Beautiful Outlaw

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I know, the title of this post sounds like an oxymoron. Perhaps it is, but maybe not in the sense you think. The title "Beautiful Outlaw" refers to Jesus Christ. But was Jesus really an outlaw? He most definitely was in the eyes of...try to guess who!

In Jesus' day, much as in our own, the religious establishment had by-and-large distorted the true picture of who God was and what he was really like. The message was lost about God's love, goodness, mercy, etc. The religious leaders had burdened their followers with petty laws and endless duties to the point where life was filled with heaviness and despair. Into this scene stepped Jesus, who was not happy with what the religious leaders were doing in God's name. During Jesus' brief lifetime (~33 years) he repeatedly went into the Jewish temple and intentionally provoked the religious leaders by (gasp) healing peoples' ailments (for example, blindness, deafness, crippling diseases) on the Sabbath Day. Read here about one brief example (Mark 3:1-6); there are many more. The problem was that religious rules forbade anybody from working on the Sabbath, and Jesus was breaking that rule by healing people (i.e., "working"). And the religious leaders were furious at him for doing this, so much so that they started plotting to murder him.

What do you think of when you think about Jesus? Do you think "televangelists"? Irrelevant? Boring? Religious? Perhaps you've had a bad experience at church and you naturally affiliate it with Jesus.

The first chapter of the book "Beautiful Outlaw" is entitled "The Playfulness of God and the Poison of Religion". Unfortunately, even today religion often presents a distorted picture of who Jesus really is (Disclaimer: Please don't think I'm passing judgement on every church). And that is tragic because it turns people away from a person who is truly remarkable, beautiful, and definitely worth knowing. Beautiful Outlaw is designed to introduce you to Jesus as he really is. He is many good things, but he is anything but religious.

I have read the first chapter of Beautiful Outlaw so far (the entire book will be released on October 5) but am excited about reading the rest of the book. I have read all of the books that John Eldredge, the author has written and I have no doubt that this one could be a life changer. I encourage you to check it out, though, with a warning that your life may never be the same if you give it a fair shake!

Emphasis of America’s Founding Fathers on God

I spent this week in Washington D.C. and had time to visit some of the sites including the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials and the Washington Monument. I was encouraged to be reminded of the faith that our founding fathers had in God as they started a new country called America. Here are some excerpts from quotes that are engraved in stone at the Jefferson Memorial (Thomas Jefferson was the 3rd U.S. President and drafter and signer of the Declaration of Independence):

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. (Declaration of Independence)

Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens [burdens]...are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion...

God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?

(Dale speaking here…) Seeing Jefferson’s references to God prompted me to dig a little deeper into quotes from some of our other founding fathers and I thought I would share a few with you:

George Washington (1st U.S. President; excerpt from ‘Letter to the Governors of the States on Disbanding the Army’, June, 1783):

I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection; that he would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow-citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for brethren who have served in the field; and finally that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.

John Adams: (2nd U.S. President and Signer of the Declaration of Independence; excerpt from ‘Diary and Autobiography of John Adams’, Vol. III, p. 9)

Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God ... What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be.

John Hancock (1st Signer of the Declaration of Independence; excerpt from a proclama­tion signed by John Hancock set May 17, 1776; www.johnhancock.org):

The [Continental] Congress…do earnestly recommend…a day of humiliation, fasting and prayer [throughout the colonies]; that we may, with united hearts, confess and bewail our manifold sins and transgressions, and by a sincere repentance and amendment of life, appease his [God's] righteous displeasure, and through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain his pardon and forgiveness."

John Witherspoon: (Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Clergyman and President of Princeton University; excerpt from Sermon at Princeton University, "The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men," May, 1776)

While we give praise to God, the Supreme Disposer of all events, for His interposition on our behalf, let us guard against the dangerous error of trusting in, or boasting of, an arm of flesh.... If your cause is just, if your principles are pure, and if your conduct is prudent, you need not fear the multitude of opposing hosts.

(Dale speaking again…). The founders of America were, by and large, a profoundly religious people. If you live in America and enjoy the fruits of liberty and freedom, then in no small way you have them to thank. I also visited Arlington National Cemetery this week, which vividly illustrates the “last full measure” that so many have paid to maintain our free way of life. And I visited the 911 Memorial at the Pentagon, which painfully illustrates that there are those who would destroy the freedoms we enjoy; who would steal, kill, and destroy in order to bring tyranny over our lives.

My visit to Washington D.C. powerfully reminded me of the legacy that our founders and subsequent generations have left for us. My prayer is that my generation, and yours, will defend that freedom and pass it on intact to the next. I believe there is no better way than to do that than on our knees seeking God’s direction for our country. If you are not from America, then I encourage you to do the same for your country. After all, it matters not where we are from, we all need God’s presence and direction in our lives and for our nations. He loves us all!