WTFJ

Apologies for the delay everyone! Holidays get like that sometimes. But here it is, and it’s a good one! Some people might claim we are overstating this, but sincerely this talk feels like it can be Revolutionary. Or at least close to it. Maybe even the start of something. This talk might make some people uncomfortable, but that is not the intention. If it makes you feel uneasy, please just sit with it a bit. Think on it. And if you still are uncomfortable, please please dive into some scholarship and some studies, and please let us know where we might have missed the mark or help us understand something we might have overlooked or misunderstood. Please try not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Because Revolution Gathering wants to be a place for different ideas, different studies. It’s why we don’t call ourselves a church anymore, or Jay a pastor—because often times, especially recently it seems, Christians have been acting like a bunch of jerks. Judgmental and scapegoating. We don’t want to be a part of that. Today Jay discusses the book of Revelation. Oh man that’s a rough book, but Jay was up to the challenge. Jay is wondering if maybe the expectations the people had at the time of the coming Messiah were not met. They wanted a more physical, conquering king. A zealot that would overthrow the government and help rise up against their oppressors…but instead they get a man telling them to love and forgive. To treat enemies like friends. Who wants to hear that? I know that sounds like a joke, but seriously, when you’re being crushed by an oppressor who wants to hear that? Especially when you’ve been waiting for a Deliverer. So Jay is looking at the Book of Revelation and trying to find how it lines up with the Christ of the New Testament. It certainly feels like the Old Testament God full of fire and wrath comes back at the end of the New Testament, but is this the case? Is this book a prophecy? Is it a revenge fantasy? Is it a misunderstanding of who God is? Is it wishful writing of how the people of the time wished the Messiah would had acted? What is real? Does the book of Revelation make it harder to love each other? Does it give more fear than love? It’s a struggle, and maybe we’ll never know. But let’s remember to be patient and kind. Let’s remember that some of the more legalistic aspects people hold so tight are things they’ve been taught their whole lives, and that isn’t the easiest to unlearn. It takes time. And it is scary. Remember there is a lot of humanity in our faith! We can’t lose sight of that. Let’s remember what Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “People are not our enemy. Misinformation is our enemy.”

This talk was given on July 3, 2023 from Seattle, WA.

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