Existential Do Over

I've decided to have a do-over instead of a crisis. Or I guess, technically, I've already had the crisis. Or am in it. I don't know. Don't care. And I think some reframing is necessary. Western Christianity looks a lot like the Deuteronomy of ancient Judaism at times. Do good, get good, do bad get bad. But I see God trying to reframe how we view scripture. Don't freak out. Just think. Most Christians I know, view the New Testament through the lens of the old. They frame it through the ancient traditions and beliefs that Jesus died to change. They believe it's foundation is Judaism. The Foundation is a person. Not a religion. The Apostles and Paul himself, the Pharisee of Pharisee's did not live as observant Jews after meeting Jesus. In fact Paul called Peter on his crap when he was caught acting all Jewish with the Jews. I get that fear of disapproval. It's hard to fight, when it means people will write you off, talk bad about you, reject you. And we're talking men who lived with Jesus, while we're having to do it by faith. So if it was hard for them, why should I be ashamed? It simply speaks to the shaming, fear based principals used in religion to keep people in line and assimulating into a rigid belief system. I remember being afraid to be free...afraid nothing would censor my behavior. I would sin without care. Listen, love is a way better motivator than fear. The more I understand how loved I am...the less appeal sin has. I make mistakes. But I'm not looking for what I can get away with, or the loophole in the contract. And with love at my back, I can allow myself to make mistakes without condemnation. Wow...does that make life easier and better. So lets, for experiemental purposes reframe the Old Testament, and look at that through the lens of the New Testament. How would that influence your thought? How would it reframe your understanding of what your reading? This is how it has reframed my understanding. The Old Testament, while important, should be read primarily as a story, showing the arc of how God is interacting and loving humanity. He is often misunderstood by ancient cultures. He is patient with them, moving them along this arc in ways they are able to understand. They consistently ritualize their interaction with Him, instead of the personal relationship he wants to have, preferring intermediary's rather than being in too close proximity. Sound familiar? Sunday morning ritual, preachers telling you what he wants, who to serve, what to think. Will we ever learn? Fear, is what keeps them from him. Fear, is what kept Adam and Eve from running to him, after sinning, and hiding instead. Even David, in his love, creates a system, an elaborate one to somehow show God his love and honor him. To show his worth in the world. We somehow think God honored all these things. That it was what he wanted. And yet, no temple stands. I was in Jerusalem at the wailing wall once. I got my turn, and put a prayer in the cracks, something I regret participating in now, and my pack touched the wall. An old woman, angrily wiped off my touch, and kissed her hands. I wasn't offended. I understood her religious idea. But it's stone. It's not "holy". But they still want what they want. God to sanction them as HIS people, casting his approval, and theirfore blessing, and to have his power available again as it once was. Jesus wept over that city. And as he said...not one stone of that temple was left. It doesn't matter...they just chose what's left standing, the Western Wall, that was closest to the temple. Stubbornly clinging to their own understanding. Lets not do that. Lets not cling to what we know out of fear. Or because we want what we want.