TXAB: The Christ Almighty Blog

Humans die. Here’s why. The first time we read about death in the bible, it’s in the Adam and Eve story. God tasks the first adám/“human” with taking care of a garden. Which is described as edén/“delightful,” but we tend to treat that adjective as a proper name, Eden, same as we do the word for human, Adam.Unlike fast-food jobs, Adam was given free rein to eat anything he found growing there. Well, almost anything. One particular tree, you remember, was off limits.Genesis 2.15-17 KWL15 The LORD God took the humanand set him in a delightful garden to work it and watch over it.16 The LORD God commanded the human, saying, “Eat, eat, from every tree of the garden.17From the knowing-good-and-evil tree: Don’t eat from it.For on the day you eat from it, you’ll die, die.”Ancient Hebrew repeated itself for emphasis. “Eat, eat” meant God was serious about Adam eating whatever he wished; “Die, die” meant God was serious about the knowing-good-and-evil tree being toxic.No doubt you also know the …

In case you were unclear as to what that is. Hey, you’d be surprised how many people are. SIN /sɪn/ n. Immoral behavior—from a religious viewpoint.2. Violation of God’s law or known will.3. A reprehensible action, or serious shortcoming.4. A state of human nature in which one is alienated from God.5.v. To commit a sin, offense, or fault.[Sinful /'sɪn.fəl/ adj.]I used to think it was a copout when Christians claimed they weren’t entirely sure what “sin” is, or what the word properly means. Sometimes yeah, they’re trying to weasel out of defining their behavior as sin. But I’ve found quite often nobody ever spelled it out for them when they were new believers. So they presumed. They figured a sin is when you break one of the Ten Commandments, or when you commit one of the seven deadly sins—but nothing else is a sin. As a result they kept right on committing the same fruitless behaviors they’d always done, unaware of how this activity was undermining their relationship with God and a…

The belief God and evil can’t coexist in the same universe is based on some bad logic.Every so often I bump into a nontheist who complains God can’t be real, can’t exist… because there’s such a thing as evil in the universe.Here’s how they’re figuring: If God’s real, God’s almighty, and God’s good like we Christians claim, he should’ve done something to get rid of evil, right? After all they would, if they were God. They’d have wiped out evil long ago, like with a great purging flood or something.They can’t fathom a God who’d be gracious enough to grant his wayward kids any leeway, any second chances to repent and return to the fold. He’d shut that s--- down on sight. So since God isn’t their kind of God, he must not exist.This is hardly a new idea. It’s been around since Epicurus of Athens first pitched it in the 300s BC. Or at least we think Epicurus pitched it. That’s what Christian author Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius claimed in his anti-Epicurean book De ira Dei/“On God’s…

Some of our beliefs about them are downright bizarre. It’s odd: Lots of people, Christians included, believe in spirits. God’s a spirit, obviously. Jn 4.24 Angels are spirits. He 1.14 Dead loved ones exist as spirits in the afterlife—or heaven, as many people imagine.Yet these very same people frequently refuse to believe in evil spirits.I used to say this mindset comes from Platonism. Though really, Plato of Athens wasn’t the first guy to assume if we could escape this world of matter and decay, and just become pure spirit, all our self-centered impulses, greed, materialism, lusts, and so forth would cease to exist, and we’d be nothing but good. The ancient Greeks believed this, but the present-day folks who believe the same thing, don’t necessarily believe it for the same reasons. They believe all spirits are good… because it simply never occurred to them spirits might be bad.Yeah, even though mythology, fairy tales, and horror movies are full of evil spirits. Monsters, boogeymen, g…

Jesus meets a man filled with thousands of demons.Mark 5.1-10 • Matthew 8.28-29 • Luke 8.26-31Let’s begin with ancient northern Israel’s geography. First there’s Kinneret, the lake.
The Galilean sea.On its northeast was the province of the Galilee, named for the word galýl/“circle,” referring to its circle of towns. Jesus lived there. On its west was the Dekápolis/“10 cities,” a region of Syrian Greek city-provinces created by the Romans after they conquered Syria in 65BC. Jesus visited this territory often, and it’s where today’s story takes place.In Old Testament days the Dekápolis belonged to the Hebrews. Today part of it is called the Golan Heights. In Jesus’s day, even though it was full of Greek-speaking Syrians, it was still considered part of Israel, and still part of the territory Antipas Herod supervised. But it was full of gentile, Greek-enculturated pagans. They weren’t even Hebrew like the Palestinians are.By Greek-enculturated I mean they lived like Greeks. Alexander of M…

Satan used to have access to heaven. Now it doesn’t.Revelation 12One of the popular myths about the devil is it used to an angel. Not just that it fakes being one. 2Co 11.14 Christians will teach it straight-up was one.Even more: It was Lucifer, the greatest angel ever. The best and brightest and mightiest angel in the heavens. Head of the heavenly choir. Ruled over earth as God’s number two. The Holy Spirit’s vice-president, more or less.Anybody else think someone’s been padding its résumé a little?Pause a moment, go some basic digging through the bible, and you’re gonna find out it says nowhere that Satan used to be an angel. It may have angels, working for it. At one time it came and went before God, just like God’s mightier angels. But Satan’s species is never once identified.Given Satan’s reputation as a liar, Jn 8.44 I’m mighty suspicious about any stories about its origin which attempt to make it look like it used to be kind of a big deal.Or still is. During Jesus’s temptations…

The “Matthew 18” principle—for when people sin against us.Luke 6.27-36 KWL27“But I tell you listeners: Love your enemies. Do good to your haters.28Bless your cursers. Pray for your mistreaters.29To one who hits you on the jaw, submit all the more.To one who takes your robe and tunic from you, don’t stop them.30Give to everyone who asks you. Don’t demand payback from those who take what’s yours.31Just as you want people doing for you, do likewise for them.32If you love your lovers, how’s this an act of grace from you?—sinners love their lovers.33When you benefact your benefactors, how’s this grace from you?—sinners do so themselves.34When you lend from one from whom you hope to receive back, how’s this grace from you?Sinners lend to sinners so they can receive an equal payback.35In contrast: Love your enemies. Do good. Lend, never expecting payback.Your reward will be great, and you’ll be the Most High’s children:He’s kind to the ungrateful and evil.36Be compassionate like your Father …

It’s not the same thing as sacrilege. It’s worse.Blaspheme /blæs'fim/ v. Say something about God (or holy things) which isn’t true. Slander.2. Speak irreverently about God or holy things. Sacrilege.[Blasphemer /blæs'fim.ər/ n., blasphemous /'blæs.fə.məs/ adj., blasphemy /'blæs.fə.mi/ n.]That second definition tends to be how popular culture defines blasphemy: Means the same thing as sacrilege, when one treats the sacred profanely. When you make fun, or make light, of holy things. When we tell jokes about God, or treat our bibles like any other book, and set ’em on the floor or doodle in them for fun. When people take God’s name in vain. When I treat him like my dad instead of OUR FATHER WHICH ARTIN HEAVEN. (Heck, when I don’t capitalize all the Almighty’s pronouns.)That’s what people consider blasphemy. That’s why they go utterly ape when Christians won’t take off our hats in church, or wear jeans. Business attire only!—and only Jesus gets to wear a toga.By this defini…

You seriously think Jesus would disown his mom?Mark 3.22-27 • Matthew 9.32-34, 12.22-30 • Luke 11.14-23In between Jesus’s family fearing he was overworked,Mark inserts this story about the Jerusalem scribes (or Pharisees, in Matthew) accusing him of performing his exorcisms through the power of the devil.Matthew and Luke tell the story in the context of an exorcism Jesus had just performed. Matthew even tells it twice. Likely this accusation took place more than once.Mk 3.22 KWLScribes who came down from Jerusalem said Jesus had Baal Zevúl,and that he threw out demons by the head demon.Mt 9.32-34 KWL32 As they left, look: People brought Jesus a mute person, a demoniac.33 Once Jesus threw out the demon, the mute man spoke.The crowd was amazed, saying, “This never appeared in Israel before.”34 The Pharisees were saying, “Jesus throws out demons by the head demon.”Mt 12.22-24 KWL22 Then they brought Jesus a blind and deaf demoniac.Jesus cured him, so the deaf man was speaking and seeing.…

The evil spirits who get us to follow and worship ’em.One fairly common pagan belief is animism, the idea everything has a anima/“soul,” or lifeforce. No, not just things that are actually alive, like plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. Inanimate objects could have a lifeforce too. Like weather, water, or fire, which certainly act alive. Like the sun, moon, planets, and stars, which pagans actually worshiped as if they were alive.And lest you think that’s just an ancient pagan practice, look how often people still do it. People talk about the “vibe” of a place—a workplace, nightclub, school, restaurant, home, whatever. Or the luck attached to a charm or item of clothing. Or the “feels” attached to a favorite chair, blanket, toy, car. Or the “spirit” of a good idea, like charity, patriotism, wisdom, and prosperity.The ancient Greeks believed these lifeforces were intelligent beings. Like little gods. Everything important had one. They weren’t necessarily important enough to be full-o…

Christianism is a socially-acceptable outward form of Christianity. Whether there’s any actual Christianity underneath it, isn’t for me to say. Sometimes there’s a real live relationship with Jesus, an actual indwelling of the Holy Spirit, resulting in some of his fruit, mixed in there somewhere. But the reason I still call it Christianism is ’cause there are glaring errors in the religion. Way too much fake fruit. Way too many compromises with the gospel.Compromises, I should add, made for the sake of accommodating other gods. Christianism creates a façade of Christianity, but underneath it there are a lot of other religious practices which don’t follow Jesus much. They support other ideas. They seek other powers. They promote other movements. And if Jesus teaches otherwise, they mute him, reinterpret him, or ignore him, in favor of those less-than-Christian goals.In a word, it’s idolatry. And since it’s everywhere, and plenty of other “good Christians” believe and practice the very …

What happens when worship goes anywhere but towards the Almighty.Idol /'aɪ.dl/ n. Image or representation of a [false] god, used to worship it.2. Person or thing that’s greatly loved, revered, or worshiped.[Idolatry /aɪ'dɑl.ə.tri/ n., idolater /aɪ'dɑl.ə.dər/ n.]It’s often said humans were created to worship. It’s something humans do instinctively; so much so, most people on the planet believe in a god of some form. Thus if we’re not worshiping YHWH/“Jehovah”/“the LORD,” the one true God, we’re just gonna latch ourselves to some other god, or something else, and worship that.Might be a spouse, parent, child, friend, or some other loved one. Might be a pop star. Or a position in business or government. Or power. Wealth. The pursuit of the perfect high, whether from drugs or sex or adrenaline. The pursuit of a comfortable existence. Some possession or hobby or philosophy you intend to devote all your time and life to. You name it, you can make an idol of it.Anything we prio…