The Gospel according to T.J.

People who know me well know that I have a very special place in my heart for Thomas Jefferson. Having been Virginia born and bred, he was one of the first Southerners - a sort of "charter member". I know all of the arguments about Jefferson and his "contradictions" - some of them confuse me and I've been reading about this guy and reading his writings all my life. There are a lot of issues that can boggle your mind.

I have this hair-brained idea about one of them. This idea is a recent development for me but it has a lot to do with where I am at this time in my own life - it's a "walk a mile in a guy's moccasins" sort of thing.

Jefferson is widely viewed as a deist by many scholars. Then there are those that point to his mentions of the Creator in the Declaration of Independence as well as other writings. He wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and other documents that led people to believe that he had an interest in spirituality, theology and religion.

One quote attributed to him seems to cause some disturbance among church folks and, if he did say this, leads me to my theory.

"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear."

Questioning the existence of God. Who does he think he is? Must be a deist

Or perhaps, along with being one of the first southerners, Jefferson was one of the first post-Evangelical Christians. Yeah, that sounds crazy and far-fetched. After all, it would be another two centuries before Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Donald Miller, et al showed up on the scene. But give this idea a chance. Weigh it all out.

Jefferson was quite a free thinker whose life was thrown into revolutionary times. He personally set one of the many coffin nails to the time-honored tradition of "Divine right of Kings". He was an inventor of modern gadgets that would change the way many things were done world wide. He was a scientist that experimented with the world around him. He founded a fine institute of higher learning, even to the extent of designing the buildings.

And then there is that one little thing that has kept my theory hidden in a shroud all these years - Jefferson "wrote his own Bible". Turns out, that is a bit of a misstatement - not a Richard Blumenthal misstatement, but a real, honest confusion about the facts. What Jefferson actually did was take out his handy-dandy Bapt...er....King James Version and a sharp pair of scissors. Then he proceeded to edit out everything he saw as supernatural or superfluous. What was the extra stuff he removed? Anything that did not pass between the lips of Jesus Christ - specifically sparing His teachings. He went on to present his edited version to Dr. Benjamin Rush via a letter in which he said.

"In some of the delightful conversations with you in the evenings of 1798-99, and which served as an anodyne to the afflictions of the crisis through which our country was then laboring, the Christian religion was sometimes our topic; and I then promised you that one day or other I would give you my views of it. They are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed, but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself."

And yes, he also goes on to share some points of contention that would get him branded as a heretic and shunned by most evangelical churches of today. He expressed fears to both Rush and William Short of what might happen if Americans at large were to discover his beliefs and assertions. Even in his day there was grave danger in swimming against the current - the President of the united States was not exempt from this scrutiny. But despite the other "heresies", the above statement, specifically the last statement of it, haunts me....because I say that very thing myself nearly every day of my life to people who are thinking the very same thing.

Jefferson was searching. He was on a quest for God. He was looking for the existence that he was encouraging us to question. He wasn't saying this in a spirit of atheistic evangelism but rather calling us to engage in that new activity of The Enlightenment - thinking for ourselves. Perhaps Jefferson was paraphrasing Philippians 2:12-13 - exhorting us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that God seeks our own devotion, our own faith, our own commitment, not that of our pastor or forefathers. He figured God must delight in the person that looks honestly and even skeptically for God and yet, still finds Him. Many Christians, including C.S. Lewis, started off as atheists that set out to disprove the existence of God but found Him to be the only viable option.

Maybe T.J. was on to something

...and maybe I'm a quack...you'll have to seek that out for yourself...

The Lesbian in My Mirror

When you consider that I do not watch Larry King Live and the fact that I do not really keep up with current events as they pertain to the "Christian" music scene (or any music "news" for that matter) it is easy to understand how a scandal that broke back in April would have only today reached my ears. And that is exactly what happened today.

In the past I have broken from the expected position of throwing stones at various people on the basis of moral and behavioral situations. I have spoken out about the desperate need in America today to quit separating out particular sins, transgressions, etc. that we feel are deserving of special attention and punitive actions. Today is no different...well, mostly no different.

For the last few weeks, I have been combing through my own life, my own circumstances, my own problems. Without going into a lot of details, it is safe for me to say that I am not writing this article to announce that I am a lesbian, so if that is what you were looking for from the title, I'm sorry to disappoint you.

What happened today is that I learned of the recent announcement by Jennifer Knapp that she is involved in a long-term relationship with another woman. Knapp is known in music circles as a Christian artist, which is to say that she sings "Jesus music". For some reason, people involved in artistic endeavors that are also followers of Jesus Christ are expected to only use their art for sacred purposes while Christian plumbers, engineers, taxi drivers, bankers and salesmen are allowed to work in the secular realm - another argument for another day.

What I want to do is take my own recent time of reflection, which had nothing to do with sexuality or mainstream ideas of morality in general, as an opportunity to stand in Ms. Knapp's shoes and look at the face in the mirror and see how it feels. I have to tell you, it looks pretty frightening. I can't imagine looking to one side and seeing the smiling faces of Melissa Ethridge, Sara McLaughlin and the Indigo Girls willing to accept her in a world that she has been taught was darkness while on the other hand seeing the likes of Bob Botsford and Fred Phelps waiting with baited breath to tear her to shreds and make a name for themselves as righteous holy warriors. Who are the good guys in this scenario? Where is the safe haven, peace and love coming from?

And we see hear the arguments of what Scripture says about homosexuality but never from Luke 15. You see, the prodigal son knew he was far from home. He knew he was going to starve out there and was just willing to clean toliets for something to eat. His father didn't hurl insults at him and point out all the places where he screwed up and make up a list of punishments for him. He didn't ridicule him in public and cause a scene where everyone could see. He restored him, and reached out to the son he loved.

How is the response of the parable's representation of God the Father any different from the attitude that God holds toward Jennifer Knapp right now? Isn't understanding that the whole point of the parable?

I'm not making excuses for people and I know that there are times when people have to make judgement calls based on thier own morality and conscience. What I want to say is if Ms. Knapp's announcement makes her music less enjoyable to you, don't listen to it. Just please don't treat her like many treated Ellen DeGeneres, deriding her and even making asinine cliches out of her name. Please don't attach the name of Jesus to crude, hateful, self-righteous attempts to police morality.

If you have a problem with Jennifer....drop her a line and let her know. Something about "if your brother offends you" comes to mind...

The Ax Man Cometh

I've been fighting a few stumps this week. Well, to be honest, I have fought them longer than that. The difference this week is that I finally was fed up and decided to be done with the stumps. They looked innocent enough. Just a few shrubs that should have taken a short amount of time to dig up with a shovel and be done with it.

The stumps had other ideas.

I employed the services of a handy-dandy 4-wheel drive pickup to finally drag one from his perch - kicking and screaming the whole time. It was ugly and half of my wife's flower bed came with it. Fortunately, the bed was not currently in use - after all, there were two bothersome stumps sitting where the new plants are to reside. I laughed in maniacal triumph at my victory over stump #1 and then noticed the mess that was caused. A careful investigation of stump # 2 revealed that a similar plan of attack was probably going to create the need for a licensed plumber to reset my sewer line and probably cause my poor wife to call the men in white coats to come and carry me to a place a little more fitting for a deranged conquistador of stumps.

Not that I could blame her.

So, I changed course and used some of my equipment - namely an ax-ish tool that has seen better days. The blade of the tool has roughly the same sharpness of a baseball bat or maybe a club...you know...like Captain Caveman.

That was never going to work. And so it was going to be up to that ol' Southern standby...the neighbor.

I am blessed with an outstanding neighbor, the kind that people used to have in the days before they wrote blogs or watched American Idol or Twittered or whatever we do these days instead of talk to those people that we see every day but don't really know. A quick visit across the street, some laughs over "are you still fightin' that silly stump?" and some small talk, I reemerged at home with a formidable ax...well, almost. In reality, the fifth or sixth whack and the stump was laughing again. The poor ax was reduced to a whimpering mass with a severed head. The blow snapped the handle clean in two.

My wife suggested that I set aside the brute force in favor of chemical warfare. For once, I agreed with her. So off to the neighborhood hardware store and when I returned I was well armed with a bottle of "stump-be-dead" and a new ax handle - as if I knew something about replacing an ax handle. Some friendly advice from the guy at the hardware store and a man actually reading directions can gel to overcome many obstacles and in a matter of time the ax was enjoying a new golden age - a glory better than before the altercation with the stump. Amazing.

The good news of the day? My neighbor says that he now owns an ax with a new handle for the first time ever. The stump is now gurgling and hacking out in the front yard. My sons got to see dad make something that was wrong be made right again. I got to accomplish something that I had never before attempted and very soon, my wife will have a new and improved flower bed in front of the house. And best of all, that stump will be dead. I may let one of the kids pull it up, just to add insult to injury.

And all of that without the guys in the white coats getting called out to the house...at least I don't think they will...