Freedom To Fly Away

by Rembert Truluck
August 18, 2004

ESCAPE FROM ABUSIVE RELIGION

Jonathan Livingston Seagull was a wonderful fantasy several years ago that invited you to fly away into the freedom of the sky with a little bird that learned to be free and soar beyond where any bird had gone before. It was a lot of fun. You can still get the slim book about Jonathan Livingston Seagull and read and enjoy it for yourself.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull managed to escape from the boundaries and limitations that ordinarily keep all birds bound to the earth and prevent their real escape and freedom. Culture, society, religion, churches, the Bible, tradition, and a thousand natural and unnatural shocks that flesh is heir to bind and limit you and me. How do we escape and "fly away?"

REAL FREEDOM IN JESUS

What does freedom in Jesus and the "Christian" hope and promise of liberation, forgiveness and rescue really mean? As I asked in my recent update: Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up!

The historical churches, theological education, Sunday School, modern translations of "The Holy Bible", television religion, millions of religious books and denominational propaganda and study literature, and your own personal religious brain-washing by your parents, teachers and others has failed you! Is there a way to fly away from the weight and distress of religion that pulls you into the ground rather than setting you free to fly away into the heavens? I think that there is a better way.

Look within yourself. You are not a mistake. You are not a terrible mess. You are created in the image of God and you reflect the mind of God in your innermost self. The Spirit of Jesus has been given to you in your birth as a human being. You do not need to be "saved" by some ignorant misinformed self-serving, manipulative evangelist whose grasp of the Bible is distorted and wrong headed without any logic, objectivity, realism or practical application to the real world.

TO LOOK WITHIN IS TO LOOK UP

"Heaven" is not out there somewhere or up there somewhere, but the real heaven in which God dwells is already within you. You cannot run away from yourself. To run away from yourself is to run away from your real God within. The "Hound of Heaven" from whom you cannot escape is already within you and is part of who and what you are as a fully functioning, thinking individual made in the image of God.

You can never be free from God. But you can be set free from abusive destructive religion. That is exactly what the real Jesus offers to you with the persistent invitation: "Follow Me." That invitation by Jesus is not an offer for you to become an angel or a spiritual being but for you to become the fully human person you were created to be.

To become truly human as Jesus was is the ultimate goal of loving your neighbor as yourself and accepting and affirming others who are different from you. Jesus forgave his enemies. So can you. Jesus loved and associated with outcasts and rejects of life, so can you. Jesus brought out the best in people who hated themselves. So can you.

THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, NOT WORDS

Jesus is the human that God intends you to be, not the god that you cannot hope to become in your wildest imagination. Jesus resisted "playing god" when he asked John the Baptist to baptize him like all of the other outcasts and sinners in the baptism line. Jesus refused to "play god" when he was tempted to change stones into bread to satisfy his hunger. Jesus celebrated his humanity throughout his life and identified with you and me and not with the spiritual powers and authorities.

Jesus got tired and had to rest. Jesus felt pain, was lonely and was rejected and punished for who he was. Jesus died. Jesus showed you how to be a real man, a real woman, a real human whatever your sexual orientation might be. Jesus is the pattern for being the real you.

You are not exactly like any other person on earth. You are the unique you. You were made and formed as a work of God because you matter and you have a place to fill in this world that nobody else can possibly fill. You are one of a kind. You are not a copy or a duplicate of anything or anybody else. You are the only you that will ever exist. Treasure your self. Recognize the value that you have. Nobody else can ever be the person that God has created you to be.

You are not Adam or Eve or Steve; you are the individual that God created you to be and you are not like any other human in the history of the world. What you can do is unique to you. Be your real self. Celebrate your own uniqueness. Nobody else has what you have. How wonderful! You are beautifully and wonderfully made. Be the human self that God created you to be. In that act, you follow Jesus and are truly "Christian."

CELEBRATE AND ENJOY

Celebrate and enjoy who you are. Look within your own heart and mind. What you will find there is your own personal truth that can give you a sense of direction and strength for a life that is positive and healthy.



For more excellent articles by Rembert, please visit his website www.truluck.com or purchase his book Steps To Recovery From Bible Abuse.