"Who Do You Say That I Am"

I found this guy on the Internet that I am watching with great interest. The website is called "The Free Believers Network." It is a kind of site for Christians who have had it with organized religion. It's consists of blogs and pod casts which main content and mission appears to be about helping us untangle our mind because we have been led astray by organized religion over the years. His name is Darin Hufford and I am grateful for his mission. I never forget that he is a man.....I just write this in appreciation for the site.

The Freebelievers Network is a great site and I always get a thrill when I see a new blog posted. I know that it will be thought provoking. For those of us who took our beliefs out of the church building and into our heart, we have had to stuff how we believe. In small towns we are the outcasts with both believers and non believers. Those who are bound to the bricks and stone of church believe that we are rebels and trouble makers because we question everything. Non believers don't want to hear our beliefs or want to argue us out of them. To me...both are religious.

We have been starving for a way to express how we feel. This site is like a grand buffet and consists of topics important to us who have been out of the churches for years.
His most recent post has given me a lot to chew on. He does a great job of turning God into something other than the boogeyman. For years I rebelled against the God of my parents. As a child we hear all these different views and beliefs and form our opinion of God. I had a kind of Franken God. I had a little bit of mothers...some of Dad....aunt myrna...guy on TV...but they were all opinions and views of fellow humans...the question was never posed as...who do you say that he is? No one had ever given me that freedom. Living in the buckle of the Bible Belt hasn't helped. One size does not fit all....

I didn't want the God portrayed by most anyway. It was like...ok...I died for your sins ... you owe me your life...I'm always watching...waiting...just go ahead and do something wrong....you'll see...oh by the way...give me your money...I am your new mafia boss...there will be hell to pay if I don't get my money...oh yeah..I am sending this Holy Spirit...to spy on you...to make you feel bad all the time...go ahead...do something bad...you'll see...bad bad human...
Who doesn't love the cross...the sacrifice...and all the love that comes with the birth...reserection..and the forgiveness of sins? It all got lost....in the Franken God. I am finding God to be much more than bricks and stone. Much more than a Sin Detective.

So the question is and will always be..for me..."Who Do You Say That I Am?" What I believe he is will not be what you believe he is and that is what frazzles the mind of the religious and non believers as well. The religious have built there empires banking on the fact that you will believe exactly what they say God is. The non believers are banking on the same thing.

"Who Do You Say That I am?" is actually a scripture in Luke. Jesus posed that question to Peter. Peter answered him with something like...The messiah...the son of God...Jesus answered...only God could have revealed that to you...it was all in the personal revelation...wasn't it?
Now, what if Peter would have seen Jesus turn a mushroom into a hot dog one day when he was hungry. When Jesus asked him "Who do you say that I am?" what if Peter would have said "You are the mushroom God...the provider to the hungry."..I believe Jesus response would have been the same...Only God could have revealed that to you...because....he made Peter think about it on a personal level. It wasn't what someone else was saying he was and to me...that is the point.

Before Jesus asked the question "Who do you say that I am?" he asked "What do all the other people say I am"....and he was given the rundown of what everyone else was saying...he brought it home to Peter and gave him the freedom to believe...his way.
So I killed my Franken God one day and started over. I took a big eraser and got rid of the all of the gazillions of crap stored in my head about what I thought God was...and have been bonding with the God of my understanding...and in turn...I will give you the same right...the right to freely believe..