My Religion

The questions I get indicate that some folks don’t understand, so maybe I can clarify things a bit.

I worship Jehovah, the God of the Bible. I am in constant personal communion with Him.

I take the Bible seriously, so seriously that I’ve spent some years studying the Ancient Hebrew intellectual background that gave us the Bible. I strive to understand the Bible from the perspective of the folks who wrote it. (This is not the same as Judaism.)

I take seriously everything Jesus said and did as a walking, talking revelation of God. However, I try to get inside His head as a Hebrew man and understand Him in His own context. My understanding predates the entire history of church belief and the cultural dressing as commonly understood.

All of that study has put me totally outside the mainstream of organized Christian religion. Not out of hostility from me, but from Christian leaders. Having tried many years to share my vision of following Christ, there is no longer any point. It was not my decision to leave organized religion.

Nothing in my religion calls for a crusade to correct everyone else. My experience with God is singular in that I cannot experience Him for you. While I cannot remain silent about that experience, I share in ways you can avoid if you like, and only so you can be inspired in your own encounter with God. I have no problem fellowshipping with individual believers who give me a similar space to follow God on the path He chooses for me.

There are things I can’t go along with, ideas and practices that would directly interfere with my religion. There is such a thing as sin. The answer is some degree of avoidance and separation, unless the other person insists on trying to change me. In that case I’ll take action to defend my own practice of religion, and I’ll defend yours, as well. There are no particular rules for that, but as much as I’ve written, it’s hard to imagine someone can’t figure out when and where I’ll fight back, or how I’m likely to fight. Still, I won’t be sure myself until the moment of confrontation comes.

I call this religion “Kiln of the Soul”, though a broader generic term is “Christian Mysticism”. The name is not trademarked and there’s nothing I can or would do to stop someone else trying to hijack it. I refuse to negotiate with any human government for recognition of any sort. Instead, I promote a vision of Divine Justice woven into Creation and revealed in the Bible. God’s Laws stand superior to the universe and it’s our mission as humans to embrace that Justice as ultimate truth. Learn His Laws and live them; that’s my religion.

You can always ask questions, but it’s pointless to debate. I won’t defend this religion verbally because I owe nothing to any human aside from the mercy God gave me.