brain, lived a moral life, and shouted Jesus from the roof-tops, but the peace and freedom and fulfillment never seemed to come or stay around very long.

You raised good kids and have enjoyed a wonderful marriage, you’ve got a good job and great friends, but there’s still emptiness inside. You did the vacation in Europe, but then it ended, and it was time to return home. You gave of yourself sacrificially, but you still felt that dull ache of discontent inside. One day you were in perfect health, the next day in a hospital.

You did it all. You followed the rules. You broke the rules. You wrote the rules. But in the end, it wasn’t enough. The whole seek-and-find thing proved to be pie in the sky. So instead you tell yourself, “Quit whining, suck it up, this life is going to be a crapshoot, trust and obey, be good, don’t mess up, and hold on until heaven.” Or maybe you think you’re too messed up to experience true peace – like you’re hopelessly stuck in the always-striving-but-never-quite-getting-there mode.

But I tell you that everything you want is here right now and as close to you as the air you breathe. This reality of peace and wholeness you seek cannot be found the way you are seeking it. I say that God’s kingdom is at your fingertips but you look past your fingers, hoping to attain it elsewhere. You will never find God’s kingdom out there because it is inside you… is you. The life you long for is coursing through your veins. The only thing needed is to disappear your inner resistance, and tear down that illusionary wall you built, making you think that you are separate from what you desire.

The truth is that God’s kingdom of peace and wholeness is your birthright. It is here right now for you because it is you. This is the great mystery and paradox– we seek what we already have, we long to be what we already are. The gift and opportunity of your life is to discover this, embrace this… be this.

What is your resistance? Have the courage to name it. Give up your illusion of separation and be open to experiencing God’s kingdom in every moment where it is always present. Here’s the good news – it’s that simple. Here’s the bad news – it’s that simple. If you were a child, you would get it much easier. Become like a child.

Start there.”

- Jesus, Matthew 18:1-4, Luke 17:20-21 Religion-Free Bible